It’s Twelfth Night, the official end to the festive season, so to mark the occasion here are all the videos from the London session of the Solstice Shorts Festival
Performers Marika Josef and Michelle Penn will read their own poems, and the excellent Carrie Cohen and Grace Cookey-Gam will be helping us out with work by authors who can’t be there in person.
A collection of work from writers all over the world, and both sides of the conflict.
The brief was ‘no trenches’ and for the stories and poems to address, grief, relief and hope not vengeance, hatred or triumphalism. We were deeply moved and impressed by what we were sent, and picking the best of those for this book has been a particular pleasure.
You can order the book from us direct in our web shop (post free), or come to one of the launches –
Three launch events for An Outbreak of Peace
LONDON! Housmans 14th November
The official publication date for this anthology of new short stories and poems in response to the end of WWI, An Outbreak of Peace is the 8th November, but we are having the launch party on
There will also be a poppy-seed cake, and other, liquid, refreshments.
£3 on the door, redeemable against purchase of the book. (It would help our pre-event nerves if you let us know you are coming)
Manchester! Blackwells 30th November
As our authors are spread all over the globe, we are trying to give as many of them as possible an opportunity to celebrate the launch in person. We can’t afford to jaunt off to the US and Australia, or even Germany or France, but we can manage Manchester!
Northern fans of poetry and short fiction are invited to join us at Blackwells, Manchester. Near Arthur Lewis Building, The University of Manchester Bridgeford Street, M13 9PL
You can pre-order a copy direct from us NOW, we should have our advance copies by the end of next week, or early the following week, for those of you who can’t wait.
We are short listing the songs received for Dusk, and because of the geographical element we are short of songs for the following areas: Inverness, Birmingham, Lancaster, Rossendale, Nottingham, Redruth, possibly London, possibly Barnstaple.
So if anyone is, or knows a singer/songwriter, or a folk singer or a community choir, in those areas who might have a suitable traditional or original song in their repertoire, please alert them to our need!
for reading, signed copies of the book and discussion,
Free!
The Dowry Blade is a lesbian epic fantasy of the strength and limitations of love and loyalty in a time of war and danger: between friends, lovers, kin, strangers– and enemies.
The Story Sessions are back – for a guest spot, maybe for good, depending… We are doing three events for BrockleyMAX. The first two are both on Saturday 30th May The Ladywell Gallery, (what used to be Misty Moon) behind The Ladywell Tavern 80 Ladywell Road SE13 7HS
Writing Workshop – Festival
5pm – 7pm Free; accompanied children over 10 welcome
Arachne Press presents a writing workshop on the theme of Festival. Get inspiration from the exhibition of photographs from previous BrockleyMAX festivals and write a new short story or poem, with the option to read it at The Story Sessions event in the evening.
7.30pm – 9.30pm Free; accompanied children welcome
A live literature event with stories from Joan Taylor-Rowan and David Bausor, poems from Elinor Brooks (read by actor Miriam Lee) and Jennifer A McGowan on a festival theme. Circuses, Street parties and more. Join in with Flash from the Floor – your chance to read your own festival piece (max 100 words).
And finally, on Thursday 4th June at Brockley Deli 14a Brockley Cross, SE4 1BE
The Story Sessions: Feast Tales
8pm – 9pm Free entry; accompanied children 10+ welcome
Join us for a story set in a cheese shop, Cranberry Sauce as an excuse for an illicit meeting, trying to win friends with cookies and taking tea with a demon, plus poems about oranges and bay leaves! Order appropriate food to ‘taste-along’.
The Other Side of Sleep is well and truly launched – Oxford on Tuesday, London yesterday, and Brighton tonight. I’ll keep it brief got to get packed up – come to Bom-Bane’s Cafe George Street Brighton (not Hove, actually, in this case) tonight 8pm (IT’s NATIONAL POETRY DAY) for poems by Elinor Brooks, Jill Sharp, j.lewis, Andrew McCallum, and Sam Small read by Elinor, Jonathan Rice and Kevin Cherry. Plus music from Jane Bom-Bane.
In the meantime compare and contrast two readings of Orion by Simon Brod, the first half from last night at Lauderdale House, the second from Tuesday at Albion Beatnik. We had a great time at both and look forward to a tremendous evening in Brighton.
The Other Side of Sleep is available from all the best bookshops and direct from us of course, via our partners Inpress, or at the multitude of launches around the country over the next few months. Do come along to any of them, but please let us know you are coming for the London one as we want to know how much wine to get! (use the contact us page)
30th October 7.30: Oxford at Albion Beatnik, 34 Walton Street OX2 6AU on Readings from poets Alwyn Marriage, Angela France, Elinor Brooks, Jennifer A McGowan, Jill Sharp, Kate Foley, and Simon Brod. (this is combined with an earlier reading at 6, from our young adult novel, Devilskein & Dearlove.)
1st October, 7:30: North London at Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park, Highgate Hill N6, which is combined with an art exhibition by our cover artists, much more information about this one here.
2nd October, 8pm: Brighton at Bom-Bane’s cafe 24 George St, Brighton BN2 1RH. with readings from Elinor Brooks and Jill Sharp, who are joined by actors Kevin Cherry and Jonathan Rice, reading for our more far-flung poets.
In November we move on to South London and Middlesbrough, and we are still looking for a Scottish gig, if anyone can suggest somewhere?
