Great Writing
A copy of the Great Writing website anthology landed on the mat this morning and I’m very pleased with the way it’s turned out. It’s a selection of short stories, scripts and poetry, chosen from the hundreds submitted since the site opened 18 months ago. I’m delighted to have a poem of mine included, a slightly different version of The hippy’s lament. Please do take a look. It’s a good read and £1 from each copy sold helps to keeping the GW website going.
Posted 15/03/07 - Permalink to this story
A fiendish exercise
Ripon Writers’ Group’s annual 5 objects in search of a story challenge has come round again. This year, the committee provided a brass figure of the Hindu god Ganesh, a medal from the Boer War, a wall plaque from Kronborg, a blue floral scarf and a kilt pin. If you would like to see what I made of it, take a look at Karma.
Posted 11/03/07 - Permalink to this story
A busy Saturday
When I have a deadline, I can work very fast. In between a morning with the Ripon Activity Project and an evening at a Thai restaurant, I managed to fit in lunch with three fellow volunteers and write 1250 words for Ripon Writers’ Group’s Theatre in the Round competition. I’ll post my article after the adjudication in April.
Posted 10/03/07 - Permalink to this story
How to enjoy a wet Sunday in Bath
I splashed into town to catch up with fellow Swanwicker, Colin Kirwan, over lunch. The afternoon was spent at a matinée performance of The Queen at the Little Theatre and then it was back to the Guildhall for the Orange Prize winners’ discussion. Naomi Alderman and Clare Allan read from and talked about their novels, Disobedience and Poppy Shakespeare. The first is set against the background of the Orthodox Jewish community in Hendon and the second offers an insider view of our mental health system. Clare apologised for her narrator’s language, appropriate for the character, but uncomfortable to read aloud. No one in the audience looked remotely offended and there were long queues afterwards to buy signed copies of both books.
Posted 04/03/07 - Permalink to this story
Bath Literature Festival
The theme this year is Difference and Desire. Richard and I attended the first event, a BBC Radio 4 recording of five short stories to be broadcast next week. Some of the writers were present, but all the stories were read by actors. I particularly enjoyed Stephanie Cole’s readings of two very different stories; Latvian Angel by Helen Dunmore and Evening Class by Sarah LeFanu, the Festival’s artistic director. An audience member corrected Stephanie’s pronunciation of rhynes, a local word for drainage ditches. I’d never heard it before, but I now know that it should rhyme with beans, not wines. You live and learn!
Posted 03/03/07 - Permalink to this story