Friday, November 17, 2006

Shedman - garden office poetry

Plenty of famous writers have put pen to paper in sheds, but far fewer have made a career out of writing about them. Blazing the trail is Shedman, otherwise known as Brighton-based writer and poet John Davies whose marvellous work is featured on a regular basis in The Shed magazine.

“I am fascinated by the tension and connections between two apparently separate categories the natural and the artificial,” says John, who has read his work at readings around the country and recently featured on BBC2’s Gardeners’ World as well as the book Shedmen. “Sheds are so like us, transient and fragile. They can represent a private space we all desire for work or play. They can be places of quiet contemplation. They can be the threshold to risk and adventure. Sheds offer a great way of networking across a community and of introducing people to poetry and literature indirectly in an enjoyable and intriguing way.”

John is now working on a book about the cultural history of sheds. “Although sheds are very much about an individual in a private space, they have an amazing ability to bring people together.”

For a free copy of The Shed - the bimonthly pdf magazine focusing on the lifestyles of shedworkers and homeworkers - containing examples of John's poems please email me here.

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