In its second year as part of Ventnor Fringe, VENT Spoken and Written Word once more presents a mix of local, national and international writing and performance, this time in two larger venues: Ventnor Arts Club and Ventnor Library (plus Secret Location Closing Party). All events are free, with participants from Canada, Philippines, Romania, Poland, West Yorkshire, South London, Portsmouth and The Isle of Wight. For further info see the Ventnor Fringe website vfringe.co.uk
VENT performers 2023 (in-person and online)
In order of performance
Sat.22rd July
Noon
Ventnor Arts Club, 13 High St, Ventnor PO38 1RZ
K.V. Skene (Toronto, Canada, online)
https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/k-v-skene/
https://www.acumen-poetry.co.uk/k-v-skene-2/
K.V. Skene was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, grew up in Lachine Que (near Montreal) studied commercial art, yoga, contemporary religions and got married (not necessarily in that order) and subsequently lived in various parts of Ontario and BC until the children (2) were on their own, whereupon she and her husband, definitely the vanguard of the work-from-home-movement, moved ‘temporarily’ to England where, except for a year in Ireland, they remained for eighteen years until they suddenly decided to return to Canada and are now busily ensconced in mid-town Toronto. She is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society, The League of Canadian Poets, The Canada Cuba Literary Association and The Poetry Society (UK). KV’s poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals within Canada, US, UK, Australia, Austria, Ireland, India and China. Recent publications include Unoriginal Sins, published by erbacce-press 2018 (UK) plus a chapbook, The Love Life of Bus Shelters from Cinnamon Press (2019) (UK).)
K.V. will read from her new collection Seasonal Adjustments (placed third in the 2022 Don Gutteridge Poetry Award, Canada), “ a beautifully written and moving elegy for the loss of love, that ultimately transforms into deeper insight into the human condition…what makes the narrative so moving is that the emotional breakdown of a relationship is expressed through the universalizing imagery of natural elements …the seasons, water, rain, snow, apples, moons—all lift the poems to a higher plane.” Susan Ioannou
George Marsh (Portsmouth UK, in-person)
George wrote an influential book for English teachers called Teaching through Writing and introduced the teaching of creative writing at Portsmouth University. George has been writer in residence at Kingston Prison, and at Portsmouth Football Club. Now he teaches Zen, specialises in haiku poetry and is a leader in the experimental genre of haibun, a combination of prose culture and poetic emptiness. He will read from his new book of haibun The Angel’s Wound. George’s speculations and wonders range from a meditation on the “stoney” traditions of English parenting, inspired by sculptures at Kew Gardens (“The Angel’s Wound”), to brutally vivid depictions of “lifers” in prison (“Water”), to the subatomic particles that make up our existence (“The Higgs boson”), and prehistoric cave painting (“The birth of tragedy”).
https://portsmouthpoetry.co.uk/george-marsh
Sat.22rd July
6pm
Ventnor Library, 142 High St, Ventnor PO38 1LZ
Jim Willis (Ventnor, Isle of Wight UK, in-person)
My name is Jim Willis. I live in Ventnor and used to write and make films. I’ve been involved with Ventnor Fringe since before it started and it was just an idea. It was while having a pint in The Exchange one night that Jack Whitewood told me about Olivia Parkes or Lady Britannia as the locals had nicknamed her. He showed me a picture and I was fascinated by it. Since then I’ve used her for history walks and a fictional play and it’s the blurring of fact and fiction that I like the best. The monologue you will hear is perhaps another fiction based on fact, but I’ll let you decide.
Arrianne Destiny (South London UK, in-person)
Born in Hell (Officially Croydon). Most of life beaten & attacked. Alternately attacked & beaten. At 13 depression, acne so bad it's in medical journals, chrons ( now gutless & on a bag.), O.C.D. & pos. P.T.S.D.1st love at 14. Polyamorous relationships till failed common- law marriage. BDSM scene. Polyamorous 3 way relationship for 15 yrs. Been the screamer in several bands. Was a county cross-country runner. Have composed poetry since an infant, written it since infants’ school. Self-published around 15 books of 150 + pages & collaborations with Poem Wrights, Poets Anonymous & Mary Champion. Arriane says “I shall read 4 or 5 poems. As I write all the time I cannot finalise but at present I suspect it will be Sex + Lament + You Without Triumph + Iron Sun.
