Subway at Greenbelt '02

If you're a Christian artist and it's August Bank Holiday, there's only one place where you're likely to be: Greenbelt.

So Subway had to be there...

Subway café events were held as part of the Between the Lines literary venue in the Jesus Christ Superstore tent (great name, Greenbelt organisers, although we don't know if it quite lives up to the sublime tones of other Greenbelt venues... Snog and Smooch!)

Our Subway posters plastered the site, inviting creative writers to come to our open mic sessions each evening over the weekend. Sometimes you have to step out and create the opportunity, without quite knowing who's going to turn up and what to expect...

But over the three nights we were entertained by at least sixty different voices emerging from the Greenbelt public. Each writer was allowed a slot of 10 minutes (nicely trimmed down to 5 by the second evening due to demand for slots!) to read their work to an open-minded and appreciative audience. Freedom to express yourself in public was the aim rather than to unearth quality and perfection. But the quality was surprisingly high: from Tim Summer's hilarious vole poem, a gobbledegook version of Little Red Riding which made absolute sense in a strange sort of way, to a stirring poem about clocks and much more. To honour that quality the Subway core quintet handed out Subway mechandise to the best of each night.

And no night is complete without stars. So, many thanks to Catherine Fox (Angels and Men), Jon McGregor (If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things) and Simon Morden (Heart) for reading from their remarkable work, and the encouragement that their very success could provide for the rest of us plebs!

Inspired? Come to other Subway events.