From Carl Hunter’s ‘When is a film not a film?’:

['The premise of Accelerate'] is that the woman finds away of making time pass more quickly, by selling some seconds out of every minute so that her days become “the edited highlights of themselves”. It was the perfect marriage of subject and medium – after all, what is a still photograph but a moment pulled out of the stream of time. If you had all the money and time in the World, this would still be the best way to tell that story. Young people seem to photograph everything nowadays. If you go to a concert, the audience is watching it but also filming it on their mobiles. We’d found a story and a storytelling style that tapped right into that jumpy, digital way of seeing things.

Watch the film here.

To read the story, you can download The Reader 31 from our ‘Downloads’ page by clicking here.

We’ve published another of Frank’s short stories in the current issue of The Reader, which you can buy here.

Now that issue 31 of The Reader is out, readers may be interested to follow up the activities and events of the writers featured in the magazine. 

Can you make it to the Liverpool Playhouse this October? Frank Cottrell Boyce, writer of the brilliant short story ‘Accelerate’ in the current issue of The Reader, has his first play Proper Clever on at the Playhouse this Autumn (3 Oct–25 Oct, 7.00, evenings.) The play is about the school lives of teenagers, and is directed by Everyman and Playhouse associate director Serdar Bilis. 

‘Claire and her gang are proper clever… and they know it. They’re friends… and they’re sure of it. They’re watching from the sidelines… and they have a plan. Then Bex, stumbles into their virtual world. Sad and desperate she’s the perfect test for their experiment, one that will bring down the most popular girl in school.’

Jeffrey Wainwright’s new collection is Clarity or Death (Carcanet), and you can read about it here. 

Howard Jacobson’s tenth novel, The Act of Love (Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0224086097) is a raunchy read about a husband’s desire for marital infidelity. The twist is that the perfectly ill-named Felix longs for his wife to have the affair.

We will remind you again closer to the time, but those of you with very busy lives might like to note down somewhere safe that Janet Suzman will be directing Antony and Cleopatra at the Liverpool Playhouse in the Autumn of next year. 

Posted by Sarah Coley

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Coming up first is the Sefton Celebrates Writing Festival (22nd September – 28th September), boasting a line-up of top literary names. From readings by novelist Will Self, poets Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay, to performance poetry by Luke Wright and the Potted Potter experience, there is something for everyone to enjoy. The festival also features a range of drama performances and free writing and publishing workshops within its programme.

Launching on National Poetry Day, is the new annual Chapter & Verse Literature Festival for Merseyside at the Bluecoat from 9th – 19th October (programme available very soon), featuring an exciting range of contemporary writers and performers from Merseyside and beyond. The Festival includes over 45 events and activities for lovers of words and the curious alike – from readings, book signings, talks, discussions, to performances and workshops – all under the Bluecoat’s historic roof. Amongst the writers appearing are: Tariq Ali, Jim Crace, Linda Grant, John Healy, Jan Morris,  Lemn Sissay, and Sadie Jones. Read more at ‘Poetry in the City’. The Reader Organsiation will be running daily ‘Reading and Discussion’ groups around the festival’s writer and book events; hosting poetry and prose reading ‘clinics’ to help solve life’s problems; and bringing stories to life in Children’s storytelling sessions.

From 6th – 24th October is the Shell Chester Literature Festival. Making the most of Chester’s myriad of small personable venues and spaces, the Shell presents an assortment of colourful and thought provoking events mainly within the city walls. Featuring an eclectic mix of national and local author events alongside innovative participatory activities aiming to capture the public’s imagination, headliners this year include Chris Patten, Esther Rantzen, David Owen, Michael Morpurgo, Martin Bell, Nicholas Crane and Ffion Hague.

 Manchester Literature Festival (16th- 26th October), now in its third year, attracts writers from all over the world and showcases plenty of local talent. With events ranging from Past Crimes to A Place for Romance and literature in translation to children’s fiction, the programme caters for all literary tastes. There are a series of readings, debates and workshops exploring the interplay between literature and science as part of the Big Science Read Weekend. The festival line-up includes: Patience Agbabi, Stephen Baxter, Ciaran Carson, Jim Cartwright, Mavis Cheek, Ramón Chao, Russell T Davies, Bernadine Evaristo, Laura Fish, Corsino Fortes, Jorie Graham, Adrian Mitchell, Jenni Murray, Sean O’Brien, Anne Perry, Posy Simmonds, Xinran plus many more!

