SHE IS: A fundraiser for WOMEN’S AID to promote a positive, direct and inspiring female voice.
She Is is a collaborative exhibition bringing together a group of passionate and creative students from Kingston University and Camberwell College of Arts. The exhibition delves into femininity, looking at topics such as sexuality, therapy, expression and experience, explored through a range of mediums and approaches.
The exhibition will be suitably held on International Women’s Day and will be fundraising for Women’s Aid. As well as exciting visual art the event will also include workshops and spoken word and musical performances. Involved are lecturer and artist Dagmar I. Glausnitzer-Smith who will be offering a performance “crash explosion” workshop during the daytime. Also appearing will be “Sophia Blackwell” – a self-identified performance poet, cabaret vamp, burlesque wannabe, feminist lesbian warrior princess and Italian pasta-momma and “Volker Renato”- a stand up poet. There will also be an acoustic set by “FRANKENSTAANEE”.
FREE ADMISSION. Open from 10.00am-9.30pm 8th March and 10.00am-6.00pm 9th March.
diana@meanwhilespace.com for information on the venue.
Senior lecturer and artist, Dagmar I. Glausnitzer-Smith, will be collaborating by offering a performance crash explosion workshop during the daytime.
We have spoken word and performances by Sophia Blackwell, a performance poet, cabaret vamp, burlesque wannabe, feminist lesbian warrior princess and Italian pasta-momma. Volker Renato, a stand up poet.
Promoting us will be the Belle Jar Magazine, Sh! Women’s Erotica Emporium, Erotic Author Kd Grace, East End Cabaret, Sue Williams and Everyday Feminism.
Join in with this exceptional event and help in the fight against violence and the exploitation of women across the globe as well as being part of a stand for peace, unity and positivity amongst us all.
I’m so excited to welcome Ashley Lister to A Hopeful Romantic. Ashley’s the man who would definitely know a thing or two about sexy words — poetry and prose, and I’m delighted that he’s going to share a few carefully chosen sexy words with us!
I’m a word nerd. I love to read words from the page and the screen. I love to savour the sound words make when they caress the ear. I love to appreciate the texture of words on the tongue. I can happily spend and invest and squander hours deciding which word is most appropriate for a specific situation.
Aside from being a writer I also teach creative writing. This means, when I’m not enjoying a day immersed in words whilst I write fiction, I’m having a day with students who are each fostering their own appetites for words.
During my free time I’m sometimes lucky enough to have writing colleagues ask me to blog with them. The superlative K D Grace asked me to visit here to discuss my opinions on the relationship between poetry and prose. I’m sure she picked that topic because she knows it’s close to my heart.
I believe the relationship between poetry and prose is neglected at a writer’s peril.
Even though a lot of my students have a strong desire to write fiction I always make sure I introduce them to poetry early on in my courses. I do this because I sincerely believe poetry leads the way to the sexiest words.
This is not a new opinion.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Back at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the philosopher, critic and poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, Prose is words in their best order; Poetry, the best words in the best order.”
I have always agreed with this sentiment. You can call me materialistic but I think there’s not much sexier than experiencing the best. To my mind, introducing the standard of poetry into our prose should make everything we write sublime.
However, not everyone sees poetry in such positive ways. Some writers genuinely fear verse. I’ve seen talented multi-published writers cower from the prospect of producing poetry, convinced that it’s beyond their abilities or unrelated to their desire to write something engaging or entertaining. Perhaps there’s a streak of sadist in me, but I do enjoy watching people tremble as they try to manipulate words from outside their comfort zone. To me, whether I’m writing, teaching, blogging or producing poetry, that’s the seat-of-the-pants thrill of writing.
I was once trusted with the education of a class of computer programmers.
I was trying to teach them the basics of interactive narrative – the mechanics of writing fiction so they would have a better understanding of the dynamics of producing story-led computer games.
It was the challenge of producing poetry that had most of them close to sobbing with confusion and frustration. The reaction first came about during a lesson when we were discussing haiku.
For those of you unfamiliar with the haiku, the haiku is our Western interpretation of a Japanese form of poetry. The traditional Western method of writing haiku is based on a rigid syllable count for a three lined form: 5/7/5. (There are modern interpretations of the haiku, writers such as Jack Kerouac and Ezra Pound are amongst those who’ve taken the simplicity of the haiku and eschewed the rigid limitations of the 5/7/5 syllable count. However, the computer programmers in my class were writing to the restrictions of the traditional form).
