A busy Autumn...

I've got a busy Autumn in the works: I'm teaching, talking, and appearing all over the shop, it seems. This October marks the launch of the Liminal Residency Alton Towers book, and I'll also be appearing at Morecambe & Vice Crime Festival, talking about organising small festivals in the North of England. Most exciting of all, I'll be speaking to the legendary David Constantine, one of the country's greatest living short story writers, and introducing his new collection The Dressing-Up Box, at Halifax Square Chapel.

September 23rd. An Evening With David Constantine. Square Chapel, Halifax. £5.
An evening celebrating a new collection of stories by David Constantine, the author of the short story behind the Oscar-nominated film 45 YEARS, who has been hailed as one of the greatest writers of the short story form. David has previously been awarded the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award. Tickets here.

Sunday September 29th. A Festival Of Festivals, Morecambe & Vice, The Midland Hotel, 9.30 am.
"Festival organisers discuss what led them to partake in such insanity", it says here. Full programme for the M&V weekend here. 

Saturday October 5th. Alton Towers Liminal Resident Book Launch, North Stafford Hotel, Stoke.
Encompassing a waterpark, two hotels, an 'extraordinary' golf course, and a range of peripheral attractions, Alton Towers is the oldest theme park in the UK. This is the launch of the resulting 90-page book from our writing residency at Alton Towers, and features work by Julia Deakins, Claire Fuller, Gaynor Jones, Alison Powell, Eloise CC Shephard, and Krishan Coupland. Book tickets here.

Saturday October 26th. Write A Horror Story in An Hour at FRIGHTFEST, The Leeds Library, 2.00, £6.
I'll be teaching a mini-workshop as part of FRIGHTFEST, where you can use prompts to create your own scary story super-fast. FRIGHTFEST is a one-day minifestival of horror writing all taking part at The Leeds Library, which is the city's oldest and most haunted surviving subscription library, and there's also an event with Alison Littlewood & Lucie McKnight Hardy. More info & book here. 

Wednesday October 30th. RESIST! book launch with Gaia Holmes, Hyde Park Book Club, free.
After a long wait, I'm really pleased to see the launch of this book, part of Comma Press' acclaimed Protest series, which pairs authors with historians and activists who were actually there, to write stories about key moments in British protest. Come along to this FREE event to hear myself and Gaia Holmes talk about our respective stories.

On the whole, I think I might be doing one too many things, but never mind, I can always dose up on Lemsip.

Currently reading
The Arabian Nights
The Barbarous Coast Ross MacDonald

The Book in my Head is now on the Page

Last night, I went to see The Book in my Head is now on the Page, a collaborative performance piece by Matt Bellwood and A Quiet Word. The piece is set and performed in the beautiful surroundings of The Leeds Library, on Commercial Street.

The audience were greeted at the doorway by a mysterious man in a strange wig. "Trick or stunt?" he asked us, jiggling ping-pong balls around in his pocket. Bouncing them off the tiles, he threw them up in the air, then caught them in his mouth - all four of them. "Did you know that the Leeds Library was first started by King Olaf with three pieces of wood in 1485?" he said, waving us inside.

Librarians checked us in at the doorway. "We are lucky to have such creative minds with us tonight," they said, stamping us in. They gave us each a book and a coloured ribbon. A trio of beautiful maidens, dressed in black, tied the ribbons around our wrists. "You are all such talented and important authors," they said. "But is one of the pages from your book missing?"

A young man on the stairs, introducing us to the history of the building, ushered us into the reading room. The smell of old books greeted us as the head librarian, an eccentric woman in horn-rimmed glasses and hot pink lipstick, told us about the importance of her work. "I am custodian of the words," she said. "Without my care, they would be forgotten!" Overcome with passion for her job, she crawled away on all fours, climbing the stacks and stroking the books with desperate hands. "Save the library!" she cried, with ever-more impassioned cries. "Save the library! Save the library!"

Onwards, and a man sat in a darkened room, waiting to tell the visitors tiny tales of the city. Sitting in a semi-circle around a map, the participants listened, enraptured, as he read short tales of overheard conversation, and arguments in the chip shop.



As our experience drew to an end, we were invited to find, amongst the shelves, the missing page from our book. On the balcony of the back room, we searched amongst the shelves for odd pages sticking out into the air; voices, telling tales, whispered from hidden places behind the books as we went on the hunt for the final page.

Absorbing, witty, and very imaginative, The Book in my Head is now on the Page sent me out into the night thinking seriously about some of the questions it asked. By drawing the 'audience' in very adeptly to be 'participants' - but never in an uncomfortable way - it makes attendees think about the nature of creativity. It makes the audience think about whether they see themselves as creative people, and about the value of their own creative efforts; and what inspiration they can gain from the everyday.

The Book in my Head is now on the Page will be shown again in the evening of Monday 28th November at The Leeds Library. Performances are about 20 minutes long and run every 15 minutes from 7pm until 8.30. To book a place call The Leeds Library on 0113 245 3071.

Currently reading

Tim Binding The Champion
Best American Short Stories (1993) Various - Edited by Tobias Wolff

First experiments at making bookmarks for The Leeds Library...

Currently, I'm embroiled in several projects in which art, literature and letterpress collide. This is one of the newest: a potential commission for letterpress bookmarks for The Leeds Library. Opening in 1768, the library is one of the country's oldest subscription libraries. It houses a marvellous book collection, which is chosen by and reflects the interests of its members, and recently they were kind enough to allow us to host Fictions of Every Kind there.

The library has a range of merchandise ranging from book bags to postcards and bookmarks. When Geoff told me they were thinking of having new bookmarks printed, I leapt right in to offer to letterpress some. (Everything looks amazing when you letterpress it). He lent me an old printing block that they have, and I got to work typesetting their address and contact details. Above, you can see some of the prototypes. The completed versions should be available before too long!

Currently reading

The Wayward Bus John Steinbeck
Collected Stories Raymond Carver