A city that lets you write

Literary lectures, poetry readings and much more ...

Larkin25 presents a programme of literary lectures, poetry readings and new commissions inspired by Larkin and the literary tradition of this part of the world. The season includes lectures by Larkin aficionados Andrew Motion, Anthony Thwaite, Sean O'Brien, James Booth and Carol Rumens, new publications, literature events across Hull and the East Riding and at the British Library in London.

Larkin25 will award new commissions to high profile national and emerging local artists, giving opportunities to create and experience innovative new writing and other art work. We are proud to be working in partnership with the Humber Mouth Literature Festival, Bridlington Poetry Festival and Beverley Literature Festival to present Larkin25 events which celebrate Larkin and today's thriving creative writing scene.

Larkin25 will also include a major web-based BBC Community Poetry project, and provide opportunities to create as well as to discover poetry.

Larkin25 Lecture Series

The Larkin25 lecture series, programmed by Larkin scholar and literary adviser to the Philip Larkin Society, Professor James Booth, offers the chance to take another look at Larkin by hearing from contemporary poets and academics as they explore different areas of his life and writings.

If Larkin25 has sparked your interest in Britain's best loved post-war poet, here's your opportunity to delve more deeply - and to hear from some of the UIK's finest contemporary writers and thinkers.

Sean O'Brien - 'Random windows conjuring a street': Larkin and the city

Wednesday 29 September, 6.00 pm
Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, University of Hull
FREE
Booking: 01482 462045

We are delighted to welcome Sean O'Brien, 'the most prize winning poet of his generation,' three times winner of the Forward Poetry Prize, and recipient of the 2007 Eliot Prize, to deliver the first in the autumn series.

Although Philip Larkin wrote in praise of rural England, he was largely a city-dweller. Sean O'Brien's own early work has been called 'urban pastoral' - and his lecture will consider how Larkin imagines and explores the city, with particular reference to poems set in his adopted home, Kingston upon Hull.

Andrew Motion - The Afterlife of Philip Larkin

The 2010 Ferens Distinguished Lecture
Tuesday 5 October, 6.00 pm

Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, University of Hull
FREE
Booking: 01482 462045

In the second of the Larkin25 autumn lecture series, we welcome Sir Andrew Motion back to the University of Hull, where he taught until 1981. Sir Andrew was Larkin's literary executor and close friend and his 1994 biography, Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life, won the Whitbread Prize for Biography in the same year.

In this lecture, Andrew Motion looks at the ways Philip Larkin's reputation was changed by the publication of the Collected Poems, Letters and biography, and reflect on how it has continued to change in the last twenty-five years.

Anthony Thwaite - Philip to Monica: The Poet's most intimate Correspondence

Wednesday 10 November, 6.00 pm
Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, University of Hull
FREE
Booking: 01482 462045

The Larkin25 lecture series continues as we celebrate the publication of Anthony Thwaite's Letters to Monica (Faber) in October 2010.

Anthony Thwaite, one of Larkin's literary executors, editor of Larkin's Collected Poems, Selected Letters and Further Requirements, talks about his edition of Larkin's letters to Monica Jones, the poet's intimate friend for three decades. Full of wit and humour, these letters chronicle the poet's life and attitudes more closely and frankly than anything else we have.

James Booth - Philip Larkin: Life or Art?

Wednesday 24 November, 6.00 pm
Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, University of Hull
FREE
Booking: 01482 462045

In an early letter Larkin wrote 'in my character there is an antipathy between 'art' and 'life.'  James Booth explores the poet's struggle to reconcile the demands of the social world with his devotion to poetry.

Professor James Booth has published a number of critical works on Larkin's poetry and prose, and is literary advisor to the Philip Larkin Society.

Carol Rumens - Larkin: The End of the Line

PLEASE NOTE THAT, OWING TO THE SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS, THIS LECTURE IS NOW CANCELLED.

The Annual English Lecture
Thursday 2 December, 6.00 pm
Middleton Hall, Hull Campus, University of Hull
FREE
Booking: 01482 462045

In the final lecture of the series, Carol Rumens considers musicality in poetry and specifically in that of Larkin. She goes on to discuss the ways in which melody is still relevant to 21st century poetry, and attempts to trace those under-noticed writers who continue in what might broadly be called the lyric tradition.


Carol Rumens is Visiting Professor of Poetry at the University of Hull. She has published full-length collections of poetry, and has won various awards, including the Alice Hunt Barlett Prize (with Thomas McCarthy), a Cholmondeley Award and the Prudence Farmer Prize.


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Beverley Literature Festival :

Tuesday 5 October
Larkin Readers' Group with Nigel Forde

Education Room, Treasure House, 11.30- 1.00 pm
FREE
Join the poet Nigel Forde for a detailed discussion of Philip Larkin's The Less Deceived. To get the most from this session, read the collection in advance and come prepared to share your thoughts about it.

Friday 8 October
Larkin Readers' Group with Nigel Forde
Education Room, Treasure House, 11.30 - 1.00 pm
FREE
The second of the Festival's sessions celebrating the work of Philip Larkin. Join the poetry Nigel Forde for a detailed discussionof Larkin's Whitsun Weddings. To get the most from this session, read the collection beforehand and come prepared to share your thoughts about it.


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Walking Tour: A city of '... domes and statues, spires and cranes'

Enjoy a fascinating walking tour by award winning guide Paul Schofield.  Find out more about Larkin's relationship with the city, illustrated through his poems and snippets of his life, all against the backdrop of Hull's historic Old Town and city centre. Beginning at the Royal Hotel, this engaging walk ends at the Larkinalia exhibition in the Georgian Houses.

"It was thoroughly enjoyable" - group from Unversity of Hull

£3 per person, minimum 10 people per tour, group bookings only.
To book: 01482 878535, schopaul@hotmail.com

A Colloquy of Poets

Philip Larkin Centre for Poetry and Creative Writing
Saturday 13 - Sunday 14 November
Information and Booking 01482 462045
tickets@hull.ac.uk

The Philip Larkin Centre for Poetry and Creative Writing builds on the University's long association with the great poet Philip Larkin among a fabulous rosta of poets through the ages, to bring ten top poets to the city to examine how 21st century poetry is shifting forward in all its forms.

As part of its contribution to the Larkin25 programme, the centre presents A Colloquy of Poets - a meeting ground for experimental and lyric poets, led by leading experimental poet, Tony Lopez, and Philip Gross, the current winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, Britain's most prestigious poetry award. Tony and Philip are each inviting four leading poets, bring together: Matthew Welton, Denise Riley, Kelvin Corcoran, Zoe Skoulding, John Burnside, Carol Watts, Susan Wicks and Daljit Nagra. The colloquy will include a sharing of material that has been important to these writers on their own continuing journeys,

The weekend includes two public readings (Saturday early evening and Sunday late morning) in which each poet will debut a work newly written for the occasion. 

To see the full programme, please visit the University of Hull website.