tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67226740288980064042024-03-14T02:20:10.544+00:00Manchester Literature Festival BlogMLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-63958814174210792902013-08-08T13:22:00.002+01:002013-08-08T13:22:25.532+01:00This blog is being retired<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hey. You know what? This blog is, like, so 2012.<br />
<br />
If you'd like to read our current blog, Chapter & Verse, head on over to the Manchester Literature Festival website and <a href="http://mlf.clusterup.com/blog-posts">check it out</a>.<br />
<br />
We'll be using it as a place to go deeper into the
books, authors and ideas that figure in this year’s festival. We’ll be
introducing you to our team, and explaining a bit more about the work
that’s involved in making the festival happen every year. Once the
festival is underway, we’ll be posting news and reviews of this year's
events, and guest posts from literary bloggers around the region.<br />
<br />
We'll leave this blog up for archival purposes but will no longer be updating it. Big thanks to the many wonderful contributors who helped write it.</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-84858894754362527922013-05-22T12:26:00.000+01:002013-05-22T12:26:42.438+01:00Small is big: short fiction writing competition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Flash. Micro. Ultra. Short-short. Smokelong. Sawn-off. Tiny tales of 1,000 words and way less have many monikers and many exponents, plenty of whom are from or who have at some point brought their art to Manchester.<br />
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Tonight, for example, sees the city's <a href="http://flashtagmcr.wordpress.com/">FlashTag</a> writing collective head up an event as part of Chorlton Arts Festival; their third, in fact. Now a fixture on the incredibly diverse and immense spoken word scene in the city, this soiree offers a fun-filled culmination to an open-submission creative writing competition, with the shortlist of entrants reading their work - with, ultimately, one of them being crowned the winner. In past incarnations, the runners-up have landed in Chorlton from all over the UK, from Bristol to Edinburgh, which just goes to show that the popularity of the short form isn't limited to our city limits. So flash fiction is big business.<br />
<br />
There are a couple of ways of looking at flash fiction. The first is treating prose like poetry, in a way. Every word counts, and there are very few words. You could spend days, weeks, months, even years honing a piece of no more than as little as two or three paragraphs that tells a story, complete with beginning, middle and end, and which provides all the plotlines and characters that a much longer piece would offer - the only difference is that it is reduced to an essence; a hard hit, if you like. For others, it's about writing something short and sweet in a matter of minutes or hours; an energetic fizz of putting words on a page, creating something totally of its moment.<br />
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It's up to you which you prefer, so we have a challenge for you, and it's up to you to decide which take will impress us the most. We've teamed up with Creative Industries Trafford to run a <b><a href="http://creativeindustriestrafford.org/flash-fiction-competition/">flash fiction writing competition</a></b>, the winners of which we will showcase in an event during Manchester Literature Festival 2013, this coming October. And to help you, CIT are running a special <b><a href="http://creativeindustriestrafford.org/events/how-to-write-flash-fiction/">flash fiction writing workshop</a></b> with pioneer of the short form David Gaffney - author of four critically acclaimed micro-fiction collections - on Tuesday 18 June (1-4pm), for just £5. Click <a href="http://creativeindustriestrafford.org/events/how-to-write-flash-fiction/">here</a> for more details and how to book.<br />
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<b>So, to the competition:</b> We are inviting you to create a flash fiction, no longer than 500 words, inspired by the theme of DNA. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix by Francis Crick and James Watson, and we'd love to read your words inspired by the subject, in all genres of fiction - we're thinking creation, mutation, evolution, transformation...<br />
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<b>Entry is free and submissions should be sent by email to literature@creativeindustriestrafford.org by 5pm on Monday 16 September.</b><br />
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The winning entries will be featured online during MLF 2013 and short-listed authors will be invited to read their stories at a special event on Saturday 12 October at Waterside Arts Centre, Sale, with the overall winner receiving book vouchers worth £50.<br />
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Good luck!</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-34931765931592130622013-05-15T17:51:00.005+01:002013-05-15T17:53:52.333+01:00Postcards from the edge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's Rosie's postcard...<br />
<br />
<br />
10 April 1913<br />
My dearest Mabel,<br />
<br />
I know you are angry with me. I know you will throw this on the fire. But I shall send it in any case. You’ll have read about the affair by now. It’s in the Courier.<br />
<br />
Yes, it was done in protest at Mrs. P being sent down on yet another flummery-mummery charge of incitement. But the intoxication of dashing up and down the waxed parquet, toffee hammers in our fists! Smashing the glass of a dozen paintings before they could hold all three of us down!<br />
<br />
I could tell you we did not mean serious damage, which is what I said in court. You ask how I could attack pictures of ladies like ourselves. But Mabel; when I saw those daubs, a veil was torn away. They are not women: they are falsehoods told in paint with spotless skin, perfect limbs, unlined faces, hands that have never had to wring nappies. They are men’s lies told to make us hate our bodies.<br />
<br />
I shall not lie and say I did it for you. I did it for all of us, even those who did not want it. I would do the same again, tomorrow.<br />
<br />
I remain, <br />
Your affectionate mother,<br />
Annie Briggs<br />
<br />
© 2013 Rosie Garland <br />
<br />
<em>Historical Note</em><br />
<em>On 3rd April 1913, Annie Briggs (48, 'a housekeeper'), Evelyn Manesta (25, 'a </em><em>governess') and Lillian Forrester (33) launched a direct action to protest at the </em><em>imprisonment and forced-feeding of suffragettes. They waited until Manchester Art </em><em>Gallery was almost empty at 9pm. Taking toffee hammers from their handbags, they </em><em>dashed about the room and broke the glass on over a dozen well-known paintings before </em><em>being overwhelmed by guards.</em> </div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-77103756761531010782013-05-15T14:47:00.000+01:002013-05-15T17:46:13.159+01:00Stories from the city, stories from the sea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Postcards From The Past Workshop, Saturday 11th May, 2-4.30pm, Stanley Suite, The Midland Hotel</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Words by Desmond Bullen.</span> </strong></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M8tAVGa3vyY/UZO7wWd9w8I/AAAAAAAABQs/9mCUwzjdpwk/s1600/rosie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M8tAVGa3vyY/UZO7wWd9w8I/AAAAAAAABQs/9mCUwzjdpwk/s320/rosie.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Long before the supposed modishness of flash fiction, prior to the chirpy </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">burst of Twitter, wit at its briefest found its way inked onto the back of a postcard. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Denuded of the envelope’s discretion, its commonplaces and tidings were status </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">updates on mass-produced cardboard. To come across one now, forgotten </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">between the pages of a secondhand book, is to have the past blossom with the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">delicacy of a Polaroid before one’s eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The postcard is of a room. The room is in a hotel, the kind with a history; </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">one whose inlaid angels have witnessed the relentless ebb and flow of guests </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and staff over years weary and gay, over decades heavy and light. The tales </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">they could tell are on the tips of their tongues, but their tongues are still. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The people in the room are not. They prowl and declaim, with varying </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">degrees of self-consciousness, giving rise to an unintentional poetry, part Dada, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">part poetry.