Mila and Craig at Café Lento

Café Lento on North Lane is the place to be on Friday evenings. That's true for yesterday, anyway. Mila and Craig were terrific, with a variety of musical styles- including Bossa Nova - and songs in Portuguese. Audience loved it. They could come to the Iberian Evening (we'll probably change that as a title...) which was mooted after the show. This would take place during next March's LitFest.

Leeds Lieder rocks!

Heartwarming to see such an array of fledgling talent at Leeds Lieder's Composers and Poets Showcase on Saturday! Some of them were at Headingley LitFest too - in New Shoots last March.

Click here for full review.

We Are Poets - at Hyde Park Picture House

Thanks to Peter Spafford for alerting us to this: 

 

The award winning 'We Are Poets' is in Leeds for a very special 'homecoming' screening at the Hyde Park Picture House, Sunday 2nd October, 5:45pm

Sheffield Doc/Fest Youth Jury interview with Alex Ramseyer-Bache and Daniel Lucchesi from Jack Ranson on Vimeo.

We Are Poets is on tour around the UK and after a successful opening at the British Film Institute, it is now coming to it's home town of Leeds to share and celebrate this amazing local story. Don't miss it!

Winner of the Youth Jury Award at the Sheffield Documentary Festival 2011 and shortlisted for a prestigious Newcomer Prize at Grierson: The British Documentary Awards 2011, We Are Poets intimately follows six remarkable young poets from Leeds Young Authors, a youth poetry group based in Chapeltown, as they are chosen to represent the UK at Brave New Voices, the most prestigious poetry slam competition in the USA.  From their inner city lives to a stage in front of the White House in Washington DC, the poets must prepare for a transformational journey of a lifetime. 

Cinematic, honest and deeply personal, We Are Poets is a moving testament to the power of creativity, community and the dynamism of young people. Anyone tempted to dismiss today's youth as politically apathetic better pay heed: here is electrifying evidence to the contrary. 

We Are Poets was directed and produced by local filmmakers Alex Ramseyer-Bache and Daniel Lucchesi.

There will be a Q&A with the directors and poets following the screening and live poetry performances! 

Here's what a few people have said about the film:

Sheffield Doc Fest - "A poignant, truthful and uplifting perspective on youth today and its potential. From its utterly brilliant opening, through to its moving finale, 'We Are Poets' is inspirational!" 

I-D Magazine -  "Lyrical, inspirational and ultra-cool...a brilliant story and a milestone in breaking down stereotypes”

Benjamin Zephaniah - “Amazing...the film itself is a poem. Poetry is an art, filmmaking is an art, it's takes great sensitivity to bring them together - this film shows us how it's done!” 

For more information and to book tickets: http://www.hydeparkpicturehouse.co.uk/index.php?showing=3151#now-showing

The Zoo Story

Dave (Theatre of the Dales) Robertson warmly invites everyone to a free performance of

THE ZOO STORY

by

Edward Albee

with

 Guillaume Blanchard

and

David Robertson

First staged in 1959, shortly before he wrote Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee's one-act tour de force is as wry and hypnotic as ever.

Two New Yorkers strike up a conversation in Central Park. One irritates, amuses and intrigues the other with his life story, till the listener is caught up in a climax at once shocking and deeply moving.

You can catch it next weekend at the following times and venues:

On Saturday, Sept 17th, at 3pm in Dagmar Wood (opposite Dave's house) or in the nearby LS6 Cafe (often called the Clock), if it rains.

Also, at 8pm in Cafe Lento on North Lane, Headingley (where there will be a licensed bar).

On Sunday, Sept 18th, at 3pm in Dagmar Wood. (Again, in the Clock, if it rains.)

Also, at 9.30pm in the garden of 1, Grosvenor Road (Dave's place) by the light of a bonfire. (Shelter will be rigged up, if rain threatens.)

Support the LIPPfest!

Readers of this blog are sure to be interested in the LIPPfest so here's information and dates for your diaries:


The Leeds Independent Presses Poetry Festival (LIPPfest) 2011 kicks off on 24 September at the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds with a programme of readings from twenty-one poets, six workshops, symposiums and publishing talks. An independent presses bookfair will give people the chance to browse and purchase literature from a range of literature not stocked on the shelves of your average bookshop.




LIPPfest 2011 Poetry competition


Here you can download details, rules and entry form for the inaugural LIPPfest poetry competition. The competition will open for entries on April 12th 2011.  Entries close on July 14th 2011. Winners will be announced at a special event at the festival on September 24th.


(Click this Link to download PDF)


This year’s judges are Pat Borthwick and Mike Barlow.


Prizes
• 1st Prize £ 250.00
• 2nd Prize £ 150.00
• 3rd Prize £ 100.00
• The Leeds Prize £ 50.00
• All prize/award winners will receive a poetry
book from the LIPPfest book fair.


All prize winners will also have an opportunity to read at the festival and will be invited to submit their entry for inclusion in the LIPPfest’s anthology of poetry. The competition is a great way to support the festival and help us to promote the poets and poetry of independent presses.


Any money raised will go into putting on further events and developing new ways to take poetry out to new audiences. See entry form for full details.

Read! Read! Read!

Here's an extract from a recent issue of the official newsletter of Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Meanwood:

The   school   was   privileged   to   stage   one   of   the   events   of   the   Headingley   LitFest when  the  celebrated  author,  Robert  Swindells  read  and   discussed   his   works   with   pupils.   Swindells   is   one   of   Britain’s   most   successful  writers  of fiction  for  young  people... 

Robert   Swindells,   who   was   born   in   Yorkshire,   has   received   numerous   awards for his books for children and young adults. Stone Cold, a favourite  with our  pupils,  won  the  Carnegie  Medal  and  has  been  adapted   for television  by the  BBC.  Generations  of  our  pupils  have  enjoyed  reading   his novels  and they  were  delighted  to  be  given  the  opportunity  to  hear  Mr   Swindells  read extracts  from  his  work.  

They   plied   him   with   questions   about   his   subjects,   his   writing   methods,   his   beliefs   and   his   income!   The   quality   and   variety   of   the   questions   asked  was   impressive.   Pupils   found   his   honest,   entertaining   and   down-to-‐earth   approach   engaging   and   many   of   them   said   that   he   made   them   believe   that  they  could  succeed  as  writers  if  they  put their  minds  to  it...  

We  were  delighted  to  welcome  pupils  and  staff  from  Allerton  High  School   to the  event.  Mr  Swindells  was  moved  and  impressed  by the interest our pupils had shown.

Radish Books attended and provided copies of Mr Swindells' work. Many purchased Stone Cold and left clutching copies which carried a personal message from the author: variants of 'Read! Read! Read!

C. Brown