Seeing Things becomes Unhinged
January 29th, 2014 | Published in Frontpage
Last night, our eight Telltales writers performed to a full house, as we gathered to hear what they had made of our theme, Seeing Things. First Jenny Scolding read a story which linked an exhibition of ancient Egyptian faces to those of her own family, before Abigail Wyatt read three powerful poems about endurance in the face of suffering. New writer Tony Foster took us onto the water, sailing in dense fog from Ireland to the Isles of Scilly, and Felicity Notley held us spellbound with a novel extract and poetry about encounters which dug deep into love, earth and memory.
After the interval, myCornwall competition winner Christine McHaines read us her hope-filled story of loss and new life before Angela Stoner’s story placed a crystal ball in the hands of wilful 17 year old Serena. Fi Read’s poems moved from the most profound of life’s losses to the indignities of being trapped, post-surfing, in a wetsuit. Finally, Alan Robinson’s gritty novel extract gave us a glimpse of the mean streets of 70’s Manchester as well as the uplifting power of song.
There’s an art to listening, too. Special thanks go to our audience, who filled the room and listened to our readers with particular attentiveness last night.
The next Telltales will be on Tuesday 25 March at Dolly’s Tea Room and Wine Bar, Church St, Falmouth. The theme is ‘Unhinged.’ The word limit is 2,000 words, and all submissions must take no more than 10 minutes to read aloud. To submit your work, please use the website form on the right of this page. Any queries, email us at info@telltales.org.uk. Submissions close on Monday 17 March.