News and views

A Special Evening of Poetry for an Extra Special Price

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 07 May 2013

On the 13th May, Writers’ Centre Norwich will be host to a trio of poets at Norwich Playhouse. Organised in collaboration with The Rialto Magazine, poets Don Paterson, Sophie Hannah and Hannah Lowe will be opening Words & Ideas at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. And, even if we do say so ourselves, this is one event you won’t want to miss. Especially as you can buy tickets half price.

The evening promises to be a delightful exploration of contemporary poetry- I can’t wait to hear all of the poets, but I am particularly looking forward to hearing Sophie Hannah read again.

I was lucky enough to hear her read at the EDP Book Awards last year, and felt connected with the text in a way which I hadn’t experienced when reading her poetry at home. (It also persuaded me to dig out her collection of Selected Poems when I got home, and to re-imagine the slants and emphasis of the writing.)

Sophie Hannah’s poetry is clever, witty, and undeniably wicked. Her writing has a vicious, razor sharp edge. Sophie takes everyday incidents, and spins them into bittersweet poems, writing with grace and intelligence. It’s little wonder that she has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize, while her bestselling psychological thrillers continue to receive critical acclaim.

For a taster of Sophie’s poetry, you can watch her read If People Disapprove on YouTube.

While Sophie Hannah is sure to make you laugh, Don Paterson will make you shift forward in your seat, alert and straight-backed.

Paterson has won most of the poetry prizes around; from the Forward Prize to the TS Eliot Prize (twice). His accolades speak for themselves, but don’t capture the scope and quality of his work. Don Paterson writes lyrically on fable and charm, creating an intimate exploration of the moments that unite us all.  

Don Paterson’s reading is sure to be both thought provoking and moving, and a perfect foil for Sophie Hannah and Hannah Lowe’s readings.



Last, but certainly not least, Hannah Lowe will also be reading at the event. Hannah published her first full-length collection, Chick, earlier this year. Described as an “extraordinary debut”, the publication heralds a fresh and outstanding voice into the world of contemporary poetry.

Hannah joined us last year to read at The Norwich Showcase and you can watch her reading on YouTube:



Lowe’s sensory poetry is deeply personal. Chick is named after her father, and it tells the story of his extraordinary character, a Chinese-black Jamaican migrant who gambled professionally. Hannah’s poems capture an emotional truth, but always resist sentimentality with peculiar beauty.   

This Rialto event promises to introduce you to a world of brilliant poetry, bringing  established and emerging poets together for an evening of immersive entertainment. And, I for one, can’t wait.

Get your tickets now.

Guest Blog Post: The Inner Melody of Julian of Norwich's Writing

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 17 April 2013

In advance of Julian Week (6th-10th May), Louise Øhrstrøm, co-ordinator of Julian Week, blogs about the upcoming event with Mikael R Andreasen and Edwin Kelly.

Two international guests will be visiting Norwich for the upcoming Julian Week (6th-10th of May). Danish Mikael R Andreasen will be playing songs he has composed on Julian's lyrics. Irish Edwin Kelly will be reading from his experimental translation of Julian's writings. Louise Øhrstrøm has asked the two artists what they find fascinating about Julian of Norwich as a writer.

In 2010 Mikael R Andreasen's Danish band Kloster released their critical acclaimed fourth album, The Winds and Waves Still Know His Voice, which holds songs based on Julian of Norwich’s Middle English lyrics. Kloster was booked for Roskilde Festival (the biggest music festival in Northern Europe) in 2011 because of that album and has played at a number of venues in Europe.

Mikael R Andreasen heard about Julian from a friend and soon learned that Julian's words somehow seemed really easy to put into melody:

“It was as if the passages contained some sort of inner melody themselves. Later, when I started reading Julian's complete work in English, I noticed, that also just by reading, the text seemed very rhythmic and had an almost melodic ease or flow to it”, Mikael explains.

