We’re taking our new book A Joy Forever: a walk out with John Keats on tour.
As well as the title of our book, A Joy Forever is the name of our Keats-themed reading series in which we take a playful and social approach to the life and writing of the poet. We’ve performed at Keats House in Hampstead, the Keats Shelley House in Rome and other literary festivals round the UK, each time taking a different route through the poems, letters, biography and history. Our new show for 2022 focuses on Keats’ relationships with his friends and peers. While our secret rhyming shorthand for the show might be ‘Keats Meets’, officially, it’s …
A Joy Forever: Keats, Wordsworth and other loaded encounters
In 1818, John Keats set out on a walking tour of the Lake District and Scotland. He called in at Wordsworth’s house, but missed him by a whisker: the elder poet was out for the day.
Keats’ missed meeting with Wordsworth is the starting point for a session of lively chat about the gatherings, get-togethers and chance encounters that kept the Romantics’ circle spinning. Expect reading and conversation, old and new poems, games and giveaways.
Our job for the summer is to read, research and select the best poems, extracts and anecdotes to tell this story. Meanwhile, here’s where you’ll be able to find us:
Rydal Mount, Lake District – Saturday 13 August, 3pm
Hastings Literary Festival – Sunday 18 September, 2pm
Keats House, London – Thursday 27 October, 7pm
Keats House, London – writing workshop, date tbc, October
