Performing alongside Louis de Bernières

Ted Gooda reflects on this year’s SMP Celebration of Poetry event

Louis de Bernières plays a mandolin as part of the SMP Celebration of Poetry evening

The 2024 Celebration of Poetry took place on Saturday 12th October in St Mary’s Church, Horsham. It was a privilege to be invited to perfom some of my poems at this event - which was hosted by BBC Radio 4’s Chris Aldridge and headlined by Louis de Bernières. I was delighted that the esteemed author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin actually played a mandolin!

My work came alongside performances by poetry judge Liz Barnes, singer Emily Rose Smith, and poets Barry Smith, Chris Hardy and Simon Zec.

In was an additional honour to be asked to read the winning and third placed poems in this year’s International Poetry Competition, Mood Disorder by Sarah Mills and getting the summer clothes out of storage by Lucy Crispin.

The event came just a fortnight after the release of my own debut poetry pamphlet, Silence & Selvedge, and I was thrilled to be selling and signing copies of it just a few feet away from Louis de Bernières. (Although I rather suspect that he sold one or two more copies of his books than I did!)

Nevertheless I was very grateful to those in the audience who bought a copy. Most of my writing life has been spent as a ghostwriter, so it’s a new experience to see my name on the front cover.

As well as showcasing prizewinners while continuing to fundraise for the permanent memorial to Shelley in Horsham, the SMP is also providing an increasingly important role in the cultural life of the town, helping not only to bring Shelley’s work to an ever-wider audience (as in the wonderful music-accompanied presentation of Ode to the West Wind by Barry Smith and Chris Hardy), but also to acknowledge and honour contemporary poetry.

It truly was a special evening to be part of!

Copies of Silence and Selvedge available at: https://www.theresagooda.co.uk/