Portsmouth writer to give reading of new book reflecting on childhood in the city at 60+ Festival
The new book reflects on the city’s past as well as the author’s personal history
A writer will give a reading of a new book that reflects on her childhood in Portsmouth and the history of the city at the 60+ Festival in the Guildhall.
Alison Light’s new book, Red, Red Robin, collates memories from the author’s childhood in Portsmouth in the 1950s and the effects of the memory of war on the city, balancing social history and autobiography.
Alison was part of the sixth generation of her family to be born in Portsmouth, and she grew up on Liverpool Road, Fratton.
“I wrote the book because I wanted to put myself back into history,” said Alison.
“I wanted to understand what made me - my family, our social world, the schools I went to - and also the bigger political and social forces like the Welfare State, which saved my life when I was a little girl or the free grants I had as a student, without which I couldn't have gone to university.”
“The book charts my girlhood growing up from the late 1950s to going away to college in the early 70s. I use photographs, songs and all kinds of memorabilia to conjure up the past - childhood books, my doll's house, my school girl diaries and scrapbook, for instance.
“There's plenty of humour and a strong sense of Pompey, its streets and shops as the city recovered from war. Being a teenager in the city was exciting - the big new shops, dancing at the Mecca, all the fab music - but going to the grammar took me away from home too, which is why the book is 'my long goodbye',” she said.
Alison also said the book “also reflects on the nature of memory and history writing”. She has previously released books reflecting on family history in Britain, including the 2014 release Common People, for which she was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in Non-Fiction.
“Portsmouth is where I came from, it's rooted in me, and where so many of my memories are - it is the past inside me. I try to resist too much nostalgia - not every memory is a happy one.
“But I also grew up with my parents' memories of wartime and poverty and that has also made me who I am, and forged my politics too.
“You can take the girl out of Portsmouth but you can't take Portsmouth out of the girl,” said Alison.
Alison will read an excerpt of her book as part of the Portsmouth 'Over 60s Festival' at 10:30am on Tuesday 6th October in the Council Chamber at the Guildhall, Portsmouth.
You can find out more about the festival here.