the firestation

The Book Swap Interview – Jonathan Pinnock

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I love the fact that you can play with stuff without feeling you’re committed to a long-term relationship. So you can try out new things, like writing a piece in the second person, or the future tense or whatever.

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The Book Swap Interview – John Harding

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I’ve always talked to myself inside my head and it came as a surprise a few years ago when I discovered that some other people didn’t. I have my own private language and catchphrases, and I assumed everyone did.

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The Book Swap Interview – Jonathan Lee

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It’s coming to something when quitting, an impulse that’s usually considered destructive, gets wheeled out as a man’s greatest achievement but leaving behind my safe, nicely paid job that I’d trained to do for years was difficult. I’m someone who likes an element of routine, of safety and familiarity, and backing myself to write a novel – when in truth I had no good reason to believe I could write a publishable one – required a leap of faith.

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The Book Swap Interview – Steven Hall

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In terms of memory and identity, a big thing I wanted to explore in the book was – if we lose the people closest to us, if we lose the people who show us who we are by reflecting ourselves back to us, then what’s left? Can there even be a self in the same way once they’re gone?

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Interview with Joe Atkins – Director of “If You Ever Get to Heaven”

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There’s a great joy in creation, it’s a great self-esteem booster and there’s all those things that build good people you know? And hopefully we’re just building good people, and if they put that on my headstone ‘Joe Atkins blah blah blah. Father, grew some good people’ enough said.

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Julian H Cope at The Firestation – Reviewed

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At last, the waiting is over, he steps on stage, ACID DRENCHED AND SILVER SKINNED, a comic book hero, biker king, a self-styled messiah, stretching, preacher thin, hidden eyes surveying the “mosh pit” below with a threatening stare, a wolf amongst the sheep….

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Royal Berkshire Poetry Competition Rules and Guidelines

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Every poet is invited to submit one entry, it can use any poetic form, but must be previously unpublished, the poet’s own work and less than 40 lines.
The judges are looking for distinct poetic voices that display originality, craftsmanship and memorability

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Hubble Bubble Toil and… Hitchin!

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With a pinch of creativity here and a dash of experimentation there Hitchin’s Lab produces a very entertaining open mic.

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Polar Bear Ain’t No Jazz Standard

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There’s trad jazz, acid jazz, smooth jazz, jazz fusion, free jazz. There are even those that call themselves punk jazz. But despite this plethora of genres, Polar Bear, who played at the Firestation at the closing of last month are still pretty much indefinable. They are jazz-something but what is another question. Taking their influences [...]

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Monica Ward keeps Bez and Domino Bones from toppling

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“Stand up Windsor!” shouted Bez as he began ranting like a pill-popping preacher. At the same time Ward was using that instrument of hers to great effect, splicing together the songs in a chaotic rollercoaster ride of an arrangement.

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