Posts Tagged ‘poetry’
On September 14 TLC Director Rebecca Swift appeared at the Porlock Arts Festival to talk about TLC, and all things Emily Dickinson.
Of her appearance, the festival blog stated: 
‘On stage in the evening we had Rebecca Swift and Tom Hodgkinson. Rebecca spoke passionately and with great warmth about American poet Emily Dickinson. She seems to have been an unusual lady but the extracts of her poetry that Rebecca read revealed a wonderful and extraordinary language of expression and description. I know of several people who have been inspired to seek out more of her poetry. Rebecca also spoke briefly about her role as co-founder of The Literary Consultancy, the UK’s leading manuscript advisory service – a must for anyone wishing to publish their work!’
Read the official festival write-up in full here.
Rebecca’s book on Dickinson, Poetic Lives: Dickinson, can be purchased here.
The Literateur and TLC were delighted to announce the winners of our joint competition on 11 November.
It was truly an enjoyable evening with readings by the judges, a discussion about the future of writing and, of course, our awards ceremony. All six of the winners were given a chance to read their short story or poem in front of a fully packed lecture theatre at the Free Word Centre. The winning submissions will be published in The Literateur and the winners will also receive an hour’s specialist consultation with The Literary Consultancy.
Our three judges, novelists Joanna Briscoe and Rebecca Abrams, and the poet Sarah Hesketh, found it very difficult to narrow it down to just six winners. Click here to read the winning submissions.
Alison Key, Short story, This Changes Everything
Uschi Gatward, Short Story, Birth Plan
Adam Steiner, Short Story, Living Through Saccharin
Selena Wisnom, Poetry, Mushrooming
Clémence Sebag, Poetry, Inventory
Tom Bailey, Poetry, Notes to the Construction of Beverley Minster
We would like to thank The Literateur editor Kit Toda, everyone who submitted their work and those who attended our awards evening.
If you sign up for our newsletter, we will send you updates about competition and events in the future.
Photography by Max Colson www.maxcolson.com.
Denise Larking Coste, one of our literary adventurers, was long listed for the poetry section of the literateur competition. In addition to being long-listed, several of her poems have been put forward for the showcase section of the TLC website. One of these, gives a wonderful flavour of romance and holiday. We thought you might like to see it in full:
Olive trees tumble green shadow down the cliff,
veil narrow terraces.
A girl sings on a white wall, watching
the blue mating of two seas: crossroads,
noiseless ships strung out over water.
She smokes kif, sips hot minted tea
from a cup on a dusty table.
Dreams of Spain across the straight, seeing
Antaeus, straddled, one foot in Europe
one in Africa: giant back arched like a silent bow.
Then we cuddle and love
and you lie back on fat silk pillows –
your lips moist with red wine –
waiting for the dancing girls to come.
TLC and the Literateur presented the short listed winners at the fully booked Free Word Awards ceremony on11 November, an inspiring evening with readings from both the judges and the participants.
To learn more about the competition and winners see the Literateur website.
On June 3rd the Literary Consultancy held, what is soon becoming a tradition at Free Word, another evening of poetry and music, celebrating and giving life to great literary works.
”The Waste Land’ by T.S.Eliot was read by Roger Lloyd Pack with cello accompaniment by Melissa Phelps & ‘The London Series’ by Jehane Markham with jazz accompaniment from Robin Phillips on piano and Jonny Gee, double bass. His partner, Jehane Markham also performed her work backed by jazz music, The London Series – An evocative and irreverent look back at a life lived in the city by a county girl. Part memoir, part homage, the piece touches on different areas and different perspectives – history, literature and love, included.
We would like to thank everyone who came and our performers who truly captivated us on that warm summer evening.
For extracts from The London Series please click here to listen to or download.
In celebration of ‘Bright Star’, the new Vintage edition of Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats, the Literary Consultancy at the Free Word Centre, provided an intimate evening of poetry and music.
Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish, stars of Jane Campion’s new film ‘Bright Star‘, read a selection of Keats’ poems and letters in a soul-warming setting. Mark Bradshaw, the film’s composer, performed with a small ensemble, recreating the haunting music from the film’s soundtrack.