A wide variety of entertaining readings

Leeds Writers Read

17 March 2014, 7pm Headingley Library

Vince Mihill writes:

Terry Buchan

On Monday evening, Terry Buchan, a local writer, staged an introduction to the Headingley LitFest by giving up and coming writers a chance to perform their works to an audience. These could be either short stories, poems, whatever, on the theme of surviving. Headingley is a unique place in that it's composed of students, ex-Uni people, bohemians and other writers, and outsiders -  in short, it's an interesting place full of intelligent alternative well read persons. There were many differing perspectives proffered on the survival subject.

First tonight was Peter Richardson who provided a six minute short story centring on a young African asylum seeker and her struggles.  It was delivered poignantly.  Steve Hobbs delivered a monologue on an injured soldier and read a poem based on his father's experience. He had a few fans in the audience which helped settle any nerves. Next was Vince Mihill, an aspiring noir writer, erudite and youngish in outlook, influenced by Jake Arnott and Cathy Unsworth. Despite not living in the Smoke he's influenced by the grit and grime of the Smoke and inner city urban decay. The audience were surprised by his unusual oeuvre.

Emma Parkin has been writing children's stories for a while now. She has a bubbly effervescent character tonight channelled into poems - very funny and off the cuff with a very different delivery which I liked.

Terry Buchan and and Ann Clarke read pieces for two voices: a (fictional) anti-poet rant by George Orwell and a poem on surviving celebrity.

Linda Casper's (from the East Leeds writers' group) contribution centred on an essay about the Yiddish language and its history. This was fascinating I thought as I knew little about the subject. I think it contrasted well with the other pieces and was well received by the audience - a mix of the local Headingley literati and book fans.

Marg Greenwood is a member of the Swarthmore drama group and has a unique take on life influenced by Python and obscurantism. She presented a collection of stories, trips to the isle of Muck and some almost haiku-like poems re. onions. Linda Fulton was last on. She delivered an extract from her searing account of the miners' strike in 1984. It was heartfelt, delivered confidently. It had echoes of the First World War and the Battle of Bosworth in it.  Linda has a great voice too which seemed to reach out to the audience.

After a break where wine and cranberry juice were served, an open mic session commenced. There were a few people from the Leeds erstwhile Borders group including anarchist fantasy writer Nancy Pike. Nancy wrote a kind of street blog influenced by the Streets and Lily Allen, an observation about the cluttered chaos of Leeds street life. The piece had a lot of energy, nay, chutzpah about it.

Next there was Gurj Kang who wrote quite a lengthy statement on life as a singleton. He imbued it with many influences especially popular culture which worked well and was reminiscent of American Psycho in places. My only criticism was that it was a tad too long. After this, Doug Sandle read about his experience with a personality reading machine at a sea-side amusement arcade, and finally Ann Clarke read an interesting piece about growing up in Leeds in the fifties.

So an admirable evening and I thought Terry handled it very efficiently. Leeds Library was a bit cramped but friendly and welcoming.

Audience comments: 

1.     Really good – great to hear such a variety of pieces from local writers. Headingley (and) Leeds has talent.  

2.     Good event. Great variety.  

3.     Such a variety of themes & ideas. Liked Emma’s humour & lightness and very impressed by Marge and Linda(2) on miners and Gurj’s  reading. Very enjoyable evening and entertaining.  

4.     A very pleasant evening with a wide variety of entertaining readings.  

5.     Good venue and thanks LitFest for hosting. The range of pieces came together into a reasonably varied format, mostly by chance!

6.     Loved listening to the variety and range of pieces.  

7.     Thank you. Great to hear the wide range of readings.

8.     Good mixture of styles – should be more events like this.

9.     A great opportunity to listen to a variety of styles and a wealth of local talent. Big thanks for organizing the event.

10.  A really enjoyable event great to hear such a range of voices, subjects, styles.

11.  Very good! Great variety J

12.  It was an exceptionally ground breaking event. Vince Milhill caught my eye – stylish, witty and oblique

13.  I found the poetry evening very interesting, I thought the poetry on Yiddish has particularly interesting as I am Jewish and I know the person who read it, Linda Casper.  

Delicious Dante and Boccaccio

Dinner with Dante on Monday 17 March

Readers Gigliola Sulis and Richard Wilcocks

Conrad writes:
You don't get the chance very often to hear both the original Italian and good English translations of two of the greatest works of Italian (and world) literature performed on the same stage. It might not have been the whole of the two works (we'd still be listening now if it had been) but the brief extracts were obviously chosen with care. We were served Canto 5 and Canto 26 of Dante's Inferno, and we heard Boccaccio's story of Lisabetta and her murdered lover Lorenzo, whose head ended up in a large pot of basil (the best, from Salerno) which grew luxuriantly after it was watered by her tears.

The explanations given by Gigliola Sulis (Director of Italian at the University of Leeds) were succinct and helpful: it was good to see things in context and to know just enough about the background, especially in relation to the Dante, which was written seven centuries ago when attitudes to life, death and much else were shall we say similar but different. The great man seems to have been pretty broad-ranging in his choice of people to hurl into the various circles of Hell. I now know that he included six popes and a host of pagan and legendary characters: Cleopatra was (sorry is - we are talking forever) down there for what she did in life, and so are the two lovers Francesca and Paolo, who committed the sin of lust. They listened to too many stories about Lancelot - fatal! The lines concerning them are, in Italian, the equivalent of "To be or not to be" in English. It was so thrilling to hear them in both languages.

I was reminded strongly of Paradise Lost by John Milton, who was one of the many influenced by Dante (and his guide Virgil) and who used the same style involving epic similes. I was also reminded of John Keats in the story of Lisabetta, whose lover Lorenzo was secretly murdered by her three brothers and who discovered his body after he appeared to her in a dream. Keats was very taken by this pleasantly lurid tale by Boccaccio, which appealed to his romantic sensibilities, but he changed the poor girl's name to Isabella for some reason. I shall now take it down from my bookshelf and read it again.

Something like this must happen again soon in the Salumeria, something with an Italian slant, something to go with all that wonderful, authentic food!

Sally adds: 

Salvo’s Salumeria had an audience not with Il Papa but waiting agog to eat the delicious Sicilian-inspired antipasti and the pasta segundo.  And to hear more about Dante’s Divine Comedy as well as Boccaccio’s Decameron.  They were not disappointed. Mellifluous Italian tones flowed into the waiting pairs of ears as wine flowed into glasses. Intoxicating to listen to, even if they were about the flames of Hell, or love and murder. 

English translations (Dowling version for the Dante, Rebhorn for the Boccaccio) were read in troubadour style by Richard Wilcocks, Secretary of Headingley LitFest, who also sang the two lines which the author added at the end of the story, to the tune of Caro Mio Ben.  A delightful ‘digestivo’ on which to finish.

Audience comments were very appreciative of this venture, organised by Gip and John Dammone to raise support towards their goal of restoring some of the Italian collection of classic but neglected tomes held at the Leeds Library, creating a shelf of them dedicated to their father Salvo Dammone.

Customer reactions:

I loved listening to the music of Gigliola's Italian. I understood more than I was expecting, too!

Enjoyable evening; I’d love to go to a lecture on the Divine Comedy!

My first LitFest event.  Most enjoyable.  Great food and company.  Lovely readings.  Thank you.

Very enjoyable evening.  Community-based, mix of literature and culture (i.e. nice food and wine.)  Let’s have some more.

Loved Richard’s readings – felt like a child listening to a story.

Lots of doors opened

Words on Tap Survival Kit
Workshop with Matthew Hedley Stoppard

Saturday 15 March 2014 2-5pm HEART Ridge Room

Sheila Chapman writes:

                                   Photo:  Matthew Hedley Stoppard

The workshop took place in the lovely Ridge room at HEART, an inspirational setting. Matthew was a genial and encouraging workshop leader and we all relaxed and felt at ease with him. We began with a simple writing exercise during which, I’m pleased to say, we all manifested some degree of ‘zeug’ – we than began to discuss Zeugma (I’m not going to tell you what it is you will have to come to one of Matthew’s workshops!) and its use in poetry. We read several poems looking in particular at ‘voice’ and finished off by writing responses to Dead Bride by Geoffrey Hill – I never thought I would do something like that.

This was a really interesting and productive workshop and I’m very glad I went.

Here’s what the rest of the class thought:

1.     Surprised at the amount and quality of work produced in such a short time. Lots of ‘doors’ opened and lots of amazing poetry poured out from attendees. Would have liked to have been introduced to everyone at the beginning; names, who’s who (briefly) – and seen Matthew’s book.

2.     Very thought provoking. I have the skeleton of a poem and the knuckle of another! Enjoyed learning about zeugmas and close-readings.

3.      A really enjoyable and productive afternoon, and Matthew’s approach is varied, so I felt as fresh at the end as I did at the start.

4.     Really nice to focus on a discipline I am not really familiar with – it was relaxing, informative and enjoyable.  

5.     Have now built up another stock of poems and exercises to unblock the flow of lines and rhymes and Zeugma. So hold that picture and see the means to write and hold oranges up to goddess and sing.

PS We were also surrounded by the photo exhibition set up by Headingley LitFest as part of its Stories from the War Hospital project – don’t forget the book launch and performance –Friday, 21 March,  7.30pm at New Headingley Club

Their diction and humour shone through

                                                                       Photo: Richard Wilcocks

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal

Trio Literati

Saturday 16 March 2014, New Headingley Club

Twenty audience comments

1.     A very good idea to combine poetry and music.

2.     Learnt so much about ALT that I didn’t know/realize. The music was an interesting and entertaining addition to an excellent performance.

3.      This brought me clearly back to Tennyson – which I was forced to do at ‘A’ level. A lively and original performance.

4.     Imaginative and effective blend of biography and poetry – varied and enhanced by the three voices. The music added an extra welcome dimension.

5.     An ingenious picture of the poet and his work. Vivid and comprehensive considering the limited time available. Excellent team work. The mixture of music and spoken verse most effective!  

6.     Fabulous to get the opportunity to hear poems read aloud. An introduction for me to some works I didn’t know.

7.     Beautiful, clear verse reading plus musical accompaniment. Shall go home immediately and find that volume of Tennyson.

8.     Trio Literati really brought Tennyson’s poetry to life for me. They gave me new insight into his work. Some of the themes are so applicable today; the musical interpretations added a new angle and were very enjoyable.  

9.     Reminded me how good Tennyson is (how could I have forgotten). Music was also a nice touch. Trio Literati really brought the poetry to life.

10.  Superb, inspirational, very well done.

11.  Interesting compilation of T’s works and music created for them.

12.  This was an enjoyable evening’s entertainment with a good blend of speech and singing. It introduced to me the wide range of Tennyson’s work – a poet about whom I knew very little although I was aware of some of the common quotes – ‘come into the garden Maud’, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, ‘In Spring a young man’s fancy …’. A good contribution to the LitFest. Anon

13.  What a well chosen balanced selection of T. works.

14.  A delightful evening. A pleasure to learn about a poet I hardly knew in the company of such talented performers. The words and songs created echoed across many years, big thank you.

15.  A lovely balance of very well known Tennyson and the less often heard/read poems. The Victorian drawing room atmosphere was enhanced by the musical pieces by Christopher and Graham – beautifully performed. It was very interesting to be reminded that Tennyson contributed some very well known phrases in the English languages.

16.  Varied programme. Very interesting and entertaining. Good with music and song. Some lovely touches. Good costumes.

17.  Really enjoyed it – a great demonstration of what reading aloud of poetry can be. Enjoyed the music very much as well (was hoping for ‘sweet and low’) but the selection was wonderful.

18.  The Trio (plus 2) made Tennyson’s poem and the man come alive in a most unexpected way.

19.  Trio Literati are always good value, and excelled in this Tennyson anthology. As usual their diction and humour shone through. Entertaining and informative. It was accompanied by musical words from sympathetic compositions.

20.  Very enjoyable evening. Thank you.

A blur of words, laughter and good company

Poetry (plus one short story) and Chips

Words on Tap at the Chemic, Friday 14 March (partnership event)

Síle Moriarty writes:

Noel Whittle      Photo: Richard Wilcocks

A night at Words on Tap always starts with a visit to Arkwright’s the chippie - Friday night was no exception. I got my bag of chips - straight out of the fryer, stingingly hot and fresh - and headed next door to that gem of a pub, The Chemic, to eat them and settle in for a night of poetry, heckling - mostly of our host, Matthew Hedley-Stoppard - and  excellent beer. Terrific. Last night Words on Tap had teamed up with Headingley LitFest to present an open mic night and the evening passed in a blur of words, laughter and good company.  

Our readers encompassed: Cyborgs (Jane about her daughter), Cotton Grass (David who will have his own WoT spot in April), New Look (Michael shopping with his daughters), Wordsworth backwards (John saving the first verse of a Wordsworth poem until last to maintain poetic tension– what was it going to be about?), Long Distance Love (Hannah who knew it all by heart – I am insanely jealous of that), an old cornet bent on sweet revenge (Ruth) and Caroline sliding down the banisters.

We also had poems about: the First World War from John Darley and Howard Benn, cash points from Jonathan Eyre, and Decisions from an uncertain Terry Bridges. We heard a short story from Stuart Perreira about Christmas Day, and the evening was completed by two sonnets and other poems on love, ageing and lust from our master of iambic pentameter, Bill Fitzsimons. So an evening of poetry (oh and one short story) came to a close. We had another bag of chips, some more beer and went on our way.

Richard Wilcocks adds:

Hannah Robinson    Photo: Richard Wilcocks

I admired all the performers, which could indicate that the beer and the warm friendliness in the back room brought out the master diplomat in me, or it could just prove that I was once a teacher. I do feel able, however, to pick out a few who I think are worthy of special mentions.  Noel Whittle's brief spin-off from Coleridge's Kubla Khan, delivered with gentle wit, was impressive, Jane Kite's dream-poem about a three-ring circus, which ends with macabre scenes and clowns who have become maniacal, was refreshingly startling, and Hannah Robinson stole the show with her meticulously-learned, beautifully performed poem about love and yearning. The only thing missing was something more poetic from our excellent host. Just a little squib from him would have been welcome.

