Blake Morrison - Fiction or Life Writing

 Rebecca Cronin writes:

Softly spoken Yorkshireman Blake Morrison, in conversation with Richard Wilcocks, began with an introduction to Life Writing – what it is, and most importantly, how he makes it interesting. He shared anecdotes concerning his two books about his parents – Things My Mother Never Told Me and When Did You Last See Your Father? – and read passages from both. He centred his discussion around the use of embroidery, which he asserted to be important when fictionalising your characters, yet also spoke strongly about how the personal truths he experienced, and detailed in both books, often resonate well for other people.

Blake Morrison signed dozens of his books

Life writing, when the subject and main characters are not only no longer with you, but are also your parents, would perhaps strike most of us as odd, and perhaps even a task that could be beyond difficult.  But Morrison carried the notion of how for him, writing about his father, and then mother, proved to be a therapeutic and helpful experience, and in many ways, a coping mechanism for their deaths. Writing, he said, is a way to let someone tell a story they need to tell, as well as shaping it, and keeping control of it. Oddly enough, in the beginning, writing existed for him as a mechanism to escape his family, but they ended up being the main characters and roles within his work; they were inescapable. 

When discussing Things My Mother Never Told Me, he explained how his main plot line had revolved around a box of letters his father had left him. The letters provided the majority of the details which make up the book, but naturally left gaps that needed filling. As a forty year-old, reading about the lives of his twenty year-old parents, he expressed almost parental feelings towards them, and often felt that their marriage and his birth were exceptionally unrealistic results of their growing lives. 

The novel of his mother’s life was never something he had expected to write, and he described her as an elusive woman who didn’t enjoy being the topic of conversation. Yet his motivation for writing the book was concentrated around the growing question of why she had buried her Irish Catholic past; a question he strove to answer after learning more and more from the letters. He followed the discussion about the book with a harrowing reading about the immensely high infant mortality rate his grandparents experienced with their own children.

When the discussion turned to the film adaptation of When Did You Last See Your Father?, starring Jim Broadbent as his father and Colin Firth as himself, Morrison spoke earnestly of how impressed he had been with Broadbent’s portrayal of his Father. Before filming, the two had met and discussed his father at length– his clothes, accent, mannerisms  - and as a result, Morrison thought that Broadbent brought a new understanding to the role that he himself had not fully realised in the book. His parting remark about the film was that now, when he thinks of his father, he sees Broadbent’s face, and finds it difficult to see past that. His only regret is that when he looks in the mirror, he does not similarly see Colin Firth staring back at him.

The evening drew to a close with Morrison speaking briefly of his time working for The Observer, where a passage from When Did You Last See Your Father? appeared, alongside a photograph of the two of them. Seeing his work there, he remarked, proved to be shocking, as he often felt possessive over the story. By the time the film adaptation appeared fourteen years later, he had accepted how he could, and would, share the story with the public. A final round of questions concluded with “can you imagine your own children writing about you in a similar fashion to how you wrote about your parents?”, to which he answered, with an astonishing truth, “when writing about real life, and people in your real life, you have to be careful. But I’d hope they’d cast me in a good light – the truth is important, after all.”

The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Cottage Road Cinema

Partnership event with Far Headingley Village Society and Cottage Road Cinema

It was originally known as The Headingley Picture House

 Sheila Chapman writes:
We came in from the street muffled up to the eyeballs to escape the freezing cold and occasional snow of this March evening. We entered the panelled foyer of this 100 year old cinema complete with its ticket booth and ‘authentic’ tickets to be greeted by the welcoming warmth of its staff who were resplendent in evening attire. What a great start to an evening full of the atmosphere which you can only find in a cinema of this vintage!
We had come to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame, chosen by the cinema (together with its partners, Far Headingley Village Society and Headingley LitFest), to reflect the Headingley LitFest’s 2013 theme – Lives and Loves.

But before the film we were treated to the adverts. Normally cinema adverts could hardly be described as a treat but these were vintage and so were tinged with nostalgia and, from this distance, were very amusing.

This version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, is a testament to Charles Laughton’s portrayal of Quasimodo. Laughton’s performance, though often caricatured, drives the film by engaging us with the desperate and abused character who is the hunchback.  The film tells the story of Esmeralda, a gypsy girl in fifteenth century Paris, who becomes entangled in the machinations of the evil judge Frollo who both desires and hates her. She in turn loves Phoebus, a philandering soldier, while Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell ringer of Notre Dame, loves her because of her kindness to him (she gave him water)  after he had been publicly flogged and left in the stocks.  Quasimodo demonstrates his love by saving Esmeralda from hanging. The greatest tragedy in the film is that of Quasimodo. He is mocked and brutalised because of his appearance and denied love despite the greatness of his heart and his courage.

The film’s plot differs considerably from that of the original novel – including a happy ending for Esmeralda. In addition, much of the social commentary in the novel has also been ‘Hollywoodised’ but sufficient remains to portray, in a fifteenth century setting, the social ills of poverty and exploitation and the corrupt use of power.

Quasimodo’s physical relationship with Notre Dame and its bells is a constant presence in the film. He clambers in and around the cathedral with ungainly dexterity. He plays the bells (which have deafened him) by lying on his back and pushing them with his feet and in one scene he actually jumps onto a bell and rides it. This physical portrayal of Quasimodo by Charles Laughton together with his evocation of the hunchback’s bewilderment and humanity is the lasting impression of the film.

As one member of the audience said ‘I can now appreciate why this film is a classic’.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), RKO pictures – directed by William Dieterle 

Museum of Untold Stories - in HEART Café

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Urwin Watt (U Watt?) begins the show with an energetic warm-up, as the children are still coming into the HEART Café, already bubbling. He looks like the sort of person who could fix everybody and everything, prancing up and down, eyes glittering with what we hope is good humour, leather belt loaded with interesting tools. So what might happen? Any time traveling involved? The door of the structure in the corner which brings Tardis to mind - for some parents anyway - is apparently locked, and can be opened only when the right buttons are pressed. There is a countdown, with five minutes to go. Long minutes, giving time for a steel colander to be worn by volunteers, which might bring electrical strikes and cause explosions, not to worry…

There’s someone in there! You can tell by the noises. It turns out to be Stokely Pilgrim, teleported from Brazil, whose naval uniform signifies some kind of rank but who spends his time in an engine room stoking a ship’s furnace (cue for child to make an arch with his arms and become its entrance) and inviting people, all of them “sir” and “madam” in spite of the fact that some just about come up to his knee, to think about what the world would be like without stories.

Not much fun, of course. Soon, aided by an Urwin who is now called  ‘Mother’, he is addressing a gang of pirates (Ha – haaarr!) and then a sea full of sharks. Invisible bottles are picked up and hurled into the water, all of them containing stories to be found. “Do mermaids, do mermaids!” nags one of the tinier participants, dancing in and out of the action.  The ship’s bell clangs loudly. A broken crown is brought out. Who could that belong to? Could it be…

It’s obvious to nearly everybody: “Richard the Third!” they shout en masse. “Mermaids!” shouts a lone voice. A king in waiting is found – no matter about the gender – and a story about how the crown came to be broken is found. It seems that it fell off the king’s head when he (she) sneezed. That’s what the kings tells us, before ordering everybody to go to the castle on the hill immediately, or else their heads will roll.

And so the show continues, some of its elements constant, but with plenty which is unique to this particular performance, a tune with improvisation. Alive and Kicking Theatre Company Leeds has worked in primary schools, more recently in Kirkgate Market (just the sort of thing to revive the place), but to my knowledge does not do cafés very often. They’ll be doing this one again soon. It was terrific! My only criticism is that they didn’t get around to the mermaids.

To book Alive and Kicking ring John Mee at 0113 265 8631

www.aliveand kickingtheatrecompany.co.uk

And here is a photo of the performance the following day (14 March) sent by Liz Fox:

'Biking with Che' in Café Lento

Sean Hayes writes:

MESTISA - Beautiful songs from South America

Taking refuge from the surprisingly crisp winds of an early spring evening in the warm confines of the Café Lento was a perfect prelude to the sun-scorched journey of one Ernesto Guevara, (later to re-moniker himself 'Che', which he adopted because it was an Argentinian colloquialism for 'hey you' and used as a general term in other areas of South America to address Argentinians) from Argentina to Florida, taking in much of the continent along the way. 

Our introduction into the world of the young Che began with the specially decorated Café Lento, which featured pictures and illustrations of Guevara (yes, including that one) and as the centre-piece a large-scale map of South America, with the course of Ernesto and Alberto charted via illustration. Mestisa, the band made up of Barbara, Ana Luisa, Mike and Tenley, were setting out their assortment of weird and wonderful authentic instruments as the audience arrived. Amongst their inventory, as they explained during the course of the performance, was a quijada - the jawbones of a donkey played using the teeth, a charango - a small lute-like instrument which traditionally would have been made from the shell of an armadillo and a cajón - a box-shaped instrument developed by slaves whose other instruments had been taken away. To complement the music, wine and food prepared by Jose Gonzalez was served to complete the authentic atmosphere.  From there, we were introduced to an evening immersed in all things Che, as a narration of the biking trip, concisely scripted and read by Richard Wilcocks, based on and featuring extracts from Guevara's own Notas de Viaje (Motorcycle Diaries) provided a combination of irreverent insight and deep historical context to the life of one of the most iconic figures in modern history. 

Our story began with the son of a wealthy property developer. During his days as a medical student at the University of Buenos Aires, Ernesto met Alberto Granada, who was in charge of the distribution of medical supplies in a nearby leper colony. In 1952, after deciding to take a year off from his studies, Ernesto joined Alberto on a trip which had long been their shared ambition: an odyssey across Latin America on a motorcycle, namely their occasionally unreliable 1939 500cc Norton, which was christened La Poderosa - The Mighty One. What followed was a surprisingly funny series of mis-adventures, as Ernesto doggedly journeyed on, not at all resembling the noble freedom fighter that the colossally famous portrait would later depict. Instead, he and Alberto were mangueros motorizados - motorised scroungers - and amongst other exploits they accidentally shot one of their hosts' beloved German Shepherd dog, passed themselves off as expert researchers of leprosy and suffered through an unfortunate vomiting incident while stowed away on a cargo ship. 

This was far from a simple tale of gap-year shenanigans, however. Over the course of Ernesto's journey we saw the origins of his revolutionary leanings, as he encountered the harsh callousness which poverty can bring about in the form of an elderly, dying servant whose chronic asthma was met with apathy from her burdened family. Later, as Ernesto and Alberto's journey took them through a Chile on the brink of a massive presidential election, they encountered a stranded miner and his wife - outcast after being held in prison for his allegiance to the Chilean Communist Party - on their way to seek work in the terrible conditions of a sulphur mine deep in the Chilean mountains. The encounter led Ernesto to describe the couple as “tragic” and “a live representation of the proletariat of any part of the world”. 

Inserted into the narration was one of the poems (in English translation) by Pablo Neruda which Ernesto probably read on his travels, perhaps while dreaming of Chichina, the girl he left behind in Buenos Aires and who dropped him - 'Poem 20', which begins:

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, "The night is starry

and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance"

...

The music beautifully and powerfully represented Ernesto's feelings in this section of his journey, expressing not just his sadness with the mourning vocals but also using a rhythmic pounding to represent his rising anger and revolutionary spirit.  The music expressed perfectly the emotion of Ernesto's journey, as well as giving an authentic flavour, the songs being interspersed not only with the narration but with traditional Colombian dancing. Participation from the audience lent a sense of distinct camaraderie to the evening. Indeed, 'Biking With Che' was a witty and occasionally wry insight into the early days of an iconic legend, which gave us a powerful impression of the man behind the T-shirts and student posters. 

Sally Bavage adds:

The audience feedback, the delicious food and the atmosphere were fantastic.  Well done yet again to Café Lento, host Richard Lindley, and narrator Richard Wilcocks, for another splendid LitFest event which attracted a wide age range!  Interesting, too, that the importance of having time to read poetry was emphasised as Ernesto developed the foundations for Che.  

To book Mestisa contact Ana Luisa Muñoz  mestisauk@gmail.com  

Ravishing sounds of the Oud in Mint Café

Jacqui Agate writes:

As hordes of people took refuge from the snow to enjoy an authentic Arabian night in Mint Café, the first thing they were greeted with was a colourful array of Lebanese food.  The venue was absolutely full to the brim, with the attendees spread across two rooms. 

With walls adorned with pictures and an assortment of retro items available for purchase, the venue itself provided plenty to look at. The atmosphere was lively as we waited in anticipation of authentic music and beautiful Arabic poetry. Needless to say the entertainment did not disappoint.

Mint owner Marcos with oud-player Yasser Audhali

The master Yasser Audhali entered to a ripple of excitement and, after introducing himself, began to play the Oud. The room was filled with enchanting melodies accompanied by passionate vocals and two drummers, one of which was the owner of Mint, Marcos. Hand-made and decorated with intricate Egyptian designs the Oud is a treat to look at as well as to listen to. The group was clearly captured by the authentic melodies, with much foot-tapping, head-bobbing and eye-closing adding to the spirited, yet intimate, atmosphere within the room.

An added delight was Marcos explanation of the history of the Oud. The legend goes that it was invented by Lamech, the sixth grandson of Adam. Grieving for the death of his son he hung the body upon a tree. The shape of the Oud was inspired by the shape of his son’s bleached skeleton.

The oud (عود)and the lute both descend from a common ancestor 

Moreover, the beautiful music was punctuated by some of the Arabic love poems written by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, read by Richard Wilcocks in English.  The first, When I Love You, was an incredibly romantic poem crammed with curious, thought-provoking similes and metaphors such as ‘hours breathe like puppies’ and ‘caravans ride from your breasts carrying Indian herbs.’ The second was Little Things. This sensual poem sees Qabbani take on the voice of a woman,  with the point being to stand up for the rights of women by communicating such things as a female might want to, but not be able to, express.  Finally, we heard the emotive poem Beirut Mistress of the World addressed to a city devastated by the Lebanese civil war:

We now realise that your roots are deep inside us,
We now realise what offence we've perpetrated;
Rise from under the rubble
Like an almond flower in April!

Packed full of rhetorical language and organic imagery this poem was another real treat. The evening ended with a short Q and A session which allowed everyone to gain further insight into the deeper meanings of the poems and the music. All in all, it was an inspiring night with an authentic feel, which truly left my mind stimulated and my spirit relaxed.

