Listings

Programmes on Radio Wildfire.

This will be 2 hours of literature and spoken word webcasts streamed to you live.

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See details of the next Radio Wildfire Live! below:-

Radio Wildfire Live! Monday 6th February 2012 @ 20:00 (UK time) with two hours of spoken word and live literature featuring song from Michael W.Thomas; poems with backing from Alison Boston; a short play from Keith Large; an interview with Polesworth Poetry Trail organiser Mal Dewhirst about his new Radio Wildfire series, The Lost Poets; a feature on Paul Lester's new cd, Walking Through Walls; and a very timely uploaded poem about weather from Heather Wastie. And there'll be tracks from Black Country Dialectics, a cd by Dave Reeves ahead of his forthcoming Wolverhampton Arena performance; plus a memoir by Jill Tromans that mixes family history together with Buffalo Bill's visit to England.

Bulletin: important information about poet, publisher and poetry activist Geoff Stevens.

We are sad to announce the death of the poet, publisher and poetry activist Geoff Stevens. A tireless promoter of poetry for many years, amongst other things publishing Purple Patch magazine and regularly organising Small Press Conventions in the UK, he died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday 2nd February 2012. 

We offer condolences to his family and those close to him from everyone at Radio Wildfire.

More details will be broadcast in the Live! show on Monday 6th February.

In the current edition of The Loop, transmitting from 13/1/12:

interviews when Radio Wildfire speaks with novelist Gaynor Arnold, and Taliah Drayak talks to Tony Judge; the first ever broadcast of Paradise Garden, a play by Heather Wastie; tracks from Labour of Love, a cd produced by Canadian poet Norman Cristofoli including work by Nik Beat, Gerry LeBlanc and Cristofoli himself; plus tracks that have been uploaded to the 'Submit' page of the Radio Wildfire website by Alan 'Kurly' McGeachie, Jenny Hope, Andrew Barnes, and Mark Goodwin; spoken word with music from Spoz with Zack Esposito; and music from Steve Tromans. The Loop begins on each even hour (approx), 24 hours a day and is curated by Vaughn Reeves.

See details of the next Radio Wildfire Live! below:-

Next Radio Wildfire Live! transmission on Monday February 6th from 20.00hrs UK time. Full details to follow shortly.

read about the previous live broadcast below:

Radio Wildfire Live! Monday 2nd January 2012 20.00hrs UK time - featuring an interview with novelist Gaynor Arnold; the first ever broadcast of Paradise Garden, a play by Heather Wastie; plus the first ever broadcast of Othello: an audiolog, a Radio Wildfire Community Project for Warwickshire Libraries produced by Vaughn Reeves. There'll be tracks from Labour of Love, a cd produced by Canadian poet Norman Cristofoli, plus tracks that have been uploaded to the 'Submit' page of the Radio Wildfire website including a rhythmic tribute to the late Joe Frazier from Alan 'Kurly' McGeachie, poems from Jenny Hope and Andrew Barnes, and the dark (and sooty) Santa Flamey from Mark Goodwin. 

read about the previous live broadcast below:

Radio Wildfire Live! Monday 5th December 20.00hrs UK time - features a rare interview with the National Poetry Competition winner and former Birmingham Poet Laureate David Hart talking about his new collection Misky; performing poet Ddotti Bluebell ahead of her Lit Fuse performance for Apples & Snakes; Jan Watts interviewing Samantha Hunt about her chillingly well written portraits of an abused childhood; Derrick D talking to John Morris about life as a promoter of collaborations between rappers, poets & musicans with roots in Jazz.. Plus stories, poems and sketches from tracks uploaded to our website by listeners, and tracks from cds that have been mailed in to us. Plus there'll be the usual mix of tracks uploaded to our website from Peter Beeston, Stephen Harvey, Richard Styles, Tony Judge and Mark Goodwin amongst others, and from CD.The two hour show is hosted by Dave Reeves.

