Month: September 2012

Me and My Big Mouth

Ros Barber
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Alliteration alert. I’m a pretty positive person nowadays. It’s policy not to carp, criticize or complain.

I broke that rule in my last post. And what happened? Within hours I had developed a stinker of a cold (the first for two years) and the next day a motorist opened their door and knocked me off my bike. I take that as reasonable feedback. Do what you want with your public art projects. I’ll find of way of getting peaceful with it.

In the meantime, here’s me spouting off again. Many thanks, as ever, to Tim Pieraccini.

The Marlowe Papers at Wantage Betjeman Festival

Ros Barber
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Vale & Download Museum, Wantage

Workshop  1-3pm   £10

Reading      6pm        £6/£4

Ros Barber’s critically acclaimed verse novel The Marlowe Papers has been called ‘the best read, so far, this year’ (Sunday Express), ‘elegant and charmingly playful’ (Sunday Telegraph), ‘a thrilling alternate version of Marlowe’s life’ (Observer) and ‘a gripping addition to the authorship debate’ (The Times).  It has also been hailed as ‘surprisingly accessible’ (Time Out) and ‘as excitingly plotted as any holiday thriller… The Marlowe Papers thunders along like an episode of some Elizabethan 24’ (Literary Review).  
Ros herself is renowned for the entertaining and powerful quality of her live readings.  Come and hear Ros read from, and talk about, The Marlowe Papers at Wantage Betjeman Festival on Tuesday 30 October at 6pm.  Questions on the research behind the novel (e.g. Elizabethan spy networks) and the process of getting a verse novel published by a mainstream publisher are very welcome.   You can hear an extract of Ros reading The Marlowe Papers, and download a free mp3 audio of the opening chapter, at www.rosbarber.com.  More details, and online ticket booking here: http://bit.ly/TfGj6x

The Marlowe Papers was joint winner of the Hoffmann Prize in 2011. It was published by Sceptre (Hodder & Stoughton) in May 2012 and will be published in the US by St Martin’s Press (Macmillan) in January.
Ros will also be running a poetry workshop from 1pm-3pm.  Tickets (£10) to be booked separately.

The Marlowe Papers at the Dylan Thomas Festival 2012

Ros Barber
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Wednesday, 7 November, 7.30pm

Ros Barber and Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch at the Dylan Thomas Festival 2012

Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch’s acclaimed third collection, Banjo (Picador), commemorates the arrival of Captain Scott at the South Pole in 1912, exploring the way in which music and theatre enabled the ice-bound communities to survive. Ros Barber’s The Marlowe Papers (Sceptre) is an extraordinary novel in verse, telling Christopher Marlowe’s alternative story, in which he is exiled to France and writes plays and poetry under the name William Shakespeare. Both will be reading from their work at the Dylan Thomas Festival 2012.

Ros Barber’s critically acclaimed verse novel The Marlowe Papers has been called ‘the best read, so far, this year’ (Sunday Express), ‘elegant and charmingly playful’ (Sunday Telegraph), ‘a thrilling alternate version of Marlowe’s life’ (Observer) and ‘a gripping addition to the authorship debate’ (The Times).  It has also been hailed as ‘surprisingly accessible’ (Time Out) and ‘as excitingly plotted as any holiday thriller… The Marlowe Papers thunders along like an episode of some Elizabethan 24’ (Literary Review).

Ros herself is renowned for the entertaining and powerful quality of her live readings.  Come and hear Ros read from, and talk about, The Marlowe Papers at the Dylan Thomas Festival 2012 in Swansea on Wednesday 7  November at 7.30 pm.  Questions on the research behind the novel (e.g. Elizabethan spy networks) and the process of getting a verse novel published by a mainstream publisher are very welcome.   You can hear an extract of Ros reading The Marlowe Papers, and download a free mp3 audio of the opening chapter, at www.rosbarber.com.
The Marlowe Papers was joint winner of the Hoffmann Prize in 2011. It was published by Sceptre (Hodder & Stoughton) in May 2012 and will be published in the US by St Martin’s Press (Macmillan) in January 2013.

Full Price: £6 Concessions: £4.20 Swansea PTL: £2.40

You can buy tickets online (a small booking fee applies) for Dylan Thomas Festival events or ring  01792 463980.

Reading in Nayland, Suffolk

Ros Barber
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Signed copies of The Marlowe Papers will be sale here The Marlowe Papers near Colchester

Ros is returning to her old stomping ground to read from The Marlowe Papers at Stoke By Nayland on Thursday 20 September. The Independent said of her book this month:

“Treason, heresy, espionage, counterfeiting, brawling and some lusty but distinctly illegal ménages à trois are all thrown into the mix, with a spritz of gallows humour.

Themes of identity and self-esteem, of truth and loyalty, give substance to Barber’s enthralling plot in a work that combines historical erudition with a sharply satisfying read. Marlowe’s passion infects the page; Barber’s skill draws the fever.”

– The Independent, Sept 11 2012

Ros will be reading from The Marlowe Papers, answering questions about it, and generally catching up with old pals at this charming establishment of David Charleston’s:

The Open Road Bookshop
Park Street
Stoke-by-Nayland
Suffolk
CO6 4SE

on Thursday 20 September 2012
7pm – 8pm

FREE

Do come along if you’re in the vicinity.

Crap Writing in Public Art Projects

Ros Barber
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crap writing in public art projectsIf you’ve been to the British Library recently, you’ll notice there are new words on the walls in the cafe and restaurant. These words are the result of the ‘Writing London’ project.  They were produced by young people aged 18-21 supported by the Foyer Foundation, who worked with a writer, artist and photographer to respond to their environment.  The project was funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.  Nothing I’m about to write is intended as a criticism of the young people or the poet involved. I completely understand the well-meaning intentions of public art projects of this sort, having been involved in similar projects myself over the years.  It is a Good Thing to engage young people in a creative process and to help them feel more empowered in their own expression.  Everyone has to start somewhere. However, I can’t agree with the increased tendency of such projects to plaster the words of absolute beginners onto public spaces.

No-one dares speak up about this. We live in an age where competitive sports are avoided in primary schools, where everyone gets a certificate for taking part but no-one comes first, where We Are All Winners.  But if the very first thing one ever writes is deemed good enough to adorn the public spaces of the British Library, why bother ever writing anything else?  You have achieved a writing pinnacle.  You’ve proved to yourself is that this writing thing is piss-easy; so easy that it has no value.

Let me give you some examples of the phrases that filled my heart with despair.  This runs along the wall of the cafe:

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