Litfest

Class Act : Vanishing Act

Sarah Hymas — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:52:02 +0000

We launched Vanishing Act, the latest Flax anthology, on Wednesday night. And now it’s all over I can admit how nervous I was about the event. Because the anthology itself was a bit of an experiment – riffing off our standard audio films and playing with potentials of the spoken word – we’d decided to [...]

March Spotlight Club line up

Jonathan Bean — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:41:07 +0000

The next Spotlight night will take place at The Auditorium, The Storey, Meeting House Lane on Friday March 19th. Doors will be open from 8.00 pm Admission £4 / £2 (conc.) Open Mic 8.15 – 8.45 pm Line up for the night is as follows: Sarah Hymas – Poetry Sarah Hymas has been writing for performance and performing her poetry and [...]

Vote Now for The Oddest Book Title of the Year!

Jonathan Bean — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:26:51 +0000

Hurrah! It’s that time of year once again when the shortlist for the Diagram Prize is announced and we all get to laugh and snigger and chortle (and vote for) the Oddest Book Title of the Year. So without further ado I give you this year’s shortlisted titles: Collectible Spoons of the 3rd Reich by James A [...]

Aldeburgh Poetry Prize

Jonathan Bean — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:39 +0000

The Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2010 is now open for submissions from publishers and individual poets. Closing date for entries is 31 July 2010.

World Book Day

Sarah Hymas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:59:16 +0000

The Guardian Blog today was bigging up the ability of books to explain life in ways no one else does. Other reasons we love reading: 1. They give us the chance to stop and think about life in a way you wouldn’t give yourself. 2. Escapism – “Transportations of Delight” (Spike) 3. Infinitely preferable to life, sometimes … 4. It’s [...]

Graham Mort’s Touch launches this week

Andy Darby — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:52:14 +0000

‘To be held. To be loved in a simple way. But simple things were always the hardest.’ (From ‘The Caretaker’) Like other fine story writers, such as Carver or Pavese, Graham Mort possesses the gift of making ordinary lives extraordinary. With gritty yet graceful language, Mort creates a unique poetry out of the everyday and the [...]

Loved Up

Sarah Hymas — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:51:50 +0000

This year, Valentine’s Day stretched into a weekend. So Litfest responded accordingly, by stretching the normal 12 point font into something a little larger, printing poems from North West based poets up on the walls of the NICE bar here in The Storey Creative Industries Centre. This is what some of them look like: [...]

Where are you?

Sarah Hymas — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:57:59 +0000

Our spring events season brochure is out, looking very springy and fresh, but more importantly is the info contained – the nectar, if you’re wanting to take the metaphor a little further. No? Well, Let’s drop it. And cut to the chase of the highlights – for me at least. I’d be interested to hear what [...]

Sunday Times Short Story Award Longlist

Jonathan Bean — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:33:58 +0000

The inaugural Sunday Times Short Story Award, administered by Booktrust (the world’s largest short story award with a first prize of £25,000) has just announced it’s longlist. Judges for the prize include authors A S Byatt, Hanif Kureishi, Lynn Barber, Nick Hornby and the literary editor of the Sunday Times, Andrew Holgate. The shortlist will be [...]