Digital Archives at SHC Queen's, Belfast

I was reading an interview with Miriam Gamble, over on Emerging Writer's blog, and Miriam mentioned that a good deal of her work is available to listen to at the The Seamus Heaney Centre Digital Archive at QUB. I know the person behind the establishment of this digital sound archive, Paul Maddern (from my time at QUB doing my Masters), as this mammoth project was his PhD.

Anyway, I had a good old browse and a listen to some of Miriam's work, which is really interesting and has earned her a good reputation.

I then wondered if there was any of my work on there, as I and Enda Coyle Greene had launched books in No Alibis bookshop (a great place to browse and buy books, as well as music and other events) back in March 2008. Well, I found a few (use the search facility and enter author's name) - a bit cringeworthy for me to listen to - but there they are in all their glory.

If you get a chance to browse this amazing digital archive, you won't be disappointed. In there you will find poets as diverse as Sinead Morrissey, Medbh McGuckian, Ciaran Carson, Michael Longley, Seamus Heaney (of course!) and many, many more. I was really tickled to see and hear Billy Collins' work on the website, as I actually attended this reading in Armagh in July 2008 (and wrote about it here), so it's nice to re-hear the work again.

There's a lot to be said for 'hearing' poetry - after all, it is an oral/aural art.