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And conducting this displaced cabaret is the quicksilver figure of Rosie </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Garland, a protean figure – neither poet nor mistress of ceremonies, neither </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">March Violet nor author, but all, and more – now coaxing ink from pens in a </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">workshop that is far more play than toil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is paper, too; the inevitable flipchart, the outpourings of the group in </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">marker pen across it, like benign graffiti. And the pads and notebooks, their lines </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">no longer flat, but beating with prose of which its authors might be cautiously proud. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each table has a soul or two brave enough to voice their new-found words </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to the room at large. Each has a postcard to send that’s funny or thoughtful, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">angry or melancholy, flirtatious or droll.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wish you were here? I was glad I was.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>The Postcards From The Past competition, sponsored by The Midland Hotel, closes on 20 July - click </em></span><a href="http://www.mcln.org.uk/postcards_competition.php"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>here</em></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em> for full details of how to enter. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em>Rosie’s latest novel, The Palace Of Curiosities, is out now.</em> </span></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-40651729337260169712013-03-26T11:13:00.000+00:002013-03-26T11:13:48.585+00:00Postcards from the Past - Anne Frank<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b4kht2X1efA/UVGBVI5J1hI/AAAAAAAABQE/7Jqt4Vjt07o/s1600/Anne+Frank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b4kht2X1efA/UVGBVI5J1hI/AAAAAAAABQE/7Jqt4Vjt07o/s320/Anne+Frank.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Dear Mum and Dad,<br />
<br />
How are you? I hope you are well.<br />
<br />
Amsterdam is not how it used to be. Things are changing constantly and there are now a family of Jews living with us. It is scary thinking that we could be caught for helping them but I refuse to let these people suffer because of the Nazis.<br />
<br />
But anyway Mum, Dad; I must go now as I do not have much time until this postcard will be collected to be sent to you. I love you lots. Please keep in touch and do write back.<br />
<br />
Love from your daughter,<br />
Miep xxx<br />
<br />
<i>Written by Zahraa Ghafoor and Fahimah Dudha from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a>. Inspired <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank">Anne Frank's</a> diary,</i> <i>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miep_Gies">Miep Gies</a> who helped hide the Frank family.</i><br />
<br /></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-11088336174054401462013-03-26T11:03:00.002+00:002013-03-26T11:03:54.294+00:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear Hepsebah,<br />
<br />
I am writing to apologise for the problems I caused when I came to stay. I saw that the house was on fire and it was all my fault. I destroyed the skull and the curse came true. I pray that you all got out and were unharmed.<br />
<br />
My life has changed so much since I came to visit. I have two children and I have recently divorced and hope to come to visit you and Mr Johnny. Please give my love to Mr Owens. How is Albert Sandwich? I am so sorry again for putting a curse on Druid's Bottom.<br />
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Love,<br />
Carrie<br />
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<i>Written by Nighat Ahmed from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a> taking inspiration from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie%27s_War">Carrie's War</a> by Nina Bawden.</i><br />
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MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-82020274284544163332013-03-26T10:57:00.003+00:002013-03-26T10:57:35.606+00:00Postcards from the Past - Evolution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear Reader,<br />
<br />
The picture on this postcode has been shot in 9013 by me, Albert Monkeystein. I'm hoping by now you know that history repeated itself. You, like me, may be evolved to a monkey.<br />
<br />
The reason I write this is because I want the new evolution I predict to happen, to understand what has happened...again.<br />
<br />
When the humans left from the pollution we stayed, adapted and used what the humans left to teach ourselves. We're based where this card should be found - Manchester. Each day is quite a challenge with the animals surrounding our camp.<br />
<br />
By 'us' I mean my monkey self, my mother and a poor lost rat we found but I dare not eat.<br />
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I must dash. It's getting quite late and the liorats (lion rats) will come soon.<br />
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Bye bye,<br />
Albert Monkeystein.<br />
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<i>By Saliha Dudha from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a></i><a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/"> </a><br />
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<br /></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-48473834545519343102013-03-26T10:50:00.001+00:002013-03-26T10:57:51.658+00:00Postcards from the Past - from Mar Roldan to Antonio Puerta<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hola mi amor - hello my love,<br />
<br />
I know it's been a week since I last visited you, again I've bought you roses. You're a stupid excuse for a boyfriend - where are my lilies?<br />
<br />
I still remember the day we met. My initial opinion - what an arrogant ego; stud earring, big physique, pearls for teeth. Yes, a big bad boy impression but then those lips moved and I fell in love.<br />
<br />
A year since I gave birth to your son, 3 years since you represented your country, 6 since you stole my heart and almost 2 years till you physically left my life. You're not a memory though. You silenced the whole country. You remain here through me - mi novio. Siempre. Always you are the love of my life. You achieved your dreams, and I want our boy to achieve his - stubborn as he is... Like his dad. He's also got a heart of gold like his papa.<br />
<br />
Yours truly<br />
Me encanta tu, mi novio<br />
I love you always my fiance<br />
<br />
Love Mar x<br />
<br />
<i>This was written by Naadhran Dudra from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a> inspired by the story of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Puerta">Antonio Puerta </a>and Mar</i> <i>Roldan.</i><br />
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MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-17306327905374514942013-03-26T10:34:00.004+00:002013-03-26T10:58:06.309+00:00Postcards from the Past - from Posiedon to Zeus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My dearest brother Zeus,<br />
<br />
Brother, war is brewing. The Titans are ready to attack. Waters are unstable. I can feel the presence of another being roaming around the Atlantic destroying many fish colonies. Athena has come up with many ideas to withstand the Golden Age from reappearing. Even Hades had the decency to contact me as many souls have refused to go to Elysium. My cyclops are working hard to create new weapons to defend Olympus. You must get the wind Gods to support you and protect the areas of Olympus.<br />
<br />
The Hyborean giants are already defending Northern mountains; the areas where Kronos (Saturn) is rising. I have acknowledged from Apollo that Kronos is reappearing bit by bit as our children lose faith in us. Ares has gone into the effort of teaming up with Athena to create safer battlefields and to protect our city. I however, will try my best to protect all waters. Many river gods are reporting news upon any Titans I have long forgotten. On the other hand, you haven't done anything after my last emergency call with the rainbow goddess.<br />
<br />
Many gods are disappearing, the gods who are not very important perhaps in the human world. You must plan something as you are the main god of all. I hope you understand the danger we are in.<br />
<br />
Sincerely<br />
Poseidon (Neptune)<br />
<br />
<i>Written by Fatima Anwar from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a> as part of <a href="http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/mlf-children-and-young-people/postcards-from-the-past">Postcards from the Past</a>. "My inspiration is the book of Percy Jackson written by Rick Riordan. It is based on Greek Mythology</i>, <i>with gods with their Roman forms as well as their Greek forms."</i><br />
<br /></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-57098853570014144402013-03-26T10:14:00.001+00:002013-03-26T10:58:19.827+00:00Postcards from the Past - a card from Marius to his friends<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear Mes Amis<br />
<br />
