Natural, convincing, gripping Alison Taft

Lily Appleyard in Paris – Alison Taft

Wednesday 19 March - Headingley Library

                                                  Photo: Richard Wilcocks

Alison talked about her relationship with publishers – she works successfully with a ‘we really do know what people like’ bunch who are apparently after ‘gritty northern stories’ – and her own father. The father bit was more interesting than the publisher bit. She outlined how her own personal experiences have influenced her writing, which is not that surprising, because vast numbers of poets and novelists, famous, infamous and unknown, have been influenced likewise, but she told her side of things so well, so naturally and convincingly, that the audience was gripped. Alison’s central protagonist, Lily Appleyard, has a father who has disappeared from her life and who refuses to meet her in Our Father, Who Art Out There… Somewhere, and she lives in Accrington. Lily has a fantasy that he will turn up one day. As the blurb on the back of the book says: when Lily’s mother dies and Lily finds her father alive and well but with no intention of ever meeting her, she has a decision to make. Should she forget about him? Or does she have a right to know her own father? Doesn’t he owe her at least one meeting?

Alison, who is originally from Burnley, told us that this almost but not exactly described a part of her own life. She was very definitely using what she knew, and it had crossed her mind that she was taking some kind of revenge in her writing.  Our Father is set in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall was breached, when Alison was living in Germany, though there’s not much about that. The novel, set in Headingley and with plenty of use of the present tense, has a strong sense of immediacy as well as a strong feel of the Zeitgeist. The focus moved from Our Father to its sequel, Shallow Be Thy Grave in which Lily has to navigate Paris while dealing with her dysfunctional family. We heard about where the murder should go in an effective crime novel, which is seven pages in, according to one recommended formula. Alison has her doubts about this kind of thing: she mentioned the tension created between author and publisher when advice is given and not taken. She has been told that there should be a new dramatic incident every few pages, or that one of her male characters was ‘an idealized man’, or that a section was too long, and she has made a few adjustments and is sometimes grateful when something is pointed out, for example a mistranslation of a Latin motto.

She particularly admires Lee Child, an author whose books tend to come with ‘noir’ on the cover. In response to the obvious follow-up question, Alison said that her books had been described as ‘chick noir’ as opposed to straight ‘chick lit’, and this caused her to smile, because it does sound like an in-joke. We smiled too. She is fascinated by plenty of the output of Jo Nesbø as well, but finds some aspects of his work upsetting, especially the graphic descriptions of murder scenes. Nesbø  is one of a number of well-known writers given the task of rewriting stories from Shakespeare. He is dealing with Macbeth. Agatha Christie was mentioned as well, but she is a given.

In the audience was a delegation from a student book group at Leeds University, who had obviously heard about the event but who were unaware that it was part of the LitFest. We hope to see you again soon, now that you know. Also in the audience were a couple of Alison’s lecturers from quite a while ago, and she was just a little worried that they might have thought that a boring lecturer in one of her novels could be perceived as one of them. Perish the thought! If the cap fitted, neither of them showed they were wearing it.

Audience comments:

Interesting insight to the background of the books

It was really enjoyable!

Great. Well-structured. Interviewer had good questions and reading/Q & As were well-timed within the evening.

Insight into driving force behind writing process, interesting to hear about process of feedback from agents, publishers, editors.

Brilliant. Loved it.

Great to showcase local talent and to inspire other budding local writers.

Enjoyed hearing how author’s background fed into her books. Very lively and personable author, willing to give of herself.

I don’t know much about the books and haven’t read them yet but it sounds interesting and makes me think I must have lived a very sheltered life a lot more than I thought. I think I should read more female erotica stuff because it needs to stick into my head for me to accept it as a normal part of life and therefore engage in the world appropriately.

Really insightful and interesting. We had read the books in our book club (thanks to Headingley Library for lending them to us) so was great to find out the background behind her writing.

I’ve always thought that books lead to a different world, but never quite found the door. Listening to Mrs/Ms A Taft (since I don’t know if she’s married) I kind of saw that door. I won’t say I hope you do more of these author sessions, because you will either way.

Interesting to get an insight into the author’s life/background. Seemed personal.

Greast to hear from a local author! Also very interesting to hear about the writing process. Never heard a writer speak before.

Very interesting session with an excerpt from her second book, and questions and answers revealing her motivation in writing.

As someone who has never thought of writing a novel, I found Alison’s account of her experiences fascinating. I hope I enjoy the novel.

It’s such a successful format to have the compere ask a series of prompting questions to get the author to open up about their work’s background. Too many authors read too many chunks out of their books. Alison is such an open, honest and entertaining speaker, which comes across in her books.

Very interesting open evening. Good tips on crime writing which is what I’m after.

Really liked the structure of the night with the range of questions posed by the library representative.

