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York Literature Festival is collaborating with our
partners at York St John University on a number of literary events
during April and May 2021. Poetry, memoir, publishing or horror:
there is something for everyone. Please make sure you book your
FREE tickets to these online events and join us!
York
Centre for Writing Poetry Series: Q&A with Daisy Lafarge
Monday
26th April, 18:00-19:30pm.
Daisy
Lafarge was born in Hastings and studied at the University of
Edinburgh. Her debut novel Paul
is forthcoming with Granta and was awarded a
pre-publication Betty Trask Award in 2019. Her first poetry
collection Life
Without Air (Granta 2020) was recommended by the Poetry
Book Society and shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2020. The
book centres questions of ecology, environmental threat and toxic
misogyny. She is currently working on Lovebug, a book about infection
and intimacy between species. Daisy will be reading from her work,
and will be interviewed by York St John lecturer Dr Rebecca Tamás,
as well as answering audience questions.
About the Series
The York Centre for Writing Poetry Series centres
BAME, queer and working class writers, challenging old fashioned
and out of date visions of what poetry and poets can be. Our
readers’ original, exciting work demonstrates why poetry is one of
the fastest growing and most innovative literary genres in the UK!
The series is based at York Centre for Writing, the
hub for writing events, projects and publications at York St John
University. Community is at the heart of our ethos, and our events
create opportunities to meet fellow poetry lovers and build
creative networks across York and beyond. The series is curated by
York St John Creative Writing lecturers Rebecca Tamás and Caleb
Klaces.
FREE tickets available here.
Independent
Publishers Showcase
Wednesday
28th April, 18:00-19:00pm
Pose your questions about the publishing industry to panellists
from The Emma Press, Peepal Tree Press, Tilted Axis and Hajar
Press.
FREE tickets available here.
How to Get
Published: Agents and Editors Panel
Thursday
29th April, 18:00-19:00pm.
Join York Centre for Writing for a lively discussion on how to get
your writing noticed. Agents and editors with expertise in fiction,
non-fiction, script-writing and poetry will share their industry
insight and answer your burning questions about the path to
publication.
The panel
features: Donald Winchester and Megan Carroll from London literary
agency Watson, Little; Rachael Allen, poetry editor at Granta
Magazine; Zoe Turner from Manchester-based short fiction/fiction in
translation indie publisher Comma Press and Katie Snaydon from
media, film and TV agency Gemma Hirst Associates.
FREE tickets available here.
Beyond the
Walls 2021 Anthology Launch
Thursday
6th May, 19:00-20:00pm.
York Centre for Writing’s Beyond the Walls
is an annual anthology celebrating new writing from York St John
University creative writing students. Organised and hosted by
students, this special event celebrates the launch of the ninth
annual Beyond the Walls anthology in 2021.
The evening will feature readings and performances
by student contributors, giving a taster of emerging contemporary
fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction from this year’s
anthology.
The anthology is published by Valley Press,
Yorkshire’s leading independent book publisher.
This event usually forms part of the York Literature Festival every
March, so we are happy to be hosting this online in 2021.
FREE tickets available here.
In
Conversation with Jamie McGarry & Rosie Driffill
Monday
10th May, 19:00-20:00pm.
Valley Press is a vibrant independent publisher, run by Jamie
McGarry in Scarborough. Rosie Driffill is a writer, whose illness
memoir, Suddenly,
While Living, was published with Valley Press at the
start of this year. Come along and hear Jamie and Rosie in
conversation with York Centre for Writing and Rosie reading
from Suddenly,
While Living. You will find out more about what makes
Valley Press tick, how Rosie turned an unexplained illness into a
compelling, quirky story and the importance of finding the right
publisher for your book.
FREE tickets available here.
The New
Abject: Tales of Modern Unease
Tuesday
11th May, 19:00-20:00pm.
Something has fallen away... We have lost a part of
ourselves, our history, what we once were. That something, when we
encounter it again, look it straight in the eyes, disgusts us,
makes us retch. This is the horror of the abject.
Saleem Haddad and Gaia Holmes, contributing authors
of The New
Abject, join us in conversation with Rob O'Connor,
Lecturer in Creative Writing and Creative Industries at York St
John University. We will discuss their stories and experiences
writing horror short fiction inspired by the abject. Becca
Parkinson (Comma Press) will share her experience in publishing and
there'll also be an opportunity to put your questions to our
panellists.
The New Abject brings together
parallel theories of the abject resulting in visceral short stories
of modern unease. As we become increasingly desensitised to the
world around us, our ability to tolerate difference or 'other',
atrophies. Like all good horror writing, these stories remind us
that exposure to what unsettles us, even in small doses, is always
better than pretending it doesn’t exist.
Saleem Haddad is
the author of the novel, Guapa
(2016), which won the 2017 Polari Prize and was awarded
a Stonewall Honour. His essays have appeared in Slate, The Daily
Beast, LitHub, The Baffler and the LARB, among other places, and
his short fiction in Palestine
+ 100 (Comma, 2019). Saleem lives between Lisbon and
Beirut.
Gaia Holmes is a
freelance writer and creative writing tutor who works with schools,
universities, libraries and other community groups throughout the
West Yorkshire region. She runs ‘Igniting The Spark’, a weekly
writing workshop at Dean Clough, Halifax, and is the co-host of
‘MUSE-LI’, an online writing group. She has had three full length
poetry collections published by Comma Press: Dr James Graham’s
Celestial Bed (2006) Lifting
The Piano With One Hand (2013), Where The Road Runs Out (2018)
and Tales from
the Tachograph, a collaborative work with Winston
Plowes (Calder Valley Poetry, 2017). Gaia is currently turning her
attention towards writing short stories.
This event is presented as a collaboration between
Comma Press, York St John University, York Centre for Writing and
York Literature Festival.
FREE tickets available here.
Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you all again soon. Stay
in touch for more information about upcoming events.
York Literature Festival Board of Trustees.
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