The Storybarn Outdoor Family Story Tra...

Join Storybarn on an outdoor adventure based on the beautiful picture book The Story Thief by Graham Carter.

They’re heading to Craggy Bay in Calderstones Park to uncover the mystery of disappearing books and find the pesky story thief!

This self-led trail includes a map for everyone who joins in, as well as a copy of The Story Thief for each family to take home. You’ll also get 15% off in the Ice Cream Parlour.

Best suited for children aged 4 – 9 but all ages are welcome.

*Save 50% on tickets for The Story Thief outdoor trail when you buy tickets for Fishing For Stories and I Spy at Story at the same time on the Reader website. Discount will automatically be applied during the online checkout process. Tickets for all three events must be booked at the same time.*

Saturday 9 July – Tuesday 2 August (various days), from 10am – 3pm

A Lovely Word with Blue Saint (Outside...

A Lovely Word return to the great outdoors!

Yes that’s right, hosted by Unusual Art Sourcing Company and Becky Downing, we give you A Lovely Word in the park, at St James, just below the cathedral. St James’ Garden, Off Upper Duke Street, Liverpool, L8

Introducing Merseyside’s most eclectic spoken word night, where you can turn up, enjoy some poetry or get up and speak yourself. Split into two halves of open mic-ers, with a headliner at the beginning of the second half.

This free event is a fun, relaxed and friendly evening of performance poetry. So turn up, bring your own seat, maybe a picnic, whatever you like! Their headliner is Blue Saint.

About Blue Saint:

Daniel Sebuyange, known professionally as Blue Saint, is a Congolese and British rapper, singer-songwriter, spoken word poet, actor, producer and designer.

A part of Writing on the Wall’s Liverpool Young Writers at the ages twelve to sixteen, winner of The Poetry Society’s SLAMbassadors Award at fourteen, a MOBO BeMOBO Award nominee at the age of fifteen and winner of Merseyrail Soundstation 2014 at the age of twenty, a prize celebrating breaking new talent in the Liverpool music scene.

Blue Saint has also gone on to receive various accolades and achievements for his music, community work and activism. He was included in Liverpool Echo’s “30 under 30: The young people changing the face of Liverpool in 2020” and in The Common Sense Network’s “North30: 2021 North of England’s 30 Under 30 Trail Blazers”.

Throughout his years he has performed at events alongside UK chart topping artists such as Ed Sheeran, Plan B, Wretch 32, Akala, Sway, Lowkey, Benjamin Zephaniah and Jerry Dammers of The Specials, as well as American artists such as Pharoahe Monch and Saul Williams.

He has performed in many places including the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Somerset House, Sofar Sounds and has also collaborated with the Royal Northern College of Music session orchestra.

TAKE PART

If you want to sign up in advance, then please whether you are a new poet performing for the first time or a seasoned poet who wants to try out some new stuff – sign up to perform by EITHER;

I) turning up at 7pm to the park (limited availability)
II) emailing alovelywordpodcast@gmail.com with a confirmation of your full name, mobile number and ‘2nd June St James’ in the email title.

When signing up to perform, you are signing up to these principles of the open mic: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S70y959L3YzOtrbxaHV7RXytXQG4tal28sLPuxB9l_c/edit?usp=sharing

An Evening with Cassandra Clare

Join one of the world’s most successful fantasy fiction authors, Cassandra Clare, as she tours the UK for a limited run of dates, to share an exclusive edition of The Last Hours: Chain of Gold. 

Cassandra is synonymous with young adult fantasy fiction and is best known for the internationally bestselling Dark Artifices trilogy, Mortal Instruments series, and Infernal Devices trilogy. 

In conversation for these exclusive events, the #1 New York Times bestselling author will explore her much-loved Shadowhunter series, discussing the Carstairs siblings, their unique challenges across the book series, and the angst and pain of romance.

Cassandra will consider how her stories are inspired by both mythology and real-world events, and what is next for the Shadowhunter world: in books, television, graphic novels, and more! Plus, you’ll hear the story told by the author herself as she gives a fun, dramatic live reading from the series. 

Matt Simpson Memorial Poetry Reading 2...

Kayo Chingonyi was born in Zambia in 1987, and moved to the UK at the age of six. He is the author of two collections, and a fellow of the Complete Works programme for diversity and quality in British Poetry.

In 2012, he was awarded a Geoffrey Dearmer Prize, and was Associate Poet at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 2015.

His first full-length collection, Kumukanda, won the Dylan Thomas Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award. Kayo was a Burgess Fellow at the Centre for New Writing, University of Manchester before joining Durham University as Assistant Professor of Creative Writing.

He is a writer and presenter for the music and culture podcast Decode on Spotify, poetry editor at Bloomsbury, and his most recent collection A Blood Condition was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the T.S. Eliot Prize, and the Costa Poetry Award.

For further information, please contact Dr Eleanor Rees at reese@hope.ac.uk

Dame Sheila Hancock: Old Rage

Spend an evening with one of Britain’s best loved actors of the stage and screen, as she opens up about her ninth decade. 

Dame Sheila Hancock looked like she was breezing through old age. She had weathered and even thrived in widowhood, taking on acting roles that would have been demanding for a woman half her age. She has energy, friends, a devoted family, a lovely home.

She can still remember her lines.  So why, at 88, having sailed past supposedly disturbing milestones – 50, 70, even 80 – without a qualm, does she suddenly feel so furious? 

