Tag Archives: BBC

Jan17

Dear 2021, The Start Of It

Posted on January 17, 2021 by Nina Lewis

I’m busy preparing for the 2^nd part of January and I want to share some of the happiness so far. We all need these silver linings at the moment.

Last year Nik Perring was the Writer in Residence for Sheffield’s Year of Reading. You can find out about the multitude of exciting projects he was involved in by clicking the link. Sheffield Libraries have been incredibly proactive throughout all 3 Lockdowns offering a wide range of workshops, interviews and groups.

I was fortunate enough to participate in several of Nik’s Autumn workshops and then two larger projects at the end of the year. On the 7^th January one of the outcomes was released on the web for you all to enjoy and this is the first chance I’ve had to share it!

Here’s Nik with the backstory:

Many of us will be haunted by the ghosts of 2020 – the strangest of years. We’re giving you the opportunity, the voice, and the audience to put them to bed.

Working with the BBC (The Novels That Shaped Our World) Dear 2021, The Start of It takes the spirit of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and challenges you to exorcise the ghosts of 2020 by writing a letter to Donald Trump, the universe, Santa, the future – to someone or everyone, telling us what you want to change and the whys and hows.

During this two-part workshop, Sheffield Year of Reading Writer in Residence Nik Perring, will show you the best ways of making your ideas, and desires, into brilliant poems, letters, or stories – and then he’ll show you how to shape them into pieces good enough to send up the chimney/out to the world.

The workshops were in November, many of our finished pieces were collated into a special book which came out in December and lots of people who took part in the workshops recorded their work which was broadcast via Sheffield Library Service’s Digital platform 10 days ago!

You can read more about the Video Poems here.

Enjoy!
With gratitude to Nik Perring, Alexis and the Sheffield Libraries Team
and Charles Dickens for inspiring it all in the first place!

Dec24

Flashback Autumn (Nov)

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Nina Lewis

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November finally saw a return to work after 8 months, an anxious time but also a great relief! It was a busy month on and offline. I had more medical appointments and another hospital appointment. But the balance was a month packed with Poetry / Literary Festivals!

At the end of October and beginning of November I enjoyed Dodge Poetry Festival and the packed programme of poetry. I shared a sea theme poem at Wirral Poetry Festival at an evening featuring Philip Gross, watched Andrew McMillan at Todmorden Book Festival, saw Padraig O’Tauna read several times. Watched Sandwell Stories, enjoyed Ankh Spice back in action at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, HAY had a WINTER Festival Weekend. I joined the final weekend of Culturama.

I had the opportunity to watch Heidi Williamson in action again at The Oxford Centre for Life Writing, Worcester University have also brought part of the Creative Writing Readings online and I managed to catch Hannah Lowe in action (it has been many years since I last saw her read). I caught an event at the Uni of Oxford with Rishi Dastidar on The Craft – a book he wrote a few years ago.

I enjoyed the tail end (dog pun) of Matt Black‘s Book Launch – ‘Sniffing Lamp-posts by Moonlight’ A fundraising book of dog poems.

Photo by Plush Design Studio on Pexels.com

I did a workshop with Lansing Poet Laureate, Laura Apol, I attended more Creative Conversations at Glasgow University, I enjoyed events at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, continued with Ledbury Poetry Festival workshops, Poets in Motion and Food for Thought and Grief workshops, we had an open mic to celebrate the end of the Hybrid Experimental Memoir with Tawnya Renelle – a relaxed and fun affair!

I did a Nevada Hall of Fame workshop and a personal highlight of the month was the George Szirtes workshop thanks to Artful Scibe, Mayflower 400 Celebrations in Southampton.

I got involved writing for the Rebellion series with Sheffield Libraries and Nik Perring and started work on his Dear 2020/21 project in association with the BBC/Novels that Shaped Our World and Sheffield Libraries. More news to come. Room 204 provided a special workshop with Thomas Glave, in which we reflected on 2020.

I forgave myself for the deadlines whizzing past and focussed on the successes.

I was a featured poet at Virtual Voices Offa’s Press (10^th Nov.) alongside Kenton Samuels, Keith Rogers, Santosh K. Dary and Jeff Phelps. I read at the Reimagine Festival (USA) as part of Redwing’s Poetry for Healing group.

