And so the sun sets on Aldeburgh for another year and we say goodbye to the Festival until 2010. Among the sessions I caught this Sunday was the Fantasy Festival looking at all the poets who had been approached to attend the festival, since it started in 1989 but who – for a variety of reasons – never made the trip. Aided and abetted by some rare video and audio footage, Naomi Jaffa, Michael Laskey and Dean Parkin filled in some of the gaps. Although ill-health and frailty (in some instances followed by death) and a fear of flying/dislike of travel were the most frequent explanations, we did also have such classics as: the poet who seriously believed he already performed at Aldeburgh once and didn't want to come again – he had but that had been for the entirely separate Aldeburgh Music Festival. The poet who was frightened his ex-wife would hunt him down there. And the poet whose backstage rider included copious supplies of a white powder normally inhaled up the nose. But, at least we now know the author of the line "If I were a voting man, I'd vote for you" – its from Days of Pie & Coffee by James Tate, another American poet who looks like he'll never make it to Suffolk.
However, my favourite event of the day was the last of the Close Readings (sponsored by Ink Sweat & Tears – hey, that's us, hooray) when Roger Robinson gave his analysis of Robert Hayden's poem Those Winter Sundays. Without doubt this must have been one of the most energetic and enthusiastic readings Aldeburgh has ever seen, a veritable masterclass that ran for double its length and concluded with Roger fielding questions from the audience like the most popular creative writer tutor in town. I've now ordered all his books.
