Launching The Other Side of Sleep

When you put together an anthology, there’s a tendency to have authors all over the place, which makes choosing a venue for a launch tricky, so we decided not to bother for The Other Side of Sleep – choosing that is – and have several!

Final Cover Design for The Other Side of Sleep. Copyright Zoe Lee

Cover Design by Zoe Lee

We are kicking off in Oxford at Albion Beatnik, 34 Walton Street OX2 6AU on 30th October at 7.30  Readings from poets Alwyn Mariage, 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 with actor Peter Noble.)

The next day (1st October, 7:30) we are in 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.

And then, on 2nd October at 8pm we are in 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.

November: 8th Middlesbrough (p.a.morbid, Brian Johnstone, Adrienne Silcock, Alwyn Marriage), 15th Amsterdam (Kate Foley, Simon Brod, Robin Winckel-Mellish plus music), 19th South London (Inua Elams, Sarah Lawson, Anne Macaulay, Jeremy Dixon) more details as we finalise them; we hope to hit Scotland at some point, and will be at Keats House, Cheltenham and Swindon poetry festivals and Grange over Sands next year.

If you have a bookshop or library or other literary venue and would like some of our poets to come and read for you do get in touch!

 

 

The Story Sessions – Beastly Tales

Tiger yawning

Tales from the mouths of creatures, great and small – dogs, stoats, tigers, rats and more.

Who is really man’s best friend?

Live stories read by the authors:

Special Guest Robert Shearman (who wrote one of the top 50 Doctor Who episodes of all time), reads A Joke In Four Panels.
Liam Hogan reads Rat
Esther Saxey reads Come Back Early or Never Come
Anand Modha reads Tyger
Cath Blackfeather has had to pull out, but instead we have
David McGrath, with The Elephant in the Tower

Wednesday, 17 September 2014 from 19:00 (for 19:30) to 21:30
Cafe of Good Hope
216 Hither Green Lane
SE13 6RT

View Map

Get your ticket on EventBrite or on the door. £3

Opportunities to chat with the authors, buy books, and other delicacies we might bring along, And of course to join in with Flash from the floor – come prepared or write in the interval – 100 words fiction or poetry on the subject of animals.

Food and drink available to buy, so no need to rush your dinner.

Hope to see you there.

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: Family Tales

job 1283012 Family talesA6Wednesday 15th January  8pm

Family Tales

The Ivy House, 40 Stuart Road SE15 3BE

kipling & TrixJoining us in January we have Mary Hamer,
author of Kipling & Trix, (winner of the Virginia Prize for Fiction 2012) a novel about Rudyard Kipling and his sister.
Poets  Anne Macaulay,  Esther Poyer and Matt Bryden
and short story specialist Nicolas Ridley who also writes as Nichol Wilmor

and YOU? Join in with Flash from the Floor, 100 words of fiction or poetry on theme – write in advance (on the train on the night seems to be a popular method) or in the interval – pens and paper provided.

The Story Sessions – the first ‘Flash From the Floor’

You’ve heard of Flash Mob, you’ve heard of Flash Fiction? Well this is Flash From the Floor, where the audience is invited on stage for 100 words (about 1 minute) of on-theme fiction, (in this instance Hallowe’en) written for, or at, the event.

So here are the flash fictions created especially for our very first Story Session at Nunhead’s very own community owned pub, The Ivy House. From an audience of about 40 we got an excellent haul of nano stories, everyone agreed to their story being posted, so they are all here – all work copyright the writer-performer, actual video copyright Arachne Press Limited.

 

Videos of the headlining performers will follow shortly.

If you like the idea, join us at the Ivy House on Wednesday 13th November, for Armistice Tales, stories of War, Peace and Remembrance – with, perhaps, 100 words on the subject from you?

Peckham Literary Festival

Arachne Press is delighted to announce that we are taking part in the Peckham Literary Festival: showcasing our three Liars’ League collaborations.

Thursday 28th November 2013 at 7pm

Review Bookshop 131 Bellenden Road, Peckham, SE15 4QY

Three booksKevin Threlfall-Weird Lies cover designs 3 v3 front onlyThree stories loversliesFINALcover front onlyThree authors London Lies Cover. Image copyright Karen Keoghand three actors

come together to introduce you to new worlds hiding in the everyday. From a movie monster convention in Berlin to a “riotous assembly” on Peckham Rye, via the twin heartbreaks of love and the Olympics, professional actors breathe life into short fiction from Arachne Press’s three acclaimed anthologies of Liars’ League stories. After the readings, there will be an informal Q&A with the writers, performers and editors (Cherry Potts and Katy Darby)

Cherry Potts Misty Moon 2 Copyright John GaffenKaty Darby copyright Jon Cartwright

about what makes a short story sing, and what publishers and live events look for in fiction.

With work from  Rosalind Stopps, Alan Graham, and  David Bausor

Rosalind Brockley

Rosalind Stopps

Alan Graham

Read and performed by Nicky Diss, Rhik Samadder, and Alistair Lock

Nicky Diss

Rhik Samadder

Alistair Lock

Book your ticket here www.eventbrite.com/event/8851321541

Launching Science Fiction Stories at The Royal Observatory Spaceship not required

launch flyerTuesday 1st October The Planetarium, Royal Observatory Greenwich, SE10 9NF

Drinks in the foyer from 6.05 (building opens at 6), readings of Science Fiction stories from both Weird Lies and Mosaic of Air  from 6.45 in the Planetarium with star show.

RSVP to reserve your place, this is essential because the Observatory is in the middle of Greenwich Park, and access in the evenings is controlled and we need a guest list, and to alert you to how to get in (and more importantly out!) It’s an adventure – space suits not required, fortunately.

We will be reading:

James Smyth: Let There Be Light (read by David Mildon)

Cherry Potts: an Extract from Mosaic of Air

Andrew Lloyd-Jones ChronoCrisis3000 (read by Cliff Chapman)

Peng Shepherd Free Cake (read by Alistair Lock)

Richard Meredith The Museum of the Future (read by Henrietta Clemett)

Hope to see you there!

(Huge thanks to Marek, Rob and Ed at the Observatory for all their help setting this up, and to Sophie for the idea.)

Southwark Arts Fair photos

rosalind safBartle Sawbridge (For Your Ears Only – Lovers’ Lies) and Rosalind Stopps (The Suitcase – London Lies) reading at Southwark Arts Fair, Saturday 13th July, Hays Galleria

rosalind saf closeup bartle saf