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| Rosa Francesca will provide music at tonight’s Spotlight, along with Cartoon Food. |
Spotlight returns to the Storey for its monthly gathering of writing and music performance, starting at 8.15pm its usual “Open Mic” session which offers the floor to newcomer creatives for a five-minute slot each.
On the main line-up are prose writers Austin Wilde and Emily Ingle and poets John Martin and Chris Hanlon, plus music from Rosa Francesca – making a welcome return to Spotlight with her beautiful voice and poetically lyrical songs – and Cartoon Food.
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| Austin Wilde |
Austin Wilde’s fiction finds colour in the changes of everyday life, in how we inhabit the environments we call home, and moreover, how these environments live within us. Taking inspiration from the potent realism of David Peace, the bump and the hustle of Juno Diaz and the raw power of Chuck D.
Prior to writing he spent much of his working life in the music industry, most recently he was the Creative Director of EMI Music Publishing, where he signed Beirut, Joanna Newsom, Lindstrom and Duffy.
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| John Martin |
“I worked for many years as a community lawyer in Bradford before coming to live in Lancaster as I moved towards retirement,” reveals John Martin. “I have now been turning my attention to the poems I have written all my my life. Three volumes of these poems have so far appeared. They are being published chronologically.
“I am going to read from the first volume Waiting,” he says of tonight’s performance, “which contains poems written in my early twenties, when, like all people of that age, I was presumably trying to find my own voice by trying out lots of other people’s voices.”
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| Chris Hanlon |
“Writing can be messy, unorganised and at times simply nonsensical, but that is what makes writing beautiful,” enthuses Chris Hanlon. “I’m in my second year at Lancaster University and have been writing and performing poetry for just under 2 years now. I think poetry you make every hair on the back of your neck stand up, force you to leave the room feeling differently than you did before. I try to use my own experiences and views of the world to entertain, motivate and explore the potential of poetry.
“I look forward to performing at Spotlight!”
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| Emily Ingle |
“When I’m not studying for university, I’m often found watching QI, attempting to visit Narnia, and experimenting with art and writing,” says Emily Ingle. “Sometimes all at once. Sarah described one of my poems as “odd”, which I’m definitely taking as a compliment.”
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| Cartoon Food |
Cartoon Food will instantly make you want to see and hear them again. An acoustic four piece, purveyors of fine tunage to the masses, with melody and harmonies aplenty. Check out their web site at: www.cartoon-food.co.uk or follow them on Facebook
Founded in December 1995, Lancaster Spotlight is funded by Arts Council England, The Big Lottery Fund and supported by Morecambe Town Council. Spotlight works in association with litfest.
• Spotlight @ The Storey, Lancaster, Friday 20th February. Doors Open 8.00pm, Open Mic 8.15 – 8.45pm. Tickets £4 / £2 students/unwaged/concessions. Web: www.spotlightlancaster.co.uk