News and views

Posted By: Sam Ruddock, 18 May 2012

All That I Am – Anna Funder

“When Hitler came to power I was in the bath. The wireless in the living room was turned up loud so Hans could hear it in the kitchen, but all that drifted down to me were waves of happy cheering, like a football match. It was Monday afternoon.” 

 

 All That I Am opens with history on a knife edge. The Golden Era of the Weimar Republic – artistic, progressive, intellectual, experimental, permissive, excessive, - is passing and a new one of extremes about to dawn. So well trodden is this history that we think we know what will follow, but one of the outstanding things about Anna Funder’s debut novel is that it reveals a side to the history hitherto largely uncovered: the early years of the Nazi’s terror, the persecution and expulsion of political opposition, the extent to which other countries were desperate not to antagonise Hitler, the long arm of the Gestapo reaching out further than anyone dared believe. As she did in Stasiland – a reportage collection of personal stories from behind the Berlin Wall that won the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction – Funder casts a fresh and vibrant eye on forgotten stories. All That I Am is another marvellous book.

The characters here belong to that Weimar generation: they are the World War One survivors who vowed that war could never be allowed to happen again, the political reformers who saw progressive social democracy as the antidote to imperialist conflict, the artists and journalists who captured the atmosphere of the 1920, the teenagers inspired by the language of the future.

All That I Am is narrated alternately by celebrated German playwright Ernst Toller in New York in 1939 as he seeks to re-write his memoirs, and an elderly Ruth Wesemann in 2001, who receives the recently rediscovered memoirs in the post. Reading these memoirs unlocks her memory and events come flooding back and soon overtake her. Between them, Ruth and Toller bring the unremembered – Hans Wesemann, Dora Fabian, Berthold Jacob, Mathilde Wurm (all whom existed though are here sometimes linked in ways they were not in life) – back to life. Their story is of bravery and conviction in the face of history, of desperate opposition to the reprisals that followed the Reichstag Fire and subsequent exile in London. There, powerless and with threats against their lives growing and the UK government turning a blind eye, they continue to struggle, desperate to warn the world against what is happening before it is too late.

The extent of Funder’s archival research is impressive, and her decision to novelise the events a wise one. It allows her to marry the personal stories of her characters with a broad brush stroke approach to history. Fact, interpretation and biography form the framework for All That I Am, but it is the fiction that makes it a great book. Funder imagines the characters back to life in vivid detail; readers will be quickly engrossed in their milieu, standing alongside them in terrified defiance.

This is white-knuckle storytelling. Through the personal narratives, Funder explores the experiences of the characters, the driving forces behind why and how people are able to be brave, and the results of that bravery on their lives and those around them. She adeptly explores the paradoxical mix of fragility and strength that can sometimes be the make-up of great people.

This is particularly the case with the heroine, Dora Fabian, a ‘sort of German de Beauvior: less sex, but more political”. She is driven by conviction in her cause, self-sufficient and no-nonsense. Ruth and Toller are each enthralled by her – ‘We were the two for whom she was the sun. We moved in her orbit and the force of her kept us going.’ – and so is Anna Funder. In an interview with The Scotsman, she describes the experience of coming across Dora’s story as leaving her ‘thunderstruck and irrational and besotted and intrigued.’ She is a compelling character and it is apparent that, for Funder as well as her characters, this book is a act of love, of recording her courage and self-sacrifice, celebrating and remembering her life.

The same desire to resurrect and testify to those past is apparent in the character of Ruth, whom Funder met in Ruth’s later years, and whose stories first turned her on to the possibility of this book. Ruth is the compassionate core of the novel, an unobtrusive observer of those around her. This personal sympathy could easily turn All That I Am into sycophantic fiction of the worst kind, but Funder impressively maintains a rounded warts-and-all view of her characters. Compassion is a constant theme and one feels that it is the challenge of doing justice to these figures that drove her to write. ‘Imagining the life of another is an act of compassion as holy as any’, says Ruth at one stage, ‘once you have imagined such suffering, how can you still do nothing?’

By presenting humanised stories, and enabling readers to experience these vicariously through the characters, fiction has amazing power to change our understanding of the world and compassion for others one person at a time. Funder and I appear to share this idealistic conviction. All That I Am is an exercise in proving the validity of this conviction. But more than this, it is a wonderful read.

