Interview _ Siobhan Logan

Siobhan Logan is a teacher, a trade unionist, a poet and a storyteller.

Her first published book, Firebridge to Skyshore: A Northern Lights Journey, (Original Plus, 2009) weaves together the science, myths, legends and folk stories behind the aurora borealis.

The book gives a unique and near magical perspective of life under the Northern Lights.

In this interview, Siobhan Logan talks about her writing:

When did you start writing?

Well, I wrote as a child, of course. I remember making up plays for my siblings and friends in the school playground. My sister tells me I was always making things up for them. And bedtime stories. So oral storytelling probably came first. Then later, poems, stories, songs.

But I had fallen out of the habit of writing when I came back to it more seriously in my mid-thirties, realising I needed an alternative life to my busy teaching job and all the union/political activism. I needed that interior space of writing, the imagined landscape and voices other than my own muttering away in my head. And, for a few years, that's what it gave me.

I set about writing first a collection of short stories, to see if I could write and what about. Then I worked through two novels, and got to the point of sending the second one, Northlands, out to publishers. This featured the fairytale, The Snow Queen, in a modern narrative about a daughter whose Irish mother has gone missing.

I knew absolutely nothing about the industry but somehow I got an Irish independent publisher interested in reading more. It didn't come to anything. But at that point, I did a short course at the Writing School Leicester, and joined Leicester Writers' Club. This was a huge leap forward because I began to learn about both the craft of writing and how to engage with the industry of agents, publishers etc. Being part of this community of writers not only helped my sense of purpose but for the first time, gave me an audience for my writing. Which really does transform your writing, I think.

How would you describe the work you are doing?

These days I think of myself as a writer, rather than a poet or aspiring novelist. I often describe myself as a storyteller because performance has become very important in my work and I think storytelling underpins everything I do. Just like that child in the playground. And I'd like to try other forms too -- I definitely want to have a go at Radio plays when I can. And then a major part of my first book, Firebridge to Skyshore: A Northern Lights Journey, was the prose. I enjoyed researching and writing articles about the mythology and science of the Northern Lights and travelogue feature there too, along with the poems that I am most known for.

Audiences have been very diverse. This subject, the aurora borealis, has such a pull and brings in people who would never come to a traditional 'poetry event'. So far they've included astronomers, Women's Institute members, local radio listeners, museum visitors and primary school children, and I love that mix. But I've also published poetry and stories in the small press literary magazines. You could say I hop between page and stage.

Do you write everyday?

I do write everyday. I'm usually into my study by 6.30 am and that's my best time for writing. Before my head is filled with the clutter of the day, when I'm still close to that underworld of dream that writers tap into. I have a couple of hours of just being wrapped in the writing, 'rapt' even, when it's good.

The one day a week I don't teach mostly gets filled up with the 'business' of being a writer; e-mails, blogging, meeting people to plan new projects, rehearsals, networking, all of that. But I'm a great organiser so I like that multi-faceted aspect of the job. One minute I'm designing a flyer or webpage, the next I'm editing a poem or researching a topic. It's all creative.

Which concerns inform the writing you are doing at present?

In my book, Firebridge to Skyshore, I was exploring the myths and science behind the Northern Lights. This started as a commission where I was asked to write about the legends of the lights for the visual artist/ writer, Jackie Stanley.

Ancient stories have always fascinated me. They have a different shape, even a different morality, to our modern narratives, being often highly symbolic, probably because they've arisen out of an oral storytelling culture.

I was very drawn to studying the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Despite all the pressures to modernise, there is a remarkable continuity of culture in pockets of these northern countries. The Saamis, for instance, have lived in Northern Scandinavia since the end of the last Ice Age. The family of the reindeer herder I met still lived an existence very bound up with the annual migrations of mass reindeer herds. Traditionally, all of these Arctic peoples lived quite nomadic lives and I was interested to learn how they coped with colonisation, often quite repressive, by the nation-states which moved into their territories.