In the current edition of The Loop, transmitting from week commencing Monday 21/11/2011:

Walsall Wellbeing Recharged - First transmission will be on the evening of Wednesday 23 November @ 20.00hrs, repeating every 6 hours each day throughout the current version of The Loop (the programme lasts for approximately 2hours).
As part of Walsall Celebrates UK Disability History Month, Radio Wildfire will re-transmit the live show first broadcast from Walsall Wellbeing Festival at Walsall New Art Gallery in October 2010, featuring conversations with laughter therapist Robin Graham; members of Walsall Writers Without Walls (a group of writers from migrant communities); Sharon Walford from Towers Above art group talking about the imaginative Nut People project and Poet Laureate Roy Mcfarlane.
There is also pre-recorded work by Dudley MIND; special needs songwriters from Carousel
in Brighton and former director of Survivors Poetry, Victoria Field. The show is hosted by
Radio Wildfire Live! presenter Dave Reeves together with storyteller in residence John Edgar.
Throughout Walsall Celebrates it will be transmitted four times every 24 hours, making it
accessible wherever you are on the globe. The Loop is curated by Vaughn Reeves. 

Coming up in the next edition of The Loop, due to start transmitting week commencing Monday 19/12/2011: To be announced

read about the previous live broadcast below:
www.radiowildfire.com Monday 7th November 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time) + Jan Watts' Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm + Gary Longden with Longden's Listings.

Dark nights are upon us here in the UK so snuggle up for live literature direct to your home with Radio Wildfire Live! - and a brand new poet laureate with her first monthly diary.

Live in the studio we'll have Symphony Hall Poet-in-Residence, Julie Boden, talking about the poem she has written for the soundtrack of the award winning animation The Mechanical Musical Marvel

We'll also be joined by Sue Johnson discussing her two new books, Fable's Fortune, a novel which has been described as "a whole mythology condensed into one novel" and Creative Alchemy: 12 steps from inspiration to finished novel a book designed to help novelists navigate a pathway through 'the magic forest where stories live'. And we'll have a visit from the editorial team of Be: magazine, the new publication from Worcester Literary Festival - Be: a writer, Be: a poet, Be: creative, Be: part of it!

With Armistice Day upon us we'll be airing some of Angela France's translations of World War 1 poems written by ordinary French soldiers about their lives in the trenches. Anguish and humour mix in these honest writings first published in small magazines distributed through the war zones by the ratings themselves.

Plus there'll be the usual mix of tracks uploaded to our website from Fernando Smith, Jenny Hope and Marc Carver amongst others, and from CD

The show as usual will be hosted by Dave Reeves.

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the first instalment of the Laureate's Diary from the brand new Birmingham Poet Laureate Jan Watts - her month, her views, her vision for the next year and her poems ...

... which is followed immediately by Gary Longden with his Longden's Listings the only complete spoken word events diary being transmitted. Listen in and catch your own events being discussed.

Join us: Monday 7th November from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: remember, remember the seventh of November.

We look forward to your company,
The Crew @ Radio Wildfire.

read about the previous live broadcast below:

www.radiowildfire.com Monday 3rd October 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time) + Roy McFarlane's Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm + Gary Longden with Longden's Listings.

It's a National Poetry Day special on Radio Wildfire Live!

Live in the studio we'll have poet Sue Brown, one of the contributors to the new anthology of Black Midlands Writers Celebrate Wha!; plus Helen Calcutt and others from Poets for Change, who'll be talking about the organisation's aims and giving examples of the writing.

There'll also be work by members of the Poets for Change group from David Calcutt, Heather Wastie, Jenny Hope and Sarah James all of the tracks uploaded to the radiowildfire.com Submit page (details of how you can submit your own work can be found below).

This month Derrick D will be interviewing up and coming scriptwriter and poet Ralph Junior Francis about his work and the challenges of being dyslexic in the writing business.

There's a feast of storytelling from young people who have been working with MythStories, the Wem based Museum of Myth and Fable.

