Reading at the Red Shed

A brilliant evening at Wakefield's Labour Club last night - the last of the legendary Red Shed Readings for this season. A huge thank you to John Irving Clarke and Jimmy Andrex for inviting me to read alongside the marvellous Roy McFarlane.

Me outside the legendary Red Shed

It was my inaugural visit to the Shed, and it coincided with the release of my debut poetry chapbook, The Collective Nouns for Birds, so it was a great chance for me to read a few poems from the collection for the first time. It was a packed house, and I got some really positive feedback from the friendly audience, and was especially chuffed that Roy McFarlane said he loved my short story, 'Part of Sami, Part of Malik'. 'Part of Sami' was a story I wrote for the A Thousand Word Photos project in aid of the charity Stroke Interact. A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to hear it read out in the Arcola Theate in Dalston by the wonderful actor, Andy Lucas, as part of an event to raise funds for the charity. I don't think my own reading was a patch on his - I was a little nervous (of course!) and rushed it too much at the start - but I still enjoyed reading it.

A rather blurred me - the strange angle makes the room look almost empty, but I assure you it was full!

I need to take some tips from Roy McFarlane - he's a fabulous performance poet, full of fire and passion, and it was great to hear him read. Roy was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award in 2018 and is a previous Birmingham Poet Laureate. He entertained us with poems from his two collections, The Healing Next Time and Beginning With Your Last Breath.

Roy McFarlane

The open mic session was a joy too - so many marvellous poets, each one a gem. And brilliant live music as well! All in all a brilliant night - and always a joy to spend time with like-minded people ;-) It may well have been my first visit, but we'll be certainly be going back to listen to more in the autumn.