Friday, June 14, 2013

The Repurposed Magical Tent

I'm excited to launch, today, The Repurposed Magical Tent, a re-issuing of my debut book of poems, The All-Purpose Magical Tent, via Twitter.




It consists of 285 poem tweets, delivered by 5 characters: The Ringmaster, The Lion Tamer, The Bearded Lady, The Carousel Attendant, The Tightrope Walker. It lasts 19 days, and then, like all good circuses, uproots to restart again, 2 days later.

And, what's more, it's illuminated by its illustrations, hand-crafted specially for the project by a wonderful team of B.A. Illustration students at Plymouth University, all expertly masterminded by James Brocklehurst.



Twitter seemed the logical next step for the project: the book's so much about many voices (circus folk only a part of the picture), about concern for silence voices (the monster, the anchoress), and about cycles (the world turning, history starting up again) that Twitter offers  a space for that off the page.

I'm hoping people will tweet back, and join in the narrative. Perhaps some will illustrate as a way of continuing the conversation. The characters will themselves be tweeting to one another, and perhaps to you, too!

To get involved, follow one or all of @garosello @theringled @1beardedone @tropewalk @leotame - all five gives you the complete Repurposed Magical Tent, or you can just follow one thread.

Follow me @lyttonjsmith
And if you want the original book in all its paper and ink: here