Archive for August 5, 2010
20 October: Footnotes – An Almost Closing Party
1 year ago
Wednesday 20 October
7 Inch Cinema present:
Footnotes A nearly-closing party
Venue: The Victoria 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN
Time: 7-11pm
In Association with 7 Inch Cinema
It’s a truism that great novels make for mediocre movies, but the rule doesn’t always apply when it comes to poems and short stories. This informal evening of film and music will gather a few of the best examples, animated shorts which riff beautifully on the likes of Bukowski and Murakami, Albers and Schwitters.
We’ll also be asking some Book Festival guests to nominate favourite shorts, and writers including Catherine O’Flynn will provide ‘live accompaniment’ (ie, talk over) a selection of footage from the Media Archive of Central England. Musical interludes come courtesy of the ladies from Sugarfoot Stomp.
Tickets: £4 (£3)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
**Please note this venue is only accessible by stairs. If you think access may be a problem for you, please call us, and we will see if we can help. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. For further questions about access, call us on 0121 246 2770**
20 October: Dominic Sandbrook – State of Emergency
1 year ago
Wednesday 20 October
Dominic Sandbrook State Of Emergency: The Way We Were: Britain, 1970-1974
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15 – 8.30pm
In Association with the RSA
In the early 1970s, Britain seemed on the brink of the abyss. Under Edward Heath, the optimism of the Sixties had faded. Headlines were dominated by strikes, blackouts, unemployment and inflation. Britain seemed to be tearing itself apart. Yet amid the gloom glittered a creative and cultural dynamism.
In this brilliant new history, Dominic Sandbrook recreates that gaudy, schizophrenic atmosphere – where unions marched, the socialist revolution seemed at hand, but feminism, permissiveness, pornography and environmentalism were also transforming lives.
Whether you were a child, an adult or weren’t yet born in the seventies, Dominic will take you there.
Tickets: £6(£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
20 October: Jackie Kay – Red Dust Road
1 year ago
Wednesday 20 October
Jackie Kay: Red Dust Road
Library Theatre, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ
7.30 – 8.45pm
Sponsored by Newman University College, Birmingham
Jackie Kay realised at a tender age that her skin was a different colour to that of her beloved mum and dad. Tracing and finding her birth parents, her Highland mother and Nigerian father, in later life led her on a journey both painful and enlightening.
Born and brought up in Scotland, Jackie has published five collections of poetry for adults – The Adoption Papers (winner of a Forward Prize, a Saltire Award and a Scottish Arts Council Book Award) Other Lovers (which won the Somerset Maugham Award), Off Colour, Life Mask and Darling: New and Selected Poems.
Red Dust Road is a memoir, taking the reader from Glasgow to Lagos and beyond Revelatory, redemptive and courageous, it is a story of parents and siblings, friends and strangers, belonging and beliefs, biology and destiny.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
In association with The Drum and SHOUT Festival.
19 October: Jörg Albrecht – Contemporary German Literature
1 year ago
Tuesday 19 October
Contemporary German Literature: Jörg Albrecht & Uwe Schütte
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.45 – 9pm
Supported by Aston University.
Jörg Albrecht lives in Berlin and is one of the most exciting young writers to emerge from Germany. He writes novels and for the stage. His roots are in slam poetry, and he has produced radio plays, given multi-media performances with his band phonofix and has also written a libretto for Hanover State Opera. His latest novel Sternstaub, Goldfunk, Silberstreif was a considerable success. It tells a fictitious history of space travel, mixing numerous allusions to popular culture with authentic details of the history of German aeronautics.
Introduced by Dr Uwe Schütte, Reader in German in the School of Languages & Social Sciences at Aston University, Jörg will talk about his work and trends in the Germany’s young literary scene, and particularly Berlin.
Jörg Albrecht is the 2010 Writer-in-Residence at Aston University, sponsored by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
Tickets: £5 (£4)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
19 October:Writers Without Borders
1 year ago
Tuesday 19 October
10 Years of Writers Without Borders
Venue: The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ.
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Writers Without Borders would like to invite you to our 10th Anniversary celebrations. The evening is all about poetry, storytelling and music from a choir of poets and writers from around the world based in The Midlands rich in culture and diversity, languages and beats.
