Archive for April, 2011
Post Spring Thing Thoughts and Other Events
10 months ago
by Birmingham Book Festival
in News
The Spring Thing has come and gone… And what a Thing it was. During the sun-filled weekend, hundreds of visitors took part in workshops, listened to their favourite authors and submerged themselves in two days of literature and poetry. Our personal highlights were Project Pigeon’s monogamous pigeons, the carrot cake we ate with Sophie Hannah and John Hegley’s handkerchief unicorn.
There were so many things going on during the Spring Thing that were special to us. One of the events we are most proud of is the launch of David Lodge’s new novel, A Man of Parts.
It was also great to see the creative outpourings from several Spring Thing visitors: Some of you did some amazing poetry on the big magnetic poetry board. We also asked you to write down what Birmingham means to you. As a result, you gave us a fantastic range of answers, from “Birmingham: A place of Employment” to “Everything”.
The Spring Thing 2011 was a big success and we can’t wait to do it all again next year. From all of us at the Birmingham Book Festival: thank you so much for coming, we hope you enjoyed the festival as much as we did. So long for now and see you in October for the Birmingham Book Festival 2011!
Meanwhile, here are a few notices of things coming up that we thought you might like…
Soul City Arts presents:
i-SLAM POETRY – WOMEN’S SPECIAL
The slam is open to ALL women with a passion for poetry
‘If you’re able to be yourself, then you have no competition. All you have to do is get closer and closer to that essence.
– Barbara Cook’
Hosted by
Charlie Jordan | Birmingham Poet Laureate and Radio Presenter
Guest poets and slam judges
Zena Edwards | Internationally acclaimed spoken word artist
Fatima Al Matar | Poet and Author
Enter the competition for a chance to win cash prizes for winner and runner-up plus 1-2-1 mentoring with UK’s finest female spoken word artists.
Date: Friday 6th May 2011
Time: 6.30pm – 9pm
Venue: The Hubb, 9 Stoney Lane, Balsall heath, Birmingham, B12 EDL
TICKETS £7 (inc refreshments)
To enter competition (free) or for more info contact Aisha:
events@soulcityarts.com | 07825 688 020
Audition: Saturday 30th April. 2-4pm, The Hubb
Purchase tickets online at www.soulcityarts.com/i-slamwomen
Postcode Stories in Birmingham:
Secret Stories of Kings Norton……
Kings Norton. It’s a typical neighbourhood in a typical town. Not much happens in these quiet everyday streets. Or does it?
That weird road name you spotted – where did that come from? Why is the old church boarded up? As for that old knarled tree in the graveyard…. perhaps strange things are afoot, and perhaps ghosts walk these lanes.
You’d like to follow further? Well, dive into this map where you can discover three dastardly Kings Norton tales, all created by the 213th Maypole Girl Guides group in Birmingham. Hide the trails you don’t want to see yet by clicking on the name at the bottom of the map, and follow the pathway, story to story.
More from us soon.
Indian novelist Rahul Bhattacharya at Ikon Gallery, 31 May 2011
10 months ago
Rahul Bhattacharya presents The Sly Company Of People Who Care.
- Bhattacharya Rahul (c) Sonali Bhattacharya
Tuesday 31st May, 7pm Ikon Gallery
Oozells Square, Brindleyplace
Birmingham B1 2HS
Oozells Square, Brindleyplace
Birmingham B1 2HS
FREE-book a place via Ikon: 0121 248 0708
A truly remarkable and original novel of self-discovery, set in a country of great contrasts.
A twenty-six-year-old Indian journalist decides to give up his job and travel to a country where he can ‘escape the deadness of his life’.So he arrives in Guyana, a forgotten colonial society of raw, mesmerising beauty. From the beautiful, decaying wooden houses of Georgetown, through coastal sugarcane plantations, to the dark rainforest interior scavenged by diamond-hunters, he is absorbed by the fantastic possibilities of this place where the descendants of the enslaved and the indentured have made a new world.
Rahul Bhattacharya has created a story that follows the shape and rhythms of life, not art. Part picaresque, in part a meditation, The Sly Company of People Who Care captures the heady adventures of travel, the overheated restlessness of youth, and the paradoxes of searching for life’s meaning in the escape from home.
Rahul is the author of Pundits from Pakistan, a work of reportage on the cricket competition between India and Pakistan. He lives in New Delhi, India.
Join Rahul Bhattacharya at the Ikon Gallery, The Sly Company of People Who Care will be available to buy and drinks will be served.
Supported by Picador
Supported by Picador
Post Spring Thing: The Newspaper, and the final event to look forward to!
