Blake Morrison and The Hosepipe Band at Dunwich Reading Room
January 2026 saw the publication of Afterburn, a new collection of Blake’s poetry. This new collection forms the basis of our 2026 shows.
In Afterburn, his first collection since Shingle Street (2015), Blake Morrison returns to poetry, his first calling, to offer scenes from his own life and the lives of others. In psychology, ‘afterburn’ refers to the period of time before a past event is assimilated: an idea that resonates through these poems – which themselves linger after reading – about memories and our human attempts to articulate, shape or contain them.
Inspired by this collection, members of the Hosepipe Band have composed original music to accompany a selection of poems from the collection. A full-length recording of these poems is now available from this website and at live performances – see below.
Four sample tracks with the poems are read by Blake with accompaniment by the Hosepipe Band.
• The Ballad Of Shingle Street (Music by Cara Bruns)
• Covehithe (Music by Peter Nice)
• Flotsam (Music by Val Woollard)
• Dunwich (Music by Simon Haines)
This video combines Cara Brun’s music with Blake’s reading extracts from his poem against a backdrop of the strange and background of Shingle Street beach on the Suffolk coast.
PERFORMANCES
2026
• June 26 Felixstowe Book Festival
• July 12 Walpole Old Chapel
• August 20 Folk East Festival TBC
Previous performances
2025
• February 25 Darsham
• March 28 Trimley – Two Sisters Arts Centre
• July 23 Long Melford Church – Lunch time concert
• November 29 Wymondham Words Festival
2024
• June 23 Southwold Arts Festival
• June 29 Felixstowe Book Festival
• September 21 Dunwich Reading Room
• October 16 Blackheath Halls
• October 26 Westleton Village Hall
• November 8 Aldburgh Poetry Festival
2023
• March 1 Blackheath Halls
• March 17 Corn Hall, Diss
• April 21 Two Sisters Arts Centre, Trimley
• May 20 Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh
• July 28 Wivenhoe Music
• July 29 Walpole Old Chapel
• August 19 Folk East Festival
• Sept. 30 Laxfield Village Hall
• November 22 Cecil Sharp House, London
2022
• June 1 Essex Book Festival – The Electric Palace, Harwich
• June 26 Felixstowe Book Festival – at Harvest House, Felixstowe
• July 1 John Mills Theatre, Ipswich
• July 9 Dunwich Museum
• July 28 Colchester Arts Centre
• October 15 Wingfield Barns
The recording is available, in a two-CD digipak format from this website and from the band at the live performances.
CD 1 Blake Morrison reads his poems with musical accompaniment.
CD 2 The music composed and played by The Hosepipe Band
Buy this recording here.
Blake Morrison’s writing
Poetry
• The Dark Glasses
• The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper and Other Poems
• Pendle Witches
• Selected Poems
• Shingle Street
• Skin and Blister
• Never the Right Time
Prose works
• And When Did You Last See Your Father?
• Things My Mother Never Told Me
• As If
• The Executor
• The Justification of Johann Gutenberg
• The Last Weekend
• South Of The River
• Two Sisters
More information about Blake Morrison
• His website
• Wikipedia
Print and Kindle versions of Shingle Street are available from Amazon
Contact
for enquiries about bookings or the recording,
• email: simonhaines1@icloud.com
• phone: 07818 417780