Audience thoughts:

Keep it up. Well organised and run. Good atmosphere.

An easy going evening with great variety of poems and poets. I would come again to the regular open mike sessions. Glad I came.

Always enjoy Words on Tap at The Chemic. Great room, great atmosphere and the poetry’s not bad too! Enjoy hearing new voices in open mic.

An excellent and very diverse blend of humorous and serious poetry. Very enjoyable

‘It was good to hear open-mic all evening, their work is often very entertaining, and there were one or two stars.

An excellent open-mic night – poetry and poets to add to the excellent beer and atmosphere

The poets:  
Howard Benn, Terry Bridges, Michael Brown, David Coldwell, John Darley, Max Dunbar, Jonathan Eyre, Bill Fitzsimons, John Hepworth, Jane Kite, Joe Nodus, Eloise Pearson, Stuart Perreira, Hannah Robinson, Noel Whittall, Caroline Wilkinson, Ruth Wynn.

Patrick Bourke - ‘just one story, in the story of thousands'

Partnership event with Irish Arts Foundation 14 March, 8pm in HEART

Photo: Sally Bavage

Síle Moriarty writes:

The Claremont Room at HEART was packed last night as Brendan McGowan told us the story of Patrick Bourke – ‘just one story, in the story of thousands, which shows the precarious existence of the Irish in England at the time’ - mid-nineteenth century.

Brendan is a historian who has written previously about the Irish in Leeds (Taking The boat: The Irish in Leeds 1931-81), and it was as a historian that he investigated the story of Patrick Bourke but he also had a more personal interest – he was born in Leeds, of Irish parents, just a stone’s throw away from the Leeds Workhouse - now the Thackray Museum - where Patrick spent his last days before being ‘deported’ to Ireland.

The back-drop to Patrick’s story was the overcrowding and poverty of the Irish in Leeds in the early part of the nineteenth century which was exacerbated by the arrival in Leeds, after 1840, of an increasing number of Irish migrants fleeing An Gorta Mór (The Great Famine) in Ireland.

Patrick himself came to England in 1820 at the age of thirty and he spent the next more than forty years in and around Leeds supporting himself by his own efforts. During this time he never applied for poor relief or for any other sort of assistance but he was also semi-itinerant; he travelled around West Yorkshire plying his trade, as a street hawker and maker of spectacles, staying in lodging houses which were overcrowded and less than sanitary.  He never married and as he became older he could not maintain his lifestyle and in 1862, being ill and destitute, he applied for relief to the Leeds Union Workhouse.

Leeds Union Workhouse - now Thackray Medical Museum)

At this stage he was judged as having no settlement rights – under the Poor Law at the time relief could only be given by the parish where the applicant had settlement rights i.e. where they were born or where they had established rights through other means e.g. marriage or property. This meant that Patrick had to receive relief in West Port in Mayo, his place of birth. Thus, on 31 December 1862, seventy-two year-old Patrick set off for Ireland. His journey in the depths of winter included an eleven hour journey to Holyhead, a 3am sea crossing - where he was a deck passenger subject to the elements - a stopover in Dublin and a journey across Ireland, during the last part of which, in open-topped transport , he was soaked to the skin in a rainstorm. As can be imagined he arrived in West Port in poor condition and died two weeks later.

Patrick’s story, although desperate, would have remained obscure - we don’t know where he was buried - but for the action taken by his MP, Lord Browne, who raised questions about his treatment in the House of Commons. During the subsequent enquiry many of the people involved in his case, both in England and Ireland, were interviewed and records were kept which enabled Brendan’s research.  The outcome of the enquiry was that the Leeds Union had acted within the law but, as Brendan said, ‘it might have been legal but it was not humane’. There were subsequent changes to the Poor Law and limitations put on the transportation of elderly and sick people during the winter but there was no apology from the Leeds Union because they had, of course, acted within the law.

This story engaged our sympathy and Brendan was a knowledgeable and interesting speaker. Brendan, and many people in the audience, drew parallels with modern times when market forces reign supreme - the Great Famine in Ireland was exacerbated by the application of a market forces philosophy - and there was a lively Q&A session after the talk.

Audience reactions:

Really, Really interesting story. I’m so glad I came...

Very  good talk. Most enlightening with very engaging speaker

An interesting presentation giving a clear picture of the state of Irish immigrants and their way of life when fleeing the famine in Ireland. Also the bad way some people were treated on being sent back to Ireland

Taking the Boat: The Irish in Leeds, 1931-81 is available: at the Leeds Civic Trust, at Amazon and on ebay.