The Albert PoetsThe Albert Hotel, next to Huddersfield Central Library, is where we always went after our poetry workshop on a Monday. In December 1993 John Bosley, Stephanie Bowgett, John Duffy and Phil Foster (pictured right - Phil and Steph at the top, John Duffy in striped shirt next to John Bosley) read their poems in the back room and named themselves the Albert Poets. The readings then continued with hundreds of performers over the years: always on the second Thursday of the month, because that was the day the landlady said we could have.
The aim was to provide poetry readings in Huddersfield so that emerging writers could share a platform with more experienced poets. Naming a few of them is hard because there were so many. They include Simon Armitage (who called our first publication 'a heady brew'); and Ian McMillan, who named Huddersfield 'poetry capital of the North'.
The Albert Poets went on to perform all over the place. They appeared on television (Calendar) and Radio 4 (Kaleidoscope), and were reported widely in the Daily Telegraph and in the Huddersfield Examiner. They also published four anthologies by poets who had read in the Albert.
As time went by, the reins were taken over by other poetry stalwarts who then faced the problem of repeated pub closures. Readings continue on the second Thursday of the month, as usual. The Albert has reopened, and we hope it will stay in business for the foreseeable future: future readings will be held there.
Further information from albertpoets@live.co.uk
John Bosley