What would you say connects the various aspects of the work you are doing?

I find a big overlap emerging in my latest writing project. In this, I am looking at themes around migration, hoping to draw together memories of my own family coming over from Northern Ireland when I was six, with accounts from archaeology of the ancient migration of our species out of Africa across the continents, and also stories of modern migrants and refugees. People on the move, displaced, resilient, incredibly adaptive.

It's early days in this writing but already I'm finding myself reflecting on how essentially human all these activities are: walking, travelling, cooking, sewing, singing, storytelling, making marks in the landscape, rooting down in new places.

Place is often a starting-point for me, especially the North, so I was thrilled to visit the Arctic as part of my research for the Northern Lights book. But when I arrived in Tromso, North Norway, I found the snow and ice I'd imagined as a child, had been swept away by unseasonal heavy rains. In December 2007, they were experiencing more like summer temperatures. So the story of my journey included the immediate impact of global warming on this landscape. I think that's a subject I will certainly return to, especially as I am now teaming up with another writer/performer, Susan Richardson, to form the Polar Poets.

We plan to offer events, talks and workshops to audiences across the country, focusing on themes around the Arctic, including exploration, wildlife and climate change. I am really looking forward to this collaboration.

We are starting with science festivals and science is also a strong feature of my Northern Lights work. I find the scientific narrative of the aurora borealis every bit as wondrous as the legends of the northern tribes: the journey of sun-dust through the far reaches of space into our atmosphere to end in this collision of light and colour, the aurora.

Which were the most challenging aspects of the project?

One of the great challenges of the work was to find a language that could realise the physics involved whilst fusing that with the mythological response. My interest in the science of the skies was deepened when I met with physicists from the Radio & Space Plasma Physics Group, at the University of Leicester. This relationship began as one of sponsorship as they helped me to visit the Arctic, including an auroral research base in the mountains near Tromso. But it has led to some exciting collaborations.

Dr Darren Wright joined me for an evening about the aurora at London Science Museum's Dana Centre, where we moved between poetry, physics and the wonderful 3-D films of Brian McClave. This proved such a popular event that it was reprised in September 2008 and we are now bringing this Northern Lights Spectacular to the National Space Centre in Leicester February 2010.

I'm thrilled to appearing in this museum with its rockets and space exhibits. Space travel crept into the imagery of my auroral poems and is a theme I'd like to write more about.

Darren and I have also been booked to appear at the Ledbury Poetry Festival 2010, so the pairing of poetry and physics continues to appeal.

Appearing to a packed audience at the Science Museum has definitely been a highlight of my career as a performer. As has staging my own full-length show, Stories Drummed to Polar Skies, at the Richard Attenborough Centre in Leicester. This allowed me to realise my dream of giving the stories and poems a theatrical treatment where I could use music, lights, images and even costume, to bring these Arctic voices to life.

But, as a writer, the biggest achievement has been to find a publisher who has faith in the work and is prepared to invest hard-earned resources in it. Poetry, especially from a new writer, tends to rely on the small press.

How did you find a publisher for the book?

I was very lucky to stumble across Sam Smith of Original Plus. He published a number of my Northern Lights poems first in his magazine, The Journal, and then in the summer of 2009, brought out my collection of prose and poetry, Firebridge to Skyshore: A Northern Lights Journey.

From what I understand, it's unusual for me to have been able to have so much say in the book, from cover design to the inclusion of footnotes and illustrations. I was able to commission my sister, Dolores Logan, to produce these wonderful woodcuts and the distinctive monoprint on the cover.

And I know this combination of prose, poetry, travelogue and illustrations has made the book much more appealing to a readership that don't usually pick up poetry.

Original Plus is a very small press -- just Sam and his computer -- and it was always clear that the book would be sold largely through face-to-face contact with audiences at my events. That approach seems to be working well though I also need to promote it more online, too. The traditional bookshop route is a non-starter as they don't stock small-press poetry generally.

How have these experiences affected you as a writer?

All of that means that my understanding of what it is to be a writer has changed radically.

I need to cover the roles that an agent, a designer, a marketing person might usually perform. I'm learning the skills of a producer and stage manager and performer. And now I'm a blogger, regularly writing in this new genre too, and networking on-line. So the challenge is to wear all these hats and still keep the creative writing, in whatever form, at the heart of it.

Did I mention I also spend four and a half days a week on the 'day job' -- teaching English A-Levels at Leicester College? That's how I pay the bills and fund all the writing activities. But however hectic it gets sometimes, I consider myself very lucky indeed to have writing in my life. To have the space to be creative. And when I meet people at events who are excited by the Northern Lights or the poetry and the science, or I hear some feedback from a reader, then the circle is joined. That's what it's all about.

Related resources:

• Author's website
• Author's blog

Related article:

Interview _ Siobhan Logan, Conversations with Writers, June 4, 2007

[Interview] Sandra Lester

Sandra Lester’s first poetry collection, Candy Cotton Kid and the Faustian Wolf (Q.Q. Press, 2001) was nominated for the Callum MacDonald Memorial Award for poetry in 2002.

Four more poetry collections followed: Tlazolteotl Poems and Illustrations (Q.Q. Press; 2004); Helkappe Poems (Q.Q. Press, 2005) and The Panjandrum of Quondam: The Epic Grenade (Samzidat Press, 2005). In addition to this, she recorded some of her poems and released them as Selected Poems CD (Samzidat Recordings, 2006).

She has also written and published, The Ripper Unmasked: Confessions from Sutcliffe to a Hypnotist (Samzidat Press, 2006), which presents an account of her relationship with Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

In a recent interview, Sandra Lester spoke about her writing and the direction it is taking.

Your most recent book, The Ripper Unmasked: Confessions from Sutcliffe to a Hypnotist has been described as a true-crime, historical document. How did the book come about?

I became involved in very intense correspondence with the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe in 1993. At the time, I had no idea that the relationship would develop into something deeply personal and emotionally all-consuming.

Naturally, the book includes Sutcliffe’s letters, poems and sketches to me. The more intimate, confessional side of Sutcliffe’s nature and his emotional responses to my hypnosis tapes definitely make the memoir quite different from anything published about Sutcliffe in the past. I also give a voice to his victims and discuss the death penalty.

My book is the uncut truth about the experiences I had daily, for over a year with Sutcliffe, Broadmoor hospital, the authorities and the press. It is also about how these experiences have shaped my life. I was about to become a nun before I wrote to Sutcliffe. My life took a very different turn thereafter.

How long did it take you to write The Ripper Unmasked?

I started physically writing the book Christmas 2005. I was writing over the Christmas period and over New Year, everyday, sixteen to eighteen hours a day, until I completed it in April 2006. I published it in May 2006 and launched it in June of that year. I have been marketing it ever since.

Initially, when I started writing the book, it was more about my integrity and the need to set the record straight and dispel the myths which surround me and also to give an insight into the British justice system and how it deals with the most dangerous criminals it incarcerates in special hospitals and prisons in the U.K.

I published the book on my Samizdat Press in late May 2006. Self-publishing did not harm Walt Whitman or William Blake and I am certain that it will be good for me. I like to be in control of my work in terms of publication.

Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find the most difficult?

The most difficult aspect of writing The Ripper Unmasked was re-living the experiences of the relationship I had with Sutcliffe and confronting how it affected me. The relationship derailed my existence. The negative, longer-term personal and professional consequences forced me to write about the experience in detail.

Writing the book was like a painful therapy session that lasted for three months. I found it cathartic. I had to shift certain areas of experience from my consciousness and my sub-conscious by sharing them in this memoir.

Were there any aspects of the work that you put into the book which you found particularly satisfying?

