Earlier this week I shared the sizzle… here’s the recording of our Transatlantic reading. Enjoy!
With gratitude to all participating poets and to Rodger Martin and Polly Stretton for managing this second edition of the project with me.
It gives me great pleasure to announce a project that has been underway since the summer.
We did it again! Poets from Worcester UK and Worcester USA paired up to write call-and-response poems.
In the original project there was a UK launch and a USA reading, but thanks to the wonders of technology we will all be united on Sunday 30th October, the start time will be 18:00 GMT (UK) and 14:00 EDT (USA) the link for the online event will appear here and on the BPP Facebook Event Page on the day. And yes, that’s definitely 18:00 start time UK, our clocks fall back this weekend!
Black Pear Press are delighted to be part of this project and will host the online event.
Background ~ Every tale starts somewhere.
The Original ATOTC
Back in 2017, when I was Worcestershire Poet Laureate I embarked on a huge transatlantic project linking poets in Worcester UK with those in Worcester MA USA.
It was a massive undertaking on both sides of the pond and a wonderful, fulfilling project involving 47 poets. You can read all about it here:
A Tale of Two Cities Anthology
And feast on the wonderful poetry which was written about our cities here.
Then there were launches and festival events for a while.
July 2018 Droitwich Arts Festival – Launch of ATOTC UK
Artsfest UK Launch A Tale of Two Cities
Then it was the turn for our partners in the USA.
A Tale of Two Cities Massachusetts
September 2018
I worked on promotion for the American A Tale of Two Cities reading, happening at the Sprinkler Factory, Massachusetts on Friday 28th. Very excited to hear how it all goes and hopefully by next year there will be some bigger plans in progress for this project.
I followed up the USA performance of A Tale of Two Cities – there was certainly a lot of pre-event news coverage and it seems to have gone really well.
The plans I had bore some fruition in 2019 when I produced a show with some of the UK poets, lots of film work and the helpful narration of an American relative, for the Evesham Festival of Words.
It had been booked for the festival in 2018, before the Perth Poetry Festival in Australia and before my stint in hospital and my Annus horribilis. It was not quite the year I thought it would be and neither was 2020.
As our lives moved online I caught up with WCPA crew at some events and thought about joining forces to celebrate the collection again.
Roll on a few years, many poets are still in contact with their partners and one of the UK poets, Polly Stretton, had a conversation about doing just that.
July 2022
After a few email exchanges with Rodger Martin and Bob Gill, an idea was floated to go beyond meeting online to read our original work… after some discussion we all agreed to repeat the Call & Response project. And ATOTC II was born.
Since then poets from the original team have been paired up to produce a new selection of poems, this time the theme was open and as before, there has been lots of fun! And this time after the reading, my future ideas for A Tale of Two Cities will bear fruit.
A huge thanks to Polly Stretton for all her management skills, for compiling the programme and organising the tech and assisting with the promotion. It has been a blast. Thanks also to Black Pear Press.
And thank you to all the poets in Worcester UK and from WCPA Worcester Massachusetts, for your wonderful partnerships and poems. I cannot wait to celebrate with you all!
Come and join us
ATOTC II Event Page will include Zoom information on the day.
RELATED LINKS:
This Spring/Summer I have organised the poetry element for this festival. This is my 2nd year working alongside the Droitwich Arts Network team. The events happened in the final week of the month long festival which covers the whole spectrum of the Arts and has an extensive full programme. This year saw the introduction of Dance to the festival. It has been a pleasure to see it grow in success year on year.
http://droitwichartsfest.org/events/
This year a couple of Poetry Events also slipped into Week 3. Charley Barnes’ Book Launch for A Z-hearted Guide to Heartache and our Poetry show 30-40-60
https://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/2018/07/31/the-return-of-30-40-60/
I was a Guest Poet at the Book Launch and organised 30-40-60 along with Kathy Gee and Claire Walker – both events were outside of my remit of festival work.
