Under Covers Literary Lounge
In August 2012 a specially converted narrow boat will set sail with its 50 canon and crew of poets for the banks of Standon Calling Festival. Captain Simon Elliston will steer the expedition, which aims to bring civilisation to hedonistic festival goers in the form of the Under Covers Literary Lounge, from Clapton up the Lee River and the River Quin to the banks of the festival.
It will then fall upon the poets, among them Sam Riviere, Sophie Collins and Sebastian Rayner, to spread their good works and words among the savages. Asked whether there was any risk of the poets ‘going native’, Captain Elliston hammered his fist on the table, then seemed to forget what he was going to say, then fell silent, then looked rather worried.
Performing at the Under Covers Literary Lounge are:
Sebastian Rayner
In 1987, a three and a half year old Sebastian Rayner set forth from Mtunthama, Malawi, on an expedition which culminated in the discovery of the British Isles. Appalled by the natives’ savage ways, Rayner settled in England where, for the past twenty four and a half years, he has campaigned unsuccessfully to civilise the people. If they’re not careful, he’ll leave.
Zoe Margolis
Zoe Margolis is the author of the international bestseller Girl With A One Track Mind, a memoir based on her sex life, and written anonymously, and the follow-up book Girl With AOne Track Mind: Exposed, which detailed her life post-outing by a national newspaper. The blog on which both books are based has had over seven million visitors, and it won the Bloggie Award for ‘Best British or Irish Weblog’ in both 2006 and 2007. The Observer ranked Girl With A One Track Mind as the 24th “Most Powerful Blog in the World” and Nerve.com named it: “The world’s most famous sex blog”. Zoe is now a commentator on sex and feminist issues and a frequent contributor to The Guardian and The Observer, amongst many other publications. She is also an ambassador for the young people’s sexual health charity Brook, who campaign to improve access to sex education, information and services for under 25s.
David Nash
David Nash is from County Cork in Ireland, where he started writing poetry at a young age. He graduated from the MA programme in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths in 2010, where he won the Pat Kavanagh award for Outstanding Portfolio. He has been published in several magazines, and currently works as a French language tutor in London.
Thomas Ironmonger
Thomas Ironmonger was born in 1982, grew up in rural Kent, and lives in London. In 2010 he completed an M.A in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths. His poetry has been published in The Rialto magazine, and is due to feature in an upcoming anthology from Bloodaxe entitled Dear World. He is currently writing a play.
Sophie Collins
Sophie Collins grew up in Holland and moved to London in 2007 to study Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Mercy, Rising, Clinic, SSYK. She will begin a PhD in Poetry and Translation at Queen’s University later this year.
Sam Riviere
Sam Riviere co-edits the anthology series Stop/Sharpening/Your/Knives. He received an Eric Gregory Award in 2009, and Faber published his debut pamphlet in 2010. ‘81 Austerities’, a collection of poems and promotional material responding to the austerity measures, first appeared on a tumblog in 2011, and will be published by Faber in August 2012.
Livia Franchini
Livia Franchini is an Italian writer who has been writing in English since 2009. She is the literary editor for the Italian online magazine Zamenhof, and also reviews graphic novels for the Italian literary webzine Finzioni. Since enrolling on the Royal Holloway creative writing MA, Livia has been working on her first book. In May 2012 she came runner up for the Margaret Hewson Prize, awarded by the literary agency Johnson and Alcock.
James Bridle
James Bridle is a writer, publisher and technologist based in London, UK. He writes a column for the Observer as well as for numerous magazines and websites. He explores the strange intersections of culture and technology and writes about his findings at http://booktwo.org.
