Tag Archives: black history month

LeftLion 49

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LeftLion 49 is out and it’s a right whopper, weighing in at a gigantic 56 pages. And before you start, there’s only 15 pages of adverts. That means 41 pages completely devoted to Nottingham culture. I dedicated the WriteLion page to Black History Month and ran with an interview with Kerry Young, whose debut novel Pao was nominated for the Costa as well as the East Midlands Book Award and examines the changing fortunes of Jamaica, which celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence this year. Kerry is yet another success from the NTU MA in Creative Writing which just goes to prove getting in debt can pay off now and then.

I ran with three mini features at the bottom of the page celebrating Black History Month. These were I is AnOther, an exhibition celebrating Jamaican identity at the New Art Exchange which takes its name from an Arthur Rimbaud poem; Mouthy Poets, an open collective of young people whose  latest production ‘Black T-Shirt Collection’ will be performed at the Playhouse on 9/10 November; Blackdrop who were celebrating their ninth birthday by returning back to their roots at the Canal House. It’s not really LeftLion style to be explicit or ‘right on’ with issues but I do think we should do more to support Black History Month.

Our illustrated poem was about Rosa Parks and written by Alex MotaMouf Young who I commissioned to rap about finding solitude in the digital age for The Space. We also included an interview with Andrew ‘MulletProofPoet’ Graves who was also commissioned for the Sillitoe Trail project on The Space. Andrew recently had his first poetry collection Citizen Kaned published by Crystal Creators and will also be hosting Sillitoe Evening at the Nottingham Contemporary on 27 October which will include music from Gaffa and Sleaford Mods. The fabulous photograph was taken by David Sillitoe.

Our Notts metro map went down a treat and is another example of something that should be pushed further through merchandising but sadly nothing will come of this because it never does. Maybe there’s a savvy business graduate out there who could get in contact and help us develop our somewhat stagnated business model. And don’t even get me started on the fact that we don’t have an App for the mag…

I had the privilege of interviewing Jon Ronson who is a big hero of mine. I met him at No Direction Home Festival in June and then arranged a phone interview. Jon is a genuinely lovely person and when I called him in September at his home in New York (80p per minute from a mobile or 8p per minute if you pay £2.80 for a phone deal in advance) he put me completely at rest. Given the topics he writes about it was a pretty easy interview as I was spoilt for choice. I was disappointed that there was only 100 or so people for his talk at the Broadway Cinema on 4 October which I think was down to the following reasons: It clashed with Goose Fair, it was at an odd time at 6pm and it wasn’t marketed very well (probably because sponsors Waterstones have just changed managers). Afterwards, Jon stayed behind signing copies of his books and insisting on having at least a five minute natter with everyone he met. If only all writers were as lovely. He absolutely loved the illustration and so I’m dedicating this issue to those people who make the magazine beautiful. Illustration wise it’s Adam Poole, Steve Larder and the one and only Rikki Marr, official Secret Wars champion of Britain, and of course our photoshop Jedi and designer, Becca Hibberd.

The Empire Strikes Black

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Blackdrop has been blessed with a diverse range of performers over the years, which has included the likes of Benjamin Zephaniah, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, and in my humble opinion, the best spoken-word performer on the circuit, ‘Stickman’ Higgins. After a temporary move to the New Art Exchange, the spoken word night is returning back to its roots at the Canal House Bar to celebrate its ninth anniversary. If that wasn’t enough reason to celebrate, their anniversary also falls on National Poetry Day whose theme this year is ‘stars’. If Blackdrop are able to draw on various performers from their illustrious past then we’re in for a right glittering treat, with Matt Black aka ‘Shortman’ already confirmed. I’m hoping that Michelle ‘Mother’ Hubbard will recite her Jamaican grandma poem, like a lot of her writing it is a beautifully weighted poem. Michelle was one of the commissioned poets for last year’s Lyric Lounge and gave my favourite performance. But the real success of Blackdrop is that it makes space for people to turn up on the night and perform. So here’s your chance to become the next twinkle.

If you fancy an entire evening of wordy delights then get to the Broadway Cinema at 6pm and hear Jon Ronson first (75mins, £10). He’ll be discussing The Psychopath Test. I interviewed Jon for the latest issue of LeftLion and can guarantee you that you’ll wet your knickers. So take a spare pair. The Canal House is a ten minute walk across town from the Broadway Cinema so plenty of time to do both.

Blackdrop 4 October The Canal House Bar, Castle Boulevard. 8pm – 10pm. £3