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'Kindling the Scarp' - St Austell, Cornwall

Kindling the Scarp’ is a literary event based around the clay country writer Jack Clemo (1916-1994). Clemo was a novelist, poet, story writer and auto-biographer who lived at Goonamarris Slip near St. Austell. The event is to be held at Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum on the 31st May and 1st June. This first ever Jack Clemo Conference will bring together the local community of the china clay area and academic communities engaging with this writer of international significance. All are therefore welcome to all of the events planned over these two days.

      Those with an interest in Clemo and his work will be presenting 20-minute papers across the two days on his theology, biography and influences. Speakers will include John Hurst, Andrew Symons, Alan Kent and Patricia Moyer. The conference is just £10 per day and this amount also includes meals and access to the associated events, such as a clay country tour, hosted by Imerys and a mini-literary festival with poetry readings from James Goodman, Alyson Hallett, Alan Kent and Mick Paynter. The conference will end at Trethosa Chapel, with a new film by The Motion Farm and Cornish stories read by Will Coleman (Kernocopia) and Simon Harvey (Kneehigh and O-Region). For those not attending the conference it is also possible to book for the film showing of ‘A Different Drummer’, Norman Stone’s BBC film of Clemo’s life, for just £5.

      There is also a 10-day Jack Clemo exhibition taking place at Wheal Martyn - entry to the exhibition is free for conference-goers. This exhibition gets to the heart of Clemo and his work and includes drawings of Clemo by Heather Spears, portraits by Lionel Miskin, his writing desk and typewriter, photos, letters, manuscripts, and Clemo-inspired work by Tony Martin and by local artist Kyla Sidwell. This is the first time that all of these items have been exhibited together. Artefacts have been collated from the Jack Clemo Memorial Room, the Special Collections Library at the University of Exeter, the Royal Cornwall Museum, the Wheal Martyn Archive and private collections.

      This event is funded by a Public Engagement Award from the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Warwick.

For bookings or for more information about the events visit www.warwick.ac.uk/clemo. Bookings may also be made by calling Wheal Martyn on 01726 850362. Any inquiries, please contact Gemma.Goodman@warwick.ac.uk or lat210@exeter.ac.uk.

In the meantime, why not take a look at what you've missed by visiting our Past Events page?