My apologies if the awesomely sensitive antennae of the Forum members have picked this up already. Hay on Wye - the Welsh town best known for its plethora of second-hand bookshops and annual literary festival - now hosts a music and philosophy festival called...How the Light gets in. The website is http://www.howthelightgetsin.org, sporting a natty smashed light bulb logo.
I wonder which other of our man's lines could inspire an entire festival. The 'Did my Best, it wasn't Much' festival of extreme modesty springs to mind.
David
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
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david birkett
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HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.
Re: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
I did pick this up and wondered....maybe Leonard will appear there next year if he's not touring...pure speculation on my part, I might add!
Re: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
My daughter and I went to the Hay Literary Festival yesterday (attended that day, for no particular reason I could see, by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who I admire, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who I do not) to listen to the new Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, the first woman to hold the post ever.
HowTheLightGetsIn was not part of the festival itself, but was being staged on the outskirts of the town, in a deconsecrated Methodist chapel. It was rather lovely, very innocent, very redolent of the early seventies: I almost expected to pick up the scent of petulie wafting through the yoga class.
It was advertised as a Philosophy Festival, a remarkable idea in itself. Most mornings there were talks and debates. Topics were: The Life and Death of the Enlightenment, The Age of Immorality, The Failure of Reason, Banks Bonuses and Inequality, The Tyranny of the Individual, The Limits of Freedom, New Ways of Thinking, Imagination in Economics, 21st Century Enlightenment, Science and Religion,Imagining the Sacred, Future Culture.
At other times of day there was live music, while all around there was an art exhibition (of recent pop-art, which to me seemed very retro, but I suppose there is a whole generation now who has never heard of Andy Warhol and imagine a screen-print of Marilyn Monroe is something new).
There was a café/bar doing a good business, and all the staff wore black T-shirts with the phrase on the back 'HowTheLightGetsIn'. I asked one of them who came up with the name for the festival, and they told me it was the festival director Hilary Lawson. I didn't see any acknowledgement of Leonard but, pleasingly, I got the impression everyone knew where the words came from anyway, so naming him would have seemed redundant.
A remarkable ten-day event, and I wish I could have stayed longer.
HowTheLightGetsIn was not part of the festival itself, but was being staged on the outskirts of the town, in a deconsecrated Methodist chapel. It was rather lovely, very innocent, very redolent of the early seventies: I almost expected to pick up the scent of petulie wafting through the yoga class.
It was advertised as a Philosophy Festival, a remarkable idea in itself. Most mornings there were talks and debates. Topics were: The Life and Death of the Enlightenment, The Age of Immorality, The Failure of Reason, Banks Bonuses and Inequality, The Tyranny of the Individual, The Limits of Freedom, New Ways of Thinking, Imagination in Economics, 21st Century Enlightenment, Science and Religion,Imagining the Sacred, Future Culture.
At other times of day there was live music, while all around there was an art exhibition (of recent pop-art, which to me seemed very retro, but I suppose there is a whole generation now who has never heard of Andy Warhol and imagine a screen-print of Marilyn Monroe is something new).
There was a café/bar doing a good business, and all the staff wore black T-shirts with the phrase on the back 'HowTheLightGetsIn'. I asked one of them who came up with the name for the festival, and they told me it was the festival director Hilary Lawson. I didn't see any acknowledgement of Leonard but, pleasingly, I got the impression everyone knew where the words came from anyway, so naming him would have seemed redundant.
A remarkable ten-day event, and I wish I could have stayed longer.
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Last edited by hydriot on Sat May 30, 2009 3:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
Re: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
More pictures
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“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
Re: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
Huge billboard at the other end of town
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“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
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david birkett
- Posts: 302
- Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:05 am
- Location: HITCHIN, ENGLAND
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Re: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - THE FESTIVAL
Very interesting report and pictures. Thanks, Hydriot.
The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.