Birmingham Literature Festival

A lovely opportunity here (via our friends at Writing East Midlands - thanks!)

Our friends Birmingham Contemporary Music Group are celebrating composer Brian Ferneyhough’s 75th birthday in the Ideal and Flying Height concert on 9 December. In a pre-concert event, composer Howard Skempton will be joined by Ferneyhough himself in a discussion at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire!

Also going free: glass and metal meeting table. Free to a good home, collection only from Zellig (Custard Factory), Birmingham!

Anyone need a bookcase? Free, collection only from Custard Factory, Birmingham.

#Throwback to #BLF18!
Super Sunday 14 October here, with John Boyne, Sarah Churchwell, Nigel Slater and Ravinder Bhogal, and Jonathan Coe interviewed by Sathnam Sanghera.
Photos by Lee Allen.

#Throwback to #BLF18!
Poetry this time, with the Poetry For Peace event with the Royal Society for Literature; Raymond Antrobus wowing the crowd with The Perseverance; Shivers; and Kat Francois performing during the Unwritten book launch.
Photos by @leeallenphotos and @thepaulstringer.
... #literature #festival #poetry #celebration #books #bookstagram #festivallife
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#Throwback to #BLF18!
Some of our most candid and thought-provoking speakers: Viv Albertine; Alexei Sayle; Wendy Mitchell and AC Grayling.
Photos by Lee Allen.

#Throwback to #BLF18!
We hosted some fantastic shows and one-off events during this year's Festival. The Urban Birder, David Lindo, led us on a special bird-watching walk through Cannon Hill Park; Jackie Hagan performed This is Not a Safe Space; and Roger Robinson and Nick Makoha performed Mixtape, as well as did a schools visit as part of the #ReadOnEU project.
Photos by Lee Allen.

On Saturday 8th December, Nine Arches Press are running a workshop on flash fiction with Tania Hershman and Roz Goddard featuring afternoon tea and an in-conversation. For all experiences! Tickets available here:

#Throwback to #BLF18!
We had some amazing discussion panels during Birmingham Literature Festival: writers talked about writing their history, about their city, about their parents' stories, about their ancestors... Here are just a few, from the Changing the Landscape panel, the launch of the Book of Birmingham with Comma Press, the Hometown Tales panel, and the Spectacular Short Fiction panel.
Photos by Lee Allen.

#Throwback to #BLF18!
This time, it's photos from our busiest day: Saturday 6 October. It started with Sali Hughes in conversation with Lauren Laverne, followed by one of the busiest signing queues we've ever had! And the day ended with a very special performance of Ursonate at our one-off resurrection of the Dada celebration, Cabaret Voltaire, in association with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. You just had to be there...
Photos by Lee Allen.

#Throwback to #BLF18!
This time it's all about the women: Deborah Frances-White launching The Guilty Feminist book in September, Helen Pankhurst talking about her book Deeds Not Words and the sold-out launch of Once Upon A Time in Birmingham: Women Who Dared to Dream.
Photos by Lee Allen and Paul Stringer.

#Throwback to #BLF18 and some photos from the events, both on stage and behind the scenes!⠀ ⠀ First up: #NationalPoetryDay with Liz Berry, Roy McFarlane and the announcement of the new Poet Laureate for Birmingham (Richard O'Brien) and Young Poet Laureate for Birmingham (Aliyah Begum.)⠀ ⠀ Photos by Lee Allen.

Birmingham’s SHOUT Festival returns this Thursday with the cabaret legend Le Gateau Chocolat! Featuring a live orchestra get ready for ICONS, a life-affirming evening of lycra-clad pop anthems featuring the hits of Kate Bush, Whitney Houston, and Meatloaf https://buff.ly/2qwNEmH

A few photos from this year's events...

On November 9th Hit the Ode is celebrating the arrival of this year's Shout Festival with a line up of world- class queer poets! Tickets:

Rosie Wilby, award winning comedian who you might remember from the April Birmingham Literature Festival, will be performing alongside Maureen Younger and Bethany Black at SHOUT Festival of Queer Arts and Culture on 18th November:

Poetry in Brum coming up next week:

Don't miss the chance to hear from award-winning author Alice Sebold on Thursday 1 November! Ahead of the evening performance of The Lovely Bones at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Alice will be discussing her wide-ranging career in a special in conversation event to tie in with the stage adaptation of her world-famous novel.
The American educator, poet and author will discuss her career, her memoir Lucky and the success of her subsequent novels, The Lovely Bones and The Al...most Moon.
The Lovely Bones, Sebold's first novel, debuted in 2002, and quickly became an unprecedented international bestseller, topping most of the “best” lists and earning Sebold the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel in 2002 and the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award for Adult Fiction the following year. In 2009, a film version of The Lovely Bones, starring Mark Wahlberg and Susan Sarandon, was released.
Tickets for the talk cost £8 and it starts at 6.15pm. See you there!
Alice Sebold event: https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/…/in-c onversation-with-ali…
https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/what…/ the-lovely-bones.html
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With thoughtfully curated events that always surprise and delight, there's a real warm, welcoming spirit about Birmingham Literature Festival that draws in audiences from far and wide. Keep doing what you're doing.

The Birmingham Literature Festival is a brilliant festival for literature lovers of all ages. It often has big name authors but gives space to those emerging or those whose voices are not often heard of seen at events of this kind. I highly recommend it.

Spent an evening at The Rep B’ham for the #MeToo Movement in Poetry evening. Truly inspirational Poets, Orators, Organisers and Volunteers. I even had a wonderful chat with a lady involved in the publishing of the book of poems that are being sold in aid of Women’s Aid. Thank you #MeToo

Fantastic event, Caitlin & Sali were very entertaining and said some important things too, brilliant- really lifted my spirits

Diverse programme of events. Also recommend volunteering if you can spare the time - online application on festival website. Enjoy!

Birmingham Literature Festival is always a delight!

With thoughtfully curated events that always surprise and delight, there's a real warm, welcoming spirit about Birmingham Literature Festival that draws in audiences from far and wide. Keep doing what you're doing.

The Birmingham Literature Festival is a brilliant festival for literature lovers of all ages. It often has big name authors but gives space to those emerging or those whose voices are not often heard of seen at events of this kind. I highly recommend it.

Spent an evening at The Rep B’ham for the #MeToo Movement in Poetry evening. Truly inspirational Poets, Orators, Organisers and Volunteers. I even had a wonderful chat with a lady involved in the publishing of the book of poems that are being sold in aid of Women’s Aid. Thank you #MeToo

Fantastic event, Caitlin & Sali were very entertaining and said some important things too, brilliant- really lifted my spirits

Diverse programme of events. Also recommend volunteering if you can spare the time - online application on festival website. Enjoy!

Birmingham Literature Festival is always a delight!