Camden New Journal - Feature: An inside job for poet John Hegley

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The Review - FEATURE By DAN CARRIER
Published: 11 October 2007

John Hegley

An inside job for poet Hegley

POET John Hegley is a regular on the entertainment circuit – his annual gigs at the Edinburgh Festival are on the must-see list, he regularly performs on radio and pops up at comedy events.
So it was not his average booking when he was asked to appear at a women’s prison in Medellin, Colombia.
He had been invited by the organisers of the Medellin Poetry Festival and the experience, back in 1999, sparked a love affair with the country for the Islington-based writer.
On Saturday night, he is fronting a fund-raising gig in Primrose Hill for Colombian charity Peace Direct, which raises cash for a women’s educational programme.
“The organisers try to place poetry in places that might not be normally found, in the corners of the world that poetry might not normally reach,” he says.
The show broke down some of his preconceptions about life behind bars in the central American country.
He says: “It was peaceful – some of the prisoners had their children with them.”
He had to translate his poetry into Spanish, which meant changing things round – his poem Pat You’re Fat became Eleanor, as the word for obese in Spanish, gordo, rhymed with the new name.
But the gig proved his material had a global attraction. He is now looking forward to raising cash for the charity.
“Promoting peace in Colombia?” he says. “I think that sounds like a rather good idea.”

• John Hegley appears at St Mary’s Church, Elsworthy Road, NW3 on Saturday October 13. Doors open at 7:30pm. £12. Tel: 020 7549 0285

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