Brian Nisbet: 'Now You Know'
Rewley House is honoured to celebrate a poet of talent and bravery.
People who regularly attend book launches know the routine: collect a glass of wine and a cheese straw, mingle, hear a few readings, congratulate the author, buy the book. When asked to describe the event later, it's often the non-superlative words that spring to mind: Nice. Fairly well-attended. Good cover design.Now the bar for this sort of thing has been raised.
Brian Nisbet's poetry collection Now You Know was launched on 9 April at Rewley House with a large and diverse crowd in attendance. They came from a startling range of professions (writers, choreographers, office workers, musicians, publishers, historians - even parachutists) and from all over the country. They filled Rewley House's largest room well beyond capacity - 65 in a room that holds 48 - spilling out the doors and onto the patio.
The event was a collaborative affair, with Departmental poetry tutor Jenny Lewis taking the role as MC, poet RV Bailey and drama tutor Patrick Collins giving dramatic (and often tongue in cheek) readings to live musical accompaniment that had Rewley House Library staff leaning out of their office windows in hopes of hearing more.
Post-event descriptions of the poetry, the poet and the occasion were rich with superlatives: Transcendent. Moving. Joyous. Triumph.
The tributes are well deserved. Brian's work soars with philosophy and humour. His texts have been widely published in poetry journals, broadcast on Radio 3, and performed at the Edinburgh Festival. An excellent review of Now You Know by Oxford Times books editor Maggie Hartman gives a flavour of the work, and of Brian's accomplishment - an accomplishment all the more remarkable for its context.
In 2007 Brian became ill with the life-limiting neurological disorder, Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA). He was accepted onto the Department's Diploma in Creative Writing, finishing in 2011. By early 2015, in the face of rapidly deteriorating health, Brian was working urgently towards publication of his first print poetry collection.
Now You Know was published in April and lauded at two launches: one at Rewley House (Brian had fond associations from his time as a student) and one in his resident Gloucestershire. The volume has since been accepted by the National Poetry Library.
In May 2015, having done what he'd set out to do (and additionally, having demonstrated the vital importance of focusing on the people and tasks that matter, given life's brevity) Brian Nisbet passed away peacefully at home. He was 56.
Now You Know can be purchased for £5 at Rewley House (from our reception desk) or ordered from Brian Nisbet Publications, contact: emilywhite7676@hotmail.com
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Published 26 May 2015