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.
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