Friday 20th October (Tomorrow!) at 7pm Anna Fodorova is reading part of her story Fruit of the Sea from Liberty Tales at London Writers’ Eclective at the Sun Tavern on Long Acre in Covent Garden. (FREE)
On Thursday 26th October at 4pm The Old Woman from Friuli by Ghillian Potts is being read by Good Wolf People at Ashburton Library Shirley Road, Croydon, CR9 7AL
and Good Wolf People are also performing The Old Woman From Friuli at Stanley Halls on Saturday 28th at 1pm (£3)
It has been a busy time, another set of videos I’ve only just had time to edit and post:
We took part in the Archway With Words Festival back in September, reading from a variety of books at Archway Library. (5 books, 5 authors, for our 5th anniversary…)
Carolyn Eden, Free White Towel, Liberty Tales
Cherry Potts, Mirror, Lovers’ Lies
Wendy Gill, A Little Favour, Shortest Day, Longest Night
Katy Darby, The Horror, the Horror, Stations
Liam Hogan, Crossroads, Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed.
We had a lot of fun at Sussex Yacht Club in Shoreham for Shoreham WordFest on Thursday, lovely crowd, great acoustic and though we say it ourselves, some marvellous poems, stories and songs.
Poems by Bernie Howley, Elinor Brooks, Brian Johnstone, Jeremy Dixon, Kate Foley and Andrew McCallum; read Carrie Cohen, Elinor Brooks and Greg Page
Stories by Carolyn Eden, Cherry Potts and Liam Hogan read by themselves.
Songs by Sydney Carter, Ali Burns, Albert Nyathi, George Loveless/ Joe Stead and James Oppenheim; arranged by Melanie Harrold messed around with and sung by a small subset of Vocal Chords Choir, (Cherry Potts, Alix Adams, Bea Jackson, Caroline Dunton, Denise Mueller-Brown and Maria Kirby)
The Privilege of Departure, or Dover Bound, But Delayed by Bernie Howley, read by Carrie Cohen.
Singing We Raise the Watchword Liberty in full with the audience
The second half – stories, and a certain amount of difficulty with the camera cutting out.
Carolyn Eden:
Cherry Potts:
Liam Hogan:
Here’s some feedback from the audience on what they liked (you can hear them joining in on some of the songs)
Well constructed programme, the segues from music into poetry and back again, the variety of interpretations given to the theme of liberty. Bread and Roses, Free White Towel and the promise of a free badge!
Here is an interesting evening, full of fun, wisdom and wit. Hear some moving poems/ stories from those from the past and present combined with our essential liberties.
I love being read to. A very mixed programme which really stimulated my mind and imagination.
relaxed
variety – the spice of life
I enjoyed the flow of the first half
Loved the storytelling
Singing – chance to join in
Celebrating freedom – and keeping socialist history alive – good songs poems and stories too!
Witty and original writing. Very lively material, good singing.
We’ve decided to cancel the reading at Shoreham Library on Saturday 14th October due to lack of take up. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was planning to come.
disappointed goats
But we have a reading by Good Wolf theatre company at Stanley Halls in South Norwood on Saturday 28th October at 1pm as part of their Story Time day for younger children. From what they say they seem to be planning to semi-stage it, I am so disappointed I can’t get there to watch, but they’ve promised to video it! Please go along so you can tell me how it went!
There will be a pop up bookshop which will have all our children’s books on sale.
£3 per child per session. Book via Stanley Halls – last time they had an event it filled up in 15 mins, so advisable to book!
We hope to collaborate some more with Good Wolf, so watch this space. (Such an appropriate company to work with, given the wolf theme coming up in book three of The Naming of Brook Storyteller: Wolftalker)
I don’t know how that happened – actually I do, the live feed on Facebook of Jeremy Dixon reading In Retail (xxiii) (from The Other Side of Sleep) was getting so many plays I forgot to upload the more professionally recorded version!
Here it is…
And here is audio of him reading his Liberty Tales poems, later in the evening when I had run out of camera battery
Jeremy is joining us at The Poetry Book Fair at Conway Hall this Saturday, and will be reading from around 4.30 in the garden cafe in Red Lion Square, alongside Sarah James and Lisa Kelly.
Jeremy is on our list of people to publish over the next three years. Just got to land some funding!
In October we are off to the Shoreham Word Fest with a Liberty Tales/ Songs of Protest evening at the Yacht Club on Thursday 12th at 19.30 (£10) with Elinor Brooks, Greg Page and Carrie Cohen reading poetry and Carolyn Eden Cherry Potts & Liam Hogan reading prose, and some of Vocal Chords singing. We will be teaching two very simple protest songs!
Tickets still available book NOW.
