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Readings & Appearances

8 Apr, 'The Best Words,' Wirral Bookfest

3 June, Blackpool Residency Begins - Town Hall, 11am

9 -13 June, Manchester Art Gallery

22 June, Poetry Garden Party, 163 Paletine Rd, MCR

23 -26 June, Manchester Art Gallery

24 June, Trafford Wordfest, Hale Library, Trafford 7pm

27 June Blackpool

30 June - 5 July, Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, Lumb Bank

9 & 10 July, Blackpool

6 & 11 August, Blackpool

24 August 'Summer Daze - Rock Festival,' Blackpool

6 & 7 Sept, Poet in Residence
- Sedburgh Booktown Festival

18&19 Sept, Poet in Residence - Redruth Festival

26-28 Cultural Olympiad Readings and Workshops, National Portrait Gallery, London.

8 Oct, Presents the poetry of Pablo Neruda, and introduces 'Il Postino,' The Odeon, Blackpool, 6pm.

9 Oct, National Portrait Gallery, London

26 Oct, 'Ted Hughes Festival,' with Andrew Motion, Lemn Sissay, & Frieda Hughes

14-16 Nov, Kritya International Poetry Festival,
- Chandigarh, India

PUBLICATION NEWS 'The Prize' is set to be reprinted by The Rialto. My Kids book ‘Don’t wear it on your head,’ is freshly reprinted after selling out. Peepal Tree are happy to offer discounts to schools who wish to buy sets of the book, contact Hannah on 01132451703. 'Teach yourself creative writing' (Hodder) written by Stephen May contains my poem 'To writing' from 'The Prize' The upcoming issue of The London Magazine contains a new poem 'Unintended Loyalty.' A poem 'Naked,' has been commissioned by fashion magazine ‘Dresscode,’ this will be out soon. A new Poem 'Cold water' will appear in Issue 65 of The Rialto. ‘The Ropes’ an anthology for teens edited by Sophie Hannah and John Hegley, and published by Diamond Twig.. contains a specially commissioned piece. Two of my poems about The London Bombings appear in The British Council's 'NEW WRITING 15' (Granta) LISTEN to an interview with me on the BBC Asian Network about the pieces
Blackpool I have been commissioned by Blackpool Council to create them a poem which will be permanently set into the promenade along their seafront. As part of my research I will be running some workshops and working in the archives, I will also be appearing at their literature festival ‘Wordpool,’ this year. The poem will be in place and launched in October 2009. The seaside town of Blackpool is a place of many opposites; I used to get taken there for days out as a child. These days it’s best known for the cheap and cheerful drunken day out etc.. But as the town is in need of serious regeneration, it’s good to know that art and aspiration can be part of that. This is an area of work I’m looking to do more in, any way to make poetry more public is a good thing I think.
In the desert I was commissioned by York Council to create a suite of poems reworking the part of the York Mystery Cycle, which would then be set to music by the composer Ivan Stott and then performed around the streets of York by The York Youth Mysteries Group on 21st of June. You can catch performances of the piece throughout the day.
Schools I am always happy to receive enquiries from schools regarding readings, workshops and developing projects. I have designed a number of workshops to go along with ‘The National Year of Reading,’ if your interested in finding out more please get in touch, I am also happy to do training for teachers around this area.
Mailing list If you would like to be on the mailing list, drop me a line and I'll include you in future information mail outs. If you prefer to be notified of happenings by ordinary mail, just send a A5 stamped addressed envelope to the usual address.
Facebook Those of you who use Facebook can now join the ‘Fans of John Siddique’ group, where you can interact with others, find more up to date news of my writings, events and projects as well as video clips, sound recordings and other bits and bobs.