Literature & Spoken Word Archives - Page 6 of 21

21 Apr

Poetic License: Whoever Said No Takebacks Has Never Had Their Heart Broken

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

In the latest in a series of poems by Blackpool writers, Sarah Caulfield shares a classic breakup poem that tries to see the mundanity and humour in the misery of reclaiming yourself again while the ashes are still settling. Main image: artwork by the author. Whoever Said No Takebacks Has Never Had Their Heart Broken by Sarah Caulfield Dearly beloved, Lord Alfred Douglas once announced The deterioration of his relationship with his father With the words: I have bought a revolver. If you meet me in the street, I shall not hesitate to use it. He did, not in fact,…

27 Mar

Power Plays: Festival of writing challenges Blackpool narratives

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word, Theatre, Dance & Performance

Playwrights, writers and theatre makers are heading to Blackpool over the next few weeks as the Old Electric’s Power Plays Festival begins. Power Plays is a four-month long festival of artistic activity from April to July 2024 at Blackpool’s newest theatre. It aims to bring established talent to the town while working with local emerging writers and changing the narrative about Blackpool on the stage – challenging the notion of who has the power to tell our stories. Internationally acclaimed playwright Simon Stephens (Punk Rock, The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night Time); renowned theatre maker and academic…

14 Mar

Poetic License: Elegies for killed women

Antonia Charlesworth0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

Alice Burnham, Joan Long, Madge Leadbetter, Elizabeth Shaw, Mary Starr and Sarah Toomey. These are the names of six women who were murdered in Blackpool and are buried in Layton Cemetery without headstones. Here Deborah Contessa shares her poems honouring them, and Elizabeth Gomm shares images from a memorial held in their honour. On Sunday 10th March Reclaim Blackpool and Friends of Layton Cemetery joined forces to celebrate the lives of six murdered women, each of them killed by a husband or partner and buried unceremoniously. The Memorial to Murdered women was led by local historian Deborah Contessa, who has…

24 Feb

Get Lit: High Rise

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

A short story by Kieron Green It’s cold but I find the rain invigorating and life affirming at 6.45am in late November. I feel the early Monday morning cycle ride to work to be a meditation, clearing my mind of the clutter of the previous night’s dreams. I repeatedly check my pockets, ensuring my keys are still there, at the stops for lights and zebra crossings. I do this even though my logic tells me that they can’t be moved. My lamps are flashing, as if in time to the rhythm of my peddling feet. 6.55am, and I hit the…

10 Feb

Poetic License: You Could Have Just Left

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

In the latest addition to our poetry series, Sarah Caulfield shares their personal memory of returning to live in Blackpool after a nuclear breakup and interweaves it with the sensory details of homecoming, painful in their familiarity. Main image: artwork by the author. The title is verbatim quote from someone who gave their view on the poet's personal history, and it became the thread linking the ideas the poem explores together. It illustrates how unsympathetic we are to women and people of marginalised genders and identities, especially when they do not fit our idea of a perfect victim. You Could…

19 Jan

Poetic License: My Name is Blackpool

Mully0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

In the latest of our series showcasing poets from or about Blackpool, Ryan Mulholland puts himself in Blackpool's shoes and finds its tongue firmly in its cheek. My Name is Blackpool I'll be honest with you, I used to be a lot more popular. But now not so much, I've developed a bit Of a reputation, I've turned into a bit of a shit I've sunk below my previous station, but in recent years I've made a recovery, As people have found the other things I'm good for, they've rediscovered me. My name is Blackpool, grab a stool, let me…

09 Dec

David Hogarth releases memoirs of a seaside childhood

David Simper0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken WordBlackpool, blackpool art scene, book launch

Local writer David Hogarth hosted a soft launch of his memoir recounting his life growing up in Blackpool. David Simper popped along to find out more. After a little bus confusion due to one company's real time information system announcing a bus that doesn't exist, I caught the alternative service 61 down to town and walked down to the Tea Amantes cafe and gallery, for local author David Hogarth's book launch. The word had certainly got round for this one and by the time I got there, the place was packed. I recognised David as a regular at the excellent…

11 Nov

Flyte or Fancy: The debauched life of the man who owned Lytham

Blackpool Social Club1 CommentLiterature & Spoken Word

Harry Clifton inherited most of Lytham as a young man studying at Oxford and proceeded to squander the equivalent of his £70 million fortune on soothsayers, fake friends – including Evelyn Waugh – and Faberge Eggs. Writer David Slattery-Christy, whose own life has taken him from Oxford to Blackpool, has written a novel about him but tells us how the truth is as outrageous as fiction. Stories about Harry Clifton, the last Squire of Lytham, began to emerge again when the family seat, Lytham Hall, was opened to the public for the first time just a few years ago. Until…

06 Nov

Blue plaque unveiled to honour thriller master

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

A blue plaque has been unveiled in honour of bestselling thriller writer Desmond Bagley as part of celebrations to mark the centenary of his birth. Bagley, who lived in Blackpool, was one of a band of household names whose books sold in their millions worldwide between the 1960s and 1980s – but even his contemporary Alistair MacLean acknowledged Bagley as “the best”. Fourteen novels were published before his early death at the age of 59, with two more released posthumously. In a dramatic twist worthy of Bagley’s plots, another manuscript was discovered in his archive more than 30 years later…

22 Oct

Poetic License: Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsLiterature & Spoken Word

As part of a new series to bring you poetry about Blackpool and written by Blackpool poets, Rob Mason draws on his family history as well as our most significant local landmark. Blackpool Tower Rob Mason Born and bred in Blackpool. My grandfather was named Harry Pearce, He lived and breathed this town of ours, For every one of his earth years. He lived on Ibbetson Street in Central, He was one of seven kids. Started working as a barrow boy, Perhaps aged as young as six. Running suitcases to hotels, Was big bucks back in the day. It's Blackpool,…