Famous names and me!

 Out-Spoken

Life has become rather hectic lately, so much so, that I thought I'd written a blog post about the Out-Spoken event I attended, and now I can't find the list of people guesting. No matter - the famous ones I remember!

Out-Spoken is usually held in the Purcell Room on the Southbank, but the event was moved to the Queen Elizabeth Hall. What was amazing is that they kept the ticket price the same, just £15. It is always an evening of poetry and music, and often I've never come across the poets before. This time they had Simon Armatage, Jackie Kay and Michael Rosen. 

I came across Jackie Kay's poetry when I studied at the OU and we looked at a poem of hers. This made me seek out other things she had written, including several novels. She was also the after-dinner speaker at the Mslexia writing conference in Leeds a good few years ago. So, I've kind of followed her. Simon Armatage is a poet whose work I have read for many years. He hasc  done some installation poetry in the hills (Penine Way?). Michael Rosen I'd heard of, yet never read anything by him. I thought he was more a children's' poet, but I was wrong, though he does write for children. He had a long stay in hospital with Covid and wrote a lot about that.

Michael Rosen

The singers on the night I had not come across before, though the pianist had appeared at Out-Spoken before, and he is very good. The other two were a girl with a backing band and a guy from the Caribbean whose music is a fusion of reggae and jazz. Both acts were good.

The singers

Up first in the poetry performers was Michael Rosen. His poetry was a mix of funny and serious. There was even humour in his 'hospital' poetry. There were a couple of more political poems, including Don't Mention the Children, a poem for Gaza (see below) and a poem about Nigel Farage! Michael's performance has made me want to read more of his poetry.

Next up was Jackie Kay, whose performance I strangely remember least about, I'm sorry to say. maybe because of the build-up to see Simon Armatage! 

Jackie Kay

Simon Armatage was the highlight of the evening, for me, at least. He read various poems including one using those buzz words business people use, that no one but them understands. It was hilarious. I could have listened to him all night.

Simon Armatage

I was sitting in the rear stalls, but with my phone camera set on maximum zoom, I was able to capture a few half-decent shots. It really was a great evening.

Booker Prize Readings

I went to this event last night with a writer friend. Again it was on the Southbank, this time in the Royal Festival Hall. This isn't something I would normally attend, but it was good to see my friend. For those don't know (and I didn't), the shortlist for the Booker Prize are:

Flashlight - Susan Choi

The Loneliness of Sonia & Sunny - Kiran Desai

Audition - Katie Kitamura

The Rest of our Lives - Ben Markovits

The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller

Flesh - David Szalay

I've not come across any of the authors before, though Kiran Desai is the daughter of Anita Desai, whose books I have read. If you want to know more about these books, click here.

Each author read a piece from their books, though the readings were shorter than I expected.They were then 'interviewed' by the host. In the main, the books all seemed very intense, and nothing really stood out, except the one by Ben Markovits. I liked him, He was funny, and the book has humour in it. This appealed to me. Right now I'm looking for books with humour in them, and of course I write a lot of humour. There are times in life when only humour works. I have to be in the right mood for some of those deeply intense stories.

There was a lot of talk about writing with risk, but this was never fully explained, and at times I had no idea what was being discussed. Is this what Booker Prizes is about? It's all very serious and above me. The winner will be announced today - tonight. While the concept of these books sound interesting, none of the readings made me want to go out and buy one, certainly not in hardback! I'm rooting for Ben, and I may buy his book when it appears in paperback.

Me

I had a pre-launch meeting for Tinsel Street with my friend. She's very efficient, and turned up with a spidergram plan and coloured pens, I laughed. I hope I didn't offend her. He is so organised, while I muddle along. However, she is the right person to have on board. We went through where things will be on the night - books, refreshments etc., and what will happen in sequence. It is now two days away! Eek! I am part filled with nerves and part with excitement. It will be lovely to see many of my friends who are coming from near and far for the event. I am even going to be making my bran fruit loaf (vegan) to cut up into squares. Let's hope this isn't the time for cooking disasters, because yes, I'm stressed. Otherwise, I have bought all the drinks and nibbles for the event.

My son is going to take photos on the night, so I will have something to show you in my next blog post.

I can tell you that I have now got Tinsel Street into my local library. I went down to ask if I could leave some leaflets and then presented them with the book. Although they couldn't find it on their system, they asked if I could leave it with them and they would see if it could be catalogued. A little over a week later, they emailed me to say it was on their shelf. I went down there a few days later and found it on the recently returned shelf! Oh, the excitement! And I'm overusing exclamation marks here, but I never imagined I'd have book on a library shelf (oh, in my dreams maybe, but to actually happen?)

Until next time, happy reading. Maybe see you at the book launch?