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Death of a comedian at standup event

14 May
Nat Luurtsema

Nat Luurtsema

I’ve never seen a comedian die on stage before last night. It wasn’t pleasant, and it’s something I’d rather never see again.

Putting on an alternative standup comedy night as part of the Swindon Festival of Literature wasn’t, in itself, such a far-out idea. The festival has a proud history of showcasing comedic talent: Julian Clary in 2009, Milton Jones in 2010, Harry Hill in 2011, Alex Horne last week…

This was a new venture though – little known comedians performing club-style routines, as opposed to household names talking about their books, and cracking some gags along the way. Continue reading →

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Well cool and wicked wildlife

13 May
Hugh Warwick at the Lower Shaw Family Fun Day, a Swindon Festival of Literature event

Hugh Warwick at the Lower Shaw Family Fun Day, a Swindon Festival of Literature event

I wonder if there’s any point during my life at which I’ll stop thinking ‘cooool’ when someone tells me something, well, cool?

Hugh Warwick’s Swindon Festival of Literature talk about his new book, The Beauty in the Beast, is pitched at an aged 10-plus audience, by which I assume the organisers mean 10, and those whose appreciation of what constitutes cool has failed to mature past the level of, say, your average Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Continue reading →

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Tribes author gives budding writers a boost

13 May

T M Alexander at Lower Shaw Family Fun Day, a Swindon Festival of Literature event

Children love stories, and love writing stories to entertain themselves and others. But how do you get primary school aged children thinking about plot and characterisation?

And at the Lower Shaw Family Fun Day, a Swindon Festival of Literature event, T M Alexander – author of the Tribes series, a kind of Famous Five for the new millennium – was on hand to take budding young authors through the creative stages of writing their own story. Continue reading →

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Heated debate at Swindon Poetry Sunday

13 May

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 There are many sides to that thing we call ‘poetry’.

There’s the performance poetry of the Slam!. The poetry of the nursery rhyme. The poetry of hip hop and the singer-songwriter, the folk singer, the hymn. The limerick, the nonsense poem, the psalm, the sonnet and the haiku. Poetry of strict form and poetry of tradition. The poetry of the streets and the poetry of abstract concepts.

Some people don’t call themselves poets. They label themselves spoken word performers, slammers, MCs and lyricists. Continue reading →

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Chickens win the 16th Swindon Slam!

13 May

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Today I witnessed a poetry slam for the first time. I’ve been aware of them for about 13 years, so it was about time I got my finger out and went to one.

But what a great performance! Seasoned hosts Sarah-Jane Arbury and Marcus Moore have been doing this a long time – Swindon’s is the second longest running in the UK – but both are as fresh as a daisy, warming up the audience with an introductory clap along to Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff. Continue reading →

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Toothill Long Poem

13 May

Disappointed I didn’t get to see / hear this one.

I spoke to organiser Hilda Sheehan (as herself this time, not Domestic Cherry Mabel) in between FLIT 180 and Swindon Slam! and she was very pleased with how the world premiere of the Toothill Long Poem turned out. Continue reading →

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FLIT – the results

13 May
FLIT 180

FLIT 180 – organisers Karen Griffiths, Hilary McGinty, Daniel Golton

Long books turned into short films? What would young filmmakers make of them?

This inaugural FLIT 180 film competition screened four films of three minutes each, with their starting point a piece of literature. The winning piece ‘The Man and the Serpent’ was a twist on Aesop’s Fables. In second place, was THAT teen fave, Twilight, followed by Michael Murpurgo’s Conker and The Open Window.

Competition organisers, Karen Griffths and students Hilary McGinty and Daniel Golton have been meeting together in a Highworth-based reading group. A keen filmmaker already, Daniel suggested they combine the two loves into a competition for young people.

I asked of Daniel and Hilary what were their favourite books, ‘anything by Tolkein’ said Daniel, and ‘Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss said Hilary. Ahh fantasy fans after my own heart! I’ve only just finished Name of the Wind myself, great book.

And, by the way, here’s the film that won Daniel the film of the month on Filmnation:

http://www.filmnation.org.uk/watch/film/just-game

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The poetry of battered moons

12 May

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Swindon’s poetry competition, just turned national, attracted 300 entries. And has a great title.

Winners and commendeds came from across the country to the celebratory event at the Swindon Festival of Literature last night, held at the Swindon Art Gallery and Museum. It was judged and special guested by well-regarded poet Michael Symmons Roberts, with lovely Spanish guitaring by Robert Jacks and uplifting songs by Serene Boulton…

But…

It was all just a bit, well, quiet.

I don’t know. I like a bit of showbiz. Not the silly extremes of vote-athons like X Factor where they take 5 minutes and an ad break to reveal the winners. But, more of a performance. More anticipation. More excitement. Continue reading →

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When did you stop dancing?

12 May

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Yesterday at Swindon Festival of Literature began with a sleep at the Mark Williams Mindfulness events.

Now before you start thinking badly of Mark Williams, I’ll quickly explain that he led the Swindon Arts Centre audience in a meditation or ‘body scan’. Continue reading →

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Are you there?

10 May

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Are you there? Good.

So I went to Alex Horne’s Word Watching at the Swindon Festival of Literature last night, a tad concerned it might be a bit Radio 4, you know, cosy in a Louis Theroux sort of way. And yes, I guess it was. No agit-comic Mark Thomas-style clashes with authority or Frankie Boyle controversy for Alex.

That’s not to say he didn’t get some sound tellings-off. During his quest to get an Alex-original (or rather: re-appropriated) word into the Oxford English dictionary he was nearly banned from Wikipedia for repeatedly changing Natasha Kaplinski’s entry to describe her height as 6’2” tall and removing all references to ‘hands’ and replacing them with new word ‘paddles’. And his knuckles were virtually rapped via email by Only Connect presenter Victoria Coren for being responsible for a deluge of emails to the BBC which insisted that ‘honk’ is a bona fide word for ‘cash’. Continue reading →

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