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
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
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
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
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
Swindon Festival of Literature launch. Photo by Festival Chronicler
So I’ve just agreed to do this crazy thing.
Report on twenty-nine literature events in twelve days.
That’s twenty-nine sparklingly written accounts, plus any other back stage gossip and thoughts and feelings I can find, complete with illustrative photos, on this year’s Swindon Festival of Literature as the *trumpets herald* first ever Official Festival Chronicler. Continue reading
The last event in my excursion to Cheltenham Festival of Literature event was Poetry and all that Jazz, Slak Bar, night time.
After Mab Jones’ collective came five poetic performers. In the end, I sat on a bar stool in Slak for over five hours. Not good for the back but sure beats a night in with the TV, especially as mine doesn’t work. Continue reading
More from Cheltenham Poetry Festival: Mab Jones and her Welsh Rare-bits, Slak late night bar, yesterday teatime.
What a fab poetry collective. Nothing to link them together except living in Cardiff, and a passion for poetry. Different poetry, different politics (poetic rants about cycling on the pavement v ‘if Wales was a face I’d spray it with mace’), different ages / looks.
Each poet had their own personal audience member – which meant we were duty bound to buy Mab’s home-printed anthology so they could afford the petrol home. £3 well spent though. Continue reading
Festival Chronicle 