Fiction & Social History from the Black Country and West Midlands
NEWS:
14/04/08: WRITE ON ALBION GIG
CANCELLED
Due to the need for continued treatment from the haemophilia unit following his
recent prostate/bladder operation, Greg stokes has been forced to cancel the
Write On Albion show scheduled for 27th April. The show will now take
place around the start of the next football season, date to be announced.
02/04/08: LAUNCH EVENT
The seven new titles were formally launched at the Lamp Tavern tonight.
The event used a show format. Greg stokes kicked off procedings reading of
Dud Dudley's pre execution escape from Industrial Biography. Louise Stokes
came as Kimmy Sue Anne to read from Forts of Kmmy Sue Anne, and Billy Spakemeon
closed the half with readings from Tummy Jones - Odebry Mon. Carol
Hathorne opened the second half reading from All Shook Up, followed by Raymond
Smout reading from Pocketful of Memories - Roseville. Paul MacDonald read
two of the miscellaneous poems from Allan Chace and other poems, and Louise
Stokes closed the night as Pamela Mary Crabfish, one of the characters from
Conversations With The Family Of The Grotesque. An excellent night both
artistically and commercially.
22/03/08: FOREST OF DEAN SHOW KICKS OFF NEW LAMP
SEASON
It was great to be back at the Lamp again tonight. David Price, Dave
Harvey and Maggie Clutterbuck from the Forest were joined by Brendan Hawthorne,
Geoff Stevens, Louise Stokes, SG Grey and Greg Stokes from the Black Country for
another show of high quality entertainment.
15/03/08: ALLAN CHACE NOW AVAILABLE
The new Black Country Classic, Allan Chace & Other Poems is now
available. See the New Titles page for further details.
15/03/08: JULIE BANNER ON BOARD
With Greg Stokes' move back to social work practice meaning less time to run the
business, Julie Banner has taken on all typesetting for the Kates Hill
Press. This will be a great help and enable us to continue to roll out new
titles.
04/03/08: LAUNCH DATE SET
The 7 new Kates Hill Press titles, All Shook Up, Tommy jones - Odebry Mon, The
Forts Of Kimmy Sue Anne, Conversations With The Family Of The Grotesque, A
Pocketful Of Memories - Roseville, Industrial Biography - The Black Country
Chapters, and Allan Chace & Other Poems, will be launched at the Lamp Tavern
on Wednesday 2nd April at 8.00pm. All Kates Hill Press titles will be
available, there'll be readings from the new titles as well as from other
authors. Admission free. All are welcome.
22/02/08: ALL SHOOK UP & POCKETFUL OF MEMORIES -
ROSEVILLE NOW AVAILABLE
Carol Hathorne's All Shook Up, and Raymond Smout's Pocketful of Memories -
Roseville are now available. See the New Titles page for further details.
21/02/08: FOREST OF DEAN GIG CONFIRMED
The fourth Forest of Dean "cultural exchange" gig will take place at
the Lamp Tavern, Dudley on Saturday 22nd March 2008. Tickets £5.00
available form the Kates Hill Press.
08/02/08: ALLAN CHACE PROOF RECEIVED
The proof copy of Allan Chace and Other Poems was received from Lightning Source
this afternoon. It will be available in the next few weeks. See the
New Titles Page for further details.
08/02/08: MASTERS SENT TO PRINTERS
Master copies of Carol Hathorne's All Shook Up, and Raymond Smout's A Pocketful
of Memories - Roseville were sent to the printers today. Both titles will
be available in the next few weeks. See the New Titles Page for further
details.
05/02/08: UPDATE
The draft of John Summerton's novel Taken Over was forwarded to the author for
corrections today. The book will be available in the autumn.
01/02/08: NEW SEASON AT THE LAMP
Dates have been booked at the Lamp Tavern for a new series of shows.
Details of line ups will appear in due course, but the dates are:-
Sat 22nd March
Sun 27th April
Sun 1st June
Sun 13th July
Sun 7th Sept
Sun 26th Oct
Sun 21st Dec
24/01/08: UPDATE
The draft of Louise Stokes' novel Faerie Dust was forwarded to the author
for corrections today. The book will be available in the autumn.
24/01/08: ALL NIGHT CAFE MEETING
The All Night Cafe Caberet troup of performers (Brendan Hawthorne, Geoff
Stevens, Louise Stokes, Greg Stokes) met in Bilston tonight as the project
starts to take shape. It is hopesd that performances can start in the
summer.
21/12/07: LAMP SHOW A STORMER
The Xmas show at the Lamp tonight warmed the audience on a cold cold
night. Carol Ward opened procedings with some seasonal poems which had the
crowd roaring. Emma Rollason then came on as Dolly Allen to make them roar
some more. Louise Stokes closed the first of 3 halves as the chav poet
Kimmy Sue Anne, well safe innit. The seond half was given over to the
ABs. Billed as Walsall's finest... and rudest, they lived up to their
reputation, airing some old favourites like Donna Kebab, and some new seasonal
material. John Summerton opened the third half with a brilliant resurrection of
the 80s quiz show Catch Phrase. Greg Stokes followed with Doctor, and
Brendan Hawthorne closed the show with a mix of poems and songs. The night
closed with a rendition of Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody. It was great
to be back at the Lamp and there'll be more shows in the new year.
Proceeds from the night's raffle will be forwarded to Brian Dakin for Breast
Cancer charities. £50 was raised. Many thanks for your
generosity.
19/12/07: SUE DAKIN
It is with great regret that we have to announce the death in the early hours of
this morning of Sue Dakin, wife of Brian Dakin, Billy Spakemeon. Sue had
been battling breast cancer since 1995. Her bravery and zest for life in
the face of adversity were truly remarkable and inspiring. Our thoughts
are with Brian and his family and our condolences go out to them.
SUSAN DAKIN (1953 - 2007) RIP
18/12/07: GREG STOKES READS AT BARLOW
Greg Stokes read Cheap & Cheerful for the first time at the Purple Patch
Christmas party tonight. Louise Stokes read from her novel Faerie Dust.
14/12/07: NEW TITLES NOW AVAILABLE
Tummy Jones - Odebry Mon, by Billy Spakemon, The Forts Of Kimmy Sue Anne,
and Conversations With The Family Of The Groteque, both by Louise Stokes, all
£3.00 (plus 50p p&p) are now available. See the New Titles Page for
further details.
07/12/07: BOOKS TO PRINTERS
The proofs of Billy Spakemon's Tummy Odebry Mon, and Louise Stokes's Forts of
Kimmy Sue Anne, and Conversations with the Family of the Grotesque were sent to
the printers today.
01/12/07: SLIDE LAUNCH
Brendan Hawthorne's latest collection of poems, Slide, was launched at St Luke's
Church Hall, Wednesbury tonight. In a show of 3 halves, Brendan was joined
by Geoff Stevens, Alex Barzdo, Keith Melbourne, and Greg Stokes to provide a top
night's entertainment.
30/11/07: INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY - THE BLACK
COUNTRY CHAPTERS NOW AVAILABLE
The third in the Black Country Classics series, Industrial Biography - The Black
Chapters, is now available. The original book by Samuel Smiles was
published in 1863. The chapters on Dud Dudley and Andrew Yarranton are
reproduced. Price £3.00 (plus 50p p&p). See the New Titles Page
for further details.
29/11/07: DOCTOR NOW AVAILABLE
Greg Stokes' CD Doctor is now available, priced £4.00 (plus 70p p&p).
See the New Titles Pages for further details.
28/11/07: SORRY, NO MORE UNSOLICITED MSS
The Kates Hill Press can no longer accept unsolicited mauscripts.
Unbeknown to us, our details have appeared on such sites as firstwriter.com and
have elicited a huge increase in submissions from all over the world despite the
information stating clearly that we are a regional small press. In the
past we have tried to look at everything that is sent to us, even if it is some
time before we respond. We feel we have to make this move to stem the tide
of submissions.
