Neil Bartlett

it I mean it was dreamy I mean when I when I was doing the night alphabet I decided I wanted to do something that took my skills as a poet spoken word artist type as well as the ability, you know, to write a novel and mix them together and create a show.

And I worked with Neil Bartlett, who's my elder, queer elder.

He's an astonishing multi-award winning author, playwright and theatre director.

And so he came on board with Maryville right at the beginning this time.

It was extraordinary.

Yeah.

Because Neil Butler is just the most incredible visual person And I've always believed poetry cinema anyway, but this just takes it to a different level.

So I become the characters, as you might have guessed, in the book.

It's going to be all 12 of the residents performing.

We're going to have Neil Bartlett, OBE, probably the most important queer director of the 20th century for me anyway, and an incredible performer, an incredible translator and writer.

and the person that really influenced me the most to pick up the mic and to go out into poetry and it's a very full circle moment and like speaking to Neil on the phone feels weird but really excited to see what he brings and just the approach that he's had of being so inclusive and wanting to meet the residents, wanting to be part of the festival, it's just been absolutely incredible.

So we're gonna have a very big night of it on Saturday.

We've got five days of open mic, five days of features.

We're going to have 12 poets featured.

We're going to have Neil Bartlett.

We're going to have myself.

The festival this year opens on Thursday the 15th of October with an event called Roots, Roots and Futures, an event that really sets the tone for the whole weekend.

It brings together writers connected to the universities of Brighton and Sussex, including poet and novelist Dean Atta, Writer, playwright and performer Neil Bartlett and Ray Filar and Remy Graves who are both from Brighton and Sussex Universities and are upcoming voices in the queer literary scene.

So the event will begin with a screening of Dean Atter's BAFTA winning animated short Two Black Boys in Paradise followed by a conversation between Dean and Neil about poetry, fiction, film and queer storytelling.

Then Ray Folare will read from their debut novella, Choke, and Remy Graves will perform from their acclaimed collection, Coal.

You know, like it's just such a cool experience.

space and such a cool festival um that yeah it's it's such a so many amazing uh people come to this uh festival and i'm really glad to be among their number

So you are taking part in two events this year, the first one being the open event on the Thursday evening of the festival, where you're going to, we're going to have a screening of Two Black Boys in Paradise, and then you're going to be in conversation with Neil Bartlett.

And then we're bringing on two rising stars from Sussex and Brighton universities who work closely with the Coasters Queer Festival.