Snapshots - Graphic Novel Inspired by Wedding Present Song Titles

 A Song Title became a Short Story became a Graphic Novel

It started with the band the Wedding Present and their excellent song writer David Gedge,
it continued with the writer Louise Hume (in collaboration with Tara Gould from Brighton's Short Fuse/Story Studio Live Lit event) who invited other writers to write stories based on the Wedding Present's song titles.

Some of these stories were read by the writers at the Edge of the Sea Festival in Brighton in 2010.
The stories were liked by the band and the fans.
Finally, illustrator Lee Thacker was invited to "do the drawings" for the stories ...

and the result is a graphic novel!

Apart from my story, I'm From Further North Than You, there are little gems like Mark Sheerin's Brassneck, Erika Szostak's Model, Actress, Whatever ... and Wendy Ann Greenhalgh's The Trouble with Men.

Snapshots is for sale here.

At the Edge of the Sea Festival

Yesterday I was on stage at Concorde2 for the first time. I opened At the Edge of the Sea Festival by reading my short story I'm from further North than you, which was inspired by a Wedding Present song with the same title.(The Short Story organisation Short Fuse was behind this idea and there were three more reading acts throughout the day.)The singer of the Wedding Present - David Gedge - said my story was naughty, but then it was his lyrics that started it all off ...

The headlining band was of course The Wedding Present, but I also enjoyed David's other band Cinerama (picture) and the Ukrainians among other bands. I think it's a great idea to mix literature and rock. Good news is that the selected stories will be published in an anthology that will be sold as Wedding Present merchandise. My story will most likely be illustrated in the format of a graphic novel.

I must confess that it was quite nerve-wracking to open up a festival - just ten minutes after I arrived. After my reading I felt faint and had to go and sit on the beach, at the edge of the sea.

Photo: James Burt