Post-Lockdown: my first gig IRL for three years

It was a great pleasure to read at Brixton Book Jam on Monday 6 March. Along with compere Dennis – a poet in the Ranting Poetry tradition – the packed audience enjoyed readings from featured authors Rose Servitova, Eamon Somers, Deidre Shanahan, Adam Connors, Zelda Rhiando, and me; plus music from Alex and the Wonderland.

Held in Brixton Book Jam’s usual venue of The Hootananny – once-upon-a-time the George Canning, and more recently The Hobgoblin pub on Efra Road in Brixton – this Book Jam was dedicated to the Irish literary tradition and diaspora. I read my short story ‘Plain Speaking’, which was written to mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of Brian O’Nolan, aka Myles na gCopaleen, aka Flann O’Brien. First premiered at David Collard’s online salon Carthorse Orchestra, the story was first published by 3am Magazine, and the Irish Literary Society, and is now collected in Nicholas Royles Best British Short Stories 2022 from Salt Publishing.

At some point in the evening, I realised with a shock that this Brixton Book Jam reading was my first gig or appearance IRL (‘In Real Life’) since February 2020. I usually do lots of live readings and appearances, and I have really missed that part of my work. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the various UK lockdowns and their aftermath, all of my talks and readings have been online — until now. I don’t know if this is other people’s experience, but I’ve also felt that the live literature scene has not quite bounced back for prose fiction in the way it has for poetry. This is partly why I started the irregular radio programme Literature Live, which we piloted on Resonance a few weeks back, to provide a spoken word gig on the air: live literature with the emphasis on authors reading live from their fiction. See more of my event archive here…

I really enjoy doing online gigs, David Collard’s wonderful weekly online salons A Leap in the Dark, Carthorse Orchestra, and Glue Factory, kept many of us going over the past three years. I am also a fervent supporter of the #KeepFestivalsHybrid campaign, as I know all too well that an online component to an event makes it more accessible to both authors and audiences.

Hyrid and online-only events have made it possible for me to attend book launches and memorial events at City Lights in San Francisco, or e.g. to give the opening lecture in the American University Sharjah’s Ramadan Lecture Series without the costs (in every way) of air travel.

But the performer in me really relished the immediate contact and feedback that came from sharing a physical space and human connection with the audience. It was great to be back.

My old friend the photograph David McCairley came along. These are his photos.

You can see more of David’s photos of last night’s Brixton Book Jam here…

Dave is an old friend and former Hackney neighbour of mine from Beck Road days. He took the incredible photo of the fire artist that was used on the cover of my first novel Road Rage!

I can’t think of a better gig to celebrate a return to real life performances than the wonderful Brixton Book Jam.

What a great night. Thank you to my fellow authors, compere Dennis, to Brixton Book Jam’s Zelda Rhiando, and everyone who came along. Thanks all!