Caroline Owens - 'If You Fall, Run On'

Sally Bavage writes:

Caroline Owens

Hosted by Salvo’s in the salumeria and accompanied by a most appropriate supper – for a book launch - of pasta scrolls in sauce, Caroline Owens was able to share with us some anecdotes about her book, titled as above. Written at first as a tribute to her own mother, it also became a personal journey informed by Caroline’s expertise both as a child psychotherapist and a child of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It also celebrates all the other mothers who tried their best to bring up their children to hold fast to their values when chaos sometimes surrounded them. Then, as now. Growing up in 60s Northern Ireland and coping with 21^st century childhood involve challenge and change, difficulties and doubts.  

Caroline was only eight years old when the thirty years of the Troubles began.  She remembers her mother’s maxim of getting out of a tight spot quickly: “If you fall, run on.” She remembers vividly the day her mother challenged the balaclava-wearing armed gunmen who stopped the car in which they were off to school.  They wanted the car to burn in a blockade.  Her mother reached into the car and, picking up her umbrella, pointed it at them in defiance.  “I bet if you took your balaclavas off your mothers would stop you.  Now step aside; my children are going to school.”  And they did. Step aside. Go to school. Normality within the surreality.

Surreal too, she said, to see a memoir you have written in the window of Waterstones, after you have come to terms with the dissent that writing about real people and real events can cause within families. Power strikes after the power stations had been bombed led to evenings sitting by candlelight, the flickering of the turf and coal fire, the eldest children allowed to stay up late going quietly about small hobbies. The tick of the clock, the clatter of knitting needles, the rustle of paper as an origami paper bird was constructed and revised, over and over again.  Lessons in industry and perseverance that served as a metaphor for her life.

Caroline Owens with John Dammone (MD Salvo's)

Hard times in an area where, if you were Catholic, your hopes for employment were slim. Caroline came to Leeds in the late 70s, jobhunting at the age of eighteen, and was attracted by the wonderful Italian music flowing out of Salvo’s to sit outside and listen.  Drawn in by Salvo senior (Salvatore Dammone), and asked if she could work in a restaurant, the only answer had to be “Yes”, though of course in reality all the cafés and restaurants where she had lived had been bombed and closed.  No matter, the warm family atmosphere supported her and gave her a chance to try, to succeed and to move on in her own story.

“Don’t write a book because you want to be famous, write a book because you have a story to tell and a passion for writing.”  Caroline did, she has and we were fortunate to enjoy the genuine warmth and the honesty of her heartwarming and thought-provoking insights.

Buy the book now through the website - www.carolineowens.co.uk

Love changes everything... or does it?

Doug Sandle writes:
House Events have become a well established tradition for the Headingley LitFest – open up your front room and throw in a few poets, writers, musicians and performers and you have a friendly intimate atmosphere for an enjoyable hour or so on a Sunday afternoon. Wordsong, aka Maggie Nash, Lynn Thornton and guests once again provided a well crafted presentation and professionally-enacted medley of poetry, readings and songs around this year’s Litfest theme, Lives and Loves.   


Presented in 5 sections  (Waiting for Love –Looking for Love?, Difficulties of Love, Make Up or, Break Up and finally  Sustaining a Relationship) we were provided  an engaging  narrative around both the dreams and realities of  falling in love with all its foibles, ironies, humour, delight and inevitably at times disappointments and difficulties. Aptly punctuating the sections Maggie and Lynn, accompanied expertly by John Holt on the piano, sung us well known songs that fitted nicely with the theme and the ‘drawing room’ atmosphere, including My Funny Valentine, Makin Whoopee and appropriately to end the proceedings, Let There be Love.

There were readings from many established and well known poets and writers such as Adrian Henri, John Betjeman, Joyce Grenfell, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Philip Larkin as well as contemporary poets such as Wendy Cope and Carol Ann Duffy. Local writers were also featured such as James Nash and in person Linda Marshall and Bill Fitzsimons, both members of Lucht Focail (People of the Word), who read us their own work, which was particularly appreciated and very well received. 

The audience  were also treated  by  two delightful little dramatic cameos, one from Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford and one from a Ian Fleming James Bond short story, Quantum of Solace, the latter surely producing an Oscar winning performance by Maggie as James Bond!  Mention should also be made of the contributions of David Robertson and Bob Holt to what was an event to warm the heart on a particularly cold Sunday afternoon.

Remember that next Sunday 17  March there will be another free Litfest House Event featuring Leeds playwright, writer and raconteur Ray Brown who will informally chat about and read from his award winning story Maria’s House and an assortment of ‘flash fiction’, some of which is set in Headingley. For details of location and to book a place ring 0775 252 1257 

Chartist poetry and song in HEART Café

Sheila Chapman writes:

The Voice of the People 9 March, Heart Café

We were all Chartists on Saturday night. We listened to a talk about their movement, their beliefs and their values, we listened to their poetry/lyrics, we discussed their ideals amongst ourselves during the break, we sang their 'hymns' and we endorsed their six-point charter demanding suffrage for the working man with three rousing cheers.

Jeff Beaumont, Ian Parks, Richard Wilcocks, John Hutton

Ian Parks, drawing on research for his new anthology of Chartist poetry The Voice of the People, evoked not only the history and intellectual core of the Chartists but also their humanity and their love of poetry. The Chartists were the voice of the people but their poetry cannot be found in anthologies of English verse - it was poetry by the people for the people and it is largely ignored. 

