Discover the heart and soul of Script Haven Ltd. as the remarkable Leena Batchelor, former Worcestershire Poet Laureate, takes us on a journey through the evolution of her dream. From her early days seeking solace in poetry to nurturing a community bookshop that blooms as a sanctuary for self-published, indie authors, and main stream publishers, Leena's story is one of unwavering resilience and dedication. She opens up about the challenges faced by creative communities, the critical role of the arts in emotional well-being, and how she turned adversity into the thriving pulse of literary and artistic expression that Script Haven Ltd. represents in Worcester, England.
Leena recites her poignant poem Shades of Existence, which speaks to the universal struggle against emotional harm. She highlights her commitment to mental health awareness and the far-reaching impact of her voice, touching lives during the solitude of the UK's COVID-19 lockdowns. From leaving poems in public spaces to rallying the support of the Hollywood Vampires for her empowering youth play, Out of the Darkness, Leena Batchelor embodies the very essence of poetry's ability to foster connection, inspire change, and leave an indelible mark on society.
Discover the heart and soul of Script Haven Ltd. as the remarkable Leena Batchelor, former Worcestershire Poet Laureate, takes us on a journey through the evolution of her dream. From her early days seeking solace in poetry to nurturing a community bookshop that blooms as a sanctuary for self-published, indie authors, and main stream publishers, Leena's story is one of unwavering resilience and dedication. She opens up about the challenges faced by creative communities, the critical role of the arts in emotional well-being, and how she turned adversity into the thriving pulse of literary and artistic expression that Script Haven Ltd. represents in Worcester, England.
Leena recites her poignant poem Shades of Existence, which speaks to the universal struggle against emotional harm. She highlights her commitment to mental health awareness and the far-reaching impact of her voice, touching lives during the solitude of the UK's COVID-19 lockdowns. From leaving poems in public spaces to rallying the support of the Hollywood Vampires for her empowering youth play, Out of the Darkness, Leena Batchelor embodies the very essence of poetry's ability to foster connection, inspire change, and leave an indelible mark on society.
I've been through quite a few challenging personal situations and at the time you just think there's a darkness in your life. I've come to a point now where I look back and think, well, I wouldn't have wished them on anyone. But I also don't regret them because by going through that journey and where I am now.
Speaker 2:
I wouldn't change this. I wouldn't change this for the world, changes for the world and specialists in subjects dear to my heart the environment and social justice. To help the show reach more people, please share episodes with friends and family and on social media, and remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to this podcast. To financially support the show, go to thebookshoppodcastcom, click on support the show and you can donate through. Buy me a coffee. Okay, now let's get on with the show. You're listening to episode 252.
Speaker 2:
Located in Worcester, england, script Haven is the safe place for words, old and new. The bookshop stocks self-published and indie authors, as well as Main Street publishers, and supports local artists and crafters and various charities through in-store events. Born from the awareness that all communities need safe spaces, script Haven provides a hub for community and individual use, providing facilities for advice, counseling and education. Owner Lena Batchelor has a track record of successful projects, with her acclaimed Commandery Museum exhibition in 2022, resulting in a coffee table book and a play Out of the Darkness offered free to schools in 2021, which attracted support from Hollywood vampires to use their music. Lana now has five solo collections available, as well as a series of photography combined with poems from her tour of Scotland's NC500. Hi, lana, and welcome to the show. It's lovely to have you here. Hi, mandy, it's a pleasure to be invited. Good Well, let's begin by learning about you and what led you to poetry.
Speaker 1:
I think it was as a teenager. I found it was far less painful than hitting a wall in frustration. I was isolated as a child growing up, had all these thoughts and impressions, as you do growing up as a young teenager, and I had no other outlet for them. So I started writing them down and it just seemed to come naturally the easiest form for me. It was quick, it was powerful, it was emotional. So I wrote it down in poetry and I kept every single piece I wrote from the age of about 16, squirreled away in little notebooks, little boxes, little slips of paper. And I've just continued ever since.
