Whilst Chasing Tales are quiet over the Winter, fellow storytelling lovers Dreamfired Storynights are hoping to tempt the Lancaster audience to their events in Brigsteer Village Hall, less than 10 minutes from Junction 36 on the M6. They’re offering Litfest fans who haven’t been to the Brigsteer night before a 2 for 1 deal for [...] Read "Storytelling 2 for 1" more
With the 2011 Lancaster Literature Festival behind us, Litfest is busy planning its activities for 2012. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have any literary treats on offer for you over the winter break; we have Lunchtime Classic readings of the Decadent Poets, a spooky MR James ghost story for Christmas, and Thackeray’s Vanity Fair [...] Read "Looking forwards to…" more
Continuing a review of my favourite events at Lifest this year, I shall be focusing on the Lunchtime Classic for this segment. David McWilliam’s reading and presentation of H.P. Lovecraft was educational and inspiring Read "Litfest Lunchtime Classic: HP Lovecraft – a review" more
We thought we’d share a few of the images taken at the Litfest11, and some of the lovely feedback you gave us online. To all the writers, the audience, the people who made their own paper houses, and the Litfest team of volunteers: a huge thanks. Litfest11 was an amazing 10 days, and we hope [...] Read "Litfest11 – an unforgettable ten days" more
Gareth Thompson will be signing copies of The Sea Swallow at Waterstones King Street, Lancaster, on Saturday 5th November from 11am. Come along and meet the author! Read "Sea Swallow Signing" more
Each part of Litfest’s festival programme is curated by a different artist. We are very grateful for their expertise, which lends the different elements of our programme their distinctive character. Carys Davies has programmed this year’s Great Short Fiction Day, and here she shares her thoughts about the state of the art. It’s a delight [...] Read "Carys Davies on Short Fiction" more
On display at this year’s festival are a series of beautiful papier-mache sculptures by the local artist and Litfest volunteer, Colette Bain. Litfest’s intern ZN explains more, below- Whimsical, unique, and reminiscent of childhood toys and memories, the artwork of Colette Bain will be featured as part of Litfest this year. Under the name of [...] Read "Illustrations come to life at this year’s Litfest" more
It’s all coming together: map, tick; audio files, tick; ebook, tick; webpages, tick. Well, when I say ‘tick’, I mean started, almost completed, enough to feel like we’ll have something to launch on Sunday 16th October at the festival. And when I say something, I mean a very special something – three walking tours wrapped [...] Read "These Boots were made for Walking" more
Continuing the theme of guest blog posts, we asked Zosia Wand just how she gets the conversation flowing at one of her Readers’ Parties. Below is her recipe for combining top books with all kinds of readers and producing a sure-fire success! Hello Readers! I am looking forward to meeting other book enthusiasts at the [...] Read "Guest blog: Zosia Wand, and how to party like a reader" more
Litfest has been blessed of late by lots of very talented interns. Our latest, ZN, has been hard at work with the preparations for the festival, slaving away under a huge sherpa’s pack full of brochures, or carefully changing the blood packs that drip coffee directly into AD’s veins. But a true died in the [...] Read "Spine chilling treats with HP Lovecraft" more
This Saturday just gone saw the first ever LIPPfest at the Carriageworks in Leeds. An astonishingly ambitious event created by three poets (Daivd Tait, David Thom and Ian Harker) who had never done anything like it before. I sincerely hope they do something again. While I wasn’t convinced the Carriageworks was the best venue, with [...] Read "From LIPPfest to Litfest" more
Flax author, Chris Culshaw, has been working with a group of new writers exploring how they can weave words and images together. The group, Creative Minds, is based at Help Direct in Lancaster. It met as part of a local ‘social prescribing’ programme organised by Jill Brown. The photographs were taken on a series of [...] Read "Creative Minds" more
We sure know how to pick ‘em: Carol Birch, who will be appearing at this year’s Lancaster Literature Festival, has made it to the shortlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. The most prestigious prize in English literature is awarded each year and is known for transforming the fortunes and fame of its winner: this [...] Read "Festival guest Carol Birch shortlisted for Man Booker Prize" more
Flax writer, Ron Scowcroft, and painter John M. Morrison launched a vital and invigorating exhibition at The Dukes, Lancaster this week. Unfortunately I was too late for the reading/performance given (which by all accounts held the room captivated) but had enough time to read the poems, some of which were featured in An Elastic Sky, [...] Read "Poetry and Painting at the Dukes" more
Details of the next Spotlight cabaret night… Friday July 15th @ The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane. Lancaster Doors will be open from 8.00 pm, Open Mic 8.30 – 9pm Admission £4 / £2 (conc.) A night of poetry, horror, comedy & Very Good Music! Norman Hadley – (POETRY) His poems hop from tragic to [...] Read "Spotlight Night line up July, 2011" more
A selection of David Tait’s poems were featured in An Elastic Sky, Flax022 last year, so we were all thrilled to hear he’d won the Poetry Business‘s pamphlet competition this year. His pamphlet, Love’s Loose Ends, was published last month and I got my mitts on a copy last week. So, what did I think? [...] Read "Reading David Tait" more
It’s been a strange year for Flax, in that we’ve swung from publishing chapbooks to a pulsing anthology of eleven flash fictions and our next publication is a map. Albeit with some poems. Three sequences, in fact, that will take you along three different walking trips around Lancaster, all starting at the Storey and focusing [...] Read "Mapping Lancaster" more
The Poetry Bookcase has warmly welcomed a brace of new poetry publisher into it's ranks this last week... Oystercatcher Press and Knives, Forks & Spoons Press. Read "The Poetry Bookcase welcomes…" more
The stop-motion haiku that is Flax028 is available to view A stop-motion haiku, written, sown and filmed by Maya Chowdhry, with inspiration from Flax026ers, Mollie Baxter, Carys Bray, Jane Eagland, Norman Hadley, Claire Massey and Carla Scarano.. . Read "Grow Grow Grow!" more
Several recent Flax titles are now available to download and read as ebooks for Kindle users. The available titles can all be purchased from Amazon via their Kindle store, and all at roughly just 70p each - BARGAIN!! Read "Flax Books now available on Kindle" more
On Saturday Flax made the brave move of launching three new titles in one afternoon. It seemed such a good idea way back when… Fortunately we had the gorgeous space of the Music Room in the Storey in Lancaster to provide a spacious and sunny backdrop to the proceedings, and set up three separate stages [...] Read "Flax-aganza" more
George McKay invites you to join him for the launch of hi new book "Radical Gardening" at The Storey Creative Industries Centre, Sat June 1th at 3pm. Read "Invitation!" more
Saturday 11th June, 3pm Music Room, The Storey, Lancaster LA1 1TH Free Fun This bright afternoon sees the launch of three new Flax publications. Why not escape town for an hour or so to enjoy some quality entertainment– Flash Mob, Flax026 is an electric collection of super short stories that will take you through the [...] Read "Three Flax Launches in One Day" more
Escape into a world of stories with Litfest as we launch some brand new work and welcome one of the country’s most highly regarded storytellers. Saturday 11th June sees the launch of three new Flax publications. Flash Mob, Flax026 is a collection of super short stories that will have you swinging between laughter and wistfulness. [...] Read "June Events" more
Litfest has a very slight staff. There’s Andy (grand high poobah), Penny (marketing guru), Jonathan (bean counter), Sarah (queen of Flax), Anat (design whizz) and myself (the gadabout). Naturally we all work our socks off; Andy, in particular, can often be found with furrowed brow, head in a textbook on advanced physics, trying to find [...] Read "Sparkling diamonds" more
Lancaster’s own Ian Seed, Flax contributor and editor of Shadowtrain Books, has had his second full length collection of poems published recently by Shearsman Books. “Shifting Registers” is a collection with ‘fragmented, yet rich lyricism… crossing borders between lost and rediscovered identity’. “The mystery and sadness of empty rooms, close encounters in the street, trains [...] Read "New poetry collection from Ian Seed" more
