Write Out Loud's June Newsletter
Welcome to the June Newsletter from Write Out Loud.
This month we’ve got more news about our creative partnership with the University of Bolton, information on how to chat online on our web site, details of some special one-off WOL events including a slam in Hebden Bridge. Notice about a poetry festival that is growing in stature. Whilst this months article, written by Frances Spurrier (a well know London Poet), discusses "Real money for metaphorical mouths"
Online Chat
Another great new development on www.writeoutloud.net this month is the introduction of online chatting. Once you are logged on click on "Users Online", now click on "chat" against someone's name which invites them to chat with you and off you go - it's that simple.
Creative Partnership with University of Bolton
The partnership between Write Out Loud and the University of Bolton was officially launched at a creative writing showcase event at the Octagon Theatre on 20th May.
As well as providing support and promotion for the University's programme of guest poet and writer events at the Octagon Theatre, both organisations are interested in developing regular poetry events based in the University which, though initially targeted at the student population, will encourage the participation of people from across the town and beyond.
Talks are also at an early stage for WOL to have offices in the proposed Media Village that the University intends to develop later in the year.
Ledbury Poetry Festival
The increasingly prestigious Ledbury Festival is taking place this year from the 4th to the 13th July. There's everything from Carol Ann Duffy to a poetry jukebox; the Ledbury choir to film, discussion, open floor and much, much more - for full details visit: http://www.poetry-festival.com
New Write Out Loud Events
May saw the launch of the regular Wonderful Arty Types show in Wigan, a mix of poetry and music. Whilst, Poetry Brew at Caffe Nero continues on the last Tuesday of every month, also in Wigan - both events organised by WOL co-ordinator John Togher.
In Bolton we've got another of our "Riders" nights on the 6th of June - an often weird night with poetry, music, drama, puppetry, madness... and one not to be missed.
Another new venture sees WOL moving into West Yorkshire with WOL co-ordinator Sean Kavanagh creating two events as part of the Hebden Bridge Fringe Festival. First up we've got an open floor event at Stubbing Wharf on 3rd July which we intend to turn into a regular monthly event. Followed on the 7th by a slam at the Nutclough Studio when you can win up to £50!
Full details of these and all our other regular events, along with many others from across the country (& beyond) can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3abq87
Finally
As usual we urge you to tell us about your events, send us reviews and continue checking www.writeoutloud.net, not only for the comprehensive gig guide, but also for News from the poetry world, details of competitions, workshops, reviews and much more.
See you at a poetry event near you soon
The Press Team
www.writeoutloud.net
Real Money for Metaphorical Mouths
by Frances Spurrier
Even twenty years ago, creative writing was almost unknown as an academic subject apart from the course run by Malcolm Bradbury at UEA. Now such courses are run routinely in universities and colleges up and down the land - aimed generally at writers of prose but poetry too is on a roll.
Writers are attending workshops in droves - beginners, intermediate advanced, in the UK, abroad, anywhere. Performance poetry is becoming competitive; the slam; the gig - all listed in Time Out and local papers. Young, old, we gather in secret, fusty, cramped little rooms above pubs, in cafes, or in cellars in London, Liverpool, Lymington, Edinburgh. Why we do it is less clear. Because we find it therapeutic? Possibly - although anyone who tries to write seriously realises quickly that in terms of therapy walking barefoot over a bed of nails is easier.
Perhaps poetry offers a candle light illumination on tiny bits of an increasingly dark and frightening world? Or reminds us that there is still something that matters beyond the rush and grab of every day.
The idea that poetry is somehow exclusive or elitist is nonsense. Entry into many events is free, or available for less than the price of a pint of beer. Nor do you have to be published or part of any clique to get exposure for your work.
Open-mic nights, slams, competitions abound, enough to satisfy the needs of any addict. And now the internet has opened the field even further. For anyone prepared to invest a little time and effort into this art - and it is an art, like painting, like mosaic - not a quick fix or soundbite entertainment - there is enough for a lifetime in terms of literary achievement. What there is not is financial reward.