Speaker 2:
I love that you did this and continue to do it, because I'm a big believer in the phrase it's better out than in. Any emotion that you have is better written down on a piece of paper or played in a piece of music or perhaps creating a dance, and it's so healing to get that emotion out. I don't know what it's like in the UK, but the arts are gradually sliding away from education and that breaks my heart.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. Yeah, it's a real battle in the UK. Arts funding in the UK is constantly being cut, whether it's in schools or in the community. It seems to be the first target. And yet being creative in any form is so important to our emotional mental well-being.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it absolutely is, and I 100% agree with you, and I also believe that being creative teaches us problem solving skills. Yes, okay, now we know what led you to poetry, but what was the impetus behind creating Script Haven Limited? How did you raise the funds needed to make your dream a reality, and what is Script Haven Limited? That's kind of a three pointed question there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so Script Haven. It came about after a long-term frustration. I do a lot of spoken word events for charities, for organisations, as do quite a few of my friends, and there hasn't been a go-to venue in the city where we knew we could have this hosted, get an audience and not be charged a fortune. That was the biggest you know stumbling block. Communities, charity organisations can't afford to pay for a venue. Combined with the fact that I've got five collections out and three of them are self-published. And even when I was Worcestershire Poet Laureate, the local sort of high street bookshop which is part of a national chain, I went to them and said look, you know, give me a table, I'll bring the books, I'll bring an audience, give me a signing. And they said no, they wouldn't stop my books. And I found there was a lot of other authors, self-published or small indie presses, who are having the same experience. I was like that's ridiculous. There's so much talent out there. They deserve a real, you know main prominence um outlet for their work.
Speaker 1:
I was discussing this with friends, um, in summer of 22 and said you know, in an ideal world, if I lived a dream, I would have a bookshop with a cafe you host events wouldn't be an issue. We'd focus on these independent authors. And they just went. Why aren't you doing it these days? And you know, after quite a long protracted getting myself back on my feet, after a personal situation, I was like, you know, I'm feeling secure, I've got my own home, and you know. And they went no, no, no, no, no. Those are excuses. What's the reason you're not doing it? And that shifted my mindset, because I've got a bucket full of excuses. I haven't got a reason. So I started looking into the feasibility. I thought, well, I can keep myself safe, ish, and set it up online. Set the company up, have a look at premises, starts really formulating what we wanted to do for community, for schools, reaching out and liaising with them.
Speaker 1:
And an ideal premises became available and I was like, oh, I like this one, but it's high street and it's a very prominent position on the high street in our city. So I'm not sure I could afford that rent. But the developer said well, you need to go and have a word with the business owner, because it was a cafe and it closed due to the owner's ill health. I said, okay, I'll have a conversation. Um, the landlord was very reasonable.
Speaker 1:
The rent was at the top end of our budget, but it was in there and the cafe owner went I'll sell all the equipment. And the cafe owner went I'll sell all the equipment coffee machine, commercial kitchen at the back, the tables, the chairs, everything. I was like that saves a fortune. That's incredible. I'd be ridiculous to walk away from that. So I said yes, but I still had no idea where I was going to get the money for the deposit and to buy all the equipment. And 48 hours later, an acquaintance of mine I knew him but I didn't know much of his background he reached out, went oh, I know you're trying to reach out to community. You want to provide this hub for community. How much do you need to open the doors? And he gave us the money.
Speaker 2:
Wow, that's fantastic, I was absolutely stunned. Wow, that's fantastic, I was absolutely stunned. So are you a non-profit organization?