Litfest is happy to announce we’ve entered into an agreement with project-extranet project collaboration to help us improve our project/event management and collaborative working methods. Thoroughly recommended, and if you’d like to give it a go, click the logo to visit their website. Read "Litfest likes…" more
Rebecca Irvine Bilkau has this to say on our recent news: Model citizens A long view on the cuts to Arts Funding 2011 We trained years for this, strained our groceries through austerity measures till they were piquant with our pride and self-doubt, we mastered our passions, kept children where we could afford them best: [...] Read "Rabble Rousing" more
What we are doing, and how you can help In October, Arts Council England (ACE) had its budget cut by £100m. Yesterday they announced which organisations they would continue to fund. Sadly, Litfest was one of over 200 organisations which was not offered funding after 2012. We’re disappointed. Since ACE funded us to grow our [...] Read "Litfest loses Arts Council funding" more
We are disappointed that Arts Council England did not support our application to be a part of the new National Portfolio. This we take to be a reflection of the changed priorities and demands being made of and by Arts Council England and not a judgement regarding the value locally of our work. We intend [...] Read "National Portfolio" more
Seven short plays against the spending cuts by seven contemporary playwrights: Mark Ravenhill, David Greig, Dennis Kelly, Jack Thorne, Lucy Kirkwood, Laura Lomas, Anders Lustgarten, Clara Brennan March 19th at 7pm, Storey Creative Industries Centre Entry is free but please book to avoid disappointment via eventbrite Read "Lancaster Theatre Uncut" more
Litfest is pleased to be hosting the next Spotlight Club night on Friday March 18th at 8pm in The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane. Lancaster. Admission £4 / £2 (conc.) Read "Spotlight Club Friday March 18th" more
The Poetry Business have just announced the 4 first stage winners of their 2010 Book & Pamphlet competition, and Litfest is delighted to see the name of local lad, Litfest volunteer and Spotlight regular, David Tait is on the list! I'm sure you'll all join us in congratulating David (and the other winners of course!) Read "Poetry Business Pamphlet Awards" more
For those who don’t know, World Book Night is on March 5th. Publishers are giving out 1 million copies of 25 fantastic books, to celebrate these fantastic creations . The books have been assigned to people called “Book Givers”, who get a hamper of copies which they need to find homes for. And it just [...] Read "World Book Night" more
Part of the Bowland Arts Festival. This is a writing workshop with a difference. Through the morning we’ll explore our responses to the natural world, how it grows and changes, through the ancient art of haiku. In the afternoon, we will collaborate on sowing a group haiku in seeds that will sprout over the following [...] Read "Writing Words, Growing Words with Maya Chowdhry" more
Come and celebrate the launch of three Flax chapbooks by Dinesh Allirajah, Sarah Dobbs and Ian Seed. This triangle creates an uneasy tension and sharp illumination on how we communicate and why we don't. On Friday 4th March, 7pm at The Storey Read "Flax 023/024/025 launch" more
Naomi Kruger, from Flax021: This Road We're On, won this years Princess Alexandra Medal for her outstanding portfolio of short stories, which achieved a Distinction in the 2008-10 Distance Learning MA in Creative Writing. Naomi's portfolio was described as the best submitted in an exceptionally strong cohort of Distance Learning MA students, eight of whom were awarded Distinctions. Read "Flax writer wins Princess Alexandra Medal" more
We’ve been discussing those last minute presents – what to buy to ensure no disappointments on the Big Day … So, suggestions, starting with Jonathan: The Leaping by our very own Tom Fletcher – A genre I’ve never read before and I’m finding it most surprising. It’s breaking my preconceptions of what I thought horror [...] Read "Christmas Reads" more
Congratulations are deserved for festival author Amy Sackville, who won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for fiction on 23rd November, for her debut novel The Still Point. Amy shared the novel with us during our annual festival in October; for anyone who couldn’t make it to her wonderful reading, copies are still available in the [...] Read "What do points make?" more
Ta Dah! I’ve talked about the films we commissioned Morph Films to make for An Elastic Sky and now we can share them with readers far and wide and not just those able to make the launch last month. They did a fascinating job of reading and translating each poem into a film. Some took [...] Read "An Audio Visual Elastic Sky" more
So I recounted an event from last night to the jaded post-festival office this morning and suddenly we were all sparkly and wide-eyed again, bubbling with tales of who first turned us onto books, what were the books that really turned the lights on for us when we were young and what the last book [...] Read "Warming our jaded hearts" more
After the excitement on Thursday 21st October, when I sat on stage with the elemental force Ian Rankin and the far from retiring Andy Diggle, and quizzed them both about their love for comics, I’ve lodged it in my head that every member of the Litfest audience is now an avid comics reader, desperate for [...] Read "Rampant pursuit of the pro-comics agenda!" more
Okay, so you can actually see an empty chair in this picture, but it was probably the only one. We had a chocka auditorium on Saturday 16th October to launch An Elastic Sky to. I suspect a lot of them came to see the films we’d commissioned Morph to make alongside a poem from each [...] Read "An Elastic Sky launches to a record audience" more
It was always going to be a risky affair – although I don’t think I fully appreciated the depth of uncertainty until the day itself. Having asked all the Flax writers way back in January, or sometime last millennia, what they fancied doing for the annual Flax picnic I sifted through the various replies and [...] Read "Random Acts of Literature: Flax Day 2010" more
The festival is nine years older than I am (a fact which I don’t raise very often around the rest of the Litfest staff, who pelt me with stale snack cakes whenever I mention my age) and this year is the first I’ve assisted in any festival in an administrative role. So, four days in, [...] Read "What makes a festival?" more
Tim Ralphs talks to Litfest about The Queen of Claywood Flats, at The Storey on Wednesday 20th October at 7.30pm. Claywood Flats was a big block of council flats in Sheffield, where I’m from. They demolished it one summer, only instead of blowing it up they tore it down, piece by piece. So for a [...] Read "The Court of the Queen of Claywood Flats" more
I’ve spent the last week reading two novels: Amy Sackville’s The Still Point and Ali Shaw’s The Girl with Glass Feet. Both novelists will read at The Storey on Monday 18th October. When I first saw that the novelists would be reading together, I could see the connections – first novels, both containing a love [...] Read "Ali Shaw and Amy Sackville" more
When Litfest asked me to write a new fairy tale for them I was excited and honoured and nervous. They told me about the fantastical dress Jennifer Pritchard was making for them from the pages of old books and asked me to write a modern fairy tale for adults featuring the dress. This is my [...] Read "A Fairy Tale Dress: Guest Post" more
Flaxer Tom Fletcher doing his duty on Hallowe’en: Twisted Tales this Halloween at Waterstone’s Liverpool One: Join Ramsey Campbell, Conrad Williams, Nicholas Royle, and Tom Fletcher as they each read a deliciously dark tale of the macabre between 6-8pm on Friday 29th October 2010. Tickets £2 (redeemable against any horror book purchased on the night). [...] Read "Spooky Gerlooky?" more
So this is my first post on the new Litfest website (with my own username and everything!) and how better to kick things off than by previewing a festival event I am absolutely gaga about – Ian Rankin and Andy Diggle, 7.30pm on Thursday 21st October. So, Ian Rankin you probably already know. Just in [...] Read "Festival Preview – Ian Rankin and Andy Diggle" more
As part of An Elastic Sky Flax022 we’re working with Morph Films to make some poetry films to stand alongside the anthology. Partly to build on the films we’ve made previously – Finding a Language, Vanishing Act – and partly to encourage the poets to consider their poems from a different perspective. All the poets [...] Read "Cuckoo?" more
The Midland Hotel is a collaborative photographic and literature project comprising of a book of the work of two artists: photographer Simon Webb and the Booker shortlisted novelist Sarah Hall.
The first print run of this beautiful book has now sold out, but we have a few copies left, signed by both Simon and Sarah. These highly collectable books are priced at £50 each and are available from Litfest's Poetry Bookcase. Read "The Midland Hotel" more
Writing and art from Lancashire prisons 6 March – 5 April 2009 At Preston Harris library, Market Square, Preston Litfest presents an exhibition of new poetry and prose, visual art and film from a series of residencies in each of the prisons in Lancashire. Some of the region’s best writers and artists collaborated with offenders [...] Read "“The view from my house…”" more
Writer David Gaffney performed six commissioned short stories while leading a small group of people round the newly refurbished Storey Institute on Thursday 19th March, 6pm at The Storey, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH, providing a great opportunity to see what’s been happening to a fantastic Lancaster landmark. David Gaffney’s commissioned short stories bring [...] Read "David Gaffney Storey Shorts, new fiction inspired by the Storey building" more
Paul Farley was commissioned to write this poem at the beginning of 2003 before the war in Iraq. He was asked to consider the act of remembrance in the 21st Century and to make a connection to Laurence Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’ which appears on war memorials across the country. Binyon was born in Lancaster [...] Read "The Opposition, 2003" more
Gael Turnbull (7 April 1928 – 2 July 2004) was commissioned in 2004 to write a poem on The Storey, this draft was his last work before he died. The commission formed part of a larger project including a poem by Jacob Polley, working with Lancaster City Council, Folly and The Storey Gallery which explored [...] Read "From Lazy Blue Flowers" more
Jacob Polley was commissioned in 2004 to write a poem on The Storey. The commission formed part of a larger project including a poem by Gael Turnbull, working with Lancaster City Council, Folly and The Storey Gallery which explored the Storey building plans through a virtual model of the space. Welcome to your mouths and [...] Read "Welcome to your mouths and tongues" more
In 2004 Litfest, in collaboration with the NHS trust, developed a text art piece to accompany six stained glass panels created by visual artist Martha Henry. Informal meetings were held with staff and patients, and the text on the windows came from these discussions. The final phrases were selected by staff at the hospital and [...] Read "Preston Royal Hospital Stained Glass Window" more
Litfest worked with Lancashire Couny Council and young people from across the county to put together a cross-media report into Youth Arts in Lancashire. Maya Chowdhry was the lead writer on the project working alongside Litfest’s designer Martin Chester. The publication was launched in November 2007 and can be viewed at www.brightartisticminds.com Read "Bright Artistic Minds" more
In 2005 Litfest began work on a project with staff and inmates from the Lancaster Farms Young Offenders Institute to investigate and explore the Release On Temporary Licence (ROTL) scheme. This scheme allows prisoners to leave prison temporarily for either compassionate reasons or to help them improve their chances of resettlement after their release. This [...] Read "Lancashire Farms Young Offenders Institution – ROTL" more
Offenders from across Lancashire had the opportunity to have their poetry and short stories about their childhood published in a book produced by Litfest and students at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. Men from across the county – at Her Majesty’s Prisons Garth, Kirkham, Lancaster Castle, Preston, Wymott, and Lancaster Farms Young Offender [...] Read "Of Two Halves: Poetry and Prose from Lancashire Prisons" more
Litfest, in partnership with Lancashire Museums Service, commissioned three writers to create new work for broadcast on BBC Radio Lancashire in the run-up to the 2006 literature festival. In an engaging and thought-provoking project, the writers had the opportunity to search though the archives at the Maritime Museum and Judges Lodgings at material relating to [...] Read "From Archive to Airwaves: ‘Abolished?’ radio project" more
The Storey’s Story is a litfest book celebrating the life of one of Lancaster’s best-loved buildings. “The Storey’s Story: Memories, Stories, Poems, Images” (edited by Read "The Storey’s Story" more
The Big Picture teamed up three writers from the north-west of England with one from Kampala to find out what would happen when they put down their pens for a second and talk. Where do they come from? What are their shared concerns and their common understanding? What is the Big Picture? Then, being writers, [...] Read "The Big Picture" more
In 2003 Litfest worked with Sandylands and Skerton Community Primary Schools in Morecambe to create two six-metre ‘poem paths’ to celebrate the ‘Flock of Words’ three-hundred metre path in Morecambe. The text was devised through a series of workshop activities and word games. The focus of both projects is on birds, and they include poems, [...] Read "Poem Path" more
In July 2007 Litfest worked with Lancaster & Morecambe College on a week-long writer-in-residence project at HMP Lancaster Castle, funded by The Co-operative Group. Writer Gary Boswell worked with men who were taking an introductory Creative Writing class to produce new poetry and prose that had ideas of identity as its starting point. Extracts of [...] Read "Postcards from the Castle" more
In August and September this year Litfest's Artistic Director Andy Darby and Flax editor Sarah Hymas worked with poet and performer, Cath Nichols over five days to develop a piece of live literature. Working title: The Price of Legs. It was a piece based on Hans Anderson's Little Mermaid.
Read "Exploring Live Literature" more
Thomas A. Clark’s ‘In Praise of Walking” was our signpost throughout the inspirational morning of Writing from the Ground Up last Saturday. We were lucky enough to get a bright morning of scurrying clouds and sunshine. But Jane Routh had arranged for all our stop (writing/thinking) points to be in sheltered dells. It was blissful [...] Read "The Wonderful Combination of Walking and Writing" more
Storytelling as a performance art has enjoyed a renaissance over the last 30 years. As it heads into the second decade of the 21st century, there is an unprecedented breadth and depth of exciting new work touring the country. The immediacy and improvisation of re-telling narrative through the spoken word is taking stages by storm [...] Read "Dominic Kelly on storytelling" more
But … he is coming to Lancaster (with Tom Fletcher) in a couple of weeks, and so in anticipation I read Antwerp, his most recent novel, published by Serpent’s Tail. And it really tested me as reader. I’m not used to reading thrillers, and the demands they make on your patience are quite extraordinary. There [...] Read "This is not Nicholas Royle’s Fan Club" more
Recent Litfest guest and Lancaster University Creative Writing MA graduate Monique Roffey was today announced as one 6 authors shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction. Read "Orange Prize Shortlist announced" more
I’ve just read the latest two titles from Nightjar Press – Alison Moore’s when the door closed, it was dark (fabulous title that that is) and Joel Lane’s Black Country. They firmly stamp a style of complusively intense if rather claustrophobic fiction on the press. This is good. This is a perfect use of the [...] Read "Nightjar Press" more
Cath Nichols, who was selected for last year’s Litfest’s project Exploring Live Literature has had her play ‘The Price of Legs’ accepted by the Triliteral Stageplay Festival. The play tells the story of a Liverpool family haunted by a Caribbean mermaid, and is adapted from a long poem by the same title that has links [...] Read "When Play turns into Performance" more
No coincidence that Iota should publish an article on the nature of pamphlets as the deadline for its pamphlet competition draws to a close (see previous blog). But David Maddern writes passionately and informatively on the form. Several poets have contacted us about pamphlets and how to be published in one. This article is a [...] Read "The wonderful thing about pamphlets is that pamphlets …" more
If you didn’t read The Guardian on Saturday, you missed the great treat of a conversation between writers Mark Haddon and Paul Farley. But don’t fret. Here’s the link. Read "When Mark met Paul" more
On 24th April the You Are Here show rolled up to Litfest for an evening of quality live poetry. The show was directed by Jaybird (Julia Bird of the Poetry School) and featured an all-star cast. Faber poets Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott joined Colette Bryce, Editor of Poetry London, to read from a selection [...] Read "We Were There!" more
Sunday April 11th Spotlight Performance Workshop 2.00 – 4.00 pm at The Gregson Centre, Moor Lane, Lancaster LA1 3ES Facilitator: Mollie Baxter Mollie is an experienced performer at live-lit nights, music gigs, improvisations and on the radio. She has won several Slam events, including coming second in the Spotlight Slam this February. You can find [...] Read "Spotlight Performance Workshop" more
Monique Roffey & Amanda Smyth at Litfest 17.03.10 Originally uploaded by Litfest Monique Roffey & Amanda Smyth in the Auditorium for the litfest event on Wednesday night. Apparently, Monique got the image of the White Woman on the Green Bicycle from her mother who rode one around in Trinidad when Monique was young. The bicycle [...] Read "Monique Roffey & Amanda Smyth at Litfest 17.03.10" more
Jennifer Copley, whose work is featured in The Crowd Without, Flax018, won this year’s Mirehouse Poetry Prize, with her poem, Now You’ve Gone. The Mirehouse Prize takes place every year as part of the Words by the Water festival based in Keswick. Mirehouse is a stately home north of Keswick and it says in the [...] Read "Jennifer Copley wins Mirehouse" more
Great news today for our Litfest guest tonight Monique Roffey, who has just been announced as one of the 20 authors on the longlist for the 2010 award. “White Woman on a Green Bicycle” (Simon & Schuster £12.99) is Monique’s second novel, following her 2002 debut “Sun Dog”. Monique, a former Lancaster resident and PhD [...] Read "Orange Prize for Fiction 2010 – Longlist" more
We launched Vanishing Act, the latest Flax anthology, on Wednesday night. And now it’s all over I can admit how nervous I was about the event. Because the anthology itself was a bit of an experiment – riffing off our standard audio films and playing with potentials of the spoken word – we’d decided to [...] Read "Class Act : Vanishing Act" more
The next Spotlight night will take place at The Auditorium, The Storey, Meeting House Lane on Friday March 19th. Doors will be open from 8.00 pm Admission £4 / £2 (conc.) Open Mic 8.15 – 8.45 pm Line up for the night is as follows: Sarah Hymas – Poetry Sarah Hymas has been writing for [...] Read "March Spotlight Club line up" more
Hurrah! It’s that time of year once again when the shortlist for the Diagram Prize is announced and we all get to laugh and snigger and chortle (and vote for) the Oddest Book Title of the Year. So without further ado I give you this year’s shortlisted titles: Collectible Spoons of the 3rd Reich by [...] Read "Vote Now for The Oddest Book Title of the Year!" more
The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2010 is now open for submissions from publishers and individual poets. Closing date for entries is 31 July 2010. Read "Aldeburgh Poetry Prize" more
The Guardian Blog today was bigging up the ability of books to explain life in ways no one else does. Other reasons we love reading: 1. They give us the chance to stop and think about life in a way you wouldn’t give yourself. 2. Escapism – “Transportations of Delight” (Spike) 3. Infinitely preferable to [...] Read "World Book Day" more
‘To be held. To be loved in a simple way. But simple things were always the hardest.’ (From ‘The Caretaker’) Like other fine story writers, such as Carver or Pavese, Graham Mort possesses the gift of making ordinary lives extraordinary. With gritty yet graceful language, Mort creates a unique poetry out of the everyday and [...] Read "Graham Mort’s Touch launches this week" more
This year, Valentine’s Day stretched into a weekend. So Litfest responded accordingly, by stretching the normal 12 point font into something a little larger, printing poems from North West based poets up on the walls of the NICE bar here in The Storey Creative Industries Centre. This is what some of them look like: Apologies, [...] Read "Loved Up" more
Our spring events season brochure is out, looking very springy and fresh, but more importantly is the info contained – the nectar, if you’re wanting to take the metaphor a little further. No? Well, Let’s drop it. And cut to the chase of the highlights – for me at least. I’d be interested to hear [...] Read "Where are you?" more
The inaugural Sunday Times Short Story Award, administered by Booktrust (the world’s largest short story award with a first prize of £25,000) has just announced it’s longlist. Judges for the prize include authors A S Byatt, Hanif Kureishi, Lynn Barber, Nick Hornby and the literary editor of the Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate. The shortlist will [...] Read "Sunday Times Short Story Award Longlist" more
Some time ago we shared some ideas to keep your old books out of the skips round the back of Oxfams all over the country. Well, we’ve had more ideas sent through … Read "More Book Solutions" more
Spotlight Writing Surgeries Sunday 28th February 7 – 9pm Whether you are just starting out or have been writing for some time… Whether you write for performance or the page… Would you like to get some creative feedback on your writing? Then come to a One-To-One 20 minute Surgery @ The Gregson Centre, Moor Lane, [...] Read "Spotlight Writing Surgeries" more