There'll be the latest in his "Brief and Approximate Guide ..." series when Tony Judge brings us A Brief and Approximate Guide to Social Class.

With World Mental Health Day imminent we'll be playing a couple of tracks that were recorded specially for Radio Wildfire by a MIND group in Dudley working with musician Pete Williams.

The show as usual will be hosted by Dave Reeves.

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the final instalment of the Laureate's Diary from current Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane. With the laureateship about to change hands, it's Roy's final set of recollections, musing and poems his hectic poetry year.

... which is followed immediately by Gary Longden with his Longden's Listings the only complete spoken word events diary being transmitted. Listen in and catch your own events being discussed.

Join us: Monday 3rd October from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: where every day is a notional poetry day.

We look forward to your company,
The Crew @ Radio Wildfire.

… Why not send your own tracks to Radio Wildfire by going to the
‘Submit’ page of our website and uploading MP3s of your work. Spoken
word and music, comedy, storytelling, poetry, song and aural art, they
are all part of the eclectic mix we are looking for when we create
Radio Wildfire Live!

Follow Radio Wildfire on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/radiowildfire

read about the previous live broadcast below:

www.radiowildfire.com Monday 5th September 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time). + Roy McFarlane's Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm + Gary Longden with Longden's Listings.

September and the leaves have begun to drift down from the trees, but at Radio Wildfire Live! we've been catching the drift of the autumn's literary life...

Joining us in the studio will be George Hardwick aka PoshBoy, compere of PGR live poetry nights in Leamington Spa. As anyone who has ever been to one of the PGR events knows George energetically holds the night's readings together and gives a being welcome to everyone who reads there. We'll be giving a big Radio Wildfire welcome to this enthusiast and tireless promoter of spoken word, and hearing some of his own life affirming performance works.

Derrick D will be joining us to interview poet and novelist Gareth Wood ahead of his performance at ArtsFest, and Gareth will be performing a couple of his pieces with accompaniment from bassist Mick Jeynes, recorded in the Radio Wildfire studio.

From the uploads we'll be playing tracks by Sarah Delroy, Mark Goodwin, Stephanie Spiers, Tom Sykes live in Bristol, Ben Macnair and the excellent Indonesian band LuneriaN: all of them uploaded to the radiowildfire.com Submit page.

And with the autumn festival season on the horizon, the presenter of Radio Wildfire's listings programme, Gary Longden, will be back in the studio to talk to us about a few of the events that have caught his eye.

The show as usual will be hosted by Dave Reeves.

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the latest instalment of the Laureate's Diary from current Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane. More recollections, musing and poems from another month in his hectic poetry year.

... which is followed immediately by Gary Longden with his Longden's Listings the only complete spoken word events diary being transmitted. Listen in and catch
 

Join us: Monday 5th September from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: leafing through the literary mulch.

We look forward to your company,
The Crew @ Radio Wildfire.

… Why not send your own tracks to Radio Wildfire by going to the
‘Submit’ page of our website and uploading MP3s of your work. Spoken
word and music, comedy, storytelling, poetry, song and aural art, they
are all part of the eclectic mix we are looking for when we create
Radio Wildfire Live!

read about the previous live broadcast below:

www.radiowildfire.com Monday 1st August 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time). + Roy McFarlane's Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm + Longden's Listings

It's not so much 'wish you were here' as 'hope you'll be with us' as we find ourselves at one more first Monday of the month - the time when we'll be relaying the best in live literature to you through your broadband connection. Here in the august surroundings of the Radio Wildfire studio we are taking a holiday from live guests and bringing you a show of pre-recorded tracks and playing catch-up with some of the material that we just haven't had time to play so far this year.

