Female photographers donate services for diabetes fundraising project
Max Wallis by Annabel Williams, shot on the Opium bed in Coleridge's study, Greta Hall. Photograph: Annabel Williams
Ever since Wordsworth launched English Romanticism with the publication of Lyrical Ballads, the wilds of the Lake District have been synonymous with poets baring their souls. But this weekend an assortment of male poets were persuaded to bare a little more for a charity calendar shot amongst the "vales and hills".
Dreamed up by Wild Women Press co-founder and poet Victoria Bennett after her two-year-old son was diagnosed with type one diabetes, the calendar saw a male poet paired with a female photographer for each month of the year (plus one extra month "for all the things you never have time to do"). The duo were then asked to interpret a poem donated for the calendar by a female poet, from Wendy Cope to Penelope Shuttle, Moniza Alvi and Pascale Petite.
"We were looking at things we could do to raise money and awareness of type one diabetes. I run Wild Women Press and my focus has always been trying to promote and give a platform to women's writing. Late one night I came up with the idea of a poetry calendar – I wanted to explore the idea of the male muse, as opposed to the female muse," said Bennett. "I decided I didn't want it to be just poets getting their clothes off, which, let's face it, is a niche market. So I started to approach women poets, from the very well known to the just coming up, and they've all contributed poems [for interpretation]."
The male poets range from early 20s to late 60s, and include Eric Gregory and Newdigate award winner Antony Dunn, Alan Buckley, Graham Eccles, Alexander Hutchison and Max Wallis, while the photographers are both established and less so, from Annabel Williams to Tamara Peel.
Full story at The Guardian.
Dreamed up by Wild Women Press co-founder and poet Victoria Bennett after her two-year-old son was diagnosed with type one diabetes, the calendar saw a male poet paired with a female photographer for each month of the year (plus one extra month "for all the things you never have time to do"). The duo were then asked to interpret a poem donated for the calendar by a female poet, from Wendy Cope to Penelope Shuttle, Moniza Alvi and Pascale Petite.
"We were looking at things we could do to raise money and awareness of type one diabetes. I run Wild Women Press and my focus has always been trying to promote and give a platform to women's writing. Late one night I came up with the idea of a poetry calendar – I wanted to explore the idea of the male muse, as opposed to the female muse," said Bennett. "I decided I didn't want it to be just poets getting their clothes off, which, let's face it, is a niche market. So I started to approach women poets, from the very well known to the just coming up, and they've all contributed poems [for interpretation]."
The male poets range from early 20s to late 60s, and include Eric Gregory and Newdigate award winner Antony Dunn, Alan Buckley, Graham Eccles, Alexander Hutchison and Max Wallis, while the photographers are both established and less so, from Annabel Williams to Tamara Peel.
Full story at The Guardian.
1 comment:
As the ADHD generation would say, 'this is so not working for me'.
Mind you, NZ has some pretty female poets ...
Nah. Mindless nonsense. Those old calender girls had something, in their humour and originality, but imitation since by every group from firemen to, well, poets, is not flattery, it's just yawn boring.
Put your clothes back on young men, you just look stupid. And cold.
(Are you back from Europe yet, Bookman?)
Post a Comment