Sun.23th July
Noon
Ventnor Arts Club
Harold Rhenisch (Vernon, BC, Canada, online)
haroldrhenisch@gmail.com
Harold Rhenisch has published 33 volumes of poetry, fiction, translation and poetic non-fiction over the last 50 years. His autobiographical, the formally innovative “The Wolves at Evelyn,” the story of women in his family, won the George Ryga Prize for Social Responsibility in Literature. The posthumous editor of Robin Skelton’s work, Harold honoured Robin in the Welsh-inspired lyrics of “The Spoken World.” “The Art of Haying,” a meditation about the future of book culture, and “Landings,” love poems, were both written on trips to Iceland and the latter explores the hybridized form of Hebridean pagan-Christian verse that Robin Skelton brought west from Manchester. A student of Ezra Pound, post-modern German literature and trickster mythology, Harold has twice travelled the Northern Camino and has translated Brecht’s literary heir, the dissident playwright Stefan Schütz. Harold works as an editor and mentor, writes poetry reviews for the British Columbia Review, and has won awards for journalism, drama and poetry, including two CBC Literary Prizes and two Malahat Review Long Poem Prizes,. A volume of lyrics co-written with Susan McCaslin, Hilde and Johann, about Hildegaard von Bingen and J. S. Bach, is forthcoming from At Bay press. He is a professional fruit tree pruner (a craft he shares with the Norwegian poet Olaf Hauge) and is growing trees for a lost Indigenous orchard. His book The Tree Whisperer, about learning to write poetry by pruning, was released by Gaspereau Press in 2021. Harold will speak about the heart of his practice – language as a series of oracular voices rising from the Earth and danced in human mouths and ears – and share examples of his work. Harold can be found online at www.haroldrhenisch.com, www.afarminiceland.com, www.okanaganokanogan.com, and www.earthwords.net.
Petra Hilgers (West Yorkshire, online)
www.petrahilgers.wordpress.com
Originally from Germany, Petra Hilgers has lived in South Africa, Northern Uganda, London and now lives in West Yorkshire, UK. Her writing is greatly inspired by travelling and the curiosities of a bilingual life. Her poetry has appeared in South Bank Poetry, Pennine Platform, Under The Radar, Structo, Acumen, Stand Magazine and The Dawntreader, and has been highly commended in the 2019 Open House Poetry Competition of The Interpreter’s House, the 2022 Buzzwords Poetry Prize, the 2022 Wildfire Words - Every Breath Competition and the 2022 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition. Her debut collection The heart neither red nor sweet won the 2021 erbacce poetry prize. Petra also publishes on her blog: https://petrahilgers.wordpress.com/author/petrahilgers/
Petra will be reading from her debut collection - poems about travel and difference and understanding self, also poems about people, friendships, relationships, love and death and anger. She might also dare to share some new work in progress from her collection she’s currently finalizing which is a collage of language, form, personal and national history, German and English.
Sun.23th July
4pm
Ventnor Library
Wight Writers (IOW, in-person)
Contact: ellenweeks7@gmail.com
Wight Writers is a friendly group for writers who live on the Isle of Wight. We hold critique sessions every Thursday evening where members who choose to read out their work are given constructive feedback. Our group started more than 45 years ago, based on an adult education creative writing course, taught by the published author Diane Doubtfire. The purpose then, as it is now, was to allow writers to stay in touch for mutual support and advice, to become friends and to continue learning about writing. Since then, Wight Writers has gone from strength to strength. Our members’ work reflects their interests and covers a wide range of genres, including children’s books and short stories, adult short stories, humour, science-fiction, romantic, historical and contemporary literary novels, crime fiction and plays. The non-fiction includes travel writing, technical articles, real life adventure, memoirs and biographies. Members of the group have had success in many fields, including non-fiction articles and books, novels, short stories and scripts for stage and screen.
Three published authors from Wight Writers share the variety of members’ compelling and creative work. Julie Watson lives in Cowes and is the author of two published travel story collections. She will read a selection of extracts from her latest book, Travel Takeaways: Around the World in Forty Tales published by Beachy Books in April 2023. Jane Harrigan is Emeritus Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London. She is the author of nine academic books and has published poetry in several anthologies. Her recent novel, The Unravelling, published by SunRise Publishing, is a work of contemporary literary fiction that deals with two of the most pressing social issues of our time, dementia and mental health. She will introduce the novel and read several extracts. Felicity Fair Thompson has made televised travel films, written staged plays, travel features, theatre reviews, poetry, novels, a memoir, and three children's stories - and she teaches Creative Writing. Her children’s book Grandpa’s Dear Old Girl was inspired by the Needles Lighthouse.
VENTED (Ventnor, in-person)
VENTED is a project flowing from VENT, exploring Ventnor’s rich literary heritage, a collaboration with Ventnor Museum, Ventnor Library, The Book Bus and VENT, exploring writings from authors who have visited, been inspired by and waxed lyrical on Ventnor.
Short extracts will be performed from the writings of poets such as John Betjeman (who loved Ventnor) and Alfred Noyes who lived here and entertained such literary greats as H.G. Wells and Hilaire Belloc. As it evolves. VENTED will encourage public renditions of the collated extracts, a “literary busking”, and seek further works. For further information and to get involved contact Peter Ewbank at peterewbank@aol.com
Sun.23th July
6pm
Ventnor Library
John Goodwin (Ventnor, in-person)
“At 16 John Goodwin went out to work selling fruit and vegetables in a market. One of his jobs was to empty pennies out of ladies loos. By his late 30’s he’d stumbled into taking a post of university lecturer. It was his 3rd career as a writer that he really found himself. His first book co-written with teaching colleague Bill Taylor SOLO MONOLOGUES FOR DRAMA sold twenty thousand copies. BBC Radio plays followed as did further books for children.” (taken from Oxford University Press Children’s Books)
John will read extracts from his latest work, THE WAGER: A NOVELLA, PART FACT PART FICTION: “Dazza like one of the many troublesome kids at Parkside Secondary Boys in the 1970’s was caned viciously by the Deputy Head Teacher. He wouldn’t write or read or cooperate with any teachers. He destroyed the written work of his peers. One of the teachers wondered if he had Word Blindness (recognised later as Dyslexia ) What followed changed his life and that of his teachers.
Walking With Keats (Karen Shenfeld and Stephen John Jones, podcast, in-person)
When poet Karen Shenfeld visited the Isle of Wight some years back, she collaborated with Stephen John Jones to co-write and produce an on-location audio documentary called “Walking with Keats,” in which they retraced a coastal walk that the English Romantic poet, John Keats, took on the IOW. Stephen broadcast the documentary on 39 Dover Street, a shortwave programme that he was producing at the time. During the lockdown, they revisited it and had it professionally remastered by a sound editor in Toronto.
Karen is “honoured to play the Keats radio/podcast at VENT… as well, the gentleman, Stephen John Jones, who is the indie radio producer with whom I made the programme (he also published poetry and ran poetry and art events under the pseudonym of Anthony Selbourne years back) is also planning to come from Wales to the Isle of Wight (where he lived in Ryde for many years) to attend the festival.” Karen (and possibly Stephen) will introduce the podcast.
