The Chancery of Lost and Found - opens this weekend!

After lots and lots of hard work I am thrilled to say that The Chancery of Lost and Found will be open to the public from this Saturday 28th at 10 am. It is closed weekday mornings and Monday and Wednesday afternoons for workshops, but other than that it is open until the end of the Bath International Literature Festival on March 8th. Do come by - read and/or contribute!

The City has arrived!

Look look! Most exciting. Details of how to purchase soon.

Cafes of Europe - Spa Towns and Utopia Day

I will participating in this on the 5th March at Komedia in Bath. The writing lab I run will be giving a performance plus I will be chairing a discussion on fictional versions of Bath and young people's ideas of "ideal" cities and how this often blurs the line between dystopia and utopia. There's a nice article with more details herehttp://www.sources-of-culture.com/en/cafes-of-europe-bath-63.php and here http://virtualmuseumofbath.com/2015/01/25/ . People are invited to pop down to The Chancery of Lost and Found afternwards to contribute there own ideal cities to my collaborative installation as part of the Bath Literature Festival. I'm really excited that this could give an interesting international and spa-specific element to the work created. I believe this also coincides with World Book Day, so there should be lots of literary things to celebrate all round. 

The Chancery of Lost and Found

Information is now up for my installation at this March's Bath Literature Festival. It is free and running throughout the festival, so do spread the word. Info can be found here http://bathfestivals.org.uk/literature/the-chancery/

I am very excited - me and the Young Writers Lab have been working and plotting very hard and some amazing ideas are developing...

Christmas at Eden 2015

This year I was lucky to work at Treverbyn school for My Tree, My Community at the Eden Project - I can't believe it's the 5th year I've done this! The theme we chose after a lovely tea party was Treverbyn brings Christmas to the farm. We were inspired by one child's great grandfather who said Christmas wasn't a day off - we thought we should change this! We also were excited to learn about farming traditions such as wassailing and also Christmas farm myths, such as the idea that animals can speak on Christmas eve! Each child made their own barn to show a Christmas farm scene - some animals even got Christmas jumpers - we wanted to mix in the things we'd learned with what the children experience at Christmas today. The children also made some apples filled with snow - another tradition we heard about from one family. Look closely at the photos for hidden stories too...

Secret City Review

Lovely review here for Secret City - thank you!

http://www.intermissionbristol.co.uk/2014/10/26/review-dirty-confetti-the-edwardian-cloakroom/

Secret City, Bristol

Me and Ana are somewhat tired after what was almost a writing endurance performance at The Edwardian Cloakroom in Bristol it was so cold and wet! However it went well and by the end of the week the space was full and bustling with people. Photos can be seen at http://dirtyconfetti.com/2014/10/24/secret-city-bristol-gallery/

Secret City - The Edwardian Cloakroom, Bristol - 13th-19th October.

Me and my friend Ana are very excited as it is nearly time for our residency at The Edwardian Cloakroom in Bristol. Here is a blurb I wrote about it and the flyer. Also please contact me if you would be interested in bringing any school or community groups in for a free workshop. Please also note there will be a performance at 7pm on Saturday 18th October. Please drop by!

Secret City is a collaborative, evolving, drop-in writing installation that will be created over the week of the 13th of October in the Edwardian Cloakroom (Woodland Road/Park Row) by the writers Alice Maddicott and Ana Seferovic with help from members of the Bristol public. Alice and Ana will be resident in the cloakroom, spending the whole week creating work inspired by the setting, its atmosphere, history and the surrounding area, as well as old photos and objects, playing with the conventions of found notes, lists, graffiti and anonymous messages to create an immersive archive of writing that will transform the cloakroom as the week progresses. Members of the public, as well as any school or community groups who are interested, are invited to drop by and contribute to the installation, leaving their own stories, memories, creative interpretations to help build this evolving body of site-specific work. The residency will culminate in a performance on Saturday 18th (7pm - time to be confirmed) where people are invited to come back and read their work from the installation, as well as listen to Alice, Ana and local musicians. The installation will also be documented to form an archive of imagination and interpretation - of thought rather than fact - that will hopefully allow the project to continue to evolve after its physical completion.

Dirty Confetti

The new website for me and Ana's small press/collaborations forum is now (tentatively) up and running. Still v much a work in progress as I'm doing it myself. But do check it out: www.dirtyconfetti.com

The lovely Alice Stevenson has done us a logo too!

Trading Tales - The Story Republic at The Exchange, Penzance.

I will be reading at this. I will also be in residence for drop in writing workshops on the 5th and the 7th August. Others will be in residence the other days. Do pop by!

I own a sea cat

Young Writers' Lab this Saturday

There are still places this Saturday for the last of the Young Writers' Labs I run for Bath Festivals for this summer. Do contact them or me if you are 13-18 and would like to come. We will be up and running again from September for lots of exciting projects - publications and performances connected to the literary festivals - it should be fun and is an amazing opportunity for young writers. Here's the flyer.

The Story Republic - Truro Installation this weekend.

I am very happy to be the writer in residence at The Story Republic at 109 Kenwyn Street in Truro tomorrow and Saturday from 11-3 (though it's open 10-4 I think). It's been in existence as an art/writing pop up in an old shop for the last two weeks that has been totally transformed. Do drop in for story and poetry games and free on the spot writing help. There is a story trail to follow round local shops. You can also set me story and poetry challenges... Hmmm! Read more here: http://thestoryrepublic.co.uk/events/

Photos of reading last Saturday.

Here are some photos of me and Ana's reading at The Cockpit Theatre last Saturday - twas a really lovely day. Thanks to Will for playing violin for us - he even managed to keep a straight face for most of it...

And the aftershow...

Reading this Saturday - Cockpit Theatre.

Me and Ana will be reading tomorrow at The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, London. We have written a special performance 'Julie Knows Beauty' for the event. Here is the link - do come along!
 http://thecockpit.org.uk/show/robert_perenos_dramatic_saturday_matinee

On the way to Tkibuli

wrecking cul-de-sacs

the sign declared for

the mountain

roads weaving

trees

language caught

behind archaic

thoughts wrapped

vehicles

snaking lines to

the sky

of lost worlds

that's how

I felt them

trickling down

hills

the cows held secrets

to dodge cars

Talking of ice monsters...

Photo by Nicolo Bonfadini - taken in Finland.

The Carta Marina of Olaus Magnus.

Old maps and the monsters that linger on them are two of my favourite interests. I have also recently been getting a bit obsessed with Norway and Finland having met some lovely Finnish poets this summer at the Belgrade Poetry Festival. So imagine my delight on discovering this fabulous map from 1539 - the Carta Marina of Olaus Magnus. I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves!