Leeds Print Festival 2012

Last week, myself and Nick - collectively The Print Project - did 'some stuff' for the Leeds Print Festival 2012. Nick had worked really hard letterpressing their invites and talk tickets, and we had prepared some live printing demos for the opening on Friday night, as well as a stall for the fair on the Saturday.

It was an excellent weekend and our thanks must go to Amber and Aran for organising the whole thing. It was a really intelligently programmed weekend, and the exhibits and stalls all were superb.

Those of you who couldn't make it might be interested to see the pics in the Storify collection I curated below. The pics and links are from various twitters, instagram accounts and wordpress accounts. Enjoy!

More letterpress!

Fictions of Every Kind: Missing is on Tuesday May 24th. Our invited speakers are Gareth Durasow, a controversial poet with a strong West Yorkshire sensibility who collaborates with the audience to create a truly unique spoken word experience that alternates between the disarmingly endearing, the riotously funny and the blisteringly intense; and Phil Kirby, writer in residence at Temple Works, Leeds.

The music at May's event will come from long-time DIY improvisatory stalwarts, 7 Hertz. You may recognise them from former and other music projects including Madame Laycock and her Dabeno Pleasures, and Maquipacuna.

As ever, there's a writers' open mic at the start of the night, so get down early to sign up! The night starts at 7.30, and entry is £3.

Fictions of Every Kind: procrastination

Flier typeset and designed by Sarah Bradley. Photo by Nick of The Print Project.

We all do it. Don't pretend you don't. Whether it's cleaning the house or perfecting your golf swing, every single writer has his or her very own perfected procrastination method. A writer can sit down in front of her computer, only to find three hours later that the house is mysteriously meticulously clean, the cat bathed and brushed, the windows washed inside and out, and there's a quiche baking in the oven. How did that happen? The sink and the bath are gleaming, and she still hasn't written a single word.

The theme of July's Fictions of Every Kind will be 'Procrastination'. It's a theme that strikes a deep chord in the heart of every writer. It's unlikely anybody will learn anything new by attending. Most writers could probably write a book on the subject, if only they could get started. (Curiously, the most popular 'words of encouragement' card is the one that reads, "Bloody get on with it". Now what does that tell us?)

Fictions of Every Kind: Procrastination is on Tuesday July 5th from 7.30pm - 9.30pm in The Leeds Library, a 'secret library' on 18 Commercial Street, accessible by a recessed doorway across the road from LUSH. Instead of invited speakers, we'll be showing a selection of short films around the theme. As usual, there will be chance for writers to share their work at an open mic. Entry is free, and there will be boxed wine and popcorn - donations towards the costs of these will be welcomed!

We have some rather marvellous films to show in a range of styles: animation, documentary, comedy, and the abstract, all around the theme. As usual it promises to be a thought-provoking evening, and we look forward to meeting you there!

Click here to go to the facebook event page

Fictions of Every Kind on facebook

Fictions of every kind: the future!

Last Monday, the Fictions of Every Kind collective got together in the pub to discuss future events for the rest of the year. Little of the conversation went over to 'business', naturally. We were in the presence of real ale, and so at several points the conversation veered off variously, into: the summer festival circuit; what it would have been like working in the same post office as Charles Bukowski; and whether or not you look for potential exits in case of zombie apocalypse in every new place you visit. Apparently I am the only one in the collective who doesn't look for zombie-proof exits everywhere she goes. Still, at least it means I won't have to live out my days terrified in the top floor of a shopping mall, while the undead shuffle around in front of the shop windows, their flesh dripping from their bones in synchronicity with the piped music.

During the course of the afternoon, talk turned to 'Fictions of Every Kind', and what gives our night its personality. At the time we were talking about the kind of invited speakers we like to have. Over the past few months we've had some great writers speaking. The performances have ranged from literary fiction to horror, and science fiction to hip-hop poetry. So far we've been able to welcome a diverse range of speakers to our night, without ever losing the personality and soul of what we do, and long may that continue.

For us, ownership is important. In a very real sense, the people who come to Fictions of Every Kind are what define it and give it its personality. With help from Sam Francis, I originally started Fictions... because I know that writing is a lonely business. It's easy to lose perspective on what you do, and to not know whether or not what you're doing is any good. With that in mind, I wanted to start a night where writers could meet other writers, and gain support and encouragement from one another.

The way that we do things is important too. Sam & I both have a background in the punk rock & DIY music scene in Leeds, and we were keen that Fictions... should have the same kind of ethos. Therefore, involvement in Fictions... isn't a route to 'bigger' things. The aim of the night is never going to be to help 'launch' writers, or to make money. Although writers who speak are welcome to sell and promote their books - hell, they have to, because we can't pay them a lot to appear - we want to promote the idea that all writers are equal. Whether you've sold a million books, or whether you have a stack of unpublished, unagented novels in your desk drawer, the struggles you face as a writer are the same. Writers of all persuasions have the same 'dark times', and we all ask ourselves the same questions: "Is anybody ever going to want to read this?"; "Is what I'm doing really any good?"; "Why have I spent six hours cleaning the house instead of sitting in front of my computer, looking at a blinking cursor and an accusingly blank Word document?"

So the aim of Fictions... is simple. It exists to bring writers and writers together; to give us support and encouragement, and inspiration to get us back to work again. A combination of conversation and performances serves to break writers out of the dark spiral of neurotically-driven writers' block we all sometimes get sucked into. Sometimes its hard to speak to people about what we do, and a lot of the regular Fictions... community have found it almost mind-blowing to be in a room full of other writers. At last, we can find our counterparts, the people who understand how difficult it can be to be a writer.

I'm glad to say that out of the afternoon's meeting came some very exciting ideas for the next few months. Until we've got everything planned and firmed up, I wouldn't like to go revealing anything for fear of the others attacking me with an axe. I will say, though, that I think the next few months are going to be fun. And that we hope to see you there....

Letterpress errors [ " Letterprerrors " ]

Regular readers of my blog might know that I've been learning to Letterpress over the past few months. Letterpress printing is an old technique which involves setting lines of metal type, putting them in a printing press, and then imprinting and inking the whole shebang onto paper. It produces beautiful results quite unlike any other - the metal type often leaves a slight imprint into the paper, so that you can 'feel' the text with your hands. It's a lengthy and laborious process that used to form the mainstay of printing, but with the advent of computers, has fallen into disuse. These days it is mainly used by enthusiasts and diehards, and wordy nerds like me.

Currently I'm in the process of setting and printing a short story I wrote last year entitled 'A Stranger Came'. Letterpress seemed to be the ideal way to present this story - I'm doing a short run of about 90, which I will then bind myself once all the pages are printed. I expect the books to be finished some time in early May.

It's been an interesting few months, and I've learned loads. Here, in this blog post, I'm going to post a few of the mistakes I've made while printing, so that you can avoid making the same mistakes yourself - if you're going to try and operate a printing press, that is.

This is what happens when your lovely, expensive paper falls off the press and into the rollers.



And this is what happens when skin from the ink gets onto your typeset.



This is what happens when you don't line the paper up properly....



...and this is what it looks like when you do it right.



Currently reading

A Mercy Toni Morrison
The Hell of it All Charlie Brooker
Travels in the Scriptorium Paul Auster