Ilkley Lit Fest Young Writers Group

Do you enjoy writing poems, stories, songs – anything? Are you even secretly writing a novel? Would you like to be able to meet other teenagers who enjoy writing or take part in special workshops with writers away from school? If so we’d like to hear from you.

 

Ilkley Literature Festival runs a weekly group for young writers aged 13 to 17, on Mondays during term-time. The group is based in Ilkley and any young writers from the Bradford, Skipton, Ilkley, Wharfe valley and Leeds areas are welcome to come along.

 

The sessions run from 6.30pm to 8pm and cost £1 per session. You’ll be expected to come to all sessions in a term (unless of course you are ill or on a school visit) and there will be a mixture of short story writing, script writing, writing poetry and learning how to read your work effectively.

 

Ilkley Young Writers is run by Ilkley Literature Festival and led by Michelle Scalley Clarke, author, playwright, performer, creative writing and performance facilitator and Becky Cherriman writer, performer and creative writing facilitator.

 

Michelle Scally-Clarke’s two acclaimed published novels, ‘I am’ and ‘She Is’, are available from Route publishing, Amazon.com and all good book shops.  Michelle’s Granny Betty Scally-Bates poem is included in the recently published Blood Axe anthology, Out of Bounds and she is working on her new novel, an adaptation of First Cut.

Michelle is currently working on two separate projects with the West Yorkshire Playhouse and First Floor.  She is poet in residence for the Olympic Torch evening event being held at Temple Newsam as part of Leeds City’s contribution to the celebrations and is a recent recruit to the Leeds Galleries Art Team.

 

Becky is a commissioned and published writer, performer and creative writing facilitator. In addition to her work for the Ilkley Literature Festival, she works regularly for various organisations including The West Yorkshire Playhouse, Artlink West Yorkshire and The Hepworth Wakefield for whom she also creates writing-related resources. A prize-winning performer, Becky has read live on radio and at venues such as Seven Arts, HEART, Stage @ Leeds and Stockton Riverside Festival www.beckycherriman.com

 

‘We have been working with the group for over two years and in that time have seen the group grow from six to twenty, retaining most of our original members. Nine of the young writers were recently shortlisted for the Together For Peace Poetry Prize and the group are currently working on material for their debut at the Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe in October.’

 

For full details and/or to book a place contact: info@ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk

Latest News

Friday 24 May

 

 

Review – ‘Michelle Paver: Gods and warriors’ by Lizzi Hawkins

 

I am sitting in Ilkley Playhouse waiting to see Michelle Paver give a talk. She is a prize-winning author of children’s fiction, having written a series of historic books, and has recently published an acclaimed ghost story for adults, ‘Dark Matter’. Despite this, I haven’t read any of her books and I am, I have to admit, feeling a little guilty. I am, also, slightly apprehensive. Being a 16 year old, it’s been a while since I’ve read a children’s book and wonder how much I will really enjoy this talk. Suffice to say, I am full of preconceptions. However, as Paver, a tall, crop-haired woman enters the stage and begins (note-free) to speak, these preconceptions are turned on their heads.

 

Paver is here to talk about her new book, ‘Gods and Warriors’, the first in a series of the same title, but this is only really a jumping off point for her talk. Around this structural backbone, Paver weaves rich stories, tales of personal experience that showcase both her vast background knowledge and her obvious love of adventure. She speaks for about half an hour on the characters and settings used in her books, both new and old, and then opens the floor to questions. There are many of these, as she seems to have a lot of young fans, and she is friendly in her responses. Paver makes those who are new to her work feel comfortable, answering questions in a way that is really informative, so even guilty people (like me) who haven’t read the book that the question refers to have an idea of what she’s talking about.

 

Paver also talks about researching her novels, which she seems to take an almost childlike joy in – I wonder if this led her to write children’s fiction? On top of her enthusiasm, I’m also impressed by the sheer breadth of her knowledge. Whereas some authors treat fiction as just that, Paver has an entirely different approach. Her stories are historically accurate, down to the smallest details – the fabric of the lining of a cloak or the type of dagger her hero would have used – so that the truth and story seem to melt together, into one seemingly irrefutable whole. In fact, when she comes to read an extract from her work I can’t help but question whether such a situation could have not occurred, so real her writing appears.

