Lost and Found in Leicester

Short stories are like overlooked diamonds in an ocean of jewels. Writing them is a skill that must be honed, for writing a novel and writing a short are two very different forms. Short stories are making a resurgence, and to make the most of this, the Dahlia Press gathered writers from Leicester to create an anthology of shorts. 

Based on the theme of Home, the collection took a variety of approaches to this. Whether it was the destruction of home, leaving one's home, or someone making a house a home, these stories are all emotive and powerful, drawing on a word that is heavily loaded with emotional baggage ready to exploit. 

A particularly notable piece came from writer Jonanthan Taylor, who created a character failing to recognise her own home due to a medical condition, as told from a doctor's perspective.

All writers observed the value of each word in a short story and one compared short stories with a shot of vodka, giving you more of a hit than a novel could achieve with so few words. 

Walking away from such an event, I realised that although a short story might be described as a sprint, and a novel a marathon, both Mo Farah and Usain Bolt have to train for months in order to compete. Just because one is shorter, doesn't mean any less effort can go in. 

 

Dominic Gilmour

All Things Arty

(Source: dmu.ac.uk)

With the exciting Cultural Exchanges festival just around the corner, I decided it was time to take a look at the events on offer. Hosted by De Montfort University, the festival showcases a range of performance, art, literary discussion and much more. The event draws people from across the country and beyond and is a great opportunity for DMU students to watch, listen and take part. I was thrilled to see the variety of events in the programme.

What am I most excited about? As an aspiring writer, I'll be popping into as many poetry and writing events as possible, such as a talk with Nina Stibbe, and a session on writing short stories. I also thought, Why not see what other stuff Leicester has to offer? So I've booked onto a few visual arts events and I'm both curious and intrigued to see what awaits me.

The festival is nationally renowned, drawing large crowds and media interest each year. So next week I'll have my running shoes tightly laced and be bouncing from one event to another.

Don't take my word for it, why don't you come along and see the festival for yourself! Follow the link here and book yourself in!

 
Dominic Gilmour

A glimpse of the future

 Reading creative work is difficult so I have great respect for the three DMU postgraduates who took part in the showcase at Cultural Exchanges. 

 

Emma Conway's thoughtful readings evoked a fantastical SciFi world of 3-D printing where humanity is eventually overrun. Laurie Cusack gave an impassioned and flavoursome recitation of various scenes of distinctly Irish origin; the refrain of “Burn the Bastards” really stuck with me. Finally Pam Thompson gave us a glimpse of her ekphrastic poetry (including a gripping pantoum) which revolved around a holographic timepiece and a ship in a giant bottle.

This eclectic group of writers was a great reflection of the literary world. 


Matthew Budge

Inspired to write

Three cheers for the postgraduates who displayed their fantastic work today in the Postgraduate Showcase!

After five minutes of listening to the poetry and short fiction Emma Conway, Laurie Cusack and Pam Thompson had to offer, I was hooked. Exploring a range of ideas and demonstrating their passion for writing, the postgraduates definitely showcased their individual talents.

It was a pleasure to listen to their work and has inspired me further to pursue my ambition for writing.

Praise for the Creative Writing course at DMU and for the postgraduates who made the showcase a must see event. I hope they make an appearance again next year, and I’ll definitely be looking out for their work in the future.

Lauren Ingham

Postgraduate showcase

Three postgraduates, all studying for Creative Writing Ph.D.s at De Montfort University, presented their work in a single and varied showcase.

Emma Conway read from her poetry with a video backdrop and her use of her voice was very strong. But while I could see that some audience members appreciated the mix of video and voice, I sometimes found it hard to take everything in; my brain was sometimes trying to decipher three moving images while listening to the poems. For me a greater emphasis on the words is more important. 

Laurie Cusack's two flash fictions had a focus on Ireland and the Irish people. I happen to be half-Irish and I particularly enjoyed these stories, especially the second with its football theme as I come from a football crazed family. Laurie brought his work to life through tone and expression.

Pam Thompson gave a long introduction to her poems. Personally I would have liked more poetry and less explanation because it was the poems that I really liked.
 
Overall, this was an enjoyable experience with friendly people and I would definitely like to attend another reading by DMU's Creative Writing postgraduates

M.S. Gray

I overheard a rumour about free wine

The final event I attended was the East Midlands launch of Overheard: Stories to Read Aloud and despite what you may suspect, I didn’t go just for the free wine. 

(Although that was a fantastic bonus! I advise the powers that be to supply free wine at all future events. Maybe some whiskey too...) 

I may have digressed...

The book was edited by DMU Creative Writing tutor, Jonathan Taylor, and contributed to by our other tutors Kathleen Bell, Will Buckingham and Simon Perril, among many others. Although I was sure the other writers would be excellent, I was most interested to hear my tutors’ work. Of course, it did not disappoint.

The idea of stories written for the purpose of being read aloud took me back to telling ghost stories, by torchlight, as a child and ‘story time’ in primary school, gathered in front of the teacher. It reminded me of what first excited me about stories - the facial expressions for emphasis; the whispers and the shouts; the pauses that feel eternal and the look of intrigue in the listeners' eyes. That strength of suspense, humour and involvement can’t be matched when I read text from a page.

The writers brought their stories to life and it was easy to see that the audience was hanging on their every word as the wine stood, neglected, at the back of the room.

If you missed the event, don’t miss the book!

Hannah Maggs

I want to know more

As I sat on a chair swirling a glass of wine in one hand as the audience flooded into a crowded room,I felt privileged that I had experienced De Montfort University's Cultural Exchanges Festival and the range of extraordinary individuals who had come to share their valuable work . 

The final event, 'Overheard -Stories To Read Aloud,' was no exception as a host of readers provided an evening of entertainment. There was a range of stories.  Particularly memorable was Will Buckingham's snippet of an anecdote about a bizarre event witnessed by a couple of honeymooners.  The stories varied widely in theme and topic ranging from mental illness to the transition from childhood to adulthood brilliantly told using the theme of students and teachers.

As I left the artificial lights of the cramped room, I felt as if a piece of each story that had been read aloud had left a long-term effect upon my mind.  Each story, perfectly told, gave an insight into the lives of the characters involved.  I walked into the darkness wishing I could only know more about them all. 
 


Mike Payne

All change for creative writers

 

 

Writers Alan Baker and Will Buckingham have both been prompted to write by the ancient Chinese text the I Ching, also known as The Book of Changes.

Will, began by explaining the mathematically-derived structure of the I Ching: how the 64 hexagrams are formed by either Yang (solid) or Yin (broken) lines stacked in sixes, to represent all the possible combinations. Each of these hexagrams is a statement that can be used for the purposes of divination, or taken and applied as a philosophical perspective.

Alan highlighted - and it really struck me - how contemporary the concepts of I Ching are.  He described it as similar to, and even influential on New Age spiritualism; as well as a key influence on the development of the binary system.

Both Will and Alan, read some of their own work directly inspired by their reading of the I Ching.  Although both started from the same place there were remarkable differences between Alan's 256-word prose poems and Will's short stories.  However both had similar elements, being in their own ways random, circular and cryptic.

Listening to Will and Alan's account of the I Ching, I couldn’t distinguish whether what I was hearing was a mass of convoluted nonsense, or a universal truth delivered with subtle poignancy. Sitting here reflecting, twenty wiki tabs deep, with tired eyes and a head full of whirling thoughts; I’m still not sure. In can at least conclude that the I Ching is a marvellous and seemingly inexhaustible source of food for thought.

Xavier Cranwell

Expectations met

Even before the event, I had high expectations of the work that was going to be presented to us. I expected creative pieces that illustrated the individual’s distinct style of writing and a great expression of ideas.

I am happy to say that those expectations were met. Pieces of work became performances as James G. Laws combined word with movement in one of his poems, making the work both effective and memorable. 

Laurie Cusack read the opening of a short story, giving a sense of identity to his characters through his strong accent, the words spoken and changes in dynamics, allowing us to glimpse of their personalities. 

I thought the joint performance of Richard Byrt and Graham Norman rather smart. It played on the idea of a reliable and an unreliable narrator - and also demonstrated that poetry doesn’t have to be a writing process for just one, but can be a collaborative effort for two. 

Other pieces were just as good. I mustn't forget Hannah Stevens' reading of her short story, 'A Man Under', about the immediate after-effects of a suicide. 

All in all, it was delightful to see such a variety of pieces and range of voices.  I hope the authors enjoyed the occasion as much as the audience did.

Dayle Corbin

Calm confidence, and a roar of applause

During this hour long showcase of original literary pieces, I was struck by how calm and confident all of the readers presented themselves whilst expressing their own work. It takes a lot of will power to share something that you have created, pouring hours of time into each individual piece, and even more so in front of an audience of strangers.

Works ranging from poems about the ridiculous and the fantastic to stories dealing with rage, frustration and empathy were showcased.  One performer even strolled up the steps to interact with the audience. It felt as if the personalities and personae of each individual author/poet were carried through into the delivery of their pieces, making their stories feel that much more engaging.

Even though the event took place in a raked lecture theatre, seats were filled from front to back, adding to the atmosphere.  It was wonderful to be part of an experience where writers and readers could come together and silently bounce off of each other while performing or listening. Every person in that room genuinely wanted to be engaged within the story-telling and, judging by the roar of applause at the end, that was exactly what happened.

The dark comedic final poem: ‘I didn’t mean to...’ was a personal highlight. At the final words, the entire room erupted into laughter.

Great Job to all seven writers!

Graeme Tait

A sadistic conclusion

I was really looking forward to attending the Postgraduate Creative Writing Showcase, and to experience the kinds of writing that have developed from the very same place in which I find myself. I knew dozens of other students felt the same as seats quickly filled in the small lecture theatre.

It certainly didn’t disappoint. Seven authors performed a great variety of works; poems, short stories and extracts from longer ones; each piece unique, each with a strong voice, wonderful plots and strange, engaging characters.

We heard the fast-paced chaos of the self-proclaimed ‘nonsense’ poems, the formal monotone voice of Warden in the prison bath rules poem, a beautifully constructed poem conveying a charming tale of first meetings in Africa, the short tale of a sorrowful man, and the brash, powerful screams of a violent criminal in an extract from a story. Each author made the work come to life and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them. What really struck me was how each speaker conveyed the tone of their writing perfectly in their recital, sometimes becoming their characters before us. They really got into it, and we benefited because of it.

It was exciting to hear all these writers reading their precious work, and a wonderful event to attend, but for me, the highlight of the event came right at the end, with a hilarious poem which ended with the sadistic line ‘I didn’t mean to kill you’. The whole audience erupted into both laughter and applause.

 

J.Wedgbury