To celebrate the launch of three new books,
Nottingham Writers' Studio,
Five Leaves Publishing and
Weathervane Press hosted a night of
crime at
Antenna.
Compèring the evening’s performances was Pippa Hennessy, Nottingham
Writers’ Studio’s Development Director. The books being launched were:
The NWS
Crime Sampler ( the pilot edition of the NWS Journal ), a collection of pieces
showcasing the talents of seven members of the writers’ studio.
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| CRIME (Five Leaves’ annual compendium), a volume of themed essays exploring varying aspects of crime. |
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| The Deed Room by Michael RD Smith (Weathervane Press), an intelligent legal thriller with a love story. |
First up was Lisa Shipman, reading her short story
Sweets
For My Sweet, a tale of redemption. She seemed undaunted, giving a confident performance
that belied her status as an emerging writer. Her opening line was “Sometimes you
have to do things you don’t want to.” For Lisa Shipman, public speaking isn’t
one of those things.
Rod Madocks read from his essay
The Love
Killers - a title that dons its cap to the confessional poet Anne Sexton. We
saw a real-life family photo, of smiling Christopher Foster with his smiling wife
and smiling daughter, hours before he murdered them. At the time the image was
taken Foster had already decided to kill them. Madocks often uses pictures to compliment
his writing but never as powerfully as this. With a chill in the air the
author offered his thoughts on Dyadic Death (murder followed by suicide) to a
captivated crowd.
Historical novelist Ann Featherstone gave us a glance at the
life of Dando the Oyster-Eater. It turns out that oysters were the fast-food of
the early 19th century and Dando, a man of ready hunger and sharp
wit, found infamy after a series of bilking sprees.
The next book to launch was Michael RD Smith’s debut novel The
Deed Room, crime fiction with a strong Nottingham setting. Smith read an excerpt
which he wisely ended with a character in danger and the audience in suspense.
Political cartoonist John Stuart Clark appeared ill at ease as
he looked down at the microphone. He was about to read from Scrappin’ wi’
Scouse, a story about his years as a
‘tatter’ working with ’Scouse’, real name William Holloway, a
scrounger who puts the scrap in scrap metal. The reason for Clark’s apprehension
was that he knew what was coming, that the end of the story concerned the death of
his friend. Building up to this touching climax was a humourous account of the
pair’s roguish antics, evoking memories of Nottingham in the 70s and 80s. I
loved it.
Following such raw emotion was not going to be easy and that
difficult task befell
Andrew Kells. He coped admirably, finding his
character’s voice from the off he attacked the role of young Jason - ‘I didn’t
see nothing’ - with passion and energy.
“Ey up,” said Michael Eaton on taking the stand. It’s always
a huge pleasure to hear from Eaton and he was on top form. After belly-laughing
at his Jackie Pownall ad-lib, I listened in awe to his account of the final moments
in the life of Charlie Peace, before he ended the night with a mention of Ray
Gosling. It was a nice touch from a class act.
My congratulations go to Pippa Hennessy and all involved. It was a fine event that deserved a larger audience.
Copies of CRIME and The Deed Room
are both available from the
Five Leaves Bookshop at £9.99 and £7.99 respectively.
The NWS
Crime Sampler can be read for free
HERE
Reviews of all three books with
appear on this blog next year.
