Christopher Reid: Six Bad Poets

Costa Award-winning poet Christopher Reid's CV includes the roles of anthologist, editor, publisher and even academic so there are few people better-placed to turn their satirical eye on the world of contemporary poetry - its ambitions, vanities and rivalries. His new book 'Six Bad Poets' charts the criss-crossing fates of six protagonists, all trying to make, cling on to, or re-establish their reputations on London's literary scene. Reid tells their tale in six parts - each of six sestinas - itself a six-times-six verse form. Charles Prime, Antonia Candling, Jonathan Wilderness, Derek Dufton, Jane Steep and Bryony Butters - six recognisable character types, all exhibiting signs of recklessness and fecklessness, finding themselves in exquisitely awkward situations that Reid works into a highly enjoyable farce-in-verse. Part two of this extended interview can be found here: http://snd.sc/1hYHBdd.