Joining the Demon Crew

It doesn't feel quite right to review one's own work.

I'd originally booked to attend the Demon Crew event so that I could hear other other undergraduate students reading from their work. Then, last week, one of my tutors suggested I migth take part. 

I settled on a performance piece I've worked with before. It's based on a typical writing day and deals with my habit of procrastination. This ended up being the opening piece, and reading to an audience without looking for feedback is pretty daunting. It doesn't get any easier, regardless of audience size or whether or not I'm dressed as a cowboy (that's another story - a long one).

Other pieces included excerpts from science fiction stories, poems on numerous topics (whether abusive relationships or reading), and even a scene from a screenplay. It was great to see the variety of readings, and I commend my peers for also having the courage to share their work that way.


Andrew Roberts

Inspired by the Demon Crew

Run by undergraduate students and tutors at the heart of the Creative Writing department, the Demon Crew event felt both homemade and wholesome.

This was my first Cultural Exchanges event, so I went into it with an open mind, unsure of what to expect. The diverse group of writers sharing their work did not disappoint!

There was an eclectic mix of poetry, short fiction and script from a range of students studying different courses (creative writing, film, drama etc.), each with their own very distinct voices and charms.

Surely anyone surrounded by so many vibrant and passionate people would have to feel inspired. I left the event wanting to write my own pieces that so that I too can perform one day.

A. Culbert

A passion for writing

There were six readings at the postgraduate showcase, and each explored a different approach to writing. Among the range of styles, two stood out for me: Richard Byrt and Bhagwant Kaur. I found the way they engaged in their work showed true passion for the art of writing.

Richard Byrt had a wonderful presence as a person andalso conveyed it through his words. His last reading in particular, the poem 'Typical bloke in a woolly hat,' drew the audience in.

Bhagwant Kaur seemed utterly at home within the showcase. She was confident and composed. Her work, 'Reasons for Divorce' was brilliant. Her comedic timing was first class. She performed her work with such passion that it was clear how much enjoyment Bhagwant finds in creative writing.

I hope this is an annual event should be shown every year, as it gives fellow students a rare glimpse of what to expect from their creative writing course.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole showcase and hope to be part of the postgraduate event in the future.


Debbie Tinsley

An exploration of creativity

This presentation gave postgraduate students at DMU and opportunity to showcase some of their latest work. The prose and poetry performed were excellent pieces, displaying the talent that was cultivated in the Creative Writing course.

The speakers were Daniel O’Donnell-Smith (poet/musician), Claire Baldwin (writer/poetry blogger), Richard Byrt (retired lecturer/mental health nurse), Bhagwant Kaur (writer), Pam Thompson (poet/performer) and Alexandros Plasatis (editor/writer/performer).

The presentation displayed a wide array of compositions to appeal to all tastes. This ranged from unusual and vivid poetry, a short fiction which imaginatively used repetition and explores identity, an amusing poem assisted with crowd-pleasing props, an elaborate joke narrated in fictional form, a powerful description of city nightlife and a deep insight into the conversations between hashish smokers.

Each reader's work demonstrated that time spent in creative writing at DMU was far from wasted.


S. M. Knight

A look to the future

I was given a look into the future today as I attended a reading postgraduate creative writers at De Montfort. Three of the six readers were previously members of the undergraduate Demon Crew, who decided to pursue their writing further at M.A. and Ph.D. level.

The six speakers shared work which was varied stylistically, yet all pieces were of a high standard. I particularly enjoyed the poetry of Richard Byrt, who combined humour with linguistic vibrancy, and fiction from both Bhagwant Kaur and Claire Baldwin, with the latter creating a narrative voice which was strikingly fresh and unique.

As well as inspiring the undergraduates in attendance, there was plenty of entertainment for the rest of the audience.

I hope to be in the position of those writers in just a couple of years' time, and also hope that their work will be visible on a much wider scale in the very near future.


