Polar Poets at Wrexham

Get this - the first ever Polar Poets gig is now booked!

We will appear at the Wrexham Science Festival in North Wales at 7.30pm on Friday 2nd July. If you're in that part of the world, do come and see us!

The Wrexham Festival is designed to make science accessible and exciting to all ages. Organisers want it to be “the highlight of the early summer calendar ... to have a fresh feel and encourage us all to investigate, enjoy, learn and re-think our ideas about science and technology."





Our Polar Poet event will address the Earth & the Universe theme and here's a flavour of what we'll offer:

Arctic-ulate is a multi-media show that interweaves poetry, storytelling, performance, monologue, music and Powerpoint images. It evokes the unique appeal of the Arctic, one of the planet’s last great wildernesses, and explores the science and heritage of this landscape, from ice-melt and the aurora borealis to indigenous peoples and European explorers.

Devised and performed by the Polar Poets, Siobhan Logan and Susan Richardson, it also highlights the fragility of the Arctic at a time of climate change and increasing industrialisation. We aim to entertain, to cast word spells, but also to encourage people to reflect on some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time.

So now we get to do the fun bit - organise a meet-up and start doing some rehearsing. Think polar skies and penguins, Saami music and saris, solar dust and Scott's Antarctic trek ... So many stories and images and sciencey bits - and now we get to play two voices off each other. I can't wait to start working on this new show, Arctic-ulate.

Watch this space to see how it's shaping up ...

Sub-arctic Day-dreams

Laid up with a hacking cough and cold, I am taking comfort today in my ICELAND brochure. Because we've just booked 5 days at Easter and I am so excited! We'll land in Reykjavik on Easter Sunday and then get to trek round the lava fields, hot springs and glacial landscapes of the South West - with an 'Iceland expert' in tow.

I got to meet a rep. from the 'Discover the World' company at my recent Northern Lights event and grabbed a copy of her brochure. So right now, I'm marvelling at their stunning photographs of exploding geysers, beaches tumbled with icebergs, cliff stacks pounded by sub-arctic seas. Ever since visiting arctic Norway, (see above) I've been longing to venture to another polar setting and Iceland, even below the arctic circle, is an enticing prospect. It's an otherworldly place and I'm hoping to catch the tail end of their winter.

So expect to hear more of my plans for this expedition over coming weeks. I also plan to post up a weblog while I'm out there - starting 5th April. Time to dig out those wonderful Viking sagas and do some fresh research on the landscapes, geology & culture of Iceland. Maybe even learn how to pronounce some of those fabulous nordic place names - Snaefellsnes - Grundarfjordur - Thingvellir.

I'm following in Susan's footsteps of course - having been inspired by her beautiful 'Gudrid' poems. And we are firming up plans right now that I hope will lead to a posting of our first ever Polar Poets gig. But for now, I'm just conjuring images of 'the land of Fire and Ice' as I sip on the honey and ginger hot lemon toddies.