Litfest
It could be the sheep all over again … a giant, impermanent poem, losing or gaining words as the tide rolled in.
But until it is, if you’re in Lancaster next Tuesday 22nd June, it looks like it’d be worth a watch
June 15, 2010
Loving the look of this … and its potential
August 4, 2009
The Storey is blooming
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 filled it to chocka.
With flowers, scaffolding, paintings, video, sculptures, sketches and tape.
It’s a bit overwhelming. But I gather that’s the intention. A bit chaotic. But that too is okay.
Which I like. I also like how it manifests the potential for the building’s new incarnation: A ton of different inhabitants buzzing and bouncing off each other’s presence, each presenting new meanings and contexts to the individual piece (or organisation if we’re to continue with the larger metaphor).
Art is what we make it. And what we make of it. A Creative Industries Centre is what we make it. I’ve just heard we’ve got a bridal wear designer moving in.
One of the most impactful sculptures in the exhibition (for me) is a white resin figure draped in a sheet. Is it a child? Is it a ghost? Is it a shy bride? Is it anybody’s guess?
July 29, 2009
2009 Booker longlist announced – competition!
Yesterday saw the announcement of the 2009 Man Booker Prize longlist.
And here they all are – aren’t they lovely!
Booker longlist
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 Cape
Hall, Sarah How to paint a dead man Faber and Faber
Harvey, Samantha The Wilderness Random House - Jonathan Cape
Lever, James Me Cheeta HarperCollins – Fourth Estate
Mantel, Hilary Wolf Hall HarperCollins – Fourth Estate
Mawer, Simon The Glass Room Little, Brown
O’Loughlin, Ed Not Untrue & Not Unkind Penguin – Ireland
Scudamore, James Heliopolis Random House – Harvill Secker
Toibin, Colm Brooklyn Penguin – Viking
Trevor, William Love and Summer Penguin – Viking
Waters, Sarah The Little Stranger Little, Brown – Virago
Now to add to the fun of guessing who’s going to win, we have a little competition. Can you pick from the longlist above three authors who will make it to the 2009 shortlist which will be announced on 8 September 2009? Whats that? A prize? Oh, go on then. We have on offer a copy of Litfest’s “The Midland Hotel” book, signed by both Simon Webb and Sarah Hall (spot the connection?) to give away free to one lucky winner.
In the event of a tie, the names of those who correctly predicted any 3 shortlisted titles will be put in a hat and a winner picked at random. Only one entry per person. So get reading, get guessing and leave your predictions in the comments section of this blog post.
June 17, 2009
The Crowd Without, Flax018
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 the cover, doesn’t get better than that.
Unless, you happen to be in or near Lancaster tonight at 7.30, in which case you can see the the lovely writers reading their work live, at the Auditorium at the Storey (formerly the Storey Institute). See you there.
cover for flax018
April 21, 2009
Orange Prize shortlist 2009
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.”
So here’s the list, who’s your favourite?
The 2009 Orange Prize shortlist:
Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman
The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
March 24, 2009
Buildings crying out – Stories inspired by The Storey
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 and on our twitter page). If you’d like to leave your own comments you can do so at the bottom of this post.
A download of the commissioned stories, entitled “Buildings crying out” is available now from the event page.
March 13, 2009
Spotlight Club, Friday March 20th
News just in from our friends at Spotlight of their next evening event…
Spotlight Club, Friday March 20th, at The Yorkshire House, Parliament St. Lancaster.
Featuring:
Simon Baker – Prose.
Described as a real nowhere man, the fool on the hill and the eggman, Simon Baker
was born in a Norwegian wood back in the USSR. With a ticket to ride down the long and
winding penny lane, he came in through the bathroom window. He said something wrong,
now he longs for yesterday but will get by with a little help from his octopus’s garden.
He wants to be a paperback writer. Until then happiness is a warm, yes it is, bum.
He will be reading a nasty story about a very unpleasant man and recommends that
the easily offended pop down to the bar for ten minutes.
Kim Moore – Poetry
Kim has recently won fourth prize in the Kent and Sussex Poetry Competition judged by
Penelope Shuttle, and also got Highly Commended in the Mirehouse Poetry Prize, and just
had some work accepted in the New Writer as well. She is in her first year of an MA in Creative Writing at
Manchester Metropolitan University and works as a full time peripatetic brass teacher for
Cumbria Music Service. ‘I like to write poems about people/relationships and I’ve been writing for about two years.’
