I'm a big fan of bookclub meetings with friendly banter, good books and being a meeting of minds. The bookclub meetings held at the Festival last year were an absolute treat. Following the comedic revelation that I was not Carol Ann Duffy there were some wonderful insightful comments about her poetry. Sally Nicholls also gave [...]

Read the entire post

For those of you still yearning for a "Long Now" experience you should point your feet, trains and cars in the direction of Birmingham and check out an exhibition.
The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of Craft and the Slow Revolution from the 17th October 2009- 4th January 2010.
The exhibition looks at [...]

Read the entire post

Jon Bounds spoke at the Festival this year. One his excellent talks was about his 11-11-11 project.
He's written about the project he's conducting this year for the blog.
–
I there’s one thing I like in the Old Testament is it’s grasp of the symbolic power of encircling a town. When Joshua brings down Jericho it's not [...]

Read the entire post

by Ben Whitehouse
Artistic director of Stan's Cafe (pronounced Caff and not cafe after a real cafe just off Brick Lane), James Yarker has been named in the Birmingham Post's Power 50 list. One of their most recent projects was a 24-hour Scalextrix race to coincide with the Le Mans race.
He co-founded Stan's Cafe in 1991 [...]

Read the entire post

by Ben Whitehouse
I asked Jon Bounds to "write a post for the blog" and wasn't too sure what I'd get back. As usual I wasn't disappointed, Jon has delivered, in his own unique, way, something wonderful about his talks for the festival. Make sure you catch them, they're not to be missed!
The ways in [...]

Read the entire post

by Ben Whitehouse
The Third Tribe is the first book by newcomer novelist Rob Chidley and he's already attracting attention:
"Be prepared to be kept on the edge of your seats," says GP Taylor, the New York Times bestselling author of Shadowmancer. Rob Chidley's book is "gripping and exciting, The Third Tribe is a must read."
Russ Bravo, [...]

Read the entire post

Carol Ann Duffy has been named as the new Poet Laureate, the first woman to be appointed in the 341-year history of the post.

She's the first woman, the first mother, the first lesbian to be appointed to the post. She was widely regarded as the runner up to the post when Andrew Motion was appointed [...]

Read the entire post

The internets is a great place to find the strangest things & today it threw a digested look at the news of the week filtered through an Auto-tune- it's the device that made Cher's voice go all wobbly in her 1998 track Believe and it can be used to make someone off pitch sound on [...]

Read the entire post

by Ben Whitehouse
One of the things I'm most looking forward to at the festival this year is the book club because I know it's going to be interesting. (Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to lots of the Festival but I have a love affair with books which is why I'm the literature coordinator [...]

Read the entire post

Let me introduce a good friend to you and while I do that I’ll also introduce you to a world you see everyday but may not have noticed. Those of you who watch tea-time quiz shows (or watch iPlayer) can see my friend Chris Wills for the next few days on A Question of Genius on [...]

Read the entire post