26/11/07: GREG STOKES TO READ AT SLIDE LAUNCH
Greg Stokes will be reading Doctor at the launch of Brendan Hawthorne's new
collection of poems Slide, on Saturday evening. The launch is to take
place at St Lukes Church Hall Wednesbury. Contact Brendan on the Poetry
Wednesbury website (links page) for further details.
23/11/07: PROJECT UPDATE
A number of projects are nearing fruition now. Tommy Jones - Odebury Mon
by Billy Spakemon, corrections done; The Forts of Kimmy Sue Anne by Louise
Stokes, corrections done. All Shook Up by Carol Hathorne, first draft
typeset. A Pocketful of Memories - Roseville by Raymond Smout, first draft
typeset. The Black Country Classic Allan Chace and other Poems by John
cornfield Junior has been retypeset ready for submission to Lightning
Source. The full length books Faerie Dust by Louise Stokes, Taken Over by
John Summerton, and The Kingston Agenda by S.G. Grey have all bee n
typeset. The CD Doctor by Greg Stokes is also ready to go into production.
17/11/07: IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
Louise Stokes has developed a whole dysfunctional family of characters to go
with her chav poet Kimmy Sue Anne and she has brought all the material together
in a collection, Conversations With the Family Grotesque. The Kates Hill
Press intend to publish this alongside The Forts of Kimmy Sue Anne. This
will be the first time we have brought two titles out concurrently by the same
author.
16/11/07: INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY READY TO ROLL
The first draft copy of the Black Country Classic, Industrial Biography - The
Black Country Chapter by Samuel Smiles was run off today. The two chapters
from his 1863 book cover the lives of Dud Dudley and andrew Yarranton. The
booklet is priced £3.00 (50p p&p) and will be available shortly. See
the New Titles page for further details.
09/11/07: GREG STOKES READS AT EXHIBITION LAUNCH
Greg Stokes read at the launch of the Black Country Visions Art Exhibition at
Wednesbury Art Gallery today. The exhibition is of works by Black Country
artists including Rob Perry, Brian Fletcher, Paul Hipkiss, Lynne Jeffery, Arthur
Lockwood, Austin Moseley, Jo Naden, Peter Shread and Malcolm Sier. The
launch included a full programme of entertainment and locsl fayre on offer
downstairs - grey pays. The entertainment started at 12.00 with two local
musicians dressed the part. Alfie followed with a 45 minute set of his
poems and comic observations. Billy Spakemon wand Greg shared the next 45
minutes but with Billy having to scoot back to work sharpish after four poems,
Greg was able to read Doctor and The Grant both of which have an art
theme. The entertainment concluded with a talk by Steve Bott on local
history. It's a great exhibition, do get along to Wednesbury Art Gallery
and see it. There was a good turn out for the launch and the
24/10/07: BOOK CELLAR NOW AVAILABLE
Barry Morris's short story collection is now available, price £8.00 (80p
p&p). See New titles page for details.
18/10/07: TICKETS FOR XMAS SHOW NOW AVILABLE
Tickets for the Kates Hill Press Xmas show at the Lamp Tavern on Friday 21st
december are now available, £5.00. Contact Greg Stokes on 01384 255973.
18/10/07: PROOF COPY OF BOOK CELLAR RECEIVED
The Kates Hill Press received the proof copy of Barry Morris's The Book Cellar
this afternoon, and as all was ok, we are, at long last, to order a run of this
title. It will retail at £8.00 (80p p&p)
10/10/07: CAROL MIDWOOD WINS WEAKEST LINK
Kates Hill Press author Carol Midwood was on tonight's Weakest Link show,
emerging as winner!
06/10/07: ECHOES OF FIANO VAFORTORE M/S RECEIVED
After 3 years work putting this project together, Billy Spakemon delivered the
manuscript of his book about an Italian man's journey to the the Black Country,
Echoes of Fiano Vafortore, to the Kates Hill Press this evening. Watch
this site for details of this project as it unfolds. Earlier in the week,
the draft copy of Billy's latest book Tummy Jones - Odebry Mon was sent out to
him for corrections.
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