Acclaimed poet Katrina Porteous and virtuoso Northumbrian piper Chris Ormston take to the stage at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries.
Scottish-born poet Katrina Porteous grew up in North East England and her poems are steeped in the stories, histories, wildlife and people of the borderlands.
Ranging from the Eildons and the River Tweed to Hadrian’s Wall and the Northumberland and Durham coast, her work is rooted in Border Ballad and Northumbrian story-telling and song and often draws directly on the dialect voices of living people – hill farmers, shepherds and fishermen – whose lives are intimately involved with land and sea.
“I write for people who perhaps might not normally read much contemporary poetry,” says Katrina. “The rhythms and sound patterns of my work are close to music, and are meant to be heard out loud.”
An acclaimed performer, well-known for her lively readings of her own work on BBC Radio, Katrina will present a selection from her new Bloodaxe book, Two Countries, a passionate interweaving of human life and joy in the natural world. The naturalist and Guardian Country Diarist Mark Cocker praises Two Countries as being ‘of universal significance, yet rooted in a lifelong commitment to local community and the Northumbrian landscape.’
“For me, poetry is a communal activity,” she explained. “My poems draw on the words and experiences of living communities and I want to share those words with them, as well as with a wider public. The traditional ways of life which I write about in Two Countries give people a sense of common purpose and values, which link them closely to place. Fishing and farming give people a strong sense of belonging in the natural world, and I think they have important things to say to a society increasingly estranged from nature.”
Katrina is joined on stage by virtuoso Northumbrian piper , an internationally-acclaimed player and composer of traditional music. Together they will present a lively and spell-binding hour of words and music which will make you see and hear the Northumbrian and Borders landscape with new eyes and ears.
“Katrina Porteous is one of our best poets and her big new book of poems Two Countries is surely one of the most distinctive and important collections of the year.” (Morning Star)
The event will take place on Sunday 31 May, 5.30pm
Tickets, £10, from the Midsteeple Box Office, Dumfries. 01387 253383.
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