Posts tagged literature
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
14 October: Jenny Eclair – Chin Up Britain
1 year ago
Thursday 14 October
Jenny Eclair: Chin Up Britain!
The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ
6.45 – 8pm
Now is the time to embrace a new austerity. Can’t afford a holiday? With coconut sun tan lotion, at least you’ll smell like you’re on holiday. Don’t know what to do with a left-over half a banana? Discard it on the floor of a government-owned building, ‘accidentally’ slip on it and claim compensation. Or why not sell your children on Ebay?Chin Up Britain! brings you helpful and hilarious tips for austere living, including identifying your swappable skills (burying dead animals, tuning a freeview box) and improving manners on public transport. A much-loved stand-up comedian, Perrier Award winner Jenny Eclair is also a successful novelist, and co-creator of the Grumpy Old Women brand.
Tickets: £7 (£5) Includes tea and cake!
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
14 October: Flarestack Poetry Showcase
1 year ago
Thursday 14 October
Flarestack Poetry Showcase
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7-8.45pm
Launched in 2009, Birmingham poetry press Flarestack Poets saw one of its first titles named pamphlet of the year in the prestigious Michael Marks Awards. As well as discussing Flarestack Poets and their plans for the future, co-editors Meredith Andrea and Jacqui Rowe will be introducing readings by the authors of their latest pamphlets. Herb Robert is the stunning debut collection from Laura Seymour, a former Foyle Young Poet of the Year. Nights Sifnos Hands, by internationally acclaimed, award-winning poet Mario Petrucci represents three divertissements from his monumental sequence i tulips, reflecting his devotion and commitment to both science and language.
Tickets:£5 (£4)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
13 October: Philip Barclay – Zimbabwe’s Years of Hope & Despair
1 year ago
Wednesday 13 October
Philip Barclay : Zimbabwe: Years of Hope & Despair
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15 – 8.30pm
Arriving to work at the British Embassy in Zimbabwe, Philip Barclay found a temperate paradise and a sophisticated population. Then, during three years in what used to be Africa’s finest country, he saw it ruined by violence and grotesque economic mismanagement.
Zimbabwe’s people voted against Robert Mugabe, but their desire for change was denied by vicious squads loyal to the ageing dictator. In the wake of such terror, the country’s economy collapsed, leading to widespread poverty and disease epidemics that Zimbabwe had not seen in living memory.
Join Philip for a sensitive and perceptive account of Zimbabwe’s turbulent political history.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
13 October : Being a Refugee in Birmingham
1 year ago
Wednesday 13 October
Being a Refugee in Birmingham
The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ
6– 7pm
In Association with Celebrating Sanctuary & Birmingham Libraries
Birmingham has a long history of offering asylum – from Jewish refugees seeking protection from the persecution of eighteenth century Russia to those escaping conflict in Vietnam, the Gulf and the Sudan – or new independent rule in East African nations – in the twentieth century. In the last few years arrivals have increased from Africa, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Seeking asylum is a long and often terrifying process.
Join writers, community workers and refugees for a frank discussion of the refugee community in our city, and the contributions it makes to the artistic and cultural heritage of Birmingham.
Tickets: FREE
Entry is free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
13 October: John O’Farrell – An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain
1 year ago
Wednesday 13 October
John O’ Farrell: An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain: or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.30-8.45pm
An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain is a hilarious ‘how did we end up here?’ which informs, elucidates and laughs at all the bizarre events, ridiculous characters and stupid decisions that have shaped Britain since 1945; leaving the Twenty-First Century reader feeling fantastically smug for having the benefit of hindsight.
John O’Farrell has published three novels, a memoir and three collections of his popular Guardian column. A former scriptwriter for such shows as Spitting Image and Smith and Jones, and founder of the satirical website NewsBiscuit, he can occasionally be spotted on such TV shows as Grumpy Old Men, Newsnight Review and Have I Got News For You.
Introduced by John Dolan.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
