Her: Can fish fly? Him: Flying fish can Her: No, I mean proper flying, like over cities and things because … Him: You gone soft in the head or something? Her: … Because there’s one … Continue reading Spectacular Flights of Whales
So go on, let us do that – we’re ready and waiting. ‘Terminus‘; descent into a room of sly eyes. ‘Puddles Like Pillows’. When gravity stops holding things down & litter fills the skies. Phillippa Yaa de Villiers exceptional poem, ‘Origin’. From Let Me Tell You a Story available from Amazon. Continue reading Unlocked: final three audio tracks from Let Me Tell You A Story
‘Are you sure you want to go through with this?’ Hannah paused, giving Lou a moment to consider, her fingertips tightly pinching the edge of the paper strip. With eyes tightly closed her best friend nodded. ‘Do it.’ As Hannah tore the waxed paper downwards Lou let out a shriek, the piercing cry of a doomed creature caught in a snare. ‘Told you it would hurt,’ said Hannah, suppressing a smile. ‘Do you want me to carry on?’ They both appraised the runway, a rectangle of white skin trailing from kneecap to shin, bounded by the remaining forest of chestnut … Continue reading Phoenix and Marilyn by Tracy Fells
“THE RAIN RUNS in muddy rivulets off the pile of earth beside his grave. No softening of the edges of this funeral. No fake grass discretely covers the mound, just a heap of mud, a pair of dirty spades, and two reluctant gravediggers in fluorescent jackets leaning against the neighbouring gravestone, silently willing us to move on so they can get the job done and head to the pub. Of course nothing will do the Ma but she has to wait until the last shovelful is put on. They pat down the soil with the backs of their spades as … Continue reading A Soft Day by Anne O’Brien
The last of our anthology authors is Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, a South African poet with a personal history as extraordinary as that of her country. There’s more here. Continue reading Meet the Anthology Authors: Phillippa Yaa de Villiers
This anthology began as a small local project, which is why I find myself both editor and contributor, and it grew. The reasons behind it are here and they have to do with literacy and privacy, and the indignity of having things read to you when you’re an adult. This book provides a model of what could be done to alleviate those problems. More. Continue reading Meet the Anthology Authors: embarrassingly, it’s my turn
“Sometimes I can read a poem on the page and I can’t quite make out what the author’s intention was: there’s something there, I can tell, but it’s hidden in the language-mist. When I hear the poem read aloud, (or accompanied by music, or acted out by a variety of voices: anything is possible once you start down this road) then the clouds are blown away and the poem does what it meant to say on the tin, to re-fashion an advertising slogan.” Ian McMillan. Announcement here. Continue reading Let Me Tell You a Story – published today
Ian McMillan is a poet, broadcaster, and presenter of BBC Radio Three’s The Verb, a programme that celebrates the spoken (and sung, and chanted, and pounded, and whispered) word. Ian’s appreciation of language; its flows and rhythms and its very many forms are what drew me to listening weekly to his programme. His way of showing language as living thing that can dance on the page if you let it out of the reverential box it sometimes gets trapped in led to me ask if he would consider writing this piece for us. “Sometimes I can read a poem on the page … Continue reading Ian McMillan on ‘Let Me Tell You a Story’
First up, over on Readalongreads, is Tracy Fells. Go hop over there and say hello. Continue reading Meet the anthology authors
This anthology, which links voice recordings of the short stories and poems directly to the text on the page, is due out in late April. Despite being very simple, this application of the technique may be a world first and has implications for the delivery of essential information to populations whose reading skills are not as perfect as the material often requires. There’s more here at Readalongreads. Continue reading ‘Let Me Tell You a Story’
Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill 