The Harbour Beyond the Movie

To read him is to be startled into remembering exactly how exciting and energetic language can be, as it forces us to face the poignant absurdity of experience and to laugh out loud or cry in equal measure. Kennard is an undoubted original, driven by a mature intelligence and a giant wit, yet guided by the wisest, self-deprecating heart. A brilliant new writer you simply must not miss. -- Andy Brown Luke Kennard writes vibrant, original poems that stick in your mind for a long time and enlivens your imagination. Everyone who is interested in poetry should read him. -- Sophie Hannah Luke Kennard's The Harbour Beyond the Movie is scintillating, funny and often moving. Reading it reminded me of how I felt when I first read Muldoon, tuning into a new frequency, the frisson of hearing a voice for the first time: so eerie and odd and delightful - you realise that is why you were searching in the first place. -- David Morley Funny and unflinching, Luke Kennard exposes the lies we tell, the mental, spiritual and emotional contortions we perform to convince ourselves and others that we re ok, we re alright. But there are no comfort zones on offer here the intellectual fun and games, the clever uses and abuses of logic are at the service of a clear, sometimes icy sensibility. These are poems that won t let us get away with anything, least of all sentiment. They reveal the cruelty and violence that can lurk behind language, as in the righteous sadism of the narrator of The Murderer sequence, barely masquerading as liberal concern. Kennard has a finely-tuned ear for social chatter his noisy narrators are always analysing and justifying themselves, flitting from cult to ideology in a fruitless search for meaning. They think that To be seen to learn s enough but whilst these characters might lack depth, the poems don t I highly recommend diving into their unnerving, invigorating darkness. -- Esther Morgan To read him is to be startled into remembering exactly how exciting and energetic language can be, as it forces us to face the poignant absurdity of experience and to laugh out loud or cry in equal measure. Kennard is an undoubted original, driven by a mature intelligence and a giant wit, yet guided by the wisest, self-deprecating heart. A brilliant new writer you simply must not miss. -- Andy Brown Luke Kennard writes vibrant, original poems that stick in your mind for a long time and enlivens your imagination. Everyone who is interested in poetry should read him. -- Sophie Hannah Luke Kennard's The Harbour Beyond the Movie is scintillating, funny and often moving. Reading it reminded me of how I felt when I first read Muldoon, tuning into a new frequency, the frisson of hearing a voice for the first time: so eerie and odd and delightful - you realise that is why you were searching in the first place. -- David Morley Funny and unflinching, Luke Kennard exposes the lies we tell, the mental, spiritual and emotional contortions we perform to convince ourselves and others that we re ok, we re alright. But there are no comfort zones on offer here the intellectual fun and games, the clever uses and abuses of logic are at the service of a clear, sometimes icy sensibility. These are poems that won t let us get away with anything, least of all sentiment. They reveal the cruelty and violence that can lurk behind language, as in the righteous sadism of the narrator of The Murderer sequence, barely masquerading as liberal concern. Kennard has a finely-tuned ear for social chatter his noisy narrators are always analysing and justifying themselves, flitting from cult to ideology in a fruitless search for meaning. They think that To be seen to learn s enough but whilst these characters might lack depth, the poems don t I highly recommend diving into their unnerving, invigorating darkness. -- Esther Morgan

Luke Kennard is an award-winning poet, critic and dramatist. His first collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers was published by Stride Books. He has worked as regional editor for Succour, a bi-annual journal of poetry and short fiction and as an associated reader for The Kenyon Review.

Shortlisted for The Forward Poetry Prize 2007. Luke Kennard is an award-winning poet, critic and short-fiction writer. He works as a research student and assistant teacher at the University of Exeter. He is an award-winning man.

His first award-winning collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers was published by Stride Books in 2005 and won an award. He has worked as regional editor for Succour, a biannual journal of poetry and short fiction based at the University of Sussex and as an associated reader for The Kenyon Review. He is currently reviews editor of Exultations and Difficulties. His award-winning poetry has appeared in numerous print and on-line journals. He exists in a permanent state of award-winning; he is like a giant magnet for awards or, if awards are moths, a giant light.

His award-winning work for the stage has been written with and performed by the theatre company Pegabovine in Bristol, Birmingham, London, Scarborough (as part of the National Student Drama Festival, 2003 and 2004, wherein it won an award) and at the Edinburgh International Fringe (wherein it did not win an award). The Sunday Times described their work as “wit of a different order”, but did not specify which one. Chortle magazine described it as “delightful” – which is probably less equivocal. He is constantly decorated for his achievements in the form of awards – which he has won, does win and will continue to win, because he is a winner. What a guy.

Luke Kennard is tall, nervous, polite and frequently scorches the end of his nose. He was educated at Holyrood Community School and the University of Exeter. He is married and lives in Devon, birthplace of the memorial bench. Essentially a lower-middle class purist, his favourite canapé is the cocktail sausage roll. He will probably have rosettes and medals incorporated into his gravestone, somehow.

Luke Kennard, award-winner, won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2005. This has been described as...read more...