© Droitwich Standard
Saturday 21st July
Photography © Rhys Jones Droitwich Arts Network
Arts in View Members of Droitwich Arts Network engaged with the public in Victoria Square. Organised by Peter Hawkins.
The Prose Readings in the square took place from 10:30- 12:30 Led by Carla Kovac, with writers Sharon Grigg, Jack Walsh, and Venessa Morgan.
Magic by Charlie close up Stage Magic.
Poetry in the Square 2 – 4 PM
I booked John Mills & Liz Mills to come and perform poetry in St. Andrew’s Square (Town Centre) during the day. We originally had Roy McFarlane booked in too, but then he got called away… to AMERICA!
The three of us kept shoppers entertained for 2 hours. We met a few local poets and talked poetry to a few interested individuals.
Here are a few extra pictures taken on my phone.
The evening Poetry Event took place in Victoria Square.
© Park’s Cafe
Poetry Extravaganza is usually an open mic evening, however this year we had an Open Mic in the first half and ATOTC – A Tale of Two Cities UK Reading in the second half.
ATOTC was my WPL Legacy project between Worcester MA, USA and Worcester UK. 9 Poets from the 24 UK Poets came to perform the work they created with their American partners.
It was fantastic to hear it all and it worked really well. Bigger plans afoot for ATOTC in 2019, the USA reading happens in September.
Photography © Rhys Jones Droitwich Arts Network – unless otherwise stated.
© Nina Lewis
Helen Karakashian – The Chair of Droitwich Arts Network introduced the evening.
The Open Mic was MCed by Charley Barnes.
Michael Thomas kicked off an enjoyable open mic section.
© Nina Lewis
Terry Baldock
Io Osborn
Liz Mills
Neil Richards
John Mills
Maggie Doyle
Stevie Quick
Holly Magill
© Nina Lewis
Then after an interval I MCed the second half – ATOTC.
After a short introduction about the project Charley Barnes started the UK Readings. We each read our call poems and our partner’s response poems from the USA.
Charley Barnes with Henry Walters
Maggie Doyle with Maura MacNeil
© Rhys Jones Droitwich Arts Network
Nina Lewis with Linda Warren
© Rhys Jones Droitwich Arts Network
Derek Littlewood with Rodger Martin
Io Osborn with Kyle Potvin
© Rhys Jones Droitwich Arts Network
Liz Parkes with Eve Rifkah
Stevie Quick with Claire Mowbray Golding
© Rhys Jones Droitwich Arts Network
Polly Stretton with Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Michael W. Thomas with Gordo Elliot
Then we read around again, this time starting with our partner’s call poems and then our response.
Issue 3 of Contour Poetry Magazine Special ATOTC Edition can be read in full (all 116 pages) here.
It was an amazing, well attended evening and enjoyed by all!
ATOTC finally becomes a reality. The largest Laureate project of my tenure. International waters chartered in search of gold!
https://issuu.com/ninalewis3/docs/special_edition_contour_atotc_issue
https://issuu.com/ninalewis3/docs/special_edition_contour_atotc_issue
Click full screen or read on issuu if easier.
The magazine can be read online, you cannot download, but you can share across social media using the share buttons.
It is more than double the length of a standard issue, so I do not suggest you attempt it in one sitting. I know often people dip in, read their own pages. I encourage you to spend a week or so reading the entire project because the poetry and responses are amazing.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
I had the idea before I was appointed Worcestershire Poet Laureate to try an International Project, at the interview they asked unexpected questions and one was about Legacy, so after promising something International, it…
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© 2017 Worcester Cathedral ‘Christmas Tree Festival’
Since July I have been working on a Transatlantic Poetry Project with members of the Poetry Society in Worcester Massachusetts. Finally the proposal has been agreed and the next stage of acquiring poets to buddy up has begun.
An exciting Christmas gift! Find out more about TToTC project here.
Worcestershire Poet Laureate
awritersfountain 