Weird Lies WINS Saboteur2014 Award for BEST ANTHOLOGY

I’m going to be spending the morning editing all references to the lovely Weird Lies on the website  to AWARD WINNING Weird Lies, because, ladies, gentleman and aliens… WE WON!!

arachne liars awards SabotageOur award, and the one won by our dear friends Liars’ League snuggle up for a proud photo.Saboteur Awards 2014 flyerA Big thank you to Sabotage Reviews for their brilliant organisation and for their reviews, and for putting on the awards in the first place.

So what does it all mean, apart from the warm glow and the little star thingy and the aforementioned editing of the website?

It means that a lot of people like what we do – the award is by public vote (THANK YOU everyone who nominated and voted for us, you are lovely, lovely people).

It might mean it’s easier to get books into bookshops, and sold – you might think that creativity is its own reward, but we all need to eat.

It might mean we get more gigs for our readings – speaking of – TONIGHT you can hear lovely Liars’ League actors Tony Bell, Silas Hawkins, Carrie Cohen, Sean Patterson, Lisa Rose and Sarah Feathers reading from AWARD WINNING* Weird Lies, and it’s equally terrific stable fellow, Lovers’ Lies, at Misty Moon, where we will also be PREVIEWING the animated trailer (by upcoming animator Nick Page) for our next book, Devilskein & Dearlove. I will say nothing more, other than it’s ACE (Misty Moon aficionados, yes that is what I mean.)

(* wondering how long it will take to get bored with typing that)

It was an excellent event, which kept the energy going all afternoon and all evening, with live readings from all sorts of poets and authors, including London Lies author and Oxford local, Emily Cleaver.Emily Cleaver reading at Sabotage

A BIG thank you to everyone I forgot to thank last night, I hadn’t written a speech, so it was very off the cuff.

And a very big thank you to all the writers, in AWARD WINNING Weird Lies and all the other books, you are all brilliant.

And an especially big thank you to Alix, who turns out for almost every live event and does front-of-house so brilliantly. For someone who said she didn’t want to be involved, she does an epic amount, and it wouldn’t happen without her.

 

The Story Sessions – Video of Feminist Fables and Folk Tales

Here are some video snippets of last night’s Story Sessions, feminist folk tales for international women’s day. (Yes, I do know it was Saturday, I’m a woman ALL year…).

So here we go:

Cherry Potts reading from The Bone Box

Catherine Blackfeather reading from Sleeping Beauty and the Gnome

Anny Knight returning to join in with Flash from the Floor

Carrie Cohen reading in for Emily Cleaver (who was moving house so couldn’t come) with The Frog

and Jelena Ćurčić, reading from The Maiden who was Faster than a Horse

There was definitely a theme for the evening of clever girls outwitting people who thought they knew better.

(for reason’s known only to techies, this videos don’t always play in internet explorer – if you have problems, try Mozilla Firefox instead.)

The Story Sessions is taking a break for April. We’ll keep you posted when and where we are next, but we are lining up more themes: Science Fiction, Journeys, and Beasties. If you would like to read for us to any of those themes get in touch – it doesn’t have to be new work, just yours. Perfectly happy for you to promote a book or whatever.

If you are a venue and would like to host us, get in touch!

The Story Sessions: Feminist Fables and Folk Tales for International Women’s Day

jobno 1295732 Folk Tales flyerWednesday  12th March  Feminist Fables and Folk Tales: international women’s day tie in feminist retellings of folk tales, or new stories in the folk style. Sisters Grimm… featuring Cath Blackfeather’s take on Sleeping Beauty, Cherry PottsThe Bone Box, Emily Cleaver on The Frog, Jelena Ćurčić with a couple of Serbian folk tales.

Because folk tales tend to ramble, if you want to join in for Flash from the Floor, you can have a whole 200 words this month!

7.45 for 8pm, The Ivy House, Stuart Road, SE15 3BE

The Story Sessions is taking a break for April, but will be back in May, possibly at a new venue – watch this space.

Writing Ambitions – three days to go on Kickstarter funding bid

Just thought I’d mention, its three days almost exactly until time runs out on our funding bid. If you’d like to support us, please take a look at the pitch – you can have a laugh at me and Katy being distracted by every butterfly that flew past, and remaining oblivious of the trains roaring by at the bottom of the garden – one of the few decent patches of sun so far this ‘Summer’, a bit like today.