Edwin Kelly became interested in Julian when he did an MA in Poetry at University of East Anglia. He currently works on an experimental translation of her texts, inspired by an ancient tradition of editing manuscripts:

“I work with Julian's texts in a way I feel it has been worked with throughout the last 600 years or so - simply as an engaged reader who wants to know more. In medieval times this engagement may have been mainly looking for devotional and spiritual guidance. In an academic context, this engagement may look at the production of the text itself. Personally, I'm most interested in the emotional power of the text and how this has been maintained through the centuries. I work with the text as a document of the experience and as a physical object”, Edwin says.

Both artists find that there is something about Julian's voice that makes her writings relevant even for a modern reader.

Edwin explains: “The texts themselves are consistently surprising. Just when I feel I have categorised them, something in their style will lead me to question my assumptions. I think Julian's texts are, to some extent, taken a little for granted. Often, interest is in relation who she is rather than what she wrote. I think people will be pleasantly surprised if they take the time to read and respond to what she wrote. It will deepen their appreciation of a fascinating and surprising figure”.

Mikael R Andreasen particularly likes the way in which Julian talks about suffering and love:

“Today it seems like whenever love hurts a tiny bit, people tend to throw it away in search for any kind of new 'suffer-absent-love.' It is as if we have created a culture where we are trying to avoid suffering at all cost. In such a culture, I find it both interesting and provoking to read how Julian almost asked for an experience of suffering in order to understand what love is all about.”

Meet Mikael R Andreasen and Edwin Kelly at Julian Week at the Comforting Words event.

For more info, please visit the Julian Week website.

Other Julian Week events include:

Julian of Norwich: Poetry Writing and Critical Reading Workshop by poet Edwin Kelly and PhD student Louise Øhrstrøm

Julian of Norwich as a Poet: Language and the Search for Meaning in A Showing of Love

Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust- A New Collaborative Project

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 05 April 2013

“Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust” is the title of a major new research project led by Professor Jean Boase-Beier at the University of East Anglia, working in partnership with Writers’ Centre Norwich, and including a number of public events.

Historical documents and eye-witness accounts have given us the facts about the mass-murder, degradation and annihilation of whole communities in Europe between the early 1930s and 1945.

“Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust” aims to explore the legacy of poetry created during the Holocaust, as poetry does more than document facts; it invites the reader to engage. Poetry can have a profound emotional effect on its reader, and it is through this emotional connection that we can keep events such as the Holocaust alive in peoples’ memories.

The difficulty in translating this poetry is ensuring that the translation is still interesting and meaningful for readers so far removed in time and place, whilst preserving the original message and meaning of the text. Professor Jean Boase-Beier will be translating the poetry with others, and hopes to further share the work with anyone who has an interest in the Holocaust, or in translated poetry.

Much of the Holocaust poetry we are familiar with is in English translation, written by members of the Jewish communities who were interred in camps, or detained in ghettos, and managed to flee abroad. Boase-Beier is keen to find examples of Holocaust poetry in other languages such as Italian, French or Hungarian, and intends to include poetry written by victims and survivors who were not Jewish. 

This project will result in an academic book, and an anthology of the poetry translated by Jean Boase-Beier and other writers. There will also be a series of public events, and an exhibition. Professor Boase-Beier hopes that anyone who is interested in the Holocaust, poetry, translation, or the movement between culture and languages will attend the events.

The first public event in Norwich will be a Café Conversation held by Jean Boase-Beier, in the UEA Café Conversation series run by BJ Epstein. This takes place on 26th April at 2 pm  in the White Lion Café, and is entitled “What’s the Point of Holocaust Poetry?". Please come along if you are interested- there’s no need for you to have been to any of the other Café Conversations. (Find out more about Café Conversations) 

Later on in the year there will be an event in a local Norwich bookshop, and on 4th and 5th November there will be a free exhibition on Holocaust poetry and its translation at the Forum. There will also be two workshops, one on each day, and a poetry reading in the Library Training Room on 5th November.

On December 4th there will be a Translation Workshop on Holocaust poetry from 5-7 pm at UEA. This is part of the series of Workshops for the MA students, and, like all Translation Workshops in the series, it is open to members of the public and is a unique opportunity to see what MA students are learning about translation, and to join in. For further details on the workshops contact Dr Cecilia Rossi on c.rossi@uea.ac.uk.