Pamela Pottinger – Prose
‘I live in Cumbria with my husband and three children – a major project as they
have all been home-educated – my writing is done mainly for pleasure but
I do have some stuff out there… various anthologies and occasional bits on radio
‘ What I will be reading is not set in concrete yet, probably ‘A Funeral Story’ which is
about smiling through the grief. Also I have a few pieces of nano fiction up my sleeve
if needs be – these are basically complete stories in 100 words…
Pascal Desmond – Prose
Oh dear. Pascal the Rascal has advised us that he will be reading a chapter from his
autobiography. We don’t know whether this is real or imaginary
(nor are we sure whether Pascal knows)… Has Pascal’s autobiography any
importance or merit? Would Boswell write better or would Boswell not bother?
Would Ellman worse witter or would Ellman write wittier? Would the historian Bullock call it as it is?
Who knows. You’ll find out on the night. As this is a new and frightening departure
for Spotlight, we will have the St John’s Ambulance on standby with supplies of ether and smelling salts.
Plus Music:
Dan Haywood
Live and in person, the Dan Haywood New Hawks ensemble is a phosphorescing
beast of a band with lightning sheeting down its back. The DHNH act has opened for notables
including The Handsome Family, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Baby Dee, Radar Bros. and shared
bills with many great artists too commercially-unsuccessful to mention.
Compere: John Freeman
Doors Open 8.30pm
Admission £3/£2 (conc)
email: spotlightclub@btinternet.com
Lancaster Spotlight is funded by Arts Council England and supported by Lancashire County Council and Lancaster City Council. Spotlight works in association with litfest.
February 6, 2009
Lost cat posters engage Lancaster in a mysterious story of lost love
Please find ZigZag! A unique storytelling project has been launched in Lancaster involving a series of mysterious lost cat posters appearing around the city centre.
Posters are being placed in shop windows and around The Storey asking “Have You Seen this Cat?”. They form the first section of a three part story related to the Storey Institute, which tell a story of unrequited love between a pair of Lancaster people who have been separated and united by the Storey Institute at various points in their lives.
There are two different styles of poster, with some of the posters having been produced by a calligrapher, reflecting the two different characters who tell the story. At the bottom of each poster there is a freephone number to ring to hear the characters in the story speak.
You can keep up to date online by visiting both characters’ blogs – Fern and Charlie.
There will be a performance of six additional short stories by the writer David Gaffney at The Storey on Thursday 19th March where David will lead a small group of people round the newly refurbished building telling specially written tales relating to the building along the way.
January 28, 2009
Simon Armitage’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Simon Armitage isn’t in Lancaster this February. He isn’t performing his poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but New Perspectives Theatre Company are coming. They will be at The Grand Theatre with their production of this long told tale, and according to The Guardian the ‘Star of the show is Simon Armitage’s propulsive, voluptuous verse, giddy on its own alliteration’.
Simon Armitage's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
I’m often uncertain when poems and actors mix, especially when it’s a poet like Armitage who I grew up reading, hearing read, being workshopped by and occasionally bumping into at the Byram Arcade in Huddersfield. I even met my wife at a poetry reading by him! From his shared pamphlet Suitcase – with Ann Dancy (now Sansom) and Peter Sansom, through his explosive debut collection Zoom! and onwards he’s been a part of my reading life, except Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – I don’t know why I just avoided it. So you could say his work is important to me and now it’s placed in the hands of a third party – ACTORS – and understandably I worry.
The care and delicacy of a poet’s phrasing often seems trampled by a stronger dramatic urgency, but Armitage’s verse is so muscular that I suspect, I hope, it will remain intact through a theatrical rendering. I suppose the only way to know for certain is to book tickets and read the book. Put another way, in the style of Harry Hill, ‘Which is better poetry or theatre? There’s only one way to find out – Fight!’
To see the show you’ll have to visit The Grand Theatre, Lancaster between the 12th – 14th February and if you want to read it you can order the book now and we’ll deliver it to your door. If you do both, be sure to comment and let me know what you think.
Here are some theatre and poetry reviews to get you interested and get you thinking.
THEATRE
- A gutsy, no-frills production – spare, down to earth and thrilling. DAILY TELEGRAPH
- An unexpectedly surreal and atmospheric event – the human scale and intimacy of voices raised in a hushed gathering – allowed the poem to breathe. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
- This adaptation, ideal for family audiences, has an appealing sense of adventure, a teasing wit and a marked respect for the original medieval writer. THE STAGE
POETRY
- …thanks to Simon Armitage, we have a translation that not only can you actually read for pleasure, but which also takes you back closer to something of the thrill and wonder the poem would have had in the days when it was composed. It might even be the best translation of any poem I’ve ever seen. THE GUARDIAN click for full review
- This is a good and an enjoyable piece of work, but not in the same league as, for example, Seamus Heaney’s version of Beowulf. It seldom becomes truly significant poetry in its own right. For that moment you have to wait until almost the end – page 93, to be exact. THE INDEPENDENT click for full review
- You can tear through it in a night or two — I couldn’t put down Simon Armitage’s compulsively readable new verse translation — and linger over it for years. THE NEW YORK TIMES click for full review
