Writing West Midlands newsletter

With details of the National Writers Conference and more: 

Dear Writerly Friends, May is off to a generous start, with a long weekend and a fresh batch of writing opportunities to inspire and develop your writing. We're edging closer to our National Writers Conference which takes place this June - read on to find out more about the lineup! National Writers Conference: Featured Speakers We're delighted to highlight some of the speakers featuring at this year's National Writers Conference.   Our Keynote Interview is with novelist and memoirist, Kit de Waal, a writer who is has also campaigned for working class and older writers to be heard.   Literary agents Salma Begum (Greyhound Literary) and Joe Sedgwick (Seventh Agency) feature on our Working with Agents panel, sharing how writers can best present themselves and their work, and what agents are looking for. Award-winning writer Malachi McIntosh joins our Keeping Your Writing Going panel discussing how to pursue your creative ambitions – in a world full of other wonderful writers – while sustaining the love of simply writing, and the hope for readers and audiences. Prize-winning author and Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham Winnie M Li joins two editors on our Editing Your Writing panel, and historical novelist Lindsey Davis will feature on a panel discussing how writers can best promote themselves and their writing - what works, what doesn’t and how to use time and money wisely.   We are pleased to confirm that British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters will be present during all sessions at the conference.   “The opportunity to connect with fellow delegates, hearing their stories, insights, and learning about the work they've completed was both inspiring and encouraging. I also really valued the speakers and panel discussions, which offered a window into aspects of the writing world I hadn't fully understood before. It was both eye-opening and motivating." - Previous NWC Attendee This year's conference is on the 13th June from 10am-4pm at the University of Birmingham. Almost 70% of tickets already sold! Book your conference ticket here Regional Writers Meet-Up: KIDDERMINSTER Join writer Lindsey Davis and Jonathan Davidson, Chief Executive of Writing West Midlands, for a conversation about getting published and developing as a creative writer. Lindsey and Jonathan will be happy to answer questions following their conversation, and there will be time for informal networking. Venue: Kidderminster Library, Market St, Kidderminster, DY10 1AB Date/Time: Saturday 23rd May 2026, 11:00 – 12:30 BST Click here to book your FREE ticket Writer Wisdom Here, we turn the spotlight on writers and the wisdom that keeps them going. In each feature, a writer shares the best advice they’ve ever received or the reason they return to the page, even on the hard days. This month, Fran Hill shares some insights from her journey as a writer. Fran Hill is a retired teacher and author from Warwickshire. She has published a memoir called ‘Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?’ and two novels: ‘Cuckoo in the Nest’ and ‘Home Bird’ (Legend Press) inspired by her experience of foster care as a child. ‘Cuckoo’ was runner-up for the Paul Torday Memorial Prize. "Sometimes I get my bum on the seat and my coffee brewed and my computer turned on and still all I can come up with is ‘They walked into the room’ or ‘The sun beat down like a beating hot sun’ or ‘They had an argument and he said I’m divorcing you and she said do what you like, I love Peter now, anyway.’ This is tosh, I say to myself. Who’s going to read this except for people who hate themselves? Well, the truth is, no one except me needs to read it at draft stage. Even better, the most famous writers come up with similar tosh in their first drafts. The acclaimed writer Hilary Mantel said that, some days, all she could manage was Subject, Verb, Object, Subject, Verb, Object.  No description. No context, No research. No Booker-prize-winning prose. No nothing, except simple sentences, one after the other, which she could come back to later and zhuzh up. But, without the draft, no zhuzhing can take place. Thank you, Hilary Mantel. If you can write tosh and be okay with it, so can I." Online Courses A 5 week online course empowering neurodiverse writers (diagnosed or undiagnosed) to discover their own individual writing process, manage challenges, and shape a sustainable creative practice. This interactive online course runs on Tuesdays from the 2nd-30th June 2026, 19:00-21:00 BST. Taught by Rachel Sambrooks. Bursaries available. Book your place Across 5 live Zoom sessions, award winning poet and poetry teacher Liz Berry will help you to develop the nitty-gritty of your poetic craft through a mixture of close reading, shared writing and workshopping.  This course runs on Mondays from the 8th June - 13th July 2026 (please note there is no session on the 6th July), 19:00-21:00 BST. Bursaries available. Book your place Opportunities for Writers We want to help creative writers in the region in as many ways as possible. One of the ways we do this is by collating and sharing the relevant writer opportunities we come across each month in this newsletter. To be able to list the maximum amount, we have created a dedicated page - click below to view. CLICK HERE Room 204 Success Room 204 writer, Naneh V Hovhannisyan has written a commissioned article for EVN Report, an independent, non-profit online weekly magazine based in Yerevan, the Diaspora and beyond. Click here to read the article: Reading Labels: In Lieu of an Exhibition Review Upcoming Events Here, we share upcoming writer-focused events happening locally and sometimes further afield. CLICK HERE Join our Spark Young Writers Team Volunteer with the Spark Young Writers team and be part of delivering 240 children’s writing workshops across the region. With a mix of in-person and online groups, you can support your local community, or join our writers on Zoom from your living room! Visit our Website Save the Date See you next month If you have any questions, comments or relevant events you would like us to share, please reply to this email.   See you next month! Until then you can keep in touch by following our social media channels below. Best wishes, The Team at Writing West Midlands Writing West Midlands is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

Writing West Midlands | Studio 130, Zellig Gibb Street | Birmingham, B9 4AT GB