The plot starts slowly, with more set-up than feels necessary, but builds and once the characters come into their own it swiftly becomes an involving, compassionate and wonderful novel of love, friendship, courage, espionage, and betrayal. It is both a page-turning thriller and a considered investigation of courage and conviction. The characters are tested at every step, and they respond in varying ways. Some turn, some break, none is perfect. In the end, as Wystan Auden notes to Toller: ‘All that we are not stares back at all that we are.’  

Anna Funder will be visiting Norwich  with Tim Parks and Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee in June. Find out more about the event.

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 17 May 2012

Worlds Literature Festival happens every year towards the end of June in venues across Norwich. This year’s Worlds Festival is taking place from the 18th of June till the 22nd and features evening events from world-renowned authors Michael Ondaatje and J.M. Coetzee amongst others. The Afternoon Reading Sessions are open to the public and are completely free- giving you the opportunity to hear from brilliant writers in a more intimate environment.

Jeanette Winterson is returning to Norwich for an evening event with Jo Shapcott and Dame Gillian Beer. I was lucky enough to hear Jeanette Winterson read and discuss her latest book, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal last year, and I promise you her memoir is even better when read by the author herself! Jo Shapcott’s newest collection of poetry, Of Mutability, is incredibly moving and has been in great demand in the office. I'm sure that Of Mutability will attain even greater poignancy when Jo Shapcott discusses her motivation and writing processes. 

 I also can’t wait to hear Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee reading from his work. I’ve been a big fan of his work for years and this event is made all the more special because Coetzee rarely appears at public events. Anna Funder and Tim Parks are also appearing alongside J.M. Coetzee. Our other unmissable event stars Michael Ondaatje and Kamila Shamsie. Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient won the 1992 Booker Prize and was adapted into an Oscar winning film. Both of these events are available as part of our multi-buy deal (£20 or £15 concessions for both events).

Teju Cole, whose novel Open City won the Hemingway/Pen Award is visiting Norwich to participate in World Voices, an event which celebrates Refugee Week. Bestselling author Vesna Goldsworthy will also be reading at this event. The closing event of Worlds will celebrate the launch of Granta Britain. How better to commemorate the year of the Jubilee than with wonderful writing?

This over-arching theme of Worlds Literature Festival 2012 is ‘Fiction, Memoir and the Self’. Each of the events will be loosely focused on exploring the relationship between biographical truth and fictional representation.

Posted By: Richard White, 17 May 2012

Hot on the heels of news about Norwich becoming England’s first UNESCO City of Literature and recently being granted £3 million from Arts Council England to develop the International Centre for Writing, we’re delighted, and ecstatic, and really very pleased to announce that we have received £240,000 from Arts Council England’s Catalyst fund.

The money will support WCN’s fundraising development and will enable us to create a major national digital literature hub as well as a new literary commissioning fund that will provide new writing, cross art form and work in translation for that hub.

You can find out more about this fantastic news on our press release, but for a snippet, here’s what WCN Chief Exec Chris Gribble said:

"We appreciate enormously the scope this Catalyst grant will give us to support the fundraising development of our important new International Centre for Writing as the physical expression of Norwich’s new status as England’s first UNESCO City of Literature. As a leading national literature development organisation, Writers’ Centre Norwich recognises that we have to be innovative in our approach to fund-raising as well as in the work we deliver every day with writers and readers, in and out of schools, in our region, nationally and internationally."


Find out more about the ACE Catalyst fund and its recipients.

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 16 May 2012

The Norfolk and Norwich festival collaborated with Writers’ Centre Norwich to create a series of events called Words & Ideas. The events so far have all been brilliant in dramatically different ways.

“What a spark of genius to programme Alain de Botton at the start of a cultural festival like NNF12. His premise in Religion for Atheists, which he so convincingly presented to a packed Norwich Playhouse on May 11,  is that we can pick and mix symbolic and ceremonial religious experiences, and recreate them  through other mediums, such as the arts. This set the stage for a fresh examination of all the upcoming  NNF arts events, and a recognition of how we can artistically exploit religious architecture to add a soupcon of the sublime to secular choirs, art films, jazz and classical orchestras and contemporary circus acrobatics.”

Saturday brought two events; Singing the City: From Dawn till Dusk and Tribunal 12. Singing the City took place around Norwich at dawn, midday and dusk, and was an ethereally beautiful experience. Singers performed in Norwich Cathedral, and around the mediaeval streets of Norwich (Elm Hill, Princes Street etc) which added a historical frisson to the event. It was great to hear the words we’d commissioned from George Szirtes and Andrew McDonnell come to life. Anyone who’d like to relive them can have a read of Andrew McDonell’s ‘3 Songs’ and George Szirtes’ 'Frozen Music’ here.

