'I, Robot' - James Nash at Spring Bank

Sally Bavage writes
'I Robot' at Spring Bank. Apologies to Isaac Asimov. 
Wednesday 3^r December, and the assembly hall has thirty visitors and parents waiting with happy anticipation for the latest in Headingley LitFest’s poetry assemblies tutored and coached by James Nash, local writer and poet.   “Child:  We’ve got someone really important in the class today.  Daddy: Who? The Prime Minister?  An Olympic gold medallist?  Child: No, A Writer.  A Real Writer!”

James Nash with Luke Wrankmore                 Photo: Sally Bavage

Once again, James had worked with all of Year 4 on their ideas, initiated by their science work on circuits and switches, but taken to whole new levels by their originality and perceptive writing.  James: “Think writing.  Find inspiration.”  They did, in spades.  A robot is certainly Something Else in their world, and words, shared in front of the whole school.

“I dream of finding another robot to play with”

“I am building my replacement”

“I nip someone’s finger as an alarm clock”

“I am a very lonely robot, I don’t have a friend to play with but I’m not a bad robot”

“My magic single eye can give you a shock”

“I try to fit into your family but I don’t have any feelings or emotions”

and

“I am made of enchantment.”

Indeed.

Class teacher Luke Wrankmore said, “James works so successfully to bring out the creative talent in all our children.”  A sentiment echoed by the deputy headteacher Amy Houldsworth, who added how delightful it was to “See the whole class very much inspired.”  

For one girl, the best bit was “Reading my poem out,” and her parent wrote that she “was inspired to write independently at home – this is a first!  Thank you.”

The many parents there were fulsome in their praise for the way the work had developed both writing skills and confidence:  “..he [James] has been inspiring and leading the class for weeks.  It seems to me that with his additional leadership all the students have been particularly engaged in the process, where normally perhaps the ones with stronger literary skills might engage with activities like this more than some others.  Our daughter benefited and loved it, and so did we.”

From so many other expressions of enjoyment, perhaps this parent’s words stand as a testament to the value of what James produces: “One of the best assemblies I’ve seen at this school.  The children’s poetry was fantastic.  I hope they get to do more.”

And the last word goes to the children themselves.  Question:  What have you learned in this project?  “Poems are brilliant!”  “It increases your confidence.”  “Sharing others’ poems is fun.”  “So you can inspire people with your work.”  “You grow your confidence.”

Metamorphosis at Weetwood Primary

James Nash with Josh Annis-Brown    Photo: Sally Bavage

Sally Bavage writes:

Year 5 were once again thrilled to be able to work with James Nash, as part of the Headingley LitFest community programme of work with schools, and read out their poems on Something Else to a packed assembly of classmates, Stage 2 peers, teachers and a throng of parents. 

“An amazing opportunity to read out their poems and write about their feelings,” said Josh Annis-Brown, classteacher.  

James has done “A fantastic job,” said headteacher Tarsem Wyatt and cheers rippled round the audience. The youngsters wrote from a caterpillar’s perspective about metamorphosing into something else, producing some prosaic truths and some delightful lines of poetry. 

Think back to when you were nine years old and trying to hold a microphone at the correct distance to pick up your words as well as your carefully crafted poem on a sheet of paper.  It takes the mastery needed for an adult to drink and eat at a buffet.  But mastery was indeed on show and delight and pride too in the performances.

“I have learnt how epic James is!” and “The awesome James Nash “ whilst “Poetry can be fun and if you work hard you can do anything,”  “Being and working with James” and “I have met, wrote and spoken to a famous poet” were two more of many highly positive opinions that class 5 offered. “You build up confidence in yourself,” and “The best thing is sharing my poem with my classmates and hearing their poems.”  Out of the mouths of …

Not just the babes but parents are equally supportive:

“An excellent opportunity to hear the work of a group of pupils.  The pupils have obviously been inspired and produced some beautiful pieces of work.”

“Great to see the children perform their poetry as well as having an insight into what they have been doing in school. I know from my son that having a ‘real life’ poet has inspired him and encouraged his own writing. Fabulous, thank you.”

Sekabo – Utopia on t’Moors?

Sally Bavage writes:

Photo courtesy Shanghai Daily

Richard Woolley was founding Head of the Northern School of Film and Television at Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett University) as well as founding Dean of Film and TV at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, all part of an illustrious CV. You could describe him as a musician and composer.  Or filmmaker.  Or scriptwriter.  Morphing into a serious novelist.  

Speaking at a LitFest 'Between the Lines' event in the intimate surroundings of the Heart centre's café yesterday evening, he told his audience that he was first set thinking about the premise for this novel after watching Chris Patten in tears on the eve of the handover of Hong Kong, a place where the British tried out political, social and economic experiments which disturbed the watching Chinese.  And still disturb the present Hong Kong youth.

This imaginative teller of tales has written his third novel, Sekabo, strongly influenced by close to two decades living in Leeds and a decade living in Hong Kong.  It has two time frames – 1990 and 2097 – and two key locations – England and Sekabo.  It has two parallel plots that gradually interweave in sometimes expected, sometimes surprising ways, leaving you uncertain as to your powers of prediction.  Plots and sub-plots abound in a tale that is as much about entertaining contexts as it is about the fates of our heroine and hero.