 

Between readings, she shows us animal bones, flints and ancient clay figurines, drawing us even deeper into her dark, prehistoric world. So interesting is she, that when her talk comes to a close, I am genuinely disappointed. I could easily stay and listen for hours more about her many adventures. I leave, preconceptions turned upside down, and with a good few children’s books on my to-read list.

 

 

Tuesday 7 May

Review of Michelle Paver by Mairenn Collins

She writes because it’s compulsive. Because a story can become more real than normal life. Because she once vividly saw Wolf (a character from the ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’) whilst lying on her back at a yoga class.

She is Michelle Paver, author of award-winning ‘Wolf Brother’, and was here at the Wildman theatre in Ilkley Playhouse as part of the Ilkley Literature Festival, promoting her new series ‘Gods and Warriors’.

Research, she told a captivated audience, is crucial to her writing. In order to successfully write a book she has to actually do what her characters do – even if that involves eating Stone Age food and making friends with a few wolves along the way.

In the yellow/blue lighting she produced interesting visual aids to explain her writing, ranging from a 6,000 year old axe-head flint to a fluffy toy rabbit, which she then dissected with words, detailing what the body parts would be used for in the Stone and Bronze Ages at suggestions from the audience, including the stomach (a pouch), and the eyes (a tasty delicacy for toothless grandparents).

The props were interesting and Michelle was engaging, one minute a piece of homemade nettle string in her hands, demonstrating how Hylas, a character from her latest book would use it to make a trap, the next minute patting deer hide on the table beside her.

Following her talk she performed a chapter from ‘Gods and Warriors’, a scene with Hylas cast off on a raft in the sea, a shark circling and attacking…

A question and answer session concluded the session, with members of the audience asking questions such as which character in all her books Michelle was the most attached to, and after a bit of humming and hawing she decided on Wolf from ‘Wolf Brother’. Asked where the names of her characters came from she replied that some she made up, but others come from Norse mythology, such as ‘Eostra and Thiazzi’ in ‘The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’. For inspiration she goes walking and does yoga, as well as always having a notebook wherever she is.

She has to have a notebook wherever she is you see, because as she told us, for her, writing is compulsive.

 

Review of Cleopatra, Northern Ballet Leeds by Orla Regan

A few years ago, I went to go see Northern Ballet’s performance of Cleopatra. I had the perfect seat; it was right at the front so I could see the orchestra and the performers. The whole performance was wonderfully mesmerising, possibly one of the best ballets I have ever seen. It was a beautiful production with wonderful costumes and the set was amazing too. Martha Leebolt, one of Northern Ballet’s best dancers, played the powerful and seductive Cleopatra and stunned the audience with her perfect technique, her rhythm and of course, her grace and strength.

Seeing Cleopatra was such a breathtaking performance. I had never seen anything like it, nor had I heard of a ballet about Cleopatra at all. This is what urged me to go, it was something new and exciting, something different from the usual, tragic Swan Lake or the busy, colourful Nutcracker. It was a ballet with a contemporary style, inventive moves and expression, goose-bump music and a great, well known storyline of a woman’s power in ancient Egypt.

I found that the performance wasn’t just a ballet, but it was a historical, intelligent piece of art. For example, in my brochure from the show, there is a timeline stating the events which happened from 69BC to 30BC. This gives one who doesn’t know Cleopatra’s story a detailed description of her eventful life. This ballet was a wonderful experience with dancers who appeared to perform with such perfection and confidence that left me leaving the theatre in awe.

 

Almonds on a Rainy Day by Amy Luxton

I suppose that some people like walking in the rain, and if I were wanting to bring my philosophy lessons into this I would say it was because they feel the touch of something greater than themselves or some such whimsical expression; personally I think walking in the rain is something to be avoided at all times (especially when the wind is threatening to whip away your new hat).

Once we were out of the rain and camped in the relative warmth of the playhouse things were a little easier to see (and much less wet). Having never have read any of Almond’s books, I was unsure of what to expect, and when he first appeared I was a little taken aback. It’s always the case with writers; you expect a young man in a leather jacket and discover the author is actually fifty-odd and wearing old jeans. I’d honestly expected the author of a book called Skellig to be a little more impressive.

Never judge a book by its cover is the expression, and I really should have paid more heed to it.

He started off talking about his latest work, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, and what I gathered far more than the plot or structure of the book was his complete passion for writing; you know that enthusiasm people get when talking about their passion, be it rock climbing or gummy snakes? He had it in bucketsful.