On Saturday 23rd of July Writing West Midlands and Birmingham Book Festival coordinated The Great West Midlands Poetry Relay with ten poets at ten venues across the region. Part of the Cultural Olympics, the ten new poems written especially for the event were recorded by Monty Funk Productions who will be creating a permanent online interactive map where you'll be able to hear the poems and follow the route. But thanks to the organisers Radio Wildfire will be bringing you an exclusive preview of the poems and a running commentary to go with them. Rely on Radio Wildfire Live! to be the first to come across the winning lines.

We are also taking the chance to dip into Toronto poet Norman Cristofoli's cd Pass The Mustard . We had such a great response to the tracks that we played back in May that we had to bring you more. There'll also be extracts from the sequence Filmed Poems by the New York poet Stephen Mead. Stephen's work with voice and soundscape continues to intrigue us and, we think, set a benchmark for recording spoken word.

Freshly uploaded to our website this month, we have tracks from Adrian Johnson who riffs on Sumerr; a treat of treated voice from Swallows, plus more from Stephanie Spiers and, by way of a change from Tony Judge, a poem.

And, as if that wasn't enough, we'll be renewing our acquaintance with - a short story by Martin Reed called Sheena up a mountain in flip-flops - just in time to dedicate it to the hardy souls who take part in the annual Snowdon Race; Win Saha with a quick dip into her Offa's Press CD Win's Top Thirty!; and who knows what else we'll have time for.

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the latest instalment of the Laureate's Diary from current Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane. Another month in a rollercoaster of a year reflected on and written about with Roy's natural ebullience.

... which is followed immediately by Gary Longden with his Longden's Listings the only complete spoken word events diary being transmitted. Listen in and catch your own event being discussed.

Join us: Monday 1st August from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: surround yourself with august soundings.

We look forward to your company,
The Crew @ Radio Wildfire.

… Why not send your own tracks to Radio Wildfire by going to the
‘Submit’ page of our website and uploading MP3s of your work. Spoken
word and music, comedy, storytelling, poetry, song and aural art, they
are all part of the eclectic mix we are looking for when we create
Radio Wildfire Live!

Follow Radio Wildfire on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/radiowildfire
 

PAST EVENTS

Radio Wildfire Live! presenter Dave Reeves will be performing as part of Sandwell Festival @ Unit 41-42, Queens Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich B70 7NJ on Saturday 23 July at 13.00 (with Heather Wastie); and later as part of The Great West Midlands Poetry Relay @ Telford Odeon cinema (outside) 18.20, and @ Stafford (The Pie & Ale House) reading a specially written poem with the other relay poets (Emma Purshouse, Philip Monks, Malcolm Dewhirst, Helen Yendall, Adrian Johnson, Deborah Alma, Rohit Ballal, Kurly McGeatchie and Roz Goddard).

All events free, plus tea and cakes for all comers at the Sandwell Festival performance.

www.radiowildfire.com Monday 4th July 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time). + Roy McFarlane's Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm + Longden's Listings

July and the days are getting shorter (as they say) but there's no shortening of what's on offer in this month's Radio Wildfire Live! as we rove from Worcestershire to Indonesia by way of New York and Toronto, and drop in on festivals from Ledbury to Edinburgh.

Joining us in the studio will be Naomi Paul, who will preview her 'surreal, truthful and compelling' show Reshape While Damp as she prepares to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe. Expert on humour, Mrs Barbara Nice described Naomi as having a 'Hilariously quirky unique viewpoint, beautifully delivered' - we agree and know she makes superb, engaging and sometimes side-splitting radio.

We'll also have a visit from Dr Eric Doumerc of Toulouse University talking about his new book Celebrate Wha'? Ten Black British Poets from the Midlands. An expert on Afro-Caribbean poets in the Midlands he has co-edited this important follow-up to his 2006 Five Birmingham Poets, with our own resident contributor Roy McFarlane.

Our other guest is Alan 'Kurly' McGeachie who is described as 'an emerging poet and all round positive nice guy' a description we totally concur with. He delivers poetry workshops in schools and youth organisations around the U.K to help change the common perception that poetry is 'dull and boring' to something exciting, accessible and fun. He is also a superb performer of his own work - and not a bad beatboxer either. Expect fireworks on the mic!

