We’re thrilled with a new review of ‘When Love Came To The Cartoon Kid’ on Emma Lee’s blog. Emma is a well-respected poetry reviewer who writes an excellent blog and doesn’t pull her punches.
Read the review of Siegfried Baber’s pamphlet here …
Launch of ‘When Love Came To The Cartoon Kid’
Huge thanks to Toppings Bookshop in Bath, and to Saber the manager there, for not only supporting our latest pamphlet but for hosting the launch reading last Wednesday.
Siegfried Baber’s ‘When Love Came To The Cartoon Kid’ is a fantastic debut from a young poet with a great poetry career ahead of him. It was a super audience and nearly 30 pamphlets were sold there and then … plus we’ve already had mail orders from as far afield as Australia! You can buy the pamphlet here …
Thanks so much to Dot of Dot & Lucy Photography for allowing us to reproduce her photos on this site.
A great night at the Lewes Arms
Peter Kenny, Siegfried Baber, Helen Fletcher & Martin Malone
Telltale Press & Friends took the Lewes Arms by storm last night, battling a train derailment, a ukulele group next door, and the warmest day of the year so far. . . but the room was full, everybody was happy and it was fantastic to see so many friendly faces.
Unfortunately Ryan Whatley wasn’t able to make it, but Siegfried Baber stepped up with about ten minutes’ notice and read from his new pamphlet, When Love Came To The Cartoon Kid. Although the pamphlet launches officially next month, our Lewes audience got a sneak preview and sales were good.
Peter Kenny was marvellous as the opening reader, performing one long poem from memory to great effect, and in the second half we heard readings from Helen Fletcher and Martin Malone. Helen had come all the way from Carlisle, and Martin from Warwickshire. Both were well received and the evening felt like a wonderful mix of styles and subject matter, not to mention a groovy poet get-together.
In the audience was a fearsome array of poetic talent, including many of the Lewes literati, plus Stephen Bone, a brilliant supporter of the press (read Robin’s review of his collection ‘In the Cinema’), and Roy Marshall who was there partly to get Martin home before the witching hour.
We also announced our latest Telltale Poet – but more about her shortly!
Huge thanks to our helpers & invaluable supporters Lorraine and Nick, and to the folks at the Lewes Arms for their hospitality … we’ll be back!
Announcing our newest member Siegfried Baber
The Telltale collective is expanding! We’re delighted to announce that Siegfried Baber has come on board and we’ll be publishing his pamphlet When Love Came to the Cartoon Kid…
STOP PRESS – pamphlet launch in Bath on May 13th at Topping’s Bookshop!
Siegfried joined us for ‘Telltale Poets and Friends’ at the Poetry Cafe in January and everyone was impressed with his work and the confidence of his reading. Associate Editor Catherine Smith praised his ‘distinct voice and great imagery’ and we’re all very excited. We’ll be looking to have a launch event in Bath, and there’ll be more opportunities to hear Sieg read, so we’ll keep you posted about that.
Siegfried Baber was born in Barnstaple, Devon in 1989. Since graduating from Bath Spa University with a degree in Creative Writing, he lives and works in the city as a freelance writer, and as a barman in Bath’s finest pub, The Star Inn. His poetry has featured in a variety of publications including Under The Radar, The Interpreters House, Butcher’s Dog Magazine, Peleton: 2013 Templar Anthology, and as part of the Bath Literature Festival.
‘The Nightwork’ reviewed in Antiphon and London Grip
Two perceptive and encouraging reviews of Peter Kenny’s ‘The Nightwork’.
The first by Ian Badcoe in Antiphon refers to ‘genuinely engaging moments and a wide variety of worlds to choose between’. And found ‘a very enjoyable short read and the quality of materials and presentation are a bonus. I am interested to see what author and publisher come up with next.’
Read Ian Badcoe’s full review here.
John Forth in London Grip found ‘Peter Kenny’s work is fun of a serious kind… most of his trips to a hinterland of waking dream in this pamphlet will do his reputation no harm…. But if, as seems likely, this pamphlet begins an invasion of the mainland, it’s a welcome one.’
Find John Forth’s full review here.
New review of ‘Great Vowel Shift’ on Sabotage
‘The Great Vowel Shift’ has received a wonderful review by Afric McGlinchey on Sabotage Reviews –
“Robin Houghton’s chapbook, beautifully produced by Telltale Press, is an engaging collection of amuse-bouches, alternating droll, ‘slant’ narratives with subtle poignancy.”
“…her poems live equally comfortably in rural (riverine) and urban environments, and her diversity, cultural references and lack of self-consciousness are really refreshing.”
Telltale launches in Lewes & Hove
Catherine Smith, Peter Kenny and Robin Houghton at the Hove launch
Last night was the second of our private launches for Peter Kenny’s The Nightwork, and joining us to read were Catherine Smith (who also read last week in Lewes) and John McCullough, who entertained us marvellously despite only recently getting back from Japan.
Peter Kenny reading at the Lewes launch
Our venues were quite different – last week we were in the meeting room of The Hive, a really nice cosy space with a big pot plant in the corner – we put tealights on the mantlepiece and it had a salon feel. Then last night we were in the big, bright airy space of Cameron Contemporary Art in Hove, a wonderful gallery with floor to ceiling windows all down one side. Everyone remarked how quiet and classy it was, plus lots of lovely artwork to view of course.
I’m rather jinxed when it comes to filming so I can’t say yet whether we managed to capture any of the readings successfully, but I hope so. If and when we have something in the bag we’ll post it here.
So, two fab evenings done, one public launch event to go – next Wednesday at the Poetry Cafe, the day before National Poetry Day, so we hope we manage to get an audience!
Exciting news in the build up to our launch readings
It’s all happening at Telltale Towers! Checklists galore, last minute wobbles (will we have enough chairs? glasses?)…
Some great news came in the last few days. First of all, Telltale’s first pamphlet, Robin Houghton’s ‘The Great Vowel Shift’ has just had a super review by Clare Best in The Frogmore Papers. Secondly, one of our London launch guest poets, Rishi Dastidar, has just been named as one of the two new Assistant Editors at The Rialto.
Exciting times … do come to hear Rishi, Anja, Peter & Robin reading at The Poetry Cafe on October 1st, we’ve all got publications to sell, so it’s free to get in but it might cost you a pamphlet to get out!
Autumn launch readings announced
Exciting news – we’ve organised our first readings, to launch both Telltale Press and our second Telltale pamphlet, Peter Kenny’s The Nightwork.
Wednesday 17th September, 7.30pm, The Hive, Lewes
– Robin Houghton, Peter Kenny, Catherine Smith and Abegail Morley
Wednesday 24th September, 7.30pm, Cameron Contemporary Art, Hove – Robin Houghton, Peter Kenny, Catherine Smith & John McCullough
Wednesday 1st October, 7.30pm, Poetry Cafe, London
– readers to be confirmed
The first two events are invitation-only. There’ll be lovely refreshments and possibly a few surprises. If you’d like an invitation simply sign up for our newsletter (right hand column) – thanks!