Rising stars at The Deaf Institute
Kei Miller
The offbeat elegance of the Deaf Institute stage, complete with giant mirrorball, was the perfect setting to hear from the next generation of novelists coming out of Manchester on Sunday night (19 October).
A modest but convivial crowd of writers and academics, friends and fans came to hear Stephen May, Joe Stretch and Kei Miller read their work, and to offer them an exceptionally warm reception.
'These three fantastic and multi-talented writers' announced Festival director Cathy Bolton 'are living proof that the city is a real hothouse of literary talent'.
Expectations were high from the start and each of the authors on the bill did their bit to make sure they stayed there.
Charismatic reader
Playwright and MMU graduate Stephen May was first up, reading from his debut novel TAG, which centres around a residential course for talented and gifted teenagers.
He got the attention of the audience by opening with a riotous description of the classroom abuse of a fake baby, designed to 'irritate the students so intensely that they won't want to get a real one', and kept hold of it throughout.
May is a charismatic reader; his writing is vivid, politically resonant and very funny, and his dysfunctional teenage voices are recognizable without being stereotypical.
Acknowledging the unforeseen challenges of writing in multiple voices he confessed: 'It was the 40-year-old bloke that gave me problems - my inner 15 year old girl was ready and raring to go'.
Enfant terrible
Next up was The Centre for New Writing's enfant terrible Joe Stretch, who took to the stage and confessed to 'growing up and moving on, becoming a more boring writer'. He chose not to read from his debut novel Friction but fortunately surpassed his own expectations and delivered a brilliant extract from a newly commissioned piece for Faber about his experiences of the music industry.
His searingly frank and discomfiting prose had the audience collapsing in giggles and squirming in their seats in equal measures.
I’d say it was 90 percent true’ he admitted later. Fortunately the members of his band who were in the audience seemed to take the lampooning well. One imagines they’re used to it.
Soothing and lyrical
Finally we heard from internationally published poet and MMU graduate Kei Miller, whose accomplished reading from his debut novel The Same Earth was as soothing and lyrical as the other authors were dynamic and provocative.
Miller writes with a gentle humour that justifies the comparisons to Alexander McCall Smith and talked about the challenge of finding an authentically Jamaican voice that didn’t divorce him from his Mancunian audience.
He read in that discovered voice as naturally as his own and took the time to make asides from the text to explain relevant West Indian customs to an appreciative crowd.
Strength of voices
The success of the night was based on the strength of the voices we heard. These gifted young writers, who are in the process of discovering their own voices, are able to occupy those of their characters with uncompromising and uninhibited clarity.
A pleasure to hear from homegrown talent and proof indeed that the city's writing schools, and the Literature Festival, are delivering on their promises.
Published: Tue, 21 October, 2008
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