Yorkshire Writers'
Newsletter
August 2014
It's mid August, the sun is high in the sky and all is calm. Breath deep,
relax, enjoy the peace and this, the latest Yorkshire Writers'
Newsletter.
Come September everything will swing into action again and this
issue contains lots of details of the fun to come.
WRITING YORKSHIRE NEWS
Writing Yorkshire are continuing with our
series of masterclasses and we have more in the pipeline. The latest
Masterclass is detailed below, for more information click on the links or
visit our website here
Novel Writing
Masterclass With Gavin Extence
This Masterclass will be held at Bank Street Arts on Saturday 8th
November, between 10:00am – 1:30pm
Gavin Extence is a multi-award winning novelist whose work has been
translated into seventeen languages. His first novel, The Universe
versus Alex Woods, was selected as one of the Waterstones 11 best debuts
of 2013, was part of the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club, topped the
Amazon Kindle Christmas charts, and went on to be an international
bestseller.
Gavin has just finished writing his second novel, due to be published in
March 2015, and is working on a third.
This masterclass is suitable for all aspiring novelists, whether you are
just starting out or have been writing for years.
It will include:
An in-depth look at the craft of novel-writing: beginnings, endings,
plotting, research, structure, characterization, dialogue and
editing.
Advice on getting a first novel published: how books are bought and sold;
how to approach agents and editors; how best to pitch your work; the
pros and cons of self-publishing.
Practical writing tips: beating writer’s block; finding and developing
new ideas; fitting your writing around other commitments; how to
write with an audience in mind; working with your own strengths and
weaknesses.
Five key writing skills and how to develop them.
More info & booking via the Writing Yorkshire website here.
Writing Groups Fair 2014 - a Community Event for Off
the Shelf
The Writing Groups Fair, organised jointly by Jenny King and Writing
Yorkshire, is returning to Sheffield this autumn as part of the Off
the Shelf literary festival. It will take place on Saturday October 11th.
from 1.30 to 4 p.m. at the Central United Reformed Church, Norfolk
Street, Sheffield, opposite the Crucible Theatre.
You may have taken part in last year’s very successful event and this one
will follow a similar pattern but with even more writing groups.
Running at the same time will be an open mic session, open to all and
which, this year, will be hosted by our very own Ray Hearne.
If you and your members would like to take part by taking a stall, to
show what and where your group is, to perform and, if you wish, to
recruit more members then all you have to do is contact us to reserve a
space. Tables are free but space is limited and tables are booking up
fast. Groups need to book in advance – on a `first come, first
served’ basis, if you are interested in reserving a space then please do
contact as soon as possible.
To book a table or a performance slot, please contact Geoff Briggs at
Writing Yorkshire:
Email: info@writingyorkshire.org
Phone: 0114 3830456
Post: Writing Yorkshire, Bank Street Arts, 32 - 40 Bank Street,
Sheffield S1 2DS
For other enquiries or more information please contact Jenny King:
Email: ednjenny.king@btinternet.com
Phone: 0114-2366225
Don't forget that we are offering an opportunity to work
with Writing Yorkshire.
Writing Yorkshire is seeking a new
Director to continue our existing range of work, develop new projects,
and lead the organisation through the next stage of its growth and
development. More details here
We welcome your details of events, writing
groups, courses, workshops, open mics, in fact anything to do with
creative writing. If you have anything that you would like us to
publicise then please send the details to us at this address: info@writingyorkshire.org - we'll be
happy to pass the details on via the newsletter or our website. If you
know of anyone that you think may be interested in the newsletter then
please do forward a copy on to them.
OTHER NEWS
David Mitchell:
Acclaimed Author
of Cloud Atlas in Conversation
We have a special Off the Shelf event coming up. Sheffield is the first
date of a small UK tour by Author David Mitchell and the only
northern event, so it is a real coup for the festival to welcome one of
the foremost and most important contemporary writers to the city.
David Mitchell was described in the Independent as ‘one of the most
brilliantly inventive writers in this or any country’.
Chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003, his
multi award winning novels include Number9Dream, Black Swan Green
and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. His novel Cloud Atlas
won many awards including Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year,
was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and made into a film starring
Tom Hanks in 2013. His stunning new novel is Bone Clocks, a
kaleidoscopic story of an unusual woman’s life.
When:
Monday 1st September at 7.30pm
Where:
Crucible Theatre, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1
Tickets:
£10 / £8 (concessions) from Sheffield Theatres Box Office
Contact: Web
- Sheffield Theatres
Tel -
0114 249 6000 or in person at Crucible Theatre Box Office
More info:
offtheshelf@sheffield.gov.uk
.
Writing Weekend
Beside the Seaside
Two residential Writing Weekends for writers of prose and poetry,
Participants, who may be practiced writers or beginners, will write, read
to each other, discuss and use the outside world of town and sea as
stimulus for writing. Students will be able to choose their own
genre – prose or poetry. They will be encouraged to try out new ways of
writing, and to think about structure, viewpoint, setting and language.
The weekends will be led by Liz Cashdan - lecturer and writer. She
was awarded regional Arts Bursaries in 1984, 1985, 1990 and a Travel
Bursary in 1993 which took her to Scandinavia in the footsteps of Mary
Wollstonecraft.
She has poems in New Women Poets edited by Carol Rumens for
Bloodaxe 1990; a narrative sequence, The Mariner's Tale, in Troublesome
Cattle, Smith/Doorstop 1991; The Tyre-Cairo Letters won The Jewish
Quarterly Poetry Prize. Her sequence, Tour of Mont Blanc was published by
Smith/Doorstop in Almost Like Talking 1993.
1. Writing Weekend; 17th-19th October in Bridlington. Tutor Liz
Cashdan.
More details and a booking form from: lizcashdan@onetel.com
2. WEA Writing Weekend: Sept 26th - 28th: organised by the WEA in
Bridlington.:
More details: WEA online Writing by the Sea
- Email: yhresidentials@wea.org.uk
or phone: 0113 245 3304. Those on benefit free. Tutor
Liz Cashdan.
.
Festival of
Writing Opportunities
Fancy pitching
your work direct to agents? Then book your place at The Festival of
Writing!
If you want to meet Literary agents; if you want to learn new writing
skills or understand techniques more clearly; if you want proper
Book Doctor feedback on your work from professional authors, and ex
commissioning editors; if you want to get together with lots of
people who are passionate about writing and be inspired then…You need to
be in York between the 12th - 14th September
For full programme and speaker details then dash to the Writers Workshop website
Tickets start from just £175, and that includes meals & refreshments.
We hope you will be able to join us and look forward to meeting you.
.
Shedloads of Work
Celebrating the
100th Anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas worked in his Boathouse at Laugharne for the last four years
of his life and produced some of his most important work there
including Under Milk Wood. Dylan’s work was full of a strong sense of
place and the view from the Boathouse features in his work.
To celebrate 100 years since the birth of Dylan Thomas, Off the Shelf
invites writers to submit a short piece of work. From the
work selected, 16 pieces will be featured on a website created by Off the
Shelf in collaboration with eleven design.
The writing can be poetry or prose and the piece should be inspired by
place – the specific place you work in or the landscape around you.
The piece should be a maximum of 250 words. It should not have been
previously published. We also ask that writers submit short
biography of 50 words and a further 50 words describing the writing
workspace.
Finally, those writers selected for the website will be asked to submit a
photograph of their workspace. This will be turned into a
drawing or piece of graphic art for use on the website.
The website www.shedloadofwork.co.uk
will be launched at dawn on Saturday 1 November as part of Off the
Shelf’s Dylan Day.
The deadline for submissions is 10.00am on Friday 12th September 2014.
The sixteen pieces for the website will be selected by a panel
and selected writers will be contacted by e-mail.
Off the Shelf’s celebration, To Begin, at the Beginning… A Dylan Thomas
Day – from Dawn to Dusk (and the following morning), takes place 1
November, returning on 2nd November at 11.00am for a final event.
