Solar, McEwan’s 11th Novel, features Michael Beard, a Nobel Prize winning climate scientist with a chaotic life. When McEwan read from the work in progress in Norwich last year, the audience were kept well amused. The shift in tone in McEwan’s writing has been comprehensively covered in the press this weekend as Solar garnered juicy praise across the broadsheets:

“McEwan skilfully pilots around the platitudes and tedious debates, while making the point that he has done his homework on physics, photovoltaics and wind-turbines” says Tibor Fischer writing in the Telegraph this Sunday, who worried about triteness given the subject matter, and was pleasantly relieved.

The Times agreed:

“Ian McEwan’s new novel — a comedy every bit as brilliant as its title might suggest — takes readers into the mind of a Nobel prize-winning physicist. Readers should immediately be reassured, though, that this isn’t a painful experience…Blazing with imaginative and intellectual energy, Solar is a stellar performance.”

And the FT praised the humour and craft:

“On settling down to read Solar, two striking features of the novel are immediately apparent. First, that it is a stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet; and second, that the book does contain a truly shocking surprise – not that it deals with climate change, but that it is a comedy. This amounts to a revolutionary shift in tone, in his 11th novel, for a writer famed for his seriousness.”

McEwan has had a long connection to Norwich, having taken the first MA in Norwich in the 70s. That time was evoked in his interview in the Saturday Guardian:

“Determined not to have a proper job after having seen the civil service pay scale chart from entry level to retirement age, he spotted a new MA course at the University of East Anglia that allowed for the substitution of one module with a piece of original fiction. He phoned and was put straight through to Malcolm Bradbury. “I’d read a couple of his books and I was amazed that he was on the end of the line. But the world was emptier then. It seemed there was a limited amount of people on the planet, and you really could phone them all up.”

Despite having comparatively little contact with Bradbury, or his other supervisor, Angus Wilson, McEwan says he had ” a pretty amazing year” in which he wrote 30 short stories. “I just had the time and space to write some stories that would be read by someone, even though they would just say, ‘That’s great, carry on.’ There was none of the stuff that happens now, where kids get their stuff read by other kids. That can be quite ruthless and I’m not sure I would have survived it.”

After completing the course, McEwan set out on the hippy trail overland to Afghanistan. “Which was fantastic. But there came a point in the back of this bus, driving across desert tracks, with the sun beating down everywhere, when I began to dream of a tiny whitewashed room in Norwich…”"

Aah yes, he was dreaming of Norwich. So it seems fitting that he’s also here to help us celebrate our bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature.

You can book up for the reading and Q and A on the Norfolk and Norwich Festival website or by calling the box office on 01603 766400.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Norwich is one of four cities shortlisted to become the first ever UK City of Culture in 2013.

With the winner announced in the summer, Writers’ Centre Norwich looks forward to continuing to support the bid led by Norwich City Council and the City of Norwich Partnership.

Our director, Chris Gribble, said:

“We are delighted at Norwich’s shortlisting for UK City of Culture. As the UK’s first International City of Refuge and with a bid to become England’s first UNESCO City of Literature well underway, the UK City of Culture accreditation would be well-deserved recognition for a vibrant, thriving and creative city.”

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge made the announcement earlier today, confirming Birmingham, Derry/Londonderry and Sheffield as the three other contenders.

Margaret Hodge said:

“Huge congratulations to the four cities in the final running for the 2013 UK City of Culture.  It’s a testament to their hard work – and dedication to culture – that they’ve come so far in what has proven to be a very tough competition.  I’m really pleased that we attracted such a strong and varied field.  It just goes to show the richness of culture across the UK.”

Find out more:

Eastern Daily Press article

News from the City of Norwich

Official press release

This Residency offers an invaluable opportunity for a published poet, from any cultural background and writing within any literary tradition, to spend time in Grasmere, Cumbria, in the heart of the Lake District, an area of outstanding natural beauty that so much inspired William Wordsworth. The poet will be given space to develop their own work and will also take part in the Wordsworth Trust Literature Programme and the wider cultural life of Cumbria.

