London night

Down to The Smoke last night for the writLOUD event and a bit of a gad about town with an old friend, a banker, my daughter and her lover. Had a blast – but the best ‘lit bit’ was a reading by John Lucas – an MA student on Birkbeck’s Creative Writing MA. He read his story – Becoming Marc Almond – and it did it for me. Have a read and see what you think.

Met some lovely people, including Jill McGivering, who also read a moving passage from her new novel The Last Kestrel (you can read a good chunk of it here). I started the book this morning and I’m halfway through (I got some reading time thanks to various train journeys) and so far it’s pretty compelling stuff.

Thanks to James Vincent and the writLOUD crew.

Reading at writLOUD

I’ll be reading at writLOUD on August 9th. writLOUD is a monthly readings event showcasing both new writers from Birkbeck’s Creative Writing courses and established authors.

I’ll be reading from my novel Among Thieves, and I’ll be joined by Jill McGivering who’ll be reading from her first novel, The Last Kestrel – ‘a deeply compassionate and thoughtful novel, written with the humanity that is a trademark of her reporting’ (Fergal Keane). Jill is a Birkbeck, MACW alumnus and BBC senior foreign news correspondent.

There will also be readings from Matthew Wright, Azra Hussain and John Lucas.

Admission is free of charge, but with a suggested donation to Oxfam of £3.50.

To reserve places in advance, email writloud@aol.co.uk or rock up at RADA Foyer Bar, Malet Street, London WC1E 7JN Monday 9 August 2010, 6.30-8.15 pm

Coventry Inspires

Among Thieves was the winning book in the Murder and Mayhem section of the Coventry Inspiration Book Awards and on 16th of June I went along to St Mary’s Guildhall in Coventry for the awards ceremony.

The whole thing began with a civic reception, hosted by Coventry’s Mayor. Then there were photos of all the winning authors in strange local-paper-styleee poses. And finally there were the awards themselves.

The event was a resounding success and Joy Court, Learning Resources Manager at Coventry City Council and organiser of the awards, had gathered a brilliant crowd of schoolchildren, teachers, library personal and book lovers, as well as several of the winning authors.

Jackdaw with Crowbar: The return

After a pause of eighteen years my friend and one time musical collaborator, Tim Ellis, has instigated the return of Jackdaw with Crowbar, the seminal multi media group. The group were pioneers in the field of multi projection film montage as performance with live music in the eighties and early nineties. Tim said:

Back then we had a group of up to eight musicians and three projectionist film makers, we were entirely analogue using 8mm film and actual musical instruments or sound devices. This time round three of us are using modern technology to create a new set of material. I can recollect many occasions on tour when one of the film makers would be editing in the back of the truck because the films used to break from repeated use at concerts. Now we use laptops and digital  projectors so in theory its more stable, and brighter. Although we miss the texture, depth and colour of film we are spoilt by the immediacy of working in digital.

Live performance warm up set:
22nd March 8pm
KoKo’s Bar
45 Warwick Street
Leamington Spa
CV32 5JX

Live Performance – Flatpack Festival by 7 Inch Cinema:
27th March 9pm
Vivid
140 Heath Mill Lane
Birmingham
B9 4AR

Flatpack is an annual festival providing a platform for new filmmakers and moving image creativity together with a playful and original programme of cult classics re-imagined, silent cinema re-scored and material re-invented.

Hope to see you there!

Aye Write!

Mitchell Library Glasgow

I’m off to Scotland tomorrow to Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival. I will be reading in The Burns Room at the Mitchell Library – and this will be followed by the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize announcement at 6pm.

The event is free and from the website looks as if it’s open to all – but if you don’t fancy that then the most talented AL Kennedy is giving a talk at 7pm in the same building.

I’m nervous. The building looks rather large. I wonder, if you spend a lot of time in buildings that are grand and imposing do you begin to think of yourself as grand too? Maybe this is explains why people who live in cities often think they are more sophisticated than the rest of us – they can’t help themselves, it’s simply their environment. Whatever, I don’t spend much time in grand buildings. I prefer a small room, with a desk, and a stack of books, several pens, some paper and a computer – oh and I’d like a view one day – onto a garden or the sea. Yes, I am nervous. Wish me luck.

Have a Heart for Haiti

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Some good friends of mine have organised this benefit gig for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. There will be theatre (slapstick panto from OTFM), drumming from the amazing Saskia and Vieux Bakayoko, DJs and live music. Worth going for the talent alone but most importantly because all proceeds will go to Haiti via the Lambi fund.

Gig: Have a Heart for Haiti
When: Friday 19th February at 7pm
Where: The NEW Bath Place Community Venture (Old Library on Avenue Road)
Cost: £4

Coventry LitFest

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On Wednesday February 17th I will, once again, be joining the novelist Amanda Smyth at Coventry University to give a talk entitled “How I Write”.

Ours is the first talk in a 3-day series for Coventry Conversations. This time however, the formula has been extended to create a mini Literature Festival. The speakers during the week include Mr Golden Pen himself – Andrew Davies (screenwriter of films such as Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair, Wives and Daughters and Tipping the Velvet) and Nick Walker – whose novel Black Box was considered one of the year’s outstanding debuts in 2005.

All the talks are free and open to all, and take place at 13.00pm in Room ETG34, Ellen Terry Building, Coventry University, Jordan Well, Coventry.