I miss you all everyday. With Cosette's father's permission we finally married. I wish you could have been there. When asked who would be my best man I thought of you <span class="st">Courfeyrac but I remained silent.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">Enjolras, with the help of Monsieur </span><span class="st">Fauchelevent's money I am working to build a better France. I will help the homeless, the urchins like Gavroche. Your dream will not die.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">Marius</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st"><i>This card was written by Ayesha Ahmed from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a> inspired by </i></span><span class="st"><i><i>"Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo as part of the <a href="http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/mlf-children-and-young-people/postcards-from-the-past">Postcards from the Past</a> project.</i></i></span></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-33382807131681302482013-03-26T09:53:00.000+00:002013-03-26T10:58:34.593+00:00Postcards From The Past - A Card from Ponyboy to Johnny<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear Johnny</div>
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It's been 15 years since you died and I still miss you everyday. I'll never forget the words you spoke to me - "stay gold, Ponyboy". I hope that the way I've lived my life would be considered gold in your eyes. I hope that I've made you proud. After you died things got bad but they eventually got better. I finished school. I went to college and I never stopped writing. My brothers are okay too.</div>
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Things are going well for me now. I only wish you were around to see it. I own a little book store on the corner. One of my books got published a few years ago. I dedicated it to you.</div>
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Love </div>
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Ponyboy</div>
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<i>Written by Maryam Ahmed from <a href="http://pullingtogethergroup.org.uk/">Pulling Together</a> as part of the <a href="http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/mlf-children-and-young-people/postcards-from-the-past">Postcards from the Past</a> project.</i> <i>Inspired by the novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsiders_%28novel%29">"The Outsiders"</a> by S E Hinton.</i></div>
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MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-90551551565690759192013-03-12T11:00:00.000+00:002013-03-20T16:22:15.506+00:00Changing the world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Beacons: Stories For Our Not Too Distant Future, Thursday 7th March, 6.30pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation</b></div>
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<b>Words by Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photograph by Clare Dudman.</b></div>
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Manchester Literature Festival celebrated Climate Week by holding the launch of <i>Beacons: Stories For Our Not Too Distant Future</i>, an anthology of cautionary tales themed around environmental damage. In our last blog post, we'd already asked the collection's editor, Gregory Norminton, whether he thought literature could change the world, and this theme cropped up again tonight, in both the introduction and in the second half, when audience members were asked to share titles of texts that had shifted their perspective and made them consider behavioural improvements. </div>
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"Even if it doesn't change the world, this book will at least unsettle you. It's bracing, it's thrilling, it's frightening in places," says Gregory as he explains how the collection, six years in the making, came together. "Fiction that makes you imagine the 'unimaginable' is really useful and the key is to engage with people on an emotional level. The environmental timebomb isn't a coherent, easy-to-understand narrative, but focusing on the human condition helps you try and make a predicament work as a set of stories."</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right: Rodge Glass, Cathy Bolton and Gregory Norminton</td></tr>
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Another way to make the contents gel was to avoid being overly preachy. "If we asked our writers to write 'campaigning stories', we'd end up with a bad book," Gregory continues. "It's not 'them and us' - we're all in this together. If we agree to this as citizens, we should agree to that as writers too."</div>
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Rodge Glass, one of tonight's readers, nods his head. "The challenge is not to come over as if you're hectoring people. It's our responsibility as writers to engage with the world and be honest about it," he chips in. His pacy story is based in Krakow and focuses on a group of political campaigners living in the shadow of the threat of imminent and catastrophic flooding. </div>
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Clare Dudman, who reads first, looks at coping with life in a drier, warmer Britain, although she says she wanted to write a story that had hope in it. Her protagonist, Sophie, is an editor because Clare wanted to explore her own usefulness, as a writer, in the face of an apocalyptic event. "It's so scary, what's happening," she says. "You feel obliged to write about it and have it at the back of your head all the time." </div>
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Gregory is the last to read an extract, his offering being a pastiche of <i>Invisible Cities</i> by Italo Calvino, his choice for the debate after the break. Others that were raised ranged from George Orwell's <i>1984 </i>and William Golding's <i>The Inherited</i> to <i>Brixton Beach</i> by Roma Tearne and <i>The Female Eunuch</i> by Germaine Greer. Gregory holds aloft his copy of <i>Beacons</i>. "I want this book to start a conversation," he says, and I think, going on tonight's event, it already has.<br />
<em><br /></em><em>You can read another interview with</em> Beacons <em>editor Gregory Norminton, written by Marc Hudson on the </em><a href="http://manchesterclimatemonthly.net/2013/03/05/beacons-short-stories-and-climate-launched-in-manchester-on-thurs-7th-march/"><em>Manchester Climate Monthly</em></a><em> site, where a full list of the books that changed our audience's world will be published shortly and where you can find out full details of their new short story competition.</em></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-31141466415151319852013-03-06T17:06:00.001+00:002013-03-06T17:06:37.286+00:00Sustainable storytelling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interview by Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photograph by Kezia Tan.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">Manchester Literature Festival collaborates with various cultural associations and artists on special projects throughout the year, and we're very excited to see the fruition of one of these for 2013 with the launch tomorrow of short story collection <i>Beacons: Stories For Our Not So Distant Future</i>. Here, we chat to <i>Beacons</i> (<a href="http://www.oneworld-publications.com/pbooks/beacons-9781851689699">Oneworld Publications</a>) editor Gregory Norminton about the book and the special event at our official partner venue, the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, tomorrow at 6.30pm (free entry; click </span><a href="http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/preview-events/beacons" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;"> for full details; follow @beacons_stories for more via Twitter).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>MLF: Could you give us a brief outline of the book?</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: Back in 2007, when
the idea for <i>Beacons </i>first came to me, very few literary writers were engaging
with the ecological crisis. This was left to genre fiction, notably science fiction. Now I
love good SF, but we are talking about an existential challenge to the basic
assumptions of our civilisation: if mainstream writers can't get to grips with
it, what use are we? I'm not talking about activism in prose </span>–<span style="font-family: inherit;"> that is always
deadly for good writing. But a literature that blinds itself to the truth is
pure decadence. Anyway, seeing a dearth of fiction engaged with climate change,
and having sought ways of addressing it in my own writing, I decided to throw
down the gauntlet to my peers and betters. When a society faces upheaval, it
looks for fresh narratives to help makes sense of events. Statistics cannot
motivate us as stories can, yet where are the George Orwells, the Aldous
Huxleys and William Morrises of the ecological crisis? Along with Mike Robinson,
then chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, I set about recruiting enough
writers to put together a collection of original stories responding to the challenge.
It has taken years to get to the point where I can now caress and coo over a finished
book, but the effort has paid off. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Beacons </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">consists of 21 short stories
that attempt, in a splendid diversity of ways, to help us imagine what we so
often fear to look at. As a bonus to contributors and readers, author royalties
go to the Stop Climate Coalition.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">MLF: How did you get so
many critically acclaimed and well-respected authors </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">involved?</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: By a combination of
tenacity and low-level harassment. In the first year of the project, I wrote to
over one hundred British authors. (We decided to limit ourselves to this country,
though there are wonderful writers abroad who are ahead of us in the field.)
One famous author sent me vitriol for being a 'warmist'; many expressed sympathy
for the project but declined to contribute; enough were willing to lend their names
if it would improve our chances of finding a publisher. Short stories are a
hard sell. We needed some big names to drive the thing forward; and we got
lucky, because as it transpired, many writers <i>were </i>wrestling with our
all-encompassing theme: wrestling as writers, but also as citizens, since none
of us can retreat to an oasis, or into internal exile, from the degradation of
the biosphere. In my experience, fiction writers are a surprisingly generous
lot, capable of interspecies solidarity, and often ready to give of their
creativity where money is lacking. We have a fine collection of writers in <i>Beacons </i></span>–<span style="font-family: inherit;"> from rising talents like Tom Bullough, Nick Hayes, Holly Howitt and James
Miller to established names like Joanne Harris, Alasdair Gray, Janice Galloway,
Toby Litt, Lawrence Norfolk and Adam Thorpe. All are equals on the page – and in
their generosity.</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">MLF: The
anthology is divided into three parts - what are these, and what do they signify?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: You need some kind
of structure to a collection of stories. What this would be, of course, depended
on the flavour and content of the stories as they were delivered. I had the
idea of dividing the book into three sections (few things more pleasing than a
triad) which, taken together, would imply a thematic journey. Each section of
the book takes its title from an epigraph: the words of an astronaut, a Native
American chief and a poet respectively. But I think I will leave questions of
interpretation and significance to the reader.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>MLF: </i></b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Tell us
about the illustrations.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: I wanted the book to
have a particular visual flavour. Once the impossibly talented Nick Hayes was
on board to contribute a 'graphic story', it seemed a great idea to commission Nick to design the cover
and the artwork. And so it has proved. <i>Beacons </i>looks like nothing else
on the book tables in our dwindling bookshops. I hope this will encourage
punters to pick it up and buy it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">MLF: The event is
a collaboration between the Manchester Writing School at MMU, Manchester
Literature Festival and Steady State Manchester - how did that come about?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: I have the good
fortune of being employed as a lecturer at the Manchester Writing School. As a
result, James Draper, our enterprising manager, offered to sponsor the launch at
the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. This means we can let people in
for free! As for Steady State Manchester, it was they who proposed a joint
launch with <i>Beacons</i>, and who, over several meetings with myself and Cathy
Bolton of the Manchester Literature Festival, came up with the idea of an
interactive event. If that sounds intriguing, you will have to come on Thursday
to learn more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">MLF: What is the
involvement of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: Stop Climate Chaos
is an umbrella organisation made of pressure groups, churches and charities
dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s poorest
communities. It was instrumental in getting Climate Change Acts passed at Westminster
and Holyrood. Mike Robinson, who wrote our afterword, was the chair of the
Scotland branch when I began work on the project, and, for reasons too complex
to go into here, his support has been essential for its realisation. Some of the
bigger NGOs in the coalition are promoting and selling the book to their
supporters. Thanks to SCC, we hope to reach a wider readership than short
stories commonly enjoy. In return, it is only fair to send our author royalties
back to help their future campaigns.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">MLF: Is climate
change and sustainability still / was it ever an agenda-changing issue in light
of other global problems, such as recession, terrorism, poverty, etc?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: It is, alas, the
envelope that contains all of the above. Resource depletion and extreme weather
mean hunger, economic decline, poverty and conflict. In one sense, our climate crisis
is a symptom of an unsustainable mode of collective being. This makes
addressing it hugely inconvenient to vested interests. Hence the well-financed
efforts by those interests to discredit those who are issuing the alarm. It is
true that media attention on climate change has dwindled, and I see a growing
ideological resistance both to the science and to the policies we need to
respond to it. There are a lot of very seductive lies in our culture for the
moment: that the problem doesn't exist, that it isn't as serious as 'alarmists'
pretend, that ecologists are all Commies trying to take away our freedoms.
Countering these lies is difficult, given that the truth is highly unpalatable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>MLF: </i></b><i style="font-weight: bold;">How can
literature change the world?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: I don't know that it
can </span>–<span style="font-family: inherit;"> for the better. For every George Orwell warning us about threats to
society, there is an Ayn Rand leaking poison into its bloodstream. Individuals
can be awakened by great literature </span>–<span style="font-family: inherit;"> it is one of the tools for consciousness
at our disposal </span>–<span style="font-family: inherit;"> but I have few illusions that a collection of short stories
can alter much. This is not a reason for quiescence. We may be going down, but
let's not do so meekly, if you please.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>MLF: </b></i><b><i>Is the
launch deliberately timed to coincide with Climate Week?<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: Yes. We need all the
help we can get, and so does Climate Week: a valiant attempt to return the crisis to the foreground of our
distracted culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">MLF: Could you tell
us a bit more about the launch event at the International Anthony </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Burgess Foundation tomorrow.</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">GN: I will be hosting
and reading from the book, alongside two of its contributing writers, Clare Dudman
and Rodge Glass. The event is free, with books on sale at a discount. Steady State
Manchester will lead a shared conversation about books that have inspired
change or action in their readers. It will be an interactive evening, a
celebration of the power of story to waken our inner selves. It should be
fascinating. I just hope my wretched cold will have eased off before Thursday!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>MLF: Thanks, Gregory. We'll be posting a review of the event on the MLF blog later this week...</i></b></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CCnz2aMFqps/UTdjn4IUaKI/AAAAAAAABN0/fUvkCAgBN4s/s1600/gregory+norminton+by+kezia+tan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CCnz2aMFqps/UTdjn4IUaKI/AAAAAAAABN0/fUvkCAgBN4s/s200/gregory+norminton+by+kezia+tan.JPG" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gregory Norminton <span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">is the author of
four novels - The Ship of Fools, Arts and Wonders, Ghost Portrait and Serious
Things - as well as a book of aphorism, The Lost Art of Losing, and two
collections of short stories to be published later this year. He teaches
creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and lives with his wife
Emma in a Quaker community in the Peak District.</span></span></i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-87813794204782970532012-12-20T13:52:00.000+00:002012-12-20T15:28:11.866+00:00Seasonal cheer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Iain M Banks, Thursday 11th October 2012, 7pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation
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Podcast by Guy Garrud. Photograph by Jon Atkin.</b>
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As the festive season fast approaches, take a break from mincepie-munching and present panic-buying with our special Christmas gift... a podcast of Iain M Banks's "cheerfully amiable" talk at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation during Manchester Literature Festival in October, when he discussed his works including both his sci-fi offerings (when the "M" comes into his name, of course) but also his more "mainstream" fiction, such as his popular debut, <i>The Wasp Factory</i>.
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jM7MG-nw83M/UNMR29YCHHI/AAAAAAAABNU/5stLkOsABs4/s1600/2012-10-11%2B19.11.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jM7MG-nw83M/UNMR29YCHHI/AAAAAAAABNU/5stLkOsABs4/s400/2012-10-11%2B19.11.54.jpg" /></a></div>
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You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the play arrow button below. Music is courtesy Manchester-based group <a href="http://houndsofhulme.bandcamp.com/">Hounds Of Hulme</a>.
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<i>You can read Guy's review of this event on the Manchester Literature Festival Blog by clicking <a href="http://manchesterliterature.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/banksing-on-it.html">here</a>.</i>
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<i>Guy Garrud is a London based blogger, writer and baker. He blogs at <a href="http://guygarrud.com/">www.guygarrud.com</a> and <a href="http://www.blurrysquirrel.com/">www.blurrysquirrel.com</a>, and can be found on Twitter @guygarrud.</i>MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-33180772884579711412012-11-14T16:38:00.000+00:002012-11-14T16:42:55.110+00:00Inspired ideas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Darkness. A spotlight. Rows
of chairs. The edge of a stage. Tickets. A flash of bright yellow
as a volunteer goes by the door. A rustle of excitement. Manchester Literature
Festival. Over 70 astonishing
performances in two weeks but the best one, for me, happened on the very last
day of the festiva</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">l, in Webster Primary School in Greenheys, miles away
from the bright lights.</span></div>
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reciting his poem and looks up, squinting in the sunlight streaming through the
windows. He doesn't know what to expect. It is his first performance. It is a beginning. He is reading a poem he has written
about the holocaust and what it was like for the children who endured its
horror, and he has used the opening lines, 'The water was on fire', written by
Michael Rosen for the Children’s Bookshow 2012 Poetry Competition.
