Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Re-writing climate change: novelist invites you to bring her story to life
Dr Lucy Burnett’s novel, Through the Weather Glass, is a re-writing of the classic Icarus story, which tells the fictional tale of Lucy’s struggles to understand environmental change during a 2,500 mile solo cycle ride from Salford to the Greek Island of Ikaria, where Icarus fell. The book is a hybrid novel – combining a range of different genres of writing and art-forms, including fantasy travel writing, poetry and documentary photography.
With the support of Arts Council England and the Centre for Culture and the Arts at Leeds Beckett, Lucy will be inviting members of the public to engage in an interactive version of her book which aims to get the audience to think about climate change in new ways.
Participants can pedal a bike connected to a generator to power an animated Google Earth film of the novel’s cycle route, accompanied by a poetry narration and music by Thea Gilmore and Eddie Lang. They can also respond to prompts in a writing zone and pin paper poetry feathers to a large pair of willow wings.
As Lucy explained: “Rather than seeking solutions or persuading the audience of a point of view, the Through the Weather Glass installation playfully invites the public to participate in creating more positive stories about climate change than we usually hear.”
The installation is set to be launched with three dates: Tuesday 19 April at the King’s Arms in Salford at 7pm; Wednesday 20 April on the second floor of Leeds Beckett University’s Broadcasting Place building at 5pm; and Thursday 21 April at the Kava Café in Todmorden at 7pm.
It will then be going on a tour of book festivals and book spaces around the UK throughout 2016, starting with the Bradford Literature Festival in the Broadway shopping centre on Saturday 28 May from 11am to 4pm and the Leeds Big Bookend in the Trinity shopping centre on Saturday 4 June from 10am to 5pm. For full tour dates and to watch a film trailer of the installation, please visit https://throughtheweatherglass.com/.
Lucy added: “Each launch event will have a different emphasis, but in every instance the audience will have a chance to ‘have a go’. The Salford launch will involve a live poetry performance on stage with the film as backdrop; in Leeds I will provide a short introductory talk introducing the concepts behind the book and installation; and in Todmorden, I will get the machine started before asking the audience to help me pedal all the way through the one hour film!”
For more information, or to request to attend one of the events, please email Lucy Burnett on lucyburnett75@gmail.com or call 07766 737521.