If you have any queries or would like to discuss the Shedloads of Work
project further please email:
offtheshelf@sheffield.gov.uk or call
0114 273 4400.
.
National Poetry Day, remember?
Remember - 2nd
October 2014
National Poetry Day is a nationwide celebration of poetry held on the
first Thursday in October. Since 1994 it has shaken poetry from its
dust-jacket into the nations’ streets, offices, shops, playgrounds, train
stations and airwaves, through live events, happenings, classroom
activities, conversations, broadcasts, tweets and spontaneous
uncontrollable outbursts of poetry.
The theme this year is Remember.
To find out more details of events and opportunities to join in just
visit the web site here: National Poetry Day
SPOKEN WORD
Doncaster
Peter's Perfect
Poetry Performance
To celebrate his 80th Birthday Gerry Atrick and the Pacemaker Aka: Peter
Flint is organising an open mic session in Doncaster. There will be
musicians, poets, singers and performers together with a big welcome
extended to anyone who would like to attend either to perform or to
just go along and enjoy the session.
It will be held in the Cask Corner pub, 3, Cleveland Street, Doncaster on
Tuesday 9th September at 7:30. Gerry will be doing fifteen minutes
or so of humorous poems etc; there will be at least three
musicians/singers performing and (possibly) some of the ladies
from Rossington Choir.
All are welcome.
Huddersfield
Chris Ryan returns to Huddersfield Town Hall
After a successful author talk with Chris Ryan last year, he's decided to
come back and make another trip.
On September 16th, (7.30 to 9.00 pm) Chris will be back in Huddersfield
Town Hall to talk about his new book, Hunter Killer.
You'l be able to listen to Chris talk about his experiences as an former
member of the SAS who has written several
bestselling books.
There will be a chance to ask Chris some questions at the end and to buy
a copy of 'Hunter Killer' as there will also be a stall from
Waterstones on the night.
Afterwards, you will be able to get your copy of the book signed by
Chris.
Tickets available from Kirklees Box Offices - more details here:
Bradford
A Poetry Reading and Talk by Bruce Barnes
In June 2009 Bruce Barnes, and his partner, Joy Leach, set out on a
journey round England, beginning and ending in Bradford, extending
eastwards to Norfolk, southwards to the Isle of Wight, and westwards to
Shropshire; 19 days of travel on 66 local buses, using Metro passes
on every one.
Bruce will read from his pamphlet ‘The Country Bus Pass Tour’, a poem
sequence that tells of the out of the way places on their journey,
the friends and relatives visited, the changing social landscape of
England and Grey power.
The reading will be preceded by a short talk about the practicalities of
organising such trips, and there will be time at the end of the
reading for questions.
Where: Manningham
Mills Community Centre, Lilycroft Rd, Bradford BD9 5BD
When:
1.30 pm to 2.30pm on Monday 15th September.
Cost:
Free (Join the friendly luncheon club for a delicious lunch at
12.00p.m - only £3.00).
The event is part of the BOLD Festival celebrating the creativity of
older people.
Leeds
Meet the Poet and Writer Jean Sprackland
Jean Sprackland is the winner of the Costa Poetry Award in 2008,
and the Portico Prize for Non-Fiction in 2012. Her books have also
been shortlisted for the Forward Prize, the TS Eliot Prize and the
Whitbread Award. She is Reader in Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan
University.
On Tuesday 9th September from 7pm, Jean will be reading from: Strands: A Year of
Discoveries on the Beach Strands involves a series
of meditations prompted by walking on the wild estuarial beaches of
Ainsdale Sands between Blackpool and Liverpool. It is a book about what
is lost and buried then discovered, about all the things you find on
a beach, dead or alive, about flotsam and jetsam, about mutability
and transformation — about sea-change. This is the ultimate
beach-comber’s book: Sprackland constantly turns up
revelations: mermaid’s purses, lug worms, sea potatoes, messages in
bottles, buried cars, beached whales, a perfect cup from a
Cunard liner.