For further details on "Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust", contact Prof Jean Boase-Beier on j.boase-beier@uea.ac.uk 

High Impact- A Literary Tour with a Difference

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 13 December 2012

As a book nerd of the highest order I go to a lot of literary events. A lot of signings, talks, discussions, readings- as long as there’s books involved I’m there. However, sometimes there’s an event that looks so brilliant I know that I’m going to tell all of my friends to come. High Impact is one of those events.

High Impact takes place over six days, across six cities, and features six best-selling and prize winning authors. The writers all hail from neighbouring countries Belgium and the Netherlands, and include authors Chika Unigwe and Herman Koch.

I heard Chika read earlier this year at Worlds from her latest novel, Night Dancer. I have rarely enjoyed a reading so much, or felt a room fall into such a deep silence. Chika has the gift of writing brilliantly, and the much-sought after but only occasionally achieved, gift of speaking brilliantly too. Her reading conjured up Africa and created a character so vivid that if you closed your eyes you could imagine her standing in front of you.  I cannot wait to hear from her again, and would highly recommend her novels.

Herman Koch’s The Dinner is one of my best books of the year. Described as a cross between The Slap (Christos Tsiolkas) and We Need To Talk About Kevin (Lionel Shriver), The Dinner is a wicked narrative of crises and parental collusion. Interestingly Herman Koch also works as a comedy actor- so his reading is sure to be brilliant.

High Impact will arrive at Norwich Arts Centre on the 18th January, and you can buy your ticket from them online.

The other visiting authors include Lieve Joris, Poet Laureate Ramsey Nasr, Peter Terrin, a psychological thriller writer, and Judith Vanistendael, a graphic novelist.  See below for a little more information about these writers:

Lieve Joris: whose journalism & non-fiction books on Africa, China, the Middle East & Europe have earned her the reputation as  the VS Naipaul or Ryszard Kapuscinski of the Low Countries. Author of the acclaimed The Rebel’s Hour (Atlantic, 2008):

‘Powerful and timely, intensely imagined.’ - Paul Theroux

Ramsey Nasr: the Dutch Poet Laureate & all-round Renaissance Man (actor, director, poet, journalist & librettist), famed for his beautiful prose, provocative politics & exciting public appearances. Heavenly Life was published by Banipal in 2010.

‘With this collection Anglophone readers are introduced to a poet of global scope.’ – Marilyn Hacker

Peter Terrin: this year’s winner of the prestigious AKO Literature Prize & author of the magnificent psychological thriller The Guard (Maclehose Press, 2012):

'A rich and gripping mix of all the ingredients that make for a truly haunting atmosphere.' - Writers' Hub

Judith Vanistendael: the Posy Simmonds of Belgium; the bold & brilliant graphic novelist of When David Lost His Voice (Self Made Hero, 2012):

‘Big, bleak, brilliant and stark.’ – The Economist

High Impact is sponsored by Flanders House and the Netherlands Embassy in London and curated by Rosie Goldsmith. To find out more about the tour visit the High Impact website.   

Add a Dash of Salt

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 24 October 2012

The Man Booker is probably the most important award in the UK book industry calendar. Perhaps even the world. So when we at Writers’ Centre Norwich heard that The Lighthouse, written by Alison Moore and published locally by Salt, had been longlisted for the Man Booker we cheered. And when we heard it’d been shortlisted we proposed opening a bottle of champagne and toasting to their success. (Sadly, we don’t keep champagne on ice in the office, so instead celebrated with biscuits and fresh cup of tea.)  

Hilary Mantel was announced as the winner, yet the effects of the Man Booker shortlist are longlasting, as demonstrated by book sales and prestige. The publicity afforded by the Man Booker is undeniably beneficial- Alison Moore has already been approached regarding a film adaptation. The Lighthouse is a stunning novel which explores relationships through an almost painfully close magnification of the protagonist’s life. Throughout the novel, scent plays a crucial part, triggering memories and driving the narrative forward.  It is rare to read a debut novel so accomplished and pitch-perfect.  

That being the case we’re delighted to announce that Alison will be visiting Norwich for a special event with Salt on the 23rd November.

