Florence and Jem - The Wooden Dragon

James Nash writes:

Jem and Ric Neild

I didn’t tell my dog I was going to the launch of the latest Florence and Jem book at the impossibly cute Meanwood Institute.  Jem had come to his birthday party in December and he really likes Florence.  Instead I sat among the audience on my own while the latest story was read on stage by Rick Neild to many children and all of us slightly, misty-eyed adults.  A lovely tale about the wooden dragon in Meanwood Park, it kept us enthralled while Jem pushed up and down the rows of chairs amongst his many fans, keeping a watchful eye on the table laden down with delicious home-made cakes.

For me the book has everything a truly brilliant children’s book should have, a good story, characters I like and a strong sense of place; [it’s always a thrill to find mentions of parts of the city you live in].  And last but not least, with its lovely illustrations by Clare Morgan and its terrific story-telling, it’s as clearly entertaining for an adult to read out aloud as it is for its young audience to hear. 

I loved the whole event.

Audience Comments

Great setting and really enjoyed the reading. Reader was very good.

Really well organised, friendly atmosphere. Great cake!

Julian Oxley

Glad there is a sequel to Whale in the Woods. Lovely reading

Fantastic book. Great atmosphere. Looking forward to the next!

Very well attended event. Kids loved it - good reader

Excellent

Organised and well run

Excellent presentation and lovely book

Clare Morgan

Lovely event. It would be useful to include what time the doors open on the flyer in future. With kids it helps to hone a window of arrival time.

A lovely event!

It's been lovely

Note: one feedback form had no writing on it just a drawing of a dragon!

The Beat Goes On - Café Lento

Sophie White writes:

There was a cosy atmosphere at Café Lento on Friday night, when all the hippest cats of Headingley, armed with berets and black turtlenecks, gathered to celebrate the legacy of the Beat Generation.

Chris Goostrey and Richard Lindley (MC)

The Sam Dunn Quartet supplied the groovy beats, with Sam Dunn on guitar, Garry Jackson on bass, Steve Hanley on drums and Sophie Smith providing vocals. The lively and unpredictable melodies filled the café, and when paired with Smith’s mellow yet nimble style, immediately transported the audience to a smoky downtown jazz bar.

The literary section of the event began when café owner and jazz devotee Richard Lindley played a rare recording of Jack Kerouac recalling the New York beatnik scene, where spirituality collided with jazz and poetry. Kerouac’s vivid descriptions of the music and atmosphere of 1950s New York set the tone for the evening to come.

As the last notes of jazz rang out into the café, Richard Wilcocks took his place for the first reading, Marriage by Gregory Corso, a poem about the fear of “marrying a girl who was like my mother”. Corso, one of the youngest Beat writers, described by Allen Ginsberg as the ‘awakener of youth’ is known for his humour and spontaneity. Later in the evening, Richard returned to perform a second reading, Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsberg: an ode to the beauty and spirituality lost in the modern age

Sophie White

Sally Bavage performed her own selection of poetry, the first Underwear by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who is widely regarded as the father-figure of the beat generation and co-founder of the famous City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco. Sally then provided a refreshing, but often neglected, feminist perspective of the Beat generation with a poem by Diane di Prima. Song for Baby-O, Unborn reflects di Prima’s attempts to reconcile her artistic sensibility with motherhood.

The combination of jazz and beat poetry, in the intimate setting of Café Lento, resulted in a fantastic evening enjoyed by whole audience, with not a square to be seen!. Through events like this, the free-thinking and radical spirit of the Beats will live on in the next generations.

Vince Mihill writes:

Sam Dunn Quartet

This was a great idea and I say that as an unashamed Beat generation acolyte. It was a combination of jazz from Sam Dunn Quartet who played a proficient if not unusual selection of standard jazz numbers apart from a rad reworking of a Stevie Wonder song to finish with. They were joined by Londoner Sophie Smith who has a great voice and feel for jazz with plenty of jazzy facial expressionism. The young drummer is exceptional and effortless but the band are carried by their virtuoso guitarist. Jazz isn’t my bag although I know the Beats adored it, particularly Charlie Parker. This setting does at moments capture essences of that beat scene but isn’t like the frenzied sweat-drenched clubs back then. Not being an afficionado I will attempt to describe some jazz feelings from seeing this band.

They begin with a light number, the spirals of your mind, light airy spacey sound - the Star Trek episode where Spock plays his lyre unexpectedly in the Enterprise canteen springs to mind. It's an intimate atmosphere and the crowd, principally from North Leeds, laps it up. Twists and flourishes within the music are applauded like goals in football. It can appear pretentious. Sophie reminds me of a combination of Sade, Rumer and Norah Jones. So this is all very well but what about the beat aspect? Where are the angel-headed hipsters, the finest minds of a generation amidst the collection of comedy berets?

Richard Wilcocks

The most emotive part of the evening is when the MC plays a Jack Kerouac speech that he made about the beat generation of which he was the unelected leader. His enunciation is perfect and his unbridled enthusiasm for jazz, life, etc really comes across before years of drink took their toll. He pronounces beat like “be-at”. Richard Wilcocks from LitFest reads out Marriage by Italo-American poet Gregory Corso from 1958 when aged just 19. It is really well read and it's an evocative piece. I like the term 'Reichian wife'. His enunciation is superb and really gets to the spirit. I would’ve done a good job of reading out I feel. He ends with Ginsberg’s Sunflower Sutra. This is another stand-out poem with really strident language using a vocal technique called vocalise. The poetry is better than the jazz but there is a great atmosphere around the place despite its tiny size.

Audience Comments

Very good combo of music and complementary poetry, lovely venue, manic entertaining host!

First beat poetry reading I've seen live. Fantastic following, first reading (illegible) this summer and then Gary Snyder. Thanks!

Very free! Great jazz and very good to hear the beat poetry – the sense it's still radical saves it from nostalgia.

Sally Bavage

It was an amazing atmosphere to enjoy the jazz! I've never experienced the jazz (illegible). Superb! Café Lento's owner has been hosted very lucidly. Thank you. Unfortunately, the way to hear the poetry sound was a bit strong?

Atmospheric, an interesting reconstruction of 1950s beat culture. Some of the audience appeared to be reliving their real or imagined youth. The event suited the intimate atmosphere of Café Lento. There was a nice and relaxing atmosphere.

Loved, thoroughly loved the jazz!! Beautiful poetry but would have found me with a bigger smile if you'd read 'The Green Automobile' (Ed. By Allen Ginsberg). Well, there's always next time, I hope.

Seriously cool poetry and groovy beats

I am very glad that Headingley LitFest supports events like this at venues like Lento. Keeping alive awareness of cultural threads such as the Beats who were very influential. Very good!

Poetry and Performance - Ralph Thoresby School

Sally Bavage writes:

One thing that was indeed intriguing about the evening was how life followed art, in that a couple of young poets disappeared during rehearsals – and never came back. It's not good to have a lurgy rampaging through the poet group, and it was a real shame for altogether five stalwarts that they missed their moments in the spotlight. Agatha Christie might have thought of the plot device first, but in real life it is less than intriguing and more a disappointment for those young people from the 'Own Your Words' group of writers that their poetry was not heard. At least we didn't get down to 'And Then There Was None'!

What we did get down to was a great mixed programme of performance, the young writers performing their poetry pieces in a drama studio set out cafe-style, tea lights flickering (well, LEDs anyway) to illuminate the audience in a dim glow. We even had some torch singers, an upper school band and a trio of dancers. Oh, and a compere who decided to go a la francaise for the evening. “What do you call a Frenchman wearing sandals?” Philippe Phloppe. It did get better after that.

