A pumpkin writes a letter to his father. A sheep recalls a revolution, and love. Hydrogen pens a tell-all exposé of Oxygen. The Stick Insect Orders His Tomb. Napoleon counts waves and cheats at cards. A sunflower seeks answers ? why sun? A crow considers children in this cruel, spiky world. And allthe while, character actors gather for the endless convention…

Guy Elston?s debut poetry collection, The Character Actor Convention, is a curious smorgasbord of personas, new voices and (un)natural perspectives. Through impossible encounters and strange viewpoints an insistent, ever-shifting ‘I’ questions its relation to reality, and itself. Wist, wit, obsession and irony rise like tides, are forgotten, and start fresh. Authenticity is always just round the corner.

The Character Actor Convention is not urgent, timely or topical. It’s something else.