Opportunities

Writing in Libraries – Three Creative Writing Courses in Lancashire

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Writing in Libraries 2012.

Lancashire Writing Hub, in partnership with Lancashire County Library & Information Service, will be delivering three fantastic developmental writing courses this year.

Following the success of the Creative Writing courses LWH delivered in Preston in 2011, we are extending our writing courses in partnership with Lancashire Libraries.

There will be three courses, each one lasting for four weeks, and the courses can be treated as individual creative writing development courses or you can sign up for all three.

More details about the content of the courses will follow shortly, but they will be aimed at prose writers.

The first course, Getting Started, will enable you to get started on a piece of writing or get back into writing after a break;

The second course, Progressing Your Work, will aim to develop your writing further and enhance your skills in characterisation, plot, and managing the whole writing project;

The final course, Advanced Creative Writing Skills, will aim to develop your re-drafting, editing and finishing skills to an advanced level to enable you to take your work to a professional standard.

This year, we will be running the courses on Saturday mornings to minimise the problems you may face in having to dash home from work for an early evening workshop.

Each course comprises four x two-hour workshops, delivered over four consecutive Saturdays. There will be a month’s break between each course to allow any writers planning to sign up for more than one course to develop your writing further before the next course starts.

Each course costs £60 for the four weeks, and includes refreshments.

The dates and times of the three courses are as follows:

Getting Started: Creative Writing Course – MARCH:

Saturday mornings 11am – 1pm on 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th March.

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Progressing Your Work: Creative Writing Course – MAY:

Saturday mornings 11am – 1pm on 5th, 12th , 19th and 26th May.

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Advanced Creative Writing Skills Course – JUNE / JULY:

Saturday mornings 11am – 1pm on 30th June, 7th, 14th, and 21st July.

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All three courses will be held at Accrington Library, which has excellent road and public transport connections, and has a great meeting room with refreshment facilities.

Accrington Library is 5 minutes walk from Accrington Railway Station, and there are at least 2 trains per hour from Preston, Manchester and Lancaster;
Or by road it is 20 miles from Preston on the M65, and 22 miles from Manchester on the M66.

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TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST, please email Jane at writing@theyeatculture.org

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Accrington Library is on St James Street,  Accrington, Lancs BB5 1NQ

You can find out more about Accrington Library and how to get there here.


Pies, Peas and Poetry at the Ace Centre, Friday 10th February

Thursday, January 26th, 2012


Word Soup Thursday 26th January – with Jo Bell & Blackpool Dead Good Poets, & Guests

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Word Soup with Jo Bell & Blackpool Dead Good Poets, plus Stephen Jansen and Sue Seddon, aka Nigella Ladylumps.

The first Word Soup of 2012 is on the theme of Friendship, in all of its guises… and the headline act is fabulous poet, performer, and director of National Poetry Day JO BELL.

Jo will be joined by the Dead Good PoetsShaun Brookes, Lara Clayton, Stephen Stroud, Vicky Ellis, Lindsay Barlow, and Ashley R. Lister – from Blackpool, plus the talents of Stephen Jansen and Sue Seddon, aka Nigella Ladylumps.

We’ll also have our usual Open Mic slot for your Four Minutes of Fame, and the fabulous Magic Mark. Don’t miss it!!

Jo Bell has appeared all over the UK from Glastonbury Festival, where she was poet in residence in 2010, to the Southbank Centre and all points in between. She runs National Poetry Day and performs in stage shows including her current work in progress, Riverlands - a show with storyteller Jo Blake Cave. Her poems are mostly about boats (she lives on one), archaeologists (she was one) and dysfunctional relationships with wildly inappropriate men. http://belljarblog.wordpress.com/

Stephen Jansen writes about reality distortion in all its forms. He has written a book with Harvey Bainbridge, an ex member of the rock band Hawkind. His next book, Chronophobia, is the first in a series of ten and will be on sale on Kindle very soon. A collection of three short stories, called Distortion, is available to buy on Amazon.  www.thelightfromdeadstars.com & www.stephenjansen.com

Sue Seddon began writing quirky travel and guide books for publication. She progressed to performing “the rude bits” and discovered entertaining. Along came alter egos Gran the Gusset Tester, West End Wendy and Nigella Ladylumps, all fighting for the spotlight. Sue now
roadies, does the costumes, gets Gran out of fights and off the milk stout, dispenses with the collection of rough crumpet Wendy is trying to take home and prevents Nigella from litigatious assertions that she can cook.  Sue’s books, performance reviews and collection of associates The Thursday Girls can be seen on www.sueseddon.co.uk and on youtube.

This month, Blackpool’s Dead Good Poets celebrate three years of working together as a collective of writers. Originally writing and performing as a student group at Blackpool & Fylde College, the group have taken their work into the local community with regular open mic nights, school workshops and enormously successful fancy dress events. They are represented at Word Soup this month by Shaun Brookes, Lara Clayton, Stephen Stroud, Vicky Ellis, Lindsay Barlow, and Ashley R. Lister.

Word Soup: Friendship – Thursday 26th January 2012 – 8pm – £3 on the door – priceless entertainment –

The Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston PR1 8JP.

 

Call-out for Writing Workshop Tutors

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Lancashire Writing Hub – call-out for Writing Workshop tutors.

Are you a North West poet, writer or playwright looking to share your knowledge of writing skills, and enhance your professional development?

Are you an experienced writing workshop tutor – in poetry, prose, playwriting or non-fiction writing – looking to expand your delivery opportunities across Lancashire?

We are putting together a database of writers and writing tutors with some, none, or significant experience in delivering writing workshops who we can call on to work with us in delivering a variety of writing workshops across Lancashire.

If you are a North West writer (published or unpublished) and interested in delivering creative writing workshops, please email Jane Brunning at writing@theyeatculture.org with a brief (less than 250 words) résumé of your writing experience and your workshop tutoring experience.


Territory: Poems that encourage us to think about Where we Live now

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Territory: Poems that encourage us to think about Where we Live now.

Come and join in conversation with poet Andrew Forster who is currently Literature Officer at The Wordsworth Trust.

Saturday 4 February 2012, 1pm start til 2.30pm (refreshments included)

Free entrance with tickets from Kirkham Library: 01772 684479

Kirkham Library, Station Road, Kirkham, PR4 2HD

http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries/librarydetails/libsearch1.asp?name=Kirkham