Spoken Word Antics 2008
8 January 2008, with Zoe Lambert
Zoe Lambert's short fiction has been published by Comma Press, in various magazines and The Independent on Sunday. She is currently writing a 'novel-in-stories' and completing her PhD thesis on British women's short fiction. She lectures in creative writing at The University of Bolton. Some of her work can be found on the Comma Press website.
12 February 2008, with James Nash
James Nash has been writer in residence for institutions as diverse as the National Library for the Blind, Wakefield Prison, and Calderdale High Schools. He also hosts literary events and can often be found chairing events at the Ilkley Literature Festival. His collection Coma Songs (2003) asks serious everyday questions, like 'What do men talk about in the gym? Which people should you steer clear of? What songs would you want played to you in a coma? Why is having sex in an allotment not a good idea?'.
11 March 2008, with Matt Clegg and Chris Jones
Ever thought Spoken Word Antics was too wordy? Well this month we're getting short and poignant! Matt Clegg roams Sheffield's outlying areas with a series of tanka, sound effects courtesy of Brian Lewis; and Chris Jones reads haiku from Cells, a collaboration with the painter Paul Evans, as well as a sequence of haiku and tanka to do with the river Don.
8 April 2008 with Linda Lee Welch and Tina McKevitt: seaside doll and easter rising
Linda Lee Welch will be performing Flossie Paper Doll, a new sequence of short poems set in an unnamed seaside town, with musical accompaniment from The Only Michael (eletronics) and Andy Weaver on guitar and melodica. Linda Lee is an American-born writer based in Sheffield, author of The Leader of the Swans and The Artist of Eikando, and appeared on the Antics radio show in November 2007.
Tina McKevitt performs 'The Last Time I Saw Joe', a dramatic monologue set during Ireland's Easter Rising (1916) about passion as a form of resistance even in the face of death. Find out about the Easter Rising on Wikipedia.
13 May 2008 with Rosie Garner and Catherine Clarke
10 June 2008 with 'Careless', by Matt Black and Adam White
Hot on the heels of 'Surf', their twisted seaside tale about Jonny Donut, ice cream seller, Matt Black and Adam White perform 'Careless', a medley of swirling guitar and poems around the theme of love in its early stages.
8 July with Joolz Denby
In July Antics welcomes Joolz Denby, one of Britain's finest female spoken word artists, to Sheffield. Joolz is a a prolific and engaged writer, and brings her work to life with her dramatic and emotive performances. This month she is bringing out a new collection of her poetry on CD, Spirit Stories, with music by Justin Sullivan from New Model Army.
'For the past twenty-five years, Joolz Denby has been a wild card on the literary scene, treading a line from spine-chilling performance-poet to Orange Prize-nominated novelist. She remains an endearingly forthright figure, taking stories from life�s darkest corners and lacing them with humour and the hint of better times to come. As such, her performances are never less than mesmerising.' (Apples & Snakes, 2008).
Tuesday 9 December with Mark Goodwin
Mark Goodwin was born in 1969 and spent his childhood on a farm in Leicestershire. He now lives on a narrow-boat on the river Soar. He works as a community poet with a wide range of people, including pupils and teachers in Schools, other writers and artists, museum services, and with people who use mental-health services. His first collection of poetry, Else, was published by Shearsman in May 2008. However, if you've read anything from this book and think you know what to expect - be warned! Mark writes and speaks in various ways, and tonight's reading-performance will include material that is very different from the subtle and gently serious landscape poetry of his first book. So, to repeat - be warned! for as Matt Clegg has observed: 'Mark Goodwin shits light!'
Spoken Word Antics 2009
Tuesday 10 February: Under Aquarius
Under Aquarius: escape the Valentine's season at Antics. Bring stories, songs, rants, monologues, poems containing water of any sort, rivers, lakes, oceans, taps, ice, vodka, reservoirs, drips, etc... Bring a love item and see what happens. Bring anything.
Featured guest: Water. One of our best local writers (international too), gets under the surface, inside us, and tells it like it is.
Tuesday 10 March: Youth and Age
Aside from all the usual/unusual blend of weird and wonderful open-mic action - stories, poems, beautiful lies, urban fairytales, and other flights of fancy - our SPECIAL GUESTS are members of our very own SHEFFIELD YOUNG WRITERS.
SYW is a writing group which allows 13s to 18s a supportive environment to explore and share a wide range of writing, with the help of mentors and visiting writers. For more info on SYW check out www.cubeweb.org.uk/sywriters. Our guest host for the evening is Matt Black.
Tuesday 14 April with Rosie Garland
Born in London to a runaway teenager, Rosie Garland (a.k.a. Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen) has always been a cuckoo in the nest. She has three solo collections of poems, widely anthologised short stories and has been featured in Mslexia and Succour magazines. Her first novel, Animal Instinct, is with her agent. She has an eclectic writing and performance history, from 80s Goth band The March Violets to twisted cabaret as alter ego Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen. She has won the DaDa Award for Performance Artist of the Year, the Diva Award for Solo Performer, and a poetry award from the People's Café, New York.
Our special host this month will be Ruth Grimsley.
Tuesday 12 May: The Mouth of the Cave
This month Antics is joined by Irish poet Siobhan Mac Mahon who, together with Irish Musician Sabrina Piggott, evokes the magic, myths and mayhem of the ancient Irish goddesses and their modern day counterparts, creating a passionate, funny and provocative piece of performance poetry, interweaving word, sound, music and drumming.
Tuesday 9 June: open mic + Joe Kriss
June's featured poet at Antics is Joe Kriss. Joe has performed across the UK, appearing at venues such as The Tate Modern (London), The Roundhouse Theatre (London), Django's Riff (Liverpool), and Theatre In the Mill (Bradford). He has been published in Now Then and Daydream magazine, and will be performing a longer set of new material. He is the man behind Word Life, which runs regular events across Sheffield showcasing poetry in performance alongside live bands in a variety of venues, such as The Lantern Theatre, the Winter Gardens, Cafe Euro and the Raynor Lounge. He is creative writing editor of local magazine Now Then, which publishes a monthly section of prose and poetry. This month's host is Charlotte.
Tuesday 14 July: open mic + Cathy Grindrod
Cathy was Derbshire Poet Laureate 2005-2007, has four poetry publications, with a fifth forthcoming (from Shoestring), and her most recent project has been as librettist for More Glass Than Wall, an oratorio to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the death of Bess of Hardwick. She lives in Derbyshire, came originally from Lancashire, and has been writing for as long as she can remember.
Her poems are great - real, warm, funny, sad, touching, historical, interesting.