The most enjoyable part of writing The Ripper Unmasked was that it gave me a deeper understanding of my own experiences. It was also satisfying to know that I had seen it through to completion and that my story, in my own words, was ready to go to print. I had shifted a big burden and the truth had set me free.

It made me understood my own vulnerabilities and considerable strengths as a therapist, a writer, a poet and a woman. I enjoyed the fact that I felt I had written something of remarkable value and had made the lessons I had learned, available for the public to read and be able to draw their own conclusions. I leave the book very open-ended for that reason.

What sets The Ripper Unmasked apart from the other things you have written?

Although the book includes some of both Sutcliffe’s and my poetry, it is not a poetry collection. It is a true crime title. It is my first complete memoir on this particular period of my life.

My work is naturally complex, diverse and controversial. I guess another thing that sets The Ripper Unmasked apart from everything else is that it is three hundred pages strong and is accessible to all kinds of readers.

It is similar to the other things I have written in that it is confessional, radical, uncompromising. I see The Ripper Unmasked as personally empowering and unique. More importantly, it is as revealing as my poetry.

What will your next book be about?

My next book is my third major poetry collection. The collection is already written and ready for publication. It contains revolutionary and confessional work spanning from May 2005 to December 2006.

I have also written a poem "Job Description:The Confessional Poet". This is currently available to listen to on my blog, Lester Poetry and on my Selected Poems CD, along with "Hammer"; "The Pocket-Sized Wreath" and "The Frayed Piece of Guipure."

I change this selection every couple of months or so.

What compelled you to release these poems as recordings?

"Job Description" gives a deeper understanding of the plight of the confessional poet.

The Selected Poems CD was professionally recorded, with subtle sound effects, to enhance the general atmosphere for listeners. This CD is my first recording and I am hoping to do many more. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the studio and the CD is gaining strong critical acclaim at present.

I write and record my poetry in the hope that there will be poets in the future who will be motivated enough, by what I call my 'revolutionary chain', to keep that motivation alive for more generations to come. This is the greatest accomplishment for any poet because being a poet is tough.

All poets need inspiration and a strong will to survive the pitfalls and trappings of their vocation, which, on occasions, leads them through doors of greater perception, into a dark labyrinth of poetic madness. This goes with the territory. My pen is my bayonet or scythe. I use it to chop down the over-grown nettles of the past, in order to make way for and plant the new seeds for the future.

Related books:

,,

[Interview_1] Jonathan Taylor

Crystal Clear Creators is a not-for-profit organization which develops, records, showcases and promotes new and established talent for radio.

Founded in 2004 by Robin Webber-Jones and Jonathan Taylor, the organization has gone on to build an impressive list of achievements, assisting in the production of a notable range of new plays, poetry and prose for radio. It has also hosted creative writing workshops for teachers and school-age children, as well as for other people with an interest in writing.

It has recently produced and published Speaking Words: Writings for Reading Aloud, an anthology of short stories, monologues and poetry.

It has also published a mini-series of poetry pamphlets, provisionally titled Presenting Poets. Each of the pamphlets showcased an up-and-coming poet who is a member of Crystal Clear Creators.

In addition to this, there are plans to publish an anthology of children's stories taken mainly from those that the organization has produced for Leicester's Takeover Radio.

Crystal Clear Creators co-founder and co-director, Jonathan Taylor spoke about the project.

Perhaps we could start by talking about Crystal Clear Creators. What is it? What are its objectives? And when was it started?

Crystal Clear Creators is a not-for-profit arts organization based in the East Midlands (a region of England --ed), which was established with a start-up grant from Arts Council England. We've since been funded by organizations such as the National Lottery, Ernest Cook Foundation, Riverside Housing Midlands, Charnwood Arts and so on.

We set up Crystal Clear Creators officially at the beginning of 2004 after the founder members had worked on producing various radio plays.

Our stated aims were (and still are) to develop, produce, and promote new writing, acting and producing talent, particularly for radio. To do this, we work with both established and new writers, voice-overs and engineers.

