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BBC Contains Strong Language is back

For the third year in a row, the BBC Contains Strong Language literature festival is running in Hull, co-directed by the BBC and us here at Wrecking Ball Press. It will take place the last weekend of September from 27th to 29th.

This third incarnation of Contains Strong Language promises to be the best yet. Like the past two years, it will combine established poets of global importance with Hull talent, such as the Scottish Makar Jackie Kay reading alongside Peter Knaggs on the Sunday at Hull Truck Theatre 4pm. The incoming Poet Laureate Simon Armitage will be returning to read from his latest collection on Sunday at 4pm Hull College and will also be working with local schools all week to format the performance Zoom!, combining poetry, dance, light and music (composed by John Harle) with an intergalactic theme, shown at Hull College on the Saturday 11am. Adding to the line-up of nationally acclaimed voices, the outgoing Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, will be performing at Hull College alongside two Laureate Choice poets on Sat 28th Sep 4-5pm.

You might remember that Editor Shane Rhodes headed to Indonesia in May 2018 to the Jakarta and Makassar International Writers Festival to form publishing networks. This link will see an exchange of poetry with poets arriving from Indonesia and Northwest Africa to share their work. Adil Latefi from Morroco will be running an interactive workshop with his translator on Saturday 28th at 1pm, with attendees taking part in creating a new translation. On Sunday at 11am there will be readings from the Indonesian poets and further discussion and practical insights into translating poetry, followed by the Indigenous Language Gala at 4pm. Languages closer to home will have their part with Welsh and Shaetlan – the native tongue of the Shetland Islands – featuring in the work of Rufus Mufasa and Roseanne Watt. This festival will be showcasing poetry as the varied and international art form it is, and an art that is increasingly important in a world facing international issues.

19 poets – The Hull 19 – will be resident in the city for three days, presenting special commissions, performances and readings. The entire BBC radio network will be covering the festival. Last year over 6.9 million people tuned in to listen across the weekend.

The festival’s directors are the BBC’s Susan Roberts (Editor Audio Drama and Radio 3’s The Verb) and Editor Shane Rhodes. “Contains Strong Language 2019 follows two extremely successful festivals held in Hull since 2017,” said Susan Roberts. “Once again we will present a packed programme of powerful, eclectic and visionary work that will resonate with audiences both live and via broadcast and online. This really is a celebration of the power of poetry and spoken word.”

Shane Rhodes commented on the continuity of presenting three festivals over three years. He added, “Hull was chosen as the location for the festival due to its vibrant, creative and innovative reputation as the nation’s poetry city. We’re continuing to build on two previous successful festivals that have left people with a hunger for more and we’re taking poetry and spoken word to a wide and growing audience. This year’s programme of work is ambitious and exciting.”

As previously, most events at BBC Contains Strong Language will be free to attend. Three paid evening events are available for booking here and the rest will go live at 10am 23rd Sep at hulltruck.co.uk. Keep a lookout on our social media for details of the festival events or get your hands on our brochure, which is now being distributed across the city.

Tickets at: bbccsl.eventbrite.com and hulltruck.co.uk/whats-on/

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Love, music, the Holocaust, and a dog called Mango.

On March 6th this year, Martin Goodman’s new novel, J SS Bach, will be published by Wrecking Ball Press (available for pre-order here). Martin Goodman, award-winning author and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Hull, “writes enchantingly” (The Literary Review), in beautifully crafted and emotive storylines with the greatest sympathy for his subject. J SS Bach is no except. The story of three generations of women from either side of Germany’s 20th Century horror story suffering the consequences of the actions of men, spanning from 1990s California right back to the midst of the Second World War, is intricate and moving. 

Without giving away too much, let us say this: J SS Bach is singlehandedly one of the most affective and beautiful books that you will read this year.

Tonight (Tuesday 29th January), Martin will be on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking at 10pm. Listen to him in the company of art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen and cultural historian Daniel Snowman, with host Anne McElvoy, discussing ‘Art and Refugees from Nazi Germany’ here. If you miss it, the wonders of modern technology will keep the programme available as a podcast for 30 days.

There will be two launches of J SS Bach, in London and in Hull, with Martin Goodman reading stories from the novel and – a special treat – live performances of Bach’s cello music.

The first, on February 26th at 6pm in the University of Hull’s Middleton Hall: French cellist Brice Catherin will play Bach’s 6th Suite and a range of other pieces (including his own compositions) to reflect Martin’s readings. Booking is highly recommended and may be done so here.

Second up, the London event. On March 7th at 7pm in the Great Chamber at Sutton House (Hackney) and hosted by the glorious Pages of Hackney: London-based cellist Hannah Monkhouse will play Bach’s 1st Cello Suite, and Martin will read from the book and tell stories of its conception. Tickets may be purchased here.

And, finally, a review of J SS Bach by Paul Simon of The Morning Star can be read here. The final words, “A masterful novel,” have never been more accurate.

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December book signings at Wrecking Ball Music & Books

It’s December, the Met Office has issued a yellow snow warning (just don’t eat it—surely?), and there’s a lot of seasonal excitement all around. In the midst of the long evenings of open log fires (three-bar electric heater), cognac (bottom shelf brandy), and the curious realisation that the narrative voice of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ had, barring repetitions, received twenty-three live birds in the course of a week, Wrecking Ball Press has just a little more joy for you…

…two, yes, two incredibly exciting book signing events.

First off, on Thursday 20th December from 6pm, we are thrilled to welcome Barney Farmer back to our fair city so he can demonstrate his joined-up handwriting for us all again.

Barney Farmer writes about things for Viz – mostly about drunken bakers, males online, and bestiality – and wrote a short film once called Who Is To Blame, although he claims that he isn’t. He uses biros. He’ll be in Hull to deface copies of his first book, Drunken Baker, and possibly anything else left within arm’s reach once he’s been given a pen.

Drunken Baker, published by Wrecking Ball Press earlier this year, received critical acclaim—or, at least, didn’t receive too much criticism from those who claim to be in the know. It is a day in the life: the decline of the independent bakery and the steeper decline of the independent bakers within it (cake and bargain booze included). It is a harsh reality displayed without apology, elbowing its way into our collective comfort zone bringing laughter (probably), tears (well, eye-watering), and the smell of stale beer (see the aforementioned eye-watering).

Leaving no time for the excitement of that particular rollercoaster ride to fade, we then have on Friday 21st December from 12-1.30pm our very own local (alright—he’s Glaswegian, but he’s been here for quite a while now) legend Dr. Brian W. Lavery.

Brian Lavery has been a factory worker, car valet, market trader, waiter, university dropout, and VAT officer (briefly—it didn’t stick). Latterly, he has been a journalist, university tutor, and writer. He knows his way around poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, has a passing knowledge of the whisky shelf, and a practical understanding of the banjo. He will be signing copies of The Luckiest Thirteen and The Headscarf Revolutionaries, two astonishing true stories from Hull’s history on the world’s stage, published by Barbican Press.

The Luckiest Thirteen tells the tale of the super-trawler St. Finbarr: the catastrophic thirteenth trip after her maiden voyage, the heroic rescue attempt, and the horror of suspense for the families waiting at home in Hull. The Headscarf Revolutionaries is the incredible story of the Triple Trawler Disaster and its aftermath, as the Hessle Road fishwives led by Lillian Bilocca fought for their men, for their lives, and for a change to the most dangerous industry on earth.

Both of these signings will take place at Wrecking Ball Music & Books, found on the East Arcade of Princes Quay Shopping Centre in Hull.

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