Music and spoken word event comes to Darlington's Hash Bar & Kitchen

Hark! The Sound of Stories is making its way to Hash Bar & Kitchen on Coniscliffe Road on Thursday, February 2 at 7pm.

The event is organised with the support of Arts Council England, The Lottery Fund, Creative Darlington and Tracks

The first of these events started in November 2019 and with Crown Street Library currently undergoing renovations, HARK! has found a new home at Hash Bar.

Hash Bar & Kitchen on Coniscliffe Road in Darlington (Image: Aja Dodd, Newsquest)

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The audience will have music and readings in an intimate, friendly, candle-lit and fully accessible space.

Through the HARK! Book Exchange, audience members can bring a copy of a favourite book to leave, and pick up a new discovery in its place.

With music from Newcastle’s Jayne Dent who takes influences from folk and art pop, and Darlington author Lisette Auton will read an extract from The Hundreds, by Lauren Berlantand Kathleen Stewart.

Expect atmospheric electronica can be expected from Rebecca Denniff, a singer and composer based on the edge of the North York Moors National Park.

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She is currently working on two projects with cult label Castles in Space: Wardle Rigg (a geo-located tour of the wild moors) and a folkloric almanac called A Year on Bonfire Hill, with collaborator and partner David Owen.

Award-winning poet and author Harry Man will read an extract from C.S Lewis' The Magician's Nephew.

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Kim Ralls will also perform and his songs draw on a mixture of his own experiences, the inspiration he finds from books and films with his guitar and cello-mandolin.

Although plans for more live events were derailed by the pandemic, with support from Creative Darlington and Darlington Borough Council, throughout 2020 and 2021, a series of virtual HARK! events premiered on YouTube and featured artists from around the world and closer to home, inspired by writers including Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes, Angela Carter and Langston Hughes.

Acts included; The Bookshop Band, Stick in the Wheel, Polly Paulusma, Leyla McCalla and Josphine Foster, and writers Tom Cox, Lisette Auton, Dianne Casey and more, with all introductions, filmed at Crown Street Library.