Doors Open at 6:30 for a 7.00pm start at HEART cafe, Headingley Arts and
Enterprise Centre, Bennett Road, Leeds, LS6 3HN. The event is
organised by Green Reads
EVENTS, WORKSHOPS & COURSES
Writing
for Wellbeing Online, Unlocking Your Creativity
A new online course that allows you to work through weekly writing tasks
at your own pace, and then share your progress with the rest of the
group in a structured discussion via Skype.
It’s now proven that writing expressively about our lives and feelings
can lead to a profound improvement in health. Building upon the
ground-breaking research of Dr. James Pennebaker and the work of John F.
Evans, the course will explore guided writing experiences including
expressive, transactional, legacy, affirmative and poetic writing.
Participants do not need to have any proficiency with or affinity
for writing to benefit, just an enthusiasm to explore their own voice,
and express themselves on the page.
4 week course, starting September 8th. Cost: £40 – includes a
minimum of 3 weekly tasks delivered via email, plus 20 minute skype
catch-up at the end of each week. Catch ups will be on Saturdays at
6.00pm GMT. If you can’t make the catch up regularly at the time set, I
can catch up with you personally at your convenience, although
groups can be highly motivational, and it’s recommended that you partake
in the weekly group discussion, if you can, to obtain full benefit
from the course.
Please book your place at www.susanhodgetts.co.uk.
More info: Email - Susan Hodgetts courses@susanhodgetts.co.uk
.
New Arvon Course - Poetry:
Working Towards a Collection - Making a whole from the sum of the parts - Lumb Bank,
10th - 15th November, 2014.
You have reached the stage where you have a sufficient body of poetry
that you are thinking about working towards a first collection.
But how do you craft a group of disparate poems into something
ready to submit? What are the different possible approaches to questions
of theme, structure and title? What are publishers looking for? Led by
two poets who are also experienced editors, this course focuses on
helping you to shape your work into its strongest form as a
collection, discussing how and what to submit to publishers and
writing new work to bring the sum of parts into a whole.
More details and to book here
FESTIVALS
Wakefield Literature Festival
2014
We're delighted to say that Wakefield Literature Festival returns for the
third year, programmed by arts charity Beam and funded by Arts
Council England, Wakefield Council, Clore Duffield Foundation and other
partners.
This year Lit Fest has grown to 60 plus events with opportunities for
everyone, whatever your background or level of experience with
books, writing and reading. The theme remains ‘Everyone Has A
Story’, and we’ve got a great range of stories lined up – from
Joanne Harris and Jackie Kay to Roger McGough, Will Self, Ben
Aaronovitch, Mark Thomas, Jo Baker, Leah Thorn and Stuart Maconie,
from The Orangery to Sandal Castle, and from poetry to jazz to
performance to photography and fiction then back again!
Lit Fest will be going to Ossett for a whole ‘Festival in a Day’ under
the spire of Trinity Church and with huge help from local creative
people – perhaps the start of spreading Lit Fest into other parts of
Wakefield District. The festival also goes to Trinity Walk again
this year, taking the excitement of writing and reading into the city’s
streets.
We’re delighted that Simon Armitage has chosen Wakefield Lit Fest for the
Northern launch of his new selected poems, ‘Paper Aeroplane’, and
the festival will also be welcoming back poet Ian McMillan for an
afternoon event debating the theme ‘place and happiness’.
We hope you can join us for Lit Fest 2014 which takes place in various
venues between 18-30 September.
Full details on the website. Unless
otherwise stated on the event listing tickets are on sale through the
Theatre Royal Wakefield Box Office.
Ilkley
Literature Festival
3rd – 19th October
We are looking forward to the Ilkley Literature Festival which has its
usual brilliant line up of events and authors. There will be over
200 events taking place during the festival.
Headliners include Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood,
presenting, Maddaddam, the final instalment of the internationally
acclaimed dystopian trilogy. Ilkley Literature Festival veteran, Will
Self, will introduce his new novel Shark, released in September,
featuring the return of psychiatrist Zack Busner.
