Commonword August newsletter

With competitions, events, opportunities and more:

Events and Opportunities from Commonword August 2019 For updates: website www.cultureword.org.uk twitter @cultureword facebook (facebook.com/culturewordcommonword) Dear Commonword Writer, Welcome to the August newsletter! This month we bring you details of our upcoming international poetry slam, Trans Europe Expression, a reminder of our upcoming archive birthday celebrations, additional stall spaces at our BIQI book fair in November, and a Writer of the Month interview with Karline Smith. Happy reading! Trans-Europe Expression A New International Slam Poetry Competition This autumn, Commonword will be introducing our new international poetry slam with a twist - poems must be 90 seconds long! Heats will be taking place in Berlin (15th September), Paris (23rd September) and Manchester (16th October). The grand final will be on November 14th where the winner will take away the slam title and a £500 prize. Further details of how to enter the slam will be in our September newsletter. SAVE THE DATE! FRIDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 2019, 7-10pm Calling all writers who've ever been part of Commonword! Come join us for an evening of celebration at our archive launch party. Expect mingling, remembering and laughter alongside the launch of our archives website and an open mic segment. There will be drinks and a buffet. This will take place 7-10pm on the second floor of HOME Mcr., 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester M15 4FN. If you’re interested in attending, click GOING on our facebook event OR email heena@cultureword.org.uk.  ADDITIONAL STALL SPACES NOW AVAILABLE! BIQI Book Fair: Call for authors and publishers Extended deadline for expressions of interest: Friday 13th September 2019 This November, Commonword will be hosting our first BIQI Book Fair, for Black/Asian/BAME/POC and/or QUEER/LGBQT+ indie authors and publishers of fiction and poetry. BIQI will be taking place on Saturday 9 November at Manchester Central Library, with space for up to 30 authors and publishers to showcase their work. We would like to invite applications for stalls at the fair. You can apply to have half a table or a full table. A half table is free, a full table will cost £10. We aim to prioritise indie authors/publishers based in the North of England where possible, but welcome applications from all over the UK. Apply for a stall by clicking here. If you have any other questions, email: info@cultureword.org.uk or send a message to our Facebook page. Our August Writer of the Month: Karline Smith This month, we have a quick chat with Karline Smith about her love of books and her two new novels. What makes you write?    I need to write. It’s healing, a barricade against the stresses of life. I love exploring the complexities of the human character, and basically what drives us to love, hate, kill, nurture, destroy, manipulate, deceive, antagonise or grow.   You were a librarian. Did that help?   It helped massively as a book lover and writer, having access to all the reading material I needed, fiction and non-fiction.  And of course listening to people’s conversations in the libraries where I worked. Priceless.   Did you expect the success that came with Moss Side Massive?   It still surprises me, years later, to meet people at new work places or out and about and I tell them I write. I always get the shocked reaction of “Oh My God, I read that book.” The success wasn’t in monetary value but in the wealth of being known as the first British black female writer.   You write short stories as well.  What’s the difference in feel or process for you? My first love is a long project, like a novel or a script because I love depth and layers.  A short story for me can’t have too many layers. For both I plot the scenes or chapters so I can stay on a path.   Goosebumps and Butterflies Are Fairy Tales is your new novel.  Can you tell us a bit about that?   It’s the story of four individuals.  Jonah, a secret bisexual footballer, Trinity, a talented but tormented singer, Rhea an emotionally-repressed writer and entrepreneur Damien whose lives intermingle while looking for love or denying love exists. Each one will live a painful journey to reconcile with fears, death and emotions. Archives Out and About Have a read of what Heena, our archive project coordinator has been up to recently. Members of Wythenshawe Writers Group – We’re looking for you! Commonword is looking for Stan Preston, Hannah Chetham, Victor Irving, Sheila Charnock and Doris Sydenham. Do you know these people? Are you related to them? Do you know their whereabouts? These people were part of the Wythenshawe Writers Group in the late 1970s to early 80s. We published their stories of working class life in their booklet, Write On.  If you are one of these people or have information about them, we’d love to include it as part of our archive. Please can you get in touch with heena@cultureword.org.uk. Archive Project – we’re halfway through! 18 writing workshops, 21 interviews, 90 fully catalogued publications and over 500 scanned images from the archive ...and loads more to go. Thanks also to all the workshop participants that we’ve met, and everyone who has shared memories about the archive so far. A big shout out to our volunteers Efea, Fabiha, Farid, Grace and Susan for cataloguing press clippings, scanning the covers of publications and cataloguing their content and summarising interviews. So, what’s coming up in the second year?  We’ll be producing an archive anthology, running series of archive-based writing workshops focusing on young people, African Caribbean communities and trans and non-binary folk. We’ll also be holding special archive-related events over the next 12 months. Watch this space! *NEW* Young Enigma Workshops Young Enigma have returned with fortnightly workshops for writers who identify as LBGTQ+. They will be meeting on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, 6-8pm at our offices. For more information, email Adam on info@youngenigma.com.  Black Queer Book Club A new reading group for people who are both BAME and LGBT. August's book: Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown Meeting: 6.30 - 8.30pm, Thursday 29th August 2019 If you would like to attend, please email cheryl@cultureword.org.uk.  Join our Facebook group by clicking here. Visit our Virtual Bookshop! We have now launched our shiny, new online bookshop. Take a look around our virtual bookshop and maybe even treat yourself over at  culturewordbooks.org.uk News from Commonword Writers   ALASKA by Cheryl Martin 1-11; 13-18; 20-25 August 2019, 2pm Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Alaska is a funny, magical trip to the moon, with singing and dancing thrown in: one woman's extraordinary story of how she survived growing up with severe depression. A raw and powerful performance, with humour, heart and soul, stunning vocals and beautiful imagery in the storytelling. With one in four of us estimated to experience mental health difficulties at sometime in our lives, this story touches everyone, whether first-hand or through family and friends. Book tickets here. MAN ON THE MOON by Keisha Thompson 20-25 August 2019, 7.10pm Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe Festival Part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2019 and presented by Contact and STUN. The award-winning Man on the Moon journeys through space and time to explore the impact of mental health on family dynamics. Keisha communicates with her reclusive dad through books, letters and symbols. But when the letters stop coming she is forced to venture into his world. Prepare to jump from Manchester to the moon as this story reaches for those answers that can often feel out of reach. Book tickets here. THE MOTHERS OF TIANANMEN EXHIBITION Lead Artist: Mei Yuk Wong 5 June - 31 August 2019 Centre for International Women Artists St Peter's House, Manchester, M13 9GH The Mothers of Tiananmen exhibition responds directly to women’s creative resistance and voice. This is framed by the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Many mothers lost children during the tragedy, and the families carry on fighting for justice. Free and open to the public. Call for access on 07936 134047. Audience Finder Survey As always, we ask that you complete our Audience Finder survey if you have attended events/workshops at, or run by, Commonword. We are very grateful for the time that is spent completing this survey and we love to hear from you. This feedback is important to us and helps us to ensure that we are doing a good job. The link directs you to Audience Finder, a tool which enables us to understand, compare, apply audience insights across the UK, and benchmark ourselves against other organisations. https://research.audiencesurveys.org/s.asp?k=152362312642 The results, of course, are all anonymous. Please forward this link to any of your friends and family who may have attended workshops or events with you. Many thanks, in advance Black Queer Book Club The last Thursday of each month, 6.30-8.30pm at Commonword offices You must be both BAME and LGBT to attend. Open to all levels of ability. The book of the month will be listed in our Newsletter. Please ring buzzer 6 on arrival. Email charlotte@cultureword.org.uk for more details Identity Writers Group Every Wednesday 6.30-8.30pm at Commonword offices BAME/POC only Open to all levels of writers; just turn up. From experienced to beginners. Please ring buzzer 6. Email martin@cultureword.org.uk for more details EXTERNAL WORKSHOPS Monday Night Group Every Monday 7-9pm in the Snug at the Lass O'Gowrie Open to all levels of writers, for everyone; just turn up. From experienced to beginners www.mondaynightgroup.org.uk https://www.facebook.com/mngmanchester Young Enigma A group for young LGBT+ writers. Contact Adam Lowe for further information info@youngenigma.com . Young Identity A group for under 25s who write poetry and spoken word. Contact Shirley May or Reece Williams on youngidentitymcr@gmail.com. Do you ❤ Commonword? tweet/facebook/IG us with your favourite/first memory of Commonword. Send us a picture of yourself holding a I ❤ Commonword sign  #iLoveCommonword  You can catch us on Social Media twitter @cultureword #iLoveCommonword facebook.com/commonwordcultureword instagram @cultureword   Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Website YouTube Commonword | Cultureword | Crocus Books Commonword No. 3 Planetree House 21-31 Oldham Street Manchester M1 1JG There is a buzzer for entry. The office number is 3, the workshop space number is 6. 0161 832 3777  enquiries@cultureword.org.uk

Commonword · No 3 Planetree House · 21-31 Oldham Street · Manchester, M1 1JG · United Kingdom