The young people had musical accompaniment once again from Stella Litras on the keyboards; she carefully crafts the music to fit the mood of the poem or the dance. And once again the young poets had been recruited and supported by a dedicated English teacher, Kate Wolstenholme, in their weekly after-school sessions.

This term additional writing and editing support was provided by local poet – in fact, just recently chosen as the Otley Town Poet – Matthew Hedley Stoppard. He took the young people beyond writing, but worked with them on developing the essential skills honing and paring down their own work. Something of the craft of poetry.

The finale to the evening was an ensemble piece, where some of the poets gave reasons to Sir (Matthew) for 'the empty chair'. Some were a bit like the classic, “A dog ate my homework” - imaginative, intriguing – and others set up possibilities that could have been feasible. The occupant of the 'empty chair' finally bounded on stage and in to the 'lesson', with just a teasing smile and no further explanation. Where had she been? We were left with the intrigue and the opportunity to applaud the bravery of those who overcame their nerves to perform their own work.

Thanks are due to the Outer North West area management committee whose funding allowed the work to be developed and also to the support of Will Carr, headteacher of Ralph Thoresby school. He perhaps summed up the evening in a simple sentence: “This event gets better every year; it is so important to provide for young people to have a safe place to write and try to express their personal ideas when the modern curriculum gives so few opportunities.

Audience Comments
A wonderful evening with some extremely talented young people. An absolute joy to be here!

What a fantastic evening. So much to listen to and enjoy. Thank you. You are all fantastic :-)

A very good evening being entertained by the students at Ralph Thoresby School. This was the first performance by young people I have been to and I was impressed by the poetry, singing and dancing.

Lovely to see so many young people express themselves. Enjoyable and very creative.

Fantastically talented kids; lovely atmosphere

Superb event, lovely atmosphere and huge talents! Loved it.

A lovely showcase for young talent. Thank you to the local councillors for sorting funding to allow it to take place

A lovely performance by everyone - they should be very proud of themselves.

Nice touch with the candles :). Brilliant performances. I'd like to have more of these events.

It was very lovely and the children were sensational.

Very enjoyable and inspiring!

Great to see all the emerging talent once again. On a brief after note - a much better setting this year than last, a proper 'jazz cafe' feel. Many thanks.

Nice to have it in an intimate environment

Lovely evening and inspiring performances from kids and adults alike. Thank you!

Good to see such a wide range of performances.

:-)

I think it was very good. My favourite person who performed was Lucy. And also Annie Hallam.

The dancers were best!

Wonderful night. Great performances.

Great talent and a really enjoyable evening.

A very good evening's entertainment, which deserved a bigger audience.

It was good.

I enjoyed it.

Comments from the young people involved included:

“I am now more confident, my writing level has gone up and my teacher has really noticed.” Jack

“It's been fun, man. Feedback on our writing to each other was really worth it and stuff.” Pedro

“I have more confidence in my own writing, and performing. I was timid but now [I have] opened up. Would defo come again if it was available.” Joshua

“Really enjoyable, it's my second time doing this. I even led some workshops on issues to consider when writing. This year we were exploring more serious ideas.” Alex M

“Ideas feedback great, that your ideas count. Enjoyed the writing and appreciated the chance. Feel that my writing has improved and that I have more ideas flowing.” Alex B

“it's been good that I am expressing myself better. Good that it was different ages and what you said was valued. I like poetry, reading and writing now.” Millie

“People were so nice, they were enjoying what they were doing. I am more confident now, and want to write poetry. No-one judges you in this group.” Emma B

“I have more confidence. It was fun, enjoyable, just as the others said. I have more friends. It has helped with my English. Matthew [Hedley Stoppard] has listened carefully to our pieces and given really good feedback. Tough, but safe.” Hannah

“Self-confidence! I enjoy performing with people, a new pleasure for me. My first performance here and I am in year 10.” Lewis [who uses a wheelchair]

“Fun. I am proud of writing my own poetry, and performing it. I want to write more.” Harry