Had a thoroughly wonderful time at Sparks Night last night, in the intimate venue at Upstairs at Three and Ten, Brighton. Jo Mortimer compered in her entertainingly idiosyncratic way and the whole evening went off without a hitch. Some great pieces by Jac Cattaneo, Katie McCullough (read by Jo), Yeu-Ing Mo, Wendy Greenhalgh, Vanessa Gellard and Vanessa Gebbie. Oh, and me – have a feeling I was there as the token bloke, to be honest. I read “Canine Mathematics“, accompanied by a wonderfully apposite photo, which I’ll post up if I can get hold of (a) an image and (b) permission. I particularly liked the pieces by both Vanessas and Wendy Greenhalgh.
After the event, the audience and performers all mingled in the bar downstairs and I was sorry to leave to catch my train (and replacement bus service and train again). What a lovely bunch of people. Especially nice to meet Vanessa Gebbie, as I have long been an admirer of her work, and I will in fact be interviewing her at some point in the not-too-distant future about (amongst other things) her work on editing “Short Circuit“, the new must-have definitive book on writing short stories. Here’s the post on her blog about the night. It was also nice to meet James Burt again, having previously been on the same bill as him at Liars’ League, as well as Vanessa Gellard and Robin Taylor, who I’ve previously only known on Twitter – my first tweet-up!
Oh, and if anyone is interested to read about how “Canine Mathematics” came into existence, here’s the full story.
Sounds like a wonderful evening. Ex-Brighton resident here: arrived via Vanessa Gebbie’s blog; agree she’s a fascinating writer – look forward to the forthcoming interview. Since Vanessa’s opinions are worth hearing, shall be sure to return & read your story (not poss at present).
Hi Minnie, and thanks for dropping in! It was indeed a wonderful evening, and I’ll certainly be back (assuming, of course, that they’ll have me)
Back, as promised – and read the story with much enjoyment. Interesting; bit like an English version of Myles naGopaleen/Flann O’Brien (if that isn’t a complete contradiction in terms).
Hertfordshire is much more beautiful and interesting than Bedfordshire 😉 – ha!
Many thanks for taking the time to read it, Minnie! As it happens, The Third Policeman is one of my favourite books of all time, although I wouldn’t dare to aspire to that level myself 🙂