The evening was hosted by Director of Nottingham City of Literature, Hannah Trevarthen, and Dr Rebecca Cullen, Director of WRAP, NTU Arts reading and writing programme at Nottingham Trent University.
Jay Sandhu and Davina Songbird opened the celebration with songs from the EP ‘Belonging’, from the New Art Exchange collaboration which took place in 2024. Lecturer and former City of Literature team member Matt Turpin read a speech detailing the origins of the City of Literature bid, written by writer and publisher Pippa Hennessey.
Writer and Booker Prize shortlisted Alison Moore spoke about her experiences as a virtual writer in residence for Melbourne City of Literature – Alison highlighted the importance of the international relationships Nottingham holds as part of the Creative Cities network.
Alison was followed by Jon McGregor and Olivia Hellewell from the University of Nottingham reading a letter from The Letters Page, written by a Slovenian writer Manca P. Renko and translated by Dr. Hellewell. The evening saw the launch of the latest, very special collaborative edition of The Letters Page journal featuring newly commissioned letters and translations from nine other Cities of Literature and you can buy a copy here.
Nottingham’s very own screenwriter, William Ivory offered us a convincing argument about why D.H. Lawrence rivals Shakespeare’s as the UK’s best writer and he concluded the first half with a mesmerizing excerpt from Sons and Lovers.
The second half of the performances was a smorgasbord of poetry delights; Jay Sandhu and Hil the Poet opened with another track from ‘Belonging’ and handed over to Slamovision 2023 winner, Abíọ́dún Abdul, whilst Annie Cross, Mia Hagues and Abigail Hutchison illustrated the talent of our young creatives as they represented the Youth Advisory Board and the Speakeasy collective. The evening closed with Nottingham’s two Poet Laureates – Georgina Wilding, Nottingham’s very first Young Poet Laureate between 2017-19 delivered four poems, including one written during her tenure to celebrate the Christmas Light Switch On. Nature Laureate Cara Thompson finished with an explosive performance of her poem, ‘I Will Not Call This Hurricane Melissa’.