Speaker 1:
We're not a non-profit group. No, we're not a non-profit group because the rules and regulations around that would restrict the way we could possibly grow the project no-transcript. But it gives me complete freedom on how we can develop things because we've constantly got new ideas coming on board and coming in. We had our first authors fair last month, so we invited local authors, independent authors, into the shop to come meet readers, meet other prospective writers. We had 30 authors and we could have filled the space three times over. So next year we're going to have to get a bigger venue and hire a bigger venue to do it. We've got a festival coming up next month. It's just so many ideas and so many projects that we're developing.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, once you start thinking about ideas, they just snowball right, it does, it does. Let's talk about self-published authors. I self-published my first four books, or three books in a novella, and in retrospect my first book could have done with another edit. Now, having said that, I was very lucky. I sold 10,000 books out of the three books and the novella and I'm proud of that. But there are many self-published books out there that could have done with a couple more edits or better cover design, better formatting, the correct information on the copyright page. How do you make sure that the standard of the self-published books you put in the store are equal to self-published books in their standard or even higher?
Speaker 1:
To be honest, we've been very lucky. The quality we've been presented has been phenomenal and we've had no qualms at all. I think if we had somebody who came, who was new to the industry, who maybe it was their first book, we would sit them down, give them some advice, give them some pointers. There's a whole group of us that work behind the scenes and if we're not writers ourselves and we're editors or we've got contacts of editors and local presses, so we would always point them in those directions. Just go ask the questions. We'll do some research to get some feedback for you.
Speaker 1:
We also host a writer's circle, which is we've got a number of well-established writers as well as new, inexperienced writers in the group, and we find that that's a really good platform for them to get advice. It's about providing a safe haven and a hub for people to try these things, to experiment and to learn, and that's why the authors fair was so important, because they had some really well-established self-published authors there. We had a number of people coming in saying I've just finished my first book, how do I go about the next stage, what's the best thing to do? And I think you know the feedback we got was everyone came away with. You know everything they wanted and a lot of advice.
Speaker 1:
so yeah we've been very lucky so far.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's good to hear. Now, books in mind, can you tell us about Black Pear Press, the small press that published two of your collections?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so Black Pear Press I mean that was set up in 2013 by a couple of local writers who pretty much a mindset as myself, knowing that there was a lot of really good independent authors out there who couldn't get published and that seemed unfair. So they've got various backgrounds. One is the chair of the Open University Poetry Society, polly Stratton. We've got Anthony Judge, who's got a background in telecoms, run his own business. He's an author himself, so he's got a good financial background. And then we've got Professor Rod Griffiths run his own business. He's an author himself, so he's got a good financial background. And then we've got Professor Rod Griffiths, who was the Director of Public Health, so he's got a lot of sort of experience in anecdotes and stories and together they host I think it's about 30 authors.
Speaker 1:
They've got now in their books from poetry to fiction to non-fiction to children's, got now their books from poetry to fiction to non-fiction, to children's. And I was first published by them as part of the prize I won when I became Worcestershire Poet Laureate, which was to have a collection of poetry published by Black Pear Press, which was invaluable because they do the editing, the cover work, they do a lot of promotion and marketing and launch, and they've then since published a second collection of mine. So yeah, local black pear, because black pear tree is synonymous with Worcester. Yeah, they're a lovely group of people to work with.
Speaker 2:
I've never seen a black pear. Are they actually black?
Speaker 1:
They are, yeah, they're black skinned. Yeah, they're very, very rare. There's very, very few. I think there's only about half a dozen trees left in the county, so they are very rare.
Speaker 2:
I may need to go to Worcester just to see a black pear and taste one. Lena, while researching you, I read that you quote deliver poetry to raise awareness of diverse societal concerns and promote mental and emotional well-being, end quote. Would you like to read us one of your poems that touches on one of these subjects?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's one I wrote last year. Actually it's called Shades of Existence Brews. It came about because there's been quite a movement to recognise the experiences of all genders, irrespective of their personal situation or how they identify, and the fact that emotional and mental harm is, it's not gender-based. So that's how this came about. When did we make gender the agenda? At what point did it become okay to separate believability based on a person's sexuality? Look again at the penultimate word in that sentence.
Speaker 1:
Person Abuse is abuse. It is an aggressive act against a human being, one of humiliation and pain. Forget the playground. Rhymes of sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me. Words are a double-edged sword. Words can build you up or they can destroy.
Speaker 1:
A bruise is a bruise. It doesn't appear differently on a man's skin to a woman's. It doesn't hurt any more or less if it comes from a man or a woman. If the one you love and cherish means so little to you that you can attack them on a scale of one to ten, the pain you cause is in the thousands, because each act drives their love into an abyss of tears and fear. When did vulnerability become weakness? Being open to feelings, caring, being anxious that the pain will come again in waves so ferocious they can no longer stand against the storm is not frailty, it's human.
Speaker 1:
Do not never, ever underestimate the effect of a person's words or actions upon another, regardless of their gender. When the bruises have stopped the shine of their smile, when lived experience has driven a person to the darkest, lowest possible, without the hope of a ladder to climb out, why is it relevant to define whether it's happened to a man or a woman? It happened to a person and it shouldn't have. Look again at the person. Remove gender from the agenda. There you go. Um, it was a lot of situations where I've become very, very aware that men don't often talk about their own mental health struggles. Um, it's not seemed quote unquote manly. You know we use all these terms like you're man up or you know all all of these things, and that's ridiculous because, regardless of how you identify yourself, you're a human being and you have feelings, and your feelings are just as valid as anyone else's. And I think there's certainly within the poetry scene, spoken word scene, there are more and more avenues to explore that and talk about that, where everybody feels safe to do so.
Speaker 2:
I find what you're saying incredibly interesting and it relates to a conversation I had with the owner of the poetry pharmacy in the UK.
Speaker 1:
Oh, Deborah Alma, she's lovely.
Speaker 2:
Oh, isn't she sweet and so talented. Well, deborah and I were chatting about how exciting it is to see so many poets evolving on social media. We both agreed that we need more spaces for these poets, young and old and all the ages in between, where they can come together with more experienced poets and writers to discuss their poetry, to read it out loud and learn skills from professionals. We need more creative people and especially, more poetry in the world, especially poetry like the one you just read. Oh, fantastic.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, well, we now host. Worcester actually has three monthly open mic poetry nights, very different genres, and all three have actually asked to be hosted at Script Haven, so we now run them all.
Speaker 2:
Gosh, that's great, you are a busy lady. Keeps me out of mischief For a while anyway. Yeah, your poem you bought Bruising, and the thing about verbal abuse is it doesn't leave a scar that people can see on your skin or a bruise. It is all hidden and man it hurts. It's painful and cruel.
Speaker 1:
It is. Yeah, it's like putting nails in a fence, isn't it? You can take the nail out, but the hole is still there.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's a great analogy, Lana, you were the Worcestershire Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2021. What events did you compose poetry for during that time?
Speaker 1:
It was a very challenging time because the lockdown in the UK had just started because of the pandemic the COVID pandemic. So I had to really think outside of the box on how I was going to engage community, because we couldn't go out to events, we couldn't go to schools, we couldn't hold in-person events. So I started off with little things like writing poems to just boost people's mood and pick them up and sticking them on the walls of the flat or leaving them in different places. And when we had some restricted openings and we were allowed to go around local places, I've got some local businesses to put posters up with, you know, poems just to encourage people. I devised a calendar to raise funds for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. My eldest son is in the forces. Well, both my sons are in the forces. My eldest son is in the forces well, both my sons are in the forces. My oldest son is in Rimi and I asked local photographers to give me a favorite photo for a month and then I combined it with an uplifting poem for each month and all the funds went for that.
Speaker 1:
I did online events for things like the Poppy Appeal for Remembrance. So I had 11 poets, so 11-11. It hosted online an evening of laureates, so we had former Worcestershire Poet Laureates going back about 10 years. So we had an evening conversation on Zoom, which was accessible for everybody. Gosh, well, I did private commissions for schools, for youngsters, to learn how writing poetry can help them to empathise with the situation with other people or understand their own thoughts, as it did for me. And that was done as a series of videos where the teachers could use resources either in a whole series or as individual ones. Each one stood on its own as well, with a different theme.
