The London Word Festival
London's only alternative literate-arts festival is back. After twelve months spent conscripting the wittiest, wisest wordsmiths on offer, we embark on a mission to spread the good word and drive back the borders between traditional artforms.
Back comes the heady mix of live literary talent, high-profile comedians, musicians and performing artists; we venture further out into the unknown. New highlights include psychogeographical perambulations, film premières, a mini-festival of internet nerd-absurdity and much more. We've enlisted the likes of Phill Jupitus, Mary Hampton, Iain Sinclair, Bishi and Robin Ince in our mission to spread the words.
From the preposterous to the personal and the profound, we celebrate everything inspirational about the written and spoken word. It's the only festival cooking up a thick-stew of words ancient, modern and futuristic, plated up in East London's best alternative venues and all toasted with a large glass of well bottled bon-homie.
In the beginning there was the word… and three live-producers with an idea they were going to open the lid on some of East London's oddest venues, invite down their favorite literate performers and throw on a bunch of smarter-than-average shows mixing up poetry, music, theatre, comedy and literature while energetically seeking out a deserving wider audience for a broad array of artists working in all fields of the arts.
Performances include a munificent musical bill is led by superb Sussex folk siren Mary Hampton. Equivocal, ephemeral and infused with hints of Housman, Yeats and Browning, Mary's exquisite fiddle arrangements, astonishingly haunting vocals and rich poetic language lay bear music as immersive gothic mystery. Maurice Sendak in songs and poems, or as close as you would ever want to get. Also on board is the enchantingly minimal off-kilter folk of Caroline Weeks, a classically trained flautist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist.
From Weeks to Bishi, Phil Jupitus, Iain Sinclair, School for Gifted Children and more, The London Word Festival runs from Sat 7 - 25 March in various venues. Info: www.londonwordfestival.com