Salt Publishing, supported and hosted by Writers’ Centre Norwich and others, will be presenting an evening of literary brilliance at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. Authors Alison Moore, Derek Neale and Jonathan Taylor will be reading and discussing their work, while Directors Chris and Jen Hamilton-Emery will be introducing.

Alison Moore is also an accomplished short-story writer, and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, the Bristol Short Story Prize, and the Manchester Fiction Prize, to name a few. Derek Neale is an award-winning writer of short stories and scripts, and has just had his first novel, The Book of Guardians published by Salt. Jonathan Taylor is the author of Entertaining Strangers and the memoir Take Me Home and is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at De Montford University. Together, these writers will read from their own work and discuss the craft of writing. 

Based in Cromer, Salt has been publishing high-quality literature since 1999. With an impressive established range of poetry and literary fiction, Salt has always been at the forefront of independent publishing in the UK.

Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the best in literary (and local) independent publishing.

Complementary soft drinks will be provided and books will be sold after the event courtesy of Waterstones. 

Tickets are £2 and available from Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library and Waterstones Castle Street.

Visit the event page.

To the Moon and Back: Two Very Special Poetry Performances

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 11 October 2012

Poetry has escaped from between the constraining pages of books, and leapt out into the world, ready to twist and sparkle in these new performances at the Castle Museum and Forum Norwich.

Jaybird is bringing a new show to Norwich: I Gaze From My Kitchen Like An Astronaut, which will be performed in two parts across the 24th November. For a bargain £5 you can enjoy two performances, one at 11am at the Castle Museum with poets John McCullogh and Liane Strauss, and the second at 2pm at the Forum with Karen McCarthy and Tom Warner.

I Gaze From My Kitchen Like An Astronaut combines brilliant poetry with subtle stagecraft to create a stunning performance. Don’t believe me? Here’s what a past audience member said:

The show allowed me to really engage with the poetry, be close to the poets, hear the nuances of the words and be transported to the place and feelings they were expressing.

At moments during the show I became moved in unexpected ways and the use of subtle props gently enhanced the speaking. There was a reflective energy and immediacy which drew me in and made me want to hear more!
Sarah Palmer

Ideal for poetry-lovers and the perfect convert for poetry-sceptics I Gaze From My Kitchen Like An Astronaut is a wonderful immersive experience.

Book your ticket.

Visit the Gaze Like An Astronaut website

Take a sneak peak at the poetry which will be performed.

Summer Reads 2012; Events So Far...

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 29 June 2012

It hasn’t been much of a summer so far this year, but our Summer Reads reading programme has been in full swing since May. With a host of author events, book club meetings and library events going on, it hasn’t seemed to matter so much that it’s been rainy and miserable.

Our first event was with SJ Watson, author of best-seller Before I Go To Sleep. I read Before I Go To Sleep last year and loved it, so I was thrilled to discover that it had been chosen as one of WCN’s Summer Reads books for 2012.  The event was held at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium  library. The room quickly filled up with readers who sat patiently, clearly filled with anticipation. I noticed that the audience was a diverse mix of people- it’s always interesting looking at the audience for individual events, because it gives a much better idea about who the book appealed to- Before I Go To Sleep is a novel which seems to engage almost everybody!

SJ Watson began the event by reading an extract from the beginning of Before I Go To Sleep. Sam Ruddock, the man behind the Summer Reads programme, began a conversation with SJ Watson which ranged from medical accuracy, to gender, to the nature of the debut novel. SJ said that he didn’t find it difficult to write from the perspective of a woman, because, as a writer you should be able to write from other people’s perspective. The audience laughed when SJ mentioned that he found it odd that people seemed to be comfortable with the idea of individuals writing as serial killers but not comfortable with a man writing as a woman! He did say that he asked his female friends to read the novel and fact check it for him too however...

When the floor was open to the audience for questions there was a constant flow of interested queries. SJ Watson spoke at length about the difficulties of balancing medical accuracy (as he worked for the NHS for a number of years, medical accuracy was imperative!) whilst maintaining the plot and pace of the story. SJ Watson said that he'd thought he had made up Christine’s precise medical complaint, but discovered that there is a very similar case when the book was published.

The SJ Watson event was a great success, and a brilliant start to our Summer Reads reading programme!

 

During our Worlds Literature Festival we had THREE of our Summer Reads events, making it a jampacked schedule of bookish joy. Our first event was ‘An Evening with Dame Gillian Beer, Jeanette Winterson and Jo Shapcott’ and was completely sold out. Jo Shapcott read from Summer Reads book Of Mutability, which won the Costa Book Award. Jo’s poetry was emotionally charged, and worked perfectly in companion with Jeanette Winterson’s reading of Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal. (Read more about the event in Petra’s Blog.)

Anna Funder, whose novel, All That I Am, was our first Summer Reads book, participated in an event with JM Coetzee and Tim Parks. These three very different authors created a smorgasbord of literary delights. Anna Funder read from All That I Am and then discussed her motivation for writing the novel and the difficulties when crossing over from writing non-fiction to fiction. Throughout the event the audience were clearly hanging upon her every word. During Worlds festival Anna Funder won the Miles Franklin award for All That I Am and was even interviewed from the Writers’ Centre offices for Australian television!

Last, but by no means least, came our event with Teju Cole, author of the multi-award winning Open City. Teju Cole read an extract from Open City  and discussed how his work was influenced by his street-photography. (Take a look at some of his photos on Flickr) The event was so successful that Waterstones almost sold out of Teju’s books! (You can read a long blogpost about the Teju Cole event here)

Listen to a podcast of the Teju Cole event below:

World Voices featuring Teju Cole, Vesna Goldsworthy and Arturo Dorado by Writers' Centre Norwich

Still coming up is an event with Stefan Tobler, the publisher of Down the Rabbit Hole, and with Rosalind Harvey, the translator. Taking place on the 25th of July, you can buy your ticket for only £2 from our website or the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. (Find out more about the event) This is sure to be a fantastic event, and as a big fan of Down the Rabbit Hole I can’t wait to find out more about the book!

As ever, we have a regular book club which meets to discuss the Summer Reads books. It’s been great to see so many new faces, as well as the regulars of course, so please do come along if you’d enjoy a relaxed evening of chatting about books. Our next Book Club Sessions are for Of Mutability (in partnership with Norwich Poetry Book Club) on the 10th July and for Down the Rabbit Hole  on the 24th of July.

We’re also running a new series of events in libraries across Norfolk. Sam has been visiting the libraries across the county and enjoying chat, Mexican chocolate and intriguing Mexican fizzy drinks.

He says:
‘The Get Involved library events are all about meeting readers across Norfolk, and having a relaxed conversation about books with them. It has been a pleasure to visit libraries that are supporting Summer Reads so well this year, and to see all the great work they do with their communities. I’ve been struck by the warmth with which these events have been received and delighted with the atmosphere and willingness to share that everyone involved has created. I’ve enjoyed every minute of delivering them. Not only have we succeeded in introducing the delights of Summer Reads to lots of readers and book clubs, but I’ve discovered lots of books I’d never heard of too! What could be better?’

 

Find out more about our Summer Reads reader events.

We love to chat with you about these books, so please do tweet us @WCNbookclub, follow us on Facebook, and check out our Summer Reads Pinterest page!

If you love our Summer Reads illustrations too, check out this blogpost from the illustrator Lauren Marina.

Vote online for your favourite Summer Reads book and you could win book tokens!

Find out more about our Summer Reads reading programme.

Identity, Censorship and Culture: Challenges Writers Face Across the Globe

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 27 June 2012

The World Voices event was organised as part of our Worlds Literature Festival, our Summer Reads reading program and to celebrate Refuge Week. Naturally, expectations were high. Luckily Arturo Dorado, Teju Cole and Vesna Goldsworthy more than exceeded them.

Arturo Dorado, the City of Refuge Writer in Residence, began the evening with a startlingly honest account of his oppression. A political refugee, Arturo encountered such prejudice and censorship in Cuba that he found he was unable to write. He explained that he found Cuba to be a country with a society built around lies and falsehood and that he believed a totalitarian society was one of perversion and destruction.