I was one of 11 poets in the Royal British Legion’s 11/11 Challenge for The Poppy Appeal – organised by Leena Batchelor, Worcestershire Poet Laureate. Find out more here https://worcesterlitfest.co.uk/2020/12/16/wpl-poppy-appeal-continues/.

I ran a series of Workshops for The National Star Centre, my gratitude to Ruth, Paul and the team in Cheltenham and to Cheltenham Poetry Festival. These were rewarding mornings where inspiration travelled in both directions!

I was published in the BLER Light Anthology (Black Light Engine Room), had two poems published in Corona, an Anthology of Poems – Edited by Gayl Teller in USA (more on this soon), I had a Renga accepted for a collaborative project in the US, I had two poems published in Geography is Irrelevant – Stairwell Books http://www.stairwellbooks.co.uk/product/geography-is-irrelevant/. This anthology includes International Poets who were active online at events in the UK during 2020. More on this soon and a poem accepted for the Dear 2021 Pamphlet produced for the Year of Reading/BBC/ Novels that Shaped Our World with Nik Perring.

Like many of us I wrote about the pandemic in the end (resistance was futile, especially as I self-isolated and had a limited palette of outside life experiences) -not that inspiration was lacking, with all the workshops and 5 notepads of ideas… anyway, I wrote Covid poems and didn’t submit them to any of the Lockdown projects or websites collecting such things. I am grateful that there were a few options left at the end of the year, places to to share them. Now, like the rest of 2020 they can be released!

Oct5

Libraries Week 5th-10th Oct.

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Nina Lewis

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Follow on Twitter @librariesweek to stay up to date with this year’s campaign. A good way to discover what your local library is up to, or further afield (the joy of online).

The main website is here http://www.librariesweek.org.uk/libraries-hub/

Inspiration, ideas and resources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/h6KWK7cc2BcQvWVqhtM0Zq/the-novels-that-shaped-our-world

*The panel have chosen these novels on the theme of Identity: Beloved by Toni Morrison; Days Without End by Sebastian Barry; Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels; Half of a Yellow Sun by* Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; Small Island by Andrea Levy; The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy; Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe; White Teeth by Zadie Smith

https://readingagency.org.uk/hub/

I have been amazed at the Library Service over this time, they have offered so much to us all in isolation. We are back to renewing our books online ourselves, which means the library is open again! Whoop!

Apr7

Listening for Pleasure

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Nina Lewis

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This is on in less than 30 mins on Radio 4.

The New Lyrical Ballads

Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published in 1798, changed the course of British poetry. Growing up in the Lake District, Wordsworth set out to use the everyday language he heard around him in his poems in order to make them accessible to a wider audience. Both poets drew inspiration from seeing a return to the original state of nature, in which people led a purer and more innocent existence The word Lyrical linked their poems to ancient rustic bards, while Ballad refers to an oral storytelling tradition. Both poets used rural life and country people as the subject of their poetry which was a marked shift from what had come before.

To mark the 250 anniversary of Wordsworth’s birth, four leading poets Zaffar Kunial, Kim Moore, Helen Mort and Jacob Polley read new lyrical ballads inspired by the ideas in the original collection. Each of the contemporary poets have strong links to Cumbria and the Lake District and their poems give us a glimpse into life in the county now.

Produced by Lorna Newman and Susan Roberts
A BBC North production.

bbc-radio-4

Go on! Give your ears some food!

Jan23

Accessing Classical Poetry

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Nina Lewis

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This morning (as per my To Do List) I have been researching Robert Burns for a series of poems I am currently writing for Burns Night (25th January).

I came across a now archived (no longer updated) BBC resource that I think is a really accessible way into 18th Century poetry. Language has evolved a lot in the past 300 years and sometimes just listening to it first can help you read it better.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/works/themes/humour/

Oct17

Watching a Radio Show – Birmingham Literature Festival & BBC Radio 4

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Nina Lewis

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BLF Radio 4 Roger McGough, Jo Bell, Ian Duhig and Rachel New

Photos were taken on my mobile to capture atmosphere and although they are not the sharpest focus they are still covered by copyright.

After the launch (Thursday 3rd October) my next booked event was on Sunday 6th for the Radio 4 recording of Poetry Please (a show that has been running for 30 years) presented by Roger McGough.

I was very excited! I had hoped to post about this sooner (offline issues) as the live recording was broadcast last Sunday (a week later) on the 13th October. With the wonders of the internet you may still be able to access it and give it a listen.

