It’s been a very long time since I put on a spoken word event, but last weekend I organised a show at In a Land Gallery featuring performances from me, Toria Garbutt and Louise Halvardsson. (Rosy would have joined us, but was taken ill after her Derby show the night before).
The day started with a hike to Todmorden, visiting Stoodley Pike on the way. I’ve been slack about hiking since the South Downs Way in June, so it was good to be out on the hills. In Todmorden, we bought some books from Lyall’s, ate ramen at the Ginger Tiger, then headed home so I could prepare my performance. (I should have done that days ago, but I’m more just-in-time than I used to be).
I did some short stories, including a new one about Wuthering Heights. I read another couple of longer pieces, A Bad Place to Stick Your Hand and meat. I’m alarmed that they are both almost 20 years old. I also read some microfictions, which seemed to go down well.
Toria performed a poem about growing up in Knottingley, to a backdrop of the current exhibition, which featured images of nearby Kellingley Colliery. Her short set ranged from heartbreaking to very funny. I love watching Toria perform.
I introduced Lou at the end of the first half so that the final part of the show could be completely devoted to her work. I’ve been friends with Lou for a long time (I wrote a post in 2012 about hiking around Mount Caburn with her). I originally knew Lou as a slam poet but her new work is experimental, featuring movement and sound poetry. The piece was based on her forthcoming Swedish collection and had been specially translated into English. It was a fun show, and very different to any other performance I’ve seen.
The best thing about the event was that most of the audience joined us in the pub afterwards. For me, that’s the best thing about In a Land – Bryony has built a lovely community. I knew some of the people who came to the night from recent writing workshops.
Running the event was hard work – and I fretted a lot about whether we’d get enough people in. But we filled all the chairs and had a great evening. I love that I helped to make something like this happen.
