Last night I joined fellow local poets Vernal and Mark at the Hammersmith and Fulham Arts Festival held at Askew Road Library. There was a good turnout on the night with an audience of twenty-plus poetry lovers and aspiring poets, some of whom attend the library’s weekly poetry sessions.
Mark, Vernal and I at the Hammersmith and Fulham Arts Festival
We each read from our debut publications and held a short question and answer session afterwards about the inspiration behind our work. Some great questions were raised about my pamphlet, A Model Archaeologist (available from my publisher Eyewear Publishing) particularly about why I chose archaeology as my theme.
Other general questions included which poets inspired us most, how we got started as published poets and queries about copyright for those starting out. It was great to read to such an attentive group and discuss poetry with others who share a passion for it. A fun and rewarding evening indeed!
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About Leilanie Stewart
Leilanie Stewart is an author and poet from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She has written four novels, including award-winning ghost horror, The Blue Man, as well as three poetry collections. Her writing confronts the nature of self; her novels feature main characters on a dark psychological journey who have a crisis of identity and create a new sense of being. She began writing for publication while working as an English teacher in Japan, a career pathway that has influenced themes in her writing. Her former career as an Archaeologist has also inspired her writing and she has incorporated elements of archaeology and mythology into both her fiction and poetry.
In addition to promoting her own work, Leilanie runs Bindweed Magazine, a creative writing literary journal with her writer husband, Joseph Robert. Aside from publishing pursuits, Leilanie enjoys spending time with her husband and their lively literary lad, a voracious reader of sea monster books.
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Leilanie Stewart 
First of all, I need to find the Indiana Jones ringtone. 🙂
Well done Leilanie. I’m impressed. You are so polite. Very different from you reciting in the garden, but still very cool. Your professionalism comes across well, but we also like the garden nymph. Your husband is a wise man.
I like your poems, and that you are sharing them with the world. You are actually inspiring me to film myself reading some excerpts from my novel. Maybe I will this weekend when I’m out kayaking. We’ll see. Hearing a writer’s voice gives added dimension to their work.
Although, I probably would have said something to the people walking around in the library while I was reading. Maybe something like “Hey! Can’t you see there’s an arts festival going on!”
I joke. But it’s cool that they invited you and that you rocked up and recited some of your work. London is pretty diverse and peaceful. I like the backdrop.
Did I hear you mention Belfast? Isn’t that in Ireland? Are you from there? Just curious. Spiritual Irish men and women — guardian angels and psychics mostly — have been guiding me since I could walk. Just thought I would share that.
Anyway, I appreciate you sharing Leilanie.
As I’m typing this it finally hit me why we are crossing paths. When I visited London in 2012, I stayed near Fulham Road, not too far from Kensington Park, near Harrods, or some department store. Now it all makes sense. You are showing me what’s going on in an area I’m familiar with.
God works in mysterious ways.
Thanks for this, and do keep in touch.
Mandla
Thanks for viewing my video, Mandla, and of course for your lovely comments! Videos definitely add an extra layer to a poem, just as hearing a poet recite live does. If you do decide to record excerpts from your novel, I’d love to hear.
Yes, I’m from Belfast originally. I haven’t completely lost my Northern Irish accent, although my lilt got smoothed out somewhat when I taught English in Japan as I had to enunciate everything because my students couldn’t understand me!
What a coincidence that when you stayed in London you were in my neighbourhood of all the places you could have been! Just like how uncanny it is that the poet in the centre in my video, Vernal Wright, had been looking desperately for another poet to read at the arts fest and I happened to walk into the library at that moment…!
Leilanie 🙂
I’m performing at Arts festival 2016! so I just want to thank Leilanie & Vernal for giving me a new lease of life both creatively and personally, plus the event was a launch for other career highs for us both. With love Mark
That’s great Mark! Good to hear from you & congrats on your forthcoming performance. Last year’s event was a blast 😄