Mike Harding will be at The Portico Library to talk about his new book of poetry "Fishing for Ghosts". In this new collection, a lifetime of listening, observing, thinking and reflecting has produced poems that tell stories in his own voice. Harding is a natural story teller and, like all true storytellers, his direct language engages the listener and reader alike in the recognition that their own poems may also be waiting to be retrieved from the seemingly random. Join us for an evening with Mike Harding and a reading from this new collection.

With a resume that reads folk singer and songwriter, poet and playwright, comedian and broadcaster, fell-walker and fly-fisherman; it’s hard to pigeon-hole Mike. You won’t go far wrong, however, if you take your lead from Billy Connolly and his description of Mike as “the funniest man in England”. Mike currently divides his time between his hugely popular internet folk show, reading his poetry at Literary Festivals and playing mandolin in the Giggleswick Ceilidh Band. He also keeps a close eye on the UK folk scene as the organiser of the Settle Folk Gathering, resident compere of the Costa del Folk festivals in Spain and Portugal, and as Joint Patron of the Beverley Folk Festival.