Crystal Clear is 10! - celebrating the ideas of such imaginative writers

'Crystal Clear is 10!' - I'm pretty sure after tonight, I will attend more spoken reading and open mic nights.

I never thought I would hear a poem about Andy Warhol playing cricket in heaven, but then again the thought had not occurred to me either. It was brilliant. It leads me to think once again that I can write about anything, because the more unusual it is the better. There was some real talent there tonight, Andrew Graves poem about being a 'Middle Aged Mod' was one that definitely made me smile, so unique and once again inspired me to think about my own work.

Julie Boden was also another great talent tonight, 'Moth Screams' and 'Seagull Address' were the two that were read, and they were amazing. Poetry that has been wonderfully written and spoken. Again, brilliant ideas too!

Jonathan Taylor read a piece he called "He never writes to me no more": a story for children, which was funny but at the same time touching. He writes about the mind of a ten year old boy and a relationship with his grandma, maybe we all could associate ourselves with it because we were all ten years old once, and my Grandma is always giving me biscuits to eat (or cake because cake is good too!).

What's better is we got given a free anthology, the first one by Crystal Clear. Freebies. Don't you just love them? Again I wish all these writers the best for the future.


Claire McGowan.

Endings and Beginnings

Cultural eXchanges week proper began to swing fully today and - to coin an optimistic cliché - so far so good.

Day began, warmth and tea. Reading and café-stalking. Midday hits; people in the street, Clephan building filling, and latté. After me, the people file in: students; lecturers; writers, well wishers, and unknowns. Computers sing, runaways twitch, and vampire landlords fart at the police - this is a collection of readings worth hearing. A festival atmosphere, imperceptible at the edge of the air, rises.

I have bought Things, courtesy of Crystal Clear Creators, and look forward to the next day.

James G Laws