The partnership with County Durham and the City of Tuebingen in South Germany was established in 1969.
Poet Doctor Keith Armstrong, who gained his doctorate at the University on Durham in 2007, following on from Bachelor's and Master's degrees there, first visited Tuebingen in November 1987 to give readings and talks for a period of three weeks. Since then he has travelled to the city over 40 times and helped arrange for Durham and North East poets, musicians and artists and their counterparts in Tuebingen to visit their respective cultural twins.
TO HELP CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL TWINNING, KEITH RETURNED TO TUEBINGEN FROM JULY 3RD TO 7TH 2019 AT THE INVITATION OF THE CULTURAL OFFICE IN TUEBINGEN WHEN HE APPEARED AT THE BOOK FESTIVAL TO READ FROM HIS LATEST TUEBINGEN POETRY AND FROM THE TUEBINGEN/DURHAM LITERARY ANTHOLOGY ‘WORD SHARING’.
HE TRAVELLED WITH NORTHUMBRIAN PIPER CHRIS ORMSTON AND WAS JOINED BY TUEBINGEN PERFORMERS AND FRIENDS FOR THE OCCASION.
THIS YEAR, THE 250TH BIRTHDAY OF THE POET FRIEDRICH HOELDERLIN, KEITH'S WORKING ON A COLLABORATION,TUEBINGEN DREAMS, WITH TUEBINGEN PHOTOGRAPHER ULRICH METZ.
A SERIES OF PHOTO/POETRY POSTERS ARE TO BE PRODUCED AS A BEGINNING.
https://keithyboyarmstrong.blogspot.com/2019/12/tubingen-dreams-photographs-ulrich-metz.html
AND DON'T FORGET KEITH'S UPDATED COLLECTION OF TUEBINGEN POEMS (1987 TO DATE), HERMANN HESSE IN THE GUTTER, IS NOW AVAILABLE AT £5 FROM NORTHERN VOICES COMMUNITY PROJECTS.
I’m flying back
into Tübingen airspace.
I’m ready for Swabian girls of lace.
That’s what makes my pulse race:
the ancient tales of flights of fancy,
the brains of grace,
the gruesome face of an ugly race,
hideous bands under my wheels.
My glowing undercarriage
simply lances
through
all the tempestuous skies
to greet my ascending loves,
the dashing ways,
and blades
of ancient grass,
with blossoming songs
skirting the hurtling runways;
bang of memory,
death of lovely moments
on the tip of my very tongue.
(FROM 'FLYING INTO TüBINGEN AIRSPACE')
ROLL ON HÖLDERLIN (am Neckar)
(for Jochen)
To the Very Honourable Poet Mr Keith Armstrong
'I wish you good luck for all the seasons in your life and always a high inspiration for your poems.'
(Jochen from the Hölderlin Tower)
Hölderlin
holds his own,
holds his own
in this sex-crazed country.
Hölderlin
rolls his own,
rolls his own
in this burnt-out company.
Hölderlin
rolling on,
holding on
in this fearful Germany.
The motor stalls,
the government falls -
it‘s Hölderlin
knocking down walls:
Hölderlin
knocking down walls.
KEITH ARMSTRONG