Living in a democratic country it is often easy to forget that there are people all around the world who live in a society of censorship, and are denied that most basic human right of free speech. Arturo’s introduction was a well-timed reminder that those of us living in the UK have benefits and rights that people are fighting for in many other countries. He closed his speech by saying that when he first moved to England he felt lonely and homesick, but he hoped that in Norwich he could start his life over again.  For many in the audience, and certainly for me, that was a poignant moment where I felt very grateful for all of the advantages that I take for granted.

Vesna Goldsworthy read from her memoir Chernobyl Strawberries. The extract she read described her father-in-laws funeral. Vesna said her choice was motivated from hearing another Worlds participant, Alvin Pang, discuss his mother-in-law’s funeral and the different customs of mourning around the world. One of the fantastic things about the Worlds Literature Festival is that it inspires and sparks off discussion points and explorations, meaning that you’re constantly forming new ideas whilst struggling to document the old ones.

Vesna’s reading explored the contrast between her country of birth (the former Yugoslavia) and Britain, her adopted country. This comparison of nationalities was described in great detail, with beautiful imagery. As Vesna read about the conflicting customs of Yugoslavia and England I found myself pondering the idea of a mass identity through nationality. It is a strange thing to think that people can be identified not by skin colour, or accent, but instead through some unconscious collective behaviour. (Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox is a great book to read if you’d like to find out more about being peculiarly English) Vesna’s writing seemed to aptly describe the less obvious gaps between cultural practises. Vesna finished by reading two poems from her latest collection The Angel of Salonika.

Teju Cole, author of Summer Reads pick Open City, wore traditional African clothing for his reading. Cole, born in the US to Nigerian parents, grew up in Nigeria then returned to the States for university, and has lived there ever since. Open City tells the tale of a Nigerian immigrant, who moves to New York and learns the city by walking it. Teju Cole describes himself as a writer, art historian, and a street photographer. His writing very much touches on all these aspects of his life. Teju writes as an African in America and he writes visually. As Teju said, he writes the pictures he cannot take.  This cross-over between worlds creates a rich reading experience.

This event was named World Voices, and voices from around the world were certainly encountered.  The evening was an inspiring examination of different cultures and writing from across the globe which left me wondering about identity, and how nationality can help define us. As the overarching theme of Worlds 2012 was ‘Fiction, Memoir and the Self’ questioning the meaning of identity seems to fit in perfectly.   

 

Listen to the World Voices event on SoundCloud:
World Voices featuring Teju Cole, Vesna Goldsworthy and Arturo Dorado by Writers' Centre Norwich

Michael Ondaatje and Kamila Shamsie Visit Norwich for an Unmissable Event

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 08 June 2012

Although our Worlds Literature Festival includes many brilliant writers- JM Coetzee, Jeanette Winterson, Jo Shapcott to name a few - the event that I am most anticipating is ‘An Evening with Michael Ondaatje and Kamila Shamsie’. Ever since reading The English Patient I have been an avid fan of Ondaatje's novels, and I can’t wait to hear him discuss his writing and inspiration.

Earlier, I was discussing The English Patient with my colleague Sam, and he described the novel as gloriously indulgent and startlingly panoramic. This summary, I feel, describes Ondaatje’s work aptly. His prose style has been honed over the years, but still holds the same lyrical joy of his poetry and his writing continues to embrace the microcosm.

Teju Cole, another author who will be visiting Norwich for Worlds, described Ondaatje as his hero. Cole wrote that “Ondaatje makes language translucent” in this recent Guardian article. Clearly, Ondaatje is a highly influential author, for both readers and writers. For Worlds Ondaatje will be reading from his latest novel, The Cat’s Table, a book which is inspired by his journey from Sri Lanka to England. (Read Annie Proulx’s review on the Guardian)

Kamila Shamsie is Pakistani by birth but is currently living in London and, amongst other things, working as a trustee for English Pen. She is often courted as providing a voice for women in Pakistan. Her most recent novel, Burnt Shadows, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and has been translated into more than twenty languages. Shamsie's Pakistani heritage informs her writing but she believes the human experience is very much universal and this is apparent in her novels. (Listen to an interview with Shamsie.)

Both Ondaatje and Shamsie are of multi-nationality, and as such, provide a unique examination of their birth-countries and adopted countries. The idea of identity will be a major discussion point over the evening and I’m looking forward to hearing how they explore the links between their lives and their writing.

Since reading Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal I have been intrigued by the idea of authors rewriting and mediating life experiences through their fiction. (Jeanette Winterson is also participating in Worlds 2012). I know that the event with Ondaatje and Shamsie is sure to offer a fascinating new perspective on fiction and the writing process.

Book your place before it's too late.

Find out more about Worlds Literature Festival. 

A Free Pass to the Best in Contemporary Writing

Posted By: Rowan Whiteside, 07 June 2012

Our series of Afternoon Reading Sessions coming up at Worlds offer you the chance to experience  many fascinating voices. If you’re at all interested in contemporary writing you will devour these events - and best of all they’re free!

On June 19th Joe Dunthorne Alvin Pang, Manon Uphoff , Yoko Tawada and Tommy Wieranga will read, hosted by Valerie Hentuik. I’m particularly excited about hearing Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine and Wild Abandon. I read Submarine last year, and went on to recommend it to almost everyone I knew. Tommy Wieranga is the other author who I’m intrigued by (despite not having yet read his work) because of his amazing author photo! (See right.) The writers will be examining  the theme of  language and experiment: so this event is a must if you’re  interested in post-modern literature or writers who challenge conventions.

On the 20th of June Frances Leviston, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Eleanor Catton, Chika Unigwe and Alex Miller will muse on ‘the real’ in fiction and poetry.  Eleanor Catton’s first novel, The Rehearsal, was hailed as “a glimpse into the future of the novel itself” and  I’m hoping that she will inspire me to pick up my pen and start writing again- she is lavishly praised as a writer and a speaker. I’m also looking forward to Frances Leviston who visited us earlier this year and wowed the audience with her emotionally pitch-perfect poetry- watch the video on youtube below.

The final session features Jonty Driver, Samantha Harvey, Sjön, Catherine Cole and Robin Hemley on the theme of ‘Strange Lands’. Sjön is a lyricist, poet and prose writer, best-known in the UK for collaborating with Björk. (Listen to one of their songs).  An amazingly prolific and accomplished writer, Sjön’s appearance at the Afternoon Reads will definitely be a highlight for me.   

Together, these Afternoon Reading Sessions aim to explore the theme of ‘Fiction, Memoir and the Self’. Although each session will be a wonderful experience individually, as a set they will gain far more significance and meaning- I recommend you come to all of them if you can!

Each session will take place at the UEA Drama Studio, from 2 till 3.30pm.

Find out more and book your tickets below:

Language and Experimentation
with Joe Dunthorne, Alvin Pang, Manon Uphoff, Yoko Tawada and Tommy Wieringa.
Tuesday 19th June, 2-3.30pm, UEA Drama Studio, FREE event.

Truths: Representations of the Real in Fiction & Poetry
with Frances Levison, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Eleanor Catton, Chika Unigwe and Alex Miller.
Wednesday 20th June, 2-3.30pm, UEA Drama Studio, FREE event.

Strange Lands: Themes of Loss, Otherness and Home
with Jonty Driver, Samantha Harvey, Robin Hemley, Sjön, and Catherine Cole.
Friday 22nd June, 2-3.30pm, UEA Drama Studio, FREE event.

Cultural Goodies from the Cultural Olympiad

Posted By: Richard White, 06 June 2012

Unmissable Events at Worlds Literature Festival 2012

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.

Find out more about Worlds Literature Festival.

Words, Ideas and Graphic Novels- A Look at the Festival So Far

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.

Friday kicked off with an evening event from Alain de Botton where he discussed his latest book Religion for Atheists. I missed the event because I was at the Spiegletent watching Bourgeois and Maurice perform- a cabaret band with a scathingly brilliant repertoire of tunes, however I  heard all about it from my colleagues at WCN. Leila Telford, our Resources Manager, says:

“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. 

Rowan Whiteside Blogs About Tribunal 12

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.

Get Out Before Dawn With The Voice Project

Posted By: Katy Carr, 18 April 2012