Spotlight will be sparking up a storm at the Story on
Friday (19th April), with its usual mix of performing poets, writers and musicians and their ever unpredictable “open mic” openeing session.
The Literary Line-Up:
Jim Turner – Poetry
Lancaster poet Jim Turner ‘is likely to ‘lead us up a mountain or two. Many of his poems take inspiration and setting
from trips to the far north of Scotland, but whilst maintaining a descriptive integrity he achieves the happy knack of
humanizing the landscape. So wild terrain echoes emotion, each metaphorically commenting on the other without obvious contrivance.’
Xenia Schiller – Prose
Xenia Schiller is currently living in Scotland, where she is a postgraduate in the Universityof Glasgow’s
Creative Writing Programme. She will be reading a piece about the unique challenges of growing up as an identical triplet
with an unstable single mother in Hollywood and the Bible Belt.
Helen Price – Poetry
Helen is fairly new to writing. All her life she thought she couldn’t write and certainly didn’t want to.
Nor did anyone ever suggest that it might be fun. But four years ago she tried it when a friend persuaded her to join a writing class.
She will be reading short poems, maybe a light-hearted sonnet or two.
Ros Ballinger – Poetry
“I’m an English and Creative Writing graduate who’s edging into the world of performance poetry,” she says. “I write about people and events vastly different from my own life (I often seem to focus on lives that are cut short,
such as Trayvon Martin, Rosemary Kennedy, Steven Milligan and Cameron Todd Willingham), to make up for the fact
that my own life isn’t particularly exciting!
Jordan Hurst – Music
“I’m a third year maths student at Lancaster University,” says Jordan. “My music is heavily influenced by modern day country music and
lyrics that I hope everyone who is listening can relate to. I performed at Spotlight as part of the ‘Listening To Youth’ project in 2012,
and went on to perform at Larks In The Park on the acoustic stage.’
More info:
• http://www.mp3unsigned.com/JordanHurst
• https://soundcloud.com/jlhurst
Mikey Kenny
– Music
Mikey will be no stranger to Spotlight regulars or anyone who follows the local music scene.
He is a consumate musician, singer and songwriter from Liverpool, plays numerous instruments but is known
primarily to perform whilst singing with a fiddle or a guitar.
Ottersgear is the name of Mikey’s musical folk/pop/art project
which consists of numerous installments, the first of which Ottersgear: The Quest for Rest was released on the Sotones label in 2012.
Compered by Simon Baker, Spotlight is at The Storey, Lancaster
Doors Open 8.00pm
Open Mic 8.30 – 9pm
(£4 / £2 students/unwaged/concessions). Web: www.spotlightlancaster.co.uk