For press and interview enquiries please contact Philip Holland on 01298 71938 (work), 0129827644 (home), Elizabeth Mackenzie on 07832 213665, or email: philipholland@uwclub.net

Remember to check back here to keep up to date with news and events, new works and also reviews of my poetry and recitals.

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Buxton Festival Literary Series
Philip will be performing as part of the prestigious literary series on July 15th 2010 during the Buxton Festival. 'Words of a Derbyshire poet' will be held at the Lee Wood Hotel, Buxton, from 3PM. £6 entry fee. Follow the link for full details on the Buxton Festival website: http://www.buxtonfestival.co.uk/literature.html#philipholland

The University of Derby have added a feature on their website about Philip's forthcoming appearance during the literary series, please click this link to see the feature:
http://www.derby.ac.uk/alumni/events/graduate-at-the-buxton-festival

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Derbyshire Life and Countryside Magazine
Philip's poetry has been featured in the March edition of the magazine, with a second feature in the forthcoming April edition. Follow the link for more details about the publication: http://derbyshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/

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Words of a Derbyshire Poet
My latest publication 'Words of a Derbyshire Poet' was launched on November 11th 2009. Available in all good book stores in Derbyshire and The Peak National Park. ISBN 9781906722128. Distributed by Mayfield Books and Gifts of Sheffield.

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Five-Bar-Gate Publishing
F Philip Holland's new works are now published under Five-Bar-Gate Publishing and will be available at selected bookstores. Please contact Philip or Elizabeth for details.

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Media Coverage
Words of the White Peak - The Disappearing Dialect of a Derbyshire Village, has received local and national media coverage as follows:

Television coverage
BBC East Midlands, BBC Nothwest, Channel M - TV for Manchester.
To see two of the interviews online please click on the links below to be taken to the BBC News website.
BBC News Link1 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7775683.stm)
BBC News Link2 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7768442.stm)

Please note that the above links will open in new browser windows and will not work if you are blocking pop-ups. Alternatively, copy and paste the links in the brackets.

National Radio Interviews
Radio 4's 'Today Programme' with John Humphrys, Radio 5 Live with Nicky Campbell, BBC Radio 4's Farming Today.



Local Radio Interviews

High Peak Radio interview 11th November 2009.

Philip has enjoyed numerous local radio interviews on High Peak Radio, Smooth Radio and Radio Derby.

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Compilation CD - Work in progress
Currently being produced is a compilation CD of some of the best poems, taken from each of the four anthologies.

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Publications
"Four", a set of 4 Haiku poems, was chosen for publication by the Norwich Writers Circle Open Poetry Competition 2007.

"The Gather" was published in "The North" June edition. Published by Smith/Doorstop Books.

“The Coot”, was chosen by ‘Templar Poetry’ and published in September, ’05 in “The Arnemetiae Derbyshire Community Poetry Anthology.” 

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Buxton Festival Fringe - Spoken Word Reviews 2009
*F. PHILIP HOLLAND - Philips, Poetry and Piano

Philip Holland delivered, with feeling and gusto, a rich variety of poetry in differing styles, structure and content; in his own words from the serious to the silly. There was something to please everyone, whether it be to provoke a smile or make you ponder, interspersed with appropriate snippets of well played piano pieces. There was love, tragedy, dialect, animals and the weather drawn from life's experiences, which I was able to immediately relate to. Simple titles belied the depth of observation of their author.

Recommended whether you know Philip's poetry or not. You simply must hear a disappearing poem and what happens on the wedding night of a sloth.

Nicola Stacey

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Buxton Festival Fringe - Spoken Word Reviews 2008
*F. PHILIP HOLLAND - Philips, Poetry and Piano

Philip Holland brought his poetry to the Fringe for the first time some years ago after he had given up farming. At that time it was not always easy to detect what his poetic voice was. But now his verse has developed a distinctive style which he can call his own and he has become an experienced performance poet with a charming and relaxed delivery.

Inspired very much by his farming background many of the poems evoke the constant struggle to tame the land and wrest a living from it. Particularly evocative are poems about thistles, which can wreck a pasture and the subtle charlock whose seeds lurk for years waiting for the right opportunity to germinate unexpectedly. Some of these poems include dialect words from the White Peak. Philip explains these before reading the poem - a sensible move and much appreciated by those of us who have been baffled by Tennyson's Lincolnshire dialect verse or the more obscure effusions from Scottish poets.

His work is not confined to the countryside however. His interests extend in many directions including the holocaust, a brace of sonnets, the appearance and rapid disappearance of new restaurants and a particularly nostalgic account of Buxton Market in 1913. This is not all. Amongst his talents Philip is also an accomplished pianist and he uses the piano most effectively to set different scenes for the verses. His choice of music to suit the mood of the poem which follows is essentially a personal one but nevertheless always seems to heighten interest in the poetry.