Tribunal 12 at the Norwich Playhouse was concerned with more contemporary issues. Featuring live streaming from Stockholm the event explored human rights violations across Europe, with particular concern for immigration. In between the live streamed events theatre groups performed pieces based around immigrant experiences. The evening brought music and the judgement from the Jury that Europe systematically violates human rights with its immigration policies. I still feel haunted by the immigrants’ stories and know that Tribunal 12 was an event which continues to have great social significance. (More on this soon.)

Finally, Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair visited the Playhouse on Monday for the Writing and Protest event. Iain Sinclair kept the audience riveted with his stories of being banned from Hackney Libraries and of travelling from sea to London via the river in a swan pedalo. Alan Moore read from his never published libretto based on the intriguing life of the alchemist John Dee.

Sinclair and Moore followed their individual readings with discussion and questions from the audience. Both writers talked about finding material in the everyday world and being drawn to the outsider- both in literature and in reality. Alan Moore described his protest writing as being inevitable rather than motivated by anger and categorically stated that he was against violence. Sinclair emphasised the need to trust our own first-hand experiences rather than the digitally imposed and manipulated images which are presented to us.

Alan Moore said that his writing method was to use the ignored and abandoned sections of society for inspiration. He described this as using the bits of wasteland of society to develop something more interesting. The event left me cheering for the outsider and has converted me to the cult of graphic novels- my next book to read will be V for Vendetta.

It’s the end of a fabulous week of events, but there are still more to come! This Saturday Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library will be hosting A New World of Words; an event which explores Persian poetry next Saturday and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy will be visiting Norwich in a sold-out event on Thursday the 24th May.

Take a look at our upcoming events. 

Visit our Flickr Page to see more images from the Festival. 

Posted By: Katy Carr, 09 May 2012

We heard yesterday at about 4.30 pm that Norwich has become England's first UNESCO City of Literature, joining an elite international network comprising Edinburgh, Melbourne, Iowa City, Dublin and Reykjavik. We are absolutely delighted with this news and would like to thank all the many partners who have helped us all to this success.

The UNESCO City of Literature accreditation lends international recognition to Norwich’s literary heritage, contemporary strengths and future potential in the field of literature, creative writing, reading and the literary arts and we are very proud.

See below for some key quotes, and links to more info about what this all means.

“I'm delighted by the news. Literature has deep roots in the beautiful city of Norwich and it was a natural first choice for UNESCO. I'm happy too for personal reasons - Norwich is where my own writing life began. Writers have known for centuries that Norwich is a dreamy city.” Ian McEwan, May 2012

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 03 May 2012

Immigration and asylum will always be a contentious subject. Whether you yourself have experience of immigration first hand, or have gained knowledge on the subject from newspaper articles and other content, you are sure to have an opinion or stance. Tribunal 12 challenges our preconceptions and forces us to examine our responses to immigration. The day is taking place at Norwich Playhouse from 9am till 11pm and includes live streaming from Stockholm as well as a day long programme of events and music at The Norwich Playhouse Playroom for you to dip in and out of.

Inspired by the International War Crimes Tribunal formed by Bertrand Russell and Jean Paul Sartre in 1967, the live streaming of  Tribunal 12 will feature testimonies, documentation, performances and input from acclaimed international artists and experts all beamed to you in your seat in the Norwich Playhouse. Find about more about the live streaming here.

The full day event at the Playhouse also gives you the opportunity to discuss and debate the role of immigration in our society. The day will have a real festival feel and will include several live performances from various theatre groups, including the newly commissioned Label Me Not; a ten minute short which examines the dehumanisation of asylum seekers. There will be DJ’s playing from 4-11pm in the Playhouse Bar, and World Music playing all day.

Tribunal 12 gives you the opportunity to meet like-minded people and discuss key issues in a relaxed atmosphere- and what better atmosphere then the charmingly quirky and fairy-lit Playhouse? There’s sure to be impassioned debate around the plight of immigrants, fiery political discussions and even some dancing.  

For those of you who plan to stay the day there will be a Barbecue from 12pm in the Playhouse garden. For those of you who plan to stay all night you can enjoy performances from some of the best DJ’s around. And, for those of you who just want to pop in and out, that’s okay too.

