Sean O'Brien and Linda France
Writing the North
Thursday 18 September
The region has a turbulent and often bloody history, which is reflected in the writings of both its own writers and visiting ones, from the time of Bede to the present day. Poets Linda France and Sean O'Brien presented samples of compelling writing from the northern world.
Sean O'Brien began by explaining that the genesis of the evening had been an event in February at Live Theatre, when five northern writers had introduced and read extracts that explored "Northern-ness". One of those writers, Andrea Badenoch, felt it was worth taking the idea further. She was to have been a co-presenter but was unable to be present, so he and Linda France had developed Andrea's idea into this evening's programme.
Their choice of pieces was:
Poetry
- Anon
- "The Lament of the Border Widow" from The Oxford Book of Ballads (OUP)
- W. H. Auden
- "Oh, how shall man live?" from Paid on Both Sides
- Basil Bunting
- "The Second Book of Odes" 9 and 10, from Complete Poems (Bloodaxe)
- Alistair Elliot
- "Old Bewick" from High on the Walls (Morden Tower / Bloodaxe)
- Norman Nicholson
- "In Memory of a Millom Musician" from Collected Poems (Faber & Faber)
- Christopher Smart
- Excerpt from Jubilate Agno
- Andrew Waterhouse
- "Walling" from The Need-Fire (The Bay Press)
Prose
- Andrea Badenoch
- Blink (Macmillan)
- Julia Darling
- "The Street or Beyond" from Bloodlines (Panurge)
- Thomas de Quincy
- "Wordsworth's Legs" from Recollections of the Lakes and of the Lake Poets (excepted in The New Oxford Book of English Prose, OUP)
- Charles Dickens
- Nicholas Nickleby (Penguin Classics)
- Sarah Hall
- Haweswater (Faber & Faber)
From the presenters' own writing
- "Acknowledged Land" from The Gentleness of the Very Tall (Bloodaxe)
- "Making Sense" from Storyville (Bloodaxe)
- "Magpie Music" (new work)
- Excerpt from "A Northern Assembly" from Downriver (Bloodaxe)
- Excerpt from "The Train I Took" from Keepers of the Flame (Methuen)
Afterwards audience reaction was very positive: it was good to hear people who were both good at, and very engaged with, what they were reading. "A powerful performance, very warm, an excellent location" was another reaction. The choice of pieces was nicely balanced and it was nice to be introduced to a lot of unfamiliar work. People lingered after the performance and clustered round the bookstall.