Mon. 24th July
Noon
Ventnor Arts Club
Renée M. Sgroi (Toronto, Canada, online)
reneemsgroi@gmail.com; https://reneemsgroi.com
Twitter: @RM_Sgroi ; Instagram: @renee_m_sgroi
Toronto-born poet Renée M. Sgroi holds a PhD in Education from the University of Toronto and works as a post-secondary educator. A runner-up in the UK’s 2020 erbacce poetry prize, Renée M. Sgroi’s debut poetry collection, life print, in points was published by erbacce-press, and her second collection is forthcoming in 2024. She is also the editor of the poetry anthology, Written Tenfold (Poetry Friendly Press). Renée's poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including The /temz/ Review, The Windsor Review, The Beliveau Review, Lummox (U.S.), The Wild Word, Dénouement, Synaeresis, Prairie Fire, The Prairie Journal, Fresh Voices, The Banister, Verse Afire and in the League of Canadian Poets' Poetry Pause. A member of the League of Canadian Poets, The Writers Union of Canada, and a contributing editor for Arc Poetry Magazine, Renée will read poems from her first collection and her more recent work. https://reneemsgroi.com
Brian Hinton Poet/ Writer /Angelina Grimshaw Lyricist/Guitarist Poetry and Verse (Isle of Wight, in-person). A new collaboration – poetry, songwriting and narrative unite to deliver and celebrate how the creative pen moves verbally and musically.
Born in Southampton, Brian Hinton studied English at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he served as President of the Oxford University Poetry Society, and went on to receive a PhD in Twentieth Century English poetry at Birmingham University. Hinton is the author of more than thirty books. His primary interest has been literary researches into the circle of Alfred Tennyson on the Isle of Wight in the late 19th century and early 20th century, especially in regard to the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Hinton is Chairman of the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust and curator at Dimbola Lodge, Freshwater. He also serves as President of the Farringford Tennyson Society. Hinton is an Associate Editor of the international literary magazine, Tears in the Fence and co-hosted the Tears in the Fence London readings from 2001 to 2004 at John Calder's Bookshop, The Cut, Waterloo, London, with David Caddy. He has appeared many times on radio and television and was featured in May 2009 on the BBC Poetry Season discussing Tennyson in BBC Four's Changing of the Bard, presented by Ian Hislop. In June 2006 he was honoured in H. M. the Queen's Birthday Honours List with an MBE for services to the Arts. Angelina taught herself to sing by listening to Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and field recordings of country blues singers working on the land. “Vagabond Saint” , her debut album and latest release “Last Cigarette” received rave reviews from the music and national press. She is a professional musician and published songwriter who is signed to Wonderful Sound and Monks Road records…working and releasing albums with the likes of Paul Weller, Dr.Robert and The Blow Monkeys and Mick Talbot. She is currently working live with Dick Taylor, “Pretty Things” founder guitarist. Angelina lectured in songwriting for 18 years at The Isle of Wight College, during which time she tutored members of the latest indie sensation “Wet Leg” She was the songwriting judge for the Koestler Awards in partnership with London’s Southbank Centre.
Mon. 24th July
6pm
Ventnor Library
Dr Alison Habens (Brading, Isle of Wight UK,, in-person)
A writer and lecturer from the University of Portsmouth, who lives in Brading.
Dr Alison Habens is course leader for Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth, teaching everything from fairy tales to philosophy, epic poetry to advertising slogans. She runs life-writing for wellbeing workshops at the international retreat centre
www.Skyros.com in Greece and also on the Isle of Wight. Her first novel, Dreamhouse, achieved a minor cult status when published by Picador in New York in the 1990s, but she has written every day since, with two further novels, Lifestory and Family Outing, in print and short stories, articles, poems and plays on www.alisonhabens.com. Her new novels are better still: a feminist retelling of the St Veronica myth (www.thetruepicture.co.uk) and a postmodern rom-com, Pencilwood (www.pencilwood.com). She holds a PhD on the subject of ‘divine inspiration’ in literature, lives in an old church near Brading, and commutes to her day job by hovercraft. Her spare time is for gardening and ballroom dancing.
Alison Habens will read her poems and short stories; each piece either funny, scary or sad. Her performance is lively and moving; and it finishes with a mini writing game, with tips and tricks for you to take away to pen a piece of your own inspired by her fun activity.
Brading Station Writing Group (Isle of Wight UK, in-person)
Off the Rails
A presentation on the theme of journeys from members of the Brading Station Writing Group. The audience will be invited to join in with the creation of a group poem based on the question asked of Quarr Abbey monks, Why did you Come? Why did you Stay?
