I took part in Write On, the Leicester Writers Showcase event, a new series of events lead by Matthew Vaughn Leicester Libraries, and the other members of the literary community in Leicester e.g. Emma Lee and Ambrose Musiywa. the events are recorded Bia audio and photographs also, Leicester can very much look forward to further dates this year, with next month author Marianne Whiting will take the floor with her Viking Shield Maiden books.
On this evening I began by reading, to a good sized mixed audience, a number of poems from my debut poetry collection The Declamations of Cool Eye. Thereafter followed a short interval with refreshments and a lively audience Q& A. Whereby I was asked about my writing process, how I get inspiration for poems and in particular, how this collection came together. I disclosed that the collection was made up of my shorter poems. As I have been been known previously to write long form prose poetry for stage as choreopoems. I also highlighted how a silver sequined North African hat, provided an creative impetus, for the narrative persona of Cool Eye (a childhood nick name of mine).
This all lead to the making of the film poem Enchanter and to the completion of a collection of poems for the book. There were also questions about my editing processes, along with the value of independent editor, and rigorous editing of your own work, as had been advised to me by other poets e.g. Jean Binta Breeze. I explained a number of the poems in the book had been read by literary professionals, who gave their helpful comments and feedback. Others poems feature in important anthologies. I am delighted to report at the end of the evening, I sold a number of books and signed them, and received very positive feedback from peers and audience members. Well worth doing and an important even for local writers to help develop an audience for their work.
dare to diva 