Off the Shelf

aka Sheffield's annual celebration of writing and reading.
Every autumn you can go to Sheffield and enjoy some of the best writers and events around. This year David Guterson of Snow Falls on Cedars will be at Off the Shelf. It is rare that he appears anywhere at all! So seize the moment.
Other highlighters are poets Patience Agbabi, Daljit Nagra, Lemn Sissay and Andrew Davies the film maker who has made several literary adaptions into successful films e.g. Pride and Prejudice and Bridgit Jones Diary.
We ourselves are there to present In Person 30 Poets in the evening of Monday October 13th 2008.
If you are in the area please join us!

Also this past weekend there has been a festival, SAMA , in Newcastle of South Asian arts; music, literature, poetry, and dance.
There was a book launch of the Bloodaxe Anthology of Indian Contemporary Poetry
and one of the presenters/readers was Imtiaz Dharker who is one of my favourite poets! The launch was followed by a reception celebrating 30 years of Bloodaxe Books! The samosas were delicious! There were speeches by Mark Robinson, Simon Thirsk and Neil Astley, all three did an excellent job using intriguing metaphors of wine and boats. All the staff were together in one place for the first time ever I think and I am sure they appreciated it.
I am impressed that a publisher of poetry is going strong and stronger for thirty years! Most probably on the road to another thirty! See you in 2038! Gosh will we even be around then? We may not, but poetry will.