The Alex Cluness Memorial Reading with Fiona Benson, Ann Gray, David Woolley and Alasdair Paterson at Exeter City Gate Hotel on Thursday 4th October 2018 at 7.30pm

Tonight’s reading celebrates the life and work of Alex Cluness, who died in Scotland earlier this year aged only 49. Alex was an arts administrator and poet whose collections include Mend, 2005, Disguise and Shetland and other poems. He co-founded Literature Works in the South West of England and through it the Exeter Poetry Festival itself, later developing such programmes as Writing Places, One Giant Read and National Memory Day, and setting up Young Writer Groups in more than 60 libraries; he was a prime mover in the project to save Charles Causley’s house and in the establishment of the Grassroots Literature Fund. Back in his native Shetland he worked as Shetland Arts’ first literature development officer, championed the Shetland dialect and later joined the Poetry Archive as a lead Archivist in creating a Scotland collection and archiving the 20 years of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.

The evening will feature readings from Fiona Benson and Ann Gray, with contributions from other South West poets who knew Alex: David Woolley and Alasdair Paterson. Some of Alex’s poetry will also be read. Prices are lowered for this event thanks to financial assistance from Literature Works. 

Event:   The Alex Cluness Memorial Reading
With:    Fiona Benson, Ann Gray, David Woolley and Alasdair Paterson
Date:     Thursday 4th October 2018
Time:    19.30
Price:    £3 (£2 concessions)
Tickets: Exeter Phoenix Box Office or on the door
Venue:   City Gate Hotel, Iron Bridge, Exeter, EX4 3RB
Map:      Location