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 »
A sunny, but slightly overcast Sunday afternoon and the Riverside Terrace is full of people drinking Pimms and enjoying the festive atmosphere. Amongst the unsuspecting crowd, around 20 people with headphones find a place to sit and watch Inspector Sands’ ’A Portrait of the Ordinary Festival-goer’ unfold. Jaunty, quintessentially vintage British music plays through our headphones [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011 | Tagged: Alex Rowse, Inspector Sands, theatre | 2 Comments »
Owen Jones begins by jokingly noting how much younger than his years he appears. But in conversation with Kate Pickett on Saturday to discuss his new book ‘Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class’ he seemed old beyond his time: ‘class’ is now treated as an irrelevant or forbidden word and he’s on a crusade [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2011 | Tagged: Alex Rowse, class, Owen Jones | Leave a Comment »
Visitors to Southbank Centre’s regular Friday Tonic were welcomed last week by the smell of kerosene and a buzz of excitement as performers from Perfect Circle Poi spun arches of fire through the crisp November air in preparation for Girl Fawkes. Ladyfest Ten were taking over and it was a perfect taster for this coming [...]
Filed under: Poetry International 2010 | Tagged: Alex Rowse, Charlotte Brogan, Feminism, Katy Carr, Ladyfest, Ladyfest Ten, London Dreamtime, Lulu and the Lampshades, Nigel of Bermondsey, Poetry International 2010, spoken word, Storytelling, Vanessa Woolf, You Are Wolf | 7 Comments »
I have a confession to make. On Tuesday the 6th of July I had the opportunity to speak to the writer and journalist Gary Younge ahead of the discussion of his latest book, ‘Who Are We- And Should It Matter in the 21st Century?’, in the Purcell Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. And I’ve [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2010, Misc | Tagged: Alex Rowse, Bidisha, Gary Younge, Identity, Journalism, Who Are We? | Leave a Comment »
Bret Easton Ellis’s stint of publicity in the UK for ‘Imperial Bedrooms’ includes a video interview with the Guardian in which he develops some of the topics that were up for discussion in last week’s reading and Q&A in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. You can view the video here. It’s interesting viewing for anyone who [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2010 | Tagged: Alex Rowse, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis, Susie Feay | Leave a Comment »
I’m no storyteller but I do enjoy a good yarn, so ahead of the Storybox Live event tomorrow (which I’ve been part of organising) I thought I’d share a couple of stories I’ve collected from people over the London Literature Festival. It’s a while back, but on the 5th of July I saw John Agard, [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2010 | Tagged: Alex Rowse, Grace Nichols, Jazz, Jean Breeze, John Agard, Lemn Sissay, Poetry, Population, Val Bloom | Leave a Comment »
Day one at the London Literature Festival for me, and I’ve already had that schoolgirl ‘wow’ moment where you get the uncontrollable urge to tell everyone what you’ve seen today. Thanks to Professor David M. Howard, a specialist in the human voice, and the UK’s finest beatboxers Gracious B and MC Zani, the audience of [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2010 | Tagged: Alex Rowse, Beatboxing, Gracious B, MC Zani, Professor Howard, Science, Story Box | 4 Comments »
It’s strange to think that seven weeks ago I was sitting in the Royal Festival Hall with a group of young people I’d never met before, being recruited as a young curator. Now it’s been two days since the show which Jamal, Jayga, Rosie and I have been working towards for so long. From the [...]
Filed under: London Literature Festival 2009 | Tagged: Adele Morse, Aisling Fahey, Alex Rowse, Aruba Red, Jamal Msebele, Jasmine Cooray, jayga, Kaiz La Kazie, London Literature Festival, malik marland, Poetry, Polly Urquhart, Rachel Sale, Rosie Knight, Sifundo, Sophie Gate, Southbank Centre, spoken word, Where To, Woe, yemisi blake, young curators | Leave a Comment »