Best of all, it’s only a fiver!

Buy your ticket online.

Posted By: Chris Gribble, 02 May 2012

 I’ve just returned from the opening night of the Other Worlds exhibition at The Story Museum in Oxford. My mind is hopping between the images and fragments of other worlds opened up by this extraordinary collaboration between writers, artists and the Story Museum building itself: the science of capturing a story as expressed in the marks it leaves on a handkerchief after a sneeze, the Lost Property Office (spare sets of marbles available), the Time Travel Office (has anyone seen Nostrodamus and please, ladies, the Bullingdon Club tour is for gentlemen only, Mr Cameron will be along shortly) and the glorious, tumbling, vociferous angels garlanding the entrance to this magical building in the centre of Oxford.

But back to the beginning, where all good stories start (until the modernists came along, but we won’t get involved in that debate just yet…).

The Story Museum is space to capture the power, joy and importance of stories. A place that reminds and teaches us that without stories (narrative, imagination, difference, risk) we cannot understand, describe or enjoy the world we live in. It is a place that will head Oxford’s bid to be UNESCO World Book Capital in 2014 and a labour of love for all those involved. It is also, in the words of its Co-Director, ‘in the pumpkin phase’. That is, the building is there, the passion is there, the remit is there, but the magical transformation (i.e. the MONEY) is still to arrive in full. They have the building, the great idea, and a lot of backing from investors, volunteers, Arts Council England, Oxford City Council and others, but they’re still fundraising.

So what do they do? Why, they invite a magnificent collaboration between Dark Angels (http://www.dark-angels.org.uk/) and a set of artists (with the support of Arts Council England), to animate their fabulous building with intriguing ideas, fragments of stories, rooms of delight, audio, video, art, and the infinite promise of ‘Once upon a Time…’

The space is an old GPO building – suitably enough, designed for the transfer of stories, news, gossip and information. The artists range from fabulous painters to cunning conceptual types, master story tellers and tantalizing poets. The result is a wonderful exhibition that brings together the playful, comforting, disturbing, didactic and delightful in an amazing setting that is surely set to be a national treasure of a place when it opens fully in 2014.

Do try and call in over May to see the Other Worlds exhibition. If you can’t make it, join their mailing list to hear about the other treats in store. Support it financially with a gift large or small if you can, or perhaps with some time, if you live locally.

I hope they all live happily ever after. Or interestingly ever after, at least.

To find out more about the Other Worlds exhibition visit http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/the-story-museum/otherworlds

Posted By: Richard White, 25 April 2012

Back in March we presented an international platform for British writing and literature development called the Norwich Showcase. We did this in partnership with the British Council in venues across Norwich, and, frankly, loved every minute of it.

The Showcase introduced international literature specialists to excellent British writers and translators and brought together literature delegates from across the world, literature organisations from the UK and some of the best writers out of the UK.

Want to find out how it went? Good, because our former Digital Media Officer, Ed Cottrell, kindly returned to interview, film events and generally capture the flavour of all that went on; he did a cracking job.





Good eh?

There’s a lot more media to consume on our Norwich Showcase project page: films from our live streamed events featuring readings, a translation slam and more;  podcasts of author readings; photos by Martin Figura and Dave Guttridge and blogs from our delegates and writers.

It's like we never left!

Posted By: Katy Carr, 18 April 2012

We plan to stage three performances that make use of a whole variety of interesting and unusual acoustic spaces - interior and exterior: placing singers in squares and streets, crypts and alleys, dark corners and cloisters, courtyards and rooftops.

Posted By: Katy Carr, 17 April 2012

Bill Thompson

Posted By: Richard White, 29 March 2012

Writers’ Centre Norwich is absolutely delighted to have received first stage backing from Arts Council England to develop an International Centre for Writing (ICW) in Norwich.

In partnership with Norwich City Council, University of East Anglia and Norfolk County Council, this backing for ICW is brilliant news for literature, writers, readers and the city of Norwich.

Chris Gribble, Chief Executive of Writers’ Centre Norwich said:

“We are delighted to have been offered this important grant from Arts Council England today and see it as a great endorsement of a project which marks a shift in ambition and capacity for the non-commercial literature sector, at a time when literature as a sector is undergoing huge change. Literature is our national art form and this award demonstrates belief in a remarkable partnership dedicated to exploring the social and artistic power of creative writing and reading. It is great news for readers and writers nationally and internationally, and for Norwich too.”

Helen Lax, Regional Director, Arts Council England, East, said:

"With a programme that is aimed at achieving resilience, sustainability and innovation, it seems only fitting that Writers’ Centre Norwich has been given the green light to continue with its bold plans for improved facilities. Writers’ Centre Norwich has great vision and ambitions for physical improvements that will enhance its ability to not only produce great art, but reach wider audiences and equip artists to fulfil their potential. Norwich already has an international reputation for literature and writing, and the plans for a new centre reflect and respond to this. The proposed investment shows our commitment to these exciting plans and we look forward to working with these organisations as they develop."


Writers' Centre Norwich looks forward to creating a space that will inspire writers, readers and communities by supporting the development of and improving access to the best in world literature.

This is just the start, and we hope you join us for the journey ahead!

Read WCN’s Press Release

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 28 March 2012

The Norwich Showcase ran from the 9th to the 13th of March 2012. Organised by Writers’ Centre Norwich and British Council, the Showcase aimed to introduce international delegates from all walks of the literary world to the best and brightest of British writers, translators, and literature specialists. The hope was that this meeting of international and national representatives would create a platform for collaborative work.

The Showcase opened with a reading from poet Lavinia Greenlaw (The Casual Perfect, Minsk) and from Hannah Lowe (The Hitcher), an exciting new talent in modern British poetry. Hannah’s reading was emotionally pitch-perfect, and touched deeply on her relationship with her father. I will definitely be purchasing her new collection once it’s published; if only to discover more about her intriguing father! Lavinia and Hannah's reading was the first of our events to be live streamed, and viewers from all over the world tuned in.

You can watch Lavinia's reading and other perfomances from the Norwich Showcase on our YouTube page.

I wasn’t present for Saturday’s events and have been frequently informed that I missed out. Kei Miller (A New Song of Light, There is an Anger That Moves) was frequently mentioned to me over the course of the Norwich Showcase and I have heard that he is being booked for literature festivals and events around the world. Anjali Joseph (Saraswati Park, Another Country) is another writer that I didn’t get to see perform, although I plan to console myself with an advance copy of her latest novel.

If you too missed Kei's reading at the Norwich Showcase you can listen to it on SoundCloud.

Listen to other podcasts from the Norwich Showcase on Writers' Centre Norwich SoundCloud page.

Sunday’s events kicked off with another round of the 6X8 Delegate Presentations. The Delegate Presentations throughout the Norwich Showcase never failed to be fascinating and intriguing. It seems that across the world representatives of literature face similar problems, yet they remained deeply passionate in their belief of the power of literature. The Norwich Showcase proved over and over again that books, reading, and writing, make a huge difference in people’s lives.

 (Images courtesy Dave Guttridge)

Sunday evening finished with a bang with stunning performances from live literature artists Molly Naylor (Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You) and Luke Wright (High Performance, The Vile Ascent of Lucien Gore and What the People Did). Molly Naylor performed movingly from her debut Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think of You. Luke Wright performed two pieces with his trademark scintillating wit and sarcasm.

Monday delivered another live literature performance, but this time in the form of a showdown between  Francesca Beard (Chinese Whispers),  Siddhartha Bose (Kalagora) Ross Sutherland (Twelve Nudes, Things to Do Before You Leave Town) and Writers’ Centre’s very own Martin Figura (Whistle, Boring the Arse Off Young People). The Literary Death Match involved jeering, cat-calling, and even a nerf gun. Ross Sutherland was- after a tense tie-breaker- crowned reigning champion after his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air inspired set. Drinks and much debate followed the event. 

(Images courtesy of Dave Guttridge)

One of the final events of the Norwich Showcase was my favourite; the Creative Non-Fiction event with William Fiennes (The Snow Geese, The Music Room), Kathryn Hughes (The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton, George Eliot: The Last Victorian) and Alexander Masters (Stuart: A Life Backwards, The Genius in my Basement). William Fiennes read from a stunning short piece entitled Why the Ash Has Black Buds, while Alexander Masters and Kathryn Hughes spoke about the trials and tribulations of biography writing.

Enjoy the Creative Non-Fiction podcast on SoundCloud:

I believe the Norwich Showcase was a spectacular success. I thoroughly enjoyed the events, and had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful individuals who I hope to see again very soon. I have been reliably informed that many of the different organisations are already fostering links between one another, and that new partnerships and projects are on the horizon.

 (Image courtesy of Martin Figura)

To find out more about The Norwich Showcase visit our project page.

Posted By: Richard White, 10 March 2012

Have you been tuning in to the Norwich Showcase Live Stream? Last night featured opening speeches by WCN's Chris Gribble and British Council's Susanna Nicklin, closely followed by poetry readings from Hannah Lowe and Lavinia Greenlaw.

If you missed out, don't worry, we'll be posting recordings on our YouTube page in the near future.

For the moment, we've had time to produce a quick podcast from Hannah Lowe's reading.

Day 2 at the Norwich Showcase

Posted By: Mitch Albert, 01 March 2012

On Friday 11 May, Alain de Botton will address the moral utility of religious faith even for non-believers. De Botton can always be relied upon to bring reason, compassion, and clarity to such a complex topic; he’ll be drawing from his new book Religion for Atheists, and is adept at engaging with enquiring audiences on philosophical questions that inspire and perplex us all.

The following day, Saturday 12 May, Europe will stand accused of violating human rights in itstreatment of asylum seekers: Tribunal 12, organised by the Shahrazad project (an offshoot of the International Cities of Refuge Network), has been convened to examine the hard evidence. The day-long proceedings will unfold onscreen at the Norwich Playhouse, live-streamed from the Kulturhuset in Stockholm. An impressive jury featuring luminaries from the worlds of literature, music, film, social activism and law will formulate the verdict later that evening. Tribunal 12 is modelled on the International War Crimes Tribunal organised in 1967 by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre, which focused attention on atrocities taking place during the US military intervention in Vietnam. This prescient Russell-Sartre project was largely ignored in the US, which was not yet prepared as a nation to examine its actions in Vietnam; will the European Union – that is, will we ourselves – listen any more carefully to the accusations of Tribunal 12?

‘Legendary’ is an unfortunately abused descriptor, but if you’ve been plugged into the counter-culture at any point during the past couple of decades, you would have stumbled across the names of Iain Sinclair and Alan Moore. These two – yes, legendary – writers, psychogeographers, and social critics will appear on Monday 14 May to weigh in on the value of anger and action in the face of encroachment by authority – and the erosion of society’s sense of space, place and protest.

Find out more about the Sinclair & Moore event.

Poetry is front and centre during this week as well, in a big way. On Saturday 19 May three renowned Afghan poets and their esteemed translators will perform their work both in the original Dari (Persian) and English, respectively. If the sum total of your information about Afghanistan derives only from news reports of war and social conflict, be prepared to have your assumptions overturned: these poets are contemporary and electric, investing their language (which dates back millennia) with a fresh, modern energy.

Find out more about the Afghan poets event.

Poetry caps this fine series of events as well, with the Poet Laureate her own self, to boot, on Thursday 24 May. Carol Ann Duffy will perform alongside the musician John Sampson, with whom she often collaborates, to enchanting, moving and thoughtful effect – and how could it be any other way …? Many thanks to the Rialto magazine - our partners on this event.

Posted By: Sam Ruddock, 24 February 2012

“Literary Death Match is the unholy spawn of American Idol and the first reading of Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ at the Six Gallery 50 years ago. Dangerous, edgy, yet very ready for prime time.”

Jane Ganahl, Director San Francisco’s Litquake Festival

In an era where books are desperate to evolve, Literary Death Match — a groundbreaking take on both the written and spoken word — is a crowd-luring, bright-minded spectacle.

Part literary reading, part comedy show, part game show, Literary Death Match brings together four talented writers to compete in an edge-of-your-seat read-off critiqued by three celebrity judges, and concluded by a slapstick showdown to decide the night’s ultimate champion.

Perhaps it sounds a bit out-there? Well it isn’t.

If you love literature, it is the night for you.

Since the first event in New York City in 2006, Literary Death Match has grown rapidly and now travels the world delivering energetic and enjoyable events to packed out audiences. Norwich is the smallest city it has ever visited and we are delighted to be bringing it here.

I guarantee that, if you come along, it will be the most fun you have had at a literary event in your life.

Monday 12th March, 8pm, £5 advance, £6 on door, Norwich Arts Centre
Literary Death Match with Francesca Beard, Siddhartha Bose, Martin Figura and Ross Sutherland

Book your tickets for Literary Death Match now.