2009 23rdJanuary Members’ Read-around and Get-together   A Winter Warm up. Bring some food and a couple of short poems to read – your own, or someone else’s. 27th February 3 Members Reading Night – LPS POETS give us their works.  David Bircumshaw, Gisela Hoyle, Huw Watkins, 6th March Wendy Cope – “Two Cures For Love” - at the Richard Attenborough Centre Don’t miss this chance to spend an evening with one of the country’s most widely-read and best-loved poet's slightly seditious and totally frank sessions on the subject of men and other unsatisfactory elements in day-to-day life.  £15 (£13 concessions)  Special price for LPS Members £10. 20th March   John Lucas leads the LPS annual discussion of the 6 poems that were short listed  for the most recent Forward Prize, Best Single Poem. The poems are: "Wanton" by Christopher Buehlman; "Cutaways" by Seamus Heaney; "Campaign Desk,December 1821" by Catherine Ormell;  "Love Poem for Natalie ‘Tusja’ Beridze" by Don Patersoni; "Wells-next-the-Sea"  by Kate Rhodes; and "Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn" by Tim Turnbull.     3rd April Philip Gross Professor of Creative Writing at Glamorgan University, Philip Gross is  an author for adults and children, a writer of novels, plays, short stories, opera libretti and, of course, poetry. He has a number of highly acclaimed collections of poetry including Mappa Mundi, The Eggs of Zero and the Water Table. Come along and discover him! 8th May G S Fraser Lecture – Anthony Mellors - Canon and Voice in British and American Poetry at the University of Leicester, Ken Edwards Building, Lecture Room 3 Dr Anthony Mellors is Research Fellow in English at Birmingham City University and is the author of Late Modernist Poetics (from Pound to Prynne) and has written numerous articles on twentieth-century poetry. He is the editor of fragmente: a magazine of contemporary poetics and his poetry has been widely published in the UK and Europe.   22nd May Open Voice – LPS spoken word Bring along your poems to read at an open voice evening. Everyone gets a chance for 5 to 15 minutes, depending on how many poets come. Sonnet or Song, Limerick or Lyric, Ode or Oddity, Rant or Rap (but no Sagas, please), all styles are welcome.  Everyone gets applause, so don’t be shy! No prizes! Being there is enough.   12th June Alison Flett was born and bred in Edinburgh but has been living in Orkney for the past nine years. She won the Belmont Prize for children's poetry in 2002 and was short listed for the 2004 Scotsman/Orange short story award. Her collection of poetry Whit Lassyz Ur Inty (Argyll Press, 2005) was short listed for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. Her story Here He Comes won the Hi-Arts short story competition 2007.   26th June Picnic and Poetry in the Park at Belgrave Gardens  Saturday 27th June 2.00.p.m. to 4.00.p.m. Belgrave Hall Gardens