We record our members' poetry, prose and plays, upload them onto our Web site, and from there promote the work to other organizations and radio stations. We've had members' work broadcast on various radio stations, including Resonance FM, Takeover Radio, Virtually American, BBC Leicester's Web site, Heat FM and we are currently developing work for Rutland Radio, Carillon Radio and the national digital station, One Word.

As well as this, we run creative writing day schools, courses and live readings and events across the East Midlands.

How did the idea behind Speaking Words start? How many people, artists and/organizations were involved?

We've now got nearly 100 members.

The Speaking Words project started in December 2004 when we received a grant from the Awards for All scheme of the National Lottery. The project consisted of putting on four creative writing day schools during 2005 across the region. Two [of the creative writing day schools] at Loughborough University, one at Monks' Dyke Technology College in Louth, and one at BBC Leicester's Open Centre.

We worked with BBC Leicester, Loughborough University, Literature Development Officers across the region, Monks' Dyke Technology College, Loughborough Campus Radio, Takeover Radio and various other organizations to market, publicize and develop these day schools.

All of these events were fully or over-subscribed. Workshop leaders included well-known writers such as Tony Coult, Julie Boden, Deborah Tyler-Bennett, Mitzi Szereto, Mystie Hood, Maria Orthodoxou and others.

From these workshops, participants were invited to submit writing they'd worked on during and afterwards. In August, we collated all of the material we'd received from participants, members and so on, and passed it to the anthology editor, Deborah Tyler-Bennett. She came out with the collection as it now stands. This was then art-worked by Linda Young, printed and then launched in December at our launch event, held in the Martin Hall, Loughborough University.

The launch event was attended by nearly 65 people and included an extended reading by Julie Bowden, followed by a structured open mic session in which lots of writers performed their work.

You mention a number of radio stations. Are they all in the U.K. or are some in other countries?

The radio stations we've had material broadcast on are mainly based in the U.K., though Virtually American, is a U.S. radio drama broadcaster and organization.

What's the feedback been like on the material that's been broadcasted?

We've had excellent feedback on a lot of the stuff that's been broadcasted. We've been asked for more content by all of the stations we've worked with, which is a good sign. And listeners of Heat FM, Resonance FM and Takeover Radio have all fed back to us that they really enjoyed our plays and stories and poetry.

Virtually American has also asked for more material. They loved the radio play, "The Music Master" which is now on their site.

Are there any opportunities for U.S. or overseas-based writers and performers to take part in your projects? Have any done so? If they would like to, how do they go about it?

We don't have any U.S.-based members yet, though we do have members from the U.S., and we've had material from overseas, including France and the continent.

What would you say sets Speaking Words apart from other anthologies that have been and are being published?

What sets Speaking Words apart from other anthologies is its emphasis on writing for reading aloud. The idea of writers performing and reading their work in public has boomed in recent years and this anthology reflects this huge increase in public readings.

The anthology does not, though, just cater for public readings. It also includes more private material, which can be read, whispered or sung to family and friends. What binds the collection together is simply the performative aspect, the stress on sound as well as words on a page.

The anthology encompasses a whole range of writers: from new writers for whom this is their first publication, to much more established and well-known figures. It's great to be able to publish an anthology like this, in which professionals rub shoulders with talented newcomers. The emphasis is on quality, though, throughout the editor picked what she felt to be the best of the material, and the material that made a homogeneous collection.

Who would you say is the books' target audience? Who would the book appeal to?

The book is all about audiences, readers and listeners, that's in the nature of a collection of words to be read aloud. I suppose the primary audience is anyone who's interested in new writing of good quality, as well as people who are interested in looking for material they can read out loud to each other or in public. The anthology is, more than anything else, meant to make entertaining and enjoyable reading.


This article was first published on OhmyNews International.

Related Books:

,,

Related articles:

• Jonathan Taylor [Interview_2], Conversations with Writers, February 7, 2008
• Jonathan Taylor [Interview_3], Conversations with Writers, February 11, 2008

Interview _ Siobhan Logan

Poetry, Football and the Spirits in the Sky

For centuries, people in the northern hemisphere have been so entranced by aurora borealis, the eerie display of lights that invade the winter skies, that they have woven myths and legends around these lights.

Colour Catchers, an all-star cast poetry performance that will be hosted on December 12, 2006, by Leicestershire poet, Siobhan Logan will be exploring some of these myths and legends.

The performance will revolve around a sequence of 13 poems which range from intimate personal accounts to epic narratives of unearthly journeys.

Siobhan Logan says:

Some of them focus on the science of what we know about the Aurora Borealis. But for most, I've raided this fantastic story-hoard from countries across the Arctic Circle. "Naming the Lights", for instance, is based on the various names used for the lights by people from the Native Americans of Alaska, to the Inuits of Greenland, the Scots, Laplanders, Russians, etc.

She came up with the idea for the sequence of poems after a collaboration with digital artist and writer, Jackie Stanley.

Originally, I was invited to work with the digital artist/writer Jackie Stanley on an exhibition to be shown in the Physics Department of Leicester University. They have scientists studying the Aurora Borealis there. She produced a short film based on one of my poems, "Auroral Football", and it was shown last May at Frog Island Mills.

Eventually the Physics Department's reception area proved unsuitable for a sound installation, but by then, the poems had grown into a major project for Siobhan Logan.

Over the last year, I've developed a sequence of 15 poems — the material was just so rich and diverse, stretching across many countries and cultures.

She was also drawn to the subject because she has always been fascinated by the idea of the North and with how the legends that have evolved around the northern lights seem to connect diverse cultures.

For me, as a child born in Northern Ireland and growing up in Bolton, Northern England, the idea of the North has always had a pull. We all have our own compass, our own poles, but these legends cross our globe and connect it. Perhaps at a time when ice-caps are crumbling, we should re-acquaint ourselves with a North that may be fast disappearing.

She adds that nothing would cheer her more than to wake up to a good hard frost on the morning of the performance.

She observes that although each culture has its own way of reading the shifting colours in the night sky, there are recurring themes.

I was struck by one story that the lights appear when the spirits are playing football! Both Inuits and Native Americans spoke of this.

Another theme she noticed was that, often, the 'sky-land' is seen as a place where ancestors reside and that this believe is still very present in our lives today.

These myths explore life and death, crossing over the boundaries, how we relate to our dead. But they also are about communities transmitting stories orally.

In her own poems, Siobhan Logan found recurring father-son relationships and stories about how generations connect.

So there's a lot about rootedness and home as well as the mystery of nature.

She chose to stage the performance on December 12 because this seemed to be the perfect time for the performance.

Tucked in between the great festivals of Diwali, Eid and Christmas, between the bonfires and fireworks, these myths are about the lights punching through winter's darkness. Even in Leicester, far from the Arctic Circle, people have heard of the Aurora Borealis, seen glimpses in nature programmes. This performance will bring the lights, and the myths surrounding them, home to us.

For the December 12 performance, Siobhan Logan will be acting as the event's host and will be introducing projected images of the lights and knitting it all together with the poetry.

I will be joined by some friends from Leicester Writers' Club, a community of local writers. Rod Duncan, Chris d'Lacey and Maxine Linnell will help me to dramatise the poems, taking different roles and stories. There will be lights and darkness and voices — and in between, we'll share out some cake.

She found researching the myths and legends that are associated with the northern lights to be a rewarding experience.

Personally, the research and writing of the poems has been an inspiring journey, taking my writing in different directions. I feel privileged to have a chance to share these wonderful stories. Hopefully, the performance will be something of a communal affair itself — hence the cake!

Related article:

Interview _ Siobhan Logan, Conversations with Writers, April 11, 2007