The poetry world is on its metaphorical knees in terms of funding. Yet here is a paradox. The same magazines which adorn the shelves of the Poetry Library on the 5th floor of London’s Southbank Centre - which are inundated every week with thousands of submissions - struggle to get the money they need to subsist from their tiny numbers of subscriptions. Many mainstream publishers will not publish - because booksellers will not or cannot sell - poetry.
Of course no-one seriously expects that anyone would actually try and make any money out of this. Poets just sit in garrets and metaphorise and are honoured to have the opportunity to die of starvation for Queen and Country. Either that or, the more usual choice, they must have full time jobs and write bleary eyed at their computers at 2 in the morning after the kids have gone to bed (and before they get up again). That is the status quo and not much looks like changing. No matter how many of us squash into the Troubadour or take our response to The Wasteland along to the room above the pub.
Every year those few members who are physically able to, squeeze into the tiny meeting room available for the Poetry Society’s AGM - a space smaller than many people’s living rooms - to be told that there is an urgency for more money, more marketing, more space, more awareness, more everything. But space - particularly in Central London - is a mainstream commodity. On an intellectual level, there may be plenty of people willing to pay Poetry lip service (excuse the pun) but when it comes to commerce, then two worlds collide. Poetry does not occupy mainstream commercial space; that privilege is reserved for people who spin straw into gold.
Why are there no corporate sponsors for poetry?Why is there no Orange prize for Poetry, why no Nike Collection? no Virgin Anthology? Not from an expectation that any money can be made - these hugely wealthy corpocracies do not need any more money - but from a philanthropic desire to sponsor the Arts?
Of course it will not happen. For a sponsor, an hour’s reading at the Poet’s Church in Holborn doesn’t have quite the Wow factor of a Formula One race. Whether this has to do with the quality of contemporary poetry I do not know; there are others far better qualified than I am to comment on that. But I do know that unless there is a radical change in attitudes, followed by a putting of money where mouths are, those who write poetry are destined to be starving in garrets at 2am for the foreseeable future.
________________________________________________________
www.writeoutloud.net
Gig Guide
Add your events and once they are accepted onto the guide you have total control of the content
Poets' Showcase
Add your profile & share your poetry
Interactivity
Join discussions, post blogs, make comments and chat with other poets
This month we’ve got more news about our creative partnership with the University of Bolton, information on how to chat online on our web site, details of some special one-off WOL events including a slam in Hebden Bridge. Notice about a poetry festival that is growing in stature. Whilst this months article, written by Frances Spurrier (a well know London Poet), discusses "Real money for metaphorical mouths"
Online Chat
Another great new development on www.writeoutloud.net this month is the introduction of online chatting. Once you are logged on click on "Users Online", now click on "chat" against someone's name which invites them to chat with you and off you go - it's that simple.
Creative Partnership with University of Bolton
The partnership between Write Out Loud and the University of Bolton was officially launched at a creative writing showcase event at the Octagon Theatre on 20th May.
As well as providing support and promotion for the University's programme of guest poet and writer events at the Octagon Theatre, both organisations are interested in developing regular poetry events based in the University which, though initially targeted at the student population, will encourage the participation of people from across the town and beyond.
Talks are also at an early stage for WOL to have offices in the proposed Media Village that the University intends to develop later in the year.
Ledbury Poetry Festival
The increasingly prestigious Ledbury Festival is taking place this year from the 4th to the 13th July. There's everything from Carol Ann Duffy to a poetry jukebox; the Ledbury choir to film, discussion, open floor and much, much more - for full details visit: http://www.poetry-festival.com
New Write Out Loud Events
May saw the launch of the regular Wonderful Arty Types show in Wigan, a mix of poetry and music. Whilst, Poetry Brew at Caffe Nero continues on the last Tuesday of every month, also in Wigan - both events organised by WOL co-ordinator John Togher.
In Bolton we've got another of our "Riders" nights on the 6th of June - an often weird night with poetry, music, drama, puppetry, madness... and one not to be missed.
Another new venture sees WOL moving into West Yorkshire with WOL co-ordinator Sean Kavanagh creating two events as part of the Hebden Bridge Fringe Festival. First up we've got an open floor event at Stubbing Wharf on 3rd July which we intend to turn into a regular monthly event. Followed on the 7th by a slam at the Nutclough Studio when you can win up to £50!
Full details of these and all our other regular events, along with many others from across the country (& beyond) can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3abq87
Finally
As usual we urge you to tell us about your events, send us reviews and continue checking www.writeoutloud.net, not only for the comprehensive gig guide, but also for News from the poetry world, details of competitions, workshops, reviews and much more.
See you at a poetry event near you soon
The Press Team
www.writeoutloud.net
Real Money for Metaphorical Mouths
by Frances Spurrier
Even twenty years ago, creative writing was almost unknown as an academic subject apart from the course run by Malcolm Bradbury at UEA. Now such courses are run routinely in universities and colleges up and down the land - aimed generally at writers of prose but poetry too is on a roll.
Writers are attending workshops in droves - beginners, intermediate advanced, in the UK, abroad, anywhere. Performance poetry is becoming competitive; the slam; the gig - all listed in Time Out and local papers. Young, old, we gather in secret, fusty, cramped little rooms above pubs, in cafes, or in cellars in London, Liverpool, Lymington, Edinburgh. Why we do it is less clear. Because we find it therapeutic? Possibly - although anyone who tries to write seriously realises quickly that in terms of therapy walking barefoot over a bed of nails is easier.
Perhaps poetry offers a candle light illumination on tiny bits of an increasingly dark and frightening world? Or reminds us that there is still something that matters beyond the rush and grab of every day.
The idea that poetry is somehow exclusive or elitist is nonsense. Entry into many events is free, or available for less than the price of a pint of beer. Nor do you have to be published or part of any clique to get exposure for your work.
Open-mic nights, slams, competitions abound, enough to satisfy the needs of any addict. And now the internet has opened the field even further. For anyone prepared to invest a little time and effort into this art - and it is an art, like painting, like mosaic - not a quick fix or soundbite entertainment - there is enough for a lifetime in terms of literary achievement. What there is not is financial reward.
The poetry world is on its metaphorical knees in terms of funding. Yet here is a paradox. The same magazines which adorn the shelves of the Poetry Library on the 5th floor of London’s Southbank Centre - which are inundated every week with thousands of submissions - struggle to get the money they need to subsist from their tiny numbers of subscriptions. Many mainstream publishers will not publish - because booksellers will not or cannot sell - poetry.
Of course no-one seriously expects that anyone would actually try and make any money out of this. Poets just sit in garrets and metaphorise and are honoured to have the opportunity to die of starvation for Queen and Country. Either that or, the more usual choice, they must have full time jobs and write bleary eyed at their computers at 2 in the morning after the kids have gone to bed (and before they get up again). That is the status quo and not much looks like changing. No matter how many of us squash into the Troubadour or take our response to The Wasteland along to the room above the pub.
Every year those few members who are physically able to, squeeze into the tiny meeting room available for the Poetry Society’s AGM - a space smaller than many people’s living rooms - to be told that there is an urgency for more money, more marketing, more space, more awareness, more everything. But space - particularly in Central London - is a mainstream commodity. On an intellectual level, there may be plenty of people willing to pay Poetry lip service (excuse the pun) but when it comes to commerce, then two worlds collide. Poetry does not occupy mainstream commercial space; that privilege is reserved for people who spin straw into gold.
Why are there no corporate sponsors for poetry?Why is there no Orange prize for Poetry, why no Nike Collection? no Virgin Anthology? Not from an expectation that any money can be made - these hugely wealthy corpocracies do not need any more money - but from a philanthropic desire to sponsor the Arts?
Of course it will not happen. For a sponsor, an hour’s reading at the Poet’s Church in Holborn doesn’t have quite the Wow factor of a Formula One race. Whether this has to do with the quality of contemporary poetry I do not know; there are others far better qualified than I am to comment on that. But I do know that unless there is a radical change in attitudes, followed by a putting of money where mouths are, those who write poetry are destined to be starving in garrets at 2am for the foreseeable future.
________________________________________________________
www.writeoutloud.net
Gig Guide
Add your events and once they are accepted onto the guide you have total control of the content
Poets' Showcase
Add your profile & share your poetry
Interactivity
Join discussions, post blogs, make comments and chat with other poets
Sun, 1 Jun 2008 10:45 am