Spotlight’s Open Mic Slam! Friday February 19th Doors Open 8pm Grab your three minutes at the mic’ and perform your way to audience acclaim and a £50 Cash Prize. You’ve got just 180 seconds to make an impact as a performer! Perform Poetry, Prose, Comedy or Song, anything - As long as it’s original and [...] Read "Spotlight Open Mic Slam!" more
We have just received notice of an event which may interest all lovers of foreign literature in the area. Taking place at Bowland College, Lancaster University next Wednesday (Feb 24th) from 2.15pm, is an afternoon of foreign literature as students and staff alike read from their favourite pieces both in the original and translated texts. [...] Read "An afternoon of literature in translation" more
The Wordsworth Trust is now accepting applications for the next residency. Poet in Residence 2010 – 2011 The Wordsworth Trust The Wordsworth Trust is seeking a new Poet in Residence, to run for 9 months from July 2010 to end March 2011. (The residency may be extended to a year pending confirmation of further funding [...] Read "Poet In Residence Vacancy" more
Another lovely box of poetry books arrived in the Poetry Bookcase today from another new publisher. Templar Poetry produce some beautifully bound and presented volumes and have some fine names on their list, including two of our local poets Mike Barlow and Jane Routh. Along with the books came news also of the Templar Poetry [...] Read "Templar Poetry Books now in stock" more
Our lovely Poetry Bookcase is slowly growing its stock, and we have recently added new stock from 2 more independent poetry presses. Seren Books, based in Bridgend, South Wales, has been publishing great poetry for over 25 years and aims “to give voice to outstanding writing in the English language from Wales”. Flipped Eye publishing [...] Read "Poetry Bookcase – New in stock" more
Reading Tom Fletcher‘s new novel, I wondered what is the mental equivalent of hiding behind a sofa when you’re reading a spooky book? I don’t usually read dark and creepy novels so my sensitivity to empty barns that people are unnerved by is very very low. So while the book’s true horror fest is a [...] Read "Where to hide?" more
At 91, JD Saliinger has died. There are two facts that caught my imagination this morning as I listened to the radio. 1. His renown is based on one book (although his short stories sold well) – The Catcher in the Rye sold 65 million copies. I’d like to compile a list (with help, please!!) [...] Read "J D Sallinger + and your help" more
The Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Poetry Live have invited 20 of our leading poets to perform at Westminster Central Hall on Saturday January 30th 2010 at 2.30pm in a fundraising event for the people of Haiti. Poets include Carol Ann Duffy, Roger McGough, Andrew Motion, John Agard, Dannie Abse, Brian Patten, Gillian Clarke, [...] Read "Haiti" more
If there was an edition of Desert Island Discs that was for taking your favourite D. I. D. castaway I’d have James Ellroy from this week. With only two days left to listen again if you missed it, I’d strongly advise you find a forty five minute slot in your weekend. He was so candid, [...] Read "Cast away with Desert Island Discs" more
Another in our infrequent series of conversations. This time, with dynamic writer, Bernardine Evaristo, who has recently reissued her verse novel Lara with Bloodaxe. Bernardine came to Lancaster to read the original Lara back in 1997. It was held in the beautiful old Folly photographic gallery in the back of The Storey building. Maybe twenty [...] Read "In Conversation with Bernardine Evaristo" more
Glamorgan University Professor Philip Gross was announced last night as the winner of the £15,000 2009 T S Eliot Prize for poetry. Gross’ collection The Water Table, published by Bloodaxe, beat a strong shortlist including Fred D’Aguiar and George Szirtes. The T S Eliot Prize for Poetry was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry [...] Read "Philip Gross wins T S Eliot Poetry Prize" more
Every now and again, we come across something that just delights our book-loving heads, and this incredible video from the New Zealand Book Council (“Where Books Come To Life”), blew us away. Sit back, and enjoy the wonderful transportive world of books… Read "When Books Come To Life" more
The latest issue of Shadowtrain is now online, and features new poetry and reviews. POETRY: Jaime Robles steps onto molecules of air; Robert Sheppard observes a house of opportunity; Nathan Thompson searches for strangers; Ben Smith finds the plaza empty; Ashley Chantler creeps out of the spare bedroom; Nigel Pickard leaves on the music overnight; [...] Read "Shadowtrain Issue 32" more
Preston is My Paris publishing launch night at the New Continental, 28th January. Originally started as a zine about Preston, the project features photography, writing, film, exhibitions and now a not-for-profit publishing house. As well as continuing with the free monthly zine, they will also be releasing a series of side projects all bearing the [...] Read "Preston is My Paris Launch Night" more
Friday February 19th Spotlight Performance Workshop 2.30 – 4.30pm at The Storey Creative Industries Centre, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH Faciitator: Sarah Hymas Fee: £5 Develop confidence and skills to give engaging performances of your work. This workshop will look at the importance of warming up, voice work and the power of movement and [...] Read "Spotlight Workshop" more
Spotlight www.spotlightlancaster.co.uk Friday January 15th @ The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane. Lancaster Doors will be open from 8.00 pm Admission £4 / £2 (conc.) Open Mic 8.15 – 8.45 pm David Tait - Poetry Making his first appearance on the Spotlight bill after his debut at the Open Mic in December, David Tait is a [...] Read "January Spotlight" more
Anyone who has called into the Litfest offices recently could not have done so without noticing our lovely book towers which flank the entrance. The books were very kindly donated by the International Aid Bookshop in Morecambe’s West End, and created for us by local sculptor Sam Jones. And recently we highlighted another use for [...] Read "What to do with those old unwanted books…" more
Pop into the NICE Bar at The Storey from this week and you may notice a new feature. Tucked away on a side wall amongst the comfy sofas and chairs is a small shelf of books. It’s a new bookcrossing point started by Litfest to share the joy of some old reads with you lovely [...] Read "New Bookcrossing point in The Storey" more
Some time ago the BBC produced their list of 100 books we all should read… sadly, the BBC predicts most people have only read 6 out of 100 of these books. How many have you read? 01 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 02 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien 03 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte [...] Read "How many have you read?" more
We’ve just taken delivery of copies of the first ever issue of Cake, the new poetry magazine that describes itself as Lancaster Literary Magazine. It has risen from the oven that is Lancaster University, edited by two of its undergraduate students, Andrew McMilland and Martha Sprackland, with Professor Paul Farley as associate editor. Although the [...] Read "Having Our Cake" more
Our friends at Spotlight have just forwarded on details of the next fun-packed evening… For more information: www.spotlightlancaster.co.uk Friday December 18th @ The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH ** PLEASE NOTE ** In a new development Spotlight will now OPEN DOORS at 8pm with an earlier start time of 8.15pm for the [...] Read "December Spotlight" more
A message from the fine folk over at Preston is My Paris, a local arts and photography magazine who are looking to expand their remit by including new writing from local writers. The magazine comes out once per month and you can find out more by visiting their blog at http://prestonismyparis.blogspot.com/ They have opened the [...] Read "Preston is My Paris" more
Borders, the American bookshop giant, is closing down. A shock, not only for book buyers, but for some of its employees, apparently. When it first arrived here, not that long ago (it seems) the chain looked poised to take over the bookselling world, and certainly revolutionised mainstream selling techniques – using what many independents and [...] Read "Goodbye to Borders" more
