Vicky ParryStairwell Books announces the launch of the anthology York, in poetry artwork and photographs edited by John Coopey and Sally Guthrie. This book is sponsored by the City of York’s York 800 project and York Stories 2012. Earlier this year representatives of the York writing community met with Cllr. Crisp with a view to furthering York’s reputation as a centre of excellent writing. One of the projects that developed was to collect and edit an anthology of poems about York. Working with council staff, York writers also took part in a York Stories promotion to write about the Olympic Torch Relay as it passed through the City: the resulting poems, tweeted to the York Stories coordinator, are also included in this book.
The book, with a cover image by Nina Greenwood, supplied courtesy of the Blake Gallery in Blake Street, contains a selection of from many of the City’s best known poets including York’s most famous living poet, Don Walls. Other poets include Oz Hardwick, who was Poet Laureate for the day when the Olympic Torch left the City by train, Pauline Kirk, Ian Parks, Helen Sant, Paul Sutherland the Editor of Dream Catcher, and Miles Caine. There are drawings by Pauline Kirk and photographs of York taken from the City Archives including reminders of the bomb damage the city sustained in the 1939-45 war and the arches built by the city to celebrate various royal visits and Clifford’s Tower c. 1885
The Launch will include readings by many of the poets, music by Katherine and David Crocker, and baritone Benjamin Lindley accompanied by Josephine Peach singing musical setting of poems written by York poets. This latter performance is sponsored by the Sounds Lyrical Project which has been set up to show that modern classical music can be quite accessible. See www.soundslyricalproject.org.uk.
This event is free and council has agreed that attendees can bring their own refreshments to enjoy at the event.
Stairwell Books is a York based small press which publishes the works of local poets and writers. Recent titles include The Exhibitionists, Late Flowering by Michael Hildred, A Day at the Races by NE David, and Along the Iron Veins which celebrates York’s history as a Railway town.
