An Interview with Poet & Playwright Sibyl Ruth

SIBYL RUTH talks to JANE HOLLAND about her writing, Poetry Bites at the mac in Birmingham, and her plans for the future.

Sibyl Ruth is right at the heart of poetry in performance in the West Midlands; for the past five years, she’s been running the popular Poetry Bites open mic night at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham (affectionately known as the 'mac'). She is also a poet and playwright in her own right. Her poetry collections to date are 'Nothing Personal' (Iron Press 1995) and the chapbook 'I Could Become that Woman' (Five Leaves, 2003). She also contributed to the radio play by Tim Wright 'In Search of Oldton' which was broadcast on Radio 4 on February 13th this year. A poem of hers is due to appear in the magazine 'Obsessed with Pipework' and she’s currently reviewing poetry by Sharon Olds and Gwyneth Lewis for 'The North' magazine.


JANE: Firstly, Sibyl, thanks for agreeing to be interviewed for Poets On Fire. It’s a real pleasure to have you as our first featured artist. How did you get into poetry and what sort of work are you involved in at the moment?

SIBYL: I went to creative writing classes at the City Lit in London in the early 1980’s. I wanted to write a novel, only I got bad post viral fatigue syndrome (M.E.), which made it hard for me to concentrate on long projects, for several years. But I needed to read and write to keep my brain alive, so I began focusing on poetry.

I thought I was mainly going to do freelance work this year. While this started building up, it seemed likely I'd have some big chunks of spare time, so I had planned to have another go at novel writing. However I'm now starting a job which is funded for at least till 2008, so I think in terms of my own output, smaller - more manageable - writing projects will come first. I'm attempting some short stories.

And I'm revising a radio drama. I'm being encouraged to work on the playscript by a producer at BBC Birmingham - but as decisions about what gets broadcast are made in London, it's anybody's guess what will (or won't) happen. I'm doing a reading at the Poetry Cafe at the Gateway in Shrewsbury on 9 February - along with Roger Elkin and Chris Kinsey.

A lot of my employment is about promoting other people's writing and helping them to develop as artists. I enjoy this, but it can be a juggling act to make time for my own projects out of the workplace.

JANE: I believe congratulations are in order for your new job at Script in Digbeth. Can you tell me more about that?

SIBYL: Script is an agency for dramatic writing across the whole of the West Midlands. It doesn't just deal in writing for the theatre but for radio, TV and film as well. Script is for writers who may just be starting out, as well as for those who are becoming more established. Generally I'm going to be organising courses, conferences, events that will help playwrights and screenwriters in the region to develop their work. There are quite a few specific projects which I'll be working on; I'll be clearer on the detail once I've actually started! In the meantime anyone who wants to know more should check out the Script website.

JANE: Can you tell me about Poetry Bites at the Mac in Birmingham? How long have you been running that, how has it progressed as an event, and what does the future hold for its devotees now that you're moving on?

SIBYL: Yes, I've been organising Poetry Bites for just over 5 years - they happen every two months, so there have been 30 of them. The basic idea was to combine readings from a guest poet with open mic sessions. I was also keen to feature a real cross-section of guest poets. That way emerging writers in the West Midlands could not only try out their own work in front of an appreciative audience, but also hear a range of high quality poetry without having to go to London or travel to literary festivals.

Audiences have fluctuated. For the first couple of years numbers grew - then there was a patch when they dropped. I wondered if I should carry on doing the event, but there were always new attenders who'd tell me that they'd enjoyed the evening. So I felt I should stick with it and for the last year, more people than ever have been turning up.

mac is going to carry on featuring a variety of literature events. The future programme will be influenced by the interests and enthusiasm of whoever takes on responsibility for the literature/spoken word role, as well as by what old and new mac audiences want. So anyone who has got feedback and comments is welcome to contact Harpreet Jutlla - mac's Press Officer - and make their views known.

Of course, there's always the opportunity for people who are interested in organising Open Mic nights anywhere in the region to apply for a Grant for the Arts. I'm sure Adrian Johnson, who's the Literature Officer at Arts Council England (West Midlands) would be happy to advise anyone who wants to pursue this, about how to proceed.

JANE: So how important do you think these Open Mics events are for encouraging new talent at a grass-roots level, and do you have any ideas about how the Open Mic format could progress now that it’s becoming so popular?

SIBYL: I think they are an essential part of the poetry scene. They are places where new writers can test poems out, see how the rhythm works, whether the piece hangs together, get some audience reaction. Sometimes the reaction is an unspoken one - at other times people will come up to the writer and offer their comments. There's something wonderfully immediate about this. Of course if you're an emerging poet and you have a piece accepted by a magazine that's great - but you may have to wait for a long time - perhaps forever! - to get any feedback from readers.

I'd be interested in seeing 'Scratch Nights' for poetry in the West Midlands. At Battersea Arts Centre the cafe has a stage area, and they have evenings where people can have a drink while seeing performances of work in an early stage of development. I think it could be brilliant for poets to be able to perform in that kind of setting, and for the audience to be able to offer their own thoughts and responses.

JANE: Yes, it would be great if all poetry readings could electrify the audience (well, not literally!) but it has to be admitted that while all performers are equal, some are more equal than others. In your experience as a poetry facilitator, are there any common mistakes poets make when reading their work to an audience, and do you have any tips on improving performance skills?

SIBYL: I think it helps to go along to lots of readings, and work out which poets succeed in getting their work across and why. So being a good performer is linked with being a good listener and watcher. I think it's also important to be sensitive to the mood and general mix of people in the audience, and to be prepared to vary your selection of poems accordingly. That way performing becomes a genuinely communicative act.

JANE: I’d certainly agree with that, being sensitive to the audience is not always the first thing on a poet’s mind at a reading! But their needs should be considered before a poet gets up to the mic, with maybe a few minor adjustments to what they were planning to read or to what sort of introductions their poems might need for a particular audience. Finally, Sibyl, can you talk a little bit about the live poetry scene in the West Midlands? What’s going on in terms of performance opportunities?

SIBYL: The region covered by Arts Council England, West Midlands is huge! And there are massive differences between what is (and isn't) going on in Stoke-on-Trent, in Birmingham, and in mainly rural counties such as Shropshire and Herefordshire. Most poetry cafes, open mic nights etc have a limited life span so trying to map it all, is next to impossible. (However the Poetry Society, with the help of its members, does try - see their Landmark page. Some local libraries are Poetry Places, which means they should not only stock a good range of collections but have a range of information about poetry activity in the area.

Many parts of the region will also have literature development workers who can be useful points of contact. Members will be listed on NALD [National Association for Literature Development]. Apple & Snakes, the London based performance poetry organisation, has already appointed regional workers in the North West, South West and East Midlands. They are planning to appoint a West Midlands worker soon.

JANE: And are there any poets in particular we should be looking out for?

SIBYL: I'm interested by the work of poets who are influenced by more than one language or culture. So I admire the work of two young poets, Zoë Brigley (who is from a Welsh background, and Daljit Nagra (who has Punjabi Sikh roots.) Generally I'm drawn to writing on the margins, where there's a tension at work between outside and inside society.

There are two Birmingham writers who are, in different ways, good examples. Joel Lane's politics give his work a disturbing edge, while David Hart's poetry can resemble Old Testament prophecy - if you could imagine a prophet who is rooted in the reality of the UK in the 21st century!

JANE: Well, thanks for taking time to talk to me, Sibyl, and good luck with the new job! I’m sure everyone’s going to miss you at the mac.


LINKS TO mac AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS APPLES & SNAKES ETC CAN BE FOUND IN THE LEFT-HAND LINKS COLUMN, OR ON 'RAW LIGHT'.