National Poetry Centre reposted this
Director of the National Poetry Centre, Leeds. Professor in Practice at Durham University. Formerly Director at Edinburgh International Book Festival and Trustee of Booker Prize
One of the many beautiful things about #LightNightLeeds is the way it showcases, right across the city, the incredible wealth of poetic talent in Yorkshire. Alongside Sharena Lee Satti and the West Yorkshire young poet laureates who've created a moving collaborative poem for the National Poetry Centre installation at Trinity St Davids, you can see a film of Khadijah Ibrahiim in the Motus Mori piece by Katja Hietmann for Yorkshire Dance and the #Transform festival on Assembly Street next to the Corn Exchange; hear Faye Marshall among others reading live at the Leeds Library for Chapel FM's SearchLights installation; and Testament performing alongside pianist Nika Ticciati in one of several unmissable University of Leeds installations. I'm sure there are others. One of the big-ticket installations features Jules Verne and HG Wells as part of the The British Library's beguiling animated projection onto the grand old Leeds Civic Hall. If you didn't manage to get out last night, there's still another day (Thursday 23 Oct) to come out and enjoy a city lit up by ideas; a city lit up by the hundreds of thousands of citizens who come out to enjoy the night. It's not just kids with light sticks and flashing hats: it's a whole city revelling in civic pride. There's no doubting the scale of the literary and artistic talent here, but Light Night is also the result of long, hard work by a lot of people giving their lives to culture in the city - people insisting on the arts as a way of navigating the difficult times, despite it sometimes nearly breaking them. Wieke Eringa, jo nockels, Ben Walmsley (plus a lot of others at Leeds Uni), Hannah Robertshaw and everyone at Yorkshire Dance, Amy Letman and the Transform team (plus their tireless chair Jane Bhoyroo), Peter Spafford, Tony Macaluso and everyone at Chapel FM, Jamie Andrews, Kenn Taylor and the team at BL North; and Natasha Howes. These are just a few of the many, many people who have had the courage to keep the lights on in defiance of the darkness. I am especially proud of my own brilliant colleague Emily Penn who has spent so much of emotional energy getting the National Poetry Centre installation up and running. There's no doubt that Mayor Tracy Brabin, and of course Leeds City Council throw their energy and financial support behind Light Night, but the event really wouldn't be possible without the continuing support of Arts Council England which not only backs Light Night itself, but provides vital regular funding to so many of the organisations presenting work in the city this week. Pete Massey spoke passionately at the opening reception about his belief in the power and impact of the festival. Even in such tricky times for England's national arts funder it was great to hear him spell out his personal commitment to the cause. Long may this defiant, exuberant and truly accessible free festival continue.