Speaker 1:
And then, just as we came out of the pandemic, we've got a lovely museum in Worcester called the Commandery, and it was the site of the last battle of the English Civil War.
Speaker 1:
It's one of my favourite buildings in Worcester. So so I did an exhibition of because I believe poetry isn't a standalone art form, it combines with every form of creativity. So I combined photography with poetry, music, history and had an exhibition where the visitor could walk around at their own pace, in their own direction, and look at photographs that were taken at unusual angles. It was called space and shadows, to look at what's behind or between the obvious that we see in our everyday lives and think about the legacy we leave as we pass through life and just reflect on that a little bit. So I did. That resulted in my final collection to date, which is a coffee book table. Which people? It's got a little QR code in so you can even scan it and listen to the music that was playing in the exhibition, so it gave people a reflective calm space because going back out in the world's full of anxiety right now, especially after pandemic, so that was a nice safe space for people.
Speaker 2:
Do you have a copy handy so I can see the cover?
Speaker 1:
I do indeed she says it's in her non-fiction section. It's the cover of the book. That's the actual building. So an example is got photographs on one side, poetry on the other. So just little photographs. So yeah, I did all the photography for that as well.
Speaker 2:
You did an awesome job. It is stunning. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Deborah from the Poetry Pharmacy Do you see poetry as having somewhat of a resurgence?
Speaker 1:
Oh, very much. So I think people have finally come to terms with the idea that it's not something that sits on the dusty bookshelf that you're forced to read at school, that it does have a relevance every day. It doesn't just have to be about fields of daffodils or flowers, which are lovely, you know, the classic poets are lovely, but there's so much to write about every day, about our every day, and about people, about situations. And it's wonderful to see youngsters. We see it at our open mic poetry nights. We have years of older teenagers 17, 18 year olds getting involved right the way through the age demographic, which is just wonderful. And, like you said, on social media and on TikTok and on Facebook, you're seeing all these really really talented poets actually stepping up to the platform and expressing their words, which is wonderful, really exciting.
Speaker 2:
Yes, it is Now. I would love to hear how you gained support from the Hollywood vampires to use their music for a play you wrote titled Out of the Darkness. Vampires to use their music for a play you wrote titled out of the darkness. It just seems like such a big step and you did it.
Speaker 1:
It's great. Yeah, that was one of the madcap schemes I came up with when I was poet laureate. I wanted to write a performance piece which explored humanity, the environment, society, but I didn't want it to be a case of right. This is what you must do about it. I wanted it to say this is what's happening, what do you want to do about it? And it's for schools and youth groups to perform.
Speaker 1:
So the challenge was I write in poetry. That's a niche audience. How do I make this more relevant and appealing to a wider audience? Video work, music particularly genre of music and combining those. And the idea is that schools can set the stage the way they feel fits their voice. So one school has done it as a dance piece with a narrator and another school has done it purely as a drama piece with the music playing in the background, and it gives young people the self-esteem and belief that their voice is valid and deserves to be heard and will be heard. So to prove that, let's get some big names to actually listen and say, yeah, this is a good idea.
Speaker 1:
And the Hollywood Vampires, which is Alice Cooper, joe Perry, johnny Depp they had just released their latest album, rise, which I absolutely adore. I love those guys and their music and there were two songs on there that kept playing over and over in my mind the tone of the music, the lyrics. So if I put rock music with poetry, people are not going to expect that and they're going to come, want to come and see what it's about. So I started sort of like emailing and messaging on social media, every single avenue. I could think of their fan groups, their music, um agents, the record agents everywhere, all over the place. I wasn't.
Speaker 1:
For six months, I wasn't really getting any response and I thought well, you know, I know I can pay the royalty and the copyright fees to use the music, that's fine, but I would like some kind of comment from them. It would mean a lot. It would mean a lot to the young people taking part. And then suddenly, out of the blue, I got an email from one of Johnny Gluck's closest friends, as you do, and it was very much along the lines of um. We've heard you tried to do something with his music. What on earth? Well, it's kind of like this this is what I want to do and it's you know it's not for profit.
