Viva Brighton Issue #67 September 2018

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TASTING ROOM & CELLAR DOOR - Dine in the heart of a Sussex Vineyard from a menu of seasonal, modern British cuisine DINE IN OUR RESTAURANT TASTE OUR WINES PURCHASE OUR WINES & SPIRITS XMAS BOOKINGS WELCOME Tasting Room, Rathfinny Wine Estate, Alfriston, Sussex, BN26 5TU 01323 870 022 rathfinnyestate.com @RathfinnyTR
LITERATURE ............................. AL Kennedy ‘I’m more a realist than a pessimist’ A certain reputation precedes AL Kennedy. She is a formidable writer, of course, an award winner for many of her novels and short stories. She has been selected three times as a Granta Young British Novelist. The words most often used to describe her writing are ‘bleak’ or ‘grim’. As The Independent once noted: “She knows grimness the way some novelists know music or food.” In occasional interviews (apparently she is not a fan of journalists) she comes across as intense; serious; terse. Our email exchange doesn’t exactly contradict this picture. But the Scottish author seems a little weary of this caricature. “Reviewers read reviews, so initial judgments will repeat,” she writes in response to a question about the darkness of her material. I can almost hear her sigh. “I’ve been asked that question for around 30 years now, for example. Generally readers report the work as funny and/or moving, which I’m happy about. I’m more a realist than a pessimist.” Similarly, she brushes away the idea she is especially interested in writing about people whose lives have been overlooked - characters such as the troubled WW1 airman Alfred Day in her 2007 Costa Book Award-winning Day. “I’m drawn to people. Most people have lives like that.” She wishes interviewers would ask her instead about topics such as “voice, joy, and passion”. “I almost never get asked about them,” she comments, bringing to mind a Goth sad not to have been invited to a barbecue. But it must be annoying to be painted as an arch-miserablist when one’s work is as complex as Kennedy’s. In a recent interview with The Guardian she described London, which she recently made her home, as being ‘not so much a city as an investment opportunity’. But she also talked about the many touching incidents she had witnessed between people there, and had woven into her latest novel, Serious Sweet. Then there is her apparently unlikely sideline in stand-up comedy, a genre she sees as ‘just another form of storytelling’. “You can talk about today’s news to today’s people, not write something and see it in a book two years later. And if it bombed, that’s gone and if it was great, that’s gone. You move on.” Writers and comics have more in common than it may seem, she adds. “Generally there’s more vulnerability amongst comics and very good conversations about books, simply based on love. But the worlds are not dissimilar.” We move on to her forthcoming appearance at an event celebrating 20 years of Mslexia magazine at Charleston’s Small Wonder short story festival. She’s as surprised as I am by the mention of ‘women writers’ in the event blurb. Perhaps, she suggests, it’s because Mslexia was set up to promote writing by women. Either that or it’s ‘the Edwardian air down at Charleston.’ I’m only a little bit surprised to see the comment followed by a smiling emoji. Nione Meakin The Literary Monologue: Celebrating 20 Years of Mslexia, 28th <strong>September</strong>, part of Charleston’s Small Wonder short story festival, 28th-30th <strong>September</strong>. Photo by Donna Lisa Healey ....47....
Page 2 and 3: OPEN DAYS Prep School (ages 3-11) |
Page 4 and 5: HURSTPIERPOINT COLLEGE
Page 6 and 7: eautifully imperfect since 2009
Page 8 and 9: CONTENTS ..........................
Page 10 and 11: THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTIST .......
Page 12 and 13: BITS AND BUSES ....................
Page 14 and 15: CURATOR’S CITY ..................
Page 16 and 17: FAMILY TICKETS AVAILABLE THE MIDNIG
Page 19 and 20: BITS AND PUBS .....................
Page 21 and 22: BITS AND BOX ......................
Page 23 and 24: JJ WALLER .........................
Page 25 and 26: BITS AND BOGS .....................
Page 27 and 28: BITS AND BOOKS ....................
Page 29 and 30: INTERVIEW .........................
Page 31 and 32: PHOTOGRAPHY .......................
Page 39 and 40: COLUMN ...........................
Page 41 and 42: COLUMN ............................
Page 43 and 44: COLUMN ...........................
Page 45: MUSIC .......................... Be
Page 49 and 50: FILM .............................
Page 51: MUSIC .............................
Page 54 and 55: Sparkling arts events in the heart
Page 56 and 57: LAURIE ANDERSON & HSIN-CHIEN HUANG
Page 59 and 60: FAMILY ............................
Page 61: PHOTOGRAHY ........................
Page 64 and 65: ILLUSTRATION + PRINT FAIR INK PAPER
Page 67 and 68: ART ...............................
Page 69 and 70: LOCAL MAKER .......................
Page 71 and 72: DESIGN ............................
Page 73 and 74: THE WAY WE WORK This month we sent
Page 75 and 76: THE WAY WE WORK Silvia Kamodyova, c
Page 77 and 78: THE WAY WE WORK Jennifer Wall, jewe
Page 79 and 80: FOOD ............................ B
Page 81 and 82: RECIPE ............................
Page 83 and 84: A-news bouche It’s been a bumper
Page 85 and 86: FEATURE ........................ Gl
Page 87 and 88: HEALTH ............................
Page 89: It’s an intensive thing. At the e
Page 92 and 93: BRICKS AND MORTAR .................
Page 94 and 95: SPECIMEN PLANTS, TREE FERNS, OLIVES
Page 97 and 98:
WILDLIFE ..........................
Page 99 and 100:
The specialists in LISTED BUILDINGS
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Viva Brighton Issue #67 September 2018

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