£14.00
175 in stock
By Liz Bentley
ISBN: 9781849913317
Published: 2010
Pages: 103
Key Themes: poetry, humour, relationships
Description
The title of the book is a tongue-in-cheek response to the pressure of wining a 5000 writing commission from Shape disability arts as part of the Cultural Olympiad. The original ten line poem Comfortably was the starting point of the work. Liz performed the final piece at the Southbank in July 2009 as part of the London Literature Festival. The poems are about her experiences from winning the commission to its performance one year later. Themes of the work include her job as a therapist, being in therapy, relationships, separation, bereavement and having multiple sclerosis.
Other poems are work that she has been performing on the UK poetry comedy literature circuit for the last 6 years since her last book Tales in the Deep End published by Eatlatinanddie books in 2004.
About the Author
Liz Bentley is a writer, poet, comedienne, host, programmer, musician, mother, therapist and insomniac. She was born in Essex in 1964 and moved to London at 21. She lives in Peckham with her two children.
Liz sought psychotherapy at 23. Struggling with bulimia, drugs, relationships, abuse and the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, her therapy allowed her to be creative and provided a way of making sense of her difficulties.
During her analysis she trained as a counsellor. She now works as a therapist in primary care in Southwark, has a private practice and is one of the quirkiest voices on the UKs spoken word scene.
Since winning Short Fuse Poetry Idol, then Poetry Idol the Rivals in 2003, Lizs writing and performance has gone from strength to strength. Armed with her Casio keyboard and ukulele she has been featured at events such as Ledbury Poetry Festival, London Literature Festival at Southbank and Alternative Village Fete, National Theatre. She has had three successful Edinburgh shows 2008 being in Edinburghs only swimming pool venue, a solo show then hosting over 100 other writers performers in the pool
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Douglas Cairns (verified owner) –
A very fine book written by a very fine woman. I read this on a flight from Amsterdam to Aberdeen and found it so good I read it the next week when I flew from Amsterdam to Houston … it was stunning the first time and mega stunning the second time. Today I fly back to Amsterdam and may well read it again. I was touched by the wit, wisdom and honesty in this book. It is open, revealing and very very funny. I have never met Liz but feel privileged to have had this insight to her mind, heart and soul. When I read it for a second time I tried to imagine what some of the work would look and sound like if she was performing it live in her kitchen. It was very entertaining. The next step is to tell others to get this book and change your life. I think you can read it any place you like. Not just in airplanes you could read it in bed, sitting at the table or even on your bike.Great book well worth the money !!!