9am this morning I have a great meeting with Priya Nagda at the Café Nero near
Tottenham Court Road.  Priya is the assistant to Sophie Laurimore my agent at William Morris Associates and deals with all my live gigs and bookings. Our comparatively new relationship is working out well, we’re only three months into it.    

I then scoot around the corner to SOHO to meet Henry Normal one of british television most successful independent television producers. We are discussing 24 hour party people? – the question mark is important.  It’s an event of writers from Manchester that I am putting on at The South Bank on November 9^th.

Henry Normal is a poet, a millionaire poet at thatWe used to tour together – in less fiscally abundant days – with  guitarist and now lead singer of a band called I am Kloot, Johnny Bramwell, then called Johnny Dangerously. They were special days which Henry remembers with pleasure.  To now be sat with both the poet and film producer – he has made most of the hit Steve Coogan films – is a treat.

Henry was also the executive producer of the film 24 hour party people and sat with a very very nervous Anthony H Wilson and son  in their first viewing. These and many other stories ill be exclusively shared with the audience on that special evening at The South Bank. 9^th November at The South Bank.

I bike it past Trafalgar square to The South Bank to meet the quite amazing Gillian Moore OBE (Order of British Empire) who is head of music at The South Bank where I m putting together a book of poems by the writers who have come through the south bank in the year of my residency.  With regards to this  Gillian enlightens me to the fact that a lot of the classical music program at The South Bank involves poetry from the likes of Pablo Neruda,  Shakespeare, etc. We go
through the next few months classical music programme and highlight all of the
poetry and music collaborations which I will either go and see or research for their poems.   After this I reach

Jonathan Barker comes down to The South Bank. Jonathan is a literature department officer of The British Council and we discuss a residency at The University of California Los Angeles.  It’s an interesting offer. After this we become embroiled in a discussion about writers and Jonathon says “ all writers need to be heroically alone”.  It’s a beautiful encapsulating description of the writer and his or her work.  The day ends in blazing sunshine and I bike it home. All writers need to be heroically alone.  There’s a thing.