April is the month of the Poetry in the City Festival, so lots of opportunities for you to perform, listen, write – maybe even all three? DGPS hosts the annual Liverpool Poetry Slam on Monday 21st April in The Casa on Hope Street. Cash prizes and the coveted Slam Champion Shield to be won. This year the winners will be paid to represent Liverpool in the Bristol Slam at The Arnolfini in September, so well worth dusting off your best poems! Places to perform will be awarded on a first come basis, and if oversubscribed, names will go into a hat.
Also Wirral is holding its first ever literary festival – Wirral BookFest – between 7th and 12th April with more than 20 events around the borough. Highlights for writers include Writing for TV workshop, multicultural events and readings from top authors including Brian Jacques, Mike Gayle, Jojo Moyes and Jenny Colgan. Throughout the week there will be an exhibition of poems from Wirral Ode Show linked to photographs by Wallasey Amateur Photographic Society. More info at: www.wirral.gov.uk/bookfest – and keep checking because more events will be announced.
Excuse the lack of competitions and opportunities in the newsletter – I shall forward some onto you all seperately next week. Hope you all have a poetry-packed month!
Best wishes, Sarah Maclennan
APRIL’S DIARY…
Wednesday 2nd @ 8pm – Dead Good Poets Society Open Floor. 24 performance slots of 5 minutes for you to perform your own poetry. Compered by the one and only Aaron Murdoch. The 3rd Room, Everyman Bistro, Hope Street, Liverpool 1. £1.
Monday 7th@ 8pm – Come Strut Your Stuff. Poetry and music open mic hosted by Graham and Nick, with Stan the Harper. The Egg Cafe, Newington, Liverpool (down the side of Rapid Hardware). Free.
Monday 7th: 7.30pm-9.30pm – Wirral Bookfest: Meet the Authors. Three of Britain’s most successful and best-selling contemporary novelists discuss their work: Jojo Moyes (Silver Bay), Mike Gayle (My Legendary girlfriend), Jenny Colgan (Amanda’s Wedding). Bromborough Civic Centre. £3 incl. wine. Booking essential on 0151 334 1650
Monday April 7th: 7pm-9pm – Words from Wordsmiths – Horror, humour and beauty – diverse readings of original fiction by members of Riverside Writers, West Kirby Library . FREE. Details: 0151 929 7808
Tuesday April 8th: 2pm-3.30pm – The Best Words – John Siddique and Wirral’s Junior Poet Laureate – Nationally acclaimed poet John Siddique shares his favourite poems accompanied by Wirral’s own Junior Poet Laureate, Holly Green from Upton Hall School. Details: West Kirby Library 0151 929 7808. FREE
TuesdayApril 8th:7pm-8.30pm – Greasby and the Wirral Hundred – Greasby Poets present a poetic celebration of Greasby and the Wirral featuring winners of their poetry competition together with former Cheshire Laureate Andrew Rudd. All welcome. Refreshments provided. Contact Greasby Library 0151 677 5714 for further details. FREE
Fri April 11th: 7pm-9pm – Wirral’s ‘Dead Good’ Poets – Wirral-based poets from Liverpool’s Dead Good Poets Society including Clare Kirwan and Adam Khan, plus open floor – bring your own poem to read. Hoylake Library, Wirral. Free. Details: 0151 632 2754
Saturday 12th April: 2pm-4pm Dead Good Poets Society Poetry Reading Group. Two hours in which to discuss and debate poems on the subject of husbands and wives. No right or wrong answers, just good-natured debate. If you would like to receive copies of the poems in advance, please contact Sarah on 0151 709 5221. The Hornby room, Liverpool Central Library. Refreshments provided. Free.
Monday 14th: 7.30pm-9.30pm Liverpool Poetry Cafe: Open Mic. Compered by Sarah Maclennan. 5 minute slots for you to perform your own poetry. Friendly atmosphere (and very nice cakes!). Costa Coffee, Bold St, Liverpool.
Monday April 14th: 7.30pm-9.30pm – Twentieth Century Blues by Robert Sheppard. Robert Sheppard has been described as being “at the forefront of the movement sometimes called ‘linguistically innovative poetry’”. He has also published works of criticism, including The Poetry of Saying (2005) and Iain Sinclair (2007). He is Professor of Poetry and Poetics at Edge Hill University in Lancashire. the Sandon Room, The Bluecoat, Liverpool. Free
Tuesday April 15th: 7.30pm-10.30pm – Heart Beats Rhyme and Roll Poetry Night: an evening of Salt Poets – Eleanor Rees, Jo Colley & MelanieChallenger. Forward Prize nominee Eleanor Rees presents her 2007 collection, Andraste’s Hair: poems of myth, memory, folksong and murder ballad. Jo Colley’s new collection, Weeping for the Lovely Phantoms, has received widespread critical acclaim with its “distorted landscapes infested with the manifold ghosts of the unresolved and unrequited”. Melanie Challenger won the 2005 Society of Author’s Eric Gregory Award for poetry in 2005. She is currently Artist in Residence for British Antarctic Survey, for which she will live in Antarctica as part of International Polar Year for her non-fiction book, Extinction. She is the Director of New York’s Harold Clurman Center for Poetry, Poetic Language and the Spoken Word, and divides her time between Penzance, Cornwall and Brooklyn, New York, plus live music from one of Heart Beats’ favourite rock bands. Sandon Room, The Bluecoat , Liverpool. £3/£2 concession. Further information www.myspace.com/heartbeatspoetry
Wednesday 16th @ 8pm Dead Good Poets Society Guest Night: Rosie Lugosi Unwigged! Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen has entertained rapturous audiences worldwide. Now, here is a chance to catch her ‘Unwigged’. She takes out the fangs and reveals her true(r) self. Rosie Garland – writer, performer, singer has won both the Alternative Oscar for Performance Artist of the Year and the Diva Awards for Solo Performer. The 3rd Room, Everyman Bistro, Hope St, Liverpool 1. £3 / £2/ £1 pay on the door.