Earlier this year it was announced that the Lancaster poet and writing teacher Elizabeth Burns won the first Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets for her collection, The Shortest Days. The £5,000 prize was set up to highlight how effective pamphlets – defined in this case as a booklet of up to 36 pages – [...] Read "Elizabeth Burns – The Shortest Days" more
It’s Lancashire Day today! And so we thought we’d celebrate with Marriott Edgar’s cracker, The Lion and Albert There’s a famous seaside place called Blackpool, That’s noted for fresh-air and fun, And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom Went there with young Albert, their son. A grand little lad was their Albert All dressed in his best; [...] Read "Happy Lancashire Day!" more
TWIN is a new bi-annual art and fashion magazine, “substance over surface is our motto” they say, and we were delighted to find in issue one (out now!), a poetry portfolio curated by the new Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. It gets better though because Carol Ann Duffy’s choice includes our very own (though sadly [...] Read "Carol Ann Duffy picks poets to watch" more
I’ve just heard of Volta, a new translation magazine with wide reaching ambition: one poem, seventy five transations. Now that’s multilingual. Each translation is available as a downloadable pdf. The English language version of the poem is the original, written by the compiler of translations, Richard Berengarten, and is a lyrical homage to the sun. [...] Read "Volta – a Multilingual anthology" more
Congratulations to Kate Pullinger, one of our Litfest09 guests, who has blogged on her site that she was yesterday awarded the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction 2009 for her book The Mistress of Nothing, about the life of a Victorian-era maid. The Governor Generals Awards are Canada’s highest literary honour. Apparently Kate charmed guests [...] Read "Kate Pullinger wins Governor General's Award!" more
I’m just back from Lancaster University’s English Department’s new termly reading event, The Salon. Organised by PhD student Cath Nichols its intention is for undergraduate, MA and PhD students to come together and share work. Lovely idea. There is often too much separation between writers at different stages of their careers, especially perhaps in academia. [...] Read "The Salon" more
Maya Chowdhry‘s first collection, The Seamstress and The Global Garment, was published by Commonword in October and launched during the Manchester Literature Festival. It’s a wonderful collection. And I’m not the only one to think so: Saradha Soobrayen, the poetry editor of Chroma, said: “Chowdhry’s poems are uniquely alive to the possibilities of multiple identities, [...] Read "Maya Chowdhry — Reading" more
Taking its name from the very lovely Grade II listed bookcase which stands in the Litfest office, the Litfest Poetry bookcase is now open to the public. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for some time now to get to this point, and we’re very excited about it, so do please come by, browse [...] Read "Now open – the Litfest Poetry Bookcase" more
Spotlight
www.spotlightlancaster.co.uk
Friday November 20th
@ The Storey Auditorium,
Meeting House Lane. Lancaster
Doors will be open from 8.15pm
Admission £4 / £2 (conc.)
Open Mic 8.40 - 9.10pm Read "Spotlight!" more
For those of you who haven’t slurped from the communal bowl that is Word Soup, I’d urge you to dip your spoons in. Running monthly, the next chance to dribble in satiated delight is Tuesday 17 November at The Continental Pub in Preston. Enough of the food related metaphors/language. This is not a night of [...] Read "Word Soup Seven" more
Back in 2007 we held a European translation event with George Szirtes to celebration the publication of No One Else at Home. So with the publication of George’s book, The Burning of The Books, which has been nominated for the TS Eliot prize, I caught up with George. Two years ago, I found him charming, [...] Read "In Conversation with George Szirtes" more
So, the festival’s over. I don’t know whether to boo or cheer. Cheer because we can now catch our collective breath, think over the past ten days of readings and marvel at what an amazing choir of voices were heard in Lancaster. I mean, I love Lancaster, some of my best friends are Lancaster, but [...] Read "The Festival's Over – Hooray? Boo?" more
Guest Post by Jane Routh and Mike Barlow When Andy Darby, Litfest’s Director, first asked for suggestions we drew up a long list – poets whose work we admire but haven’t heard read; poets we’ve heard read once or twice and wish were better known so more people could enjoy their work; or poets who [...] Read "Why we're looking forward to Sunday 25th October" more
Wet outside, dry inside. Tuesday night’s early doors at the festival was an informal event of poets Joe Harding, Judy Sowter, David Borrott, Philip Burton and Teresa Robson from the Pennine Stanza group. No big names meant a small audience but that didn’t affect the quality. In fact it probably heightened the quality of listening. [...] Read "Pennine Stanza Poetry Group Reading" more
Guest Post by Carys Davies I’m delighted to be introducing the short fiction programme at Litfest this year – four celebrated writers, all very different from each other, all masters of this notoriously tricky, deliciously entertaining art form. Panos Karnezis’s collection Little Infamies opens a door into a nameless Greek village, a hot and dusty world [...] Read "Carys Davies on Short Fiction" more
The festival kicked off to a funny, inspirational and political start on Saturday at 5pm with Cynthia McLeod and Kate Pullinger talking and reading about their heroines from the 18th and 19th centuries. Both women (Lady Duff Gordon and Elisabeth Samson) were pioneers of their times, led by their passion for life and equality. I [...] Read "The Present Imperative of Historical Fiction" more
On the last Saturday of the festival Flax is launching Flax019 – Mostly Truthful. Our first non-fiction prose anthology. As the submissions started to come I did wonder what the hell we’d done. It felt like the resulting anthology could be a hugely unfocused sprawl of ideas. Other non-fiction anthologies all had themes. Desastre! But, [...] Read "Mostly Truthful? Flax Launch" more
The litfest team had lots of fun dressing up as characters from the Paul Magrs book – maybe even too much fun. Jonathan Bean as the evil Chef scared the living daylights out of us! Costumes were kindly loaned to us by After Dark Costume Hire at 39 North Road, Lancaster http://www.afterdarktheatre.co.uk/45301.html. (Though Jonathan brought [...] Read "Paul Magrs" more
Guest blog by Graham Mort When Monica Arac de Nyeko won the Caine prize in 2007 I had just returned from directing a literature project in Kampala and my inbox began to overflow with tributes from her fellow Ugandan writers. The prize had shone a light into one of the smaller African countries where authors [...] Read "The African Booker" more
“I am not a man. I am a hat stand. Her favourite hat hangs from my erection. Oh god, I should start again somewhere else.“ So begins Chris Killen’s debut novel (novella?) “The Bird Room” (Canongate, £9.99). It’s a beguiling and intriguing read. First appearances suggest a dark, comic tale of a twentysomething, lovestruck male [...] Read "Chris Killen – The Bird Room" more
To interrupt our scheduled broadcast of festival highlights, we bring you a final (for now) review of the live literature project. From the artist’s own mouth. I introduce, Cath Nichols – Sarah asked me to write the final blog for the exploring live literature project. On day five we tried some improvisation. This was to [...] Read "Live Literature Day 5. The end/beginning: Beautiful and Strange" more
The main character of Jenn Ashworth’s novel, A Kind of Intimacy is Annie. She is a strange woman, who sees the world through a very particular filter. I like her. I like her vulnerability, her honesty (if deluded) and her total insensitivity. She does not collude with our PC obsessed world. I know people who [...] Read "A Kind of Intimacy with unsavoury types" more
