Tag Archives: Hilda Sheehan

Ink, paints, and happy coincidences – Korky Paul at Children’s Day, Swindon Festival of Literature

12 May

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“What’s my name?” illustrator Korky Paul demands at Swindon Festival of Literature’s children’s day.

Bit of an ego trip for a kids’ event, thinks I (Chronicler Pete), as a barn full of youngsters yell back a response.

“Snorky?” retorts Korky in mock-indignation? “Snorky Snortle?” Then he draws and colours a Snorky Snortle in super-quick time, taking leads from the children as to what kind of nose (elephant), mouth (crocodile), arms, and legs (chicken) the fictional beast should have. Continue reading →

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Erotic cupcakes – Swindon Slam! in Swindon Festival of Literature

12 May

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So it was Swindon versus love tokens in the final of the 19th Swindon Slam!, on Saturday night.

Bit of a brave decision, dissing the hosting town in your bid to be crowned King of Slam. I’ll admit I quite liked Robert Garnham’s* rhyming of ‘Billie Piper’ and ‘hyper’ and comparison of Swindon to Philip Scofield. I can see where he’s coming from. But whether this counted against him or whether Tina Saderhome’s* domestic tale of love tokens was better, I’m not sure. In case you were wondering, love tokens are those things which really test a relationship – not when your spouse/daughter is kidnapped to ensure you commit a presidential assassination**, no we’re talking about leaving the toilet uncleaned after, ahem, a bowel movement: ‘I didn’t realise you’d literally leave your shit lying around’.***

And – in the bit I was there for anyway – there was *breaking news* no poetry about sex. Unless you count the erotic way cupcakes were described in one stanza, and Fozzie Bear in another (‘Wear the Hat!’). Okay, these were the two poets that slammed in the final. So, actually, if you do want to win a slam, make sure your poetry is loaded with smut.

*This spelling is probably utterly wrong.
**Sorry, been watching all eight series of 24 again.
***This is an appalling paraphrase.

Words by Louisa Davison. Photos by Calyx Pictures.

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Wildflower Story Hunt, Swindon Festival of Literature

6 May

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Or: blowing flowers up with TNT.

Following in the footsteps of one of Swindon’s eminent writers and Victorian naturalist, Richard Jefferies; Milo, Sydney and I hunted for wildflowers and their stories, planted potatoes and peas and ate cream teas. Continue reading →

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Exciting poetry coming down a slip road – Swindon Festival of Poetry launch

5 Sep

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The great thing about being a chronicler is that on the one hand I can write whatever I like (as long as it isn’t defamatory and all the words are wrote proper) but on the other I feel part of the team.

So going to the Swindon Festival of Poetry launch today at Swindon Arts Centre was a chance to catch up with wordsmithing friends. Continue reading →

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You’ve been framed – Domestic Cherry exhibition

11 May
Domestic Cherry at Artsite

Domestic Cherry at Artsite

Domestic Cherry Private View, a secret lifting of the cherry pinny or an exhibition of the brilliant art contributed to Domestic Cherry 3? Thankfully it was the latter, with Artsite Post Modern playing host to some of the artists whose work features in the annual. Poet Mira Borghs came all the way from Belgium to show her atmospheric ‘Raven’. Images were introduced as the inscrutable DC dog looked on like a particularly surly gallery assistant. Pei-Pei Lim described her process in creating ‘The Hairdresser’ with scorpion imagery and a blue tint to the subject’s skin and Declan Kelly liked letting his work speak for itself. Visual artist Jill Carter presented her two pieces, including one written in response to a poem written by Hilda Sheehan – editor of Domestic Cherry and host of the evening. Domestic Cherry goes from strength to strength each year and plans are afoot to make it even more beautiful, either by adding ermine piping to the pinny or featuring colour artwork in the next issue. Watch this space!

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Get on the blog!, say Marcus and Hilda

17 May
Marcus Moore

Marcus Moore

There’s no doubt that blogging has democratised publishing. Writers – including authors and poets – have been freed from the financial shackles of publishing their material in print, or establishing an expensive website.

During Blog Standard, writer Marcus Moore and poet Hilda Sheehan were on hand to show the audience just how easy it is to start a blog. In fact, within a few minutes of the event starting, the fledgling blog was already taking shape. Continue reading →

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