Liberty Tales Lewisham videos

Video

Welcome to the Liberty Tales Lewisham videos (yes, I got the video to work!), not posted until now because I was too busy doing other events!

so here are:

David Mathews Border Country

Jim Cogan Lag

Cherry Potts Knitting for Demons

Liam Hogan The King’s Computer

Incidentally, each time I post a snippet of video or audio, it will be a different pieces, so you can search around for more of the piece without repetition.

On which subject TODAY at 5pm, you can catch Katy Darby, Cassandra Passarelli, Liam Hogan and Carolyn Eden reading at Housmans, 5 Caledonian Road, N1 9DX from 5pm, and if you buy a book they’ll sign it for you.

Oxford and Lewisham Liberties

copx4938 dzwp9631 hhjs1295 rkcd9549 urch7729 Here we all are having a rollicking good time at Albion Beatnik in Oxford. There was a bit of discussion about the correct pronunciation of ‘C’ in Latin , and there was apparently a bona fide Classics teacher in the audience, so only one author was brave enough to read their Magna Carta clause in the original.

Here’s some snippets of video (yay! got the video to work!) to whet your appetite for TONIGHT’s event in Lewisham.

Liberty Tales on Tour – Oxford

Thanks to a grant from the Arts Council we are able to take Liberty Tales a little bit further than we have taken some of our books, and we will be visiting Oxford, Colchester, Newcastle and Bath, as well as several dates nearer home in London.

So first up:

OXFORD!

Join us on Friday 18th November at 7.30, at Albion Beatnik Walton Street Oxford OX2 6AA for some Magna Carta inspired readings.

Stories from Jim Cogan, Carolyn Eden, Katy Darby,  Nick Rawlinson,  Poems from Bernie Howley, Elinor Brooks, Jeremy Dixon. Explore an unusual Gaudy Night, fish weirs, walking out, when it safer to appear witless, finding yourself in San Francisco, religious intolerance, and exactly what the value of a passport really is.

carrie-cohen-0113Elinor BrooksJeremy Dixonbernadette howley

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Reviewers wanted! Liberty Tales

Liberty Tales is up on NetGalley for any professional and blogger reviewers, libraries and bookshops. Magazines etc who would like hard copies please contact us.

Due to be published on 17th November 2016, Liberty Tales will be launched with readings and good cheer at West Greenwich Library on the 17th, at 7.30. Everybody welcome.

Cotton Augustus II.106

Liberty Tales at the printers

It’s all go at Arachne Towers, we’ve just finalised the choice of stories and poems for the Shortest Day part of Shortest Day, Longest Night; Outcome will be at the distributors on Monday, we’ve got writers workshops today and tomorrow, and Liberty Tales, our response to all things Magna Carta shaped, has just gone to the printers, ready for launch in Short Story Week on 17th November.

The complete line up for Liberty Tales (and an exciting, eccentric and eclectic thing it is too) is:

Lag: Jim CoganCotton Augustus II.106
Free White Towel: Carolyn Eden
Bothered: Sarah Evans
The Poppies: Helen Morris
Stopped by a Busker: Owen Townend
Into The Blue: Nick Rawlinson
The King’s Computer: Liam Hogan
Jail Break: Kate Foley
Cena: Peter DeVille
Girl in a Suitcase: Cassandra Passarelli
The King and The Light: David Guy
Dog’s Life: Alison Lock
Border Country: David Mathews
Knitting for Demons: Cherry Potts
Liberty: Andrew Callum
Wigtown Bay 1685: Elinor Brooks
The Fool’s Tale: Katy Darby
Tabernacle Lane: Jeremy Dixon
Flax, San Francisco: Jeremy Dixon
Pearls Over Shanghai: Jeremy Dixon
Character Study: Katy Darby
Fruit of the Sea: Anna Fodorova
Witchburning: Richard Smyth
The Branded Hand: Brian Johnstone
Black & White: Brian Johnstone
The Privilege of Departure: Bernie Howley

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National Poetry Day

As it is National Poetry Day I thought it a good moment to give a round-up of all things poetical on the Arachne front: so first up some EVENTS:

Kate Foley reads the long narrative poem The Don’t Touch Garden from her about-to-be-published book of that title with integral music from Sylvia Fairley and Valerie Shelley.
9th October 7.30pm
Woodbridge Library
New Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1DT
Tickets £3 (including a glass of wine) Available at the library counter

Buy The Don’t Touch Garden Now

Tuesday 13th October 6.30pm-ish Kate is being interviewed on Resonance FM’s Out in South London Programme, and will be available on podcast subsequently.

Resonance FM

Wednesday 14th October 7pm, Kate Foley will be reading alongside Gerry Potter at Incite poetry, showcasing her more identity orientated poems.
We’ll be there to cheer her on and sell copies of The Don’t Touch Garden and The Other Side of Sleep so if a signed copy appeals, you know where to come…
Free!
The Phoenix Artist Club
1 Phoenix Street (Beneath the Phoenix theatre on Charing Cross Road)
London
WC2H 8BU
(nearest functioning tube Leicester Square or Covent Garden)

Incite Poetry

Some News:

What have our POETS been up to?

Part of the ethos of Arachne Press is to celebrate our authors and poets even when they do something with a different publisher.
So here’s a quick round-up of what they’ve been doing (that we know about, anyway).

Cathy Bryant has just launched her first historical mystery novel Pride & Regicide, a Mary Bennett novel (yes, that Mary Bennett)
Geraldine Green has been combining being writer in residence at Brantwood in Cumbria with a poetry tour of America.
j.lewis has had literally dozens of poems published since his early outing with us with Grass was Taller in The Other Side of Sleep.
Jennifer A McGowan had some good news – but can’t say what until mid-October. Hmm… intriguing.
Kate Foley was runner-up in the Proms poetry competition and had her poem read by the marvellous Carolyn Pickles on Radio 3. The link here is good for a week or so still I think.
Adrienne Silcock‘s poetry pamphlet “Taking Responsibility for the Moon” was published October 2014 and she has been reading from it hither and thither as well as “Rhythms” from The Other side of Sleep. She has just started tutoring creative writing for York University Centre for Lifelong Learning, on a part-time basis,and has instigated a small informal poetry group in Whitby.

Sarah Lawson has translated an exceptionally interesting book The Strength to Say No (La force de dire non) written by Rekha Kalindi with the help of French journalist Mouhssine Ennaimi. Rekha is a  Bengali girl who refused to get married at the age of 11.  . Peter Owen published Sarah’s translation from French in June here, and now it has come out in India with Penguin Viking,

A chance to join in…

Call out still live for Longest Night for the next couple of weeks – poems or short stories for performance on the winter solstice, ( a mini Solstice Shorts event) and maybe an anthology.

Deadline: 21st October 2015 23:59.

And continued call out for the Liberty Tales anthology, on the subject of liberty and or the Magna Carta.

Deadline: 21st December 2015 23:59.

Entry open now via our Submittable Account Sharpen you quills.

Liberty Tales video part 2

Well I managed to rescue most of the video from its meltdown.

Here is Louisa Gummer reading Helen Morris’ story of liberation in time of war, The Poppies

and Liam Hogan reading about imprisonment and release in his story The King’s Computer

And finally, audio only for Carolyn Eden’s Promotional Samples read by her alter ego, Carrie Cohen – but you get all of it and some music to introduce it to make up for missing the pictures.

Liberty Tales Video

Magna Carta was well and truly celebrated in Greenwich last night, with a substantial and enthusiastic audience, vigorous singing and fine readings.

I don’t know whether it was a comment on the standard of stories, reading and singing but the video camera overheated last night. As a result I am gradually piecing together our records, from recovered video, audio files and other people’s video (Liam, thank you.)

So the beautifully crafted links between stories and songs aren’t quite as neat as I’d hoped. Here’s as far as I’ve got:

Jim Cogan reading his story Lag

Stuart Crossman reading Nick Rawlinson’s Into the Blue

and Owen Townend’s Stopped by a Busker

Carrie Cohen reading Sarah Evans’ Bothered

Summer All Year Long singing fit to bust, a number of songs, listed on the video apart from the title and credit ones which are The Almanack by Richard Brown, and Step by Step by the wonderful Anon. Thanks to everyone who gave up their time to read and sing it was very definitely worth it!

More tomorrow, when I’ve worked out why the sound and pictures on Liam’s video won’t sync.

Liberty Tales coming up

7pm 18th June 2015

West Greenwich Library, Greenwich High Road, SE10 8NN

Cotton Augustus II.106When we first had the idea for Liberty Tales, (chance meeting at Canada Water Station, it’s a long story) we thought we would be celebrating 800 years of Magna Carta, with, perhaps some historical fiction, and some rousing songs

Well, no, not exactly.

That’s the fun of an open call, you get what you get; and what we got in response to the call out for stories about Liberty, was mostly about living outside the system, and self-expression and choice; and the songs have turned out to be about making things work by not judging others, and working together to get the bright fair future, although they fit surprisingly well with the stories – you’d almost think we planned it!

So we’ve called in some favours to vary the flavour, and now have a rather bleak piece of fantasy, and a story about very much being IN the system…

Our  line up of stories are from:

Liam Hogan The King’s Computer

Carolyn Eden (aka Carrie Cohen, when she reads for us) Promotional Samples of London Town

Jim Cogan Lag

Helen Morris Poppies (read by Carrie Cohen)

Nick Rawlinson Into the Blue (read by Stuart Crossman)

Sarah Evans Bothered (read by Carrie Cohen)

Owen Townend Stopped by a Busker (read by Stuart Crossman)

Thanks to our friends at Better Libraries for hosting us!

Call Out for submissions – Liberty Tales UPDATED

However we didn’t get a vast number of stories so we shelved the idea of an anthology. But it’s still a good idea, so we’ve reopened the call out

You can see video of the event here and here.

The CALL OUT:

Stories or poems, which can either be to the general theme of Liberty, or can address a specific clause of the Magna Carta. Find out what they are here. There are plenty of weird ones to play with as well as the more obvious.

  • We do NOT want stories about the opposites of Liberty, it’s a celebration, so no matter how tempted you are by dwelling on the iniquity of false imprisonment, restrain yourself. Light & Shade, you know?
  • Story Length: 800-2000 words.
  • any fiction genre (except erotica or horror. We don’t publish it and don’t want to read it), although we’d enjoy some convincing historical stuff.
  • Yes, it can be a poem. (hello Kate).
  • No, it can’t be an essay, memoir or other non-fiction.
  • Your own original work, UNPUBLISHED* and in English please. Submissions welcome from anywhere in the world.

*If it has been performed that may be ok, also if it is out of print, so long as you retain the rights.

Deadline 21st December 2015.

Entry via our Submittable Account Sharpen you quills.