Speaker 1:
So I do the workshops. I get all the video work that I've done. It's just shy of an hour long play, so they get all of that for free. And you know, build self esteem, know, build self-esteem. Everybody's heard this song and, by the way, here's the script. This is what I've written, thinking yeah, that's as far as it's going to go, or it'll be like, uh, yeah, we don't think so. And then it was a few weeks later. I got a beautiful email and reply which, just when, yeah, the band are really honored and delighted to have been thought of, give you permission to use the music for this purpose. So it's just, you know, for the play. And then gave me the most incredible quotes to actually help promote it to the schools do you have any of the quotes with you?
Speaker 1:
yeah, it Out of the Darkness. Lerna has created a hugely important and timely piece of work in which we are honored to offer our own minor contribution. We salute all those involved, both in front of and behind the scenes, for their expertise and good conscience in highlighting the concerns we all, as one species, face today. Sincerely, alice.
Speaker 2:
Jo and Johnny Gosh. That's fantastic. And who was your liaison between yourself and the band?
Speaker 1:
It was a friend of Johnny's. Yep, it was a friend of Johnny Depp's.
Speaker 2:
You know, years and years ago, when I was a stylist, I worked with Alice Cooper. Oh, did you? Yes, but I can't remember what it was, for. It was a long time ago. He'd been sober a while, and I had been too, and he is the loveliest, loveliest man.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yes, and what I love is the ethos of those guys. They generally passionately put back into their communities and for young people especially know, especially with Alice's Rock School, and I just think it that's wonderful to have those people when I presented to the schools and said, look, these guys have read the words you're about to perform and they believe in you. So that makes people oh well, if they believe in us and we're worthy, we're valued and other people would listen. If they listen, other people will listen and we could be them. We can aspire to be that. So it's all about building that self-esteem and that hope and that sense of self-worth for young people which young people really, really need these days.
Speaker 2:
I love what you're doing, lena, and uh, it's just magical. So what's next in store for you?
Speaker 1:
Well, I mean Script Haven is only eight months old. The end of January, the Times readers voted us the third best independent bookshop in the UK. Not quite sure how that happened. We didn't know that was happening until the report was released, delighted. We've just done some major refurbishment works inside the shop to enhance the space, because we're now supporting around 200 independent creatives, which is um just stunning congratulations.
Speaker 1:
That's fantastic yeah, I'm working on two books at the moment. One's a novel and one's a collection of flash fiction horror flash fiction, which is another genre I write a lot for, and I think it's just being here every day. That's what's next in store, just making this the best creative hub it can be, and what are you currently reading?
Speaker 1:
Currently I'm actually reading a book called the Innocence by Bridget Walsh. It's a small press, small indie press, gaelic press, and the first in the series is called the Tumbling Girl. It's based in well, it's set in a Victorian variety theatre and it's a mystery whodunit crime with a lot of humor and romance in there as well. It's just really well written. It's not a genre I would normally read, but I'm loving it. I am loving it, so yeah.
Speaker 2:
Lana, it's been great chatting with you. I admire everything you're doing with your community, with writers, with poets. Thank you so much, and I truly adored the poem that you read. Thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 1:
I I truly adored the poem that you read. Thank you.
Speaker 2:
Thank you very much. I'm in my happy place. You've been listening to my conversation with Lana Batchelor, owner of Script Haven Limited in Worcester, uk. To find out more about the Bookshop Podcast, go to thebookshoppodcastcom and make sure to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to the show. You can also follow me at Mandy Jackson Beverly on X, instagram and Facebook and on YouTube at the bookshop podcast. If you have a favorite indie bookshop that you'd like to suggest we have on the podcast, I'd love to hear from you via the contact form at thebookshoppodcastcom. The Bookshop Podcast is written and produced by me, mandy Jackson-Beverly, theme music provided by Brian Beverly, executive assistant to Mandy, adrienne Otterhahn and graphic design by Francis Farala. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.