He heard about this <a href="http://www.thechildrensbookshow.com/competition.html">competition</a>, which closed for entries this week, way back at the beginning of this year's
Manchester Literature Festival, on October 2nd, when he was in the auditorium of
the Royal Exchange Theatre, with the rest of his class and his teacher, Miss
Dawber, to meet Ulf Stark (read Fiona's review <a href="http://manchesterliterature.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/ulf.html">here</a>). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Talking to Miss Dawber, I
realised that one hour in the Royal Exchange Theatre was the
culmination of weeks of reading and discussion by these children in
preparation for their meeting with a real live writer. So Manchester
Literature Festival started early for them. And, in the poetry they
have written, its effect carries on, as through teachers like Miss Dawber and in
schools like Webster Primary, all across this city, a love of literature and
the pleasure of writing is made into a reachable reality for our children.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So thank you to all those
people who helped Manchester Literature Festival to set up these events for young people. And thank you to all those mums and dads and aunties
and big sisters and grandads who brought the kids. Who found the toilets,
who lugged the buggies. And, above all, thank you to all those teachers,
tirelessly counting children, watching doors, planning follow-ups and
encouraging dreams. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The little boy finishes his
poem. It is his first performance. It is a beginning. We clap. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Fiona MacLeod is a freelance writer and editor for
The Jubilee Press at the University of Nottingham. Her first novel, </span></i><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Impostor<i> (Wardgate Press 2008), has just been optioned for film and
television. She blogs <a href="http://fmmmacleod.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a> and you can follow her on
Twitter @fmmmacleod.</i></span></div>
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MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-84177938757645997922012-11-13T17:26:00.000+00:002012-11-13T17:26:02.456+00:00Homes from home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Jeanette Winterson & AM Homes, Monday 22nd October, 6.30pm, Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, Martin
Harris Centre for Music and Drama</b><br />
<br />
<b>Words by Fiona Christie. Photograph by Jon Atkin.</b><br />
<br />
I was the beneficiary of a random act of kindness in getting a
ticket for Jeanette Winterson and AM Homes in conversation when I was given it
by a total stranger I'd got chatting to a couple of days before at another MLF
event. This was evidence to me of that shared (and yes, cosy) community that is
the world of book-lovers - readers and writers alike (thanks to Artificial Silk,
you know who you are).</div>
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<br /></div>
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It was this kind of generosity of spirit that for me was
most noteworthy about listening to JW and AM<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>in conversation. There was such warmth and mutual regard between these two
writers who had known each other's work long before they became friends. The
fact that they were both adopted as children is a strong common bond that they
share, in addition to being writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was left wondering if a conversation between two male authors would have had such
warmth. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t think so. </i>I'll admit, I'm not an avid fan of either writer, having read JW’s work
in the 80s when it was obligatory for any aspiring feminist undergraduate, and
having never read AM Homes. However, I was certainly motivated to go away and do so. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s interesting that the solitary pursuits of both reading
and writing are so fundamentally communal when lovers of the same literature,
both producers and consumers, come together. Reading and writing seem so
sociable at events such as these. But it does also seem counter-intuitive and
destined to disappoint when we ask our writers to “perform”. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DxHKpyvKeRY/UIgGTBo784I/AAAAAAAABK4/dU3S1J8HIDM/s1600/2012-10-22+18.58.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DxHKpyvKeRY/UIgGTBo784I/AAAAAAAABK4/dU3S1J8HIDM/s320/2012-10-22+18.58.08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There was a charming self-consciousness between these two
writers as they tittered away about the ruder parts of AM Homes' latest book, <i>May We Be Forgiven</i>. It was a bit like a couple of undergraduates getting the giggles
when presenting in front of a lecturer; in this case Nancy Rothwell, the
University’s VC who was looking on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JW seemed
fairly giddy about the occasion and began the evening with hilarious reference
to fact that she had by chance chosen the same outfit of frock coat and boots
that was worn by the rather stately gentleman on the pull-up banner which
advertises the MLF. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At other points in
the evening, it was as if they were so absorbed by their conversation that they
forgot the audience was there.</div>
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JW and AM discussed women’s writing, both expressing concern
that women were pigeon-holed in writing small world stories rather than the
great novels which cover the big issues (Jonathan Franzen got more than one
mention in this respect). They speculated on why so few men seem to read
women’s writing (albeit quoting from a <i>GQ </i>survey that probably lacks rigour).
They seemed to agree that AM has a slightly different readership from JW. JW
said it was women writers who were drawn to her creative writing classes,
whereas AM said it was the geeky men who were drawn to the classes she teaches.
She shares the JK Rowling approach of avoiding her true first name as her
writer’s name; in the great tradition of George Eliot hiding gender in order to
get a wider readership (though she would argue more accidentally, than
deliberately).</div>
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An interesting evening in which JW felt clearly at home in
our city and the Manchester audience lapped up her reading from <i>Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?</i>, in which she brilliantly describes Manchester and our
restive and creative tradition. The audience clearly wanted more from JW than
they got, but, in true Manchester fashion, they welcomed and warmed to the
interloper of the night AM Homes. </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fiona Christie is a self-confessed lover of books. You can follow her on Twitter
@FCChristie.</i></div>
</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-90837954698302670632012-11-13T12:50:00.001+00:002012-11-13T12:50:24.193+00:00Young Digital Reporter at Swimming and Flying #2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Swimming and Flying, Friday 19th October
2012, 7.30pm, Whitworth Art Gallery</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Words by Liz Gibson. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew.</span></span></span></b><span> </span></div>
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<span>I hadn’t known exactly what to expect from
Mark Haddon at his event at the Manchester Literature Festival; whether he was
going to do a talk, read from his books, answer questions, or a combination of
these things.</span><span style="font-size: normal;"> </span><span>What he did do surprised me – he presented a
piece entitled “Swimming and Flying”, an incredibly dynamic and engaging
speech which addressed a huge range of subjects and which included some advice
on writing. As an aspiring writer, I found his words of wisdom very
interesting. </span></div>
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<span>He began by telling of an incident that took
place when he was at boarding school, when he naively owned up for something
that turned out not to be his fault, was punished, and became a hero among his
schoolfellows. He described his confusion that everything as he knew it had
been turned upside down; he was effectively being congratulated for breaking
the rules. </span><span>He then went on to talk about his love of
science and how, from a young age, he has grappled with big questions, for example<span style="font-size: small;">: </span>will we ever know exactly how big the universe is, and where it ends – if it
ends? This is something I have often pondered myself, and whether we will ever
know the answer, I do not know. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r4AmjyaCll8/UKJBg9ypyXI/AAAAAAAABMs/Knz8hSQcBTc/s1600/0784+-%C2%AC+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r4AmjyaCll8/UKJBg9ypyXI/AAAAAAAABMs/Knz8hSQcBTc/s320/0784+-%C2%AC+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span>Mark went on to discuss both swimming and
flying; how he had once been afraid of swimming in deep water and of great
white sharks. He was running by the Thames one morning and decided on a whim to
