City of Culture

The first ever Leeds Lit Fest took place this month “celebrating the vibrant and thriving literature scene that exists in Leeds”. 

This inclusive and diverse event took place at venues all over the city allowing local writers, performers and artists to showcase their talents, but I only managed to sample a few of over 60 performances.

The film  The Last Tribe was screened at Leeds Central Library.  I had seen this film when it was made to mark 150 years of the Jews in Leeds.  I am perhaps biased as my nephew directed the film and my son acted in it, but it is an excellent way to present social history. 

The film  The Last Tribe was screened at Leeds Central Library.  I had seen this film when it was made to mark 150 years of the Jews in Leeds.  I am perhaps biased as my nephew directed the film and my son acted in it, but it is an excellent way to present social history. 

This humorous and intimate account of the Jewish immigrants who arrived in England - thinking that they'd arrived in America - charts their rags to riches story from the ghettos of Eastern Europe to the self-made empires of Marks and Spencer, Burton's Clothing and countless more. Combining drama with documentary, a 19th Century Russian Jew searches the City of Leeds for a people that have since moved on. Having moved up the social ladder and out of the city slums, younger generations of Leeds Jews moved away, married out and forgot where they came from. A tale of cat and mouse between present and past, we are guided by this lone wandering Jew as he retraces the final footsteps of his last, lost tribe.

In a lunchtime performance at Leeds Minster, Heaven in Ordinary, brought together the organist Chris Newton and the poet Hannah Stone who gets her inspiration while walking in the Yorkshire Dales.

The event takes its name from a poem by the early seventeenth century poet and priest George Herbert who saw God’s hand at work in everyday things.  The programme matched the organ music to the poetry and it was an most enjoyable way to spend a tranquil hour at an awesome church in the middle of the hustle bustle of the city centre.

 

Electricity Burger

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the twinning of Leeds and Dortmund, Peter Spafford, who I know from ChapELFM, and Dortmund poet Ralf Thenior read from their jointly-penned diary of time spent in each other’s cities.  This event took place in a local, suburban library and was followed by a Q&A session with the authors.  

I found the personal observances and opinions about the twin towns from a foreigner’s point of view much more interesting, poignant and often humorous than a bland travel article. 

 

ChapelFM's Writing on Air is a unique literary festival, now in its 4th year and I have contributed each year by co-writing a radio play. 

 

  This year’s theme is Hearing the Voice: Who speaks for us?

 The Deli, the radio programme I help to produce, is airing a prerecord of their broadcast Voices.