April 2005
Two of the the four Blue Room readers for April 3rd 2005 were Laura Hird (prose) and Carlotta Johnson (poetry).
Laura Hird is a well-known Scottish writer and an entertaining reader.
Her career path took her on an unscenic route when she left school at sixteen - via envelope stuffing and filling tubs with coleslaw, to a course in contemporary writing at Middlesex Polytechnic. In 1996, Rebel Inc editor Kevin Williamson, in the guise of Kevinnachio Vilhelmsonya (Continental-Style Coach), explained that he had picked her for the Children of Albion Rovers 'team' because he wanted "forwards who don't pollute the game with their predictable technique".
One predictable thing about Laura Hird was that she would go from strength to strength as a writer. Her 1998 short story collection Nail and Other Stories (Rebel Inc. 1997) blended harshness and humour with a telling capacity to shock and was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Literary Awards. She was swiftly recognised as one of the hottest literary talents on the Scottish scene. Her novel, Born Free (1999), was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread First Novel Award. The title sets the tone for this ironic tale of the everyday urban life of an Edinburgh family imprisoned in their very own DIY domestic hell. She is currently working on a second short story collection and a novel for Cannongate Books.
She is active in supporting other writers and promoting the short story. Her website is a treasure trove of information for all writers and literature lovers, and is currently rated at no 7 in the top 100 Scottish web sites. And for a short story of her own on the web see Whirlwind in the Save Our Short Story campaign anthology.
Carlotta Johnson was born in Wisconsin. She made her home in Northumberland after meeting a Newcastle doctor in Masasi, Tanzania where they lived for nine years. He said he would never live any place in England further south than Newcastle-upon-Tyne and she said "yes, darling!" They came to England in 1976. They return regularly to Tanzania and are active in the promotion of sun-cooking for African women. A small Northumberland group called Sun Catchers promotes the work. Carlotta's work is published in a few magazines, The Rialto and anthologies like The Ticking Crocodile (Blinking Eye). She attends workshops and organises readings.
Singer / songwriter Bex Mather will be singing some songs from her new album Breathe.
Plus:
Romi Jones read prose. She grew up in a family where the only books were Champion the Wonderhorse and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Literary gaps were filled with Irish traditions of storytelling and reinventing the truth. After decades of scribblings, Romi recently decided to put purpose and structure into her writing. She is now working on a novel and a collection of short stories and is studying on the MA in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Romi was a runner up in the Biscuit Publishing short story competition 2004. She is obsessed by and lives near the North Northumberland coastline.
Jenny Pearden is a poet who lives in Darlington and works and performs with Hydrogen Jukebox. Jenny says she writes "because I have to." Jenny has worked with Andy Willoughby as part of the Tees Valley Arts Writing in Action programme. Jenny has poems in Sand 2 and in Keenaz.