Brading Station Writers meet on the second Sunday of the month from 4.30 – 6.30pm at Brading Station Heritage Centre. Each session is theme led and focusses on aspects of craft as well providing inspiration for new writing. The group is led by award winning poet Maggie Sawkins and is open to new and more experienced writers. For more info: hookedonwords@gmail.com
Tues. 25th July
Noon
Ventnor Arts Club
Vaughan Rapatahana (Philippines, online)
https://www.read-nz.org/writer/rapatahana-vaughan/
Vaughan Rapatahana (Te Ātiawa) commutes between homes in Hong Kong, Philippines, and Aotearoa New Zealand. He is widely published across several genres in both his main languages, te reo Māori and English and his work has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia, Italian, French, Mandarin, Romanian, Spanish. He earned a Ph. D from the University of Auckland with a thesis about Colin Wilson. Rapatahana is a critic of the agencies of English language proliferation and the consequent decimation of indigenous tongues, inaugurating and co-editing English language as Hydra and Why English? Confronting the Hydra (Multilingual Matters, Bristol, UK, 2012 and 2016). He is also a poet, with nine collections published in Hong Kong SAR; Macau; Philippines; USA; England; France, India, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Atonement (UST Press, Manila) was nominated for a National Book Award in Philippines (2016); he won the inaugural Proverse Poetry Prize the same year; and was included in Best New Zealand Poems (2017). In July 2018, he participated in the Hauterives Literary Festival in France. In September 2019, he participated in the World Poetry Recital Night, in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia. In October 2019, he participated in the Poetry International Festival at The Southbank Centre, London. He also appeared at the Medellin Poetry Festival in Colombia during August 2021. Rapatahana is one of the few World authors who consistently writes in and is published in te reo Māori (the Māori language). It is his mission to continue to do so and to push for a far wider recognition of the need to write and to be published in this tongue. “I would like to read several poems from my recent poetry collection te pāhikahikatanga/incommensurability in both my main languages - te reo Māori and English, as well as from an upcoming collection centring on Asia (where I spend a lot of my time). The latter pieces are in English. Here is a link to the first collection mentioned” https://flyingislandspocketpoets.com.au/product/te-pahikahikatanga-incommensurabilty-by-vaughan-rapatahana/
Karen Shenfeld (Ontario, Canada, in-person)
Karen Shenfeld is a Canadian poet who currently resides in a village north of Toronto. She’s published three books of poetry with Guernica Editions: The Law of Return (1999), which won the Canadian Jewish Book Award for Poetry in 2001, The Fertile Crescent (2005), and My Father’s Hands Spoke in Yiddish (2010). Her latest book, To Measure the World, was published by Ekstasis Editions in May 2020. Her poetry has also appeared in national and international journals and anthologies in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., South Africa, and Bangladesh. Among her travels, she has hitchhiked from north to south across the Sahara desert and voyaged the length of the Congo River from Kisangani to Kinshasa. In the early 2000s, Karen visited the I.O.W., and she has been writing poems inspired by the Isle ever since. Her latest book includes poems that evoke the landscape and literary history of the Isle of Wight. “Because To Measure The World came out at the beginning of the pandemic, I didn’t have the opportunity to reach audiences in the way I would have liked. I do, however, travel frequently to the U.K., and still wish to read my Isle of Wight inspired poems to an audience on the isle as I had always planned!”
https://canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/shenfeld/index.htm
https://doppleronline.ca/huntsville/sound-and-sight-karen-shenfeld/
Tues. 25th July
6pm
Secret location (meet at the bus stop outside Ventnor Botanic Garden, Undercliff Rd, PO38 1UL at 6pm.
Venue 5 minute walk away)
Closing Party
Featuring short sets from special guest Karen Shenfeld, award-winning poet Maggie Sawkins, poetry and sound project Ovid with Reverb, music from OurAnnieR, Richard Key and Diamond Jack, and much more.
We hope to see you there.
Steve Rushton, Maggie Sawkins, John Goodwin, Peter Ewbank
VENT Committee 2023
contact: srushton13@gmail.com
Cover image: Karen Shenfeld. Photo by Cathy Gauthier
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