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“No one in the North East has written and read and encouraged and organised so consistently and over so long a period as Keith Armstrong. His poetry is different, original, and politically exhilarating. It doesn't matter which way his poems are facing, or the subjects they address, it is recognisibly the same sensibility, each part of a unified whole, and unified by the same, strong identifiable voice.” ANDY CROFT

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˜There is an exciting sense of releasing the dreams and perceptions from the ˜wee corners” of his mind - and the result is the honesty, humanity, sharpness of vision and richness of humour which he makes available for readers to share” PROFESSOR HELEN WILCOX, HEAD OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN

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“Keith’s poems raised goose pimples but also thoughts about today’s culture.” PETER LEWIS, HEXHAM COURANT

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“Keith Armstrong made a splendid contribution to the success of this year's Festival. The audience was delighted with the programme. I had lots of enthusiastic feedback in the subsequent days.” GORDON PARSONS, PROGRAMME DIRECTOR, CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE

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“We love the way Keith puts feelings in all his poems.” CHILDREN FROM GILESGATE JUNIOR SCHOOL, DURHAM

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“I think it's an eye-opener that poetry can be fun. What time at the Irish Pub?” INGRID WOTTERBA, WESSEL GANSFORT COLLEGE, GRONINGEN

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“Keith's poetry is sometimes poignant, occasionally savage and always written from his own off-beat perspective.” LIN O'HARA, NORTHERN REVIEW

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“Keith is a noted Geordie wordsmith, a bloke whose musings were always radical, though of their place.” FOLK ROOTS MAGAZINE

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“A noble dissident.” POET BRENDAN CLEARY

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“A genial rogue.” COUNCILLOR KEN MANTON, DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL

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˜The British Council considers itself fortunate indeed to work in collaboration with Keith who has enabled those who have connections with the British Council to learn something of the local identity and heritage as well as the international dimension which Keith brings to his work.” JAN LONG, REGIONAL MANAGER, YORKSHIRE AND THE NORTH EAST, THE BRITISH COUNCIL

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“When all the rat-faced boys were snuffling at their mothers' paps, Keith Armstrong was hammering out his own particular brand of urban socialism, its roots embedded in Newcastle and his love-hate relationship with his home city. Keith is an enigma, a peripatetic people's poet, whose poems were firebrands that pointed the way for a whole generation of poets. Keith made a lot of things possible for myself and many others like me. I don’t mind admitting that without Keith I would have given up poetry as a waste of life years ago. Listen to the lilt of Keith's voice, it is the true voice of humanity from the pavement philosopher who has lost everything to the rake internationalist trawling the bars of Europe in search of poetry and love.” KEVIN CADWALLENDER, GENERAL EDITOR, SAND MAGAZINE

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˜There are those who tell the terrible truth in all its loveliness. Keith Armstrong is one of them, a fine poet who refuses to turn his back on the wretched of the Earth. He is one of the best and I hope his voice will be heard more and more widely.” Adrian Mitchell, Poet

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“Keith is a real artist.” MARGIT ALDINGER, CULTURAL OFFICE, TUEBINGEN

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“I'm told that if the Labour Party is looking for a wandering poet I must put Keith Armstrong top of the list.” TONY BLAIR

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“I don't think Keith is a person who is easily defeated through life as he is, by nature, a peacock which shows at times its beautiful feathers. It never goes unnoticed.” MARGARETHA DEN BROEDEN, POET

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“A Master Showman.” DR CHARLEY ROWE, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

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“Fortunately that evening people came and you were brilliant - this is not happening every day.' JAKUB ZAHRADNIK, POETRY CAFE OBRATNIK, PRAGUE

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“I wish the very honourable poet Mr Keith Armstrong good luck for all the seasons in his life and always a high inspiration for his poems.” JOCHEN FROM THE HOLDERLIN TOWER

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“Here's to Keith and all the aborigines!” ZENIDA MCDONALD

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“Keith is a very talented, inspirational and committed writer who contributes enormously to the promotion of Northumbrian culture - but also to the cause of poetry in general. His poems moved us with a gutsy pungent vigour which made us laugh - and think! However, he also made us brood, as for example in the moving tribute to lifeboat heroine Grace Darling.' SUZETTE HILL, FRIENDS OF THE DYMOCK POETS, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

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“Just a quick message to say how much I enjoyed your performance at Riverlines here in York. I had a great evening and it was refreshing to go to an event where there is some sort of coherent narrative running through it, rather than a series of unrelated verses. For once at a poetry reading, I didn't find myself drifting off out over the Ouse!' DAVID COOPER, LITERATURE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, YORK CITY COUNCIL

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“Jingling Geordie! Rising sun of the North. Poetry spins around him. He'll write it, read it, perform it, organise it, teach it and even drink with it! If he can still stand up after that, he'll publish it. When he performs with music clocks lose sense of time. A swashbuckling oxymoron with golden heart. See him, book him and buy his book.' TREV TEASDEL ,POET & CO-ORGANISER, WRITERS' CAFE, ARC, STOCKTON

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“Thank you so much for a fantastic night. Your set was brilliant and you were worth every penny.” PAUL WILLIAMS, WRITERS' CAFE, ARC, STOCKTON

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“We loved to have you. The response was very positive. Did you understand anything of the words Menno Wigman said to you? He said your poetry was very good! My friend Marcel voted for you!” HENRIETTE FAAS, CAFE ROYAL, DELFT

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“It really was such a lovely evening, wasn't it? I got such lovely feedback from so many of the people who came, all so glad they came. I still laugh when I think how you impersonated Swinburne, all little behind the lectern, so that all we could see was the very tippy top of your head. Probably the first ever funny impersonation of Swinburne. And the briefest. But I bet the best, too!' (MARY MANLEY, BARTER BOOKS, ALNWICK

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“A unique performance. A touch of class from Newcastle upon Tyne for the Unfringed Festival.” BARNEY SHEEHAN, THE WHITE HOUSE, LIMERICK, IRELAND

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“Keith Armstrong's 'Imagined Corners' is immediately touching. He is good at writing about sex and his night-out-on-the-lash poems strike a chord as well.” THE CRACK MAGAZINE, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

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“In another part of the field, another field, let's face it, sits Keith Armstrong's rakish gaff. (His) poems are rooted in the Tyneside music-hall tradition, closely behind which was the august balladry of the Borders. His is an unashamed bardic stance, actor rather than commentator. His politics are personal. Throughout the collection the authentic lyrical note of this northern poet is struck.” MICHAEL STANDEN, OTHER POETRY

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“Keith Armstrong is, as one of the poems attests, both happy and sad. He occupies that tormented space where most politicised optimists live; a land where hope and defeat, love and hate, beauty and pain co-exist relentlessly in an uneasy marriage.The poems read like postcards from an alternative grand tour, journal entries from another, more innocent, time, when the world spun more slowly and we had time to befriend strangers and notice things. There are echoes of Baudelaire, of Brecht, Byron and Shelley in some of the poems. Sometimes nostalgic, poignant reflections on love, friendship and identity; sometimes the lament of the defeated. Other times, poems drip with the bellicose pride of the Jingling Geordie, ringing out like a challenge. This collection paints Armstrong as the maturing internationalist leafing through a cache of dusty photographs, celebrating people and places, a world of anecdote and adventure, strong drink and life itself. More importantly though, many of the poems in Imagined Corners reveal him as a subtle observer of beauty whether he chooses to do so from the position of global citizen, mourner, lover, friend or son.' PAUL SUMMERS, DREAM CATCHER

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“A lovely piece of work.” ALAN PLATER

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“Thank you so much for a wonderful performance of your work. I had so many positive responses from my German friends. The poems about Kitty and Newcastle were particularly poignant for me. What brilliant organisation and presentation on your part.' DAVID BIERMANN, STOCKACH, GERMANY

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“I've been reading Keith Armstrong's poems - I am impressed with their vitality, they leap up from the page.” GABRIEL GRIFFEN, LAKE ORTA POETRY FESTIVAL, ITALY

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“Thank you for making yesterday’s event at Amble Library a very enjoyable experience for all those who attended. Well after you left our readers discussed poetry amongst each other. I look forward to seeing you again in the future.” KAREN SUTCLIFFE, LIBRARY SUPERVISOR - NORTH GROUP, NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL