Books Slam
A literary nightclub is a very pleasing discovery. Taking place almost directly underneath the Westway flyover in W2, one half of Everything But The Girl, Ben Watt, and prize-winning, hip-hopping novelist Patrick Neate have spawned a little literary delight. Book Slam lives in the place between books and music, and stimulates the mind without you having to read a word.
Once a month, in the womb-like cavity of Cherry Jam’s basement bar, London’s young literati throw their poetic shapes in all directions. Remove the mildew and mire of amateurish, armchair poetry recitals from your mind: there’s nothing stuffy about this lit-fix. The two discerning brains behind it wanted a literary event which wouldn’t ‘make sane people want to stab themselves with rusty cutlery’. And they’ve created one: there wasn’t a rust-encrusted fork in sight.
On arrival, there’s no raucous bustle to swallow you up as the door closes behind you. Instead, the bar’s occupants all face in the same direction, focusing on a single figure on a small stage. He’s Will Ashon, we discover, and his musings are excerpts from his first novel Clear Water (Faber, 2006). With a plot woven around the enormous, subterranean ‘Clearwater’ shopping centre in Kent, Ashon’s deadpan prose is tight, his characters acidly sincere, and their situations brazenly dysfunctional. It’s a slice of contemporary British society at its crude and compelling best.
Of the six principal characters, we meet only two in the excerpts, but this taster – performed by the author himself – is tantalising. OAP Verna Landor pays her elusive drug dealer a home visit after he fails to appear one day, only to find his corpse in a clutter of domestic debris; whilst Jimmy Patel, a failed spin-bowler who’s turned to alcohol, drags us with him on a final watery journey, swimming out to sea through the flood of his own melancholy reminiscences.
After an interval we’re right back into the fray, as Neate becomes the compère and hails Canadian poet and performer Shane Koyczan to centre stage. En route to Hay-on-Wye, he’s a jowly, relaxed Bryson-Moore cross, as sharp as his hometown of Yellowknife. The parabola of his vision is so wide, and he’s so engaging that you both listen to, and hear, every word he says. Stanzas and couplets are spare, glassy and soulful, by turns full of searing anguish and explosive ecstasy, as he guides us – performing completely by heart – through an anecdotal series of family memories, sexual encounters, North American politics, illness, death and above all, his own compassion and capacity to love.
A touching tale of a homemade lanyard he gives to his mother sits next to a disconsolate glimpse into the life of a chef who cooks last meals for death row prisoners. Koyczan’s scintillating rhythm, which slows for a tranquil phrase and then leaps into staccato rap, is maintained by sharp, strategic intakes of breath and vigorous hand gestures:
I met a man who makes meals at a restaurant
where there’s no menu
but everything’s on it
impossible
I know
but I met a man who makes meals at a restaurant
called death row.
Josephine Oniyama (A Smaller Version of the Real Thing; Dust and Memories) is the 23-year-old girl-and-her-guitar rounding up the night. She’s a witty Mancunian, who debuted at city’s legendary Night & Day Café, and whose upbeat tunes and serene, heartfelt lyrics seem to rush from nowhere. Oniyama makes sure that her Manchester home has a real presence: Cheetham Hill and a local bus journey inspired a couple of songs; and stopping a gormless barman for a chip as he strolls onto the stage to deposit an order mid-act, endears her straightaway. Play doesn’t stop here either, as a DJ spins into the night.
Book Slam’s gentle beats – tonight by djpetercanwegoswimming – slot right into the gaps between items, offering time for drinks and reactive chat. The crowd is playful but serious-minded and ready to absorb the profuse talent taking to the stage. It’s almost a literary cabaret I decide: little tables, ruby-red walls, cosy, arched booths and cubed stools. The crowd is most definitely young – an eclectic student/young professional mix, among a decidedly trendy bunch who look very much like they spend their Friday nights in the ICA bar. A starry list of superhero patrons includes Zadie Smith, Monica Ali, Mil Millington, Nick Hornby, Matt Thorne and Jake Arnott, amongst many others.
Pretentious, you say? Somehow it’s not. Forget high brow: the phrase is ‘no brow’, and you get a first-rate literary feast. Book Slam is novel, poem and song in a heady blend: enrichment of even the vaguest of literary minds in its most appealing form. Can we have (much) more please?
Cherry Jam
58 Porchester Road, London W2
Last Thursday of every month
£2 before 8pm, then £5
Open until late.
See www.bookslam.com for more information.
