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| Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee reading September 2016 |
After nearly three years, the organisers of Storm and Golden
Sky have decided to call it a day. The decision, I think, was made by the three
remaining organisers fairly independently. I definitely felt that the Allen Fisher
reading felt like the end, as I organised it alone. It was a great reading, but
I couldn’t quite see into the future for another event. None had been arranged.
I’m proud of what we achieved and I was surprised (given
I’ve also been smoothly running poetry readings at Edge Hill since 1998-ish
(take a look here for a description of that series) and was part of the Sub-Voicive Readings in London for a number of
years before that, not to mention the Collected Works readings at our house a
few years ago) how difficult it was. The runaround to find another venue for
the Brown-Corcoran reading was a steep learning curve. (The staff at Bluecoat were wonderful in accommodating us.)
The moment when Elly and I managed to lock ourselves out of that reading (which was in
full flow) and our immediate and uncontrollable hysterics perhaps sums it all up.
It was good to organise readings for some of the great
writers of our time (look at the list) but I also particularly enjoyed meeting people I didn’t know before, who delighted by their performances: Sophie
Collins, Claire Potter, Sophie Mayer, Lauren De Sa Naylor and Nathan Walker.
A (hopefully) Complete List
of Storm and Golden Sky readings in the Caledonia, Liverpool
Organised by Eleanor Rees, Robert Sheppard, Michael Egan,
Nathan Jones (with Michael dropping out during 2015)
February 28th 2014: Crispin Best and Melissa
Lee-Houghton (with 10 minute sets by Eleanor Rees, Robert Sheppard, Michael Egan,
Nathan Jones).
March 21st 2014: Sarah Corbett and Lee Harwood
April 25th 2014: Keston Sutherland and Zoe
Skoulding
May 30th 2014: Joanne Ashcroft and Rhys Trimble
(with short set by Nathan Jones)
June 27th 2014: Evan Jones and Holly Pester
July 18th 2014: Helen Tookey and Niall Campbell
September 26th 2014: Sophie McKeand and Tom Jenks
October 31st 2014: Richard Barrett and Sophie
Collins
November 28th 2014: Steve McCaffery and Karen
MacCormack (with short set three voice piece by Robert Sheppard, Jo Blowers and
Steve Boyland. Steve also performed briefly with Steve McCaffery as HEN STEP)
January 30th 2015: Claire Potter and Tim Atkins
February 27th 2015: Luke Kennard and Claire
Trévien
March 27th 2015: Maggie O’Sullivan and Chris
McCabe
April 24th 2015: Tim Allen and JR Carpenter
May 29th 2015: Ross Sutherland and Patricia
Farrell
June 26th 2015: Andy Brown and Kelvin Corcoran
(with long supporting set by Maria I. Bennett). This reading occurred at
Bluecoat.
July 31st 2015: Eleanor Rees and Robert Hampson
September 25th: Natasha Borton and John Redmond
October 30th 2015: Alan Halsey, Geraldine Monk
with singer Steve Boyland
November 27th 2015: Sandeep Parmar and Robert
Sheppard (with short set by Adam Hampton)
January 29th 2016: James Byrne and Leanne
Bridgewater
February 26th 2016: Lizzie Nunnery and Scott
Thurston
April 29th 2016: Nathan Jones and Sarah Crewe
(with short set by Abigail Goodhart)
May 27th 2016: Sophie Mayer and Jeff Hilson
June 24th 2016: Mark Greenwood and Rachel Sills
July 22nd 2016: Lauren De Sa Naylor and Nathan
Walker (Liverpool Biennial Fringe Event)
September 30th 2016: Charles Bernstein and Susan
Bee (Liverpool Biennial Fringe Event)
October 28th 2016: Yvonne Reddick and (Andrea
Brady was ill so Robert Sheppard, Patricia Farrell, James Byrne and Tim Allen
read with very little preparation)
November 25th 2016: Allen Fisher and (Linda
Stupart was ill so 8 Edge Hill poetry writing students read: Rob Edge, Brendan
Quinn, Phil Carter, Izzy Lamb, Bill Bulloch, Jen Murphy, Laura Tickle and one other with a couple of days preparation)
NB: Hannah Silva read a short set at one of the earliest
readings.
That’s exactly 70 readers by my counting, which is a hit to
be proud of.
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| Me |
Reading photographs of Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee, Charles, Susan and Robert Sheppard © and courtesy of Adam Hampton:
September 30th 2016.