10 months ago
Here is the final Issue of the Daily Spring Thing. Spring Thing Newspaper issue 4
We still have one more event to go: the fabulous Mo Hayder tomorrow, Thursday 14th April, at 7pm, Birmingham Conservatoire, £6.50/£5, tickets available on the door. More information here. Please join us in celebrating the end of this Spring Season of events. There will be wine and a final chance to buy books – including Mo’s, which will be discounted from the RRP, of course.
There is also a great review of our Project Pigeon workshop here.
More pictures, reviews and thoughts to come…
The Spring Thing Out and About
10 months ago
We have been out and about in the city today asking people this: What Does Birmingham Mean To You? We’ve had all sorts of answers already, and we’ll be inviting you to give yours tomorrow. These answers will be displayed on luggage tags outside of the Talking Cities event. The writers therein will be talking about cities – this one and others – that mean something to them. Amongst them are Amsterdam and Detroit, to name a 
few.
Here are a few pictures of our activities on this gorgeous April day – Spring really is upon us.
With thanks to Birmingham Cathedral and Birmingham Central Library for their hospitality.
The Spring Thing is tomorrow! Win A Workshop..
10 months ago
Yes, we wondered too…
Yes, we wondered too…
There are now just twenty four hours between us and the first event of The Spring Thing 2011.
It has been a busy week here in the Festival office, putting finishing touches to our plans, designing and making our big version of Magnetic Poetry (and we will be posting pictures of your poems on twitter at #bbfspringthing) and a few other things just for fun (because you can’t spend *all* your time between events in the Bookshop…). 
So even if you are just passing through on Saturday or Sunday, there will be something to see and people to say hello to – so please do stop by! We will be based in the main foyer area of Birmingham Conservatoire from 11am-9pm both days.
You know all about the events by now, but just incase you need a refresher, the programme is here. Tickets are still available for most things (although some are going fast!), and you are welcome to buy them on the door. To avoid disappointment you are welcome to get tickets to any of the weekend’s events at our Ticket Desk within the Conservatoire from 11am Saturday. This is located immediately inside the main entrance.
To celebrate the start of the weekend, we are offering you the chance to win a place on our unique writing workshop experience at the Project Pigeon Loft on Sunday.
This is an evocative and interesting space, and you will have the chance to work with novelist and comic writer Paul Macdonald, as well as meet the curators of Project Pigeon and learn a bit more about what they do. You might be wondering how birds and writing go together – but this isn’t about Pigeons per se. Have a look at the Spring Thing Newspaper Issue One for an interview with the project’s curators and some words from Paul. The article therein may also provide some inspiration for the question below!
We have two places to give away. These usually retail at £23 so take advantage of this unique give away and spend a few sunny hours wandering around the loft in Digbeth. There will be tea and coffee, too, and Festival Newspaper writer Anouk Abels will be on site to capture the experience in words.
TO WIN: Email us here and tell us which popular probiotic drink is apparently important to the diet of a Pigeon. We will contact the winners by Saturday morning.
If you are not a winner, don’t worry – you can still buy a ticket to this workshop (subject to availability) here.
Meanwhile, today, Friday, the Festival team will be out and about in the centre of Birmingham (around Birmingham Cathedral and Birmingham Central Library) asking you for your phrases to describe Birmingham – as inspiration for Talking Cities on Saturday night. Come and see us between 12-2 today, we will swap you a word for a chocolate!
We hope to see you this weekend at some of the Spring Thing’s events, or in the foyer enjoying the chance to read, relax and talk to friends. Say hello to our team – we love to meet people!
Have a great Spring Thing.
The Festival Team
Writer Networking Meeting
1 year ago
Sunday April 10th 2011
Writer Networking Meeting
Free! No need to book / 2-3.15pm / Seminar Room, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
Guest Speaker: Stuart Evers.
Are you a writer living or working in the West Midlands? Come along and meet others, drink tea and discuss ideas. Stuart Evers is a former editor and bookseller turned fiction writer.
You can access his blog at the link above, or follow him on twitter, @stuartevers.
With thanks to Writing West Midlands.
Still to come this week
1 year ago
Unfortunately, we have to announce that the Wilbur Smith Event has been unavoidably cancelled. We had been looking forward to this event as much as you, so it is to our great disappointment that Wilbur won’t be joining us this Wednesday evening. For any of you that purchased tickets for the event, you can claim a refund by contacting the Box Office.
You can, of course, still get tickets for the fantastic Mo Hayder, who joins us on Thursday evening.
