Polly’s Barnes-stormer gift with the accent on dialect

Harvey said: “The verse novel Orlam is the first substantial work written in the Dorset dialect for many decades.

“It brings a modern, surreal twist to traditional West Country words and phrases. Although the poem offers a fictionalised and distorted view of the county, it draws upon Harvey’s memories of her secluded childhood in a small Dorset village, particularly in its depictions of nature and folklore.

“The poem’s language is similar to that used by William Barnes in his 19th-century Dorset dialect poems.”

The spokesperson added:

“Barnes’s Glossary of the Dorset Dialect was Harvey’s principal dialect reference source but its content and tone are strikingly different.

“The peaceful rural life celebrated in Barnes’s poems becomes a veneer that Harvey peels away to reveal corrupt lifestyles.

“Harvey’s musical background can be felt in the poem’s strong rhythmical pulse and lyricism.”

Orlam has standard English translations on facing pages written by

Harvey’s friend, mentor and editor, Scottish poet Don Paterson.

Harvey’s award-winning creative career spans three decades. The PJ Harbey trio released their first album, Dry, in 1992, to great critical acclaim. Harvey is the only musician to have won the Mercury Prize twice, for her albums Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, which was partially written in Dorset in 2001, and Let England Shake in 2011, which was recorded in Eype. She was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2013.

In 2015, Harvey published her debut poetry collection with photographs by Seamus Murphy, The Hollow of the Hand.

Pull up a barstool, the INN Crowd is back in Dorset! Artsreach is to present a vibrant programme in rural Dorset pubs, with three shows.

On Sunday, June 5, writer, performer and radio producer Rosa Torr heads to The Gaggle of Geese in Buckland Newton with Rattus Rattus: The Epic Tail of Man vs Rat. It’s New Year’s Day 2015 and Rosa’s dad has made a life-changing resolution. At the same time, a rat sneaks into her family home and so begins an epic battle for control of the house. As the months pass, her father goes to ever greater and more extravagant lengths to trap the rat. Expect a funny real-life story about family, growing up, and the times we all find we’ve gone a little bit mad.

In June, Callum Patrick Hughes returns to Dorset with Thirst, his hit show about love; love of pubs, love of community, love of family, and a reminder that not everything you love is necessarily good for you. Join this acclaimed writer and performer for a riotous, warm and musical journey from a small Oxfordshire town, through Beijing’s Hutongs and the Scottish Highlands, to the ‘Big Smoke’. Intertwining storytelling and song, Thirst is both a love letter to sobriety and a celebration of all things alcoholic; exploring life, family, theatre, religion and most importantly the positivity of the pub and