Appearing for the first time in Ilkley will be New York Times bestseller
Jodi Picoult presenting her latest novel, Leaving Time. Former poet
laureate Sir Andrew Motion will open the festival with an exploration of
poetry and prose as he introduces his new novel, The New World, an
adventure set 10 years on from Treasure Island.
Much loved poet Michael Rosen will share his thoughts on education beyond
the classroom with Good Ideas, How to be Your Child’s (and Your Own)
Best Teacher.
Tickets go on sale from Tuesday 26th August. Visit the website for all
the events information and news.
LOCAL
BOOK LAUNCHES
The Ascent of Kinder Scout
a new pamphlet by
Peter Riley
Wrapped in luminous cloud, pushed by the wind, we walk up out of Hayfield
in the steps of the glorious trespass, April 1932…
The front and back covers of this 28-page, landscape-format pamphlet
feature two remarkable paintings of Kinder Downfall by artist Paul
Evans. Beautifully designed and produced, The Ascent of Kinder Scout is
now available for just £5 inc UK P&P (£7 inc Europe P&P,
£8.50 inc Rest of World P&P). To order the pamphlet, go to the
Longbarrow website. To read
an extract from The Ascent of Kinder Scout, click here
Writing
Yorkshire Website
If you'd like to find out more about the full range of services that we
offer, including mentoring, writers advice sessions, and membership then
click here.
WRITERS'
RESOURCE CENTRES
* The Writers
Resource Centres which usually take place in the regional libraries are
on hold for a short time but will return, in the meantime don't forget we
are offering -
Free one-to-one Writers Advice
Sessions
Writing Yorkshire are offering free, bookable, one to one advice sessions
to all writers from our base in Sheffield. You may be a full-time writer,
part-time, occasional or just interested in the idea of trying some
writing for fun, we're here and looking forward to helping you. We have
information on all aspects of creative writing, be it writing groups,
courses, events, publications, getting started or just keeping going, we
have plenty of advice and support to help you on your writing journey.
We are offering thirty minutes sessions from our offices at Bank Street
Arts and though based in Sheffield, the sessions are open to anyone from
anywhere in Yorkshire, in addition, if you have a long journey to reach
us then we'll be happy to book you a longer session to make it worth your
while.
Each session is booked in advance for a particular time slot at 30 minute
intervals from 5.30 pm through to 7.30 pm on Wednesday evenings.
If you would like to book a session then all you need to do is email
us: info@writingyorkshire.org (preferred
method for the fastest response) or phone: 01143830456 (answer
machine) and we'll get back to you to arrange a booking. Just to confirm
again the sessions are free and open to all, if you need any further
details then just get in touch, we look forward to hearing from you.
More info here.
COMPETITIONS
Skipton Library
Poetry Competition -
Closing date: 26 September 2014
For poems of up to 40 lines on any subject. 1st prize £100, 2nd
prize £50, 3rd prize £25, 5 prizes £10 each, 5 Highly commended.
Entry fee £2 per poem. Adjudicator Isobel Thrilling and one other
to be appointed. Poem to be typed on single sheet of A4 in single
spacing, enclose separate sheet with your contact details, name, address,
email, telephone number.
Send entries and cheques or postal orders (payable to North Yorkshire
County Council)) to Skipton Library Poetry Competition, Skipton Library,
High Street, Skipton, North Yorks, BD23 1JX. Send sae for details to
above address.
The National Poetry Competition - Closing date:
31st October 2014
Established in 1978, the Poetry
Society’s National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s biggest and
most prestigious poetry contests. Winners include both established and
emerging poets, and for many the prize has proved an important career
milestone. Win, and add your name to a roll-call that includes the
current UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Tony Harrison, Ruth Padel,
Philip Gross and Jo Shapcott.
Prizes
1st: £5000, 2nd: £2000, 3rd: £1000, Plus
Seven Commendations: £100
The top-three winning poems are
published in the Spring issue of The Poetry Review. The winners will be
invited to appear at various events and festivals around the country,
including Ledbury Poetry Festival. Up to 150 longlisted entrants are also
offered a discount on selected activities from the Poetry School. Winning
and commended poems will are published on the Poetry Society website.
