A Way with Words, a live poetry event with an open mic is being held at the Bigg Theatre, Biggleswade at 7.30pm on Wednesday, May 21 with guest poet Barry Smith, the director of the South Downs Poetry Festival.
Barry grew up in Biggleswade and was very active on the Bedford theatre scene. Since then, he has worked in theatre, education and as an arts festival producer and his poems draw upon his experiences in these fields.
Barry explains: "Growing up in Bedfordshire forms the backcloth to quite a few of my poems. I’ll be reading new work like Fire-folk which tells of my part in the Great UFO Hoax of 1958 which brought Biggleswade to the attention of the national press, Dallas Belle which mixes personal memoir of old friends with the shocking Kennedy assassination of 1963, Double Take, a poem inspired by the CND protest marches of the 60s and Beatific, which focuses on the first time I heard the music of the Beatles while travelling on a bus from Biggleswade.
"There are a couple of poems including River set on the banks of the Ivel and referencing the local stars of the time, The Ivel River Boys. I hope friends old and new will pop along to the Bigg Theatre to enjoy and hopefully be inspired by my words."
His new book, Reeling and Writhing (Dempsey and Windle/Vole Books) follows his successful debut, Performance Rites (Waterloo Press), which has been hailed as ‘a masterpiece’ by both Acumen Literary Review and Sentinel Literary Quarterly. Spinning off ideas and themes suggested by Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice books, Reeling and Writhing offers a retrospective of Barry Smith’s poetry from the Sixties right up to the Twenties.
The international best-selling novelist, Louis de Bernieres (author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin) has praised Reeling and Writhing, saying: ‘His verses are rich in imagery, narrative and feeling. It is a collection to take with you in the pocket of your coat.’ The legendary actor and playwright Steven Berkoff described Performance Rites as ‘really remarkable’.
Barry comments: "My new collection brings together poems written over several decades as well as poems written this year - for example my response to the wonderful Sussex Landscape exhibition recently held at Pallant House Gallery. My poem on the pandemic, The Masks of Anarchy, ends the book. I was delighted that this poem was shortlisted for the Culture Matters Bread & Roses Award, and equally delighted that my new collection has been nominated for the 2023 T.S. Eliot Prize."
After university, Barry spent a decade in Bedford from 1970 to 1980. During that time he was chairman of the local theatre group, the Bradgate Players, forerunner of the Swan Theatre. He directed several productions at the Civic Theatre, including Antigone (which transferred to the Edinburgh Festival) and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He acted in the 300th anniversary production of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress at the Corn Exchange,
Everyone welcome.