For the Chartists, poetry was not an inaccessible 'highbrow' activity but an essential part of their movement. The movement grew out of unrest about the conditions of the working classes, the restriction of suffrage to the middle and upper classes and various oppressive measures such as the Poor Law of 1834. 

They spread their message in a number of ways: through mass meetings e.g. the Kennington Common meeting of 1848 (the first crowd photograph ever was taken of this meeting); through smaller local meetings; through discussion groups and through newspapers - now more widely available because of reduced taxation. Poetry was an important of the message. It was published in their newspapers, it was written in response to important events and it formed the lyrics for their songs. Song was a binding force in the movement and it was underpinned by poetry.

Ian's talk was accompanied by sung poems. These songs (vocalist Richard Wilcocks, with Jeff Beaumont, mandolin, and John Hutton, guitar) were set to the tunes actually used by the Chartists and where these were unavailable alternative appropriate tunes had been sourced. The songs roused us today as they would have roused the Chartists of the mid nineteenth century. As one member of the audience said, they made sense of the Chartist poems. One such song was called The Steam King by Edward P Mead sung to the tune of We Plough the Fields and Scatter. It contains memorable lines such as:

There is a King, and a ruthless King;

Not a King of the poet's dream:

But a tyrant fell, white slaves know well,

And that ruthless King is Steam.

...

Like the ancient Moloch grim, his sire

In Himmon's vale that stood,

His bowels are of living fire,

And children are his food.

We listened to these songs as Ian unfolded the history of the Chartists. There were two tendencies within the movement. William Lovett espoused the 'moral force' tendency arguing that working men would get the vote through self improvement, temperance and hard work while Feargus O'Connor was more revolutionary and supported the 'physical force' tendency calling for direct action and armed insurrection. The activities of the Chartists reflected these two tendencies ranging from: peaceful mass demonstrations and petitions to parliament, to the Newport rising in November 1839, in which 22 Chartists were shot dead by soldiers. The poetry also reflected these tendencies some of it being 'quietist' and some more revolutionary.

The poetry appeared in Chartist newspapers and notably in The Northern Star newspaper edited out of Leeds and owned by Feargus O'Connor. Every edition of this eight page newspaper carried a page of poetry.

The Chartist movement culminated in its final petition, with six million signatures (although a number of these were later found to be fake), presented to Parliament on 10th April 1848 after the huge meeting on Kennington Common.

The demands of the Chartists were

1. A vote for every man over the age of 21;

2. A secret ballot;

3. No property qualification for members of Parliament;

4. Payment for MPs (so poor men could serve);

5. Constituencies of equal size;

6. Annual elections for Parliament.

None of these demands were granted during the lifetimes of most Chartists, and Chartism gradually faded away, or was absorbed into other movements, but all of us now take the first five of their demands for granted. 

We ended the night singing (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne) the chorus of All Hail Fraternal Democrats written in 1846 by John Arnott, who was General Secretary of the National Charter Association, and a noted singer:

That mitres, thrones, misrule and wrong, 

Shall from this earth be hurled, 

And peace, goodwill, and brotherhood, 

Extend throughout the world. 

All in all this was a moving, educational and uplifting evening! Thankyou to Ian, Richard, Jeff and John.

Dwellers on the Threshold: Dr Sean Campbell at HEART

Síle Moriarty writes:

Dwellers on the Threshold: Second-Generation Irish Musicians in England

On the ninth of March I met a lady who had attended this talk. She is married to an Irishman and she told me how the insights given by Dr. Sean Campbell had helped her understand her husband’s experience of life in this country more closely ‘because he would never talk about it himself’. Such was the impact of this humorous and knowledgeable speaker,  who started the evening with a roll call of second generation Irish musicians in popular music – Lonnie Donegan, Lennon and McCartney, Dusty Springfield (aka Mary O’Brien), John Lydon, Elvis Costello, Boy George, Oasis, the Smiths were some of the names mentioned. These people, the sons and daughters of Irish migrants, did not just perform popular music - they also had a huge influence on its shape and direction.

But Dr. Campbell, himself second generation Irish, wanted to look below the surface of pop success and explore how the complexities of being ‘second generation’ were expressed through music and in doing so he gave us a fresh insight into the challenges and opportunities faced by the second generation (of whatever nationality).

He chose three bands of the 1980’s (Dexys Midnight Runners, The Pogues and The Smiths) and through interviews with individuals in the bands - Keith Rowland (Dexys),Shane MacGowan and Cait O'Riordan (the Pogues) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) - and wider research he showed us how these second generation Irish musicians used the duality of their cultural heritage as a creative driving force.

He chose 1980’s bands because, for him, this was the time when the children of the Irish immigrants of the 50’s and 60’s came of age. It was also a time when relationships between the UK and Ireland were strained because of the ‘troubles’ and it was the era of the ‘thick Paddy’ jokes.

These jokes rankled with many Irish people and Keith Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners) hit back at them in Dance Stance where the chorus references great Irish writers: Oscar Wilde, Brendan Beehan, Sean O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Gene O’Neil, Edna O’Brien, Laurence Stern. Rowland said ‘Irish jokes make me sick’, I wanted ‘to show the other side of being Irish’ and to ‘correct the misunderstanding’. He wanted to address the British fans and said that it gave him great pleasure when he heard a young English student singing the chorus of Dance Stance to herself while walking through campus.

In another song, The Waltz, Rowland is more direct with the final line ‘Here is a protest’ being repeated. This song was originally called Elizabeth Wimpole and Katherine Ní Houlihan to point up the English v Irish nature of its subject matter but was renamed The Waltz because Rowlands was afraid of the reception the original would get – although whether this was from the English or Irish community was not clear.

In a sense Rowlands tried to mediate between cultures whereas The Pogues, in contrast, tried to evoke the experience of being London Irish. ‘The Pogues were the first people who helped define what you could be as a second generation Irish person in this country’ (Martin Mc Donagh). Their songs were very different from the songs of sentimental longing favoured by the first generation. They evoke the excitement of being here a sort of ‘love for the oppressor’ (Philip Chevron, guitarist with the Pogues) although Shane McGownan would deny this – he has moved from accepting the label London-Irish to calling himself Irish. However this love of London and rejection of sentimentality is demonstrated in Transmetropolitan which starts with a gentle traditional-music style introduction and then breaks into a fast aggressive, tour of London. The Pogues’ imagination was focussed on London, not Ireland and their musical style reconciled punk with traditional Irish music.

The Smiths launched in Manchester at the same time as the Pogues in London. Their experience of being second generation is encapsulated in the following quotes: ‘I’m one of us on both sides’ Morrisey, ‘I’m Mancunian-Irish’ Johnny Marr. Marr spoke to Dr. Campbell of the schizophrenic experience of having parents who were excited to be in England (the land of opportunity) but who ran a home immersed in Irishness where you sleep and swim in Irish life. Marr is repulsed by ‘...bullshit Irish romanticism’ – ‘The Smiths wanted to evoke the feeling but not the sound of the Irish in 1960s Manchester.

This ambivalence of melancholy and vibrancy is reflected in The Smiths songs e.g. Back to the Old House – I want to be here but I long to be there and Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want – originally called The Irish Waltz with the word Erin printed in the run-off groove. Morrisey’s lyrics – ‘When you walk without ease/on these streets where you were raised’ also express this ambivalence and lack of belonging.

Dr. Campbell showed that ambivalence ‘not quite the definite article ... more the floating article’ (Marr?) can be a well-spring of creativity. As McDonagh says ‘... the ambiguities are more interesting than choosing a strict path and following it’

During the lively Q&A session that followed - the discussion ranged from the extremes of nationalism to the policy of the Church in the 1960s/70s to educate second generation Irish children as ‘English Catholics’ - it was clear that Dr. Campbell had touched the sensibilities of his full-house audience many of whom were, like myself, ‘dwellers on the threshold’ in terms of being second (or even third or fourth) generation Irish. 

Dr Sean Campbell is Reader in Media and culture at Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge and author of 'Irish Blood, English Heart': Second-Generation Irish Musicians in England (Cork University Press, 2011).

Interview with Roger McGough

Read Chris Bond's Yorkshire Post interview with our guest, Roger McGough, here - http://bit.ly/Z69Vno

Yarnsmith - bring the kids

Two sonnet sequences on love

Listen to George Szirtes here.

Hear him again in HEART Café on the evening of Friday 15 March.

Kay Mellor at the New Headingley Club

We're all looking forward to Saturday 23 March at 3pm!

This appeared recently in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10210078.New_Kay_Mellor_TV_drama_filmed_in_Bradford/?ref=twtrec

Pablo Neruda's body to be exhumed

A Chilean judge has ordered that the remains of poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda should be exhumed in an investigation into whether he died of cancer as commonly believed or was killed by agents serving Augusto Pinochet. The exhumation was announced by the foundation that manages his literary legacy. The leftist poet, who died twelve days after the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer, but officials in 2011 started looking into the possibility he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime, as claimed by Neruda's driver and aide. Neruda is best known for his love poems as well as his Canto General - an epic poem about South America's history and its people. 

This story will no doubt be of great interest for those who were at the special showing of Il Postino at the Cottage Road Cinema almost a year ago, which is about how the poet was forced into exile in Italy. Read the review here: http://headingleylitfest.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=neruda

Wartime Hospital at Beckett's Park

UPDATE - website for published book Stories from the War Hospital is at www.firstworldwarhospital.co.uk

Thanks to all those who have been in touch offering (and requesting) information. We are now realising that a separate website for our project on the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Beckett's Park during the Great War 1914 - 1918 would be a good idea, so one should appear online in the next couple of weeks, if all goes well. The URL will be put on the blog. The original press release  from when we started can be found if you simply scroll down a little.

