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Thursday, 7 August 2014

Update in brief

As usual, I'm having a full couple of weeks, but luckily I've also had some free time to read/research for my dissertation and enjoy the sun. Here are a few highlights of the past week or so and things that are coming up in the next couple of weeks:

Anti-Slam: Apocalypse



Feels much longer than a week ago! Ah, Anti-Slam... it shows me the potential the performative side of poetry has. All the poets were appalling; the hosts, and scorekeeper, were ridiculous; the judges - including my alter ego, The Conscious:Ness - behaved appallingly; and yet, the night was compelling. Perhaps it should be classified more as comedy theatre than poetry, but I think poetry nights could take a leaf from the book of the worst poetry gig you've ever attended.

Nozstock Festival



Far from the regular poetry slam mantra: "The points aren't the point; the point is the poetry", I actually had a great time getting to know fellow poets over intense conversations and wrestling bouts. The time I spent spitting any poems went very quickly and the rest was just much-cherished play time.



Polari First Book Prize

Remember how excited I got when I finally released this last year?

Hainault, via Newbury Park and other broken tracks

Well, it's now been longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize... I'm pleased to also see my colleague Dean Atta and two other books I've read and enjoyed. More on the prize can be found on Polari's website here.
(Oh yeah, and I'll be in Birmingham in November as part of the Polari tour, so also looking forward to that! I won't say any more until September-ish)

BBC Proms Plus Late

Before we get to Birmingham in November, I have a few gigs in London coming up. As per the last post, I'll be at the Proms on Saturday. I mean, how great is that?

Edinburgh

Unlike last year's 10-day stint, involving doing my own show and getting involved in a few others, I'm taking it relatively easy (focus on dissertation, focus on dissertation, focus on dissertation...) so I'm only down for four days. I'm looking forward to seeing a few things up there and also performing at a few shows.

So far, here's my timetable for gigs I'm performing at:

August 17 - Other Voices @ 2.50pm
August 17 - Stand Up Tragedy @ 7.30pm
August 19 - Stand Up Tragedy @ 7.30pm
August 20 - Outspoken @ 2.50pm

I'm hoping to see a few shows too - and spend time reading over my (hopefully completed) dissertation. Links for the above shows to follow...






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