There’s Shipping Lines Liverpool Literary Festival, held between 3rd – 9th November, brought to you by the University of Liverpool and organised by The Reader Organisation to celebrates Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. The festival features some real movers and shakers from the local, national and international literary world: Philip Pullman, author of the astounding His Dark Materials, in conversation; Liverpool poets Roger McGough, Brain Pattern, Paul Farley and others for engaging and entertaining readings; novelists Malorie Blackman, Andrea Levy and Caryl Phillips who will read from and discuss their work; and much, much more. The official launch of The Reader Organisation, ‘Launching a Reading Revolution’ is being held at Bibby Line Group HQ on Friday 7th November. The full festival programme is available online and the paper brochure will be available from September 22nd. Email events@thereader.org.uk for more information. Or better yet, subscribe to our email update service to get up to the minute news and information direct to your inbox. Get Shipping Lines Liverpool Literary Festival news by email here. Or subscribe to the regular RSS feed here.

A brief mention of The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival though, seeing as last year it provided me with such delectable treats, a great deal of literary entertainment  and it’s also the place I call home. This year’s festival, held between 10th – 19th October does not disappoint with its array of award-winning writers, star names and celebrated thinkers, continuing to be recognised as the hub for literary debates and discussions. Janet Suzman, who is taking part in a panel discussion, ‘Becoming Cleopatra’, at the festival (Sunday 12th October), has an interview with editor Phil Davis in the latest issue of The Reader - it is honest and witty, revealing the core of reality that she brings to her characters. Normally wary of reading such things, we know that she is plased with it (and has enjoyed reading the rest of the issue - so there’s a celebrity recommendation for you!).

We’ll be bringing you select news and reviews from events across the North West’s literary festivals over the coming months. Of course, what Festival Girl wants to know is which one will have the best cake?

Posted by Jen Tomkins

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Reader 31, Relative Time

New poetry by Anna Woodford, John Welch, Andrew McNeillie, Jennifer Compton and Michael O’Neill. Plus we have the second half of Les Murray’s personal selection of his favourite Australian poems of all time.

Jeffrey Wainwright writes about his poem, ‘Mere Bagatelle 1′ in the latest Poet on His Work, letting us see into the poem’s beginnings.

Howard Jacobson argues for the good of books that tell you what to do. It sounds a sober subject but in his hands it is exhilarating and encouraging, and entirely persuasive. Jane Austen and Samuel Johnson join with George Eliot and Kafka to give us a good talking to.

The Interview: Janet Suzman talks to Philip Davis about Peggy Ashcroft, her own great Cleopatra of 1974, and the particular need for an actor to find a core of reality in the character she plays – and the equally important ability to relinquish that closeness after the play has run its course.

Raymond Tallis, polymath and long-time friend of The Reader, gives us his funny account of the role of the asterisk in literature, ‘Reader, I Sh*gged Him’. It’s a history of sex and the written word.

Andrew McNeillie talks about his early reading life and difficulties coming to terms with learning, followed by his fascination with words, almost as if they were living things.

Frank Cottrell Boyce gives us his funny and moving new story, ‘Accelerate’, in which a woman wishes away time, which of course cannot be recalled.

Our serialisation of Mary Weston’s short novel The Junction begins in this issue. Not to be missed. Part two will be in the December issue.

We have all our usual features, reviews, recommendations, letters, Buck’s Quiz and crossword. In Readers Connect Rudyard Kipling’s Kim is investigated by our panel of readers, while in The Old Poem, Brian Nellist writes about Thomas Randolph’s ‘Upon His Picture’. In Book World Kirsty McHugh talks about the world of blogging, and Maureen Watry celebrates the donation of material from Brian Patten and Roger McGough to the University of Liverpool’s library archive.

The theme in this issue is relative time, and we have two fathers and sons writing: Ian and Andrew McMillan talk about their reading lives, while Frank Cottrell Boyce’s dad, Francis Boyce, is here too, defending Liverpool writers, Garrett and Hanley.

Posted by Chris Routledge