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Poetry Pleases for Sounds Right Consultant!

 

Prize winning Writer and Sounds Right Consultant Don Nixon has again met with international critical acclaim

Don recently returned from Lake Orta where he was awarded first prize in the formal category of Poems.  The festival's patron Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy calls it the best and the smallest Poetry festival in world. It has the advantage of a wonderful, magical setting Orta which is on Lake Orta is the smallest of the North Italian alpine lakes, most of the buildings are 17th century or earlier and many are covered with Frescoes. The competition is an annual event and this was the tenth year of the festival. Behind the Orta town, stand a mountain, the Sacro Monte, which is a world heritage site and in the woods at the top there are about 18 chapels, highly decorated, dating from the 17th century and a place of pilgrimage. In previous years the poets  walked from chapel to chapel reading  poems at each one.

About 60 poets mostly from Europe attended all of whom had to have had  a body of work behind them and to have won or been short-listed in the Competition during the last ten years. All prize winners had to read their poems in front of Carol Ann Duffy  "'Reading your poems in front of her is quite an experience "said Don. To Don's surprise two of his poems were awarded first prize which has never happened before.  One was read at the awards ceremony and and one is published in Orbis. a prestigious quarterly international Poetry journal whose editor attended the festival Some leading Italian poets were there reading in translation and Italian.

 

The awards ceremony was held in the 16th century hall of a mansion on the island. The winners and the short-listed read their poems and were given certificates` by the British Consul General in Milan who also writes and is a great supporter of the festival. At the end Carol Ann Duffy read some of her work.

 

The prize winners received a bowl made out of polished stainless steel. It was specially designed by an artist for the Alessi company and the designer was there and spoke about how he had come to that design.

 

At the moment Don has been short-listed for a poem fo the Leeds Peace Poetry Prize and the winners will be announced at the end of the month so he is keeping his fingers crossed. Yet Poetry is Don's second writing string. Writing fiction is his first love and he has just been informed that his first attempt at a Science Fiction story has been accepted for publication. He has also recently had a crime short story published in the `Someone Has To Die` crime anthology (Spikethecat Press).

 

So, Competitions are good for the soul and young people in belonging to schools and youth groups in the Diocese of Lichfield will benefit from Don's experience and talent as he will be one of the senior adjudicators for 'SoapBox', the Public Speaking Competition launched by Sounds Right and the Diocesan Board of Education. (Details to appear shortly) Don notes that there is a strong link between the development of Oral Skills and literacy and many children having difficulties with literacy are often greatly helped by the development of their speaking skills. Even in this electronic age Speech is the basic tool of communication.   So Don will be helping us to find prize winners for a change!