Cover graphics designed by Daniel Reeve

The book is a lively “mix of research, imagination and personal experience”, clearly written by a writer employing strong visual imagery; it intercuts the plotting to maintain the suspense with the immersion in another timeframe.  Vonnegut undertones and many subliminal sci-fi references fuse into a book that really is Something Else. 

Be prepared to be surprised, drawn in, perhaps slightly shocked - there are a few raunchy episodes.  Most of all, enjoy the many references to local places around the North Yorkshire Moors.  You have probably walked there.  Prescient comparisons - political, social and technical - are referenced more obliquely but give many pauses for wry thought.  Utopia on t’Moors? 

And the denouement?  Ah, you’ll have to buy the book - or download it to an early prototype reading device that by 2097 will be viewed as a museum piece. 

Read this piece in The Shanghai Daily:

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sunday/book/Richard-Woolley-Future-UK-intrigue/shdaily.shtml

SEKABO

Sekabo is the third novel by Richard, who as as well a novelist is a successful screenplay writer and film director. He was the founding Head of the Northern School of Film and Television at Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett University) and is a former Director of the Dutch Film Academy, founding Dean of Film and TV at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, inaugural holder of the Greg Dyke Chair of Film and Television at the University of York and, most recently, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Performance, Media and English at Birmingham City University. 



The café will be open especially for this free event, which is presented as part of the Between the Lines programme of Headingley LitFest. 

Mimika - completely enchanting

Small Worlds - Saturday 1 November - Mimika

(A LITFEST 'BETWEEN THE LINES' EVENT)

Gail Alvarez writes:

Waiting to be invited into the tent

Picking apples from an unsteady ladder,and the broken ankle that followed, did not stop Jenny, one half of Mimika children’s theatre, from working with partner Bill in four sell-out performances at the Heart centre in Headingley. Thanks go to her sister Sheila for helping out and ensuring the show must – and did – go on. Fortunately, Jenny's part in the production involved mainly crawling about, out of sight, on the floor of a large, custom-made, igloo-shaped tent.

Not long before the beginning

Old and young alike packed each show, which held audiences spellbound.  I half expected to see some of the adults sucking their thumbs too, so intent were they on the small world created inside the intimate and cosy world of the tent. Utterly absorbed by the unfolding drama, eyes wide, mouths agape.  The children in the audience too!  Lovely to hear  those children giggle in delight and stare in concern at a form of entertainment which was born thousands of years ago but which is still such a good medium for sparking imaginations.

No wonder that Mimika provide such a gentle but profound experience, taking us all to a (small) world we can see, hear, imagine, describe and talk about in our mind’s eyes and our internal conversations.  Film clips, hundreds of sound effects, music geared to the action, puppets and props create a microcosm of rural life for a small living things. The creatures get larger as the show develops. There are butterflies of various hues, a pink-spotted bug, honking geese (soprano and bass), a mother fox slinking through the woods and looking after cubs in the sett, a green lizard which is squashed by a child's bicycle before it can snap up flying insects, a girl straight out of a six year-old's drawing - for forty-five minutes the audience was captivated.  

Owls are always welcome

What ideas have been planted in our observers by these tiny tales?  Time will tell but storytelling always starts in the mind’s eye.

Audience comments include:

Mesmerising!  The detail is wonderful. Thank you for coming to Heart.  Please come again.  Everyone should see this.  Julia.

So wonderful to see handcrafted settings and such a different, unusual mixture of media.  Captivating!  Loved the foxes and bugs particularly! Music was beautiful too.  Would definitely come again! Luisa

Beautiful, engaging, very magical for the kids.  Would love to see more. Liz

A magical experience – I emerged bemused, enraptured – full of questions!  Thank you.  Lis

It was absolutely beautiful.  Magical.  I was almost crying which is unusual for me!  Thank you!  Lucy

Truly enchanting and I could not help but wonder at the huge amount of time and energy involved in the making and production of the performance - the art work, model making and the combination of digital film and immersive sound was inspired. The audience - young and old were truly engaged and spellbound. Douglas

Bill Parkinson and Jenny Ward                                Photo: Richard Wilcocks

Inspiring stuff for Ilkley - and Headingley

Sally Bavage writes:
Osmondthorpe and Headingley Writers work their magic again

Saturday night at the Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe and two groups who collaborated to put on a fantastic performance at the Headingley LitFest in March joined together once again to reprise some of their work and add in a few new pieces.  Inspiring stuff – despite that you were sometimes holding your breath with admiration and awe as feelings and effort were laid bare.

The groups were first brought together early in January 2014 by a partnership between the WEA and Headingley LitFest, supported by a grant from Jimbo’s Fund.  LitFest commissioned local author and WEA tutor Alison Taft to provide significant additional tuition to wannabe writers and poets from the Osmondthorpe Resource Centre.  The new creative writing tutor at the ORC, Maria Preston, did her group proud as compere, with strong technical support from centre manager David Fletcher. Their belief in their writers shone out, and it was wonderful to see the self-belief developing in our performers, despite the shaking hand-held papers and quavering voices.

The groups have produced a heartwarming 48-page anthology of their writing and poems, available for only £2 from the Osmondthorpe Centre.

Contact david2.fletcher@leeds.gov.uk for further information.