Thursday 14th April 2011
Mo Hayder: Hanging Hill
£6.50 / £5 / 7pm / Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
Supported by Birmingham Libraries
In Mo Hayder’s latest novel sisters Sally and Zoe find themselves in situations worse than they had ever imagined. Married to a successful business man, Sally is a dreamer, whereas her sister Zoe is her polar opposite. A detective inspector working out of Bath Central. Zoe loves her job, and oozes self-confidence. No one would guess that she hides a crippling secret that dates back twenty years, and which – if exposed – may destroy her.
Fortunes change though and when Sally’s daughter has fallen into difficulties, and finds she needs cash – lots of it – fast. Sally finds herself divorced and penniless with her teenage daughter to support. Now, the only way to survive is to do things she never thought possible, to go places she never knew existed… With no one to help her, Sally is forced into a criminal world of extreme pornography and illegal drugs; a world in which teenage girls can go missing.
Both sisters are intent on survival until one does something so terrifying that there’s no way back… A story so chilling you’ll be thankful it isn’t yours.
Mo has written some of the most terrifying crime thrillers you will ever read. Her first novel, Birdman, was hailed as ‘a first-class shocker’ by the Guardian, and her follow-up, The Treatment, was voted by The Times one of the top ten most scary thrillers ever written. Mo Hayder is one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed of contemporary British crime thriller novelists, admired by her peers and eagerly followed by her readers.
Mo’s books are 100% authentic, drawing on her long research with several UK police forces and on her personal encounters with criminals and prostitutes. She specialises in confronting criminal acts head-on in her writing, fearlessly tackling the darker side of life where many turn away. Hayder has taught creative writing and is now a full-time author at the peak of her talents.
With thanks to Transworld Publishers.
BOOK ONLINE or call 0844 870 0000
Mo Hayder: Hanging Hill
1 year ago
Thursday 14th April 2011
Mo Hayder: Hanging Hill
£6.50 / £5 / 7pm / Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
Supported by Birmingham Libraries
In Mo Hayder’s latest novel sisters Sally and Zoe find themselves in situations worse than they had ever imagined. Married to a successful business man, Sally is a dreamer, whereas her sister Zoe is her polar opposite. A detective inspector working out of Bath Central. Zoe loves her job, and oozes self-confidence. No one would guess that she hides a crippling secret that dates back twenty years, and which – if exposed – may destroy her.
Fortunes change though and when Sally’s daughter has fallen into difficulties, and finds she needs cash – lots of it – fast. Sally finds herself divorced and penniless with her teenage daughter to support. Now, the only way to survive is to do things she never thought possible, to go places she never knew existed… With no one to help her, Sally is forced into a criminal world of extreme pornography and illegal drugs; a world in which teenage girls can go missing.
Both sisters are intent on survival until one does something so terrifying that there’s no way back… A story so chilling you’ll be thankful it isn’t yours.
Mo has written some of the most terrifying crime thrillers you will ever read. Her first novel, Birdman, was hailed as ‘a first-class shocker’ by the Guardian, and her follow-up, The Treatment, was voted by The Times one of the top ten most scary thrillers ever written. Mo Hayder is one of the bestselling and most critically acclaimed of contemporary British crime thriller novelists, admired by her peers and eagerly followed by her readers.
Mo’s books are 100% authentic, drawing on her long research with several UK police forces and on her personal encounters with criminals and prostitutes. She specialises in confronting criminal acts head-on in her writing, fearlessly tackling the darker side of life where many turn away. Hayder has taught creative writing and is now a full-time author at the peak of her talents.
With thanks to Transworld Publishers.
BOOK ONLINE or call 0844 870 0000
John Hegley: The Adventures of Monsieur Robinet
1 year ago
Sunday April 10th 2011
John Hegley: The Adventures of Monsieur Robinet
£8.50/£6 / 8pm / Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
A brilliant evening of performance poetry and comedy to mark the end of the Spring Thing – join us, and John Hegley, to end the weekend in style..
Tales about a Frenchman with some unusual [but clean] habits, which include burying his dog’s kennel and his own luggage pieces.
The stories appear alongside other new works, which include an address to aliens on the subject of transport, a poem about a non-talking parrot, and some animal impersonations with the aid of a handkerchief.
Suitable for most people over seven.
The audience are invited to sing along. But not to dance. Much.
Hegley is known as a poet and singer with a common and comedic touch, hence the quotation from The Observer, ‘Awesomely mundane’
‘Typically brilliant songs and stories about a Gallic small-town hero with a dog called Chirac’
The Guardian
The poet Adrian Mitchell said of him:
’Just because he is one of the funniest men alive, do not
underestimate his dedicated gentleness.’