Celebrating the publication of her latest book Old Rage, Hancock will explore how devastating diagnoses, adjustments, Brexit and bereavement, now seem to knock her from every quarter. And that was before lockdown. 

An Evening with Reverend Richard Coles...

Reverend Richard Coles is the only British vicar to have had a number-one hit single and to have appeared as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. 

He is also a Sunday Times bestselling author, Twitter phenomenon, much loved broadcaster, and now – as he retires as the 59th vicar of Finedon – Richard becomes a novelist with the first book in his eagerly anticipated Canon Clement mystery series. 

Join him for this limited run of live events, as he celebrates the publication of Murder Before Evensong which sees the sleepy parish of Champton descend into unexpected chaos. In his hybrid life as vicar and media personality, Richard has many friends, and tonight, he will be in conversation with one of them to talk about Canon Clement, his new fictional sleuth. 

WoWFEST22: FUTURE IMPERFECT Launch wit...

WoWFest22 is back live and as direct as ever, celebrating creativity in the face of adversity, tackling the most urgent questions facing our global society.

Join WoW’s Co-Directors and team to celebrate the launch of WoWFEST: FUTURE IMPERFECT with performances from their talented pool of writers, followed by a keynote address in the performance space by their very special guest, award winning journalist and broadcaster, Gary Younge, who returns to set the scene for WoWFEST22 – FUTURE IMPERFECT.

The festival proudly features: Gary Younge, Joelle Taylor, Tony Schumacher, Phil McGuinness, Rob Newman, Hannah Lowe, Shon Faye, Asif Khan, Theaster Gates, Ashleigh Nugent, Danielle Owen-Jones, Clare Coombes, Kay Flavell, Bryan Biggs, A love Letter to Odessa & more…

Free refreshments available on the night.

Greg Quiery – Oglet, poetry coll...

Celebrate the launch of Oglet, Liverpool-based Irish poet Greg Quiery’s latest superb collection of poetry.

Greg will be joined by special guests Amina Atiq and Jerome Masset, with live music from Liverpool born traditional fiddler Mikey Kenny and Guitarist John Chandler, and a reading from local actor Geraldine Moloney.

Belfast born Greg Quiery has lived in Liverpool since 1973. A retired teacher, he is a regular reader at Liver Bards, Dead Good Poets and Lovely Word at The Everyman.

His first collection A Stray Dog Following was published by Stairwell Books in 2020. Greg has also published In Hardship and Hope, a history of the Liverpool Irish. He is a musician, singer and local tour guide on Liverpool’s Irish connections.

Oglet, a collection of forty poems written during lockdown, celebrates the wild areas on the edge of Liverpool on the banks of the Mersey, near Speke and Garston.

On land either under threat of development, or abandoned by industry, we find songbirds, ducks, geese, small mammals, shrubs and trees all thriving in green spaces valued by the many local people who walk here.

A Lovely Poetry Festival – Poetr...

Poetry is for Everyone. As part of A Lovely Word Festival this year, they’ve created an interactive Poetry Factory in the Everyman street café.

Open all week long from 10am-7pm, they want you to come along and fill the street with your words.

Featuring Beth Caverley’s Poetry Machine (Thu-Sat afternoon), an interactive peg-a-poem exhibition, a local poets’ listening booth and more – the Poetry Factory is the perfect way to dip your toe into the festival this year!

So why not head along and join in the magic? Sounds Lovely, doesn’t it.. The Poetry Machine: Heart-fizzing poetry inventions made especially for you!

Poet, Beth Calverley, will be joining them with her magical Poetry Machine. This is your chance to experience poetry, created in response to your thoughts, feelings, ideas, and discoveries.

Pop by on Thursday, Friday, Saturday (7th, 8th, 9th July)  afternoon to co-create a poem with Beth, weaving your words into a poem to take home with you. Just follow the sound of her vintage typewriter and look out for the machine’s bright yellow umbrella, flagpole and bubble engine…

You’re welcome to take part on your own, head along with a loved one, or bring a group.

Presented as part of A Lovely Poetry Festival 

An evening with Maytree Poets

A special poetry reading with Seán Street and Pauline Rowe at Open Eye Gallery.

Seán  Street started his working life as an actor with Birmingham Repertory Theatre before moving into radio. He is a widely published poet, radio practitioner, teacher, and a writer of many prose works that explore the philosophical nature of sound.

He is also Emeritus Professor at Bournemouth University where he gained his PhD in 2003. He has published four poetry pamphlets and nine poetry collections. His most recent collections, Camera Obscura (Rockingham Press, May 2016) and his anthology Radio Waves (Enitharmon, 2004) examines his
preoccupation with time, space and communication.

Pauline Rowe has two recent pamphlets with Maytree Press: The Ghost Hospital (2019) was shortlisted for a Saboteur Award and The Weight of Snow (2021) won the 2021 Saboteur Award for best poetry pamphlet. Pauline has a PhD from Liverpool University.

She was the first poet-in-residence with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust (2013 – 2020), and first writer-in-residence at Open Eye Gallery (2016 –19). She also founded and worked as project lead for the charity North End Writers (2006 – 2020).

Maytree Press was founded in November 2018 by artist and writer David Coldwell with his wife, Amanda. It is based in Huddersfield, publishes poetry and works with a range of artists to ensure their pamphlets are beautifully produced and presented.