Altogether a delightful hour on the Fringe.

Peter Low

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Buxton Festival Fringe - Spoken Word Reviews 2007
*F. PHILIP HOLLAND - Philip, Poetry and Piano

A very simple recipe - a short introduction, a little music and a reading of one of his poems. Repeat, varying the music and the poetry, and serve warm to a satisfied audience.

Philip has an easy manner and a comfortable voice that gently washes over the attentive audience, drawing them in to his work. With many of his poems having a nature theme: buzzards, bats and hedgehogs, Philip could have a slot of his own on next year's Springwatch.

A humorous poem titled "The Menu" proved popular, with spontaneous applause breaking out, partly for the sentiment and partly for the delivery. "The Gather" was a little more sombre, but clearly touched a chord with some of those in the audience. Some were of local flavour, with "The Slaughter" drawing on Philip's farming days and "Magpie Mine" recalling the days when lead mining was an important part of local industry. "Youn 'af fert' flit", a piece in the Derbyshire dialect told a sad folk tale. Not every word was necessarily understood by those of us not from the region, but the story and the sense were easily followed and wonderfully conveyed and acted by the writer. (Philip's latest publication of his recent poems, "Fourth in line" contains a translation, which surely is good enough reason to purchase it in itself!)

In short, to spend time in the company of this genial man, with his poems book-ended by a little light piano playing is a very agreeable way to spend an hour, and one I commend to you.

"The village organist aspires
To play the tunes that God desires.
And by the light of sun or moon,
Just hopes the angels sing in tune!"

(From The Village Organist, by F Philip Holland)

Maria Carnegie

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Buxton Festival Fringe - Spoken Word Reviews 2006
*F. PHILIP HOLLAND - Philip, Poetry and Piano

Philip's poetry is quarried from his Derbyshire and flows with the unconscious, natural speech rhythms and dialect of his locality, The theme of natural change is celebrated with a sense of security about our place in time using contemplative, perceptive poems that make you respond with a wry smile of recognition or laugh out loud with shared appreciation and understanding.

We had the opportunity to enjoy about twenty poems read by their author, which celebrated the senses - a visual treat for the ears.

His influences of original music compliment the poetry and give an opportunity to reflect on the pictures he has placed in your mind. The dynamics of the music are reflected in the poetry, Which is read with the energy, and commitment of work performed by its author. Like forcing down a good meal too quickly, I would have enjoyed a slower pace and more anecdotes about the poet and his creative process.

The diversity within the poet is entertaining with an amusing, allegorical free verse about the life of a pair of shoes, a parody of a rhyming poem John Betjeman may have penned on a wet High Street; to my personal favourite, The Gather, a poem that works like a riddle and is full of the fresh voice of a new poet sharing a moment of heightened emotion.

The advantage of this entertainment is that, although Philip's voice is not available to take home, copies of his books are on sale and in his words, 'lay in a handy place to re-read and enjoy once again'.

Alyson Phillips

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Buxton Festival Fringe - Spoken Word Reviews 2005
*F. PHILIP HOLLAND - More poems - With Some Piano

It is good to see Philip back on the Fringe again and with a new collection of poems. Now we can begin to see the development of his own authentic voice speaking about the things which interest him; the countryside as expected from someone who has spent the greater part of his life farming, music as also expected from a fine musician, but other sources as well such as curtains, and rhinos in South Africa.

Philip reads his poems with quiet confidence which is mist attractive. The addition of musical excerpts introducing and closing poems and sometime between them the verses serves to point up the particular quality of each poem and heightens our enjoyment.

A delightful way to spend an hour on a summer's day in Buxton.

Peter Low

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2004 Reviews
Philip, his Poetry - and Piano

At the Old Hall Hotel

Philip Holland is a man of many parts - dairy farmer, accomplished musician and now a poet. Relying on these talents he presented a delightful programme of poems interspersed with piano pieces.

This is a very professional presentation. The poems reflect moments in Philip's life lived mainly as a farmer on the Derbyshire Staffordshire border. Read aloud they evoke the poet's love of the countryside where he worked through the seasons patiently tending his sheep and cattle and the land that surrounded them all. Other poems reveal Philip's interest in history, sculpture and wild life.

And to compliment the poems he played music which he had chosen to suit the mood of the verse. Sometimes the music was used to introduce the poem, sometimes as a conclusion and occasionally to point up a particular incident or sentiment. The overall result was most compelling. A capacity audience in the Piano Lounge of the Old Hall Hotel was enchanted.

Peter Low

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Buxton Festival Fringe Awards 2008

Best new writing. "Poetry and Piano"


Huddersfield Literary Festival Open 2007

Joint winner. "The Gather".


Buxton Festival Fringe Awards 2004
Spoken Word

Nominated: Philip, his poetry and his piano,
Time in Place.