Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the BluecoatI’m just back from a six day break at a friend’s wedding in Nimes. Thank God for the late summer sun as I’ve not been out of Liverpool since April, which was the last time it shone. 

A couple of days before going the obituary for Grace Palley was in the paper, so I packed her collected short stories for the trip. There are not 400 pages in all her complete collection, written over a very long life, but I doubt there is a wasted word from start to finish and they reference her full life as political activist, mother and teacher. A couple of years ago she was due to come to a festival I was producing but became too ill to travel. Instead she sent a moving ‘home movie’ she made with her daughter. As such a committed writer she would have been just right for Liverpool.

Right now the Bluecoat is searching for a new programmer for books, debates and ideas. The building will be ideal; a 200 seat performance space which will have natural light, two 60 seat spaces with a small private garden and various break out rooms as well as the café and espresso bar. This must be as good a venue as anywhere in the country and the beauty of the new job is that it is more than programming events at the Bluecoat, it is also working with and encouraging other literature and book groups in the City to use the building.

We are not sure yet but we hope to continue our Liverpool Debates series when we re-open next year. I’ve been really pleased with the three so far, chosen and then decided by a public vote and the fourth has Lord Rodgers defending traditional politics from accusations of failure. With less than10% turn out in some Liverpool wards there is obviously a serious problem but is it with the politicians or the public?

Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat