{"id":199,"date":"2014-05-20T12:37:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T12:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/?p=199"},"modified":"2014-05-20T12:37:53","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T12:37:53","slug":"kent-review-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/kent-review-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent Review launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunglasses and smart shoes. Clusters of people hovering in Rose Lane, leaning together in twos and threes, conspiratorial. A sentry in the bookshop doorway. Thankfully I knew the password \u2013 Kent Review<\/i> \u2013 and was shepherded through silent, darkened aisles to a shrieking escalator that emerged on the top floor. Among the cardboard boxes and squeaky floor tiles of the Staff Only area, a bubble of noise and excitement. And a bar.<\/p>\n

If getting to the launch of Kent Review felt a touch noir<\/i>, the book itself proved even more evasive. After the contributors to the anthology posed for photographs, the evening began with an introduction from the editors. Dragan Todorovich spoke of a recent nightmare which proved horribly prescient: everything in the dream was going well, something beautiful was appearing, and at the last minute, the project he was involved in was cancelled. A phone call from the publishers in the Czech Republic that afternoon confirmed his subconscious suspicions – the copies of Kent Review, which were due to arrive in Canterbury in time for the launch, hadn\u2019t made it onto the ship the night before. \u2018We are promoting an invisible book\u2019 Todorovich said, \u2018but at least we have proof that it exists from the pages on display\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"some<\/a>

some of the Kent Review 1 writers<\/p><\/div>\n

Further proof came from the readers for the evening, introduced by Amy Sackville. Kent Review<\/i> showcases work by current and recent Creative Writing postgrads. Two years in the making, the anthology features pieces by students still living and writing in the Canterbury area, and others who have moved on to work or study further afield. Several were on hand to share their work from the publication.<\/p>\n

First to read was Ben Said Scott, whose short story \u2018The Station Present\u2019 was written during his studies in Paris, where the piece is set. A bilingual station announcer loses his job but keeps the reality of his situation from his young son, wrapping all communication in the distraction of spoken English. Moyra Tourlamain read extracts from her collection of poems The Book of Hours of Kitty Power<\/i>, another \u2018imaginary book\u2019 featuring the voices of two women, suffused with religious imagery: water-walking, fishes at a picnic, crossed life-lines on a palm. The opening to Stephen Ireland\u2019s novel Fin de Siecle<\/i> was a joyous, drunken effusion set in mildly feverish pre-Millennium London. Drinking in Soho, a stranger\u2019s number scribbled on a tube ticket, a housemate singing nonsense hymns: this was sharp, energetic prose. \u2018What is the colour of your bread, my friend?\u2019 I very much wanted to know the answer.<\/p>\n

Caroline Greville\u2019s novel Mantle of Shame<\/i> was a very different offering. In the departure lounge of an airport, strangers meet and begin the search for a woman\u2019s missing husband. Here were distance, distaste and otherness, and a profuse nosebleed on the descent to Heathrow. Mike Turner read the opening section from his multiple narrative The Warm Way<\/i>, a cinematic pan across a beach on a day so hot the narrator \u2018can hear the grass sweating\u2019. An active, seeking voice, this short extract was full of the stuff of the environment, of dogs in the waves, shop windows, and a mysterious woman with a marked map. Inge Watson opted to have her extract read by \u2018someone with a convincing Ulster accent\u2019; her novel Page Ninety-Six <\/i>dripped with the lard of an Ulster fry, meats jostling on a greasy plate, girls grilling the English newcomer who is clearly \u2018in the wrong place\u2019. Following neatly, Wendy Edwards\u2019 humorous take on snobbery, inverted and otherwise, sent up the box-ticking, oyster-shucking middle class mothers of Tunbridge Wells. Despite the light-hearted tone and title – A Chicken Without Batteries<\/i> \u2013 this extract from a novella hinted at potential malice in the scrutinising eyes of the protagonist\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

Joe McCarthy broke free of the reader\u2019s podium to deliver an extract of his novel A Miraculous Race to Death<\/i>. As McCarthy wandered, so his characters were set in motion: a figure glimpsed at a train station, the long bike ride to Aberdeen, blood in the cracked leather of a shoe and the enigma of unexplained anniversary. Christine Newman read the first page of her short story \u2018Ticking Away\u2019, a meditation on the isolated information of the text message. A woman prepares for the day ahead, measuring out her progress in beauty products, body weight and breakfast allowance. Hristina Hristova\u2019s novel The Happiness Index<\/i> continued the theme of contemporary complaints and chronic dissatisfaction, of hiked house prices and \u2018organic aspirations\u2019. In a world were happiness can be measured, why should four people in the \u2018highest index country\u2019 suddenly become depressed, and tip the scales?<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20140514_200126309\"<\/a>Last to read was Gonzalo Ceron Garcia, who \u2018felt like a priest\u2019 at the lectern. Garcia\u2019s extract from Forgetting Silence<\/i> followed the protagonist on a bus ride with his mother, seeking places and people of the past damaged by the dictatorship in Chile. Here was poignant, humorous prose, full of clarity and detail; the empanada seller and his wares, the perceptions and presumptions of a young boy, gringos taking pictures of horses on the beach, Medusas lining the shore.<\/p>\n

After the readings, wine and celebration. Despite the book\u2019s absence, presales were available at the event. If only some of the works in progress were, too.<\/p>\n

Kent Review 1<\/i>, in its material form, is available to purchase from the Centre for Creative Writing and Blackwell\u2019s bookshop on campus, priced \u00a37.99.<\/p>\n

The Reading Series will continue with visiting industry speakers and readings from CW postgrads. First up, the inimitable Tony Frazer, founder of Shearsman Books: Wednesday 21st<\/sup> May, 6pm, Keynes SCR.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Sunglasses and smart shoes. Clusters of people hovering in Rose Lane, leaning together in twos and threes, conspiratorial. A sentry in the bookshop doorway. Thankfully I knew the password \u2013 Kent Review \u2013 and was shepherded through silent, darkened aisles to a shrieking escalator that emerged on the top floor. Among the cardboard boxes and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38085,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[49784,21640,49783,49732,49785,49725,49769,46589,49731,49360,49727,49726],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199"}],"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=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/centreforcreativewriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}