Very engaging and well-structured.

Interesting insight into an author’s work and life.

Liked the Q & A format and the chance to ask our own questions.

Very enjoyable event. Good questions. Well structured.

Initiative, courage, compassion - and great powers of endurance

Wounded – Emily Mayhew in Headingley Library

Stretcher Bearers

Tuesday 18 March

Emily Mayhew’s session yesterday evening was highly informative and deeply moving. She spoke to an appreciative audience briskly and clearly, telling us about some of the many true stories she has collected over a period of years, stories of people in the medical services of the First World War who had initiative and courage as well as great powers of endurance and unlimited compassion, people who should be an inspiration to everyone. She obviously filled in a few gaps for some in the audience, who simply did not know much about, for example, the stretcher bearers who were often under fire on the front more frequently than the troops of the line they there to save. They were the ones  who waited until just after the first wave had gone over the top, climbed up after them, and listened for the screaming. The screaming told them where those who had just been shot or mangled were situated. Gas attacks complicated things terribly: wearing masks not only inhibited screaming but made listening for it impossible. They were strong men, and they usually developed ‘bearers’ hands’ after a short while, the result of constantly holding heavy wooden poles in atrocious conditions. Isaac Rosenberg wrote about them in Dead Man’s Dump. You don’t hear much about people like that in most accounts of the war which was supposed to end all wars.

And you don’t hear much about medical officers who go home on leave across the Channel and then come back to the trenches with a cage of ferrets. That’s what Major Alfred Hardwick did when a plague of rats was driving the men mad. When Emily was reading the section which tells how “the only two creatures who enjoyed themselves on the Western Front” eagerly shot out of their cage to kill the rodents, there were smiles all round. She went on to tell the story of the nurse who shocked her parents when she wrote to tell them how she had been the ‘hare’ in a game of hare and hounds in one of her brief periods of relaxation at a casualty clearing station near the front line. Why was she not slogging away all the time? Emily told us about the original of the letter she sent to them and how you could tell from the handwriting that she was fiercely controlling herself in a measured reply. We heard about Nurse Claire Tisdall, who worked for the London Ambulance Column, and how, on the last day of the war in 1918 the wounded were still arriving at Victoria Station. Crowds which a year or two previously had been cheering and clapping the ambulances now ignored them, not making way as they desperately tried to get through the celebrating masses near Trafalgar Square.

When the driver leaned out of his window asking people to move, they took no notice and simply sang louder. The ambulance was now crawling forward at a snail’s pace. It was difficult to see what was in front of them, and many of the faces that pressed against the windows were red and glassy-eyed from drink. Tisdall tied down the canvas flaps tightly so that her patients wouldn’t be frightened, but the vehicle was jostled and bumped from side to side as the crowd pushed against it. She had to hold the stretchers in their racks steady so that they wouldn’t be dislodged as the ambulance rocked on its thin tyres. In Trafalgar Square on the last day of the war, in the middle of the ecstatic celebrations of peace, Tisdall and her patients cowered in the dark of the ambulance, in mute fear, praying the driver would get them through.

Emily talked about her previous, utterly different, career in Fashion (she helped to launch Harvey Nichols in Leeds) and how much she enjoyed being in Yorkshire. We enjoyed being with her!

Audience comments:

Comments

1.  Fascinating and informative background to medical activities in the 1^st World War. Well presented, ‘user friendly’ and wonderful academic rigour. A real treat

2.     Excellent! So interesting as a speaker.  

3.     I learned a lot! And what more could you ask of a talk? Excellent!  

4.     Very well presented, fluid and informative. It took a fresh view point of WWI.

5.     Very interesting and engaging. Nice relaxed atmosphere conducive to discourse.  

6.     A fascinating insight, avoided the clichés, new angles on the subject, I could have listened for hours.  

7.     Brilliant. Arresting. Interesting. Accurate. Moving. One of the best Headingley LiFest events I’ve attended.

8.     Good to learn from an expert researcher about the Western Front. She filled in lots of gaps of my knowledge about field hospitals. Particularly moved by the tales of the stretcher bearers.  

9.     Very detailed and informative.  

10.  Very fluent and confident speaker and compère.  

11.  A very impressive speaker – clear, loud, knows her stuff and brings it alive. Excellent.

12.  History of the Western Front medical humanity brought to life.

13.   Enjoyable and informative.

14.  I knew bits of what was said but the author had a lovely, clear speaking voice which made it so interesting and moving. You could just ‘see yourself there’ – as if you were a nurse, sitting with a wounded soldier. Heart-rending at times. PS medical history is something I love (from 15^th century onwards).

