By Anita Sethi www.twitter.com/anitasethi Poetical Reflections: An Audience with Owen Sheers The wonderful thing about the London Literature Festival is that fragments of poetry, or ideas that have been triggered, linger long after the festival is over. Here’s my first reflection on a variety of such moments: Poetry was a strong presence at the festival, [...]
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The wonderful Yemisi Blake introduced me to the world of spoken word a couple of years ago, and some of the first poets to draw me in were Kate Tempest, Polarbear and Inua Ellams. Last Thursday they and a handful of incredibly talented poets came together under Inua’s curation to present a night of verse inspired by [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011, Misc | Tagged: Alex Rowse, Charlie Dark, Inua Ellams, Kate Tempest, polarbear | 1 Comment »
“Everything is about love, and love is about everything.” So begins Lisa Appignanesi. On Monday 4th July in the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, as part of the Great Thinkers strand, two writers, Lisa Appignanesi and Hanif Kureishi, discussed the former’s new book – All About Love. We were spoiled to have Kureishi as the [...]
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By Anita Sethi www.twitter.com/anitasethi An uplifting day of poetry A huge bouquet of balloons has just been released into the clear blue skies above the Southbank Centre when I meet for a chat with Simon Armitage, who is Artist in Residence at the Southbank where his various projects have included Poetry International; the Lion and Unicorn; [...]
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By Anita Sethi www.twitter.com/anitasethi Liz Lochhead was this year named as the national poet of Scotland, or Scots Maker, succeeding Edwin Morgan. This week she gave a brilliant poetry reading followed by a fascinating and far-reading discussion with Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, exploring topics including poetic vocation, the difference between poetry and [...]
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It is the middle of the 1930s and the artistic world is in crisis. Promising abstract artist John Piper has just released his latest piece, a collage made from coloured paper and paint. There is uproar amongst his contemporaries and the arts graduate is branded a traitor. The unthinkable has happened. The picture is a [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011 | Tagged: Alexandra Harris, Literature and Spoken Word, London Literature Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Romantic Moderns, Southbank Centre | Leave a Comment »
For the duration of the festival artist Beverly Fry has been sketching and painting her way through some of the highlights of the festival. Below are a selection of the beautiful images from her sketchbook.
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By Anita Sethi www.twitter.com/anitasethi The Spirit Level is alive with the sound of music It was not the hills but the Spirit Level that was alive with the sound of music during an entertaining performance of The Post Show Party Show by turns hilarious and poignant, in which award-winning writer and performance artist Michael Pinchbeck, with [...]
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“It was all hell!” For author Alan Hollinghurst, writing the follow-up to his Booker-prize winning novel The Line Of Beauty was clearly not some easy stroll in the park. The award-winning novelist’s appearance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, as part of the 2011 London Literary Festival, follows the release of his new book A Stranger’s [...]
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It is the second night of the London Literary Festival and the artists Gilbert & George are on the stage of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Next door in the Purcell Room, the first ever theatrical performance of ‘Sexing The Cherry’ is going on. It does appear the festival is having one of its less literary [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011 | Tagged: Gilbert & George, Literature and Spoken Word, London Literature Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre | 1 Comment »