Thursday 17th: 2pm-4pm - Poetry Writing Workshop focusing on poems about the City. Poetic exercises to inspire new writing. Dead Good Poets Society Office, 96 Bold Street, Liverpool. Please contact DGPS to book a space. £3 / £2.Refreshments provided.
Thursday 17th: 7.30pm-9pm Maria McCann & Michael Symmons Roberts read from their latest novels, As Meat Loves Salt and Breath. Roberts’ 4th book of poetry, Corpus, won the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award. Performance Space, The Bluecoat. £7 / £5
Friday 18th @ 6pm – Voices of the Benares A poetry sequence by Pauline Rowe
performed by North End Writers & Liverpool Women Writers. The City of Benares sailed from Liverpool on September 13th 1940. Among the passengers were 90 children evacuated from England’s blitzed cities. Four days into the voyage the ship was torpedoed. 258 passengers and crew lost their lives – including many Lascar seamen from India and 77 children. This piece is a tribute and memorial to all of them. St John’s Church, Tuebrook 6pm (junction of Green Lane & West Derby Road). Free. Further information: 0151 226 7525
Friday 18th @ 7.30pm Manky Poets with Copland Smith. Guest Chris Woods is a GP from Ramsbotom, Lancashire and has been a part of Manky Poets (in its earlier manifestations) for 20 years. Manchester’s Comma Press have just published his second poetry collection, Dangerous Driving (£7.95). He has been described by Anne Stevenson as ‘a poet of hope for everyday life’. Influenced by his profession as a GP, his verse is both ‘observant and unsentimental’ (Douglas Dunn). Chorlton library, Manchester Rd, M21 9PN
Saturday 19th April: 11am-1pm Dead Good Poets Society Poetry Reading Group, meets at Bebington Library, Wirral. More good natured poetical debate hosted by Janine Pinion. If you would like to receive copies of the poems in advance, please telephone Sarah on 0151 709 5221. Free. Refreshments provided.
Saturday 19th April: 1.30pm-5.30pm Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction Reader’s Day. Take part in book discussions and workshops, Judges Clare Allan and Shami Chakrabarti discuss the shortlist for New Writers 2008. the Performance Space, The Bluecoat. £10 / £8
Sunday 20th @8pm – Write Out Loud’s Read Around. Friendly and relaxed open mic at the Howcroft Inn, Bolton. £1 donation. For directions www.writeoutloud.net
Monday 21st @ 8pm The Liverpool Poetry Slam. Hosted by the fragrant Daisy Buttercup. 18 poets engage in verbal jousting, battling their way to cash prizes and the coveted Slam Champion shield. Winners will also be paid to represent Liverpool in the Bristol Poetry Slam at The Arnolfini in September. Audience voting, judges, oohing-and-ahhing – an exciting night for competitors and audience! The Casa, Hope Street, Liverpool 1. £3 / £2 / £1 Pay on the Door. Slam entrants must register for a place before the event. Please email sarah@deadgoodpoetssociety.co.uk or telephone 0151 709 5221/07903 563 327
Monday 21st @ 7.30pm – Paul Batchelor and Frances Leviston. Paul received an Eric Gregory award from the society of authors, the Andrew Waterhouse Award from New Writing North and a Poetry Business Prize. His first collection, Honesty, will be published in 2008. Frances’s poems have appeared in magazines and anthologies including New Writing 14, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Ten Hallam Poets and the TLS. She has also received an Eric Gregory Award. The Octagon Theatre, Howell Croft South, Bolton. Entry: £4/£2 Tel: 01204 520661
Wednesday 23rd: 2-4.30pm Writing Workshop at The Walker. Get creative and learn to write poems inspired by paintings in the gallery. Guided by Gladys Mary Coles who runs the literary press Headland Publications. She is the author of several volumes of poetry and her work has featured variously on television and radio. In addition, she lectures on imaginative writing at both Liverpool universities. Her most recent collection is The Butcher Bird (Flambard 2007). Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3. Tel: 0151 478 4199
Thursday 24th: 7.30pm-9.30pm Liverpool Poetry Cafe presents Jean Sprackland & Headland publications. Jean Sprackland, Costa Poetry Award winner 2007, is the author of three books of poetry and a collection of short stories. Tattoos for Mothers Day (Spike, 1997) was short-listed for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Hard Water (Cape, 2003) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and was short-listed for both the T S Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Award for Poetry. Her third collection, Tilt won the 2007 Costa Poetry Award. Headland Publications poets, include Janette Stowell, Ade Jackson, Sarah Maclennan (shameless bit of self-promotion there!) Costa Café, 13 Bold Street, Liverpool
Tuesday 29th @ 7pm Poetry Brew. Write Out Loud presents “Poetry Brew” with John Togher. Poetry Brew is a chance to read poetry in the relaxed surroundings of a cafe.
Costa Cafe, Grand Arcade, Crompton Street, Wigan WN1 1BH. £1 donation
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