swim in it, and the way he described the experience was like poetry. He clearly
adored it. He now swims in the Thames several times a week, which I am in awe
of. </span><span>He then spoke about
overcoming his fear of flying by realising what a miracle it is that we human
beings have learnt how to fly. His tale ended with a description of him in a
plane flying up into the unknown, and as well as being a nice image o<span style="font-size: small;">n which </span>to end,
it also summed up all his ideas on science, the universe, facing our fears
and how trying to understand something can stop us from being afraid of it.</span></div>
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<span>I enjoyed his talk; it wasn’t what I had been
expecting, but it was very special and personal, and really made me think –
about science, writing, taking risks and overcoming fears.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span>Afterwards he signed my copy of <i>The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</i>, and he was very friendly and pleasant. I
went home feeling that maybe I would look at the world slightly differently now
thanks to this talk. I had an evening to remember. Thank
you, Mark Haddon, and thank you, Manchester Literature Festival. </span></div>
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<i><span><span>Liz <span style="font-size: normal;">G<span style="font-size: normal;">ibson</span></span> </span>blogs at: </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://lglyrics.blogspot.co.uk/">http://lglyrics.blogspot.co.uk</a></span></i></div>
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<span></span></div>
</span><span style="font-size: normal;"><span><i>Throughout
the Festival in 2012 we have been working with a group of young
people to support them to become digital reporters, and to document a
range of events from their perspective. As well
as writing blogs and reviews, the young digital reporters have
responded to our events using other methods such as photography,
illustration and radio.</i></span><span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span></span></div>
</div>MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-50484328314248131482012-10-30T15:45:00.001+00:002012-10-30T15:45:06.512+00:00International relations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<b>Sex and the Cities, Friday 19th October, 7.30pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation</b><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mtKooq-XF6c/UIafGeZBSJI/AAAAAAAABIQ/jdsjJjTGtjQ/s1600/Sex+&+the+Cities.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mtKooq-XF6c/UIafGeZBSJI/AAAAAAAABIQ/jdsjJjTGtjQ/s320/Sex+&+the+Cities.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
You can read a review of this event on<i> <a href="http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/blog.php">The Manchester Review</a></i>, published by the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester.<br />
<br /></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-70253115561438915242012-10-29T14:38:00.000+00:002012-10-29T15:25:06.764+00:00Grand finale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Jonathan Harvey, Tuesday 23rd October, 7pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Words by Michael<i> </i>Smaczylo. Photograph by Jon Atkin.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">For the 75th
and final event of this year’s excellent festival, Jonathan Harvey is joined at the
International Anthony Burgess Foundation by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay
Chorus for a brilliant finale. Harvey wrote his first
play in 1987, for which he won a £1,000 prize from the Liverpool Playhouse and
the National Girobank Young Writer of the Year Award. Since then he has won
numerous awards for his plays and television writing, and he is currently part of
the <i>Coronation Street </i>team. Perhaps his most famous work,<i> Beautiful Thing</i>, was
written in 1993, made into a movie in 1996, and performed last year at
Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, a production which included a song performed tonight
by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus, who begin and end the event with
three of these songs. Today however, he is talking about his first novel, <i>All
She Wants</i>, to which Caitlin Moran responded by saying, "If Harvey is the
Scouse Proust, then this is his remembrance of things pissed."</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AcC__cChQ3c/UIgGN1wRhMI/AAAAAAAABKw/NyoxDIfVLQ4/s1600/2012-10-23+19.19.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AcC__cChQ3c/UIgGN1wRhMI/AAAAAAAABKw/NyoxDIfVLQ4/s320/2012-10-23+19.19.01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The novel is narrated
by an airheaded soap actress called Jodie McGee, which sounds like an ambitious
move for a male writer, but one which, judging by his reading, Harvey pulls off
very comfortably. He tells us that his second novel, on which he is currently
working, also uses a first-person female narrator and that he recently
wrote his first sex scene, and had to check with a female friend that it wasn’t
"too gay". The chapter he reads to us happens when his protagonist is 17 or 18
and is both silly and hilarious, particularly as Harvey reads his characters’
voices so well. In this section, a friend of Jodie’s, who has recently hooked
up with a disabled boy at a party, has become a political-correctness warrior,
and even turns up to a pub in a wheelchair herself. After this, Jodie’s parents
find out that her "perfect" brother Joey is gay, when he is arrested for gross
public indecency. They are horrified to begin with and see him as a freak,
until a colleague’s lesbian daughter becomes the talk of her workplace, and
Jodie’s mother begins to brag that her son has been gay for years and that she
practically encourages it. Harvey delivers the reading with great energy to a
highly responsive audience.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">He then takes
questions, beginning with one regarding his choice to write a novel for the
first time after 25 years of writing for stage and TV. He speaks about how he
became a playwright and what it’s like to be part of the <i>Coronation Street</i>
team, joking that since joining he hasn’t felt so bad about the number of shows
he has been fired from. Something that is noted by audience members is the
cultural "nowness" of his work, which is full of references to popular culture,
and the way all of the characters of his novel can be related to real people.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">After two final songs
from the L&G Chorus, Festival Coordinator Jon Atkin makes the
acknowledgements which close what has truly been an amazing festival. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="line-height: 21px;">Michael
Smaczylo is a gap year student who has just completed his A-levels at
Manchester Grammar School and hopes to study English Language and
Literature at university next year. He Tweets as @mashsmaczylo.</i></span></span></span></span>
</div>
</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-82848856411677553682012-10-27T18:07:00.001+01:002012-10-27T18:07:15.853+01:00Awards and rewards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Northern Writers' Awards, Monday 22nd October, 1pm, Waterstones Deansgate, Events Room</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Words by Sarah-Clare Conlon. Photograph by Jon Atkin.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">To celebrate the fact that, after 12 years, the <a href="http://www.northernwritersawards.com/">Northern Writers' Awards</a> are extending their reach to include areas outside the North
East, <a href="http://www.newwritingnorth.com/">New Writing North</a> is officially launching the 2013 competition at this
event as part of Manchester Literature Festival. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">New Writing North chief executive Claire Malcolm introduces
the awards, of which there are a number (for example, the Andrea Badenoch
Award, for women writers over the age of 42, the Waterhouse Award for Poetry,
and various new fiction bursaries). As well as financial support, winners
receive exposure to mentoring opportunities, editorial expertise, professional
development, exchange programmes and events with the chance to meet agents and
publishers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZny1tBpjs8/UIbDKdjBEvI/AAAAAAAABJU/c08mpik5rx0/s1600/2012-10-22+13.15.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZny1tBpjs8/UIbDKdjBEvI/AAAAAAAABJU/c08mpik5rx0/s320/2012-10-22+13.15.37.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So far, over 100 writers have benefited from the scheme and previous
winners Mari Hannah (2010) and Dan Smith (2005) join Claire to read from their
work and discuss how the support they have received has steered their writing
careers. Mari reads from <i>The Murder Wall</i>, one of a three-book deal Pan MacMillan
signed her up for. The crime series features the character Detective Inspector
Kate Daniels and is based in the North East, this one in the area around
Hadrian’s Wall. Dan gives us an extract of his third novel through Orion, <i>The
Child Thief</i>, about a kidnap in 1930s Ukraine; features of his thrillers being