The Poet in Residence will be paid a monthly stipend of £1000.00 and provided with a cottage for which they will be charged a subsidised rent.

For full details, and application procedure contact Andrew Forster on A.Forster@wordsworth.org.uk or call: 015394 35544

Closing date for applications 5.00pm Friday 5th March 2010.

The Wordsworth Trust was founded in 1891 to maintain Dove Cottage, in Grasmere, Cumbria, home of William Wordsworth when he wrote much of his greatest poetry. Dove Cottage is now an internationally famous visitor attraction, and the Trust’s collection is now home to 90% of Wordsworth’s known manuscripts, one of the largest archive collections of a writer in the world. The Trust is keen to maintain the tradition of creativity associated with Dove Cottage, and is striving to be the centre of poetry activity in North West England. In support of this aim it runs a growing contemporary literature programme, which includes a season of poetry readings, renowned as one of the best in the country, and a range of workshops and other events, often presented in partnership with national organisations such as The Poetry School and the Poetry Translation Centre. The programme is funded by Arts Council England.

It’s an excellent opportunity to re-enter formal education after a period away from academic study, providing a flexible and skills-based alternative to A Levels, and are a recognised entry qualification for Degree and other Higher Education courses.

Access to HE – Creative Writing
School/Department: School of Creative Arts
Course Level: Level 3

Course Description:

The essential aims of the course are to make writing practices, contexts and applications accessible to a wide range of participants.  To do this the course is structured so as to initially give writing experiences as diverse as possible, and then encourage individual specialisation along one of two strands: writing for performance or writing for publication.

Within this remit the course will teach core skills:  knowledge of genres, literary and social contexts, critical awareness, close-reading skills.  It will also apply these skills within contemporary and popular forms:  song lyrics, children’s fiction, writing for the web and games.  Furthermore, whether traditional or contemporary, the delivery method will focus on the experimental, often using the interdisciplinary arts expertise that the School has readily available in key related disciplines.

Subjects and Syllabus Details:

Stage 1 includes the following units:

•    Research and Context (3 credits)
•    Introduction to Writing on Location (3 credits)
•    Introduction to Mechanics of Writing (3 credits)
•    Introduction to Dialogue (3 credits)
•    Introduction to Future of the Book (3 credits
•    Digital Publishing (3 credits)

Stage 2 includes the following units:

•    Research (3 credits)
•    Thematic Project (6 credits)
•    Writing for the Public Project – Persuasive Power of the Word (6 credits)

Stage 3 has optional units.  Students select either all the units in Writing for Books and Journals or all the units in writing for the spoken word.

Writing for Books and Journals includes:

•    Contemporary (3 credits)
•    Children’s Books (3 credits)
•    Journals (3 credits)
•    Self-Directed Study (6 credits)
•    FMP (12 credits)

Writing for the Spoken Word includes:

•    Poetry (3 credits)
•    Song Lyrics (3 credits)
•    Theatre (3 credits)
•    Self-Directed Study (6 credits)
•    FMP (12 credits)

For further information please contact:

Drew Webster
Email:  a2webste@ccn.ac.uk

Amanda Addison
Email:  aaddison@ccn.ac.uk

Or visit the page info on the City College Norwich website

telephone 01603 773311 and ask for admissions

Please note that although the information given is believed to be correct at the time of publication, courses and costs may be subject to change.

A new decade and a new blog!

Well, really, a tired-old-Christmas-and-New-Year-hangover-why-haven’t-the-kids-gone-back-to-school-yet blog. I’m desperately trying to find time to write, and beautiful as this all-white world is, and wonderful as it was for school closures to surprise us with an extra week of snowman building with the kids, I had promised myself that their first week back would be my time for catching up.

Darn those pretty little frozen flakes!

As for that New Year hangover – well actually it was not as bad as it might have been… I must have behaved myself… I suppose I’m getting older. Older, yes, but wiser… well, the jury’s out. I feel like a foolish schoolboy sometimes, and I’ll tell you why.

Before Christmas I had the second session with my mentor, Michelle Spring – good to have this extra impetus against prevarication. Now, I’ve taught at University myself, taught Architecture, and I guess I got used to being on the tutor side of that equation. I had not expected to be having to learn how to learn all over again – and I was a pretty appalling  student that first time round – but, yup, I’m going through it. It’s all in the cause of better writing, but it’s none the less painful for that.

My problem was that after Michelle had given me heaps of sage advice, all of which I lapped up and determined swiftly to act upon, I did not consider carefully enough the way in which my characters, my narrator, or even the structure of my book, ought to have informed these alterations. Instead I pushed changes in willy-nilly, completely overstuffing the goose, until amendments leaked out every orifice, and my golden festive bird was turned into a stodgy christmas pud. Blimey, what a chump! Shhh, don’t tell any one. Luckily Michelle is very patient.

So the lesson I’ve learned is this, folks, always listen to your teachers while remembering that the story’s yours. Assuming you agree with the critique, don’t make changes blindly, there was a reason you didn’t include them first time. Be patient with yourself, be creative, your book will have its own internal logic, ask of that what it requires from your new ideas. And if they can’t be made to work consistently? Well then I guess I’d leave them out, or maybe write a different book.

Having learnt my lesson from these fluffings, I’m going to assume that I can fix them at a later date. I’m back to writing new stuff, and it’s a genuine joy. Oh, the piquant pleasure of discovering what a bloody mess my characters can make out of what had seemed a perfectly well wrought plot. No, seriously, it’s a joy!

Released from the necessary claustrophobia of rewriting does feel a bit like writing en plein air, and I’d swear I can even hear a little bird chirping Michelle’s words of wisdom in my ear. It’s great to be able to take advice before beginning to write, and there is a real sense of lightness when it’s someone sitting on my shoulder other than myself.

Wow! I’ve got this far without even mentioning the wonderous Arts Council. Oh yes, the news is good. Thanks to the advice which we all got through the Escalator Programme and from Helen Thorn at Arts Council England, East, I have just heard that I have been awarded an Arts Council Grant. Fan-bloomin-tastic!

All the Escalator winners applied personally, and for different things, and in my case the money will be used to ‘buy extra writing-time’,  one day each week for the next nine months. My aim is to complete a first draft of Blind Justice in this time (I shall be working on it more than that one day a week!). What a luxury, and what a prize the Escalator is – nothing guaranteed, but winning an Escalator certainly helped, because in assessing its applications the Arts Council must consider whether an ‘artists’ work meets their lofty ‘quality threshold’… I won’t tell if you don’t!

Thank you Writers’ Centre Norwich for all your help and support, this will make a very real difference to me.

What’s up ahead and around the corner?

Well, Henry Sutton is the man on the front line. He’s leading a workshop in March titled Writing the Zeitgeist. It’s for all you writers looking to catch the moment; the themes that strike at our lives in the here and now.

Frankly, it’s a good time to take advantage of Henry’s knowledge.

His latest book Get Me Out of Here has just been published by Harvill Secker and is widely regarded as one of the first novels to cover the credit crunch. It pits Henry’s anti-hero, Matt Freeman, in a London facing financial free-fall; overwhelmed by shoddy merchandise, hollow corporations and broken promises. Put simply, Matt’s life sharply follows suit. Sneered at by sales assistants, abused by cabbies and mugged by his own dreams, Matt Freeman has to search for a final means of escape.

Sound familiar? If you’ve been watching the news lately, it should – it’s what Henry’s writing is all about.

In relation to his latest book, Henry’s also written a piece for Untitled Books: Cash, Comfort and the Genesis of Literary Monsters. It traces the rise and fall of money men in fiction, from Jay Gatsby to Patrick Bateman. Have a read. There’s nothing better than a reminder of some of those great literary monsters to stop you sleeping at night!

Finally, we’re delighted to have Henry launching his book alongside Rebecca Stott’s The Coral Thief at our monthly salon on Tuesday 2nd February at The Dog House, St Georges Street, Norwich. The event begins at 6pm and we’d be happy to see you there!

If your home town is in and around Norwich and you support a combination of live poetry, stand-up and film, you should get down to Norwich Arts Centre on Monday 8th February for the home-coming gig to end all home-coming gigs – yes, Aisle16, the UK’s most sought-after poetry collective, are returning to their hometown of Norwich for the first time since 2007.

They will be performing Local Boys Done Good – a brand new live show about heading back to your hometown and confronting your past.

Mixing stand-up, live poetry and film, Local Boys Done Good stars Tim Clare, Joe Dunthorne, Chris Hicks, John Osborne and Ross Sutherland, who met at the University of East Anglia.

Early last year, one of them posed the question: ‘Where’s the worst place you can imagine doing a gig?’ They all gave the same answer – the towns they grew up in. It was too tempting a challenge to say no. Thus they set out on a tour of the grim hometowns they once fled.

Mixing clips from the documentary they made with live commentary and poems inspired by the trip, they hunt wild horses, bust ghosts, and rail against village speed restrictions. Toughest of all, they have to finally admit to old friends and neighbours that they’ve become poets. People say you’re only ever five bad gigs away from quitting – Aisle16 were about to find out.

Aisle16’s John Osborne, who lives in the city, said: ‘Norwich has always been important to Aisle16 and we’re all excited about doing a homecoming gig. Doing the tour was one of the best things I’ve been involved in and I can’t wait to bring the live show to Norwich.’

Fellow poet Tim Clare said: ‘The title of the show’s supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. We ended up doing my leg of the tour in my old playgroup. If we’d really done that good, we might at least have been able to get the backroom of the Rotary Club. It’s a show about why people leave the towns they grew up in, and why, a little while later, they return. Norwich has one of the best poetry and literature scenes in the country, and we’re proud to be returning to our roots.’

This gig marks 10 years since Aisle16’s humble beginnings above Norwich pub Cafe Da, as a poetry night founded by Ross Sutherland and Luke Wright. Since then, members have written over a dozen live literature shows, released six books – including a Radio 4 Book Of The Week – and appeared on BBC2, Channel 4, Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.

‘Highlights of the spoken word scene’ – The Sunday Times

‘fast-paced, cuttingly clever and ferociously funny performance poetry’ – Spoonfed

They now run a monthly literary cabaret club in London called Homework, performing a mix of comedy, poetry, music and literature alongside special guests like Fringe award winner Tim Key, Brit award winner Kate Nash, and twice Sony-nominated journalist Jon Ronson.

Aisle16 are available for interview. Contact Tim Clare on 0774 8102781 or joshureplied@yahoo.co.uk.

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What Goes On Tour Stays On Tour

Back in October 2009 we teamed up with Faber & Faber and Cafe Writers to bring you an event with four exciting young poets: Fiona Benson, Toby Martinez de las Rivas, Jack Underwood and Heather Phillipson. Norwich was the first stop on a tour that took them to Cambridge, Oxford, Hull, Durham, Lumb Bank, Ilkley and across to Manchester.

What we didn’t know was that they were armed with digital cameras.

Norwich is the first installment and you can view their creation on the below clip. Visit the thought fox…the faber blog to view the other locations, posted day by day.

Day 1: Norwich from FaberBooks on Vimeo.

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Great to see that Nasty Little Press is going from strength to strength with its latest pamphlet – John Osborne’s What If Men Burst In Wearing Balaclavas?

