(We have a Facebook page – do come and “like” us and say hi)
For a constantly updated list of performers, click here.
Two years ago, a few of us at Year Zero wanted to put on a gig at Oxford’s (and the UK’s) best bookstore, The Albion Beatnik. We were at the same time rather frustrated by the high admission prices at The Oxford Literary Festival, as well as the lack of representation of the incredible underground and spoken word scene Oxford has. So we decided to put on our own show. The first Not the Oxford Literary Festival, held the week of the festival on March 24 2010, lasted about an hour.
Penny Goring and Lucy Ayrton, two of the stars of the 2011 Not The Oxford Literary Festival
But it was a fun, fabulous hour. And it went down in history as the reason I wear a red glove every time I gig. A Year Zero fan had come over form Germany for the main festival but wanted to see us as well. But he didn’t know where the Albion Beatnik was. He spied my glove through the window, came in, and since then the red glove has been my lucky charm.
Last year we decided to do it again and we had an even more fabulous, diverse line-up including slam poetry and electronica.
And people started asking about 2012. So 2012′s Not the Oxford Literary Festival is spreading. This time there will be two days, March 27th and 28th, both based at the fabulous Albion Beatnik, and promising some of the very best, diversest literary fabulousness, just like you’d expect from eight cuts gallery. Watch this space – and if you’re interested in reading something leave a comment!!
2012 Schedule
Tuesday 27 March – Verruca Music (7pm)
entry £2 all proceeds support The Albion Beatnik boostore
(Stuart Estell and Haiku Salut perform an extract from Verruca Music at Pow-Wow Literary Festival)
Writer and musician Stuart Estell performs his novel Verruca Music in full for the first time. Music, words, lyricism, tears, humour, and delight as Stuart takes us into teh world of a man who tries to battle depression by picking his feet. Accomplished on half a dozen instruments, Stuart, who has performed with The Fall, is one of the most entertaining spoken word performers around today, and this, we believe, is the best novel of 2011. The performance will last 2 and a half hours in total but you are free to come and go at will.
Wednesday 28 March – Poets vs Proseurs (7pm)
entry £2 all proceeds support The Albion Beatnik boostore
some of the best writers of poetry and prose duel it out for your delight as we demonstrate both formats are perfect for live performance. Featuring :
Proseurs:
Michael Stewart, 2011 Not the Booker Prize winner
Joe A Briggs, Oxford’s voice of punk
Amy Riley, host of Brighton Fringe’s award-winning show Grit Lit
Dan Holloway, 2010 Literary Death Match winner
Sarah-Clare Conlon, editor of Quickies
David Gaffney, author of The Half-Life of Songs
Jane Bradley, editor-in-chief, For Books’ Sake
Poets
Penny Goring, author of The Zoom Zoom
Tania Hershman, award-winning author of The White Road and Other Stories
Fay Roberts, host of Poetry Kapow, Allographic & Hammer and Tongue Cambridge
Lucy Ayrton, co-host of Hammer and Tongue Oxford
Anna Hobson, author of Tales of Unrequited Love
Paul Askew, editor of Ferment Zine
Catherine McAleese
Anna Percy from Stirred
and open mic
Friday 30 March – all nighter (7pm till dawn)
FREE
Whether your night is just beginning, or you are heading home from the mainstream festival in search of something more stimulating, drop in to our all night festival of wonders, a place where manifestos will be written, thoughts pulled to their breaking point, performances honed, old favourites murdered on the guitar, films screened, and research, er, researched. Highlights include:
Gin Soaked Sheets (from midnight)
join performer and poetry workshopper Lucy Ayrton as she carries out the world’s first scientific study on the effects of gin on creative output
Philistines! (7.30)
Philistine Press is the best thing to have happened in publishing in recent years, making exceptional but awakward to place works of contemporary poetry and prose avaialble in high quality pdf format – for free. Their guiding light, Frank Burton, and some of their leading authors are coming to blow us away with their words, and inspire us to go out and make great literature widely available. A must not just for literature lovers but for anyone who cares about the future of publishing. With:
Kenneth Pobo, Stephanie Newell, Frank Burton, Rob Sherman, Rich Britton, Clare Fisher
Publishing differently
Philistine may be the most radical press on the block, but there are plenty of people taking matters into their own hands. Dennis Hamley, bestselling children’s/Young Adult author, reads his work and explains why after decades he has decided to self-publish his work digitally, and become part of the Authors Electric group of traditional-turned-self-publishe authors. And Kirsty Clark launches her book Going Back, published by digital upstarts Night Publishing.
The Music of Words (8.45)
The lines between music and poetry often blur. We are delighted to bring you a selection of Oxford’s finest musician’s whose work attains glorious poetic heights.
Featuring:
Jessie Grace; Humphrey Astley; Sarah Forrest
Engage and Protest (9.30)
Including readings from Davy Mac, author of The Homeless Oratorio, and films from the heart of the protest movement, this is a time and space to think about how we can use our words to engage with the hopes and injustices we all care about. Can art change the world? Maybe, maybe not – but it sure as anything won’t if we don’t try. Come and be inspired.
zine workshop – by the end of the night something wonderful will be created that you can take away in your hands
improvlog – creative juices flowing? Let them run then upload the results as part of a global online creative think-in
guerrilla poetry – wouldn’t you love to walk into work one morning and find that your route was full of poems? Wouldn’t it be better still to make that happen for someone else?
