Literature & Spoken Word

Ali Shaw, award-winning author of The Girl with Glass Feet and The Man who Rained, is preparing for the publication of his third novel, The Trees. He has a degree in English Literature and has worked as a bookseller and at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, so he will feel right at home at Blackpool Central Library on July 2. He chatted to Sandra Mangan about his work. Tell us a little about The Man who Rained? It’s about a young woman called Elsa, who leaves New York after the death of her father.  She catches a flight to a far-flung and isolated place…

The first feature I noticed about the 2015 Wordpool festival was the consideration shown to those of us who like to combine snacks and words. Of the twelve main events only one is food free, and with good reason; following the Fylde Coast Youth Dance Company around Central Library with a handful of cake is a recipe (you’re welcome) for drama, not to mention extra work for our beloved librarians. At the deep end of the word/food pool is the discussion of Elizabeth Fremantle’s historical novel Watch the Lady, via the Twitter book club (@BpoolLibraries, #bookpool). Food isn’t actually provided…

I accidentally fell into this writing thing. I’m not particularly brilliant at it but I throw in the odd wry comment, cobble together a pithy turn of phrase, cross my fingers and hope. It is working for me. The one thing I’ve not fallen foul of in my writing insecurities is professional jealousy. Sure, there are a few things I wish I’d written: Clive Barker’s Books Of Blood, the ‘it puts the lotion on its skin’ scene from Silence Of The Lambs, the Doctor Who story Horror Of Fang Rock and the subject of this brief missive – 2001: A…

Whether your choice of hero leans towards the literary or the more traditional, April 23 is a date for your diary. After all, it's the birthday of the Bard himself, William Shakespeare, and St George's Day too. It's also World Book Night and Blackpool's Central Library is taking up the heroes theme with two events. Fans of the hit Game of Thrones book series are invited to get involved in a special online event organised by Central Library’s Twitter Book Club. Get online from 8pm to discuss book one of the series, A Game of Thrones. Use the hashtag #bookpool and be sure to follow @BpoolLibraries on…