There are so many names of people who were there, particularly members of the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps). We are hoping that there are plenty of searchers trawling the web for information on their ancestor, who might have been a nurse, or a wounded soldier, or...  so if we put plenty of names online, along with a few photos, we'll get results.

In the meantime, here are just a couple of photos which might bring results:

1) The cigarette case. An articial limb race so many years before the Paralympics! Do you know anything about either Douglas Longmate or CQMS (Company Quartermaster Sergeant) G W Browning? Below is a photo of an engraved silver cigarette case sent to us by a retired antiques dealer who wants to give it to any descendants we find:

2) The Irish Nurse. The granddaughter of a Red Cross Nurse who served at Beckett's Park between 7 August 1917 and 31 March 1919 sent us this photo from Ireland. It is of Mary (Polly) Dunne. She had two sisters, Kitty and Josephine, all of whom came from a small rural community and trained in England (St Alban's) as nurses. Do you know anything about nurses from Ireland in the Great War generally?

Contact us by email at headingleyhospital@gmail.com

And thanks for the feature in the Yorkshire Post, Chris Bond - 

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/features/horror-humour-and-humanity-the-untold-stories-of-a-hospital-in-wartime-1-5383600

Congratulations to Sharon Olds

Congratulations to Sharon Olds, who was awarded the £15,000 prize for her collection, Stag's Leap, at the T S Eliot Prize Ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London a few days ago. She was shortlisted before - in 2009. Two thousand poetry enthusiasts were in the audience.

 Poet Laureate and Chair of the Judges, Carol Ann Duffy, said: "It was a really strong shortlist, with so much talent and grace, and it was particularly strong in women. We were particularly pleased to have six fantastic books by women." Carcanet is delighted that two of its most long-standing authors were shortlisted among such talented writers. See the Carcanet blog here.

LitFest gets Co-operative support

On Tuesday 15 January, Sheila Chapman, Chair of Headingley LitFest committee, accompanied by Sally Bavage, LitFest Fundraiser, was pleased and proud to accept a cheque from local Co-operative Community Fund representatives Jean and Ken Martin.  The money, which comes from members’ donations of all or part of their share of the profits, has been voted to us to support our first Youth Fringe day, on Saturday 29 June at the Heart Centre in Headingley.

Taking receipt of the cheque at our local friendly Co-op store on Cardigan Road,  Sheila acknowledged the opportunity this will give LitFest to pilot activities for young people in our community, with the programme decided upon by young people themselves.  Watch out for more details of the programme in the coming weeks.

Roger McGough at Headingley LitFest

The Wartime Hospital at Beckett's Park

UPDATE - website for published book - www.firstworldwarhospital.co.uk

Headingley LitFest has been awarded a substantial grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project in 2013/2014 based on the military hospital which was at Beckett’s Park, Headingley, during the First World War.

The project will come to a climax in time for the seventh annual LitFest in March 2014 with the production of an illustrated publication and a dramatic performance based on its contents.

On Your Marks - audience responses

Here's the feedback for the event on 27 November:

Written comments after performance:

I never realised that sport could be so exciting! The young dancers in the section ‘Dancing on Together’ were an explosion of energy that took my breath away.

I also enjoyed the presentation by Palm where poetry and prose was sensitively presented, sometimes giving food for thought with a new take on sporting activity.

Really enjoyed this evening. Quality performances but with a touch of the personal too.

Fantastic. More please.

Excellent  well done everyone.

Great for its sustained intensity!

Very good and impressive performances by the group.

Enjoyed most of it –especially the choreographed movement.

Really, Really Really uplifting - very entertaining!

A great evening’s entertainment!

What an evening! I didn’t think anything sporty could be that entertaining.

Great level of performances and humour.

A grippingly entertaining performance- each different part was well-rehearsed, thoughtful and full of imagination.

Superb.

Very entertaining if a little loud.

A very enjoyable varied programme. Not a dull moment.

Many thanks to all those who have worked for this absolutely wonderful event.  Great work! Keep it up.

An excellent evening - superb performance by all. Can we have more of these events please? Well done to all organisers.

What an entertaining and interesting evening.

Comments by email:

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed last night’s eclectic and very entertaining programme.                         I think I experienced nearly every emotion: which has to be a good test of an evening’s entertainment.

The Phoenix Dance piece was beautifully choreographed and Leeds Met MA Performance students’ performance was witty and clever.  A great evening.

Really good, high quality performances from all the performers.

Letter in Yorkshire Evening Post  30 November:

  

Dear Sir,

The great thing about Leeds is that it produces quality. Leeds United scored once on Tuesday evening November 27^th at Elland Road but also a second time at St Chad’s Parish Hall in Headingley where nine young dancers from Phoenix Dance Theatre wearing Leeds United shirts gave a performance of ‘Score’ that would have made Neil Warnock proud. Along with their colleagues spirited performance of ‘Dancing with Rhinos’ the evening of sport and art with the title ‘On Your Marks’ got off to a rousing start. From the young to the slightly more mature we were royally entertained by Palm Ensemble, students and staff from the performing arts programme of Leeds Metropolitan University whose mixture of wit, poetry and song and professionalism has been recognised at festivals across Europe. There were also guest singers, John Kilburn, Maria Sandle and Phil Widger a local folk singer whose rendition of his own clever amusing work must surely require wider recognition. St. Chad would have been proud.

