Wed 11th, Two Events

.Wednesday 11th May 7:30pm, Beeston Tales presents Joe Brennan with As I went wandering..., The White Lion
Joe is a storyteller, writer and theatre maker. He has travelled widely and featured in many festivals sharing his stories around the globe. He is the author of Donegal Folk Tales, and we are very pleased to be able to be part of his midlands tour. The night will also feature music from acclaimed guitarist and songwriter Phil Langran.
Tickets £5 in advance , £6 on the door, available from The White Lion, or online atwww.timralphs.com/beeston-tales

Wednesday 11th May 8pm, Crosswords Spoken Word Open Mic, Malt Cross
Crosswords is a new spoken word open mic night, taking place in the caves underneath the Malt Cross Pub on St James’ Street. There are plenty of open mic slots and a featured poet every month! In May, our special guest is Leicester-based poet and performer, Shruti Chauhan. Arrive at 7:30pm on the night to book your five-minute open mic slot. We like poetry, prose, storytelling, a cappella singing, and monologues! Or you can just come along to listen – everyone's welcome! For more information, check out our facebook event. 
Entry is £2 per person and refreshments are available.

Rachel Kelly, Walking on Sushine

Monday 16 May 3pm - 4pm

Author talk: Rachel Kelly

The writer and mental health campaigner gives an entertaining talk based on her bestselling book "Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness". Rachel shares tips, tools and positive ideas to help you manage the pressures of everyday life

 

To book your place at this free event please contact the Central Library on Tel: 0115 9152825 or Email: enquiryline@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

The Dust on the Moth

The Dust on the Moth - a multimedia novel brought to life through crowdfunding

A new work of fiction has just come to my attention, an ambitious hardback made in Notts and so original it’s difficult to describe sober. Let me try: Anna, along with Adam (her twin brother), and Henry (her boyfriend), are viewing a rental opportunity - 8 Asgard Street - an eerie gaff with a voyeuristic landlord who flits between creepy and monstrous. This modern Brothers Grimm set up runs parallel to another otherworldly story, a dark fantasy set in a lurid alternate universe that shines a light on our own. Artistic illustrations and photographs accompany the chapters (the book even comes with a six track soundtrack that could be from a sci-fi flick) in this literary feast of rich prose, engaging dialogue and colliding lives. This book is unique, the result of an author’s unfretted talent at work and play. It rings with intrigue and unease. As it is impossible to describe The Dust on the Moth in one word, I'll give you seven: Experimental. Rich. Creative. Political. Philosophical. Fantastical. Visual.

The Dust on the Moth, produced by a local publisher, was funded through Kickstarter. Wanting to know more about this undertaking I invited its creative producer to write a guest post. Enjoy:

My name is Kirsty Fox. I’m a creative producer with Bees Make Honey Creative CIC, a social enterprise for local creative industries. In March 2015, we got together with writer Darren Simpson to launch a Kickstarter campaign to publish his book, The Dust on the Moth. In March this year, we officially launched the finished product into the world after months of nail-biting drama and good old-fashioned elbow grease.

The Dust on the Moth is a book, but also a bit more than a book. A collaboration between a writer, illustrator, photographer and creative producer (me), the finished work lies somewhere between illustrated literary fiction, photographic journal, objet d’art and graphic novel. There’s also a soundtrack for it, just to add another dimension. A dark and funny science fiction fairytale about the collision of two worlds, Darren’s novel-length story was picked up in raw form by myself a few years ago, when I was looking for more work to publish under Bees Make Honey Press. Bound for the slush pile because it was too ambitious and strange for the UK’s timid publishing industry, Darren’s ode to number 8 Asgard Street now sees the light of day with thanks to our friends, family, fans and the Kickstarter community.

   

Publishing fiction as an independent press is really hard; it can be a huge gamble and there’s generally not much money to be made. It has to be done for the love. As Bees Make Honey (who also organise events and offer creative business support), we weren’t in a financial position to put the novel out off our own backs, so we decided to look at crowdfunding as an option. We’ve always been interested in thinking outside the box when it comes to publishing and our core team of myself, Dan Layton and Phil Formby have a varied skill set (writing, editing, illustration, design, photography, video and music), so it seemed logical to do something a bit different – something that was more likely to capture the imagination of the general public and local creative community.

And so we began developing The Dust on the Moth as a multimedia creature. The nature of the book suits and adapts to this really well. There’s a lot of strong imagery in the book and many memorable characters, but at the same time it has this abstract metaphysical quality which really lends itself to inspiring a whole hinterland. We didn’t just want to create literal illustrations, but to play on the intense atmosphere and the breadth of ideas that spin out between the colliding worlds of Asgard Street and Midgard. The former is very small, claustrophobic and self-contained, with just four characters who rarely seem to leave this tiny realm. The latter is a whole planet with a system of governance and a rather fantastical story which touches on the lives of multiple characters. 

We put together a selection of initial illustrations and photographs and Dan began working on a soundtrack under his musical alias Apalusa. We then organised a launch party for the Kickstarter campaign with an exhibition of the artwork and live music from local bands The Cusp and Grawl!x, alongside Apalusa playing some of the music from the soundtrack, featuring Graham Langley of slowcore legends, Savoy Grand. 

The crowdfunding campaign was an experience in itself. Having to promote something to a certain deadline is quite nail biting and takes over your life somewhat. You get to a point where you’re sat in the pub with a friend and you mention it, and they’ll say they didn’t know you were running the campaign, and you’re dumbstruck because you feel like you’ve tweeted about it so many times and you’re barely able to talk about anything else. It’s very intense and not an experience I’d like to relive too often. But also it’s a fabulous way to get an audience really deeply involved in a project and invested in the outcome. I would recommend it as a way forward with collaborative projects in general, though I’m not sure how good a tool it would be for, for example, self-publishing a book. If you’re doing everything by yourself, it’s very draining and potentially damaging to your self-esteem when things aren’t going so great!

