Poetry in the City 2008 April 14-26 (Updated April 2nd)
Monday April 14
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 EdgeHill University in Lancashire.
“Twentieth Century Blues offers an entirely new way of thinking through the nightmare intersection of history, ethics and desire…. What emerges is nothing short of a re-education of the reader’s desire, constantly turning from the said to the saying. Courageous and unstinting, Sheppard writes with terrifying authority.” ─ Scott Thurston
Bluecoat Chambers
Tuesday April 15
Heart Beats Rhyme and Roll Poetry Night presents an evening of Salt Poetswith Eleanor Rees, Jo Colley & Melanie Challenger
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.
Jo Colley has read her work and spoken-word performance pieces in the north-east, London, and Finland. Her work has been published by Vane Women, Sand and Ek Zuban, and she has been translated into Finnish. In 2007 she received a Northern promise award from New Writing North. Her latest collection is Weeping for the Lovely Phantoms (Salt 2007).
plus live music from one of Heart Beats’ favourite rock bands.
Sandon Room/Bluecoat Chambers
Admission £3/£2 concession
Further information www.myspace.com/heartbeatspoetry
Wednesday April 16
Rosie Lugosi Unwigged!
Rosie has entertained rapturous audiences as Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen. Now, for the first time, she takes out the fangs and reveals her true(r) self. A rare opportunity to hear her performing poetry and reading from her award winning short stories.
Thursday April 17
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.
Friday April 18
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 Free
(junction of Green Lane & West Derby Road)
Further information: 0151 226 7525
Saturday April 1911am-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
Refreshments provided.
Monday April 21
Liverpool Poetry Slam – The Casa, Hope Street 8pm
8 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!Slam entrants must register for a place before the event. Please email sarah@deadgoodpoetssociety.co.uk or telephone 0151 709 5221/07903 563 327
£3 / £2 / £1
Wednesday April 23 Walker Art Gallery 2-4.30pmGet creative and learn to write poems inspired by paintings in the gallery.
Guided by Gladys Mary Coles
Gladys Mary 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
0151 478 4199
Thursday April 24 Costa Café, 13 Bold Street 7.30pm
Jean Sprackland
Costa Poetry Award winner 2007
Jean Sprackland is the author of three books of poetry and a collection of short stories.
Tattoos for Mothers Day (Spike, 1997) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Hard Water (Cape, 2003) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, and was shortlisted for both the T S Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Award for Poetry. Her third collection, Tilt has won the 2007 Costa Poetry Award.
Plus Headland Publications poets, includingJanette Stowell, Ade Jackson and Sarah Maclennan
