Book Launch for ‘A Glimpse of the Numinous’

Jeff Gardiner reading Heartwood from ‘A Glimpse of the Numinous’

Special Guest: Marc Beer playing one of his own compositions

The six finalists: Jeff’s Creative Writing students
who read out their fiction, monologues and poetry

A glimpse of the melodramatic: reading from ‘Writer’s Block’

A glimpse of the ‘old’minous

The evening was a celebration of creativity and the written word. Six creative writing students – Daniel Harris, Lydia Clark, Steven Hardy, Chris Patey, Tahrif Naqvi and Olivia Meagher – read out their fiction, monologues and poetry. Their writing came out of a workshop on ‘Numinous writing’: expressing that sense of the sublime or metaphysical – of something out the ordinary.

A competition was also held for absurd definitions of the word numinous. Here are some of my favourites:

“spooky bats and magic” (Emily Gardiner, aged 7)

“Nu-min-ous – ba ba ba-ba ba” – To the tune of the Muppet’s ‘Ma-na-ma-na’ (Marc Beer)

“Not Usually Materialisation Infact Nearly Only Usually Supernatural” (Steven Hardy)

“An aspect of being at the right place at the wrong time, in a place that you never normally go to, breaking away from routine” (Samuel James Martin)

“A fear of words you do not understand” (Chris Patey and Holly May)

“A feeling of restless anxiety” (Kate Green)

“The opposite of ‘oldminous’ (Gerald Gardiner)

“A journey of exploratory fears” (Priscilla Hill)