I think it was also generally beneficial to Darren Simpson as an author to work on something collaborative. Writing can be a lonesome thing! Darren has the following to say of the experience:

“Writing is indeed a very lonesome thing - hence most of my writing sessions tend to end with a little cry in the dark. But seriously, working with Bees Make Honey was a great experience, and not only because of the social element. It was really exciting and educational to see each member of the group bring their own insight, interpretation and expertise to the story, and to watch as The Dust on the Moth evolved from manuscript to cohesive, multimedia creation. It's now become much more than the sum of its parts; it's almost a living, breathing, self-contained microcosm of its own, which feels very true to the story itself.”

We were really lucky with the response and help we got from the local community. Most of those who contributed were local to the East Midlands (though there was also a big chunk of Germans thanks to Darren’s wife’s family!). It was a humbling experience and we really feel very proud of the finished product. While the initial illustrations and photographs gave a good taster, some of the gems that developed later on really are quite something. The final book can now be purchased from our website here. You can also get your mitts on it in the wonderful Five Leaves Bookshop. 

Further information and can be found at Darren Simpson’s writer’s blog.

More images from the book can be found on our instagram page with ‘Image of the day’.
More on Dan Layton Design & Illustration.
More photography and video work by Philip Formby.
@beesmakehoneycc on twitter
Bees Make Honey on Facebook

Events: Tales and Spoken Word

For Your Consideration: Two Events, Wednesday 13th April.

Beeston Tales presents Giles Abbott with Patched and Mended, The White Lion
Life is a patchwork. We make do and mend. But how do we mend the large tears? In “Patched & Mended”, master storyteller Giles Abbott interweaves narrative from the Mabinogion with personal narrative, mixing the magical with the medical, the solemn with the silly, exploring loss, recovery and rebirth. Giles Abbott trained as a Voice Teacher in 2004-5 gaining his MA in Voice Studies from Central School of Speech & Drama. He was Lecturer in Voice for Birkbeck College, University of London from 2006-12, taught on Foundation Acting courses for Arts Ed., and regularly works at ALRA and Drama Centre as visiting lecturer.
Tickets £5 in advance, £6 on the door, available from The White Lion, or online at www.timralphs.com/beeston-tales

Crosswords Spoken Word Open Mic, Malt Cross
Crosswords is a new spoken word open mic night, taking place in the caves underneath the Malt Cross. There are plenty of open mic slots and a featured poet every month! In April, our special guest is Derby-based poet and theatre-maker Daniel David Webber. Dan is a brilliant performer, with fantastically frank and funny poetry and an excellent handle on the absurdities of modern life. Arrive at 7.30pm on the night to book your five-minute open mic slot. We like poetry, prose, storytelling, a cappella singing, and monologues! Or you can just come along to listen –  everyone's welcome!
£2 per person and refreshments are available.

Shakespeare in Nottingham

From the BBC Radio Nottingham webpage, here's a cool link telling the story of Shakespeare in Nottingham.

First black Shakespearean stars in Nottingham

Ira Aldridge performs on Nottingham's stage. The article states that he was the first black actor to play Shakespeare's parts. I don't think he was the first.

The King's Men in Nottingham

Shakespeare’s King’s Men Perform in Nottingham as the great man retires.

More Shakespeare in Notts

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2016 EMBA

The 2016 East Midlands Book Award shortlist has been announced and our Eve Makis is in the running with her excellent The Spice Box Letters (reviewed here). The winner of the £1000 prize will be revealed at the Lowdham Book Festival in June.

The judges: short-story writer and novelist Dan Powell, bookshop owner and former president of the Booksellers Association Jane Streeter, and former EMBA winner Alison McQueen.

The shortlist:

A Killing Moon by Steven Dunne

The Boy in the Mirror by Tom Preston

Melissa by Jonathon Taylor

Burning Books by Jess Green

The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis

The Princess and the Giant by Caryl Hart and Sarah Warburton

Wed 17th Feb - Two Lit Events in Nottm

For Your Consideration on Wednesday 17th Feb – Two Free events

THE WORLD PREMIERE OF 'AUSTERITY CAFE - A RHYME OPERA' HELD IN THE BAR AT ROUGH TRADE NOTTINGHAM.

7pm

FREE – no booking required/no wristband needed.

An experimental fusion of political satire, fractured melodies and home grown verse, serving up bite-sized chunks of UK sociopolitial pie. Yannis owns Austerity Café, where he welcomes customers and gives them floor space to air their views. We get to hear from Karl the protestor, Phil the long distance lorry driver and George the banker. Poetry open mic slots available. All parts played by Andy Szpuk, with supporting crew.

All welcome

Or

SUGAR AND SNAILS BY ANNE GOODWIN – A READING/DISCUSSION AT FIVE LEAVES BOOKSHOP

7-8:30pm,

FREE - Booking recommended, please RSVP to fiveleaves.bookshopevents@gmail.com or call in to the shop.

In recognition of LGBT month, writer Anne Goodwin will be reading from and discussing her debut novel Sugar and Snails. The book takes a sensitive subject matter, handles it with all the force of a freight train and leaves behind nothing but a truly immersive reading experience. Taking place in both the present and the past, between the urban streets of Newcastle and the pyramids of Cairo, the story is one of startling honesty and emotional connections. It carries comfortably the mantles of literary and LGBT fiction but, at its heart, is nothing more or less than a superb piece of modern storytelling.

All welcome. Refreshments available, 15% discount off purchases made on the night.