I have to say that I am absolutely delighted to be able to share with you the rather gorgeous and beautiful and literally brilliant, Lumière, Sue Burge’s astonishingly fine pamphlet that celebrated her time in Paris.
Sue is a special poet, and to coincide with our celebration of this fine collection of poetry, Sue, along with David Leo Sirois and Paul Stephenson, are holding an evening of Parisian poetic delights on the 10th of March 2021 at 7pm (GMT)
You can contact Sue to receive the Zoom link and/or sign-up to read, full details here:
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You can order signed copies of Lumière direct from Sue Burge HERE
“In her debut pamphlet, Sue Burge has captured the very essence of a Parisian dream. A residency in Paris allowed Sue the time to immerse herself both in the culture and the history of film centred in the City of Light, a passion for the cinema which she brings to life in Lumière.
Throughout Lumière Sue displays a unique and authentic voice, weaving a rich tapestry of emotions and unveiling an unflinching perspective. This is a confident and immensely impressive collection with an underlying humanity that richly rewards the reader and leaves you wondering what she will do next.”
“Sue Burge’s Lumière is wonderfully at ease in its own skin in its evocation of Paris and she carries her knowledge of French cinema brilliantly and yet lightly.”
– Penelope Shuttle
About Sue Burge
Sue Burge is a North Norfolk based poet. She has been a freelance creative writing and film studies tutor and writing mentor since 2007. Previously, Sue taught English, literature, cultural studies, film and creative writing for over twenty years at the University of East Anglia. A fully qualified teacher, Sue has taught a wide range of groups both in the UK and abroad. She was an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing for the Open University for many years, the Education Officer for King’s Lynn Community Cinema Club for seven years and was a regular tutor for the WEA (Workers Education Association). She created and taught intensive short courses on film for the Picturehouse Cinema in Cambridge, Cinema City in Norwich, the University of Zurich and the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterhur, Switzerland for many years.
Sue runs a wide variety of writing courses in East Anglia. Many are special one-day pop-ups in interesting venues (Cambridge Botanic Gardens, The Fitzwilliam Museum, King’s Lynn Ferry, The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Holkham Hall). Face-to-face courses, workshops and retreats are also on offer. Sue also has a popular international course by e-mail subscription, The Writing Cloud, where you can sign up for monthly prompts and feedback. She is an experienced mentor and has brought many interesting writing projects to fruition.
Although she has had short stories published, Sue is primarily a poet and her poetry can be found in a wide range of magazines and anthologies. Her first collection, In The Kingdom of the Shadows, was published in 2018 by Live Canon. Thanks to the generosity of the Arts Council, Sue was able to spend time in Paris in 2016 where she created a body of work exploring her personal relationship with Paris, as well as its cinematic and literary legacy. The resulting pamphlet Lumière, is now available from Hedgehog Press. You can find out more about Sue’s publications here.
Sue regularly blogs about her travels, projects and encounters at Poet by the Sea — cinema, poetry, café culture and all things watery.
Sue was a regular review writer for the Eastern Daily Press on events during the King’s Lynn Festival and is a Professional Member of the National Association of Writers in Education(NAWE). She is on the editorial board of NAWE’s Writing in Education magazine.
Product details
- ISBN-10 : 1999640268
- Paperback : 40 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1999640262
- Product Dimensions : 14.81 x 0.25 x 21.01 cm
- Order Signed Copies direct from Sue Burge HERE
I asked Sue some horrendously impertinent questions..
1. What was the inspiration for the collection and how long did it take to come together?
“Around ten years ago I started teaching film studies for Cinema City, the wonderful indie cinema in Norwich. The Education Manager asked if I would do a day on films set in Paris as part of their Cinema Cities series. It was as simple as that. An obsession was born. My degree was in French language, literature and linguistics and I’d lived in Paris on and off in my late teens, early twenties. I applied for an Arts Council grant to write a collection of poetry which focused on films set in Paris and took myself off on a six-week residency. I was so excited that I wrote “Blue” in the Channel Tunnel before I’d even set foot on French soil. I spent hours walking the streets, notebook in hand. I Discovered a wonderful company which did cinema walks around Paris, I visited locations and the sites of old studios, watched dozens and dozens of films, read dozens of books and wrote at least three poems a week. My first stint was five weeks in a gorgeous flat with plenty of space for me to spread page after page of the book. I went back for a week right at the end of the grant to tie up some loose ends and stayed in a tiny “chambre de bonne” (maid’s room). It took around two years to put the collection together but every moment was a delight.”
2. How did you get involved with writing poetry – is there a ‘literary tradition’ in your family?
“My mother loved reading and I was a voracious reader from as far back as I can remember, I even had a part-time job in the local children’s library when I was thirteen! My dad doesn’t really read much, he was a boatbuilder and lives through his hands rather than his mind. I wrote from a very young age, poems, novels, short stories. I’m not really sure what the impetus was and why I so wanted to write. Life got in the way a bit when I was in my thirties, but in the last twenty years I haven’t really stopped writing. I’m quite pleased that I don’t come from a literary family. My childhood was very character building in so many other ways!”
3. Are you a ‘researcher’ or is your work more imagination-driven?
“Both! I love engaging imaginatively with fact. For “Lumiere” I undertook some quite strange “research” as well as conventional academic research. I wanted to really immerse myself in cinematic experience. Even though I had already written the poem “Blue”, which was inspired by Krzysztof Kieślowski’s three colours trilogy, I felt I had to go to the pool where Juliette Binoche swam in the film. I made a few changes to the poem after that. For “Audrey Hepburn in Paris” I went on a three-hour chocolate tasting tour and made notes on each taste. I stood on the bridge over the Canal St Martin which features in several films and just wrote as the world passed by. I find writing in cafes very stimulating and, of course, Parisian cafes are very much part of the literary and cinematic tradition and helped my immersive research considerably. I could write a whole book on the background to “Lumiere”, it was such a privilege from start to finish.”
4. Tell us something about the book that nobody has mentioned that they have noticed yet
“The first and last poems in the book are translated by Gerard Noyau and, although he is credited, probably no-one knows that he is the son of a Mauritian surrealist poet (Rene Noyau). Gerard is bringing out a bi-lingual collection of his father’s work with Two Rivers Press this year.”
5. What is the best comment about the book that you have heard or read?
“Quite a few people have said that they felt transported to Paris by the book, which is lovely. I think that due to my immersion in Paris during the main year of writing the volume, and many subsequent visits, I did have a very authentic experience, which is transmitted in the book. One reader said, “Totally fell in love with this, brought every memory of Paris back. (first went there in 47) and much much more! Wonderful poetry wonderful insights.”