In November 2004 - Julia won the
Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection prize for The Doves of Finisterre
Julia Casterton Poet and Teacher 1952 - 2007
photographed at Word for Word in March 2006
The death of Julia Casterton was sudden, unexpected and has shaken us all.
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In November 2004 - Julia won the
Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection prize for The Doves of Finisterre |
Julia Casterton Poet and Teacher 1952 - 2007 photographed at Word for Word in March 2006 |
| Below are some tributes to Julia. If you wish to add your own, please email them to tribute@wforw.org.uk. Here is a link to her Obituary by Micheline Wandor in the Guardian on March 5th. Just before she died, Julia was delighted to hear that she had won a nationwaide Poetry competition for the best poem on the subject of Fishing. Here is a link to the announcement in The Independent Monday 26th February 2007 |
| Julia Casterton was always generous and supportive
to other poets - beginning or established; always gloriously impatient with
those who sought to belittle or dismiss the significance of creativity.
And I have a lovely memory of Julia going hammer-and-tongs at some rather
ignorant young man from 'educational management' who was trying to persuade
a room full of teachers that poetry writing could be empirically assessed
just the same as a piece of simple arithmetic. Realising that I was in the
presence of a passion that needed no support whatsoever, I kept my mouth
firmly shut, and watched as Julia brought the young man to realise that
the world was a bit more complex than the tick-box place described to him
by his employers. So here's to you, Julia, my friend, for the poems, the support, the passion, and that wonderful sense of calm and space that always arrived when you did. I shall miss you. Laurence Scott |
| In Julia's Class She comes in quietly, but eagerly, the door not quite wide open. Downloads an armful of reading matter onto the desk. Head uplifted, full-smiling now, out to the faces facing her own. When the straggler arrives ten minutes or two hours late - Lovely to see you ! Welcome ! Chair over there. Dressed with an odd, unrepeatable charm. Always intent on finding paths we could follow, illuminating them tactfully. Trailing her erudition so lightly before us, tossing up arbitrary stars to be snatched and dismantled, invoking heated discussion, and not joining in. Turning our word-tangled offerings gold at the edges. Then the blood skeining her body grew weary, turned from its arduous journey into a broadening current that carries her forward, out of our reach. The door still opens, but the bright entrance is missing. Sylvia Rowbottom - February 2007 |
| Julia Casterton was an inspiration; to be in her
Creative Writing classes was a joy. Students loved her generosity of spirit
and the great, democratic delight she took in everything, which made the
everyday miraculous. With her gifts for kindness, wit and love of language
and the magic of words, she was the most wonderful teacher. To hear her
laugh ringing through the corridors of the City Lit was to give thanks for
life, literature and Adult Education. Julia supported her students' development
unstintingly. She enhanced our lives by encouraging us to find our voices
and to aspire to discover and tell 'not the literal truth,' as she quoted
from Henry James, 'but the truth of the imagination.' Frankie Green (student) |
| God turns His head in shame We accuse Her joy stolen Her eyes bright, taken But shards of her Exploded, white Lodged in our hearts Endure Let God weep but we have her honesty within. Jeremy Denny |
Sun's Sister. For Julia Casterton.
Among the many Even the sun came, Mourning Julia His beloved sister Who, like him, Has opened so many blossoms With her warmth and daring understanding.
If a gentle shower had come too, That would have been appropriate. But the rain out of consideration for us Continues Julia's work, Bringing up the many flowers, Elsewhere. Here her spirit is the rainbow.
C D Morgan |