The launch will be at Norwich’s new independent book shop – The Book Hive – and you can see further details (and a fantastic book cover with original artwork by Samuel Ratcliffe) on the launch invite below.

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Great Literature for Everyone?

Shaping the next ten years

Arts Council England is consulting the arts constituency on the directions it should take and the ways of working it should adopt over the next ten years.
NALD wants you to take part in the ACE process, you can access the documents and take part here. They have also created a space where literature professionals and activists can discuss ACE’s vision, goals and priorities. They will be making their own submission based on the views you express.

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THEATRE WRITER’S WORKSHOP

A THEATRE WRITER’S WORKSHOP AND SCRATCH PERFORMANCE…

Are you a Theatre Writer in the East of England?
Are you interested in working with one of the UK’s leading new writing companies?

Menagerie want to meet new and emerging writers prior to the selection of artists for the development of projects with BBC Radio in 2010 and the Hotbed Festival in 2011.

This is an opportunity to introduce yourself, meet fellow writers, have a masterclass workshop and write a short piece for a scratch reading.

Menagerie want to meet new and emerging writers prior to the selection of artists for the development of projects with BBC Radio in 2010 and the Hotbed Festival in 2011.

•        Wednesday 17th Feb: 11am-2pm: A masterclass playwriting workshop with Fraser Grace (Breakfast With Mugabe – RSC, Gifts of War/Frobisher’s Gold – Menagerie).

•        Thursday 18th Feb: 11am – 3 pm: Work with Menagerie’s Artistic team to develop a short 5-10 minute piece for performance the next day.

•        Friday 19th Feb: 3pm – 4pm: Reading of the scratch scripts by member’s of Menagerie’s acting ensemble.

This workshop is FREE but participation is by APPLICATION ONLY and there are a LIMITED number of places available. (Max 10 Places)

Application Details
Please send a CV and Cover Letter to Patrick Morris, Associate Artistic Director:  patrick@menagerie.uk.com
If your work is not known to Menagerie please provide an example (no more than 20 pages please)

They will select participants on the following criteria:
1)      Ability to articulate a clear need for involvement in the workshop
2)      Quality of CV
3)      Living and/or working in the East of England.

Deadline for Applications is Monday 1st February 9am

Details also available on www.menagerie.uk.com

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Free Writing Workshop @ Norwich Science Cafe with guest writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Next Science Cafe Wednesday January 20th 2010
Maddermarket Theatre Bar 7.30pm

To coincide with the launch of the Inspire Discovery Centre Writing Competition there is going to be a special science cafe in January with a bit of a twist. This month the session is a chance for adults to get an insight into writing about science and writing fiction. There will be a special introductory talk by established writer and journalist Hugh Aldersey-Williams, co-author of Panicology and author of Findings, who will give an insight into writing about current real-life science issues.

After the talk the session will turn to fiction with special workshop exercises to help get into the writer’s frame of mind. The exercises will be fun games and exercises to help with characterisation and plot forming. The event is free and there is no need to book. Everyone is welcome whether planning on entering the writing competition or not. The event is geared to let everyone have fun and have a go at writing, no-one will be forced to share their work with the group or expected to write a masterpiece. So if you want to figure out how Queen Victoria might react to an alien invasion or how Boudica might fare if sent into space, come along and have a go.

Contact Alex at Inspire on 01603 612612 for more information.

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The Book Hive to launch The Hostage Handbook

by Anthony Grey

With the recent release of Peter Moore this book could not be a more important and relevant piece of work. Come and meet the author and buy the book – The Hostage Handbook will be launched at The Book Hive on Friday 29th January at 6.30pm

• Highly-charged diaries of the first western hostage of the modern era, published verbatim for the first time, forty years after his release.
• Recorded secretly in shorthand, the diaries chronicle two years of solitary confinement in the heart of Beijing during the chaotic.
Cultural Revolution, which resulted in three million deaths.
• A key part of the author’s fight against isolation and despair, they describe the psychological battle for survival all hostages face – and show how keeping a diary can help face up to many hardships.
• Interspersed with reflections on how Anthony Grey sees the ordeal today and how the experience changed his life.

