23 photos

POET JASON HAS A HOLLYWOOD FAN
Jetsetting south Essex author Jason Shelley has a Hollywood fan after a trip to New York.
Jason, who grew up in Beresford Gardens, Hadleigh, met movie star Ben Stiller in a coffee shop during a book tour.
They discussed Jason's poetry collection, Grey Love, and the actor, best known for comedy films like Meet the Parents, accepted a copy.
Jason, who attended the Deanes School and Westwood Primary, said: "I was with my agent after doing a book signing. We were sitting near a woman we later realised was Monica Lewinsky when Ben came in with his wife.
"My agent asked a waitress to give him a
copy of the book and he came over and had a chat. He seemed quite an amusing guy."
Grey Love was published in 2003, to critical acclaim, after the success of Jason's first poetry anthology, No Looking Back.
Jason is currently photographs as part of an installation in Butterfly Walk, Camberwell, with British artist Sarah Lucas.
The artwork by Vishal Shah, for his latest title, The Romance, an episode in the life a young writer was exhibited as part of the Threads exhibition, in April and May this year, at the Tank Gallery, in Ladywell, curated by Deeqa Ismail.
Please visit http://www.tlon.co.uk/ to see the work. You can also buy the hardback which has all the artwork from the story in it. £8.99 from any good bookshop or buy online

Jason Shelley - New York encounter
Actor Ben Stiller - coffee meeting
Picture: Maxine Clarke

Courtesy of Katherine Legge, Evening Echo, Southend-on-sea