Category: Art
By Jason Butler
Yarn Fest 2011, the festival of stories and storytelling, runs between 19th and 23rd February, with a mix of literature, film, theatre, music and illustration gracing various venues in East London.
On Tuesday 15th February we're checking out Sideshow Stories, which has teamed up with Yarn Fest to bring us a selections of words and pictures themed around Victorian entertainment. We can expect to see the world's strongest man, bearded ladies, carnival strippers and 'exotic oddities of all kinds' – intrigued yet?
The Victorian sideshows became a melting pot of curiosity, fear, glamour and money, exploiting people's appetite for the foreign, weird, exotic, sexually divergent 'other' – all meditated upon by the artists creating Sideshow Stories. The artwork is by Jason Butler and there’s poetry by Will Burns: Here’s an excerpt from ‘Dithyramb’ by Will Burns:
Eventually, the World’s Strongest Man,
attired in a leopard skin worn thin with age,
supporting stoically the burden of a secret society
and some older, pagan worship of the stage,
romantic, drinks wine and thinks
about his childhood in Europe.
Sideshow will remain at 'The Social' in Little Portland Street until 15th March, but will be appearing at various other festivals during 2011 – check the website for further details. Read our review of Sideshow Stories here.
5-Aside Story
Also at Yarn Fest is 5-Aside Story, arranged by Acorn Independent Press. Running for the duration of the festival, anyone can go to the website and take part in creating a story together. Each writer can add only five sentences – Chris Cleave, author of 'The Other Hand' and 'Incendiary', has kicked off the experiment. To take part in the adventure click here.
'This is the first festival we've done,' says Acorn Independent Press editorial director Leila Dewji. A former literary agent, Dewji saw how difficult it is for some books to get published, and started Acorn as a way to help remedy this. 'We have an editorial team, designers, marketing people and distributors, so we can do everything.' 5-Aside Story will kick off at midnight on 18th February, starting with 'five juicy lines' from Chris Cleave. 'It will be an organic story; we have no idea how it will turn out,' says Dewji. Acorn is running a hybrid pub quiz / comedy night / gameshow on Sunday 20th February at the Book Club in Shoreditch, which Dewji says may become a regular thing if successful.
Yarn Fest runs from 19-23 February at various locations in East London – see the website for details. Sideshow Stories will be at The Social, 5 Little Portland Street, London W1W 7JD between 15th February and 15th March. Find Acorn Independent Press here.