Anthony Grey became a foreign correspondent with Reuters after a career in provincial journalism. He reported the Cold War from East Berlin, Prague,Warsaw, Budapest, Sofia and Bucharest before being assigned to China in early 1967 to cover the Cultural Revolution. He became the focus of worldwide headlines for two years when seized as a hostage by Mao Tse-tungs’s Red Guards. Since his release, he has gone on to establish himself as a radio and television broadcaster and an international bestselling novelist, translated into 17 languages.

Reviews
‘Grey’s experience – through fear, false hope, deep depression, suicidal thoughts and outrage at the failure of the British government
to secure his release – is painfully similar to those of his later colleagues in Beirut and Baghdad…Mercifully he came home to sunlight and love – and lived on to work for the BBC and write exciting novels.’
Robert Fisk, The Independent.

‘This real-time journal of two years captivity gives a vivid picture of the afflictions and frustrations he faced and the often mindless and
inhumane behaviour of his captors…But it also reveals Tony’s stubborn capacity for inventiveness and imagination, which created
an inner space for his spirit’s survival in spite of all.’
Sir John Weston, Britain’s former ambassador to the UN and NATO

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University programme offers path to literary success

An initiative to support emerging literary talent is being launched by the University of Bolton in collaboration with the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester.

The Writers’ Pathway starts in February 2010 and is aimed at new writers, of Chinese descent. It will provide a 14-week programme to develop the writers’ craft through professional supervision and distance learning with the help of a professional mentor. The programme opens with a five-day residential workshop at the prestigious Arvon Foundation Lumb Bank Centre in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, and culminates in a showcase of practitioners’ work at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton. Poets, novelists and playwrights can submit samples of their work and a panel, comprising professional writers and University tutors, will make the final selection for the 12 places available on the programme.

Rebecca Albrow, Project Manager, said: ‘For someone still in the early stages of their literary career, this programme could be the catalyst that enables their talent to flourish and grow. Those taking part will have the opportunity of working with renowned writers including experts from BBC Writersroom.

‘We’re delighted to be working with the Chinese Arts Centre on this project and looking forward to nurturing the careers of new North West literary talents.’

For further information about the Writers’ Pathway initiative please visit www.bolton.ac.uk/AME/writerspathway/ or email writerspathway@bolton.ac.uk.

For further information please contact:

Rebecca Albrow
Creative Industries Project Manager
School of Arts, Media & Education
University of Bolton
Deane Campus
Room T4-076
Deane Road
Bolton BL3 5AB

(T) 01204 903332

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Exhibition news from Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery

Verb: to read and write
Wednesday, 20 January – Saturday, 27 February 2010

Words, written and spoken, are the building blocks of communication. We spare them scarcely a thought as we read and talk. Yet to many artists they are much more. Words individually have form, often beautiful, in their own right and, when gathered into literary works, they can inspire people to great acts and influence world events.  In this exhibition, scripts, books, conversations and more, reading and writing are actions used by the artists in this exhibition to engage us, even to the sound of words being written.

The exhibition will be a busy place, with three contributions:
Guestroom
Artist Duo, Guestroom, aka Ruth Höflich and Maria Benjamin explore the obsessive and meticulous nature of collecting. They look at reading and writing as an action and have taken an especial interest in libraries. Two projects are featured, Reading Room and The Librarians. They examine the keeping of books and reading.
Caroline Wright
Caroline dips into the Gallery’s history. Inspired by its location, The Market Cross, where sermons were preached in mediaeval times, she copies the Ten Commandments continually for 6 hours, while the sound of her pen is broadcast out across the marketplace.
Flávia Müller Medeiros
Flávia exhibits a range of work, some completed and some in progress, demonstrating her passion for art books and catalogues. Included are two specially designed shelves containing catalogues from the renowned Gimpel Fils Gallery charting its role from the 1950s onwards in encouraging avant-garde artists.  Also featured is the in-depth One Work series by Afterall, which highlights changing approaches to art books and was an influence on Müller Medeiros.
The Library of Influential Reads has been created by Curator, Catherine Hemelryk. Visitors will be invited to curl up with a good book in the cold winter months.  The titles have been suggested by a wide range of people as books that have been the most influential in their lives.

