The Orange and other poems by Wendy Cope | Hay Festival Book Club JANUARY 2024

[@jonharrison9222]

It takes intelligence to master the art of compression; readability is intelligence purified. Especially loved the uncollected Strugnell sonnets and Naga-Uta in the Collected Poems. I’ve taken up Wendy’s recommendation for the thriller writer Joseph Kanon - and very glad I did.

[@AnnaMaledonPictureBookAuthor]

That was lovely! It's not a bad time to be a poet, some poets are crashing it. I feel like it is a bit fashionable now to read poetry, and even though I'm not a fan of social media, it does help to sell poetry, even bad poetry is selling and in big numbers. I write poetry too so I'm fully aware what sells on amazon. Wendy said in an interview that the first book she fell in love with was Winnie-the-Pooh. I think it's the same for me. I adored it and still do. I'm reading A.A.Milne's biography and was shocked at some reviews. Some critics hated it and in those time critics were really pretty awful. You can dislike something, but you have to be mindful and reasonable, but they were just terribly mean, instead of just being critical.

[@majaeilish9652]

❤