Literature & Spoken Word Archives - Page 18 of 20

10 Apr

Step Up to the Northern Lights

Elizabeth Ward0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Music & Gigs

On Saturday 18 April, a battle to find the UK’s best unsigned rap and hip-hop artist will take place at The Club Above (the second floor of the West Coast Rock Cafe on Abingdon Street). The battle goes down between 6pm and 1am and amongst the artists there are some local rappers as well as hip-hop artists from further afield. This event will see two promotors, UK Talent and Hushhush Media, collaborate for the first time. Alongside the performers, DJ Gravitas, from Southport, will perform a set, to create a dapper evening for all. A rap battle between UNC and…

09 Apr

Adam Vickerstaff: All for Socks

Blackpool Social Club1 CommentLiterature & Spoken Word

AltBlackpool are delighted and proud to announce Blackpool's latest published author, Adam Vickerstaff. Adam is a local 3D artist whose imaginative flair and love of fantasy is clear to see in all aspects of his work. Born in Rochdale, Adam has lived in Blackpool since he was a year old, which I think definitely makes him an honorary sandgrown'un. He first got the concept for the story while undertaking his game design course ten years ago, but the idea of actually writing a book didn't come to him until about seven years ago. He says that his imagination has served…

26 Mar

Gruoch: Untold Story of a Woman

Melanie Whitehead0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Theatre, Dance & Performance

One of the main reasons I left full-time employment was due to the increasing piles of papers which lay like silent reminders of how my own creativity was being bought and paid for by other establishments. Papers containing stories, plays, monologues and collections of random ideas that I’d enjoyed playing with so much yet which might stay forever on paper; never reaching publication or performance or even a clear decision to be thrown in the bin! The fear that I might one day look back on my career and consider it all as a response to ideas, strategies or creative…

20 Mar

Picador at the Pavilion

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Local News

Bucks Fizz and canapés were the prologue to the very entertaining Picador Panel evening in St Anne's, on 16 March, as fiction fans enjoyed readings and conversation with authors David Whiteside, Emily St John Mandel and Sarah Butler in the Pavilion Café, Ashton Gardens. Pan Macmillan publicist Sam Meade enthusiastically hosted the event, organised by the owners of the award-winning bookshop, Storytellers Inc. Sarah Butler described her inspiration for her second novel, Before the Fire: “I was angered by the media’s portrayal of young people during the riots of summer 2011,” she said. “Everyone has a story and a history, and I…

18 Dec

Writer Dan has a way with words

Sandra Mangan0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

After 15 years of teaching at Layton Primary, Blackpool, Dan Worsley decided that it was time for a change of career. These days, he is a professional storyteller and writer – and has just self-published his first children’s book, entitled ‘Impossible Tales!’. He took time out of his busy schedule to write us a special Christmas story – you'll find it in the latest altBlackpool print edition – and also to answer a few questions. Tell me about your work? I’m a professional storyteller and writer. I visit all manner of venues, such as schools and libraries, telling a wide variety of stories…

22 Oct

Spooks, Boggarts and Bridges (Jeff)

Sean Payne1 CommentLiterature & Spoken Word

With a stack of hugely popular books to his credit and the first Hollywood adaptation of his Wardstone Chronicles due out in the new year, Joseph Delaney is an author whose writing conjours up spectral Halloween imagery and a sense of ancient Lancashire. Sean interviewed him for our October/November print issue (free and available at venues across the Fylde Coast now) and here is what he discovered. Sean: So, these must be exciting times for you, with global recognition as a writer and now a stellar cast film version of the first Spook book arriving early next year. Did…

04 Jul

Review: Sophie Hannah at Wordpool

Sandra Mangan1 CommentLiterature & Spoken Word

The organisers of Wordpool have been trying to get internationally renowned, multi-award winning psychological thriller writer Sophie Hannah to come along for years. And 2014 is the year that wish came true - anyone who was at the Central Library to witness it will be talking about the event for weeks to come. Speaking without notes and with plenty of humour, Sophie is a born raconteur and the poet turned crime writer held the audience in the palm of her hand as she related the stories behind her stories - or the 'gossip' as she termed it. She is a writer who relies…

12 Jun

Preview: Murder and martinis at Wordpool launch event

Sandra Mangan2 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

Prepare to be shaken and stirred at this year’s Wordpool festival launch on Wednesday, 2 July. The venue is Stanley Park’s Art Deco Café, and the theme for the night is Murder, Mystery and Martinis as best-selling authors Ann Cleeves and Peter Robinson offer a fun-packed evening of crime writing revelations. Ann Cleeves has a string of awards to her name. In 2006, she was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers’ Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. In 2012, Ann was admitted to the Crime Thriller Hall…

16 May

Walking on Wyre Workshop with Sarah Hymas

Vicky Ellis0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

Now that the summer has finally taken hold of the countryside, there can be no better way to spend a Sunday than by the River Wyre with a stanza of poets. As part of the Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Walking on Wyre poetry project, supported by LeftCoast and Arts Council England, a day of walking, lunching and creating will take place at the Riverside Room of the Wyre Estuary Country Park from 10.20am on Sunday 18 May. The plan is to walk alongside the river, gathering inspiration, alongside one of the extremely knowledgeable park guides, before returning for refreshments and…

24 Apr

World Book Night Twitter Book Club

Sean Payne0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

For those of you who, like me, have a love of the literary and are never happier than when leafing through a dusty tome, World Book Night is a chance to tweet with other book lovers across the globe. Blackpool Libraries have once again stepped up to the plate with events and activities for this global dip through the pages. I spoke to librarian and twitterphile Michelle Kane ahead of their World Book Night Twitter Book Club, which took place last night, for all the details. So, Twitter Book Club. What is it exactly? Book clubs are hugely popular at…