• 17th February: Mez Packer and Amanda Smyth
• 18th February: Andrew Davies
• 19th February: Nick Walker

Shakey, Mills&Boon and me

Sara Craven, Alycia Smith-Howard, Mez Packer and Annie Othen

Last week I had another invitation from the lovely Annie Othen to be a guest on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire’s Friday morning Coffee Club. The format is simple; three women, a surfeit of coffee and biscuits and a trawl through the headlines. It’s not exactly highbrow but it’s good fun and last week the guests all had a literary flavour.

Alycia Smith-Howard – a Shakespeare scholar and writer (recently of New York University) and Sara Craven, author of eighty – that’s eight-zero – Mills&Boon romances, and me, sat round the little coffee table in the corner of Annie’s studio and discussed topics ranging from bankers’ bonuses to how we met our husbands. (I’m not sure if you can still listen again but if so, it’s here). Good fun, as usual.

Hillfields forever

When I arrived at the Hillfields Readers Group event in Coventry on Saturday I was unaware that I was in for – what shall I call it? – not a roasting but certainly a light grilling. There were twenty or thirty people, loads of kids doing ‘crafts’ and a table of complimentary food and drink in the foyer. The organisers had laid on entertainment too (storytellers, poets, musicians) and the whole thing felt as benign as a village fete. I tucked into a mince pie (home made) and chatted to one of the gentlemen on the door whose job it was to greet participants, then settled at the back to listen to a performance of humorous verse from Martin Brown. Wonderful. As he left the stage everyone clapped enthusiastically.

The first inkling I had that Among Thieves had not been unanimously well-received was when I bumped into a group member I knew in another context. A lovely Jamaican woman (one of my mother-in-law’s friends) who I’ve met many times over the years. She congratulated me on the novel and I expressed my surprise and delight that she would be in the audience. My book, she told me, was the first to be bought for every member of the group by the Readers Group committee. I felt honoured.

‘So you’ve read it?’ I asked.

‘We all have,’ she replied

Interesting I thought – this would be my first reading where the whole audience had read the novel. I was impressed.
‘So did you enjoy it?’ I ventured.

I must learn NOT to ask that question. The dear lady touched my arm and made a strange sound. It was a sound I understood, a kind of ‘whoooohoooo-oooh’, a sound that implied my novel had aroused strong sentiments and those sentiments could possibly be described as ugly. The whole village fete vibe started to fracture.

I’ll admit – I was feeling vulnerable on Saturday. I’ve had a shit month and I’d set off for Hillfields feeling exhausted, so I was glad the event promised to be an easy gig on home turf. When I saw the organiser’s face my earlier fears were confirmed. He smiled nervously and led me to the front. We did the whole ‘do-you-want-a-microphone’ ‘would-you-like-some-water’ thing and I took a chair in front of the stage without a mic (I prefer things to be intimate). He introduced me and it went something like …. ‘as Mez is about to find out not everyone enjoyed Among Thieves…. and I’m sure they are going to tell her why….’.

He said some other stuff too but I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking ’shit, they hated it and here I am at the front with no allies, feeling small and not on full power and they’re going to shred me. Shit!’

I was mentally calculating all the things it could be; Jez the racist, Bas the criminal Jamaican, too much swearing, too many voices…? I offered a brief introduction to the story and ploughed ahead with the first reading, expletives deleted as there were so many children present. Now I do find this difficult – I hate editing the text on the hoof but I understand how people feel about swearing in front of the kids. I’ve always sworn in front of mine – but I’ve been a parent long enough to know that the most radical people can suddenly get all reactionary once they pop a sprog. And considering the warnings I’d already had I thought I’d better not do anything else to upset them.

I read well – I’m not just saying it – I’m theatrical and I have fun with the characters and I finished my first reading with a flourish. But the half-hearted applause said it all and I steeled myself as I said, ‘does anyone have any questions?’

Rather than transcribe the events in any more detail I’ll outline the main gripe which seemed to be that I hadn’t got my facts right about the area – Hillfields. And that I had, like many before me, painted Coventry and Hillfields in a bad light. I was suddenly pleased that the book had made them cross – they were sticking up for Cov and defending its reputation against all comers. Once I convinced them that I was friend, not foe – that I too had an affection for Coventry (not as fervent as theirs admittedly) then their attitude softened.

I explained that Coventry as a location was really incidental – it could have been set anywhere but the city fit the themes of the novel perfectly. I also explained that although Coventry wasn’t where I grew up I have lived in or near it for 23 years. I was around in the mid-1980s and so I did have authentic things to say about that time and place. By the end one of the ladies at the front was telling stories about WWII and Queens Street ‘way back when’ and her husband’s family coming from Ireland in the century before last. It was fascinating.

By the time I left I’m not sure if they liked the book any better but I think they liked me – and I liked them. One woman even said that she wouldn’t normally read a novel like mine, she’d found it very disturbing, but she read it right to the end, she had to know what happened. And I felt honoured again.

A day out in Hillfields

I’m really looking forward to the Hillfields Readers Group Open Day

Where: Hope Centre, Sparkbrook Road, Hillfields, Coventry – view on a map
When: 2pm Saturday 21st November 2009

I will be reading from Among Thieves and answering questions about how 1980s Coventry came to loom so large in my debut novel. I’ll also be milling around and enjoying all the other events on offer on the day which include Jo Roberts – Coventry’s Poet in Residence, and Martin Brown – a local Coventry poet who writes and reads humorous verse. There will also be music, dancing, a book fair, a book quiz, food and refreshments.

The day has been organised by Coventry Libraries Information Services where you can find all the information you need about readers and writers groups in your area. Hillfields Readers Group meets on alternative Fridays at 12.30pm . For further information and dates contact Colin Scott on 024 7683 2457 e-mail: colin.scott@coventry.gov.uk