Writing on the Wall Festival

This year's Writing on the Wall (Wow) Festival is about to leap into action. Here is information about the first two fantastic events:

Saturday 2nd May, 7.30pm

The Peña - Festival Launch Featuring Omar Puente and Cubania

Studio 2, Parr Street Studios, 33-45 Parr Street, Liverpool, L1 4JN
Entrance £4.00/£2.00 in advance, or on the door.

Únanse para el Peña del forastero or join us for the Peña of the outsider - an informal Chilean style gathering where all can express themselves through song, rhyme, prose, comedy or dance. In the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, WoW celebrates all things South American and Cuban, and the great movements of the people. Music is provided by Cubania, featuring Cuban jazz violinist Omar Puente. Challenging your feet to stay still, Cubania bring the humour of the Caribbean, the hot passion of Latin America and the cool style of Europe.

Come and take the mic along with our host, C Zero (Curtis Watt), and special guests John Graham Davies (Beating Berlusconi), Dave Evans (Portrait of a Playboy), Ade Jackson (latenight sistersongs), Kath McKay (Waiting for the Morning), Jenny Newman (Going in, Life Class), Janette Stowell (The Midnight Horror Tree) and Helen Walsh (Once Upon a Time in England). Chilean food will be served.

For more info about the fantastic Omar Puente click here.

Tuesday 5th May, 6.30pm

Chameleons and Shape Shifters
With José Eduardo Agualusa and Pauline Melville

Hannah's Bar, 2 Leece St, Liverpool, L1 2TR
Entry £4.00/£2.00 on the door

José Eduardo Agualusa, joining us from Lisbon, is one of the leading literary voices from Angola writing in the Portuguese language today. The Book of Chameleons won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2007. His 2008 novel, My Father's Wives, has been long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Arcadia will publish his latest novel, Rainy Season, this month.

Pauline Melville is the award winning Guyanese/British author of Shape-Shifter and The Ventriloquist's Tale. Her most recent collection of short stories The Migration of Ghosts was chosen by the New York Public Library as one of the best twenty-five books published in 1998.

The authors shortlisted for the annual Edge Hill University Short Story Prize will be announced at this event. The prize is co-sponsored by Blackwell bookshop.

The WoW festival runs throughout May and features Billy Bragg, Anne Enright, Steve Bell and many more outstanding artists. For full details of the WoW Festival visit their website or call 0151 703 0020