There'll be tracks which have been recently uploaded to the Submit page of this website from Karima Amin an energetic and powerful storyteller from New York City; Sarah James from Worcestershire with poems, including one which will be part of her display From the Tow Path at Droitwich Water Festival, and Droitwich Music and Arts Festival, this month; more subtle guitar-work by Maneli Jamal from Toronto; a first play for The Clouds from Indonesia; a second for Stephanie Spiers from Staffordshir; plus satire as Tony Judge continues his journey around the nations of Britain when he gives his Brief and Approximate Guide to Scotland and the Scottish.

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the latest instalment of the Laureate's Diary from current Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane. Another month in a rollercoaster of a year reflected on and written about with Roy's natural ebullience.

... which is followed immediately by Gary Longden with his Longden's Listings the only complete spoken word events diary being transmitted. Listen in and catch your own event being discussed.

Join us: Monday 4th July from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: another month of literary life July noted.

We look forward to your company,
The Crew @ Radio Wildfire.

… Why not send your own tracks to Radio Wildfire by going to the
‘Submit’ page of our website and uploading MP3s of your work. Spoken
word and music, comedy, storytelling, poetry, song and aural art, they
are all part of the eclectic mix we are looking for when we create
Radio Wildfire Live!

Follow Radio Wildfire on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/radiowildfire

read about the last live broadcast below:

www.radiowildfire.com Monday 6th June 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time). + Roy McFarlane's Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm + Longden's Listings

June and there are festivals everywhere you look - or in our case listen. We'll be looking at three for starters Worcester Literary Festival, Leamington Peace Festival, and a preview of Ledbury Poetry Festival - in what is already looking to be a two hour Live! programme bursting at the seams.

With us in the studio to talk about Worcester Literary Festival will be festival organiser Lisa Ventura, and discussing Leamington Peace Festival from his own Warwickshire base, will be Simon N.Goodwin.

Michael W.Thomas will be reading extracts Time In An Air-struck Pipe, a chapter from his follow-up to the hilarious novel The Mercury Annual.

We'll also be talking to Liam Scallon the founder of No Nonsense Publishing, a new publisher of short story anthologies based in Birmingham, currently open for submission of stories bases in the city and its surrounding area. Listen in for news of a forthcoming deadline and details of how you can submit your work.

And spoken word artist and dj Derrick D makes his debut as a Radio Wildfire interviewer when he talks to Louise Kilbride who promotes spoken word and music events (The Public, West Brom being one venue) and is also an accomplished singer-songwriter herself.

There'll be tracks which have been recently uploaded to the 'Submit' page of out website: with Tom Sykes reading from his memoir of life in the Philippines; Staffordshire Colliery Epitaph, a poem with music from Stephanie Spiers; more poetry from Mark Goodwin and Heather Wastie; and a beautiful acoustic guitar track from Maneli Jamal from Toronto. And this month there's more satire as Tony Judge continues his journey around the nations of Britain when he gives his Brief And Approximate Guide to Wales and the Welsh.

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the latest instalment of the Laureate's Diary from current Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane. More recollections, musing and poems from another month in his hectic, but obviously enjoyable, poetry year.

... which is followed immediately by Gary Longden with his Longden's Listings the only complete spoken word events diary being transmitted. Listen in and catch mention of your own event!

Join us: Monday 6th June from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: sounding out the world of live literature.

We look forward to your company,
The Crew @ Radio Wildfire.

… Why not send your own tracks to Radio Wildfire by going to the
‘Submit’ page of our website and uploading MP3s of your work. Spoken
word and music, comedy, storytelling, poetry, song and aural art, they
are all part of the eclectic mix we are looking for when we create
Radio Wildfire Live!

Follow Radio Wildfire on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/radiowildfire

read about the last live broadcast below:

www.radiowildfire.com Monday 2nd May 8.00-10.00 pm (UK time) + Roy McFarlane's Laureate's Diary from 10.00pm followed by Gary Longden's Listings.