This event promises to be an unforgettable evening of performance and entertainment.
Tickets: FREE
Entry is free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
19 October: Lionel Shriver – So Much For That
1 year ago
Tuesday 19 October
Lionel Shriver: So Much For That
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15 – 8.30pm
Shep Knacker has saved all his life to retire to a tropical paradise. He issues an ultimatum to his reluctant wife, who calmly informs him that she has cancer. Suddenly their ailing marriage and life savings are about to be tested to their limits in a fight to save her. So Much For That is a scathing look at the American health insurance system and the way we are increasingly forced to equate our right to life with our fiscal worth.
Novelist and journalist Lionel Shriver’s repertoire also includes The Post Birthday World, Double Fault and the Orange Prize winning We Need To Talk About Kevin, the film of which is due for release in 2011.
In Conversation with Matthew Day, Head of English at Newman University College Birmingham
Tickets: £7 (£5)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
See our review of this book here
16 October: West Midlands Youth Poetry Slam Finals
1 year ago
Saturday 16 October
West Midlands Youth Poetry Slam Finals!
Hosted by Birmingham Poet Laureate 2006/7 – SPOZ
South Birmingham College, High Street Deritend, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5SU
Times: U12’S 12-1pm U15’S 2-3pm
Like gladiators to the coliseum they come to wage a war of words.
Some word warriors will fall and some will triumph… and some will go home with a jolly nice trophy, a pat on the back from teacher and no detentions for at least a week.
This live final is the culmination of an on line campaign, which has seen loads of young people uploading their poetic performances to
www.youthlamwm.com to see “who has the X Factor”…but in a poetic kind of way.
Tickets: FREE
Entry is free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
15 October: David Shukman – Reporting Live From The End of the World
1 year ago
Friday 15 October
David Shukman: Reporting Live From The End Of The World
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15-8.30pm
In association with the RSA
When frontline BBC news reporter David Shukman switched from world affairs to environment in 2003, he feared he might be in for a dull life. He couldn’t have been more wrong. His new job has taken him to every corner of the earth: journeying up the fabled North West Passage in the Arctic, chasing loggers in the Amazon and battling through plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean, getting trapped in Siberian blizzards along the way. Reporting Live from the End of the World charts Shukman’s extraordinary adventures, providing a fascinating eye-witness account of the state of the planet.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
15 October: Pogus Caesar – Launching Muzik Kinda Sweet
1 year ago
Friday 15 October
Pogus Caesar Launching Muzik Kinda Sweet
MAC, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
6.45 – 8.45pm
In association with Punch Records
Muzik Kinda Sweet is an evocative and nostalgic look at iconic Black performers from the last 25 years. Candids snapped on city streets contrast with the vibrant energy at stageside, revealing the personalities behind an influential generation of music heroes.
Birmingham based photographer Pogus Caesar worked up close to his subjects with an early model autofocus camera, developing by hand. The results are very human portraits which counterpoint today’s digital photography.
This highly collectable book includes stunning photographs of Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones, Jay-Z, Cameo, Jimmy Cliff, Dennis Brown, Lynden David Hall, MC Hammer, Augustus Pablo and many more.
Published by Punch and OOM Gallery.
Tickets: Free
Tickets are free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
14 October: Fatima Bhutto – Songs of Blood and Sword
1 year ago
Thursday 14 October
Fatima Bhutto : Songs of Blood and Sword
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
8 – 9.15pm
Granddaughter to a murdered Prime Minister, daughter to a murdered father, niece to a murdered aunt – and witness to the collapse of a nation. Award winning journalist Fatima Bhutto makes her only Midlands appearance to speak about Songs of Blood and Sword, her memoir of growing up in Pakistan’s ruling dynasty. Against a backdrop of corruption, murder and Pakistan’s political history, the book traces the life and career of Fatima’s father, along the way implicting her dead aunt, Benazir Bhutto, in his murder.
In conversation with Rajwinder Pal. (South Asian Alliance)
In association with The Drum
Supported by Birmingham Libraries
Tickets: £7 (£5)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
