What’s on in York: Finding the words – Stanza Showcase

York Explore

23rd January 2020

@ 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm 

Free

Book tickets »

Members of York Stanza

Twelve poets from York’s renowned Stanza Group to entertain and enthral you.

Carole Bromley is the York Stanza rep. Latest publication, Sodium 136 (Calder Valley).Janet Dean is a novelist, playwright and poet living in York.Joseph Chaplain is an unpublished poet currently living in the Peak District.Mary Ann Dearlove is always travelling and likes to write about her experiences in far off places.Melody Clarke is a fresh, new, contemporary, untrodden, recent, modish York Stanza member who owns a thesaurus.Miles Salter sings, writes and likes cheese.Nairn Kennedy lives in Leeds.Nick Boreham has been longlisted for the National Poetry Prize and his poems have appeared in a range of magazines.Patrick Lodge is an Irish-Welsh poet living in Yorkshire whose latest collection is “Remarkable Occurrences” ( Valley Press, 2019).Phil Connolly has been enjoying himself at the Stanza for several years now and is looking forward to hearing everyone’s poems and reading a couple himself.Richard Carpenter writes poems and plants trees.Rob Miles is a Leeds-based multi-award winning poet, widely published in magazines and anthologies.Finding the Words is our monthly poetry evening featuring poets from Yorkshire and beyond. Discover new poetry in a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere. Bar available. Booking advised.

York Explore Phone:01904 552828 Email:york@exploreyork.org.uk

What’s on in York: Launch of Carole Bromley’s pamphlet, ‘Sodium 136’

York Explore
Thursday January 16th 
6:15 pm – 7:45 pm 
Free
Book tickets »
Three great readers for the price of one. Better still, it’s free! Join us for the launch of Carole Bromley’s new Calder Valley Press pamphlet, Sodium 136.  Carole will be joined by Emma Storr and Stuart Pickford.

Carole Bromley is well known on the York poetry scene. She has three full length collections with Smith/Doorstop and her new pamphlet, from Calder Valley Press, concerns her recent experience of brain surgery.

‘This is not just a record of physical suffering – it is a powerful and profoundly intelligent exploration of grief, gratitude, fear, love, and joy. Poetry at its best’ (Clare Shaw)

 ‘These are remarkable, extraordinary poems’ (Peter Sansom)

Stuart Pickford is a keen runner and will be reading about his hobby. His latest book is Swimming with Jellyfish from smith/doorstop.

Emma Storr’s background is medical. She lives in Leeds and is a member of the Leeds Writers Circle and the Wharfedale Poets. Her work has appeared in the Hippocrates Anthologies 2016 and 2018 and Strix magazine. Her debut pamphlet Heart Murmur was published in May 2019 by Calder Valley Poetry. It features poems based on her experience working as a GP and explores the workings of the body and mind in varied and humorous ways.

Admission is free, but booking is strongly advised as we expect this event to be very popular.

What’s on in York: “Right Trusty and Well Beloved” Launch of Richard III anthology

York Explore

Saturday December 14th

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm 

Free

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Launch event for anthology of short stories and poems inspired by York’s own King Richard III, with a Foreword by Philippa Langley, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK).

Sixteen international authors have collaborated on a second anthology of short stories and poetry inspired by Richard III, the king who called York ‘home’. Right Trusty and Well Beloved…, with a Foreword by Philippa Langley, who found the king’s grave in 2012 after 500 years, is being sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK), which aids people with the same spinal condition as King Richard. The book will be officially launched by six of the authors, including one from the USA, promising talks, Q&As, and readings and signings of their work. Everyone is welcome to this free event.

Fools For Love: A Launch of Two New Books

York Explore

Thursday December 5th

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm 

Free

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A return of former journalists John Wheatcroft and Alan Smith in conversation with Alan Gillott about their latest novels exploring sex, death, and romantic love: no fools like old fools.

Alan Smith and John Wheatcroft bring their experience as journalists and prison teachers to their new novels, Virginia, and Rocket Boy. Virginia is an actor whose lover Dan dies slowly and awfully, leaving her wishing him both alive and dead; until she meets Hank, who is also trapped between lives. In Rocket Boy, Simon Waiters’ life is defined by a childhood meeting with Yuri Gagarin; revisiting his past, and lost loves, sounds dangerous but could just be the break he needs. Alan and John discuss their books with Stairwell publisher Alan Gillott.

What’s on in York: “Finding the Words” with Mark Connors, Gill Lambert & Kathleen Strafford

York Explore

Thursday November 28

6:45 pm – 7:45 pm 

£5

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Image of poets Mark Connors, Gill Lambert and Kathleen Strafford

Mark Connors is an award winning poet and novelist from Leeds, UK. He’s had over 160 poems published in magazines, anthologies and webzines.Mark’s debut poetry pamphlet, ‘Life is a Long Song’ was published by OWF Press in 2015.  His first full length collection, ‘Nothing is Meant to be Broken’ was published by Stairwell Books in 2017. His second poetry collection, ‘Optics’, was published in 2019 by Yaffle. A joint collection, Reel Bradford, written with fellow writers behind poetry publishers, Yaffle, in partnership with Bradford City of Film, was also published in 2019. Mark is a managing editor at Yaffle. He is also a Bibliotherapist and Writing Workshop Facilitator for both poetry and fiction, and he co-runs the poetry open mic nights Word Club (Leeds) and Shaken in Sheeptown (Skipton), with his partner, Gill Lambert.

