{"id":137,"date":"2014-02-17T18:36:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T18:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/?p=137"},"modified":"2014-02-17T18:36:10","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T18:36:10","slug":"spring-reading-series-one-maria-two-maggies-and-some-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/spring-reading-series-one-maria-two-maggies-and-some-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Reading Series: One Maria, Two Maggies and some music"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jamie<\/a>

Jamie McCarthy<\/p><\/div>\n

A tempest raged, birds flew backwards and the M2 was closed. Eliot SCR was a beacon in the grey. A lone fiddle playing jigs and reels, the clink of wine bottles and the murmur of shirked coats: Wednesday\u2019s reading felt more Tipperary tavern than literary salon.<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many authors who bring along their own musician: maybe they should. Maria McCarthy warmed up her audience with Irish tunes performed \u2013 and later sung \u2013 by her brother Jamie. A wise move, as McCarthy\u2019s stories, from her new collection As Long as it Takes<\/i>, draw on tales from the author\u2019s extended Irish family and heritage.<\/p>\n

Here were explorations of displacement, of the old country as home and England as a place to prosper. \u2018Some people think Irish people aren\u2019t very clever\u2019, McCarthy\u2019s narrator warned, \u2018and you mustn\u2019t give them any ammunition.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018A Tea Party\u2019 told of a young girl\u2019s confusion as she attempts to negotiate the adult world:<\/p>\n

\"Maria<\/a>

Maria McCarthy<\/p><\/div>\n

the roles of men and women, too many babies, Catholic rules and rituals. In this world, \u2018God is in the priest\u2019s thumb\u2019 and marital communication stops as soon as \u2018there are babies\u2019. Family is subject to the forces of temptation, betrayal and disappointment: tough themes dexterously delivered through an observant child\u2019s voice and strong lacing of wry humour. As the narrator enjoys a secret tea party with her father and the alluring Mrs Roberts, she notices silver balls on the fairy cakes, curling fingernails holding the plate and, leaning forward, \u2018the line\u2019 where her host\u2019s \u2018bosoms met\u2019. After the adults return from their \u2018talk about grown-up things\u2019, the \u2018too red\u2019 mouth of the woman looms \u2018like the felt pen\u2019 stain her little brother \u2018got on the living room carpet\u2019, an indelible act.<\/p>\n

Maggie Harris followed with \u2018The Calipsonians of Ramsgate\u2019, a story from her recent collection Canterbury Tales on a Cockcrow Morning<\/i>. An accomplished poet, Harris\u2019 prose swung along rhythmically, full of<\/p>\n

\"Maggie<\/a>

Maggie Harris<\/p><\/div>\n

alliteration and striking images. Three young men triumph and falter against the seaside setting of 70s Thanet, until life eventually gets them \u2018in the throat\u2019, \u2018those beautiful boys\u2019, all dreams of Hollywood glamour choked out by caught fish-bones, cancer and suffocating sickness.<\/p>\n

A very different kind of community unfurled in Maggie Drury\u2019s claustrophobic tale \u2018Unexplored Territory\u2019. Dysfunctional neighbours spy on each other, negotiating inner and outer worlds: sunbathing women and morning goodbye kisses, ill-conceived infatuations and paralysing private superstitions. Odd numbers<\/p>\n

\"Maggie<\/a>

Maggie Drury after the reading<\/p><\/div>\n

take on sinister significance. \u2018The space between two heads is unchartered water\u2019. People inhabit shared spaces, living separate, fantastical lives.<\/p>\n

After a song from Jamie, Maria finished the evening with \u2018More Katherine than Audrey\u2019, a provocative tale of one of society\u2019s \u2018forgotten women\u2019. Noreen inhabits the Longrove asylum, home to wayward women whose madness is signified by a refusal to fit in. A deft character study, McCarthy\u2019s use of voice and subtle, slow reveal made for an unsettling and enigmatic story.<\/p>\n

As with all good storytellers, we were left wanting more. McCarthy was careful not to give us the full force of a finished story. Want to know what happens? Buy the book\u2026<\/p>\n

As well as being an author and Kent alumna, McCarthy is the brainchild behind Cultured Llama, the independent publishing house set up with her husband, Bob Carling. After starting the press to produce her poetry collection strange fruits<\/i> \u2013 an endeavour in association with WordAid, raising funds for MacMillan Cancer Support \u2013 Cultured Llama opened up for submissions of poetry, short fiction, and what McCarthy describes as \u2018cultural non-fiction\u2019. \u00a0According to McCarthy, running a small press is a labour of love, but this operation can \u2018provide a better experience for readers and authors than the large publishing houses.\u2019 Rather than shipping out stages of production and removing the author from the publication process, Cultured Llama\u2019s books\u00a0 \u2018are edited and designed in consultation with the authors\u2026the cover designs are individual and beautiful\u2019 and, most importantly, \u2018they are a good read\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Cultured Llama bookstall<\/p><\/div>\n

As Long as it Takes<\/i> is published by Cultured Llama. Buy your copy direct from the author \u2013 and publisher \u2013 via the website www.culturedllama.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

The deluge of the South West means the enforced cancellation of next week\u2019s scheduled evening with Penelope Shuttle: she may yet join us in the Autumn.<\/p>\n

More events after Reading Week: Janice Pariat joins us for the next reading on Wednesday 5th<\/sup> March, 6pm, in Keynes SCR.<\/p>\n

Keep dry.<\/p>\n

Sonia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tempest raged, birds flew backwards and the M2 was closed. Eliot SCR was a beacon in the grey. A lone fiddle playing jigs and reels, the clink of wine bottles and the murmur of shirked coats: Wednesday\u2019s reading felt more Tipperary tavern than literary salon. There aren\u2019t many authors who bring along their own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38085,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[49752,49749,49753,21640,49750,49732,49751,8814,49747,49746,49748,48315,49728,49725,46589,49731,49727,74,49726],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38085"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}