And The Luton News said that his lyrics,
‘…quite often make little sense’
BOOK ONLINE or call 0844 870 0000
The Birthday Party – Nine Arches Press are 3!
1 year ago
Sunday April 10th 2011
The Birthday Party – Nine Arches Press are 3!
£6.50/£5 / 5.45pm / Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
Celebrate the third birthday of West Midlands-based independent poetry press, Nine Arches Press, with a special showcase of their most recent poets and publications. Since 2008, they have published 16 collections, 7 copies of Under the Radar magazine, and gained 4 national and regional prizenominations. They also run events, workshops, open mics and readings.
Join poets Myra Connell, Luke Kennard, Ruth Larbey and Claire Crowther to blow out the candles! (www.ninearchespress.com)
CLAIRE CROWTHER
Claire Crow
ther’s two collections, Stretch of Closures and The Clockwork Gift (Shearsman Books), have been received with wide acclaim, and have been followed up be her Nine Arches Press pamphlet, Mollicle. She was born and grew up in Hobs Moat near Solihull. Mollicle is zesty, mysterious and mischievous, the ordinary world turned kaleidoscopic and rearranged in Crowther’s distinct and elegant fashion.
ther’s two collections, Stretch of Closures and The Clockwork Gift (Shearsman Books), have been received with wide acclaim, and have been followed up be her Nine Arches Press pamphlet, Mollicle. She was born and grew up in Hobs Moat near Solihull. Mollicle is zesty, mysterious and mischievous, the ordinary world turned kaleidoscopic and rearranged in Crowther’s distinct and elegant fashion. Praise for Mollicle:
“Claire Crowther’s work is wittily compelling, a complex music. Poems by Crowther are events. With equal power, Mollicle reflects the outer world and the mind’s life, intensely illuminated.
day and night, repay your loan:
shine with sun’s compulsive light. ”
- Alison Brackenbury
“Claire Crowther’s poems employ what seems to be a singular form of logic – each one is like a mirror she has handed you in which you see something familiar, yet in a way you hadn’t managed to see before.”
– Roddy Lumsden
RUTH LARBEY
Ruth Larbey was born in Cyprus, and grew up in Nottingham, Hong Kong and rural Cumbria. She has spent her last two years working at an international development charity in London, after completing her MA at Warwick University in 2008. Funglish is her debut pamphlet of poems, and is a maiden voyage alive with the simple thrill of exploration, re-imagining liminal spaces into new territories vibrant with possibility.
Praise for Funglish
“There’s a drastic incandescence to Ruth Larbey’s syntax which pulls you into her poetry. Writing with an edgy control reminiscent of Emily Dickinson, her poems create exacting ‘electric constellations’ of vision and nerve in which no word is wasted, no darkness left unexplored. As Dickinson wrote, ‘A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.’ Ruth Larbey’s language is alive and gravid.” - David Morley
LUKE KENNARD
Luke Kennard won an Eric Gregory award in 2005 for his first collection of prose poems The Solex Brothers (Stride Books). His second collection of poetry The Harbour Beyond the Movie was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2007 making him the youngest poet ever to be nominated for the award. His criticism has appeared in Poetry London and The T
imes Literary Supplement. He is currently reviewing fiction for The National.
Luke Kennard’s Planet-Shaped Horse is an unhinged black-comedy poem-play from one of contemporary poetry’s most unique voices. Both terrible and beautiful things happen. Hermits and doctors are not what they seem and neither Miranda nor Simon seem capable of reining in or reforming their unreliable narrator…
Praise for Luke Kennard:
His language is exciting and it feels to me that he’s a truly 21st-century writer, taking inspiration from all over the place, unafraid of barriers and conventions. – Ian McMillan, The Times
Inventive, academically aware, fearless and hugely enjoyable.
– Nick Laird, The Telegraph
Luke Kennard writes vibrant, original poems that stick in your mind for a long time and enliven your imagination.
- Sophie Hannah
MYRA CONNELL
Myra Connell’s second collection of poems, From the Boat, was published by Nine Arches Press in 2010. Her poems have appeared in various magazines, and her short stories in two collections from Tindal Street Press, Her Majesty and Are You She?
She lives in Birmingham and has two grown-up sons.
From the Boat comes from a time of waiting, of mourning, and of finding small consolations. They are, many of them, small poems, the opposite of heroic. Bare, spare in mood, and exploring a sense of dislocation and disorientation, they look coldly at what is left when almost everything is pared away.
Myra Connell’s poetry is measured yet generous; experimental and adventurous; sharp, often angry, and yet tender.
BOOK ONLINE or call 0844 870 0000