Jack Arkell

Incomplete novels and attack dolphins

I could wax lyrical about the quality of the readings at the "Work in Progress" evening, but for the sake of sanity (yours) and dignity (mine) , I won't. The idea for the event was simple: three authors - Michelene Wandor, Jonathan Taylor and Will Buckingham (the last two are DMU lecturers) - gave readings from books they are in the process of writing as well as talking about the process of coming up with ideas, shaping them, and setting them to paper.

In the midst of a sea of "How To Imagine" books that set out the rules of inspiration with firm, patronising hands, the event took a refreshingly open-minded approach. The three authors were very specific about their own methods, but made little attempt to push them on to the audience as the Only Method.

It's an approach which would rub some people the wrong way: "What's the point if they're not going to tell you how to write a novel? If I wanted to hear people talk about what they personally do, I'd go read a blog," they might say in rather nasal tones.

But they aren't the target audience: The target audience is writers, who chafe at being told how they should find inspiration. Attempts at setting down hard and fast rules for imagination result less in delighted cries of "Thank you! I wouldn't have known how to get an idea otherwise" and more in low snarls of "Release the attack dolphins."

Or perhaps that's just me. Either way, the three authors earned their applause at the end of the evening.


Phillip Dobson

Well done, class of 2010!

After the initial embarrassment of walking into the wrong lecture theatre, I managed to fine the right room for the Student Publication Launch. Most of the final year Creative Writing students lookws more nervous than I need to say.

I wasn't looking forward to it. Two hours seemed far too long to sit down and listen to other people talk about their work. Little did I know what a treat was in store for me.

After a short introduction from Jonathan Taylor the first group took to the podium. No doubt their stomachs dropped as they faced the audience of around 60. But what a marvellous job they did. Jordan Bacon, Tom Haymes and Rob Cotterell started the launch with a bang and soon got the audience in fits of giggles as they interpreted the language of the north for the benefit of southerners.

Highlights of the second half included T-shirts for dogs to raise money for charity. Good thinking Alexia Polemidioti, but I have to agree with Jonathan Taylor that there should be a range for cats too. There was also ia rather raunchy, graphic but humorous poem from Simone Byer and a website from Lauren O’Brien, who combined fashion and writing with fascinating results.

I’m left with a heavy feeling in my stomach from the realisation that at this point in two years I’ll be standing up there - most definitely quivering like a leaf and crying for my Mother. It was an outstanding event and I can’t deny that all deserve recognition for their hard work over the past three years.

Well done, class of 2010!

Natalia Chrystalla Boileau

How awful!

As I sat watching the third-year, soon-to-be-gone creative writing students discuss their work, it was difficult to think that I and my fellow first years would also inevitably have to face this daunting task at some point too.

How awful.

The third years had produced all sorts of publications, from menus to poetry books, websites, short stories, table mats and even dog T-shirts. One by one they told us why they chose to do their pieces and made it seem almost simple.

All the time my cowardly self was thinking, "Jolly good - but rather you than me standing up there." Yet most of the students seemed calm and genuinely proud to be showing their work.

I only hope that in around two years time I'll feel that way - and that the years don't go too quickly.

Leigh Connelly

Kes and the F- word

I'm looking forward to seeing Ken Loach at DMU's Cultural eXchange week (5th March); his drama Cathy Come Home is one of the most significant UK TV plays ever made.

However, an unwelcome school memory has re-surfaced: 1983, year of my English O-Level, lesson conducted by a teacher with a fondness for contemporary literature (I will call her Miss X-Pletive). We were reading A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines, inspiration for the film Kes, directed by Ken Loach.

Back then (and up until 17 February 2010), I was never a great one for swearing, confounding school friends :"Go on, say The Bloody Tower. It's OK, it's not like proper swearing."

I refused.

This particular day, Miss X-Pletive picked on girls in the class to read out passages from Hines's book. My section was liberally seasoned with the f-word, used as a reinforcing adverb that I, as an ultra-sensitive teen, couldn't say.

So, I refused to read. I could hear the sneers and sniggers from my class mates as my cheeks burned brightly.

Twenty seven years later and I am now a mature student studying Creative Writing and English Language at DMU. A recent lecture concerned taboo words and I even said a very naughty four-letter word out loud. I haven't died of embarrassment (yet).

These words are just one small part of our rich language and culture. Does this finally mean I have grown up?

Blog off!


Sally Jack


image from BBFC through wikimedia commons

Philip Hensher: in conversation

Part of me was dreading this event. We had to read The Northern Clemency for 'Contemporary Fiction.' It's a long book and some of us reckoned it would have been just as good, if not better, at half the length. You can imagine our faces when Philip Hensher said that, when he started writing the novel, he thought it was going to be quite short at only 150 pages or so. He did apologise for the length.

I half expected that the author of a long novel would be long-winded and boring. Luckily this wasn't the case at all - Hensher has a good sense of humour and wasn't afraid to make his audience laugh.

There was a particularly interesting discussion about authors basing fiction on their own life and experiences. In the writing world, authors can be slammed for blatant "self-inserts" in their novels. However, Hensher explained some parts of his novel that were based on his experiences, and no one criticised these because they work and aren't obvious. He laughed, "The more I tell you it was based on my own life the more I sound like I can't make stuff up" - something I too have struggled with.

Finding the balance is hard, but I guess that's what editors are for. His advice was to use editors when possible: it's what they're there for, after all.


S.E. Pavely

Postgraduates Shine a Light on Post-Human Landscapes

Dan O’ Donell-Smith blazed the trail for this cultural creative writing smorgasbord, with readings of his evocative poetry delivered in a deadpan fashion. The poems barked a sort of machine language, depicting a digital dystopian gaming life that truly shocked the uninitiated.

Contrastingly Mystie Hood’s reading of the first chapter from her novel radiated a sinister provincial elegance. Indigenous angst and disconnect rub against multiculturalism in a residential building inside a ghetto. The paranoid maladjusted rural protagonist craves anonymity in a globalised city which refuses her the isolation she yearns. Her dysfunctional existence resonated in the well-read extract from this engaging piece of work.

Poems in progress delivered with verve by Pam Thompson whispered other worlds. A plethora of imaginative language conjured apocalyptic visions as we listened transfixed. Pam cited numerous influences including W.S. Graham and Barbara Guest. Her poems powered home, fired by visceral language and imagery that conveyed human landscapes at their bleakest.

Alex Plasatis blasted us into the magic realist zone of eviction, with his gripping tale of student domesticity under attack by the apparatus of the state. Landlord and police are deployed in a surrealist adventure to disrupt student innocence, which creates mayhem. As a consequence a bat takes flight squeaking and shrieking, freaking out the powers that be. It was a fine way to wind up this literary treat.

These readings were well attended and left us in the audience slightly disturbed but craving for more. A big thank you to everyone involved.

Laurie

A range of styles: the postgraduate reading

The postgraduate writing session proved an interesting mix of different styles by four writers: Dan O'Donnell-Smith, Mystie Hood, Pam Thompson and Alex Plasatis.

The first reading by Dan O'Donnell-Smith was based around computing and technology. I particularly liked his original take on this modern phenomenon. It was different, and thought-provoking. Dan suggested his poems were more suited to being read on the page, rather than spoken aloud, but they still grabbed my attention.

My personal favourite was Mystie Hood's reading of her first chapter. It had humour, mystery and a strong concept in terms of plot. It was easy to understand, and she read it really well, managing to captivate the audience.

Pam Thompson read a collection of her poetry, all very strong in their subject, and finally Alex Plasatis's added another very engaging piece, with touches of humour that had the audience laughing.

As a whole the variety of pieces, made me think about the sort of things I could write in the future and gave me new ideas to aid me in my own writing.

Gemma Carey