AWorld for UsAll

Meet Victoria Villasenor and Nicci Robinson. In 2014, the couple first met at a literature event at Waterstones on Bridlesmith Gate. The two ended up connecting and went on to work on community projects together; they had a passion for mentoring authors in the beginning stages of their careers. They took these values and focused them on Global Wordsmiths - a community interest company Victoria established in 2012 that seeks to help writers realise their dreams. Our own writer (and creative behind Queer Notts) Jade Bramley sits down with Victoria and Nicci at the very same Waterstones where they met almost a decade prior, to discuss the work they do in the literature world and how they incorporate queer activism into it… globalwords.co.uk @robyn_nyx @breywillows interview: Lewis Keech illustration: Bryony Loveridge

What is Global Wordsmiths all about?

Nicci: We want to build a community of writers who can lean on each other. Writing can be a very solitary pursuit most of the time. We offer up help with all the elements of book publishing from start to launch, as well as hosting writing retreats, community group chats and drop-in Zoom writing rooms. These community-based activities are essential because I think a lot of writers have mental health issues, so we are very much about helping and supporting people who tend to be the most creative but don't believe in themselves.

What value does queer literature bring to the community?

Nicci: We’ve learnt through doing our stalls at Pride that people don’t know about these kinds of books. We always tell them to imagine all the genres - crime, horror, science fiction, romance - now put queer people as those main characters and they get their happily ever after. The girl getting the girl, the guy getting the guy, the person getting their person, everything that is in our spectrum happens in these books.

Victoria: We once had a couple get in touch who told us they had walked past our Pride booth three years in a row but never had the courage to stop. One day they finally did and talked to us about our books and bought a whole bunch of stuff. She got in touch later to say, “You don’t understand what it means to be in this world now. I didn’t know queer books existed, and they’ve quite literally saved my life.” She went on to start the Queer Literary Loft and got into reviewing books, which has given her a sense of purpose and a place in the world, and she and her wife have become good friends of ours.

Why do you value mentorship so much in your work?

Victoria: Well, we have a mentorship going on right now with a girl who came on one of our writing retreats to support her mum who wanted to do it. It wasn't really even her thing but it turned out she had this amazing voice. She doesn't have great self-esteem and doesn’t believe she can do it, so being a mentor for her means that every month she knows she has to give us words. There’s structure and somebody in her corner saying, “Yeah, this is fabulous.” That little bit of support can make all the difference in the world. For us, Global Wordsmiths is all about community and building writers both in their craft and also in their self-belief.

I’ve read a lot about your LGBTQ+ publishing house, Butterworth Books. Can you tell us more about that?

Nicci: Butterworth Books is not your traditional publishing house as we don’t get any money from it. Every author that is with Butterworth Books is still an independent author, they have full control over their work and promo, and they get all their own earnings - but we make sure the product is done to a high level of production. It’s copy edited, development edited, it’s proofread, the cover design is quality and everything looks beautifully packaged. You get to retain your creative control and stay independent but have all the support of being with a publishing house.

What are the benefits of joining an indie publishing house, as opposed to mainstream?

Victoria: The route you take depends on what you want. If you just want to write, and you’re happy to hand it over for someone else to handle your marketing and all that stuff, it basically takes all the pressure off of you. But you have no control and they’re going to take royalties. If you’re good with that, then maybe traditional publishing is for you. However, if you want more control, don’t want to pay those royalties, and if you have some money to invest in your editing, cover design and marketing, then indie or self-publishing is a great way to go.

Do you have any future projects that you want readers to know about?

Victoria: We are hosting the Queer the Shelves Festival here at Waterstones in late May or early June. We bring in queer authors from all over the place - it’s a big thing for us and we would love for more queer people to come to experience that community. We also have our ‘Do It’ writing retreat at the end of March.

Nicci: We have four books coming out between us in 2023 too! Plus a full slate of books coming out for Butterworth this year.

Do you have any final words for novice writers?

Victoria: You have to believe in yourself and believe that your voice matters. It really does. Your experiences, your story, your generation matters. You have no idea who your book’s going to touch.

Nicci: If you want to write or have any questions, we’d love to hear them. Don't be afraid to reach out because we are happy to talk to you and help you take your next step. Look to the community to help get you where you want to go.

A night of poetry and storytelling, SMUT! Verbal Burlesque is Nottingham’s only open mic night dedicated to the exploration of human sexuality. A safe space (for those over eighteen), it’s a celebration of love, sex and everything in between. We catch up with organiser Ben Macpherson to find out more…

To begin, what led you into doing what you’re doing now?

There were two factors that really got me into the weird career I have today. First, I had grown up loving myths and legends that come from the ancient world, and I studied Classics at the University of Nottingham. We see so much of ourselves in the characters from those stories, and that echo of similarity doesn’t change. We all want stories about love, sex, vengeance, and triumph, and there’s everything in ancient literature, from the deeply erotic texts of Ovid to the profane, incredibly human moments that we can all connect with. Then, the second factor that got me into this career was an interest in comedy.

How did your comedy career begin then?

I started by doing stand-up. But, at the time I started it, I wasn’t confident enough in articulating my sexuality, and felt I had nothing much more interesting to say that other privileged, white, middle-class guys hadn’t already said. For me, my stand-up wasn’t very interesting. So, I stopped doing that, and instead got into sketch and improv, writing plays and one-man shows that led to me finding an interesting set of things to talk about again. Through all that, poetry came up too, along with many other interests. It’s all for the best, though, because if I went through my life restricting myself to comedy or poetry, then events such as SMUT! would not come about.

What improv events do you do around Nottingham today?

In Nottingham, I am one of the directors of a group called MissImp, who are one of the UK’s longest-running open access improv theatres. The easiest way to get involved with this improv is to come to the sessions we hold every Thursday at Malt Cross. There’s a core group of people who regularly participate, but there’s no threshold to joining and you don’t have to audition, so come along. There are certain genres and stories we like to work in: musical improv, improv inspired by video games. We have a show, for example, where we tell the lost stories of the Star Wars universe. It’s mad and brilliant.

Why do you think improv, theatre and performance have so much appeal?

There is a fascinating statistic about the difference in play time between children and adults. Children usually spend about 30-40% of their day in play. When you become an adult, that goes down to 3%. Upping that a little bit does so much for your mental health and confidence. Playing imaginative games, telling stories, allowing yourself to fail is so vital, and I think improv plays a role in that.

Could you tell me a bit more about SMUT! How did the event come about?

SMUT! Verbal Burlesque is a spoken-word poetry burlesque event. It started off as a kind of antidote to poetry nights. I love the Nottingham spoken-word scene, it’s where I got my grounding, and there are so many talented writers - but a lot of that scene is aimed at the poets rather than the audience. I wanted to create a night instead that focused on its audience, and which had a freedom to share poetry which doesn’t normally get shared. I wanted to make a space where you didn’t have to worry about traumatic things. Still, everything there is aimed at celebrating love, sex, and identity.

What attracted you (no pun intended) to the themes of sex and sexuality in poetry?

Well, sex is fun, which speaks obviously to the ‘SMUT!’ part of the event, and it’s playful, which reflects the ‘Burlesque’ part. Sex is also quite a universal experience as well; no matter the setups or preferences, it's something that we all have a basic connection with. One of the interesting things, however, is balancing sex and sexuality, because I think in a lot of queer spaces, it’s seen as quite a promiscuous thing. But actually, just because we’re talking about sex, does not mean that’s happening. It’s rather about finding connection through expression and experience.

How does this event add to Nottingham’s queer scene?

Queer spaces in Nottingham are excellent, but the city is also lacking sober queer spaces. At SMUT!, even though drinking is welcome, it’s not at all obligatory. Also, so often, queer spaces like this become highly stylised and fit into the same categories, such as drag performances. This is not to say that drag is not valid and artistic in its own right, but SMUT! is all about opening queer performance into other forms. It’s about celebrating the fact that we don’t need to even define what these performances of ‘sexpression’ are. Anything goes.

Finally, how are SMUT! events usually structured?

So, we start the event and have half an hour for people to get settled and sign up if they want to perform. Then, we have an invocation poem to set the mood for the event; essentially a poem telling the ethos of the night through poetry. After, we will go through our spoken-word performances. As opposed to many other poetry nights, we go through people’s first pieces very quickly, and then anyone who wants to do a second or a third piece (time permitting) can do so. That keeps things turning over quickly. We also have a community poem that we start off in the interval, so before the event I come up with a first line, and then people carry on, and I perform the poem at the end of the night. They are excellent - in the worst way possible!