I have yet to experience a more entertaining afternoon’s teaching.
I was dealing with a class of students who understood the complex inner-workings of computers. They had reprogrammed social-networking systems. They had written software to programme industry robotics. And they were sitting in my class counting syllables on their fingers and thumbs. They were arguing over the number of syllables in words such as hire, peel and sure.
The poems they went onto produce were good. The stories they went onto write for computer games were surprisingly well-considered. I don’t think they would have achieved such a level of considered work if they hadn’t been thinking about their output from a poetic point of view.
Poetry, I agree, does not work for every writer. Some people enjoy the challenge but others find it too daunting. However, it can’t be denied that poetry gets writers to consider the words they use in ways that are wholly different from the way a writer selects words for prose. And if poetry can get writers to reconsider their word choices, then it’s more than valuable: it’s invaluable.
I’ve been crowing for the past two months about how excited I am to be a guest at award winning poet, Ernesto Sarezle’s fabulous Velvet Tongue Erotic Literary Soireecoming up on the 29th of October at Bar Kick in Shoreditch. AND just in time for the release of novel two of my Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy, Riding the Ether, a paranormal erotic romp with ghosts and witches, sex magic and demons. I’ll be offering up a few naughty, maybe even scary tidbits.
Ernesto, more widely known as the Naked Poet, was kind enough to share a little bit with me about how the Velvet Tongue Erotic Literary Soiree came to be.
“Velvet Tongue started in February 2011. After many years considering the possibility of hosting an erotic literary event in London, I finally went for it when I was offered a fantastic venue, a sexy little gallery in Bethnal Green (Ten Gales) which, with its smart art deco style, adorned with lots of red drapery, proved to be the perfect setup for such an event. Sadly the gallery closed down and the second edition of VT had to be hosted in a new venue, where Velvet Tongue is still hosted. Luckily this new venue is also very special: the Bar Kick, a trendy sports bar in Shoreditch which, unbeknown to many of its punters, hides a charming little performance space in its dark basement.
For many years, I had been thinking that there was a niche for this kind of soirée. I was not aware of any other event like this in London (apart from an “erotic reading group” that gathers monthly to discuss erotic books) and I felt – rightly as it turns out – that there was a demand for it. Also, I had had experience organizing queer poetry nights (Glam Slam and – in the distant past – Homophone) which I quite enjoyed. But I wanted to try out something a bit more “polysexual” and more varied, including not only performance poetry but also other literary forms and performance approaches. Among events that have inspired me I can mention poetry open mic nights and literary salons in London. But VT is closer to an event called Perverts Put Out in which I once participated in San Francisco. The event, which normally coincides with the Folsom Street Fair in September, gives voice to alternative sexualities and lifestyles (so prominent in the Californian city).
What to expect at Velvet Tongue: If you are there as a member of the audience, the opportunity to hear the stimulating and diverse voices of people from all walks of life dealing with intimate aspects of their sexuality. If you are a writer or performer, the opportunity to present your own erotically-themed material at one of the open mic slots (if there are any available; booking in advance by email is recommended) in front of an appreciative audience. To ensure quality literary standards I always invite three or more guest performers whose work I am familiar with and thus I know are going to deliver something exciting and worth listening to.
In the past two editions, there has been a good deal of flesh exposure, including full frontal, both male and female. But potential contributors should not be scared; rather, they should be excited and expectant at the prospect of performing in front of a warm, open minded and enthusiastic audience.”
Thank you, Ernesto!
I’m way too shy to get my kit off, but I’m not too shy to read about people who aren’t, and to read about all the fun they get up to once they do get their kit off. If you’re in London on Monday evening, the 29th, be sure to join the fun.
– K. D. Grace (novelist) – S. P. Howarth(poet)with special appearances by: Rubyyy Jones(burlesque artist) & Itzi Urrutia (performance artist)Plus the usual open mic slotsand other surprises still to be confirmed.To get one of the (5 mins) open mic slots: email Ernesto (ernesto [at] sarezale.com).
It all started because I’m lucky enough to have lots of great writing friends in the UK. Some of them live in London, but many live all over the UK. Some of my friends were coming down to London for the Body Temperature and Rising launch party. I wanted a way to let them know how much I appreciated their efforts. A reading slam the night before the launch so that everyone could read if they wanted to and have a chance to promote and share their own work seemed like just the ticket.
I was surprised and touched by the positive response to the idea, an idea which I actually found a little bit scary, as I’d never organized an event like a reading slam before. But everyone seemed so excited.
Writer, Rebecca Bond suggested I making it into a charity event. My pulse rate went up, I bit off the rest of my nails, and when I finally stopped hyperventilating, I emailed my dear friend, Sarah Berry and put the idea to her. Sarah quickly calmed my panic attack and assured me that not only COULD we do a reading slam as a fundraiser for charity, but we SHOULD! And WE DID IT!
Last night, Sh! Portobello was THE place to be. Fun and drinks started at 6:30 with fizz all around, magical cookies from the undomestic
Kay Jaybee reading from The Collector
goddess, and cupcakes to die for furnished by Lucy Felthouse’s OH, the fabulous Ian. Ian, all I can say YUMMM!
The fun and festivities commenced to a full house, standing room only. There were twelve readers, and everyone with a unique style and a powerful, sexy voice. There was everything from sexy, if dangerous vampires, to an ode to fabulous fine art of masturbation, to baudy strip tease nastiness, to almost, but not quite the Full Monty. All of this surrounded by the sensual, provocative artwork of Jess Pritchard, Fuschia Ayling, and Shay Briscoe. Oh, and did I mention it was at Sh!, Portobello? If ever there was a formula for filthy, feisty fun, this is it!
Poetry, performance, and deliciously smutty fiction were the order of the evening as we all did our best to celebrate the cornucopia of pleasure, intimacy and flat-out fun that is human sexuality, while raising awareness and a little money for a good cause, the Sexual Advice Association.
Here’s what a few of the readers had to say about the event:
What a fabulous idea! A reading slam that helps promote an excellent charity, introduces people to new readers and writers work, with the fun of lots of naughtiness. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.’
Liz Coldwell, author extraordinaire and editor for Xcite Books says:
‘It’s great to help showcase the depth of erotic writing in the UK, alongside so many talented
authors. And it’s also nice to be able to help my former Forum colleague, Sarah Berry, raise
awareness of an important sexual issue. Oh, and I also think the world needs to hear more quality smut.’
Maddy shivered, imagining him pinning her down on her bed, pushing her arms above her head and forcing her legs apart with one swift twist of his. She ran her tongue across her lips, catching the bottom one between her teeth, watching him wiping the sweat off his face as his colleague locked the door and slammed the hatch closed on the torrent of abuse. In his short-sleeved shirt, she could see that his arms were tanned with a light covering of hair and she sighed. Right now she should be wrapped in another pair of sexy arms….
I appreciate each opportunity to interact with my fans and any audience who takes an interest in my work so, when I was approached by KD Grace to take part in this Reading Slam for such a worthy cause (Sexual Advice Association) well, how could I say no?
… “So many good things in one night! Having read KD Grace’s book, ‘The Initiation of Miss Holly’ for the Erotic Awards last year and hearing her read at Fannying Around’s first birthday party It’s an absolute pleasure to be joining her celebrations for the launch of her new book. Plus meeting and catching up with a multitude of talented erotic writers AND all for a fabulous cause! Phew!”
The set-up for Lucy Felthouse’s nasty dogging story read will give you a hint of the naughty tone of the evening.
Lucy Felthouse
When the door banged open and a group of his colleagues piled into the room, Police Constable David Beckett jumped, almost spilling his coffee onto his computer keyboard. He’d been enjoying a nice, peaceful game of Solitaire before beginning his shift and now they’d screwed his concentration, not to mention his high score. He closed down the game resignedly and wryly observed his workmates as they got whatever was riling them out of their system.
And, no! I’m not going to give you the nasty bits, but here’s where you can get them. Sweetmeat Press’s anthology, Immoral Views.
The origin of my desires. Care not to seek the references Pertaining to my preferences”
The evening was fast paced, full of smut and laughter, with the Queen of BDSM, Kay Jaybee wielding the spanker and applying it liberally to the bottom of any reader who didn’t stick to the five minute time limit. Special attention was paid to Meg Philip’s lovely bottom, as she gladly took the punishment so we could all hear the ‘climax’ of her hot story. The evening was a lovely celebration of sexuality and the written word, and all for a good cause. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m still basking in the afterglow. Thanks everyone! You were all, audience, Sh! hostesses, Shelly and Leala, and readers alike, totally the best!
Disclaimer: I’m writing this on very little sleep and still OD-ing from a fab weekend, so please feel free to let me know if I have left anyone out or not put in a link that I should have put in and I’ll make sure it gets added.
SHE IS: A fundraiser for WOMEN’S AID to promote a positive, direct and inspiring female voice.