15.  Interesting, informative and engaging – a seriously good evening.

Lovely to see them blossom

Alison Taft                     Photo: Joe Haskey

Writing for Surviving - partnership Event with the WEA - creative writing for all

HEART Centre Shire Oak Room
11.30am - 2.30pm Tuesday 18 March

Session led by Alison Taft, WEA creative and dramatic writing tutor

Sally Bavage writes:

For the fourth year running, and supported by funding for the third time by Jimbo’s Fund, to whom we are really grateful, we were able to invite our writing friends from the Osmondthorpe Resource Centre to join Headingley writers in a shared session exploring what ‘Surviving’ could mean.  We managed to fit in six wheelchairs, a zimmer and some walking sticks as well as the rest of the seventy-strong audience of performers, friends and audience members fortunate enough to know what a treat they had in store.

The work from our Osmondthorpe friends was profound in every sense: personal journeys were explored in poetry, story and song, demonstrating how various handicaps can be overcome.  There were echoes, perhaps, of the men and women from a century ago who survived the First World War and then had to cope with personal damage.  Osmondthorpers have the courage of their forebears to overcome the frailties of the body to enjoy the life of the mind.  Some knew their work off by heart - they had taken such ownership of it – and some extemporised if they forgot a line or if nerves took over, or a colleague leapt in to help.  Even some of our able-bodied contributors showed by their shaking papers and quavering voices that the polished performance they gave owed a debt to the determination with which they wanted to share their thoughts and ideas.

Photo: Joe Haskey

Richard Wilcocks, Secretary of Headingley LitFest and the author of the just-released Stories from the War Hospital – the research was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the book is to be launched on Friday 21 March in the New Headingley Club – had inspired some of our writers after he talked with the three groups and gave them some tantalising background information on the stories on which the book is based.  Quite a few pieces alluded to the so-called Great War and its devastating consequences for both sides, all races, each gender and every aspect of life at home or in the trenches. Others looked at life from a different view - holidays, work, photos, daffodils, traffic chaos, poverty – or just Leeds United (Keep on Trying) which made us laugh even as we grimaced about the truths it contained.

After the first half delights, a break for tea and homemade cake was taken, then we regrouped for the dramatic writers to give us another selection of longer pieces that were carefully staged to lift the words off the pages.  Ensemble pieces showed the trust and the confidence the group has developed in working together and in performing to an audience – using props, songs and their oft-not-needed honed scripts to convey their thoughts.  The acting was mesmerising in places, taking our amateur performers quite out of Headingley and into another realm. Nine pieces often used 'The Narrator' to take us further behind the scenes played out in front of our eyes.

Photo: Joe Haskey

Monologues, poems, plays, stories, a specially-written song – we had them all.  Some dialogue was so real we had heard it all before - only we hadn’t.  New work written just for LitFest kept us gripped.  As we said about her LitFest appearance last year, “Kay (Mellor)has a perceptive eye for detail, a keen ear for dialogue and an ability to bring people to life so vividly that we can probably all name someone in our own lives who is just like one of her characters.  As she lives very locally, it could indeed be us!  She confessed that she does use her friends, family, those she meets casually …”  Kay Mellor, watch out, we are growing our own!

Contributors to our first half included:

Lynn Alexander, Howard Benn, Kaz Byrne, Carl Flynn, Michael Freeman,  Sue Heath, Malcolm Henshall,  Mandy Hudson, Rod Jeffries, Jenny & Paul, Hazel Kilner, Janice Maldonado, Jane Moody, Myrna Moore, David Newton, Lee Roley, Richard Sharp, Adrian Simmons, Carol Swift, Michael Patrick Taylor, Robert Thorpe, Winston Whitely, Caroline Wilkinson and Val Wright.

Contributors to our second half included:

Cate Anderson, Lynn Anderson, Howard Benn, Morag Caunt, Francesca Joy, Siobhan Maguire-Broad, Myrna Moore, Jackie Parsons, Tony Scriven, Lynn Thornton, Caroline Wilkinson.

The stars of the show were, respectively, Alison Taft for her fantastic work to support and deliver such wonderful writing, and the homemade cake - which got a round of applause of its own.

Audience Comments:

A very vibrant, varied programme with some amazing pieces, especially to hear the writing from Osmondthorpe.  Cakes were gorgeous.

A wonderful collaborative event, which offers a welcoming audience to some very able and gifted writers but also encourages the less able. 

Lovely to see some of the same performers from previous years again – their work is thought-provoking and lovely to see them blossom.

Excellent event packed with variety and new writing talent.

An excellent range of poetry, prose and dramatic writing.  Some of the Osmondthorpe contributions were remarkable and moving. 

Global, national, local – it’s all here in Headingley.

An enjoyable and inspiring event.  A great variety of interpretations on the theme of survival ranging from strong emotions to humour.  Good to see such an inclusive event.

Excellent – inspirational.  Can we have copies of some of the poems – are you planning to publish – I hope so!  Thank you.

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