guns, kalashnikov, poets, weapons
In poetry, topical, writing on November 14, 2009 at 11:14 am
It was the ninetieth birthday of Mikhail Kalashnikov last week and there was a reception at the Kremlin to honour the occasion.
Perhaps this isn’t the sort of story you’d expect to read here on a blog for writers. After all, the name Kalashnikov is mainly associated with the AK-47 assault rifle, a weapon which is definitely mightier than the sword and is said to be responsible for more deaths than the Hiroshima atom bomb.
Apparently, though, at the Kremlin reception, Kalashnikov recited a patriotic poem he had written. And he’s quoted as having told reporters:
“I wrote poetry in my youth, and people thought I would become a poet.
BBC, Don Paterson, Forward Prize, NanoWrimo, nation's favourite poet, National Poetry Day, National Poetry Month, Script Frenzy, T S Eliot
In creative writing, poetry, topical, writing on October 8, 2009 at 8:17 am
One problem with the Internet is how it emphasises the fact that what is a “national” day for one person is often something else entirely for other people.
The United States tends to dominate the web, so many of the internationally recognised activities and celebrations originate there. In November each year, there’s National Novel Writing Month where participants aim to write a complete 50,000 word novel in a month. Then April is both the month of Script Frenzy and National Poetry Month. The latter includes many suggested activities, one being that some poets try and produce a new work each day of the month.
Back in the UK, though, we celebrate National Poetry Day today, on October 8th. This year, the theme is “Heroes and Heroines”.
dictionaries, information, reference
In books, language, on-line resources, words, writing on September 24, 2009 at 11:17 am
Last Friday was the 300th anniversary of Samuel Johnson’s birth. He was the man behind the the authoritative Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755, which listed 40,000 words and took eight years to compile.
Most of the articles celebrating the anniversary (see the BBC account here) managed to find room for a few of the definitions that Johnson included, perhaps the most famous being, “Oats: a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.”
Of course now internet access is so easy, printed dictionaries are less and less common, so I’ll take this opportunity to make a note of a few useful websites:
