this came yesterday. It is a wonderful and well deserved appointment for Dr. Jim Bennett. The head of my poetry workgroup.


in august 2005 Jim Bennett will be taking up post for two years as port of Liverpool poet in residence under the auspices of world heritage historic waterfronts and land falls group. Part of his duties will be to hold readings and workshops on the subject of the historic waterfront and to produce a " poetry sculpture" which will be exhibited at the pier head during 2008 when Liverpool will become the European capital of culture.

from October 2005 until July 2006 Jim will also serve as visiting writer for new York harbor. The intention is to tie these two places together in a book which will be written and collated by Jim and published together with drawings and photographs of new York harbor and Liverpool water front.

Alex Simons of world heritage said " combining these two posts presents an exciting artistic opportunity. We are sure that a poet of jim's ability will produce a piece of work which will be outstanding and present a real contribution to the cultural links between these two great harbor cities."

between 1996 and 1998 Jim Bennett was poet in residence for the Seaside Heritage Trust and as a result produced an acclaimed collection of poems published as "Drums at New Brighton" ( starwood 1998 ) he was born in Liverpool and lives only five minutes drive from the city centre. He teaches at the University of Liverpool and for the WEA and is managing editor of the internet site "the poetry kit" and he is known internationally as a prize winning poet and performer. His book of poetry "the man who tried to hug clouds" (bluechrome 2004 reprinted 2005 ) won the prize for the best poetry book 2004 at the Berlin festival. Jim has won three DADA fest awards for performance and has twice won the BEAT festival award for poetry.

jim's site, http://www.poetrykit.org/jim