And in the meantime, watch a whole bunch of Arachne authors talk about their writing ambitions…

© Arachne Press 2013

Arachne Authors talk about writing habits 2

Paula Read and Jacqueline Downs like to be in motion

Emily Cleaver writes when her child is asleep

Wendy Gill would like a greenhouse!

Lennart Lundh loves his computer, Michelle Shine loves her writing group

more arachne authors on the writers who inspire and influence them

Stations and London Lies contributors tell us about the writers they admire

Wendy Gill, Michael Trimmer, Ellie Stewart, Emily Cleaver

Peter Morgan and Jacqueline Downs

LSE Branching out Festival part 3

Part 3 of our LSE Space for Thought Branching Out festival work.

We collaborated with Summer All Year Long, our singing friends to match songs and stories to the themes being explored by the festival.

This section is Oral Tradition and Human Rights. We didn’t have a story for human rights, so SAYL came up with a song that is both Oral Tradition in that it is a traditional folk tune, and uses all the tropes of repetition you might expect from a folk song, and a Human Rights theme as it is also known a The Maid Saved From the Gallows, though we know it by the snappier, The Prickle-eye Bush.

We continued the Oral Tradition theme with Emily Cleaver’s retelling of the Frog Prince, The Frog, which also uses repetition, (purflop, purflop) to rather sinister effect; magnificently read by Will Everett. We finished up with Sophie Morris-Sheppard reading Rebecca Gould’s Speaking in Tongues, about lying, and learning love in a foreign language, which just seemed to fit somehow.

Up-coming Lovers’ Lies events

I’ve been having fun graffiti-ing the cover of Lovers’ Lies for the poster for our reading at Wood Green on 28th February. It shows what a versatile design it is.

Lovers Lies Wood Green reading

Lovers Lies Wood Green reading original image copyright Annie Rickard Straus

 

Join us at 6 pm (come straight from work!) for a brief tour of the book – 5 stories in an hour – well, segments of stories perhaps.

Then of course we have our all singing all dancing outing to London School of Economics Branch Out Space for Thought Festival on Saturday 2nd March, which is actually showcasing all three books, where actors Gloria Sanders, Will Everett, Sophie Morris Sheppard, Greg Page, Jo Widdowson, Ray Newe,  and Lisa Rose will be reading from stories by Cherry Potts, Emily Cleaver, Bartle Sawbridge, Martin Pengelly, Rebecca Gould and Rob Walton; and are joined by Summer All Year Long (who are doing the singing – there isn’t really dancing).

And a bit of new news:

Bobbie Darbyshire will be reading from her story Something Missing at Booked event Words & Music #2 for  Women’s History Month.

BOOKED pster fro 17/3/2013

BOOKED poster for 17/3/2013

Arachne Press at Branching Out LSE Space for Thought Literature Festival 2013

LiteraryFestivalBannerLSE Space for Thought Festival 2013: Branching Out runs from Tuesday 26th until Saturday 2nd March, and everything is FREE (Including a workshop from Katy Darby on Saturday morning)!

On Saturday 2nd March Arachne Press will be providing entertainment in the foyer between the main events in the auditorium. We are going for a Liars’ League style with readings by actors, and have chosen stories from all three books to  fit the themes of the other events. Each section will be introduced by a very brief burst of (equally appropriate) song from our friends Summer All Year Long to draw attention!

Literary-fes12.30-1 (oral tradition/ human rights) Frog (Emily CleaverLondon Lies) read by Will Everett and Speaking in Tongues (Rebecca GouldLovers’ Lies) read by Sophie Morris-Sheppard

2.30-3    (Conflict/poetry/art/politics) Mirror (Cherry PottsLovers’ Lies) read by Will Everett and Rich & Strange –extract (Bartle Sawbridge – Stations) read by Greg Page.

4.30-5 (food fashions/landscape/nature) Monsieur Fromage (Rosalind StoppsLovers’ Lies), read by Jo Widdowson Birdland (Joan Taylor-RowanStations) read by Gloria Sanders

6.30-7 (art curating/ comedy) Girl with Palmettes (Martin PengellyLondon Lies) read by Lisa Rose  Lenny Bolton Changes Trains (Rob WaltonStations) read by Ray Newe

Arachne Press Authors talk about what they did before they met us

Of course we’d like to think the most significant relationship our authors have is with us as their publisher, but they do have histories…

find out what they got up to – in their writing,