TES books editor Geraldine Brennan on the inside literary track
For an instant National Poetry Day event on Thursday,go to www.poetryjukebox.com and play readings by more than 30 poets, including Liz Lochhead, Jean “Binta” Breeze, Michael Rosen and John Cooper Clarke.
The Poetry Jukebox, supported by the Arts Council, has been set up by poetry promoter 57 Productions to coincide with The Poetry Jukebox tour (18 poets in eight cities, finishing in Liverpool on November 27). See: www.57productions.com.
Kin, an anthology of new fiction by black and Asian women edited by Karen McCarthy and due from Serpent’s Tail this month, is at the centre of the Kin Spoken Word tour, which takes in DJs, visual arts and theatre. See www.renaissanceone. com for tour updates. Current bookings to March 2004 include Black History Month celebrations in Ipswich, October 5 (www.niaproject.com), Manchester Poetry Festival, October 11 (0161 274 0600), and Sheffield’s Off the Shelf festival, October 28 (www.offtheshelf.
org.uk). Read the first Kin story on www.serpentstail.com.
Nothing from UK education publishers in the “Reading” section of Somewhere Totally Else: the European design show, at London’s Design Museum until January 4. It was left to the children’s picture books to hold their own in the cutting-edge style stakes. There are picture books by Lauren Child (illustration right), who used to paint spots for Damien Hirst, and Eva Tatcheva (creator of Tango’s Witch Wanda pop-up books). But no examples of European picture book design. Among the showcased designers are Graphic Thought Facility, familiar from Shakespeare’s Globe and Manchester Art Gallery. For entertainment, see James Jarvis’s In-Crowd toys inspired by Richard Scarry and Herge. Tel: 0870 8339955; www.designmuseum.org.
The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education in south London is on the road for National Children’s Book Week. The Children’s Bookshow readings and events start on Friday with Susan Price and Jamila Gavin at the Phoenix Arts Centre, Leicester (tel: 0116 224 7706; email: adam@phoenix.org.uk) and continue until November 20 (Chrissie Gittins at the Northern Children’s Book Festival, tel: 0191 281 3289; www.ncbf.org.uk). Full programme, email: sianwilliams2000@hotmail. com. See: www.clpe.co.uk for one-day workshops for key stages 1 and 2, and two new booklets, Simply the Best Books for Children for under sevens and seven to 11-year-olds.