It was a great experience, just being part of a live audience. But the afternoon held far more treasures than just that.

Roger McGough, who I have met before, walked past me whilst I was queuing to get in for a start! He was the host of the show and they had a team of actors reading many of the chosen poems. They also had Jo Bell (Canal Laurete and featured poet on my National Poetry Day post on this blog) Lifted and the first poem she performed was ‘Lifted’ it was great to hear it live. And I discovered the joys and influences of Ian Duhig’s poetry.

After the first recording I got brave and spoke to Roger and took a few photos of him. Bless him for his time and acceptance of flashing smart phones.

One of the great things was although the majority of the audience were Radio 4 listeners, there were plenty of young people too. I heard a couple of ladies refer to us as Roger’s groupies, I have to correct, we were not. He is such a kind poet, willing to pose for photos and chat to us.

I then got braver and went to speak to Jo Bell. I forget how friendly poet’s are and still expect a bit of a brush off from them…. Fortunately so far everyone has been lovely and genuinely seemed interested in conversing. I hadn’t realised that Jo Bell was the director of National Poetry Day until we started talking. The Director of the Poetry Society was also there and she mentioned the familiarity of awritersfountain blog as she was keeping track of National Poetry Day posts and had seen that I posted Lifted – Jo’s poem on NPD. It is a great honour that someone in her position has fleetingly visited…. On a par with a Royal visit from the Queen (although I doubt she reads many wordsmith blogs…)

I realised Jo was also performing and hosting a workshop and I felt guilty I hadn’t tickets for either… I have kept excel sheet accounts of my expenditure this year and so far the world of writing has cost a monthly salary! I am running low on funds unless I enter and win some monetary competitions soon. Her performance was on a day I was already attending the festival, I thought I might try to go, as it turned out I had to work.

It was great meeting Jo after choosing her as my National Poetry Day Blog Poet (an accolade I am sure she will treasure as much as her Canal Laureate and Directorial role!)

After a brief chat and another photo (wish I had washed my hair and thought more about wearing make up!) – I snapped a few other website publicity shots – here’s one of Jo and Ian together.

Then went out for the interval between recordings…. and found Mr Roger McGough behind a table handing out autographs! Well signing books mainly.

They (BBC Radio 4) have a new book – which they were unable to advertise (BBC) which celebrates 30 years of Poetry Please, it is a doorstop size volume that would do battle with any winter draft. Roger was signing them. I bought the last but one copy hurriedly and hoped that he wouldn’t have left the signing table. Which he hadn’t but Rachel New (the resident writer for BLF attempting a 10 day sentence – writing 30,000 words over the festival) appeared at the same time to meet Roger herself.

I also wanted to speak with her -I’d failed to find her in the library on the Knowledge floor because in my mind she was in the big circular garden room you can see a few metres away from the entrance.

Roger was busy signing books so I struck up conversation with Rachel first, then he was ready to sign mine and I was still talking to Rachel – I felt really rude about this as I handed him the book and said ‘please sign this’, I also missed out on a personal message as he couldn’t get a word in edgeways to ask me my name as I manically gushed over Rachel’s challenge!

I hope he didn’t think I was going to flog the signed book on Ebay or something. It is on my shelf along with the other publications bought at the Literature Festival. I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds trying to make up for my rudeness, but by then Rachel and Roger were in full flow (talking) and it would have been rude to butt in and only fuel the fire that I was an obnoxious member of the public who at first ignores the great names and then attempts to talk over the top of them! So I withdrew and took this photo –

which was snapped by crew members for the official BLF website. (I spoke to Lee, the festival photographer on the last day of the festival in the hope that I may be able to use some of the brilliant BLF website pictures, unfortunately Lee was unsure and they have been locked so that we can’t use them, fair enough I suppose.)

The 2^nd recording was With Great Pleasure and The Echo Chamber, with Paul Farley (due for broadcast January 2014.)

The second half was just as fantastic as the Poetry Please recording and the production included some people choice poetry as well. I wasn’t brave enough to introduce a poem – but I did have my chance and could have been on the radio show (Poetry Please) too! I thought I had stepped into the poetry limelight enough today and instead shrank into my seat!

And not mentioned in the programme was the greatest surprise of all. Katie Sultana – an exceptionally talented and confident teen, she won a National schools competition for reciting poetry -she was so talented. I wanted to hire her there and then to perform my poetry for me.