Summat for the mantle. Photo James Walker.
It’s been a jam packed few weeks so here is a quick round-up of what I’ve been up to. On Wednesday I met Rod Maddocks, author of No Way to Say Goodbye. He’s led a very interesting life around the world and sold his house to finance his debut novel. It was a good decision as it has been short listed for the CWA. Rod spent fifteen years working in mental institutions and observing people has paid off for him because he has a wonderful attention to detail. I’m hoping his book will be the one that makes it for local publisher Five Leaves as both deserve the recognition. Rod will appear in our next podcast at the forthcoming Hockley Hustle and either a book review or author interview will go in the mag.
On Thursday I went over to Derby to Quad to see a spoken word event put on by Staple to celebrate their 71st issue, themed around art. Wayne Burrows – the Staple head honcho – hosted the event in his usual charming manner, reminding us that Nottingham has their very own Brian Sewell. Hello Hubmarine were performing and I witnessed possibly the best poem I have heard in years. It was the life story of a man about to jump off of a bridge. I’m hoping that the author will come down and record the poem onto a podcast as lots of people need to hear this. It was absolutely spellbinding. I’d love to dedicate a whole page in LeftLion to it and get it illustrated but suspect it is too long. Aly Stoneman and Milk performed their acoustic set which always goes down well. I think that they will go far and the only thing stopping them is a) not selling cd’s at gigs so that people can share their work and b) if other poets jump on the band wagon and flood the scene with acoustic sets. Jacqueline Gabbitas, the Worksop born poet was the headline act and read from her work Mid Lands.
On the commercial front, LeftLion scooped top place at the Nottingham Business Creative Awards for publishing. We’re all well chuffed to finally be recognised after five years of hard slog. Only two of us were allowed to attend which was a pity because so many of us are involved, but we’re not in it for the trophies. We’re just glorified paperboys who love marching up and down Mansfield Rd in the rain, dropping off the latest issue for the drunks to read at their leisure.
For more info on this award