Some Girls’ Mothers

****Some Girls’ Mothers Writing Workshop 18th May****
with Anne Caldwell and River Wolton
2.00pm – 4.00pm Knighton Library places are FREE but please contact the library to reserve a place.
Explore writing about family relationships, especially stories between mothers and daughters and learn how to shape this material into stories and poems. New and experienced writers welcome.

****Some Girls’ Mothers – Live Performance 18th May****
with Anne Caldwell, River Wolton and Char March
7.00pm – 9.00pm Knighton Library
In this highly acclaimed book and live literature event, six daughters speak openly and passionately about mother and daughter relationships. Seasoned performers and the authors promise a night of entertainment and emotional engagement. FREE but please contact the library to reserve a place.
Knighton Library Clarendon Park Road Leicester LE2 3AJ
Telephone: (0116) 299 5477 knighton.lib@leicester.gov.uk

The Science and Mythology of the Northern Lights

Poet Siobhan Logan presents a fascinating look at the Northern Lights. This event was a recent sellout at the Space Centre so catch it here!
Central Lending Library Club
Central Lending Library, Belvoir Street.
12th May, 2 – 3 pm
FREE event – refreshments provided
Tel: 0116 299 5402 or contact ruksana.jagot@leicester.gov.uk

Leicester Poetry Shindig

Leicester Shindig! 7.30pm.
The Looking Glass, 68-70 Braunstone Gate, Leicester LE3 5LG
Poetry event with Myra Connell, Lydia Towsey & Simon Turner & some open mic opportunities.
See ninearchespress.com for more details.

Pub Poetry Nottingham

Where: The Canalhouse, 48-52 Canal Street, Nottingham, NG1 7EH
Entry: Free; Open Mic and friendliness
Description: An informal and fun evening of strictly comic and light-hearted poetry or short stories. Read your own, or someone else’s – all readers and listeners welcome. Anyone is welcome to read, someone will win the limerick competition, but everyone will enjoy a beer and get some culture down them.
Pretentious and overly-serious folk not required! Contact Nick onpubpoetry@nottscomedyfestival.co.uk
Check http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=351907270550 or http://www.nottscomedyfestival.co.uk/pubpoetry.html for details.

Sufi Poetry Reading at York Literature Festival

‘Searching for God’

Poetry by Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland and Afifa Ematuallah

March 23rd, 7.30pm,
at The Bar Convent,
17-19 Blossom Street,
York, YO24 1AQ
(01904 643 238)
entrance fee: £5 (to pay the venue hire)

You are invited to come and hear Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland and Afifa Ematullah (his wife). As Islamic poets, they have written over time a beautiful range of poetry in their search for God. Both are dedicated Sufis and their work is a vivid testimonial to the search for Allah and becoming one with Him. Each, since their separate conversion to Islam, have seen writing poetry as part of their spiritual practice. Over the years they have developed an excellent performance style as a way of encouraging others to search for God.

Afifa Ematullah’s artwork from her book Return will be on display. The evening will be concluded with a question and answer session.

Their poems recently have appeared jointly in the anthology Sama Ghazal Salaam UK (edited by Chris Firth), in The Mantle Adorned, an anthology in Praise of the Prophet (saws) from Quilliam Press and in the bi-lingual international journal Tadeeb. Also Afifa Ematullah’s collection of poems and artwork Return
(2008, Dream Catcher Books) continually finds new readers.

Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland, (also known as Paul Sutherland) is a Canadian-British poet.
He has six collections and has edited six others. Seven Earth Odes, (Endpapers Press, 2004)
won praise in the UK , the US and Canada. He is the founding editor of Dream Catcher, a distinguished national-international journal in its 23 issue. He has read his poetry in public over a hundred fifty times. He attends festivals and leads workshops in creative writing for all ages and abilities. His poems have appeared in journals and newspapers, as well as in wide ranging anthologies. A poem of his was selected for inclusion in Writing Your Self, (edited by Myra Schneider and John Killick, 2009). He works with artists in other art forms, collaborating with the calligrapher Mick Paine to produce a collection of his poems called ‘Selected Ben Nicholson Miniatures’ in two art books with a calligraphic response to each poem. Since turning freelance (2004), he’s been involved in many literary based projects and events. He has a pamphlet Spires and Minarets coming out from Sunk Island Publishing. He won the 2008 Nassau Review (US) Poetry Prize for best poem submitted to the journal and came second in the English Association Poetry Prize 2009 and was highly commended in the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition 09. A second new collection is planned for later this year.
Poet Josephine Dickinson says Paul Sutherland is one of the few people who successfully manages to write out what must be an intensely experienced spirituality.

Afifa Ematullah has travelled literally around the world. She’s worked primarily in the visual arts; been married and had four children. On her travels she met Turkish Sufi Sheikh Mohammad Nazim al Haqqani (now U.N. representative for religion) and became his follower. In 1998 a serious car crash resulted in near-death experiences and from then on her spiritual quest has deepened. Afifa is now married to poet, editor and publisher, Paul (Abdul Wadud) Sutherland.
Her book RETURN (Dream Catcher Books) features an innovative blend of her own poetry, artwork and photographs. Every page contains original, varied artwork and/or Islamic calligraphy. RETURN is for readers interested in Sufism or the transcendental and those committed to alternative healing, inner work, personal growth and spiritual journeying of different kinds. Afifa’s poetry expresses her mystic encounters with many forms of love.

Joesphine Dickinson says of Return: These passionate poems, in a voice which has a purity and clarity, reminiscent of both Rumi and Mirabhai, take the reader on a journey which leaves the reader by the end breathless and illuminated.

For Further Information, please contact Afifa Ematullah or Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland at 01673 844325 or islamicart1@hotmail.com or paulsuther@hotmail.com

Oundle Readers’ Day: A day for book lovers

Northamptonshire Libraries and Information Service and Oundle Festival of Literature have joined forces to produce a Readers’ Day for all of the counties readers. Readers’ Days are a real treat for anyone who loves books and reading.

The day will be hosted by poet John Siddique and there will be the opportunity to meet four authors: Jake Arnott, Stella Duffy, Sophie Hannah, and Jojo Moyes. 20th March 2010, 10.00am – 3.30pm, Great Hall, New Street, Oundle.

Tickets £12. Ticket price includes tea and coffee – please bring a packed lunch. Pre-booking is essential. Please complete the form overleaf to book your place. Booking forms are to be returned to Kettering Library (or Oundle Library by hand). Tickets will be sent in the post.

For further information about the day and to book please contact Kettering Library: Ketlib@northamptonshire.gov.uk or 01536 512315.

Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze in performance

Come celebrate International Women’s Day in word & song with Leicester based, international artist, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze. Hear her read from her brand new collection, ‘Cutting a Lime’. The evening will be filmed by Bloodaxe and included as an accompanying DVD to the book’s major publication in 2011.

Monday 8th March @ The Y Theatre, Leicester
£8 / £5 concessions 7.00 pm Monday 8th March 2010
The Y Theatre 7 East Street, Leicester LE1 6EY
To book tickets Call +44 (0)116 255 7066

Produced by Lydia Towsey for Writing East Midlands.

Mark Goodwin reads from Shod

Mark Goodwin will be reading from Shod, his version of The Gospel, which will be published by Nine Arches Press in August.

This gig is organised by Nine Arches. It is on Monday 25th January, 7.30 pm, ENTRY IS FREE, it is at:

Looking Glass
68-70 Braunstone Gate
LE3 5LG

There will also be two other poets reading:

Tony Williams: Sheffield poet, his debut collection The Corner of Arundel Lane and Charles Street (Salt) has been highly acclaimed nationally.
“…from all our cultural loam and junk, Williams has made real magic.” – The Guardian

Matt Nunn: Birmingham poet, editor and co-founder of Nine Arches, his latest collection Sounds In The Grass is out now.

Here’s some blurb about Shod, from Loughborough’s own inimitable Deborah Tyler-Bennett:

‘Raw, distinctly voiced, and edgy, Shod is a Twenty-First-Century allegory that doesn’t disappoint. Sydney Realer, the Shoe Messiah, and the apocalyptic cast of characters he encounters, stays with the imagination long after the poem has been read. With echoes of popular song, religious tracts, and consumer culture, Shod has overtones of the dissenting art of William Blake. But this is Blakean work which is very much for today, as Sydney moves between the blank-walled supermarket and broken-rural hinterland of a town’s outskirts. This is disturbing, savage, and memorable poetry, with something uncompromisingly human at its heart.’

May your soles last long, and Shod bless you!

Rhymes and Wine

Rhymes and Wine, Loughborough’s excellent poetry gathering, meets on the first Sunday of every month, except for Feb which is the 17th at the Swan-in-the-Rushes pub. Start time is 8:15.

Contact Deborah Tyler Bennett for details.
debs@tylerbennett.fsnet.co.uk

Northern Lights Spectacular

A magical fusion of poetry, physics and film, revealing the spectacle of the Northern Lights. Marvel at the world’s first 3-D film of the aurora borealis, hear ancient Arctic legends and let two auroral physicists unravel the secrets of the lights. Featuring Professor Stan Cowley & Dr Darren Wright, poet/performer Siobhan Logan and film-maker Brian McClave.

‘This event rolled scientific and artistic interpretations of the Northern Lights – both equally beautiful – into one.’ (Holly Cave, Dana Centre at London’s Science Museum)

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
7.30 – 9pm in Shuttle Suite
National Space Centre
Exploration Drive, Leicester

Free entry but ticket only.
Bookings from: Kiri Rhodes (Dept of Physics and Astronomy)
Email: kr124@le.ac.uk Tel.: 0116 252 3570 during office hours.
Book early to avoid disappointment.
Sponsored by: The Radio & Space Plasma Physics Group (Univ. of Leicester)

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