Birmingham Book Festival: the Poetry Events

All events are in the Birmingham Conservatoire unless stated otherwise.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 www.birminghambookfestival.org
Please visit Birmingham Book Festival for more details.

The Poetry Events…

8 October, 6pm – 7.30pm, New Poetry with Roz Goddard: Roz Goddard introduces new work by three other poets based in our region: Meredith Andrea, Myra Connell and Jane Seabourne. Tickets: £7 (£5) – includes a glass of wine

Thursday 9 October, 5.30pm – 6.30pm, Roz Goddard on the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy: A Festival Seminar on some of Carol Ann Duffy’s poems led by poet Roz Goddard, £7 (£5)

Thursday 9 October, Library Theatre, Central Library, 6.45pm – 7.30pm, Birmingham Poet Laureates: The Inaugural Reading by the new Birmingham Poet Laureate and Young Poet Laureate 2008/09, free but please reserve tickets

Thursday 9 October, Library Theatre, Central Library, 8pm – 9.30pm, Writers Without Borders: Writers Without Borders and friends push back the borders of perception in a performance that goes beyond poetry, free but please reserve tickets

Tuesday 14 October, 7pm – 8pm, Poetry Translation Centre Tour: Noshi Gillani (from Pakistan ) and Farzaneh Khojandi (from Tajikistan ) read their poems in translation, also featuring Farzaneh’s translator, poet Jo Shapcott, £6 (£5)

Tuesday 14 October, 8.15pm – 9.30pm, Sibyl Ruth – Poems of a Survivor: Sibyl Ruth reads her translations of poems written by her great-aunt, Rose Scooler, in Theresienstadt concentration camp, £6 (£5)

Wednesday 15 October, 8.15 pm – 9.30pm, David Hart: A Life in Words: one of our region’s finest poets talks about his life and work, £6 (£5)

Thursday 16 October, 7.30pm – 8.45pm, Ian McMillan: Talking Myself Home: a very funny man and our first possible (national) Poet Laureate contender… Talking Myself Home is Yorkshire poet, comedian and broadcaster Ian McMillan ’s life story in poems, £8 (£6)

Tuesday 21 October, 7.30pm – 9pm, Library Theatre, Central Library, Yasus Afari and Friends: Yasus Afari talks about the Jamaican best seller Overstanding Rastafari and performs new poetry, £6 (£5)

Tuesday 21 October, 6pm – 7pm, David Hart on the poetry of R S Thomas: a Festival Seminar on some of R S Thomas’ poems led by David Hart, a poet who shares some of his concerns, £7 (£5)

Tuesday 21 October, 7.15pm-8.45pm, Carol Ann Duffy: another (national) Poet Laureate contender; simply one of the best poets of our time and a mesmerising performer of her poems, £8 (£6 U16s £5)

The Writing Workshops…

Saturday 4 October – Sunday 5 October, 10pm – 7am, Night Writer: The Return: an all-night writing workshop in a secret location miles from Birmingham (transport provided); a treat for sleepless writers of all genres, £30 (£25) including breakfast

Workshop Saturday, Saturday 11th October: South Birmingham College, Digbeth Campus

Performance Skills for Writers, 10am – 3.30pm, an Apples and Snakes workshop for writers who want to perform their work, led by Lorna Laidlaw, £25 (£20)

Animating the Voice: Giles Abbott, 10am – 3.30pm, storyteller and voice coach Giles Abbott leads this intensive workshop on using the light and shade of our voices, £25 (£20)

A New Time, a New Place, 10am – 12.30pm: Michael Thomas leads this workshop on writing directly from your own feelings or filtering them through a newly constructed persona, £18 (£15)

How Unwell Does a Poet Need To Be, 10am – 12.30pm: David Hart leads this workshop on how untidiness and the unpredictable and vagaries of our lives can influence our making of poems, £18 (£15)

Radio Writing, 10am – 12.30pm: Stephanie Dale leads this workshop on exploring radio writing techniques, £18 (£15)

Writing for the Terrified, 1.30pm – 4pm: Chris Hoskins helps new writers overcome their fear of putting pen to paper in a variety of genres, helping you take the first steps into writing, £18 (£15)

Character Building, 1.30pm – 4pm: Paul Dowswell leads this writing workshop on how to invent believable, interesting and rounded characters for your book, £18 (£15)

Writing for Performance. 1.30pm – 4pm: Kaite O’Reilly leads this workshop writing for live performance. What is dramatic? Where do ideas come from?, £18 (£15)

The Writers’ Toolkit…

A Conference for the Writing Industry, Saturday 18 October, 9.30am – 4pm, South Birmingham College, Digbeth Campus: an industry day for emerging and established writers to learn about aspects of the business in greater detail, connect with other writers and those working in writer development, £29 (£23) (includes lunch). For more information or to book call 0121 246 2770 or email sara@birminghambookfestival.org

Please do book tickets as soon as possible: several workshops only have a few places left and other events are selling well.

We look forward to seeing you at the Festival.

Jonathan Davidson
Director - Birmingham Book Festival
Unit 116, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham , B9 4AA , England

Warwick Words Festival Poetry Cafe 2008

The Festival Poetry Cafe
Thomas Oken Tea Rooms
20 Castle Street (Off Jury Street)
Warwick
11am - 4pm
Thursday & Friday, 3rd & 4th October


As part of my Laureate duties, the exciting task falls to me this year to organise the annual Poetry Cafe during the Warwick Words Festival. What that basically entails is roping and steering together some 30 or 40 poets and poetry-lovers in one continual wild extravaganza of poetry reading and - I have no doubt - discussion. Tea and cakes will also be consumed in large quantities, as the event itself is traditionally held at Warwick's excellent Thomas Oken Tea Rooms near the Castle and this year will be no exception.

