Stuff I love this week…
More gifts from the Universe.
I’ve had a pretty awesometastic week or so, I must say. Firstly, there was the really warm, loving and supportive response to my International Women’s Day all-female slam. It garnered tweets, Facebook mentions and other wee compliments from all over the place. Everyone who’d attended, it seemed — along with plenty who’d been unable to — wanted to tell me what a valuable event it had been. Harry Giles gave the slam a great write-up over at Sabotage Reviews, and Gayle Smith wrote a poem inspired by the event at her brand new blog, Tartan Tights. Thanks so much to all those of you who took a moment to tell me you enjoyed yourselves, or who made it known that you thought the event was doing something important. This is only the start of things!
Three weeks ago, it was my birthday. As it’s my Dad’s birthday the day after mine, I spent the day itself with my parents, sister and Lovely Boyfriend, having a spiffing time in the lovely Spring Lake District. We spotted lambs in fields, went for scenic drives and had amazing vegan food at Zeffirellis, which I’d advise anyone, no matter where you live, to go to, as soon as you possibly can! I had a great time, but missed the involvement of friends and fellow nutters, so the following weekend, Lovely Boyfriend helped me organise a “second birthday”, so I could include everyone (I know — how spoiled am I?!). I had no real idea what I wanted to do, other than “eat nice food and go out somewhere posh.” So, we returned yet again to my all-time favourite restaurant, David Bann, before heading to The Dome. I’ve never been to The Dome before — it was LB’s suggestion — but it is utterly lush, and I see now why folk go on about it so much! I drank several delicious French martinis and hobnobbed with a huge crowd of lovely folk who turned up to help me celebrate. I hadn’t seen some of the folk who turned up for over two years, so it was great to catch up. I had a really brilliant night, and want to say thank you so much to all those who came along, brought me gifts and bought me cocktails. You guys rock!
This week I’ve also received the very exciting news that my essay ‘”Hapless straight ladies”: pop feminism’s exclusionist tendencies‘ (click and scroll to read an excerpt) made the final shortlist of five in the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association’s 2011/12 essay prize. The piece will eventually be published in the Journal of International Women’s Studies. This is the first piece of feminist criticism I’ve put out there, and also the first time I’ve entered an essay prize, so it’s a great omen!
Finally, on the same day as I heard about the essay, I also had two poems accepted for publication at the brilliant Words Dance e-zine, run by creative powerhouse Amanda Oaks (look out for a Featured Magazines post on Amanda’s work very soon!). One poem, The typist, is already online, with another, Sadness, going up in a couple of weeks.
The Universe is continuing to be extremely kind to me right now… and I am grateful!
Literary Death Match Edinburgh, Episode 4
On Tuesday night this week I went along — in serious trepidation, I must say — to Literary Death Match Edinburgh Episode 4. I had been put forward for this terrifying ordeal by the lovely Lynsey May, and then talked into definitely doing it by the equally lovely Vikki Reilly. LDM is a kind of slam-meets-cabaret night — four writers perform, they are judged by a panel of celebs, and then two finalists go head-to-head in a truly silly, funny, totally-not-competitive-at-all final. Needless to say, I was freakin’ out…
Anyway, my fellow readers were a green and glittery Sara Sheridan, wordsmith extraordinaire Michael Pedersen, and the always-bloody-excellent short fic wizard Gavin Inglis. In the draw (decided by shooting the audience with Nerf darts), I ended up being paired to go head-to-head with Gavin, and I have to say, at that point a lot of my nerves left me, because I figured I had no chance of getting into the final after that! The Pedersen v Sheridan round was tight, but Pedersen came through victorious after judges Hannah McGill, Alan Bissett and Christopher Brookmyre had deliberated. I did what I never, ever do and changed my set in the break between rounds — terrified because Todd (Zuniga, LDM creator and total legend) had threatened to Nerf-dart anyone who ran over their alloted 7 minutes…
Anyway, my turn finally came around. Gavin read spectacularly as always, while I sat on a shiny chair on the stage behind and tried not to giggle too raucously at his brilliant short fic/short play mashup which envisioned two prim Morningside ladies discussing strap-on sex (utter genius). I’ll be honest: it sucked hard to have to follow that with my pretty poems, but I somehow got my butt to the mic and read a short set that included Typewriter and the now-infamous If You Don’t Want To Be In A Poem. Gobsmackingly, the judges picked me over Gavin (seriously, I think my jaw was actually on the floor), and I went into the final with the inimitable Mr Pedersen.
Our final was a ‘literary spelling bee.’ When Todd announced this, my heart sank — not least because I was under the influence of a heady cocktail of Innes and Gunn mixed with nerves, adrenaline and sweat (tasty), but also because I AM AN ENGLISH TEACHER and if I were to publicly fail at spelling, and the spelling of famous authors’ names, no less, I’d officially be unable to face any of my students ever, ever again. Among the names we were required to correctly spell were Chinua Achebe, Chuck Palahniuk, Jeffrey Eugenides and Alexsander Solzhenitsyn. It was DAMN CLOSE, I tell you — and at one point I had to drag poor old Lovely Boyfriend up to the stage as my “phone-a-friend”, to spell Thoreau for me (which he did, perfectly). I actually think it was LB who won me the darned thing… although I was also pretty proud of myself for correctly spelling Ondaatje in spite of my nervous funk.
So yes, the short version is: I WON LITERARY DEATH MATCH EDINBURGH! But perhaps more importantly, I had a bloody great night once I got over my terror. And my highlight, rather than winning, was actually Alan Bissett — who’s freaking awesome, by the way: do your brain a favour and go read Death of a Ladies Man — telling me that If You Don’t Want To Be In A Poem was the best poem he’d seen performed in Scotland in the past five years. I don’t know if that was just the drink talking, but holy crap… it made my night.
Some photos of the night, by the brilliant Chris Scott, Literary Paparazzo, are here. I particularly like this one of Gavin and I looking frightened out of our wits…! Thanks a million to Chris, and to Lynsey, Vikki and of course, Todd. This is what literary nights should all be like (and I don’t just mean me getting a medal). Keep up all your excellent work, folks!
What are YOU loving this week?
*
One Night Stanzas loves mail. Say hello via [email protected]. NB: I am physically unable to reply to non-urgent stuff unless I have a free afternoon and a cup of tea in my hand. Please be patient!