A captive audience

The Arts in Prisons event was amazing this afternoon. I’ve never seen a lecture theatre so full – I guess you could say it was a cell-out. (I know what you’re thinking, oh dear, anything but terrible puns...). Seriously though, I have never been so captivated by a talk as I was when previous inmate, Gary, told us about his love and passion for music.

The Irene Taylor trust runs several schemes to help those in prison to learn about music and help put their lives back on track.

Once the question and answer session began, there were a few questions that made me shift uncomfortably in my seat, and you could really feel the tension in the air. I remember some of them were, “Do you think that all prisoners deserve to have this opportunity?" and "Should they even have this chance in the first place?” Gary and Sara’s replies were that they aren’t judgmental so, regardless of what they’re serving time for, the prisoners deserve the chance to better themselves. As Gary says, “the punishment is loss of liberty. The prison sentence isn’t a punishment, it’s rehabilitation, to learn things and become a better person.” He then goes on to say, “It’s a bloody good thing to have in prisons,” which eased the tension slightly, though I was glad they left the questions there!

It was a very insightful hour in which I learnt a lot, especially about other people's opinions and attitudes towards criminals.

Lauren Raybould

"If I outstay my welcome, just throw stuff ..."

“…And as we journey into the underworld, I will plunge you all into darkness…” I half expected a maniacal laugh from Simon’s lips as he turned off all the lights. Before starting the reading, he added, “Oh, if I outstay my 22 minutes, you can throw stuff.” There were a few chuckles before the room fell silent as Simon’s serene voice began. It was a very eerie atmosphere; turning the lights off did the trick; it made me focus on Simon’s work from his new book, Beneath.

This is the second reading I’ve been to, and I only signed up to it last minute because I was intrigued by Simon’s Archilochus on the Moon, and wanted to hear more of his work.

When Peter Riley graced the stage with Due North, I didn’t really know he who he was, but I did like his work, and the theme of people on the move and looking for a place to live. He cracked a few jokes and made me chuckle a few times; I loved how the last part was in Spanish, not that he knows why. I remember him saying, “I don’t quite know why half of the last part’s in Spanish. Maybe I’m hiding behind another language at the end.” 

And that was when I spotted the books on sale and all other thoughts flew out the window. I feel sorry for my bank account right now.

Lauren Raybould

Fire escapes and a haunted honeymoon

So, I went to Niki and Rod’s two-hour session on Tuesday because of the title, "So you want to write a novel." Yes, I want to write a novel and so, I imagine, did everyone else in the room.

 Simon Perril introduced the session and he had to point out the fire exits; one was out of a window and onto a walkway so Simon added, helpfully, “obviously not out of the other windows, otherwise you’d fall,” much to the amusement of the audience.

Niki Valentine and Rod Duncan were talking about their experiences as writers and how they came to be published. Rod talked about his new book, The Custodian of Marvels, published by Nottingham-based Angry Robot. The sesion gave me a good insight into traditional publishing as well as the inspirations for their books. I couldn’t believe that the inspiration for Niki’s book, The Haunted, was her honeymoon!

There were a lot of good questions asked by us, the audience and it was a genuinely insightful event, so if you do want to write a novel, and you didn’t show up, you missed a great event. I shall now attempt to write a novel, and see if I can…

Lauren Raybould

Inspired by dark times

There were some dark times this morning as I went to the Demon Crew reading. I sat and listened to beautiful and captivating monologues, short stories and poetry created by staff and students alike. Rape, drinking, self-harm and mental health were just a few of the topics.

This was my first visit to a reading of creative work, so I wasn’t sure what to do – should I take notes or just listen? At first I looked around to see what everyone else was doing – some had their eyes closed, appreciating each spoken word like in blissful ecstasy.

The first reader, Paige, had a few poems to read. My personal favourite was “Feeble Ties”. Some lines still stick in my head, such as “faces Hades and his sea of souls”. Afterwards, I had a chance to tell Paige how much I like that poem of hers – it was great.

Kathleen Bell read ”Skulls and Roses,” a short story with a Gothic twist on the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty”, whilst Niki Valentine read “Babysitting”, a story from her book The Night Lingers while Simon closed the event with a reading from his book, Archilochus on the Moon, which is about Greek’s first lyrical poet.

Needless to say, with the amount of talent in that room, I walked out of there feeling inspired to write something, anything, on the spot - and that's exactly what I did!

Lauren Raybould