May blossoms onto the internet this first Monday of the month with another flowering of spoken word and live literature, commentary and humour on Radio Wildfire Live! ...

Joining us in the studio will be Jacqui Rowe, one of the team behind Flarestack Poetry Pamphlets with a preview of her own new collection Paint. The poems result from a project called Making Art History in which 12 contemporary artists have responded to Wightwick Manor, the home of the paint-making Mander family. Jacqui has also produced copper etchings corresponding to the poems, so Radio Wildfire invites you to come up and hear her etchings on Monday night.

After having written a poem a day for the last month and published them on a blog Heather Wastie will be coming along to explain why she, and a lot of other people, have been doing this. And, as she explains to us what NaPoWriMo actually is, we might just explain a little about Radio Wildfire's own SMASM project.

We'll also be playing tracks from a couple of excellent cds. Norman Cristofoli lives and works in Toronto, Canada and his cd Pass The Mustard certainly cuts the mustard with us. Some superb mixings of performed poetry and music. Also, Win Saha is an octogenarian poet from Wolverhampton, England whose cd Win's Top Thirty! is published by Offa's Press. Her mix of rhyming verses move from carefully crafted digs at authority to musings on the passage of years.

As usual, there'll be tracks which have been recently uploaded to the Submit page of the Radio Wildfire website. These include work from the innovative New York spoken word artist Stephen Mead - who uses multi-tracking to create backdrops of his voice for his spoken voice - this month we'll be playing excerpts from his Love Lullabies. Having brought his own special brand of dry humour to Radio Wildfire for the last few months, looking at the life of one community in rural England with his extracts from the Little Hope Parish Magazine, this month, following hot on the heels of St George's Day and other national festivities, Tony Judge turns his observant eye on the nation with his Brief and Approximate Guide to England and the English. Never forgetting the track that has been uploaded by the excellent Lunarian, a band from Tangerang, Indonesia

Then at 10.00 pm you'll get the latest instalment of the Laureate's Diary a quarter hour of recollections, musing and poems from current Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane, followed immediately by the first play of our latest feature, Gary Longden's Listings, where Gary Longden runs through what's about to happen on the spoken word scene and reviews some of the last month's highlights.

Join us: Monday 2nd May from 8.00 pm UK time at www.radiowildfire.com

Radio Wildfire: May, the verse be with you.

And when Radio Wildfire leaves the studio this is the kind of thing that happens ...

Saturday June 4th 2011 - Shipston Arts Festival - Radio Wildfire presents a live performance of poetry and spoken word throughout the afternoon featuring Derrick D, Alan 'Kurly' McGeachie and others to be added - sets at 1.20 and from 2.45pm. And at 8 o'clock in the evening Dave Reeves and Roy Mcfarlane share the stage with acclaimed singer songwriter Reg Meuross. It all takes place at The Townsend Hall, Sheep Street, Shipston-on-Stour, CV36 4AE. Come along and see us and talk about how you can submit your writing for inclusion in the Radio Wildfire schedules (sorry it won't be live online but do join us in South Warwickshire)

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We look forward to your company at www.radiowildfire.com

Links from 1st December Programme
Radio Wildfire MySpace page
Matt Price
Richard Bruce Clay

Links from November 5th Programme
Emma Purshouse
Will Buckingham

Links from October 1st Programme
Heather Wastie
Ballads for Bomere Heath
Kim Trusty on Facebook (needs login)
Nick Toczek

Links from September 3rd Programme
Warwick Words Festival
   INKarceration: an extreme writing workshop.
Michael Blackburn
John Edgar
The Drum

Links from August 6th Programme
Ali Quarréll
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chavezravine/
Nigel Mazlyn Jones
Manni (Tom Cook)
Nick Toczek

Links from July 2nd Programme
Sally Crabtree
Fred D'Aguiar