Entry
Fees: £6 for your first poem and £3.50 for each subsequent entry
in the same submission. FREE 2nd entry for Poetry Society members.
SASH Charity
Writing Competition -
Closing Date: 10th October 2014
SASH prevents young people from becoming
homeless by offering them a room in the home of a volunteer. Our
Nightstop service provide emergency accommodation for young people at a
time of crisis.
The theme of the competition is
‘Homeless’ and the aim is to help raise awareness of youth homelessness
within Yorkshire and throughout the UK.
We would like to encourage those who
have or are experiencing homelessness to enter but you don’t have to have
experienced homelessness personally to submit an entry.
We have a very special judge in Ross
Raisin, Yorkshire born, award winning author of ‘Gods Own Country’ and
‘Waterline’. The first prize is a week-long residential writing course
kindly donated by Arvon.
Submission can be in any genre (including poetry) up to a maximum of 3000
words and the closing date is on World Homeless Day, 10 October 2014.
TRAINING,
JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES
An Opportunity to Work With Writing
Yorkshire
Writing Yorkshire is seeking a new Director to continue our existing
range of work, develop new projects, and lead the organisation through the
next stage of its growth and development.
This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic, dynamic person, to
lead the organisation moving forwards. The post holder will need to be
able to work on their own initiative, to drive projects forward, to set
up new projects, to initiate partnerships, to organise and manage
writing-based activities, as well as to raise income from a range of
sources.
We are open to applications from candidates seeking full time or part
time employment (minimum 3 days per week).
Salary: £24,892 – £29,528 p/a pro rata
Please email Geoff Briggs at: info@writingyorkshire.org
for a full Job Information Pack.
The deadline for applications is 9am Monday 1st September 2014.
Interviews will be held on Friday 5th September 2014.
Performers Required for Castle
of Dreams Project
Beam (Wakefield
Literature Festival)
Following the success of last year’s Wakefield Wordwalk (as part of
Wakefield Lit Fest) Beam are looking for enthusiastic volunteer
performers aged 16 plus (no upper age limit) to take audiences on a
magical journey around Sandal Castle, Wakefield!
Audiences will be transported from Wakefield city centre on our special
bus to Sandal Castle, where they will encounter epic tales of
romance, feuds, and maybe some dangers that lurk in the moat…
Featuring new writing by local young people aged 4-19 and performed by an
intergenerational company of actors, The Castle of Dreams promises
to be a unique and magical storytelling performance experience in a
historic setting.
The Castle of Dreams is directed by internationally experienced
director/producer Andrew Loretto and the writing is being developed
by award-winning playwright Richard Hurford and Yew Tree Theatre as part
of this year’s Wakefield Literature Festival. No previous experience
is necessary to be a performer, just enthusiasm, commitment and
availability for rehearsals and performances.
Take a look on the Beam website to find
out more
Please note all applications need to be received by Tuesday 26th August
2014, 1pm and that Performance Workshops take place on Wednesday
27th August and Wednesday 3rd September, 5.30-7pm at The Orangery.
More info: Email - sara@beam.uk.net
If you want to send us an item for
inclusion please email it to: info@writingyorkshire.org
with "Newsletter" in the subject line.
Writing Yorkshire provide information about writing events in the region,
and run a variety of writing activities throughout the Yorkshire area. If
you would like more information please email or ring Geoff on 0114
3830456 (answerphone, but Geoff will ring you back).
Thanks to all who provided information posted here. We will always
endeavour to make sure that the information included is accurate but
apologies in advance for any errors or omissions which may occur, any
corrections or suggestions will be welcomed.
We hope that you enjoy the newsletter.
Writing Yorkshire is a limited company incorporated in England and Wales
under company no: 7475298.
For more information
about all of our work, visit our website: www.writingyorkshire.org
Tweet us @Writingyorks or
find us on Facebook
To be kept abreast of writing events and activities in the region or to
let us know about events that you're running, please subscribe to our
mailing list via the website, by emailing info@writingyorkshire.org or phone us on
0114 3830456 and leave a message.
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