What struck me about the book itself was the way he’d really thought in depth about the characters. Instead of glossing over the fact that the protagonist couldn’t read or write properly he’d incorporated the idea into his book; the whole thing was phonetically spelt. I can already see you shaking your head – overkill, you’re crying. But most people seem to get used to it within the first two pages, and I feel it shows just how dedicated to his work he is, going without that plastic tone that so often comes from first-person novels.

I paid particular attention to what he said about his religion – Catholicism – and the way he admitted to having been nervous about writing books based around the subject. A lot of books written in the past had religious significance, which I always feel adds a different tone to the novel (look at CS Lewis) that’s lacking in our modern novels. The problem is that today people see a slight hint towards religion and immediately start screaming that their children are being indoctrinated. I suppose my interest in this comes from my philosophy course and the ongoing arguments it sparks with my friends (in which at least two people end up being hit with textbooks).

When he started taking questions towards the end of the end of the session I found it very easy to relate with a lot of things he was saying; that getting a novel to full length is often difficult for people, and that your characters often seem to write themselves. A lot of authors seem to promote careful planning and ordered plotlines, but Almond seemed to go with an approach similar to the one I seem to have ended up adopting; write and see what happens. The way he described not knowing what was going to happen until it’s written down was something that really struck me; perhaps it is the case with a lot of authors and they just don’t admit it.

His tips for people who get stuck on their writing seem particularly useful; don’t stress about it. Do something else for a little while; take a bath or read a book. I liked the way he was easygoing and understanding, talking about his passion rather than his You really could hear the voice of the character through him, as if there were someone perched on his shoulder and speaking for him.

His final words were about the younger generations. As a young person, I often feel my age-group gets a bad press, and then I sit on a train next to a bunch of them and see what people mean, but he seemed to really believe that we aren’t all bad. It took me a while to realise what he said was true; in twenty years half the books on the shelves will belong to us, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

 

 

Rambles – A Review of Colin Grant at the Ilkley Literature Festival 2012 by Amy Luxton

It’s not every talk that includes discussions about satanic personalities, fedoras and children’s television programmes, but the range of topics covered in Colin Grant’s talk on the subject of his memoirs about his father (nickname ‘Bageye’) is a clear indication of the rich variety contained in his work. There’s nothing like a reference to flattering the police or illegal ‘gonja’ smoking to make a book interesting.

Admittedly, the event didn’t start out as promising. The announcement that the interviewer had been delayed left us all cramped in rows of chairs for that little bit longer, but after the inevitable complaints about the lighting – at irritating brightness if you’re standing on the stage, but making the audience feel a little like moles if turned down – things got started.

And they got started, believe you me.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact area of the book the event began with, as the whole thing blended together like your proverbial watercolours but fairly early on came the description of Grant’s father as a man “whom his wife and children called Satan.” The whole tone of the talk was one of deep thought and slightly dark recollection. In a very clear, unbiased manner, Grant told of his life as a child with Jamaican heritage growing up on an Irish estate in the 1970s, his father’s authoritarian role and his mother’s attempts to keep her family together. I found it oddly compelling and fascinating. It was the tale of a man with a life very different to my own and, despite the frequent interruptions of the interviewer (who might have been better to let the man talk under his own steam) it was an interesting collection of anecdotes and moral stories, intertwined with powerful memories. It was not a talk about a book; it was a talk about a life, from a man with personality which was incredibly tricky to put your finger on.

It was engaging and intriguing to look through a window into an entirely different existence, and the sixty or so people who should have filled the remaining seats were missing out. I left feeling I had spent a worthwhile hour or so listening and engaging with someone different. At a time where almost every aspect of life is rushed and frantic, why not spend a little time forgetting the uncomfortable seats and just being interested?

 

 

George Orwell by Faizan Ismail

George Orwell is one of the most influential men of the 20th century; he invented the term “cold war” to describe the conflict of ideals between the democratic capitalist USA and the Authoritarian communist USSR. The adjective “Orwellian”, meaning a totalitarian society or idea is based on his last name due to the subject matter of his magnum opus, nineteen eighty four. A writer, polemicist and political commentator, he was born in India in 1903 and Schooled at Eton College, he didn’t go to University, instead he joined the Imperial Police of the British Empire and was posted in Burma. He was in the job for around five years and became very critical of the concept of imperialism and the British Empire, his recollections of his experiences in Burma form the basis of his book “Burmese Days”. After getting Dengue fever in 1927, Orwell came back to England and worked a number of odd jobs like a dishwasher in both Paris and London. These early experiences of poverty in Paris and London were detailed in “Down and out in Paris and London” his memoir. After working as a tutor and a teacher in his home town of Southwold, Orwell investigated poverty in the North of England and wrote “the Road to Wigan Pier” which talks about both the poverty he witnessed and how democratic socialism could alleviate this misery and other problems. Orwell then volunteered for the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War; the Republican campaign was fraught with infighting between Stalinists, Trotskyists, Socialists and Anarchists. Orwell himself came from the War with a hatred of Stalinism and stood for a freer version of Socialism than the one practiced by the USSR. During the Second World War, Orwell continued to support himself as a socialist journalist and also worked on Animal Farm, his political allegory about the Russian revolution. Nineteen eighty four was his last and greatest work. The story is frequently cited as top of its genre in terms of dystopian fiction, the book has introduced several terms into common usage such as “big brother” and “thought crime”. The reason why I would say that George Orwell is a writer that inspires me is because his beliefs in his principles of a uniquely English brand of Democratic Socialism were particularly courageous in his day of USSR totalitarianism. 1984 is also a good, stark warning on how we should cherish freedom of speech.

 

Wednesday 17 April

Interview with Cathy Cassidy by Ella Sanderson:

 

Cath was born in 1962 in Coventry and  she wrote her  first picture book for her     little brother when she was eight or nine.  She loved making comics too – pages and pages of picture stories, features and competitions. She would  sell her  homemade comics  to friends for 5p, then claim them  back and sell them  again to someone else, (they didn’t have photocopiers back then!)

She went to arts college in liverpool and  then got a job as fiction editor on the fab and legendary Jackie magazine.   Also for 12 years she was an agony aunt for the magazine Shout as well as teaching art in several local primary schools. Later she maried her boyfriend Liam then  went back to college and trained to be an art teacher. She  taught in a Coventry secondary school for a few years, which she  loved, then moved to Scotland with Liam to start a family.

Her kids are teenagers now and they live in a cottage  in Galloway hills with sheep and cows for neighbours. She has been a vegetarian for 35 years and a vegan for 8 of them. She  loves old clothes, old toys, cars, books. She  has two dogs called Kelpie & Finn, two cats called Pickle & Pepper and a one-eyed rabbit, Snowy!

She loves  her  family,   living in the middle of nowhere and her  work. Of all her jobs she says, writing has to be the best  because is it’s the perfect excuse to daydream!

 

Cathy Cassidy’s FAVOURITES

Fave childhood reads….
The Narnia books by CS Lewis
The Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome
The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Watership Down by Richard Adams

Fave reads now!!!! (non-fiction)
Think Pink by Lisa Clark… a fab, cool, go-for-it guide-to-life for young teens.

For younger teens…
The Weight Of Water by Sarah Crossan.
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

For older readers
Wonderland by Joanna NadinBeing Billy by Phil Earle
Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen

Fave colour…
Moss green, but she wears  a lot of black too!

Fave bands…
The Cure
Echo & The Bunnymen
The Killers
Placebo
Red Hot Chillis
Green Day
The Drums
Belle & Sebastian
(plus a million others, old & new…)

Fave things to do…
Read, write, daydream….
Swim, walk, eat cake with friends…
Hang out in my tepee on summer nights

 

Some of Cath’s books…

Dizzy

Driftwood

Indigo Blue

Scarlett

Lucky Star

Sundae Girl

Cath was winner of the Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children’s Books

 

Cathy Cassidy interview

How long do you sit down to write for?

When I am working on a novel and chasing a deadline, I can work from 8 or 9 until 7 or 8 at night, with an hour of walking at lunchtime maybe. And it can be 7 days a week.

 

Where do your Ideas come from?

Ideas come from everywhere… things I see, hear, imagine, and remember. Then I daydream, and if I’m lucky a story unfolds…

 

Have you ever thought of writing an adult book?

It’s a possible idea for the future, but writing young teen novels is my first love!

 

I am in a writers club and am very good at poems but have you got any tips on how to write a good middle and end to a story when you have already got a beginning?

I think you need to wait until you have an idea of what the whole story might be before you begin to write… I carry ideas around in my mind and think about them, and the stories develop slowly until they are ready to be written down. A story needs a problem and a way to overcome that problem and find a happy ending – perhaps with a twist!

 

What is your favourite chocolate bar?

Green and blacks sea salt

(I like this too!)

 

What your favourite place to write?

I used to have a fab writing shed with all my fave things, next to my cottage in Scotland. We have just moved down to the north of England and now I have a writing room in the house, with a balcony and a view of the park and of a lake… it’s fab!

 

Who inspired you?

I’d have to say my lovely Dad, who sadly died a few years ago was my biggest inspiration… he gave me a love of stories, the courage to dream big and the enthusiasm and determination to make the dreams happen. When someone you love really believes in you, you truly can do anything

 

Review of Games in the Park by Ella Sanderson

 

 

The games in the park was held at the band stand in Ilkley. It was for young  children to take part in and enjoy. The first they did was clapping games with Jay. The children seemed to join in a bit,with the help from there parents.   The children all had smiling faces.  My opinion on the clapping games was that some of the clapping games were a bit hard for little children to do ,although some older kids enjoyed it.

 

The next thing that happened was Michel Scally Clarke enthusiastically read out some poems and got the kids to sing. All the kids stood in a circle and sang the words sugar, sugar when they came up in the poem.  After that there was an exciting egg and spoon race. Before the exciting egg and spoon race Michel Scally Clarke read a egg and spoon race poem. The winner of the egg and spoon race got a prize. I think it was unfair only a few people got a prize.

 

Next they got a big skipping rope out and sang a rhyme about your birthday.  A brave parent decided to join in.

The last activity was kadabi. Kadabi literally means lord of breath, and is a summer sport.  The game kadabi is a version of tig.  A man talked about kadabi and tried to explain it to the children. But the children didn’t understand it!  They didht get very many volunteers so it was mainly the boys having fun.

 

Overall I think the games in the park were a success!

 

 

Monday 4 February

Latest poems from Amy Luxton of the young writers group:

 

Dopamine

 

He’s here, you know. Inside my head.

When he twitches his fingers I can feel them grating over the nerves, and the tubes, and the glues inside. Right inside. Right there. It burns.

They told me he wasn’t real. There’s something wrong with your brain, they said, bam! Take some of these, bam! Do this, bam! Do that, you’re sick. We can make you better. You just have to do what we say.

But they’re wrong. I can feel him.

He talks to me sometimes. He wriggles and worms and whispers, and he gets under my face, under my eyes, under my ears. If I tore my skin off they’d see. They’d know they were wrong.

He doesn’t just talk. He pokes, he prods, he pries and he makes me do bad things. I’m Little Red Riding Hood away from the path, and I’m afraid of the big bad wolf, and he knows when I’m afraid, and he likes it.

He made me do bad things and they locked me in here. Away, gone, she’s sick. It’s not real. But they’re wrong.

He can see out of my eyes. He’s watching, he can see every single one of you. He likes to watch people dance. Can you dance? Will you dance for him?

The worst thing is, he’s where they said he was all along – inside my head. That doesn’t mean he’s not real. Soon now…faster, faster, he’s coming…

I think you’d better run now.

 

 

 

 

Isatis Tinctoria He has a photograph, you see, Her. In the forest, somewhere sweet. High fern banks rising past her head, Low river at her feet.   They liked the forest. Its winding woad and Lost paths, pattering with feet And rain; dripped with Catkins and caterpillars Which bent and stretched Along curved limbs and ferns, And her. She liked to watch The rabbits run; It reminded her of Moving water Sliding over stones.   He liked to watch the rabbits Run because, he thought (but never said), they Were struggling with themselves And the earth. She took her shoes off By the stream, and let the Caterpillars wrinkle up her arm And him. He took a camera, high Flash forgotten, round his neck Her hands were wet, collarbones Jutting, toes amongst the ferns Sliding over stones.   He likes the photograph, you see, Her. Frosted by the camera’s code. Blood drips slowly past her lips And falls darkly on the woad.

Hanging Stone HollowWay down deep in Hanging Stone Hollow Where bark-backed toads belch and swallow Through swamp and mud and bog they’ll follow Follow me down to Hanging Stone Hollow.   Over copse and over fen They’ll stumble to my stagnant den Like sleepwalkers who step – and then Realise it’s too late for them.   Way down deep in Hanging Stone Hollow Where ink-stained beetles fight and burrow Through snow and wind and rain they’ll follow Follow me down to Hanging Stone Hollow.   Over waning moors I’ll sing A tune to lure a hag or king I’ll twist a noose of sodden string Along a branch to sway and swing.   Way into night in Hanging Stone Hollow Amongst the lost and bitter sorrow I’ll string you up after you follow Follow me down to Hanging Stone Hollow.