SMUT! Verbal Burlesque will next take place on Wednesday 10 May at The Playwright theplaywright38.co.uk

Sex is fun, which speaks obviously to the ‘SMUT!’ part of the event, and it’s playful, which reflects the ‘Burlesque’ part. Sex is quite a universal experience as well; it's something most of us have a basic connection with

Members of the UNESCO City of Literature Youth Board, Connor Brown and Abi Hutchison, have created an event called Speak Easy in collaboration with Nottingham Playhouse. We chat to the duo about breaking into the creative industry as a young person and what the event means to them… literary skills help them to create their lyrics. And, as Abbie points out, there’s an exceptionally strong relationship between the forms of poetry and rap music, illustrating that creative forms are all on a spectrum with each other.

Moving into the creative industry isn’t always encouraged. There’s a lot of negative language used when discussing a career in the arts. Which is why one of the main aims of the UNESCO City of Literature is to push young people to connect with their creativity. And, likewise, this is why Connor Brown and Abi Hutchison decided to set up Speak Easy. Inspired by lockdown, which “gave the time and freedom for so many people to turn to an artistic outlet”, the pair quickly realised that there was real desire for creative spaces.

Described by Connor as “one of his go-to genres to listen to”, the connection between rap and poetry is especially prevalent in Connor’s life because he draws a lot of his inspiration from musicians. “When we have meetings, Abi mentions a lot about different writers that have inspired her, and I feel like a fraud sometimes because I don’t know half of the names mentioned as a lot of my inspiration comes from the rap scene, and specifically a lot of American artists such as Witt Lowry.” As Connor notes, it shows that “even though we operate in different art forms, they are so closely connected”.

Hence, Abi and Connor co-led and curated Speak Easy, the spoken word collective which is a testament to the incredible work they’re doing to encourage young people to showcase their own poetry. Held at one of the most established creative venues in the city, Nottingham Playhouse, it’s an accessible and inclusive space to hold open mic evenings and welcome “the best young poets Nottingham has to offer” to perform across various dates during the year.

But how did it all begin? Abi outlines that she is “lucky in the respect that I’ve been connected to the Playhouse since I was sixteen. I was part of the homegrown performers programme, which is about developing as a creative in the theatre scene, so I did a lot of writing and directing, and then I became part of the UNESCO Youth Board too.”

From the very get-go, the Head of Participation at the Playhouse, Martin Berry, was very keen to provide the space for the open mics to go ahead, even though the event is free. Therefore, following the go-ahead from Martin, Connor and Abi held their first meeting on 30 December 2021, where they welcomed a “much bigger turn-out than was expected”.

The spoken word, which the Speak Easy event centres around, comes in many different forms. From poetry and music to stand-up comedy, there is a distinct connection between them all, and they all influence each other in various ways. Many incredibly influential musicians regularly speak about how their love for literature has contributed to the success of their careers, and how their

Equality, diversity, and inclusion are also huge issues in the creative industry, and one of the main aims of an organisation such as UNESCO is to break down these barriers. Abi outlines that a fundamental issue of the creative scene is that institutions such as schools tend to just sit back and primarily allow only one voice to be heard: “It [the GCSE syllabus] gives people this preconceived idea of what success is and what you need to look like to be successful.”

Accordingly, one of Abi’s big achievements so far on the Youth Board is being responsible for writing the foreword for the Youth Manifesto for UNESCO City of Literature, which she says is a “promise to change for generations to come”. Finally, Abi rightfully recognises that while the creative scene showcases an “expansive array of voices”, and aims to tackle a tokenistic mindset, this is an issue in any industry and certainly does not exclude creative spaces. “There is a huge challenge of people seeking to look like they're being equal, rather than actually improving inclusivity,” she asserts.

Finishing up our interview, Connor says, “It’s just such a special place, and a place where everyone can belong,” speaking incredibly highly of the creative scene and how much it provides a sense of belonging and inclusion. He outlines that to “fit in the creative scene, the only requirements are, ‘Are you, you?’” With this in mind, he has such gratitude for the connections he has made; connections that “I never would have imagined that I would have made”.

Speak Easy’s next event will take place on Friday 19 May nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

Poet, daughter, friend and ‘goon’ (as she put it), Cleo Asabre-Holt was a beautiful soul with a wicked sense of humour. A talented writer and editor, she worked with us at LeftLion as an Editorial Assistant before going on to work at Penguin Books. We were incredibly sad to hear of Cleo’s passing late last year, and take this opportunity in her birthday month to celebrate her work and life by sharing this unpublished piece of hers, Butterflies, Canal Banks and Bikes…