 I suspect so was Doug Sandle who had put so much effort not only into this event but also the one day conference on sport in art called Field of Vision at Headingley Carnegie Stadium. Accompanying that event is a splendid exhibition of ceramic sculptures of footballers, rugby players and athletes by Mandy Long displayed in the stadium café until December 6^th. Yorkshire has so much to be proud of in this Olympic Year. I think I will have to pop down to the café to see if I can find an appropriate memento.

Yours sincerely

Jeffrey Sherwin (Dr)

Flamenco in Mint Café

Owner Marcos, who can be held responsible for all the superb food (try the Brazilian coxinhas) in Mint Café, says that drop-in poets will be welcome at the Flamenco Evening on Thursday 22 November. Just see him first if you want to read. It starts at 8.30pm.

Entry is £5, with a further £5 for the buffet. The four strong group is Flamenco Diez - guitarist, box drummer, singer and dancer.

For those new to Headingley, Mint Café is near the end of the row on North Lane, just a few yards further on from the Natural Food Shop.

Mimika - comments from the audience

All of the audience questionnaires collected after the Mimika performances at HEART last Saturday contained positive comments - and several drawings. Here are ten of them, and a penguin by Lizzie.

I liked it wen the monkey tried to steel the egg. Elsie

Wonderful! Really creative & moving. Loved the sound, the landscapes, the puppets and really special show Spellbinding Beautiful puppets.  Barba

Terrific show. It contained all the elements of theatre – magic, puppetry, a sense of wonder. Great stuff. Bill

A truly wonderful show bound to entertain & educate. As a model maker in another field I can truly appreciate the use of easily obtainable and inexpensive materials to make things. The thought that must have gone to put on this show, demonstrates  two very talented people Graham

Great we enjoyed it very much. My 2½ daughter liked the toucan best. “And the monkey and the snow falling down. ” “And the snake.” Ted

I liked the animals and the big tent especially the flamingo. Ella

Thankyou  for making this accessible to a local audience. It is stunning! Bravo Jenny & Bill. Wonderful light, movement, sound. Simply amazing Maggie

Please do have them again they are wonderful and great for any ages! Shirley

A magical show! Really absorbing for children and adults. Lovely. Helen

It was fantastic Erin age 8

Spellbound by Mimika Children's Theatre

Sally Bavage writes:

Son et lumière in a tent erected in the HEART Centre, Headingley

Speechless!  Not just the mixed audience of adults and young children but the show itself.  A puppet show like no other, Mimika Theatre is a locally-based group that takes its audience on a worldwide trip from the desert to the rainforest to the South Pole. Not bad in an hour. The welcoming reassurance of Bill and Jenny, who have crafted a fabulous set of animals to accompany us on our travels, created a rising sense of anticipation before we set off - into the tent with mood music and lighting to help young and old alike suspend disbelief.  And this was after showing the younger members of the audience the scary snake fashioned from a vacuum cleaner hose and the snapping crocodile model head to allay any fears.

We set off to the desert to see a baby bird hatch, menaced by a swooping raptor over the audience. Looking up with rapt faces, open mouths, the children – and the adults – were completely absorbed.  Laughter at the antics of the meerkats, alarm at the scorpion, edgy absorption in the creatures that slithered, bit and met their fate before us.

‘Caws’ and effect – the scene and the soundtrack gave way to bird calls amongst the reflections from a tropical rainforest.  How delightful to see children interested in tweeting, not Tweeting.  We listened to howls and growls, buzzing and snarling, with music and monkey business helping to create the story in each of our heads. 

We then dived underwater to observe anemones wave and fish twirl to a Japanese-style soundtrack that bubbled along.  A jellyfish swam by and clownfish came out to play over our heads, along with seahorses, sea snakes and a turtle.  The audience was completely immersed itself in this watery world.

Within thirty seconds the scene iced up, snow was falling and we were watching as a penguin hatched its tiny baby from a carefully nestled egg, to oohs and aahs of sympathy and delight.  There was then a seal of approval for the audience from the watching mammal which popped up.  The End was nigh, but not quite yet.

Next came a puppet show – and tell.  Bill and Jenny allowed the audience members to choose their favourite puppets and showed how they are made and work. Lollipops and marbles, colanders and string have never looked so inventive, even on Blue Peter.  Especially the meerkats – simples!

Entitled ‘Spellbound in a tent’ -  it WAS magic!  Young people watching and enjoying an older form of artistic entertainment, taken on a journey before and behind their eyes.

I wonder how many of them will be thinking up stories about the puppets and their journeys over the coming days?

After the performance, members of the audience were invited to write down their thoughts on the LitFest's assessment forms.