Fiona Sampson

In this innovative series of public lectures at Newcastle University, leading contemporary poets speak about the craft and practice of poetry to audiences drawn from both the city and the university. The lectures are then published in book form by Bloodaxe, giving readers everywhere the opportunity to learn what the poets themselves think about their own subject. It's almost a cliche that music and poetry are cousins, and that the term lyric names this cousinship. Yet the actual forms music takes within poetry are unclear, even contested. At the same time, our assumptions about these forms condition the ways we hear poetry. So it's useful to us as both readers and writers to discover where the analogies between music and poetry are. Fiona Sampson's Music Lessons outlines some of these, using ideas and examples from Martin Heidegger to J.S. Bach, Emily Dickinson to Leonard Cohen, and George Herbert to Julia Kristeva. Her first lecture, Point Counter-point, uses melody to suggest a link between poetic line, phrase and breath. Here is my space explores how pureA", abstract forms can be created in time in the same way that they are created in space. Finally, How strange the change looks at sensuous apprehension and the pleasure principle.

'Rough music' is the old English name for a custom of public scapegoating. This is a book full of disturbing musical echoes, in which brilliant renewals of carol, charm, folksong and ballad explore themes of violence, loss and belonging. Fiona Sampson's characteristic lyric intensity deftly fuses metaphysics and politics with the vernacular of daily life.

On Listening is a collection of essays on poetry, written for various occasions over the last few years. Ranging from scholarly papers to literary non-fiction, critical writing to lectures, each allows a different way in to the book’s central preoccupation. On Listening is concerned, centrally, with the nature of poetic practice. Using both philosophy of language and an editor’s literary ear, theory and the author’s own experience as a poet, this book examines good writing practice from the inside out; and asks how it can be developed: by teaching and community facilitation, by reading and travelling and, where those two interests come together, in translation. After an introductory essay which sets the scene by looking at contemporary British poet-critics, the book is divided into four sections – ‘Translating’, ‘Travelling’, ‘Teaching’ and ‘Reading’ – though its thesis suggests these categories are linked. An Epilogue reflects on ‘The Ephemeral’. ‘Translating’ looks at the nature of that practice and its context, with particular reference to the writer’s work with Central European literature. Included is a set of ‘reviews’ of exemplary translations. ‘Travelling’ explores issues of cultural translation: whether those originate in the geographical or between discursive cultures. ‘Teaching’ draws on more than a dozen years’ experience in universities, schools and, particularly, in pioneering writing in health and social care, to explore the differences between community and education practice. It looks closely at questions of evaluation, ethics and purpose. ‘Reading’ surveys some of the writer’s personal poetic enthusiasms, with particular stress on writing from beyond Britain and by women. On Listening is an indispensable vade mecum for teachers and students of creative writing; it is also, however, a topical read for anyone concerned with the state of poetry in Britain today.

By turns sensual and incantatory, "Common Prayer" offers a liturgy for a world in crisis. Meditations on the actuality of sickness and bereavement move outward through narratives of the broken body of Europe's violent twentieth century. Challenging and exploratory, Fiona Sampson's poetry remakes the spiritual and physical metaphors by which we live.

Exploring the writing process and its relationship to self, this guide synthesizes critical and creative theories of writing for both writers and readers. Each chapter links a range of theoretical approaches to one practical aspect of writing, using illustrations from fiction, poetry and literary non-fiction, and suggesting practical exercises for pursuing the topic further. The book will enable students to develop literary, critical and psychodynamic understandings of the creative process and to explore a range of key topics.

This book is really a must-have for therapists and others in the creative arts, so that you can see how the workings of the human mind can be displayed through the arts. Even with serious illness, the mind can talk. And that is the point of the book'.- Metapsychology Online Book Reviews'The references cited at the end of each chapter are instructive and useful with some contributors drawing on memoirs and creative work and others on textbooks and papers. As Fiona points out in her introduction, those with an interest in the field - which includes clinicians, patients, arts managers, psychotherapists, writers, occupational therapists, teachers - I am sure you can add to the list - inevitably speak different languages, reflecting their different priorities. I agree with her argument that this contributes to a healthy diversity of practice that may offer "something for everyone" and we should resist narrow definitions. The challenge for those of us in the field is to locate ourselves on this strange and exciting map and to chart our own experiences in whatever languages are appropriate. Conferences, such as Strange Baggage and the increasingly popular Lapidus annual event provide an excellent opportunity to journey beyond our usual borders to exchange travellers' tales with our colleagues'. - Lapidus'An incisive collection of essays and case studies, where theory is applied to practical goals: working out methods for how to help and understand those with problems threatening their sanity or stability. Creative expression can contribute to personal and community health.' - Writing in Education'Creative Writing in Health and Social Care is full of experience of working with patients with dementia, hospital, hospice and occupational therapy patients, and those in primary care. This is innovative work - deeply helpful to the patients, illuminatively described.'- The British Journal of General PracticeThis unique and comprehensive 'map' of the topic of creative writing in health and social care brings together contributions from health and social care professionals and provides the information needed to teach, counsel and write. Principally exploring poetry and story writing and telling, case studies range from work with pre-literate children in post-war Macedonia to people with dementia in Britain. Complementing these insights, theory-based contributions provide context, comparing different arts therapies using psychoanalytic and phenomenological theories of art and ideas, assessing the value of creative writing in a health care setting, examining methods of training therapists and looking at the aims of creative writing in terms of self development. This holistic approach ensures that Creative Writing in Health and Social Care is an essential guide for health care professionals and others seeking to use creative writing in therapeutic settings.