Want a programme leaflet?

If you would like to take a few of our just-published programme leaflets, or if you want a digital (pdf) version to pass on to friends on your email network, contact us at the email address on the right of your screen.

Linda's launch

After studying modern languages at university, Linda Marshall took up her old hobby of penning verse (serious and funny) and joined the Aireings co-operative of women writers and poets. She also made a few contacts at Leeds Writers’ Circle and poetry became a way of life. Involved in the production of two poetry magazines, she particularly enjoyed the editing side of things. It is always exciting to find work of merit by new poets.

In the mid ’90s she became a member of Pennine Poets, who used to meet at Mabel Ferrett’s house in Heckmondwike. Linda’s work has been included and commented on in the Pennine Poet 40th Anniversary Anthologies.

Recently Linda has taken part in many open mike sessions. Writing for performance, she finds, is an enjoyable challenge, but some of her poems are meant for the page.

She likes to experiment with style and at times she uses rhyme to get her point across. “The writing process can be full of surprises and the possible outcomes are infinite. One bizarre thought can be transformed into a whole new way of looking at things.”

Linda is currently associated with Lucht Focail, a group of Irish writers and poets, and she has run a few creative writing workshops.

Her launch as part of Headingley LitFest will be at the Flux Gallery, Midland Road on Saturday 20 March at 7.30pm

T S Eliot in Whitelocks

So did T S Eliot really drink at Whitelocks?

Please contact the blog if you can confirm this.

Sports Writing Competition

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Last March, the Create a Story Sports Writing Competition was a real success, with tall piles of entries, many of a very high standard. Now we are doing it again, but this time attempting to involve more school students: every single high school in the Leeds area has just been sent letters, entry forms and posters to display and to photocopy, and the same materials have been put online.

The competition was born out of discussions between Leeds Rugby Foundation's Arts Steering Group and Headingley LitFest, which took place in 2008 and which have continued ever since. We get on! Headingley should be known for its sporting connections and much, much more.

The competition is open to all students between the ages of eleven and sixteen. Entries must be received at Headingley Stadium by 26 February. The judges will be the same as last year - myself, Glenn Horsman (Leeds Rugby Learning Centre) and sports writer Phil Caplan.

This is from the entry form:

Your story must be about a fictional sporting event, but you can use your own experiences for inspiration! It can be about any sport at any level. It should be no longer than 500 words if you are 12 years old or less (not including the 100 below) and no longer than 1000 words (not including the 100 below) if you are 13 years old or more.

............


Your story must start using the following paragraphs:

It felt strange to be wearing the new colours, strange but exhilarating. He/she had sweated hard to be chosen to wear them, and now it was the big day, the first chance to show all those loyal supporters what he/she was made of. All the eyes would be on him/her.

The chanting was reaching a climax. It was time to begin.

There will be a presentation on the pitch at half time in the Leeds Rhinos v Hull Kingston Rovers match on Friday 19 March at Headingley Stadium. The winning entry (or extracts from it), together with information on the LitFest, will appear in the match programme.

Leeds Poetry Special Collection

Doug Sandle writes:

Visiting the Leeds Poetry Special Collection last week was a real journey down memory lane. Sifting through copies of various Leeds University student magazines it brought back memories of an exciting period during the early sixties, when Leeds Student Union became a hive of creative and cultural activity. When I arrived in Leeds in 1960 as a student the University Union was dominated by a particular clique around law society and the University motor club and a rather elitist class based attitude.

Whether it was an influx of more students from more varied backgrounds and schooling, the zeitgeist of the dawning spirit of the sixties, (more beatnik at the time than hippy), the influence of radical lecturers such as John Rex and the involvement of the then Gregory Fellows (in art and poetry) a real change took place at the University Union, one which was both politically and culturally fuelled. A manifestation of this was the emergence of several new cultural and political student societies and a number of student produced magazines encouraging student writing, creativity and debate. Mostly typed and duplicated by means of ‘Roneo’ and ‘Gestetner’ reproduction and with cover designs by student artists and illustrators, they would be on sale most days in the lower corridor of the student union.

I was fortunate enough to be involved with several of these magazines at one time or another, including 61 which heralded the sixties era, IKON, which was more formally type set and also featured photographs, MOMA (Magazine of Modern Arts) and Tlaloc, which was devoted to concrete poetry. Not only did the magazines feature student writing but sometimes carried special guest features, for example a pre-publication extract from a book by Herbert Read appeared in IKON. The Leeds Poetry Special Collection features some of these student magazines on its web site http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/leedspoetry/periodicals.htm
as well as documenting the work and lives of the then Gregory Fellows in Poetry, whose influence and reputations extended far beyond the local Leeds literary scene http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/leedspoetry/fellowships.htm

The inclusion of the Leeds Poetry Special collection in the coming 2010 Headingley Lit Fest. is something to look forward to and the initial collaboration promises to lead to a future partnership highlighting the illustrious cultural history of Headingley and its environs.

Beryl Bainbridge on the radio

In response to some recent enquiries relating to Beryl Bainbridge, who was our guest last March, please click HERE to reach a BBC website where you will be able to listen to her, and where you may well find answers to your questions.