Headingley LitFest: July 2020

Sunday, 19 July 2020

The View from Olympia. Poems inspired by Olympic Sport.

Book launch on Zoom. Contributions from residents of Headingley feature in this anthology.

OLYMPIC ANTHOLOGY FROM OTLEY PUBLISHER

The anthology will be launched at an online event on Zoom on Friday 24 July – the day that the Olympic Opening Ceremony was due to be held in Tokyo. Contributors will read their poems from the book, and anyone is welcome to join the audience. Entry is free, and details can be found online at Eventbrite or Leeds Inspired.

Edited by local writers Joe Williams and Peter R White, The View from Olympia features contributions by some of the best contemporary poets in the UK and around the world, as well as an introduction by Bramhope-based double Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee.

Joe Williams said: 'We came up with the idea for the book back in December, with the intention of bringing it out this summer to coincide with the 2020 Games. We had no idea that by the time we’d finished collecting the poems, we’d be in the middle of a global pandemic and the Olympics would be cancelled.

'We decided to carry on regardless and publish the anthology anyway. I hope it’ll bring some enjoyment to those who have been missing sport this summer, as well as people who love poetry.'

The View from Olympia is currently on sale for the special introductory price of £9 plus postage, from http://www.halfmoonbooks.co.uk

For further information contact Joe Williams, tel 0113 295 6111 or 07760 375712

email joe@joewilliams.co.uk, http://www.joewilliams.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/JoeWilliamsPoet

https://www.facebook.com/haikuhole/

Half Moon Books: http://www.halfmoonbooks.co.uk

https://www.twitter.com/halfmoonotley

https://www.facebook.com/OWF-Press-565261523587200/

Additional event details: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-view-from-olympia-anthology-launch-tickets-112256602520

https://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/view-olympia-anthology-launch

https://www.facebook.com/events/691448208254646/

LITERARY HEADINGLEY

Headingley is just the place for it! Don't expect a big circus with marquees, though: we're not at that stage yet. We're all volunteers as well.

Our venues include the HEART Centre on Bennett Road, the New Headingley Club on St Michael's Road, friendly cafés, historic local cinemas, Headingley Library, people's houses and the historic Leeds Library in Commercial Street, city centre.

Headingley's Literary Links

Headingley has strong connections with many writers:

Arthur Ransome was born in Headingley, J R R Tolkien lived at 5 Holly Bank and also at 2 Darnley Road, West Park when he was reader in English Language at the University of Leeds 1920 - 25, Alan Bennett lived over a butcher's shop opposite the Three Horseshoes, now Royale Dry Cleaners.

Lucy Newlyn has published poetry about her early life in Headingley, George Orwell stayed at 21 Estcourt Avenue with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey 'Humpy' Dakin (with whom he visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth), T S Eliot used to visit his mother-in-law in Weetwood Lane, William Fryer Harvey was brought up in Spring Bank, Trevor Griffiths lived just off Victoria Road on Winstanley Terrace, Jon Silkin's first office of STAND magazine was his flat at 144 Otley Road, Sir Geoffrey Hill lived in Shire Oak Road, Peter Redgrove lived in Headingley between 1962 and 1965 when he was Gregory Fellow of Poetry at the University of Leeds, and playwright Kay Mellor still lives near The Hollies in Far Headingley.

Wilson Barrett, the charismatic first manager of the Grand Theatre, Leeds (a prolific playwright as well), lived in Beech Grove Terrace, Woodhouse in the 1870s. His house was a meeting place for many writers, artists and visitors to Leeds - such as W. S. Gilbert, George Grossmith and Atkinson Grimshaw.

Headingley LitFest 2020 was the thirteenth. The fourteenth will take place from March 2021 and will be adapted to the rules of the Covid pandemic. We are now a proud part of the annual Leeds Lit Fest.