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Nottingham Poetry Festival 2018: Hollie McNish & Cleo Asarbre-Holt Warm Up The Old Cold Store

With millions of YouTube views and wit to rival any stand up, Hollie McNish is the friendly face of home-grown British poetry. Nottingham’s thriving poetry scene packed into the Old Cold Store (round the back of the Vat & Fiddle) to see her and Notts-based Cleo Asarbre-Holt perform.

A Catch Up with Joe Dempsie

You’ll most likely recognise Joe Dempsie from his role as Gendry in HBO’s Game of Thrones, but the Television Workshop alumni has appeared in everything from Skins, to Doctors, to This is England ‘86 and ‘90, and then some. The West Bridgford lad’s come a long way since we first interviewed him for issue #49 back in 2010, so we grabbed a chat with him as we anticipate his potential scoop of the Iron Throne...

Preview: Banff Mountain Film Festival

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, which is currently touring around the UK, is stopping in Nottingham to showcase its action-packed programme of short films at the Nottingham Playhouse on the 2 May 2018.

Nusic Future Session: Ava Saint

Another newcomer impresses Nusic with their latest tracks...

Win Outlook Festival Tickets and A Sarah Cunningham Print

You heard us...

Film Review: Funny Cow

Maxine Peake laughs through the tears in this grim rags-to-riches drama set in 1970s Britain.

A Catch Up with Vicky McClure

Nottingham born and bred, Vicky McClure is a BAFTA award-winning actress, best known for her role as Lol Jenkins in Shane Meadows’ This Is England. We got down to this year’s Industry Week at Confetti to hear her story, and to reminisce about the times we interviewed her in the past...

Film Review: Here to be Heard: The Story of the Slits

Miriam Blakemore-Hoy checked out a special screening of the new documentary about legendary all-girl punk band The Slits at Broadway Cinema, at which band members Tessa Pollitt and Palmolive and director William Badgley were present for a Q&A

Film Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Inspired by the 2008 novel of the same name, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society follows writer Juliet Ashton (Lily James) and her relationship with the strangely named book club on Guernsey island.

The Thompson Brothers on LeftLion's 100th Issue

Our favourite green grocers are well happy for us...

Nottingham Poetry Festival 2018: All We Need Is The Art of Love

We've been looking forward to this one: “super sibilant sisters” Panya Banjoko and Abii spent their evening exploring their heritage through vibrant verse and music at the stellar Soetry event. We sent our Chloe Rose Whitmore down to hear what they had to say. 

Doing the Bookshop Hop at Nottingham Poetry Festival

A dazzling evening of new connections and resonant readings at two of Nottingham’s thriving bookshops, Blackwell’s and Five Leaves…

Nottingham Poetry Festival 2018: Lions and Tigers and... Trees?

Oh my. We've had a great time observing this year's poetry festival from the shadows, but this Thursday it was our turn to hog the limelight. Under a web of fairy lights, MC and organiser Aly Stoneman and co showed off some of the best and brightest poetry we at LeftLion have to offer. 

Nottingham Poetry Festival 2018: Tuesday's Child is Full of Poe(try)

Another day, another evening of poetic wonderment. We sent our Chloe down to the Fox and Grapes to check out this month's Poetry is Dead Good special, featuring comedy rap-battle legend and fastest tongue in the west Mark Grist. 

A Catch Up with Paris Lees

Paris Lees has come a long way. She’s been dubbed “the voice of a generation” by ID Magazine, and this year became the first openly trans woman to feature in Vogue, for their Meet the New Suffragettes piece celebrating 100 years of women’s right to vote. She’s a journalist, presenter, and transgender rights activist, now adding to the mix with a new book due to be released this year. Not bad for a girl from Hucknall...

Comedy Poet Elvis McGonnagall is Tartanned Up in Nottz

Described as “side-splittingly funny”, “flamboyant” and compared to performance poets Adrian Mitchell and John Cooper Clarke, World Slam Champion and festival favourite Elvis McGonnagall is set to take Nottingham by storm on Friday night at Antenna. Tackling topics of the day head-on, his stand-up style of delivery and polished verse critiques the world’s woes with charm, intelligence and a bag-full of Scottish colloquialisms. LeftLion caught up with him for a quick chat ahead of his show with support from Poetry is Dead Good’s Stephen Thomas and our very own Bridie Squires…

After They Left The Lion...

We’ve had thousands of brilliant and interesting people contributing to the mag for fifteen years. Plenty have gone on to do some proper interesting stuff after working with us. Here are a handful of the boggers…

A Catch Up with Jake Bugg

There aren’t many eighteen-year olds that get whisked away from Clifton, hailed as the new Bob Dylan, and sent around the various corners of the globe on tour. For a lad who’s just turned 24, Nottingham’s very own Jake Bugg has packed a fair bit in since we last spoke to him…

Nottingham Poetry Festival 2018: Another Manic Monday

This festival has us rushing about like a bunch of blue-arsed flies, and we love it. Here's today's round-up of all the groovy poetry that came out of Monday 24th April, 2018. 

Nottingham Craft Beer Festival is Happening in Sneinton Market

The secret is out. We’re gerrin’ involved in summat exciting, soon to hit the avenues...

Nusic Podcast #177 with Ady Suleiman, Nebula. Alex Blythe, VVV and more...

Comedian Ivo Graham Talks Australia Travels Ahead of Nottingham Glee Club Performance

Comedian Ivo Graham has been treading the boards of the nation's comedy clubs since 2009, when he decided stand-up was more exciting than studying for a degree in languages. While he's yet to really use his 2:1 in a professional capacity, the Eton and Oxford-educated graduate nonetheless has developed a style of comedy that uses his clear love of words to clear comedic effect. His latest solo show is Educated Guess is showing on Thursday 3 May 2018, at The Glee Club, Nottingham...

Alfa Mist Talks Antiphon and Touring Following The Bodega Gig in Notts

On Wednesday 18 April, Alfa Mist touched down in Nottingham at The Bodega so we grabbed a couple of words from him...

Wolfgang Buttress Loves Bees

Following its success at the Milan Expo in 2015, we spoke to Wolfgang Buttress about The Hive, in issue #75. The local artist created a huge, metal beehive pavilion that highlighted the bee’s importance to our ecosystem, and it was partnered with a soundtrack inspired by the buzzy boggers, written by Tony Foster and Spiritualized’s Kev Bales. The album, One, was critically acclaimed, and the crew took the pavilion experience to the stage with a soundscape throughout 2016. We caught up with Wolfgang himself, and asked him a few questions about his career so far...

Record Store Day 2018 at Rough Trade

Following the scrum for all of the limited edition Record Store Day vinyl, it was time for some free music upstairs at Rough Trade. We popped down to hear what they had on offer.