PLU Presents featuring Tanya Ko Hong

Poets, musicians, writers and wayward academics: the PLU England Tour 2020

Each year for the past five, Paris Lit Up, spearheaded by Emily, our leader in logistics, has gathered a merry band of performers and sent them on a creative spree across England. Performing from town to town, we joined with other artistic communities to feature at events, crash open mics, and attend and teach workshops. Once or twice we thought we might have wandered into a cult by mistake. Packed city theaters, countryside pubs, student auditoriums, even the trains that transported us: we performed with max enthusiasm, delighted to be surrounded by our fellow artists.

2019’s performers, in transit

The pandemic scuppered those plans so we’ve adapted. Highlighted in this video are the diverse skills of many of the tour’s performers including Emily Ruck Keene, Edward Bell, Helen Cusack O’Keeffe, Malik Crumpler, Gracie Bialeckie, César Eduardo, and Matt Jones.

Click on the pictures below for a glimpse into the video:

The human connections, cultivated in a performance’s afterglow, we will miss the most. That moment when two strangers meet, allow themselves a moment of vulnerability, and become two human beings, distinct, imperfect, worthy of love. Torrents of thanks to our collaborators for taking that risk and opening their creative spaces to us:

·         Mary and David Lambert. Poetry Unlimited, Bristol.

·         Oliver Cable,  London.  

·         Josephine Corcoran. Trowbridge Stanza, Trowbridge.  

·         Richard Stephenson, Dreading Reading, Reading.

·         Darren, Anything Can Happen, Oxford.

·         Perry Gollo, Emmanuel English Conversation Café, Bristol.

·         Helen and Stella, Satellite of Love, Bristol.

·         Rhys Ashton Tucker, Bristol/Bath.

·         Geoff Davies, Riverfolk, Lechlade Upon Thames.

And many others!!

Despite everything, our community flourishes, and you can be a part of it. We invite you to join this historical moment by emailing your work (via WeTransfer) to info@parislitup.com

Guidelines

·         3-minute max. video (unless you are the feature)

·         save in .mp4 format (please no Youtube links, unless it is the only copy of it)

·         please film horizontally - your camera that is, not necessarily your person

·         name of your piece, the artist, location and any other relevant info in the title

·         decent sound and image quality

·         Fresh footage, from this moment of confinement

List of Artists

The PLU 2020 England Tour Team (feature), Ursula Wynne (host), Gombak Hillbillies, Rufo Quintavalle, Emily Ruck Keene, Ed Bell, Elia Cohen, Matt Jones, Mila Ovchinnikova, Oliver Cable, Richard Stephenson, Carolyn Batcheler, Rhys Ashton Tucker, Vivienne Vermes, Maiya Sinclair, Paul Collins, James Walton, Kathy Tytler, Ian McKenzie, César Eduardo, Gracie Bialeckie, Malik Crumpler, John Hicks.