K a t r i n a P o r t e o u s
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Radio Poetry
Katrina uses the medium of radio to explore the musical possibilities of the spoken word, incorporating recorded sound, chant and layers of language into the structure of her verse. BBC Senior Producer Julian May has described her radio poetry as 'extending the boundaries of the genre'. Her pieces include:
This Far and No Further – a long poem about hill farming along Hadrian's Wall, produced for Radio 4 by Tim Dee in the series Up Against the Wall, January 2001.
An Ill Wind – produced by Sara Davies for Radio 3's Poetry Proms, August 2001, and described in The Daily Telegraph as 'the definitive poem of the foot-and-mouth outbreak'.
Beach Ride – produced by Julian May for Radio 4 on National Poetry Day, October 2001. In this short poem Katrina uses two contrasting chants and her own recording of a galloping horse to counterpoint the main voice of the poem.
Borderers – produced by Adam Fowler for BBC Radio Scotland in 2002, and now re-recorded and released on Andrew and Margaret Watchorns' CD Lecchemede.
Longshore Drift – produced by Julian May for The Verb, Radio 3, February 2003. This piece incorporates voices from the Suffolk coast, sounds recorded on an Aldeburgh fishing boat, and chants based on the rhythms of hauling lines.
Dunstanburgh Castle – produced by Julian May for Radio 4, January 2004. This half-hour radio-poem was recorded at Dunstanburgh, read by Katrina and actor Trevor Fox, with chants performed by the children of Seahouses First School. It was selected by The Daily Mail as its 'Programme of the Week' and was repeated on National Poetry day 2004.
Peter Zinovieff – produced by Adam Fowler for Radio 4, June 2004. Katrina compiled and presented this portrait in words and music of the inspirational electronic music animateur and composer, Peter Zinovieff.
Turning the Tide – producer Benjamin Chesterton used Katrina's long poem as the backbone of an innovative edition of Open Country for Radio 4 in 2005.
Late Blackbird – produced by Adam Fowler for Radio 4's White Nights series, June 2006. This poem is composed from phonemes derived from a transcription of a blackbird's song.
The Refuge Box – produced by Julian May for the Radio 3 series Between the Ears, December 8th 2007. This new collaboration is a study on the theme of sanctuary, based around the refuge box on Holy Island causeway.
In addition to her radio poetry, Katrina frequently contributes to countryside programmes for Radio 4, and has occasionally presented them. Her programme on the ancient tradition of salmon-netting on the River Tweed, produced by Benjamin Chesterton for Radio 4's On Your Farm, was nominated for a Glenfiddich Award in 2006.
Most recently, in 2008, Katrina's essay Endangered Species, on the skylark, was broadcast on Radio 3's Nightwaves. She also took part in a documentary on Dunstanburgh Castle with sound recordist Chris Watson, produced by Sarah Blunt of the BBC's Natural History Unit, and in a Radio 3 Proms Interval talk on birds in literature with Mark Cocker and Ian McMillan. In 2009, her essay on the poet Kathleen Raine was broadcast on Radio 4 as part of the series My Alter Ego, produced by Karen Gregor. She also read her poem Shanky as Radio 3's Daily Poem on June 13th, took part in the Land of Three Rivers debate at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival (broadcast on NIghtwaves), and reviewed Durham Lumiere live on Radio 4's Front Row, delivering a specially commissioned poem for the event. Also that year she took part in BBC 1 TV's Countryfile, talking about the history of herring fishing, and read her poem The Pigeon Men on 'Flog It' on BBC 2 TV. Her latest radio piece, Out of the Marvellous, an essay for Radio 3, is due to be broadcast in March 2010.
Katrina is planning to produce a CD of some of her radio poems in the near future.