This is the first in a series of conversations, reviews and introductions to writers coming to the festival in October. First up with a conversation between Sarah Hymas, of Flax, and Kate Pullinger about her new novel, The Mistress of Nothing. Sarah: One of the successes of the book is the tension created between historical [...] Read "In Conversation with Kate Pullinger" more
So, fresh from our weeks away, Cath Nichols, Andy Darby and myself came back together wondering what ideas and practicalities we had produced so far for Cath’s poem, The Price of Legs. It boiled down to a sheet of plastic, or more accurately three plastic sheets: small, medium and large. This was no Goldilocks. Cath [...] Read "Exploring Live Literature – Day 4" more
The next spotlight event will be on Friday 18th September 2009 at The Storey, Lancaster. Doors open 8.15pm. Admission £4 / £2. Read "Spotlight Fri 18th September" more
We just heard the other day that Heather Parker, who lives in Lowick in South Cumbria, and used to work at the University of Cumbria, has her first novel, Middlewitch, published by Drollierie Press. Naturally we were particularly interested in the electronic aspect of the news, So I asked Heather what it meant to her [...] Read "Another Electronic Book" more
Just a note to make you aware of the upcoming ‘Word Soup’ live lit night in Preston on the 22nd September. Flax writer Peter Wild will be taking part in Litfest with his editor hat on so catch him here with his writer hat firmly on his head. Here are the details in their own [...] Read "Word Soup 5" more
I met with Nicholas Royle the other week to talk with him about his role as mentor / agent to Thomas Fletcher, one of the writers who appeared in Before the Rain Flax007. I recorded the conversation we had outside the Brewery in Kendal. So bear with the wind effect and distant sounds of children [...] Read "Nicholas Royle on Mentoring and Being an Agent" more
Ok, so I promised you a Daphne Du Maurier letter found in the litfest archive of invite rejections, then left you waiting. Well wait no more, here it is and a few other little gems too… ” Truly I am most honoured, but I must tell you that I never attend any sort of public [...] Read "Dusting off the Litfest Archive (take 2)" more
We had the challenging pleasure of Penny Collinson coming in to lead the day today. Penny is a dancer/movement artist, particularly interested in how our bodies respond to space, emotions and narrative. We all dived into the space, playing about with how we occupied the large auditorium, alone and in relation to each other. This [...] Read "Exploring Live Literature Day 3" more
The Storey Gallery’s first exhibition has been in situ and open to visits for a month now and with working just down the corridor I have the good fortune to bob in fairly regularly. And it needs several visits. Anyone who knows the gallery space knows it’s beautiful, spacious and expansive. The Storey bods have [...] Read "The Storey is blooming" more
Yesterday saw the announcement of the 2009 Man Booker Prize longlist. And here they all are – aren’t they lovely! The full list is as follows… Byatt, AS The Children’s Book Random House – Chatto and Windus Coetzee, J M Summertime Random House – Harvill Secker Foulds, Adam The Quickening Maze Random House – Jonathan [...] Read "2009 Booker longlist announced – competition!" more
We’ve spent a little time this week sifting through the many boxes of litfest archive material that remain unsorted since our move back into The Storey. It’s been both interesting and diverting to stop and look at some of the items which date right back to 1978, when Litfest began. The boxes contain a lot [...] Read "Dusting off the litfest archive" more
Day two of our playtime with Cath Nichols was spent mucking about with objects and seeing how animation might fit with the text. Cath Nichols and props It’s a canny balance. On day one we’d experimented with live and recorded voices and how Cath might interact with the two different delivery styles. This created an [...] Read "Exploring Live Literature: day 2" more
So, we all use (or are meant to use) Facebook for advertising our events, and inviting people to come along. And people say yes, no or maybe. Maybe? Is this a maybe, as long as the car starts/train arrives on time kind of maybe? Or is it a maybe probably not but I don’t want [...] Read "The Facebook Maybes" more
There was an interesting letter to the editor in the latest Poetry Review. A collective of 15 women poets, including Kate Clanchy, Patience Agbabi, Katrina Porteous and Eva Salzman to pick some from the high profile signatories, were questioning the ‘gender divide’ of the review section of the previous Poetry Review, they also claim that [...] Read "The debate continues" more
Flax003 writer David Gaffney, is taking his unique new show “Destroy Powerpoint” to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from August 19th to August 31st. See Claire declare her love through the medium of PowerPoint. Watch a homeworker deliver a PowerPoint presentation to himself alone. And imagine a PowerPoint presentation aimed at preventing thought. About PowerPoint, made [...] Read "Destroy Powerpoint!" more
I was a little nervous about the launch last week, given that it was following the wonderful launch of Unsaid Undone at Carnforth train station, which was a lovely relaxed affair in the gorgeous tea rooms. However, I needn’t have been. With Harrogate Brass Band (not in person, sadly) setting the proceedings off, we (or [...] Read "Launch of The Crowd Without" more
Every once in a while you come across a book that changes your entire perspective on what literature is, or should be or can do; you find a narrative that transcends conventions, that just seems so true and so beautiful you wonder why you never read it before, or how one book could speak so [...] Read "so true and so beautiful you wonder why you never read it before" more
Signal Films is offering aspiring screenwriters in Lancashire and Cumbria the opportunity to take part in free scriptwriting training led by an industry expert this summer. Tutor Rob Ritchie, former Head of Screenwriting at the National Film and Television School, will guide trainees through the process of developing a short film script to industry standard [...] Read "Free training for aspiring screenwriters" more
The Crowd Without, Flax018, our most recent digital anthology, is now live and ready for download. http://tinyurl.com/mz7uo5 Packed with delicately written poetry, this anthology features new work by poets from around the North West, including Segun Lee-French, Polly Atkin, Ruth Allen, Chris Culshaw, Andrew McMillan and Jennifer Copley. And it features a lovely bison on [...] Read "The Crowd Without, Flax018" more
Reading this fascinating post on the Magma blog got me wondering how much the Flax anthologies fit into this trend of poetry recommendations, readings and ‘stumble upons’. Certainly we’ve published some fabulous writers who ran with the online form of the anthologies and introduced their work to the wide world of the web, blogged about [...] Read "Finding a poetry collection" more
Spotlight at the Storey (in association with Litfest) Friday June 19th The Storey Auditorium, Meeting House Lancaster LA1 1TH Doors open from 8.15pm. Admission £4 / £2 (conc.) This month’s line up… Mihkel Hassan – Poetry Rebecca Willmott – Poetry Steeve the Poet – Poetry Rosie Whitmore – Poetry Stuart Anthony – Music The Low [...] Read "Spotlight at The Storey" more
Tolu Ogunlesi, who was commissed by Flax last year to write a short blog fiction: Adorna and Desiderus, has won The Guardian First Words competition. Which he is, obviously, very pleased about. The competition was to write the first paragraph of a novel, called The Letting Go. What I like about Tolu’s entry is that [...] Read "Tolu Ogunlesi wins" more
Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo has been announced by the Orange Prize youth panel as their overall winner. The title beat the other shortlisted titles including A Mercy by Toni Morrison and The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser. Bernardine, who read from Blonde Roots at a Litfest event last year said: “This is such [...] Read "Bernardine Evaristo wins Orange Youth Panel Prize" more
