Major anthology of North East poetry

05 January 2018

Work by two 海角直播 creative writing academics has been included in the first ever comprehensive anthology of verse from the North East of England.

Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby.

Senior Lecturers in Creative Writing Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby feature in 鈥楾he Land of Three Rivers鈥�, recently released by Bloodaxe Books. The book spans centuries and includes poetry and song lyrics from writers such as Caedmon, The Venerable Bede, WH Auden, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Rudyard Kipling, Sting, Jimmy Nail and Vin Garbutt, whose song 鈥楯ohn North鈥� gives the anthology its title.

Land of Three Rivers is a celebration of North East England in poetry, featuring its places and people, culture, history, language and stories in poems and songs with both rural and urban settings. Taking its bearings from the Tyne, Wear and Tees, it maps the region in poems relating to past and present, depicting life from Roman times through medieval Northumbria and the industrial era of mining and shipbuilding up to the present day.

Bob Beagrie said: 'I am delighted to have two of my poems featured in this prestigious and weighty anthology, and to see the work of many other excellent 海角直播 based poets between its covers, showing how 海角直播鈥檚 literary culture is being recognised as an important and unique feature of the North East as a whole.

It is great to be in a book that has already been Anthology of the Year in a number of National Newspapers and that shows the rest of the world, for the first time, the scope of the literary heritage of the North East.

Bob Beagrie

'It is great to be in a book that has already been Anthology of the Year in a number of National Newspapers and that shows the rest of the world, for the first time, the scope of the literary heritage of the North East.'

The anthology will be launched at a series of readings across the North East with the 海角直播 launch event planned for 31 January 2018 at The Westgarth Social Club on Southfield Road. Starting at 7.30pm, the event will feature readings by contributors and a chance to buy the book and get it signed by the poets present.