For 2008, I will be asking poets to stay at least an hour where possible, so that we have plenty of listeners as well as readers, and also to bring a poem or two with them which is by someone else - as well as their own, if they write poetry - so that we can all enjoy as wide a selection of poetry as possible.

Interested in listening to some great poetry?
Just turn up whenever you like, order some tea, and grab a comfy chair.

Want to perform?
If you're a poet with work to share, or feel able to read some favourite poetry aloud to a room of appreciative scone-devourers, email me on j.holland442@btinternet.com to arrange a suitable time slot.

The Poetry Cafe takes place from 11am to 4pm on both Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th October, kicking off this year's Literary Festival in poetic style.

At the Godiva Festival: Cov's answer to Glastonbury!

I performed on stage last night at the Godiva Festival in Coventry's Memorial Park, two tents down from Cov's favourite band, The Enemy. I also happened to be in the Artist Liaison tent, getting my free food voucher, at the same time as some of the young band members and their families were picking up their backstage passes. My teenage daughter, who's a big fan of The Enemy, now apparently 'hates' me for not arranging a backstage pass for her too!

It was an excellent reading to a massive and appreciative crowd - if a bit 'Glastonbury' at times, thanks to the heavy rain, mud slicks everywhere, and a sudden electrical short in the generator part-way through the unfortunate performer's set immediately before mine. There was a ten minute pause, while people danced about in the noisy semi-darkness and slow-clapped, then the lights came back on and suddenly it was my turn at the mic.

I warmed up the crowd, now rather frisky, with two short poems from my next book, Camper Van Blues (Salt Publishing, 2008): 'Day Tripping', about drug abuse, and 'Neighbours' (just published in Mimesis 4) about the downside of being a lone female traveller.

I then read two pieces from my first collection of poetry, The Brief History of a Disreputable Woman (Bloodaxe, 1997): 'Baize Queens', about my days as a semi-pro snooker player, and 'Not a Love Poem'.

To finish the ten minute set, I read my party piece - an extract from The Lament of the Wanderer, my version of the Anglo-Saxon poem, just published as a chapbook by Coventry's Heaventree Press, who were hosting last night's event.

Other readers in the poetry tent included the great Linton Kwesi Johnson and such stalwarts of the British poetry circuit as Dreadlockalien (aka Richard Grant), Mario Petrucci, Kei Miller, Mike McKimm, Yusra Warsama, Coventry's own Scrubber Jack, plus two excellent Irish poets visiting from Cork, Paul Casey and Billy Ramsell.

Warwick Words Writers Group: Wednesday 18th June

I shall be reading and discussing my work, plus leading a poetry workshop, at the next meeting of the Warwick Words Writers Group. Here are the details:
*
Wednesday 18 June
The Meeting Room at The Social Centre, St Mary’s Immaculate RC Church,
West Street, Warwick
7.30 – 9.30pm.

WORKSHOP: Writing Poetry
(delivered by Jane Holland – current Warwick Poet Laureate)
Facilitator: Pauline Brooks
Free refreshments.
£2 per person (to cover venue costs).

Connected to the annual Warwick Words festival of literature and spoken word, this dynamic and friendly group meet in Warwick once a month to share their work, discuss ideas and to develop their creative writing skills. The format of the monthly sessions is determined by the group itself, with the emphasis on creating an informal, yet supportive and productive network.

What members say about the Warwick Words Writers Group:
“refreshing”, “stimulating” and “enjoyable”, “fabulously organised” and that it “attracts a wide range of people with different levels of writing skills and styles”.

Please feel free to forward this information to anyone you think might be interested.

Punjabi Poetry Recital by Amarjit Chandan and Daljit Nagra

Herbert Gallery, Coventry
15 May 2008
7.00pm

£2.00 on the door
Suitable for all, children are welcome at this event but must be accompanied by an adult. Indian buffet provided.


Amarjit Chandan’s poetry collections and essays have been published globally, he has edited and translated 30 anthologies of world literature, and brought the work of Brecht, Neruda, Ritsos, Hikmet, Cardenal, Martin Carter and John Berger into Punjabi. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the Punjab Government’s Language Department (2004) and from the All-Party Parliamentary Group ‘Panjabis in Britain’ (2006).


Daljit Nagra’s 2007 ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ has been the most acclaimed poetry debut published in recent years, as well as one of the most relevant and accessible. Nagra, whose own parents came to England from the Punjab in the 1950s, draws on both English and Indian-English traditions to tell stories of alienation, assimilation, aspiration and love, from a stowaway’s first footprint on Dover Beach to the disenchantment of subsequent generations.

Literary Quiz and Fish Supper with reading by Jane Holland

I'm pleased to say I'll be doing a reading next Friday in the town of Warwick itself, as Poet Laureate, and getting a few answers wrong in the literary quiz. If you live in the area and fancy a fun night out, with delicious fish and chip supper, grab yourself a few tickets and get down to ye olde Lord Leycester Hospital.

Literary Quiz in association with Warwick Words
We have a fundraiser events for Warwick Words next Friday, May 9th, at the superb 'Lord Leycester Hospital' in Warwick.

Test your knowledge of all things literary! A fun evening including a fish and chip supper, prizes and a guest appearance by the Warwick Poet Laureate, Jane Holland.

Enter a team of up to 6 people. Book individually or as a couple and we will add you to a team if required.

Licensed bar.

All proceeds got towards Warwick Words 2008

Friday May 9th
7.30pm
Lord Leycester Hospital
High Street, Warwick

Tickets: £12.50 each
(£10 for Festival Friends & Volunteers)

Tickets available from:
Warwick Books
Warwick Library
Warwick Words on 01926 427056
info@warwickwords.co.uk