Unsung

Geoff Ryman's reading at Central Library yesterday was wonderful. It's not even really fair to call it a reading, since Geoff added such an element of theatre to it that his work really came alive. He made an announcement about an exciting new collection that's coming out this Autumn (I think that's when he said). It's the product of a project that links writers to Manchester scientists, the collection of stories that comes from that will surely be very interesting. I know that Geoff has written one of the stories himself, and it should be really great, I don't think I've ever met someone who wasn't a scientist who could talk and write so well (by which I mean accurately) about science.

But now onto the more pressing news. There's yet another Unsung magazine out this week. Those pesky Unsung folk are so productive they make me feel awful that I've only got two issues of Bewilderbliss out in just about the same time they've done three Unsungs. I've still not managed to get along to one of the launches yet, but I'm finally free for this one. I was speaking with Max Dunbar of Succour yesterday and he assured me it was a really great event, so I'm keeping my calendar free for it.

The launch is this Sunday (26th July) at 8pm in the Thirsty Scholar on Oxford Rd. It is £2 to get in, but then the magazine is free, so it sounds like a bargain to me. There will be readings from the magazine and open-mic slots, as well as a raffle to lure you in if everything else on offer wasn't enough.

Geoff Ryman

The Manchester Book Market went really well at the weekend, apart from the weather obviously. There were readings throughout the weekend and I curated a set for the launch of the magazine I edit, Bewilderbliss. It went really well, and the magazine is now officially launched, it's available at the Cornerhouse and Blackwells.

Now that it's out and my to-do list has considerably shrunk, I will be able to get back to updating this blog regularly with news about readings and other literary events in and around Manchester.

The next one coming up is something that I'm really excited about - a reading by Geoff Ryman. He's a mainstream and sci-fi writer who is absolutely spectacular at live events. You may have caught him reading at the last No Point in Not Being Friends, and if you did you'll know how captivating he is. If you missed that, I can guarantee that you'll not want to miss this event.

Geoff Ryman is reading at Central Library tomorrow (22nd July) at 1pm, and there is a Q&A session following it.

Slight change of plans

I should have known that as soon as I put the plans for the Bewilderbliss launch on here they'd change.

It's mostly the same - still this Friday, still at the Manchester Book Market in St Ann's Sq (there will be a stage area at the church end).

The only change is the time. The Bewilderbliss issue #2 launch reading will now start at 4.15pm.

Bewilderbliss

The next issue of Bewilderbliss will be out this Friday. It's on the theme of Doubles, which was set by Jackie Kay, who has also provided a poem for the magazine and done an interview that will appear on the website on Friday. I've been kept pretty busy getting it all together, and I've taken up some of my time with the lovely task of organising the launch.

As I've mentioned previously, this issue will be launched at the Manchester Book Market on Friday 17th (this Friday!) at 3.30pm in St Ann's Sq.

We've got pieces from 19 different writers in this issue, but I've had to narrow those down to just five for the launch. I've chosen a mixture of poets and prose-writers with quite different styles so there should be something to everyone's taste.

The list of readers is:

J.T. Welsch
Cora Greenhill
Eileen Pun
Danny Bird
Nick Murgatroyd

We hope you can join us to give this exciting new issue of Bewilderbliss a good launch off into the world.

Book Fair

I've got some very exciting news today. The Manchester Book Market is returning!

It was very popular three years ago and now it's back as part of the Manchester International Festival.

The fair is running 17th-19th July in St Anns Sqare and as part of it there will be plenty of stalls as well as several readings.

I'm very pleased to say that Bewilderbliss, the magazine I edit, has got a slot for readings on the 17th at 3.30pm. We will (fingers crossed) be launching the new issue there, which contains poetry and prose from several new Manchester writers as well as Mark Piggott, who has a new book out, and Jackie Kay, who also set the theme for the issue.

Read up on what the fair's about and who will be there on the Literature North West website.

Orange Prize Part II

Just a quick update for today:

The reviews the UoM postgrad creative writing students have written for the Orange Prize books are on the Orange Prize blog now.


I've got nothing more to say today. Well in fact I've got lots of stuff to share but it will all have to wait till a later date. I interviewed Jackie Kay for Bewilderbliss, the results of that will go onto the website in a couple of weeks. I've also been reading lots of good stuff in the Elaine Feinstein archive. Check out my other blog to keep up with my progress with that. I will be writing something cohesive about the whole process of my work with the archive. Not sure where that's going yet, but I'll post details here when it's done.

Interview with Jenn Ashworth

Jenn Ashworth, author of A Kind of Intimacy, has done an interview for Bewilderbliss. She did the MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Uni recently and is very supportive of new writers. She's given lots of good advice and information about her writing and the publishing process. She's also given details of her work with the Preston Writing Network, which includes the creative writing classes she teaches and the live lit night Word Soup.

Yes, indeed, it does seem that Jenn Ashworth does it all, she even has a job and a kid. She puts everyone else to shame, but she does it so politely that you can't hold it against her. She'll even sign her book with scented ink for you.

If you want to know more about Jenn Ashworth then check out her blog, which is always interesting, and nicely stationary-obsessed. She also has a website that features 'deleted scenes' from her novel, and details about how its beautiful cover got made.


Over at Bewilderbliss we've also updated the video reading page. We're currently featuring Anthony Richardson, writer and Microsoft Paint obsessive.

Bewilderbliss

This is exciting news from my other project - local new writers' magazine Bewilderbliss. Jackie Kay, tipped to become Poet Laureate next month, has set the theme for the issue and agreed to lend a little extra support by writing something for the upcoming issue. The magazine will be out around the end of June, I'll announce the theme closer to the time.

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This is a little off-topic, but related to the plight of the small press. At a party recently I was told it was perverse to want to publish a print magazine in this day and age. That's not the first time I've had that reaction, but it's the first time a stranger's called me perverse because of Bewilderbliss.

Well help is at hand in the form of thelesspermanent.com, this blog has come to my defense by proposing an ad campaign that highlights all the ways that books are sexy and cool. The post is funny and great and helps me feel like I'm not a troglodyte for wanting to read ink on paper.

No Point and Jenn Ashworth

I'm doing an MA in Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at Manchester University. Even though I've lived in Manchester virtually my whole life it wasn't until starting the course that I was able to really tap into all the reading events and the huge network of writers there is here. Me and two other people from the course set up a magazine called Bewilderbliss to collect together some of the best writing from the University of Manchester and MMU down the road. It's going really well - there are some great pieces in it and some of those were read aloud and filmed on the launch night. The Bewilderbliss website features one of those readings at a time and changes every week or two, you can see what's there now by clicking here.
In addition to the official launch night we also had a segment in the incedibly popular No Point in Not Being Friends last night thanks to Chris Killen , who is a writing fellow at the Centre for New Writing.

This month, in a very special episode of No Point in Not Being Friends, the very lovely Jenn Ashworth launched her novel A Kind of Intimacy, which I snapped up a copy of. The reading she did was very funny, and if it's anything to go by, the book (which comes in at a weighty 282 pages) will flick past in a flurry of pages that will have me wishing it was twice the length.