foreign locations and historical settings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, how has being a winner of the Northern Writers Awards helped
the two writers here today get to this stage? Mari puts it down to the
confidence she felt by winning: “Somebody else is saying: ‘We think your
writing’s strong’.” Dan nods wholeheartedly. “It’s the encouragement you feel,”
he agrees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This year’s awards pot has increased from £25k to £40k, and
submissions (which are all online) will be accepted between 1 December 2012 and
31 January 2013. The judges are different each year, and this time round
reflect the awards’ extended area: Cumbria’s Sarah Hall (fiction) and
Yorkshire’s Ian McMillan (poetry). We’ll give Mari the last word; if you need
any more encouragement to apply, this is it: “Get your submissions in -
honestly, it can change your life. It did mine!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: #ffebee; line-height: 21px;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sarah-Clare Conlon is a freelance writer, editor and press officer. Her award-winning blog, <a href="http://wordsandfixtures.blogspot.com/" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;">Words & Fixtures</a>, is about language, literature, arts and culture.</span></span></i></i></div>
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MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-14782817697699743232012-10-26T15:27:00.000+01:002012-10-26T15:27:11.765+01:00Irish spirit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Sailing to Byzantium, Sunday 21st October, 3pm, Royal Northern College of Music</span></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Words by Michael Smaczylo.</span></span></span></b><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The RNCM Concert Hall
is a bit of a time capsule for me. As a child I would play there in violin
groups and orchestras, but today is the first time I’ve visited in six or seven
years, so it’s great to be back. I’ve always loved music of all sorts and sang
at the Montreux Jazz Festival last year. I’m also a big fan of modernist
literature and have recently been reading a lot of Joyce and studying his
literary context, so when I first heard on the radio, while travelling home
from the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, that Christine Tobin, who was named Best
Vocalist at the 2008 BBC Jazz Awards, had released an album of WB Yeats poems
set to music, it was an extremely exciting prospect. When I saw that she would
be performing the songs as part of the Manchester Literature Festival, I knew I
had to go along.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Taking the stage with
her band, which consists of Phil Robson on guitar, Kate Shortt on cello, Liam
Noble on piano and Dave Whitford on double bass, Tobin explains that when
asked to talk about Yeats by the National Library of Ireland, she decided that
arranging and performing some of his poems would be a far less daunting task,
and from this came the idea for the album. The performance begins with a recorded
reading of <i>The Lake Isle of Innisfree</i>, by her ex-school teacher and actor
Gabriel Byrne, followed immediately by the album’s first song, <i>When You Are Old</i>,
a love poem from Yeats’ second collection, <i>The Rose</i>. This is followed by
another love poem, <i>The Song of Wandering Aengus</i> (Aengus being the Celtic god
of poetic love). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">What is immediately obvious is the prodigious talent of each
of the performers; each musician playing extended improvised solos, and Tobin’s
voice as rich live as post-production on the album. Between songs she offers
context to the poems, telling us, before playing <i>The Wild Swans at Coole</i> that
Coole, in County Galway, was the residence of Lady Augusta Gregory, with whom
Yeats founded the Irish Literary Theatre, and describing <i>The Second Coming</i> as
a "dark and apocalyptic vision"; an atmosphere perfectly conveyed in the music
by the ominous 5/4 ostinato and chaotic middle section. Next is<i> The
Fisherman</i>, a poem that perfectly exemplifies the romantic notions of Irishness
that Yeats is renowned for, and his abhorrence of the crass and the everyday,
the "beating down" of art.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><i>Sailing to Byzantium</i>,
the album’s title track, is one of Yeats’ most famous poems, written later on
in his life at a time when he had become fascinated by Eastern mysticism, and
Tobin’s melody and harmonies have an Eastern flavour. <i>What Then?</i>, a poem she
describes as a "potted biography" of Yeats’ life, encapsulates his search for
affirmation even in old age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
that my favourite of the arrangements must be <i>In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and
Constance Markiewicz</i>. These were two friends of Yeats’ with whom he eventually
disagreed, as they put politics above all else, while he prioritised art. The
performance finishes with renditions of <i>Byzantium</i> and <i>Long-Legged Fly</i> (for
which Tobin sings through a megaphone), and a reading of <i>The White Birds</i>,
again by Gabriel Byrne.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I</span>t’s been an
incredible performance and I’m feeling completely inspired. I think I might go
and arrange some Keats or something.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="line-height: 21px;"> </i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="line-height: 21px;">Michael
Smaczylo is a gap year student who has just completed his A-levels at
Manchester Grammar School and hopes to study English Language and
Literature at university next year. He Tweets as @mashsmaczylo.</i></span></span></span></div>
</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-56925028029761451772012-10-25T13:11:00.002+01:002012-10-29T15:14:54.166+00:00Preaching to the converted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Manchester Sermon, Thursday 18th October, 7pm, Manchester Cathedral </b><br />
<br />
<b>Words by Benjamin Judge. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew.</b><br />
<br />
The sermon was once a respected literary form like the poem
or the essay. In the 19th century, many of our greatest writers wrote
them, they were collected together in books and they were, like, probably,
like, on the telly, like, all the time and that. Then, in the 20th century,
Mary Quant invented the Beatles and something-something-something to do with Spitfires and rationing, and then all of a sudden there was that song based on
the music from Tetris, and Ace of Base, and that thing with Carol Smillie where
they decorate each other’s homes and cry because they don’t like how they
decorated each other’s homes, and... where was I?<br />
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<br /></div>
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Oh yes, sermons. Well, Manchester Cathedral and the
Literature Festival and various other people got together and decided to give
sermons another go. It started two years ago, with the first Manchester Sermon,
which was delivered by Jeanette Winterson. Then last year Andrew Motion visited
the cathedral. This year Ali Smith became a sermoner for a day. (Note to self –
check if sermoner is a real world.)</div>
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And the interesting thing about all this is... it works. I
am not a Christian, I am not very religious period, but in two of the last
three years, the Manchester Sermon has been my highlight of the festival. (I
should clarify here that I’m not suggesting one of the previous two years
wasn’t up to snuff; I missed Andrew Motion because I was having tea at my mum’s
house.) That shouldn’t be a surprise, really. The Bible is an infinitely
interesting text, whatever your thoughts on it, so it makes sense that when you
invite brilliant writers to speak about it, the results will be entertaining and
thought provoking.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8WGALIsWP_s/UIUUbvHOaeI/AAAAAAAABF4/s3fEYhRWWZY/s1600/0721+-%C2%AC+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8WGALIsWP_s/UIUUbvHOaeI/AAAAAAAABF4/s3fEYhRWWZY/s320/0721+-%C2%AC+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And Ali Smith is a brilliant writer. And a brilliant speaker
too. I was lucky enough to meet her briefly, and to see her read from <i>There But
For The</i> last year. I would happily pay to see her read from the phonebook. As a
writer, she is so alive to the joy of language, of words, that she seems
incapable of talking without investing her speech with that joy. From her opening
sentence, a borrowing of a pun, “Let us play”, to the final word, via a series
of increasingly lovely rebeginnings, rebegottings, quotes, asides, ideas and
jokes, all held together by a narrative voice that anyone familiar with her
novels and short stories will already be enamoured of, she talked about Donne
and death, and loss and the Book of Job, and somehow made all of it joyful and
true and wise.</div>
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Yeah, that good.</div>
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There are many events at the Manchester Literature Festival.
Some are interesting, some are funny, some are serious, some are life-changing.
But of all the events, none are quite as important as the Manchester Sermon.
The Sermon creates new, and repeatedly brilliant, work in a form that is all
but forgotten. It investigates the place of the Bible in literature and the
place of the Bible’s lessons in an increasingly secular society. It opens up a
dialogue between literature and religion. It offers a place of reflection in
the bustle of the city centre. And, most appealingly of all, it does so without
being preachy or pushy or even the slightest bit judgmental. And they have a
choir at the start. Singing a couple of hymns. All beautiful and that.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So, there you are. I had fun in a church. Again. Manchester,
eh?<br />
<br />
<b>THE MANCHESTER SERMON 2012 IS NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD FROM THE MANCHESTER LITERATURE FESTIVAL WEBSITE: CLICK <a href="http://www.manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/mlf-commissions">HERE</a>.</b></div>
<br />
<i>Benjamin Judge is the author of<a href="http://benjaminjudge.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Who the fudge is Benjamin Judge?</a>, the winner of the Best Writing Award at the 2011 Manchester Blog Awards. You can follow him on Twitter: @benjaminjudge</i><br />
<br />
<i><i>You can read more reviews of this event, by students at the Centre for New Writing, on</i> <a href="http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/blog.php"><i>The Manchester Review</i></a>. </i></div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-29532426465535013282012-10-25T12:50:00.000+01:002012-10-25T12:51:33.050+01:00Young Digital Reporter at Swimming and Flying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Swimming and Flying, Friday 19th<sup></sup> October
2012, 7.30pm, Whitworth Art Gallery</span></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Words by Anna Hart. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew.</b><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s Day 12 of the Manchester Literature
Festival and I am sitting in Whitworth Art Gallery, wondering what the next
hour has in store for me. A few weeks ago, I had discovered that Mark Haddon
would be giving a talk about his life and writing as part of the festival,
which sparked my memory of reading <i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time</i>. I found it to be a compellingly unique story, which captured my
imagination by exploring the world <span style="font-size: small;">in which </span>we live from a different perspective
to how the majority of people experience everyday life. Thinking about my
enjoyment and interest in this book, I was excited to gain an insight into the
mind of its author.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mark Haddon steps onto an extremely
minimalistic set, consisting of only himself, a British Sign Language
interpreter and a bottle of water. He commences with a relatable tale from his
childhood, talking about his experience of attending boarding school. One
day, he had accidentally made a hole in the games room radiator during a game
of darts and owned up to committing this <span style="font-size: small;">"</span>crime<span style="font-size: small;">"</span> when the housemaster
questioned the students. Much to the audience’s amusement, Haddon proceeds to
explain his underlying feeling of smugness at having told the truth and his
secret expectation of an award for honesty, only to reveal the reality of the
situation – a caning from the housemaster. According to Haddon, he’d never been
cooler than after being beaten six times with a cane; those younger than him
were desperate to have a peek at his wounds and hear all of the <span style="font-size: normal;">"</span>grizzly
details", whereas those older than him would reward him with a knowing pat on
the back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Smoothly progressing from this specific
recount, Haddon shares an overview of his childhood years with the audience. As
a young boy<span style="font-size: normal;">,</span> he was obsessed with science, which is the basis for many of the
interesting, and often hilarious, stories that Haddon tells. One that is
greeted with a particularly enthusiastic ripple of laughter is about the time
when he thought that he’d invented an electric motor and was devastated to find
out that someone had done it before him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many recurring themes emerge throughout
Haddon’s talk, including his experiences of teaching creative writing, his fear
of flying on planes and his fascination with the fact that the darkness between
the stars is actually full of more distant stars, which are shining bright, but
just not bright enough for us to see. This is just one of the numerous dramatic
and inspirational images that Haddon describes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Haddon tells many delightful anecdotes,
punctuated with the occasional quote or extract of writing. His communication
with the audience, through both his very clear voice and narrating hand
gestures, is extremely important to help people to connect, appreciate and
engage with his words. Haddon proved that all he needed to deliver an
entertaining and insightful talk was himself. The evening was thoroughly
enjoyable and a valuable experience to discover more about a brilliant author. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Throughout
the Festival in 2012 we have been working with a group of young
people to support them to become digital reporters, and to document a
range of events from their perspective. As well
as writing blogs and reviews, the young digital reporters have
responded to our events using other methods such as photography,
illustration and radio.</i> </span></span></div>
</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-4204586470735202312012-10-25T12:37:00.001+01:002012-10-25T12:37:10.019+01:00Young Digital Reporter at Blog North Awards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<b>Blog North Awards, Wednesday 17th October, 7.30pm, The Deaf Institute</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Words by Liz Gibson. Photographs by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew.</b><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Of all the events at
the Manchester Literature Festival, this was the one I was the most curious
about, as I am a keen blogger myself and had been following the competition, seeing which blogs would be shortlisted
in the various categories.<b> </b>When I arrived at the
event, I was struck by what a cosy
set-up greeted me. Although the room was large and
there was a huge amount of people, it still managed to feel really intimate, and you could really engage with what was going on on stage.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>First, several
shortlisted bloggers read from their blogs. These ranged from <a href="http://themostdifficultthingever.blogspot.co.uk/">The Most Difficult
Thing Ever</a>, the witty observations of a postman of his local area, to <a href="http://sonnetreviews.tumblr.com/">Sonnet Reviews</a>, which features
reviews, often of TV shows, each in the form of a sonnet. This was a really
interesting concept and I enjoyed hearing the blogger reading his poems aloud
to the audience.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The highlight for me
was <a href="http://herfirstyear.co.uk/">Her First Year</a>, the story of
baby Mia and her parents: Frances, who was 16 when she had her baby, and
Hassan. I had read this blog before the event and had been moved by it, so it
made my night when Len Grant, the photographer who created it came up on
stage along with Frances, Hassan and Mia. It was Mia, of course who stole the
show by trying to speak into the microphone, and by generally being adorable.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zekeMXtgzSM/UIkjs6XQuPI/AAAAAAAABL0/Gn4IstugA4A/s1600/0620+-%C2%AE+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zekeMXtgzSM/UIkjs6XQuPI/AAAAAAAABL0/Gn4IstugA4A/s320/0620+-%C2%AE+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>After the blog
readings, we had a talk from the writer Adam Christopher, author of <i>Seven
Wonders</i>. He read from the book, which is about Tony, a man who wakes up one day
with super powers. He read well and the story sounds entertaining. There was
then a Q&A session, in which we got the chance to learn more about Mr
Christopher, for example his love of comic books, and the fact that he met his
publisher and his agent through social networking.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>After a short break…
this was it - time for the presentation of the awards! I was delighted to see
Her First Year win Best Personal Blog – it was a hugely popular choice with the
audience, with lots of cheers! The Most Difficult Thing Ever won the award for
Best Writing.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The awards were given
out, and the winning bloggers went away very happy. I was certainly
inspired by what I saw and heard; it has made me extremely proud
to be a blogger. All in all it was a wonderful night, and I’m so grateful to
the Manchester Literature Festival for organising this event to celebrate
blogging, and to recognise what an important and effective medium for
communication and creative writing it has become.</div>
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<i>Liz Gibson blogs at <a href="http://lglyrics.blogspot.co.uk/">http://lglyrics.blogspot.co.uk.</a> </i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Throughout
the Festival in 2012 we have been working with a group of young
people to support them to become digital reporters, and to document a
range of events from their perspective. As well
as writing blogs and reviews, the young digital reporters have
responded to our events using other methods such as photography,
illustration and radio.</i></div>
</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6722674028898006404.post-7347338952531087192012-10-25T12:22:00.001+01:002012-10-25T12:22:30.556+01:00Young Digital Reporter at Family Reading Day #2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Family Reading Day, Sunday 21st October, 11am-5.30pm, Manchester Town Hall</b><br />
<br />
<b>Words by Phoebe Davis. Photograph by Roshana Rubin-Mayhew. </b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Last Sunday, Manchester Town Hall had a lot more going on inside its
extravagant walls than the usual conferences. With one of the meeting
rooms transformed into the frozen wasteland of Narnia, children aged four
and above piled in to join in with an interactive reading of <i>The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe</i>. On the arrival of the three characters - the
White Witch, her servant and Lucy - there were genuine gasps of
excitement from some of the youngest audience members. As they took to
the stage, the audience took to their seats. The atmosphere was lovely
and the whole event was very family orientated.</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t0qrWCqtLL4/UIke3G61PmI/AAAAAAAABLY/fbOgnsmh7lw/s1600/0942+-%C2%AE+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t0qrWCqtLL4/UIke3G61PmI/AAAAAAAABLY/fbOgnsmh7lw/s320/0942+-%C2%AE+Roshana+Rubin-Mayhew.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The White Witch began the reading by asking all of her "subjects" to bow
down to her. She interacted with the audience throughout: braver
children were able to go up on stage and those who were quieter could
join in with choral parts similar to in a pantomime. The three actors
worked incredibly well with the children, particularly Lucy, who was not
much older than some of them herself. They had both children and
parents in fits of laughter at times and dealt especially well with a
young (no doubt unintentional) heckler!<br />
<br />
As well as being a fun experience for all, the reading had some real
literary value to it and the actors' interpretation of it was wonderful.
It was a truly enjoyable afternoon and leaves the rest of the Manchester
Literature Festival with a difficult act to follow.<br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i>Throughout
the Festival in 2012 we have been working with a group of young
people to support them to become digital reporters, and to document a
range of events from their perspective. As well
as writing blogs and reviews, the young digital reporters have
responded to our events using other methods such as photography,
illustration and radio. </i> </div>
</div>
MLF Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08635801139714245803noreply@blogger.com0