Publishing
Issue two of The Eccentric City, “the worlds first eccentric newspaper”, is out. D’log investigates…
Bearded Magazine is recruiting, specifically for an Advertising Manager and Marketing Manager. All interested should follow that link.
Change in the Midlands – Urban and Industrial Watercolours is a new book of paintings by Arthur Lockwood, a member of the Birmingham Society of Artists. From the publisher’s site:
Without making judgements, Arthur Lockwood has dedicated himself to recording the demolition of nineteenth-century buildings and the construction of new landmarks such as the Bull Ring Shopping Centre in Birmingham. Alongside this, he set out to document the decline of the region’s manufacturing, painting working factories and foundries before many were closed down and some of them demolished.
In Oldbury he recorded the last line of working drop hammers and in Wolverhampton the last manufacturer of tacks and cut nails. In Birmingham he painted the last drop forge in the city.
The book contains over 100 paintings selected from twenty years’ work.
Here’s a couple of examples of his work, nicked from this informative essay.
Coombs Wood Works from the Dudley Canal
The Core Shop, Sidney Smith Castings.
One would hope the book is available in our local bookshops but if not you can get it from Amazon (with a sourcing fee) or direct from the publisher.
via the invaluable D’log
Charlotte Dunckley is looking to turn her zine Things We Love into a more professional magazine called Things and is seeking feedback on what people would like to see in it, not to mention contributors both online and off. Full details at the link.
A bit of local web buzz for Careless Talk, the new novel by Michael Richardson published by Tindal Street. Birmingham Words gave notice of the launch (which I missed telling you about – sorry), BiNS has a review and The Stirrer has a video interview:
The second issue of locally produced magazine Bearded hits the streets on October 29th with a Misty’s Big Adventure interview and a cover by ZeroTen
You can download a PDF copy for free from the site or pick it up from these outlets.
Stef Grindley is rather pleased with how his design work on Blink issue 1 came out.
Blink, the new magazine from the creators of Fused, hits the streets today.
Like Fused it’s free and can be picked up from the following places in Birmingham:
The Mailbox restaurants
Harvey Nichols
Selfridges
Ikon
Fusion
House of Fraser
Brindley Place restaurants
The Cross, Moseley
The Fighting Cocks, Moseley
and “places like that”
The rational behind Blink is for readers of Fused who’ve grown up a bit but are still interested in interesting stuff with “design, interiors, architecture, and art with fashion at its core.” Currently distribution is limited to the West Midlands but, like Fused, they expect to go national in time.
They’re always interested in photographers, writers and illustrators for future issues so if you flick through a copy and think you could be in there get in touch with them.
The sale of the Post and Mail group has been called off by current owners Trinity Mirror, apparently because a suitable bid was not received. From my perspective this is annoying as it means they won’t be dragging themselves into the 21st century any time soon. Time to go it alone, hacks.
[Later: Discussion thread on The Stirrer.]
Five Birmingham Poets by Eric Doumerc
Dr. Eric Doumerc is conducting an ongoing research of the Caribbean oral traditions’ influence on Black British performance poetry. His main interests include the study of Jamaican deejaying (the early 1970′s period) and its influence on oral poetry. He travels to Birmingham, UK, where he interviews Five Poets with Caribbean and other international links. Included here, are the responses and poetry of Sue Brown, Moquapi Selassie, Leon Blades, Martin Glynn and Roi Kwabena, all poets living in that vibrant British Midlands city. “Five Birmingham Poets” is an excellent introduction to contemporary poetry and culture of Black Britain. It is suitable for study by students at High (Secondary) School and University levels. However also provides general readers with a splendid opportunity to experience these unique voices.
It’s available from lulu.com for £8.91. via Birmingham Words
Ten4 magazine are running a competition to win a press pass for the Gigbeth festival (oh, and an iPod Shuffle) for three budding rock journalists. To enter send in a 150 word “essay” on your favourite Midlands act, old or new, by October 1st. Full details here.
I’m not sure if this is strictly relevant to the creative sector but it’s certainly interesting. Free paper The Birmingham News is going ultra-local, splitting itself into seven papers covering specific areas of the city. “To help get to the grass roots the newspaper has recruited an army of citizen correspondents.” I wonder who they’ve got and how they found them? Should be interesting to see what comes of this. via BiNS