Out Aloud Choir under the direction of Val Reagan (photo Nelly Naylor)
25th November 12:30-17:30 St Hilda’s Church Hall, Courtrai Road, Crofton Park SE23 1NL
In preparation for our planned women’s vote centenary celebrations we’ve invited reknowned chorus leader and song writer Val Regan down from Sheffield to run a singing workshop. Come and learn a mix of songs about women by Val and others.
And because it’s the run up to Christmas and Solstice Shorts, a couple of pub carols (we aim to cater to all tastes!)
Val runs Out Aloud Choir in Sheffield and they performed at the Outcome exhibition launch at Sheffield Hallam University.
£25 includes refreshments, and access to recordings after the event.
advance booking essential! Book here now
Any profit we make from this workshop (after paying Val, and the hall hire) goes towards the running of this year’s Solstice Shorts Festival.
Being busy people we can’t always arrange our own events as regularly as we might like, so we are very happy when we get asked to take part in other people’s.
Next Friday 22nd September 7pm Liam Hogan is reading from Happy ending Not Guaranteed at the launch of London Writers’ Eclective at Waterstones 11 Islington Green, N1 2XH
On Wednesday 27th September 18.15 we are at Archway with Words at Archway Library, Hamlyn House Highgate Hill N19 5PH where Liam is reading again, alongside Katy Darby, Cherry Potts, Carolyn Eden, and Wendy Gill
On Saturday 30th September we are at Free Verse Poetry Book Fair at Conway Hall where we will have a stall all day, and are reading in the Red Lion Square garden cafe at 4.30, with Jeremy Dixon, Lisa Kelly and Sarah James.Experience a flush of openness in San Francisco, a long day on a till, an even longer night in a hotel, and time shifting about the three occupants of a house.
In October we are off to the Shoreham Word Fest with a Liberty Tales/ Songs of Protest evening at the Yacht Club on Thursday 12th at 19.30 (£10) with Elinor Brooks, Greg Page and Carrie Cohen reading poetry and Cherry & Liam reading prose, and Ian Kennedy & Sarah Lloyd and some of Vocal Chords singing. We will be teaching two very simple protest songs!
Followed on the Saturday Morning at 11am with a Children’s event in the Library, (Free) with The Old Woman From Friuli by Ghillian Potts being read by Tash Fairbanks, and a kind of demonstration of woodcut printing from Cherry Potts, because we couldn’t get hold of Ed Boxall, the illustrator of the book, to join us. No sharp objects will be let near children!
Here’s a recording of The Old Woman From Friuli by Ghillian Potts being read last week at West Ealing Library by Ghil’s daughter, Cherry.
The Old Woman is next being read at our 5th Anniversary celebrations at Manor House Library in Lee SE13 on 8th September at 6.30pm. This event is free, but ticketed.
Then at Shoreham Library as part of the Shoreham Word Fest on October 14th at 11 am where it will be read by Tash Fairbanks. This event is free.
This is the hashtag we are using for the 5th birthday celebrations so if you post to Instagram or Tweet anything about our 5th, say #arachne5 as well! Ta.
(Hello all those people saying WHAT? I know, I feel the same, but we have to try to move with the times)
This is where we are having the party. Manor House Library. IN LEE SE13 5SY, not the North London Manor House!
6.30-9.30 8th September, which is the 5th anniversary of the publication of our first book, London Lies
We’ve decided to be INSIDE. No matter how lovely the day, it will be cold and dark by the time we finish!
Current line up (Not in this order):
Poems from
Jeremy Dixon (The Other Side of Sleep and Liberty Tales), Reading from both titles
Sarah Lawson (The Other Side of Sleep, A Midsummer’s Night in the Garden) reading her poem from the Midsummer event last year
Kate Foley (The Other Side of Sleep, Liberty Tales, The Don’t Touch Garden), reading from The Don’t Touch Garden
Short Stories from
Ghillian Potts (The Old Woman From Friuli, Brat) – OWFF, read by an actor
Carolyn Eden (Liberty Tales) reading from Liberty Tales
Liam Hogan (London Lies, Liberty Tales, Shortest Day Longest Night, Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed) reading from Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed
Nichol Wilmor (London Lies, Lovers’ Lies, Weird Lies), Reading from Weird Lies
Katy Darby (London Lies, Lovers’ Lies’, Liberty Tales, Shortest Day Longest Night.) reading from London Lies
Cherry Potts (London Lies, Lovers’ Lies’, Liberty Tales, Shortest Day Longest Night, Mosaic of Air, The Dowry Blade) reading from Lovers’ Lies
Music from
Ian Kennedy & Sarah Lloyd
Summer All Year Long
Get your free/ donation ticket here:
