On Wednesday the 23rd March, I attended the 2022 Beyond the Walls showcase, hosted by second year Creative Writing students Kai Aspinall and Edward Mate. The showcase featured poetry and prose readings from several York St John students as well as an additional reading by Henry Raby, a York based performance poet.
Beyond the Walls is an annual anthology produced by second year Creative Writing students during the module ‘Working with Words’ and published by Lendall Press, which is a new York-based branch of Valley Press, an independent publishing house based in Scarborough. The anthology is composed of poetry and prose written by third year and masters Creative Writing students centred around a chosen theme. The theme chosen for this year’s anthology is distance, though COVID-19 may seem like the obvious route to take with this theme, students were asked to avoid this topic and focus on what distance means to them outside of the pandemic. Although the anthology is yet to be released, the showcase gave students a chance to demonstrate their talent and give us a taste of what’s to come in the upcoming anthology.
One of my favourite pieces of the night has to be ‘Baby’, a short piece of horror fiction written and performed by Jack Taggart. Jack uses vivid description to create a sense of suspense and unease. Hearing this piece read aloud was definitely an experience, as was the shock of the twist ending (I won’t spoil it for you). This really appealed to me, especially as I am a horror fiction writer myself as well as a huge fan of all things macabre.
Another one of my favourites was a poem titled ‘The more you know’ written by Tarryn Watkins. Sadly Tarryn couldn’t be there to see her piece performed as she was isolating with Covid-19 the night of the showcase, however, Erica Prata did a beautiful job of performing the poem and conveying the emotion behind it. Tarryn’s poem tackled some pretty heavy topics, including the ageing process and the fear that someday, your parents or people that you care about will be gone, a fear that all of us can relate to. The emotion in this piece was so incredibly raw and honest that listening to the poem being read aloud brought genuine tears to my eyes. Amazing work Tarryn!
Perhaps my only criticism of the event is that I wish we could have had more time with the authors of the pieces in order to discuss their inspiration for the pieces, or ask any questions that we may have for them about their work.
I particularly enjoyed Henry Raby’s performance poetry, I found his pieces extremely relatable, as well as very funny and entertaining. His poems were a callback to 90’s nostalgia as he made light of the disparity between generations as a millennial. You could really tell that Henry is an experienced poet as he was able to perform his poems so fluently and passionately, making them even more enjoyable to listen to! This was a brilliant way to end the showcase; it left the evening on a high note with lots of laughter in the room. Check out Henry’s work at henryraby.com or follow him on twitter at @Henry_Raby.
This event was also the official release of the cover art for this year’s anthology, which was a brilliant surprise for the audience. The cover (pictured above) features a beautiful colourful landscape of a lighthouse and the surrounding seaside area. I would like to congratulate Jacob Currie, a member of this year’s editorial team on such a stunning design!
Thank you to everyone that made this showcase possible, the writers, the performers, the marketing team and anyone who was able to come and be a part of it!
By Anna Jackson