Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club

Queen of Hearts, Fallowfield, Greater Manchester: 21^st October 2010

Ever read a book and thought it was terrible? Well maybe you should send a copy to Robin Ince, the stand-up comedian who has created a unique comedy show centred upon bad books.

At the Queen of Hearts in the bustling student suburb of Fallowfield, Robin Ince staged his hilarious one-man comedy show, The Bad Book Club to a sold out audience. As a sports bar, the Queen of Hearts may seem an incongruous place to stage a night of alternative comedy, however with the flat-screen TVs turned off and the interior lighting set to dim, the old church was magically transformed from a sports bar into a comedy club style venue.

Bounding on stage with his arms gesticulating wildly and speaking what seemed like 600 words per minute, Ince hastily explained the premise of his Bad Book Club which goes something a little like this; Ince scours second-hand bookshops across the country searching for any inadvertently awful books he can find, which he then buys, reads and goes onto discuss with his audience.

Seamus Heaney – Manchester Literature Festival 2010 – The Poems

The following is a list of the 20 poems recited by Seamus Heaney on 25th October 2010 at Whitworth Hall, Manchester. The list is in order of recitation and The Poplar Tree will be posting a review of the performance at some point tomorrow. Another Poplar Tree review will also be appearing on the Manchester Literature Festival’s blog sometime soon. In the meantime, you can also read The Poplar Tree’s review of his latest collection, Human Chain by scrolling down the blog a bit to the post after Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club.

1. ‘Had I not been awake’
2. Personal Helicon
3. Mossbawn: Sunlight
4. A Sofa in the Forties
5. A Constable Calls

Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club: Manchester Reading List

The Poplar Tree attended Robin Ince’s latest comedy show at the Queen of Hearts in Fallowfield, Greater Manchester yesterday and has reviewed the evening for the official Manchester Literature Festival blog. Once it goes ‘live’ on their site it’ll be posted up on here. In the meantime, click below on ‘keep reading’ to view some hilarious quotes from the night and the near-complete reading list of the crazy titles which Robin referred to, and quoted from throughout his show:

The Manchester Literature Festival unveils its 2010 lineup…

You might have noticed some lyrical and mysterious posters appearing on inconspicuous walls around Manchester – The Poplar Tree has spotted a few in the Northern Quarter – it can now be revealed what they refer to (as if you haven’t already guessed by the above)…The Manchester Literature Festival (MLF) has unveiled its 2010 lineup and it’s bolder and bigger than ever before. Staged between the 14^th - 25^th October, the MLF promises to showcase unknown and established authors during events such as the Bugged Blog launch, to the ‘World of Moomin’ read by Sophia Jansson. And judging from its stylish new brochure, this year’s festival has something for everyone, young and old, poetry lovers or bookworms alike.

Manchester Writing Competitions 2010

As there doesn’t seem to be a central ‘hub’ where this sort of information can be found, The Poplar Tree has collected a few Manchester based writing competition details together which are being held over the coming months.  The Poplar Tree will update  this list on a regular basis as it follows various websites/blogs and independent magazines. Hopefully you will find the following interesting and inspiring: