Ralph Dartford, Marianne Dissard

Come hear two authors perform from their books at Tom Thumb Theatre on 24th September from 8pm.

Ralph Dartford and Marianne Dissard met at the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester in the spring. They now bring their acts to Margate's littlest lit' theatre.

Recovery Songs by Ralph Dartford is a cycle of narrative poems that focuses on the fall and rise of the human condition. These are stories of love, abandonment, abuse, addiction, loss, and by the end, a redemption earned. Unflinching and funny at times, this collection takes its reader through a life lived in the margins, and asks: how do we recover when everything appears lost?

Ralph Dartford hails from Basildon in Essex, and now lives in West Yorkshire, having got there via Australia, Barcelona and Los Angeles. He was the founding member of influential spoken word collective 'A Firm of Poets', and his first collection of poetry, Cigarettes, Beer and Love was published by Ossett Observer Presents in 2013. A new collection, Recovery Songs also touring as a spoken word show is now available from Valley Press.

Not Me by Marianne Dissard is not your typical recovery memoir. By far.

A stunning and searing tale from eccentric musician and artistic powerhouse Marianne Dissard, this debut book is a beautiful and deeply affecting piece of literature.

The book tackles eating disorders and the mental health of a touring musician but, "disguised as a contemporary take on one woman's attempt to regain life balance through yoga and self-awareness, the text is actually an existential howl on the order of Duras, Daumal, Bataille." (Kurt Voss).

The confetti-loaded stage adaptation of Not Me premiered at Tom Thumb Theatre in 2018 and was performed in the fall 2019 throughout East Kent during an eleven-day walking tour. The performance will tour theatres across the UK from April to October 2020, including a stint at Brighton Fringe.