Category Archives: cultural break

Talks, Ideas, Inspirations

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Vanessa Bell’s cover for Virginia Woolf’s novel ‘To the Lighthouse’ British Library collection.

A Book By Its Cover

Do we make judgements about what book we want to read from what’s on its cover? I love books. I love reading them. I love writing them. I love the feel of them. I love the smell of them. I love book covers. I became more interested in book covers when I volunteered in the library here in Scarborough and picked for clients of the home library. I became more aware of how the book cover influenced my decision over whether a certain book would be suitable for a certain reader. My interest was further developed when I became involved in designing covers for my own novels.

the idea of having an illustrated cover came slowly. Right through the 19th century books were sold with ‘dust jackets’ but these were merely to keep the book clean, were usually made of stiff brown paper and were thrown away once the book was taken home. It would be into the 20th century before this dust jacket would be routinely illustrated. By 1911 a writer was complaining of a new commercial turn, publishers being “convinced that a book, like a woman, is none the worse, but rather the better, for having a good dressmaker”

What to learn more? Come to my talk on Book Cover Art which I will be presenting at various venues in April:

Saturday, 7th April, Scarborough Library, Vernon Road, 1045-midday for Friends of the Library (all welcome).
Tuesday, 17th April, Woodend Creative, The Crescent, Scarborough, 1-2pm. Ticketed event. Please call: 01723 384500.
Monday, 23rd April, Filey Library, part of World Book Night. 6pm-715pm. Please call: 01609 53 6608

The Human History of Walking

Women walked in protest to get the vote.

People have walked because they had to, to get from one place to another, to explore, to go on pilgrimage. And they have walked as protest. If we look back at a revolutionary time in the UK’s history, the 17th century, when we beheaded a king and, for a brief time, had a republic, pilgrimage and protest became intertwined. 

It’s 1655, two women are walking the muddy bye-ways towards Salisbury. They are wearing plain dresses and bonnets, stout boots, a warm cloak. They are the itinerant Quaker preachers Katharine Evans (my namesake) and Sarah Chevers. They believe – as preached by George Fox – that God’s light is within them, as it is within everyone. It is a type of pilgrimage, but it is also a protest. A protest against a church where the power rested in the hands of a few rich men. A protest against a religion which said God’s words had to be mediated through a male priest. A protest against a church which gives divine authority to unjust wars and injustice in society.

….

Some 18 years ago, I was in the grip of a severe depression. I had always enjoyed walking, but during that time, it became a necessity, it became a way for me to untangle some of the mess that was in my head. Since then, I have become more interested in how walking is essential to wellbeing and to creativity – which is, in itself, nourishing of wellbeing. 

I am a writer and walking has become an intrinsic part of my writing process. In September 2015 I walked St Cuthbert’s Way with my sister, a 100km route from Melrose in the borders of Scotland, to Lindisfarne in Northumberland. This long-distance walk also gave me an opportunity to experience the intertwining of walking and writing.

Want to learn more? Come to my talk on Tuesday 24th April, Woodend Creative, The Crescent, Scarborough, 1-2pm. Ticketed event. Please call: 01723 384500.

 

 

Cultural Break: re-writing Shakespeare

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There’s been a lot said about the playwright William Shakespeare in recent months because in April it was four hundred years since his death. He is frequently pronounced the greatest writer in English and his legacy is undoubtedly enduring. His plays are still performed around the world and are on many a reading list for literature students.

Why is the appeal of his work so long-lasting? There must be many reasons, out of which I would pull two. Firstly, his stories feel universal because they tap into collective narratives which are central to our common humanity. To say he nicked all his plot-lines would probably be disingenuous, but it is telling that they have found echoes in stories which have been told and re-told in languages and countries around the globe (pun intended). Love, hate, grief, treachery, honour, lies, truth, memory are shared throughout peoples, they cross borders. Not to mention, political shenanigans. Does anyone else in the UK look at the current manoeuvres in government and the political parties, and think of the many twists of the knife in Shakespeare’s plays?

