Welcome
Welcome to the website of the Norman Nicholson Society. The site aims to provide information about Nicholson and his work and encourage the study and enjoyment of this remarkable man's writings. Here you will also find information about the NN Society which holds regular events and publishes the newsletter Comet. The Society is based in Millom, on the banks of the River Duddon and in the shadow of Black Combe, and has a worldwide membership.
MembershipNew members of the Norman Nicholson Society are warmly welcomed. Membership fees are £15 per annum or £20 for a couple living at the same address, and £6 youth membership (up to age 25). Check out benefits of membership here, including how to access the Members' exclusive area of this website. Please contact us via the Contact page.
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Norman Nicholson
Norman Nicholson was born in Millom, Cumbria, in 1914 and lived there until his death in 1987 with the exception of two years in his late teens when he was sent to a sanatorium in Hampshire to recover from tuberculosis - an event which shaped his subsequent life. His writing career lasted from 1930 until his death and embraced plays, poetry, novels, criticism and essays. He is best known for his poetry and was awarded the Queen's Medal for Poetry in 1977 and the OBE in 1981.
Read an appreciation of Norman Nicholson by Fran Baker, former archivist at the John Rylands University of Manchester Library, HERE. Most frequently-asked question: Where can I get hold of Nicholson's work? The Greetings shop, 26 Lapstone Road, Millom LA18 4BU, has a range of Nicholson books in stock. Or try Faber & Faber HERE or Amazon HERE, or click HERE for links to Nicholson's poems online. |
LATEST NEWS
'An exciting and important project'
The Mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie has described our Nicholson Trails App as 'an exciting and important project for the Millom community.' Mike's very encouraging comment came as Copeland Borough Council issued a news release today, confirming funding for the project. Construction of the app is well under way and we expect to launch it in the New Year. See full statement here.
posted 17/11/20
posted 17/11/20
'I cannot imagine a more important cultural step'
Our project to buy Norman Nicholson's house and turn it into a genuine community asset has received a wonderful endorsement from the director of the Brantwood Trust, the organisation which looks after John Ruskin's house overlooking Coniston. Howard Hull has contacted us to say: 'I cannot imagine a more important cultural step for Cumbria or a greater joy for Millom than that Nicholson’s legacy should be fully celebrated in the very building which was so much a part of his life. As the Director of the home of one of Cumbria’s other great cultural figures, John Ruskin, I know how powerful and important is the influence of the actual dwelling of a great writer'. Thank you Howard, your backing means a lot.
You can read more about the project at www.normannicholsonhouse.co.uk
posted 9/11/20
You can read more about the project at www.normannicholsonhouse.co.uk
posted 9/11/20
'When the sea's to the west...'
Norman's poem 'Sea to the West' was celebrated in unusual style yesterday on Haverigg beach. The Re Drift local artists' collective, led by Irene Rogan, set out to mark Nicholson's environmental poetry while exploring tidal flows and rhythms of the sea. The project, supported by the Arts Council, involved writing lines from the poem in the sand before the natural motion of the tide reclaimed the words. Pictures by Stephen Leece.
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posted 24/10/20
Homage to Cumbria in the New York Times
In 1984 the New York Times published an article by Norman Nicholson introducing the Lake District to its readers. It is a lovely piece, down to earth and uplifting at the same time as Norman takes the reader by the hand and guides them around the spokes of the Lakeland wheel. 'The trouble with the Lake District, as with Niagara Falls, is that everbody thinks he knows what it looks like,' he begins. The article, thankfully on the outer side of the NYT's paywall, can be accessed HERE. Thanks to David Boyd for spotting this.
posted 13/10/20
Our Lockdown Poetry winners: Martyn Halsall and Katie Deutsch
The winners of the Society's Lockdown Poetry Competition have been announced by the judge, Kathleen Jones.
Winner of the Adult competition is Martyn Halsall with his poem Learning Whimbrel. Kathleen said: 'This was such a beautiful poem about identifying birds from their song after the ‘he’ of the poem can no longer see. It rose to the top of the pile from the first reading. There is such a wonderful evocation of the invisible landscapes and the way sounds run together in his head; ‘the burn/that flowed among the words she read to him’. Sound is very important, using words to bring us the ‘voices’ of the individual birds. It is very much a ‘Nicholson’ poem. Norman loved the natural world and himself lived with physical limitations that restricted his interaction with it'.
Winner of the Under-18 competition is Katie Deutsch with her poem Silently Ignoring the World. Kathleen said: 'I like this because it summed up what living under lockdown felt like, on your own, with your mobile phone the only point of contact with the outside world. It identified that feeling of normality ‘Everything is normal/Everything is good’ while also knowing that ‘the world is in shambles’. It had a nice form and I loved the way the repetition framed the poem'.
Kathleen awards second place in the Adult section to What to Wear in Lockdown by Marion Leeper, and third place to Wildwood by Martin Rieser. Commended are Violet Carpenter Bee by Deborah Maccoby, He She It by Flo Au, and The
Goats of Llandudno by Isobel Thrilling. Runner-up in the Under-18 section is Hidden by Rukshitha Arasakone.
All poems were submitted anonymously to the judge who was not aware of the identity of the poets until the results were decided.
Martyn Halsall is a former Poet in Residence at Carlisle Cathedral who lives In Cumbria. Katie Deutsch is from Cambridgeshire.
You can read all the winning, runner-up and commended poems from both Adult and Under-18 categories HERE, along with detailed comments from Kathleen Jones.
The competition is due to be featured by Helen Millican on BBC Radio Cumbria next Monday (October 5th) between 7pm and 8pm. The Society intends to publish a book of selected poems from the competition. Details will be posted here when available.
UPDATE: BBC Radio Cumbria presenter Helen Millican introduced a celebration of the winners of our Lockdown Poetry Competition with the judge, Kathleen Jones, and the winning poets Martyn Halsall and Katie Deutsch on Monday Ocrtober 5th at 7pm. Available on the i-Player HERE till 3/11/20. Starts approx 1 hour 18 mins along timeline.
posted 30/9/20, updated 8/10/20, updated 15/10/20
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