For further information please contact:
John Appleyard, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, The Market Cross, Cornhill, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1BT
Telephone: 01284 762081 john.appleyard@burystedmundsartgallery.org

Come and see the results this week on the giant Fusion screen at the Forum (Norwich and Norfolk Millennium Library) running until Jan 22nd, 10am-5pm.

And while you’re there you can tweet your response to the films and stories that you see all around you – and don’t worry, no experience necessary! There’ll be writing experts on hand, so all you have to do is turn up. You could also get some advice if you’re looking for ideas or information about writing.

For a taster of some of the films go to www.12seconds.tv/channel/OUT140. All the stories were 140 characters or less – the length of a Tweet on Twitter.

The 140 character stories are also very absorbing – go to www.twitter.com/OUT140 to read some funny, sad and poetic work.

All stories and films are part of the 140 Characters project that Writers’ Centre Norwich has been working on with Norwich Pride and various other partners. Poet and artist Vince Laws explained why he got involved with the project:

“The ability to condense life-changing events into a few well-chosen words is at the heart of poetry. Lines like I wore dresses for Jesus or I tripped over the sequinned stilettos paint powerful pictures instantly.”

Community filmmaker and chair of Norwich Pride Michelle Savage (Shelly Telly) devised 140 Characters and says:

“We have been overwhelmed by the honesty, creativity and humour with which people have told their tales. There are sad stories, happy stories, romances and adventures. We’re proud that 140 Characters captures the huge variety of peoples experiences.

If this has inspired you, have a peek at writer Ross Sutherland’s guide to writing very short stories..

There’s a poetry show fast approaching at Norwich Arts Centre, and we think it’s going to be rather exceptional!

Exceptional for many reasons, one of them being the special offer: two tickets for the price of one! The opportunity to see poets of the calibre of Colette Bryce, Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott is rare, but to get your friend in to witness it for free is… well, exceptional!

YOU ARE HERE
Wednesday 20 January
8pm (seated)
£7.00 / £5.00 concessions
Special offer: 2 tickets for the price of 1 from 13th January (on full price tickets) quote ‘email offer’ when booking

Colette Bryce, Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott, write emotional, complex, funny and engaging poems. Publishers, readers and prize judges alike love them. You Are Here is a new poetry show which brings the poets together on stage for a beautifully designed performance which asks Who are you? Where are you and where are you going? Poems pose the questions and whisper the answers. This is not just a poetry reading – it’s live literature!

If you’re already a poetry lover, come and see Jo, Daljit & Colette read, recite and perform in a way you’ve never seen before. If you’re new to poetry, come and introduce yourself to the most pleasurable and provoking of the arts.

Snow and ice, bills and darkness – what a gloomy start to 2010 it’s been. You Are Here is an hour long show which starts in darkness and ends with bright lights and birdsong. Break your hibernation for an evening of beauty, ideas and conviviality. Live literature means that you’re not just a solitary reader, you’re part of an audience!

Take home a poem – all audience members are given a bundle of postcards featuring poems from the show.

In a reading group or teaching poetry to 15+ students?  Email julia@jaybird.org.uk for free poetry discussion ideas and teaching tips.

For more information about Norwich Arts Centre, visit www.norwichartscentre.co.uk or book tickets on 01603 660352. For more information about the show including photos, interviews, audio and video clips, visit www.youareherepoetryshow.wordpress.com

We look forward to seeing you.
Norwich Arts Centre