Gill Lambert is a poet and teacher from Yorkshire.  She has been published widely in print and online. With her partner Mark Connors she runs the poetry nights Shaken in Sheep Town and Word Club. Her pamphlet ‘Uninvited Guests’ was published in 2017 by Indigo Dreams and her debut collection ‘Tadaima’ was published by Yaffle this year.

Kathleen Strafford is a widely published poet, in journals, webzines and anthologies.  Her first poetry collection ‘Her Own Language’ was published by Dempsey & Windle in 2018. Kathleen’s new collection ‘Wilderness of Skin’ is published by Yaffle Press.  She is the chief editor of Runcible Spoon webzine publishing. Kathleen runs Runcible Spoon open mic at Miners Arms pub in Morley, Leeds. She is co-creator of ‘The Adventures of Dr Bear and Isabelle’ children’s book series.

What’s on in York: Julian Barnes, in conversation

York Explore

Tuesday November 26th

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm 

£6

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Julian Barnes’s The Man in the Red Coat delves deep into the artistic life of turn-of the century Paris and London, bringing to life Dr Samuel Jean di Pozzi, dandyish model for John Singer Sargent, and ground-breaking gynaecologist. It’s a superbly-realised hybrid of art criticism and biography; the author comes to York Explore to discuss this new book.

In partnership with Waterstones York

Book online only

£20 to include a copy of the The Man in the Red Coat

£6 admission only

What’s on in York: Simon Parkin – “A Game of Birds and Wolves”

York Explore

Wednesday November 20th

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm 

£5

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Join us to hear the explosive untold story of war at sea and how a secret game of battleships invented by eight exceptional young women and a retired Naval Captain won World War Two.

This event is presented in partnership with Fox Lane Books.

A Game of Birds and Wolves is the astonishing untold tale of an innovative game of battleships, Operation Raspberry, a tactic formulated via the game, and the unlikely heroines whose eureka moment cracked the battle of the Atlantic which, in the words of one of the most senior Admirals of the war, “contributed in no small measure to the final defeat of Germany.” For the first time, investigative journalist Simon Parkin brings these hidden figures into the light in this thrilling tale of war at sea, and of victory against all odds.

1941. Unknown to the British public, a vicious battle is being fought in the Atlantic – and the Allies are losing. Hitler’s U-Boats are mere weeks away from breaking Britain’s vital supply lines and starving the nation of food, fuel and weapons. Defeat would be unimaginably catastrophic, opening the door to a Nazi invasion and surrender. The stakes have never been higher as Britain faces its ‘Darkest Hour’.
In an unassuming building in Liverpool, Churchill is hiding a secret weapon. The Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU) has been tasked with devising a completely new strategy that will win the Battle of the Atlantic and turn the tide of the entire war. Churchill knows he’s asking the impossible of this largely inexperienced team, made up of a retired naval captain and eight fresh-faced Wrens – women as young as seventeen – who have never even seen a battle, let alone fought one. But circumstances are desperate, and Churchill has no other options. WATU is his last line of defence.

What’s on in York: Salley Vickers – Grandmothers

York Explore

Thursday November 14th

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm 

£7.50

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Sunday Times bestselling author Salley Vickers will talk about her new novel Grandmothers, the story of three very different women and their relationship with the younger generation.

Grandmothers is a beautifully observed, sometimes subversive, often tender and elegiac novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Librarian.
It is the story of three very different women and their relationship with the younger generation: fiercely independent Nan, who leads a secret life as an award-winning poet when she is not teaching her grandson Billy how to lie; glamorous Blanche, deprived of the company of her beloved granddaughter Kitty by her hostile daughter-in-law, who finds solace in rebelliously taking to drink and shop lifting; and shy, bookish Minna who in the safety of shepherd’s hut shares with her surrogate granddaughter Rose her passion for reading. The outlook of all three women subtly alters when through their encounters with each other they discover that the past is always with us and that we go on learning and changing until the very end.

What’s on in York: Helen Cox – “Murder By the Minster”

York Explore

Saturday November 9th

@ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm 

£5

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Join us to hear about the first in a brand new crime series based in York and featuring librarian-turned-sleuth Kitt Hartley.

Helen Cox is the author of a brand new crime series featuring Kitt Hartley, librarian at the Vale of York University.

It’s a perfectly normal day for Kitt Hartley at her job at the University of the Vale of York library, until Detective Inspector Halloran arrives at her desk to tell her that her best friend, Evie Bowes, is under suspicion of murder. Evie’s ex-boyfriend Owen has been found dead – with a fountain pen stabbed through his heart – and all the evidence points to her. Kitt knows it could not have been Evie and in an effort to clear her best friend’s name she decides to investigate the murder herself.

What’s on in York: “Reading Together”

York Explore

Thursday November 7th

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm 

Free

Book tickets »

When did somebody last read to you?

Reading Together is a book group with no preparation required. Guided by writers Fiona Shaw and Daisy Hildyard, we read aloud together, and discuss – or simply listen to – a whole book. Over ten sessions this winter, we will read Maggie O’Farrell’s I Am, I Am I Am: the story of an extraordinary woman’s life told in near-death experiences.

At Reading Together you can share your thoughts about the book, engage in discussion, or simply enjoy being read to. Then continue the conversation over a cup of coffee in the cafe.

The group is free to join. However, places are limited. You can register in person or by telephone at any library in York or using the the Eventbrite link here