Celebration of a Life
Our patron, the poet and Friend, UA Fanthorpe, died on April 28 09.
As her publisher at Peterloo, Harry Chambers, writes in The Guardian, “UA was a totally original poet who could make you both laugh and cry – sometimes in the same poem… The fact that UA was thought “accessible” didn’t ever mean that she was “cosy”. Like Larkin’s, her poems often nudged the reader from comfort… her poetry aligns itself with the marginalised, the voiceless, the dispossessed.”
QCA would like to single out The Beasts as a good example of what Harry says. There is no comfort here for a reader sensitive to the cruelty inflicted by humankind on all other species.
From me to you: love poems by UA Fanthorpe and RV Bailey is her last work. As Trish Carn, who reviewed the collection with great pleasure in The Friend writes: “RV Bailey and UA Fanthorpe have not let us know who wrote which poem, but the love between them is evident.”
QCA will greatly miss the kind support of UA and send our very best wishes to Rosie. We are holding you in the Light.
…We sit by books in the lamplight
Importunate nondescript dog and cat
Surround us warmly…