English PEN

English PEN, stalwarts of the ongoing global defence of the role of literature as a means of developing mutual understanding and, therefore, staunch defenders of freedom of expression, are having a fundraiser.

On Sunday the 12th of January at the Tricycle Theatre in Kentish Town there'll be a screening of

Under Milk Wood, the film of the radio play by Dylan Thomas. Tickets can be booked here.

Of course, you don't need to go all the way to Kentish Town in January to support the role of literature

as a means of developing mutual understanding. In a much more immediate fashion (both temporally and spatially) there's the fantastic Nutshell Christmas Quiz! Huzzah! 

Eyewear Autumn Party

Nutshell had the fortune to be in attendance at the Eyewear Autumn Party last week and it truly was a poetical extravaganza. 

Eyewear Publishing, launched in 2011 by Todd Swift, is still relatively new to the crowded UK publishing scene but is quickly gaining a reputation for itself, producing beautifully designed hardcover editions of wonderfully wrought poetry. 

The Eyewear Autumn Party featured poetry from the lips of Don Share, relaunching his until recently out-of-print debut Union, an exciting reading from Mariela Griffor launching a new & selected collection The Psychiatrist which was full of revolutionary fervour, Barbara Marsh read from her new collection To the Boneyard and the well-travelled Sheila Hillier with Hotel Moonmilk made entire a spectacular evening of wordly enjoyment. 

The event, kindly hosted by the London Review Bookshop, was absolutely chock-a-block, with the collections leaping off the shelves and people quite literarily (geddit?) spilling out onto the streets of Bloomsbury. 

It was heartening to see so many people coming out to support small-press poetry, long may it continue! 

STOP PRESS: Eyewear are launching their first foray into prose fiction. The Boy From Aleppo Who Painted the War by Sumia Sukkar will be launched at Foyles on November the 8th.

Until the Light Goes Out

Nutshell had the recent pleasure of attending a glorious night of poetry-fuelled fun. Every first Monday of the month the Library Bar in Highbury plays host to Until the Light Goes Out an evening of poetry, music and general performance mayhem.

Brought by way of Irina Juahiainen and Michael Clift, the night has been running since February 2013. Since then it has garnered quite a following, when we arrived there was little more than floorspace to sit on!

The format is to have the night captained by two featured performers afloat upon a raft of open-mikery. Last Monday saw featured poet Chip Grim, showcasing ringside themed poetry (a little like a politicised, literati Jake LaMotta), and Jessie Pie (sans band) finishing off the night with some sing-along Americana style guitar with a swansong that threw more than a nod to the Stoke Newington based great John Hegley.

Free, regular poetry events are rarer than a well-funded library service this far north of the river so it's good to see an evening of wonderful wordsmithery being done just right.

The next Until the Light Goes Out is on the 7th of October.