Totally Wired are proud to announce a Multi-Arts Event at the newly opened Storey Creative Industries Centre on Saturday 6th June 2009. This will be a great opportunity to see for yourself the exciting new restoration work, which has just been completed on the revamped Storey building. Totally Wired promise a “Blast of Cultural Mayhem” [...] Read "Totally Wired at The Storey" more
Elizabeth Burns‘s pamphlet, The Shortest Days, has been shortlisted for the British Library’s inaugral poetry pamphlet prize. Those of you who have read Elizabeth’s poetry (some was featured in Watermark, Flax002), will be familiar with her light, incisive voice. Her poems are quiet in tone and yet unwrap aspects of our world, nature, history and [...] Read "Elizabeth Burns shortlisted" more
If you were having a great night with the SixPoets last night then you’ll definately want to watch again the brilliant programme Griff Rhys Jones hosted on Why Poetry Matters And if you weren’t there, and aren’t a passionate reader of poetry, I’d recommend it for its enthusiastic, straightforward exploration of the range and value [...] Read "poetry on tv" more
Tom Fletcher whose short stories appeared in Before the Rain, Flax006 has just signed a two book deal with Quercus. So we’re very excited for him. Apparently The Leaping shares some of the same characters with The Skin that She Bit (published in Before the Rain). Werewolves. The action happens between a call centre and [...] Read "Tom Fletcher gets a two book deal" more
Mai Cheng has had to cancel his trip to the Uk and will be unable to come and share his work. It’s always disappointing when this happens, but I’m very pleased to announce that the The Long Walk Chinese Ensemble will take part in the event setting the scene for what I’m sure will be [...] Read "Programme Update" more
This photo is an indication of how well the Flax picnic went (despite siling rain) – last Saturday – one take and all twelve faces are smiling, looking at the camera and appear reasonable, rational human beings! We had a lovely afternoon listening to the brilliant range and quality of work from Flax writers. Nearly [...] Read "Flax Picnic" more
I went to the Wordsworth Trust poetry reading last Tuesday night, with CK Stead and Katharine Kilalea. I know I like programming and anthologising with diversity and variety, but this event excelled itself. CK Stead is a veteran of the poetry world, with a new collected works that was as hefty as War and Peace, [...] Read "Variety and Diversity in Readings" more
So, hooray, the odds on favourite Carol Ann Duffy is the new Poet Laureate. I’m hoping she’ll bring more changes to the role, as Andrew Motion did in his ten years. In an interview she gave, it sounds hopeful. She has already relinquished herself from writing to order at every royal occasion, saying if it [...] Read "The new Poet Laureate" more
This very morning, Litfest returned to its old haunts in the Storey Institute (now known simply as The Storey). We can be found through the main doors, up the set of stairs and on the right. Alas, our phone number has temporarily lost its way in the move and we are without a telephone line [...] Read "Litfest returns to The Storey (institute)" more
I took myself down to Preston on Tuesday to check out the Preston Writing Network‘s first live literature event at The New Continental pub. It was in a huge cavernous room, a little worringly – how were they going to get a sense of energy and fulsomeness in here? I wondered. Cunningly they’d booked Ottersgear [...] Read "Word Soup" more
Well, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but I stumbled upon Steven Hall‘s site while browsing around Cannongate‘s new portal and their twitter posts. The Preston based writer of Raw Shark Texts (Cannongate, 2007) launched the site late last year. It is wonderfully unusual in its set up and in the fact that he (or the designer) [...] Read "Perhaps the best writer's website ever" more
The shortlist for the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction has been announced today. The 20 strong list has been whittled down to just 6, with Chair of Judges Fi Glover commenting that “choosing just six was far harder than I had imagined, but we all left the judging room proud of the list we have chosen.” [...] Read "Orange Prize shortlist 2009" more
I read Jane Eagland‘s novel this week. I picked it up in a slightly zombified state on Easter Monday, thinking a couple of hours reading would see me right before an early bed. It didn’t. I couldn’t put it down. And consequentially found myself finally switching off the light five hours later, when I knew [...] Read "Jane Eagland's Wildthorn" more
Episode 3 of ‘Words on the Waves,’ goes out tomorrow, Friday 10th April at 11am and 6pm on Diversity Radio 103.5FM Don’t forget, if you don’t live in Lancaster/Morecambe, you can stream the show online at www.diversityfm.co.uk Setting sail this month are: Simon Baker Peter Daniel Pascal Desmond Mark Edmundson Paddy Garrigan Sajad Hoffman-Hussain Harvey [...] Read "Words on the Waves" more
Now that Unsaid Undone, Flax017 has been published, I thought it might be fun to have a quick look back at some of the cover ideas Sarah, Jonathan and I discussed as we worked on producing this, our most recent digital publication. The process generally goes that I show a couple of ideas to Sarah. [...] Read "What's in a cover" more
We launched the seventeenth Flax publication last night. Excuse me while I bask in a warm glow of achievement. Although not that I’ve done much of the work – the writers have to take the credit there. It was an inspired idea of Martin’s (the designer) to hold the event at the Brief Encounter tea [...] Read "A Brief Encounter" more
April is National Poetry Month (in the US), but it’s appeal seems to gaining international interest, and so we’ll put our two penn’orth in by passing on a rather unusual item. It seems Russell Crowe accepted his recent “actor of our lifetime” award last week with a poetry mash up, of his own creation, that [...] Read "In celebration of National Poetry Month" more
We’ve just been introduced to a new web-based ‘radio’ station, Audio Book Radio. It runs a 12 hour programme of readings that loops for a week, featuring work by Hemmingway, Saki, HG Wells, and plenty of others. John Mayfield, who runs it, plans to expand the output to include less known writers and more diverse [...] Read "Audio Book Radio" more
Ok hands up all you book cover lovers out there, no don’t be shy, it’s ok to have a secret hankering for old Penguin covers, and now you can shout that love loud, with these jolly picture frames designed specifically to take your favourite book art and show it off to the world. More info [...] Read "In the Frame" more
Page turner? Slow worm? Serial shelver? or Double booker? These are the 4 types of reader as identified in a new survey of the nations reading habits, reported in The Guardian last weekend. Ok, lets get the depressing bit out of the way and move on, because it seems that men actually don’t read that [...] Read "What kind of reader are you?" more
Congratulations to Lancasters’ own Paul Farley, Professor of Poetry at Lancaster University who has just been revealed as one of four joint winners of the Royal Society of Literature’s 2008 Jerwood Prize for non-fiction. The prize is awarded jointly to both Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts for their forthcoming book Edgelands – Journeys into [...] Read "Poet pair share 2008 Jerwood Prize for non-fiction" more
Last Thursday night around 40 people joined the litfest team and writer David Gaffney as he lead us through the soon-to-be-reopened Storey building, reading his specially commissioned, and Storey-inspired short fictions along the way. I’m pleased to say we’ve already had some lovely feedback on the event (see some of the comments on this blog [...] Read "Buildings crying out – Stories inspired by The Storey" more
The Litfest website is offline this morning for essential maintenance work. Apologies for any inconvenience, we hope to have it back online asap. For any enquiries please email litfest@gmail.com or phone 01524 62166. Read "Website down for maintenance" more