Lisa Blower and Rob Francis
In conversation

Artsfest / Artsfest 2020 / Lisa Blower and Rob Francis in conversation

On the back of their recent publication successes, Lisa Blower and R. M. Francis will discuss their recent works and regional literature: giving voice to overlooked cultures and communities; thinking regionally as a creative process; and place-identity. They'll also give readings from their books, Pondweed and Bella.

Lisa Blower is an award-winning short story writer and novelist. She won The Guardian’s National Short Story competition in 2009, and has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, The Sunday Times Short Story Award, and The Bridport Prize. Her work has appeared in various presses including The Guardian, Comma Press, The New Welsh Review, The Luminary, Short Story Sunday, and on Radio 4. She's the author of Sitting Ducks, the short story collection ‘It’s Gone Dark over Bill’s Mother’s’, and a contributor to Common People. Lisa is Senior Lecturer in Creative & Professional Writing at Wolverhampton where she champions working-class fictions and regional voices. Pondweed is her second novel.

Lisa Blower: www.lisablower.com
Pondweed at Myriad Editions: myriadeditions.com/books/pondweed
Twitter: @lisablowerwrite

R. M. Francis is a lecturer in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Wolverhampton, where he completed his PhD. He's the author of five poetry pamphlet collections. In 2020 his debut novel, Bella, was published with Wild Pressed Books. Later in the year his poetry collection, Subsidence, is due with Smokestack Books. In 2019 he was the inaugural David Bradshaw Writer in Residence at the University of Oxford. This year he will be Poet in Residence for the Black Country Geological Society.

R. M. Francis: rmfrancis.weebly.com 
Bella at Wild Pressed Books: www.wildpressedbooks.com/r-m-francis
Twitter: @RMFrancis

Artsfest 2020

Beatrice Warde's VE Day Diary - A reading by Jessica Glaser / Liz Berry and Tom Hicks: In Conversation / In Conversation: Artist Dean Kelland and James Latunji-Cockbill Part 1 / Dr Max Stewart and Glass Artist Allister Malcolm in Conversation / Lisa Blower and Rob Francis in conversation / Louise Fenton - Lethal in Lace: The Story of a Witchcraft Poppet / Finding our Funny Roots: delving into Black Country humour / Books Across the Sea - Talk by Jessica Glaser / Dr Dean Kelland and James Latunji-Cockbill from IKON In conversation Pt2 / The Rise of Mass Fashion in the Black Country, Talk by Dr Jenny Gilbert / VJ Day Diary of Beatrice Warde - Reading By Jessica Glaser / Printing and Print Culture in the Midlands: a Webinar / Black Country Geopoetics, Talk and Workshop with Writer R.M. Francis / The Haunted and Cursed Dolls in Greyfriars Bothy, Dr Louise Fenton / Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles at Seventy, a talk by Dr Phil Nichols / Pen, Print and Communication in the Eighteenth Century: Webinar Book / We are Invisible, We are Visible / HoPIN Launch Event (History of the Printed Image Network) / 'Somehow', Poetry Reading and Talk with Helen Calcutt / Myriad Editions Literary Salon / Liz Berry Chats Dialect and Poetry with R. M. Francis