A night of exceptional poetry at Dolly’s on 20 November 2018

The tinder was laid so carefully. First, Toby Keane’s perfectly chosen words – exceptional writing to open an exceptional event. Two poets inspired by works of art followed, MJ Oliver and Peter Gillies. These writers, like others present, gave so much of themselves, bringing along images of paintings, art books, books of poetry. Perhaps it was the generosity and openess of our writers which made the night particularly special.

Johanna Egar took to the floor and delivered her excellent poems with great clarity and presence. Tom Scott, the last of our speakers before the interval, warmed us with poems in praise of writers and explored, with naive humour, the dream of being an English writer overseas, ‘romantically enigmatic’ perhaps.

We returned, gin-fuelled, and Sylvia Vacher regaled us with a finely judged performance of Will you take me to your dacha, Sacha?, her low voice full of promise and shadows. The moment had arrived and everyone knew there was nowhere else they’d rather be. The touchpaper had been lit. Henry Purbrick followed; he may be the first person to have considered the resurrection of Lazarus from the point of view of Lazarus’ wife. Ian Watkiss transported us with his soaring and beautiful urban Evening Song, performed from memory. Bridie Toft brought the evening to a close with poems which were both personal and universal. A couple in a cafe planning their day. A child speaking Spanglish to the local cats on holiday. St Michael’s Mount – the scene set for a murmuration.

Thank you to all our writers and to those who came to hear them and be warmed by the flames. There will be more chances to read at Telltales in 2019 with our first event planned for 29 January. The theme for the night will be Darkness and Light.

We’re very excited that Cornwall Contemporary Poetry Festival will be casting its spell over Falmouth again this autumn from 22-25 November with poets such as Inua Elams, Anne-Marie Fyfe, Alyson Hallett, Isaiah Hull, Gerður Kristný, Sean O’Brien, Sandeep Parmar and Penelope Shuttle likely to be seen scribbling in cafes when not actually performing or running poetry slams.

We are running our very own special all-poetry Telltales on Tuesday 20 November. The theme of the night will be Seeing Voices and the event will take place at Dolly’s Wine Bar from 7.30 pm. If you would like to read at this event, please send us three poems on the theme. Or roughly on theme. Or not on theme at all. Please send us three cracking poems. The deadline is midnight on 11 November.

Jason Rosewell

Telltales celebrated its tenth anniversary on Tuesday, 31 July, at Dolly’s Wine Bar, with balloons and bubbly contributing to the festive atmosphere. We had Telltales’ signature mix of established and new writers, poetry and prose, including Kelly Stevens, Aimee Alibiston, Lally MacBeth, Samuel Fletcher-Wilson, Rosanna Smith and Too Long Dead. Clare Howdle, co-founder of Telltales, both read her own new work and looked back at its ten years of “encouraging and showcasing writers”.

We’ll be taking a break now. Please check back to see what happens next!

Telltales turned in a fine performance at Port Eliot yesterday! The six writers — Lally MacBeth, Too Long Dead, Amiee Albiston, Samuel Wilson-Fletcher, Clare Owen and Ben Beattie took us from Cornwall to Japan, dark to light, and playful celebration in language to a probing into new linguistic possibility.

And there’s more! Tuesday 31 July is our birthday event! Please join us at Dolly’s Wine Bar, Church Street, Falmouth, about 7:00 for a 7:30 start!

The Telltales evening at the Penzance Literary Festival took the festival theme of Taking Flight as its inspiration. Many thanks to all those who submitted stories and poetry for the event. From a substantial set of submissions the performers were: Clare Owen, Des Hannigan, Amiee Albiston, Rose Cook, Henry Purbrick, Heather Hosking, and two relative newcomers to the Cornish writing scene, performance poets Too Long Dead and Samuel Wilson-Fletcher. Too Long Dead (pen-name) draws in  the audience to self-reflections with her performance skills, while Samuel Wilson-Fletcher similarly engaged us in a different sense, with the searching nature of his engagement with the natural world and the interaction between it and the human animal. There were times in the entire evening when you could hear a pin drop. The theme naturally took us to many far- away places; from Middle Eastern refugees to strenuous holidaying; and to many internal and harrowing destinations: the discoveries of limitations set deep within the personality, and the botching of dreams by pure mistake. It was an evening whose depth bonded us all, as a number of people who were there have said.

We have two more events in July…quite close together.  The deadline for submissions for BOTH events is July 20 (send your submissions from the right side of THIS page).  First, our traditional spot at Port Eliot Festival.  This year we’re at the Tiddy Tent at 1 pm on Sunday, 29 July — the last day of the festival.  The theme is GAMES — language games, mind games, Olympic games, games with published rules and games of persistent mystery…playing alone, or playing with hundreds of thousands on-line.  We have only one hour, time for just SIX readers, BUT, they will get FREE festival passes!

We’re back at Dolly’s Wine Bar, Falmouth, on 31 July.  Please come at 7 for a 7:30 start.   The theme is Happy Birthday, because it’s Telltales 10th.  But please don’t be too strict with yourself about it…if you have something you’d like to read, and you can do it in ten minutes or less, please send it in!