 

 

She was the sun, Tuesday 22 January

As part of their work towards a Silver Arts Award the young writers group will be sharing some of their work online.

The following poem is by Sam Fletcher.

 

She was the sun   If I was an object, a noun, you asked- What would I be?   I answered   with a lipstick smile and you beamed back at me oblivious and joyful.   You think I meant I was feeling some clichéd happiness an innocent joy it’s easily done.   I don’t blame you. I can tell by your eyes- your eyes that aren’t cold and your carefully chosen diplomatic words that you could never mean to hurt me   The way you actually think about the emoticons and number of kisses on the end of your texts depending on how you think I’m feeling, means I could never really hate you   I could see the stifled relief when I answered the long-awaited ecstasy because you think this means I’m better now.   No, what I meant was I hide. I am happiest alone, most sincere when I’m crying.   Then you force me out from my existence of safety in solitude- make me put on my lipstick smile and try vainly to cheer me up.   It always goes well at first.   I brighten your day don’t I? It’s obvious and- honestly- you brighten mine too.   I start to trust again love again   I was wanted.   my battered heart begins to beat stronger and stronger and stronger until I’m me again. I’m free again.

Then you shun me.   I thought this was what you wanted I thought I was wanted.   Turns out all you really wanted was for me to thin my hearts veil.   Because now you’re burning.   I could see this coming way before I fell into this chasm of delusional trust   I should’ve listened to myself.   For your sake I’ll crawl back under my lumpy duvet and be alone again.   Yet the moment I’m gone I hear your strained, desperate apologies.   Because now it is your darkest hour and I’m not there anymore and it’s your darkest hour because I’m not there anymore.   But I won’t fall into your trap anymore   Winter has begun.   You didn’t think did you?- When I answered your question.   All you saw was the lipstick smile And all you heard was the connotations of joy and life that have unrightfully attached themselves to this heavenly fireball.   I am asking you, as a friend- Get back to your own life. Enjoy the long midwinter nights resting under full moons and blue moons.   Maybe it’ll snow, and you can build a snowman. And then it’ll melt. And I’ll have ruined everything again.

 

Poetry Parnassus, Saturday 30 June

To celebrate the end of the Stanza Stones project young people from Ilkley Young Writers and Calderdale Young Writers made a trip to London to visit the Poetry Parnassus – the UK’s largest gathering of poets from across the world for the Lodon 2012 Festival. The young people took part in everything from edible poetry workshops, poetry treaure hunts, were prescribed an emergency poem and listened to inspiring poets on the theme of resistance.

You can find photos from the day on our Young People’s Facebook page.

 

Stanza Stones Showcase by Sam Fletcher, Ilkley Young Writers

On Saturday 17th March Ilkley Young Writers attended a mass showing of the work that those involved with the Stanza Stones project had been doing (we are involved in this project and so we ourselves would perform our poetry). We arrived at the Northern School of Contemporary Arts full of anticipation. Up until now, we had seen the work of a dance group and other poetry groups but not on this scale. Finally we would be able to glimpse the standard and immense talent of other artists involved in the project. We werent disappointed. As we watched the dancers, filmmakers and fellow poets perform, it was clear that we would be performing alongside some very talented artists. The dancers added flair, energy and excitement to the proceedings, with each group bringing something different (whether that be energetic street dance or flowing and precise interpretive dance). The films were also great- each film displayed originality and creativity and were all thoroughly entertaining and often intriguing. As for the other poets, they were brilliant. As poets ourselves, we could appreciate the craftsmanship, care and creativity that had gone into each poem. With this level of talent in the room, it was hard not to feel slightly nervous when it came to our performance (despite being told emphatically not to compare ourselves with anyone else). However, as it came to our time to perform, it all felt into place well. Some of us performed solo, with everyone involved in at least one group piece. The group pieces in particular worked really well, with the movements we had planned adding something different to the poetry. All in all, we left feeling excited by the whole experience. We had seen how the Stanza Stones project was coming together, and it was looking really good. Now we can’t wait for the final showcase in June!

 

Young People’s Anthology

In 2011 the young writers group ut together their first online anthology. Here is the result of their gard work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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