The second reason I would propose, is that Shakespeare allowed his own emotional landscape to shape his writing. Yes, it all feels like it is about kings and queens and battles and love affairs made complex by misunderstandings and misrepresentations. But knowing a little of Shakespeare’s life – and I know only a miniscule measure of the small amount which can be verified – the development of his plays follows aspects of his personal life. The death of his child, for instance, ushers in his tragedies. In his last play, The Tempest, the magician gives up his powers.

One of the documentaries about Shakespeare which I saw of late, was BBC4’s ‘Arena: all the world’s a screen’ which I saw on the 24th of April this year. It charts the way Shakespeare has been depicted on screen and I was particularly struck by the non-US/UK adaptions and translations. One specifically, Haider, an Indian film (Vishal Bhardwaj, 2014) where a revolutionary in Kashmir adapts the speech in Hamlet:

‘UN Council resolution number 47 of 1948, Article Two of the Geneva Convention and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution raises the question. Do we exist or do we not?…’

This Saturday, the 16th July, in Scarborough, we are lucky to have further modern interpretations of the universal themes of Shakespeare’s plays. The Beach Hut Theatre Company is presenting Natural Shocks at the central library between 10am and 2pm (a free event). Nine local writers have created short plays and a musical performance piece using a scene from Shakespeare as inspiration. Artistic Co-Director, Beach Hut Theatre Company, Ali Watt explains:

‘I think Shakespeare continues to inspire writers because, in his plays, he usually highlights how emotion informs on and shapes the everyday actions people take. Anger. Despair. Love. These are the emotions that are often key drivers in creating dramatic plot and character. The current culture may have shifted significantly since Shakespeare’s day but writers will continue to want to explore political ambition (Macbeth), unrequited love (Twelfth Night) or depression and madness (King Lear).   Reference to the work of Shakespeare will always provide a ‘touchstone’ for finding the way.’

The writers are drawn from a broad spectrum of local talent, including those with national recognition. A play by Jackie Daly has recently been selected as one of three winners of the Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing. She says of her contribution to Natural Shocks, ‘It was a creative challenge to write a new play inspired by a scene from Twelfth Night. Olivia and Viola are fantastic characters with so much drama going on between them. It was fun to imagine them into a contemporary situation and let the sparks fly’

This is an opportunity to see Shakespeare re-imagined for the 21st century and to enjoy work from some formidable local talent. Plus it’s FREE. Not to be missed.

More information from: https://www.facebook.com/Beach-Hut-Theatre-Company-43292254078/

Museums are Magic

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Museums are magic for writers because they are full of stories. Every object, picture and photograph has a story; the story the curator of the exhibition has chosen to tell and the one which presents itself to me as an individual.

In her seminal work, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron prescribes trips out to re-nourish the creativity. These should be done alone, should be to something ‘cultural’, should be with a notebook in hand, ready for scribbles about the experience. I try to incorporate these into my writing life in order to keep my creative reservoir topped up (to misquote the author Alan Gardner). I am also interested in how engaging with artistic forms other than the written word can inspire my writing.

Last week I went to see an exhibition called ‘Endurance’ at my local art gallery  http://www.scarboroughmuseumstrust.com/ Through objects held in the museum’s store, it explored Shackleton’s voyage to Antarctica. I asked myself, who had held the wooden handle of that carpentry tool? It’s patina is so smooth I could almost see fingerprints of its owner captured in it. There’s the photos of the men who had made the journey south, their gaze reaching across the years to mine. Each one with a personal tale, with their own motivations, their own vulnerabilities, their own strengths.

Museums are magic for writers because they are full of words:

Weddell Sea.
Ocean Camp.
Patience Camp.
Not a life was lost.

But when that photo was taken of those haggard men, who knew not a life would be lost?

There’s nowhere better for a writer to head than a small museum staffed by volunteers.These are generally an eclectic and informative delight, a treasure chest of stories, staffed by people with a passion. We are lucky to have the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre, http://scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/ I love maps, maps are stories in themselves. I was fascinated by SMHC’s collection of oceanographic charts. Though faintly disappointed by the lack of ‘therebe dragons’.

Museums are magic for writers. When did you last visit your local museum and what stories did you find?