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Recital by Poet Laureate raises the curtain on literature festival
BRITAIN'S foremost poet will add a touch of glamour to the Humber Mouth Literature Festival when she gives the opening reading on Saturday.
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, described as "the superstar of British poetry", will give a recital at Zest caf bar on Newland Avenue, Hull, at 2pm, raising the curtain on an eclectic mix of art and entertainment at venues across the city.
Ms Duffy became the country's first female Poet Laureate when she succeeded Andrew Motion last month, and is the author of numerous award-winning poetry collections, plays and fairy tales.
Announcing her appearance, organisers described her as a "street smart poet with a razor-sharp technique".
They continued: "Duffy writes with compassion and elegance about contemporary life, promising to bring something new and genuinely surprising to the role of laureate.
"Opening the Humber Mouth with this reading, Carol Ann Duffy is a firm favourite with festival audiences, speaking with a voice which is playful and deadly serious, popular yet profound."
Coun John Robinson, portfolio holder for culture at Hull Council, said: "It's a real coup for the city.
"She is obviously a national figure because of her elevation to Poet Laureate, and from what I understand a fantastic poet in her own right, and not some stuffy establishment figure."
Other big names include the comedian Barry Cryer, who is planning some ambitious audience interaction by attempting to tell any story he has written when the corresponding page number is shouted out from the floor.
The festival guide bills his appearance at Hull Truck Theatre on July 5 as a "decorous orgy of nostalgia".
But it admits it may not always be plain sailing for the 72-year-old: "What memories – if only he can remember them".
Left-wing Labour MP Chris Mullin will offer an evening of political intrigue when he talks about his best-selling memoir A View from the Foothills, which offers a candid view of Tony Blair's premiership.
Psychotherapist Dorothy Rowe, "renegade gardener" Richard Reynolds and best-selling author John Boyne, who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, are also on the bill.
An evening at the Vue Cinema in Princes Quay on June 23 will be devoted to the life of Barton-born Ted Lewis, writer of Jack's Return Home – the book that was turned into the classic British film Get Carter.
The event, Get Lewis, will feature the premiere of Ted's Return Home, a short film giving a fictionalised account of his life.
This will be followed by an in-depth discussion by the film's screenwriters, Nick Triplow and Laurie Harvey, who are writing a Lewis biography.
Mr Harvey said: "Ted Lewis was by far the coolest thing to ever come out of Barton-upon-Humber.
"As a writer he was truly visionary and paved the way for films like The Long Good Friday and novelists such as David Peace with his gritty, hard-boiled fiction.
"As well as being an influential writer, he was a renowned illustrator and musician, a prodigiously gifted man who created one of the most memorable cinematic characters in history."
Coun Robinson said: "The festival is a real mixture of poets and other aspects of literature spun around small and interesting venues that people might not normally think are to do with art, but that makes it all the more interesting.
"I would encourage people to go out and explore these great places to try literature."
The festival runs until July 7.
For tickets and further details call the festival office on (01482) 616961.
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