The 25th of August bulletin from one of our Cultural Partners...
In this issue:
Bookings open for Julia Darling celebratory evening
NFM screenwriting seminars
National Poetry Day at the Lit & Phil
Palestinian play-reading from Cloud Nine Theatre
Biscuit flash-fiction competition
Make a 5-minute film courtesy of Gateshead Council
Writer’s bursary reminder
Literary Consultancy scriptwriting competition
Good news for renga lovers
Lit Up Festival in Cumbria
Scriptwriting masterclass with Stephen Jeffreys
Events news from Literature Northeast
Award for Peter Mortimer
Competition success for Elizabeth Whyman
New website for Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook
News from Berwick Community Creative Writers
Read on for the full bulletin:
BOOKING NOW OPEN FOR SUDDEN COLLAPSES EVENT
You can now book tickets for a special performance of the poetry of Julia Darling, hosted by The Sage Gateshead. Poems from Julia’s collection, Sudden Collapses in Public Places, have been made into a song cycle with original music by Neil Blenkinsop and David Scott. Zoe Lambert will be performing the songs, with help from Neil and David; the event will have a filmic backdrop, and will be directed by Live Theatre’s Jeremy Herrin. The show will run on 26, 27 and 28 September at 8.30pm, with tickets costing £13 (£7 concession.) To make sure you don’t miss out on this celebration of Julia’s life and work, call the Sage Gateshead box office on 0191 4434661.
SCREENWRITING SEMINARS FOR NORTH EAST WRITERS
If you’re a budding – or working – film writer, and want to get tips on dialogue and scene structure, Northern Film & Media are holding a series of writing seminars this autumn. The seminars will be taken by Wendall Thomas, who is Head of Script at the University of California in Los Angeles. There are still a few places left, so if you’re interested go to www.northernmedia.org and get yourself booked in by 31 August.
NATIONAL POETRY DAY: THE LIT & PHIL NEED YOU!
For National Poetry Day on 5 October, the Lit & Phil in Newcastle are holding a special evening event on this year’s theme, Identity – and they need your poetic input! They write:
“Identity is perceived externally but we can only exist within it. There are many meanings of identity and many ways of presenting/ representing identity: Identity as image, Identity as biological, Identity as fantasy, Identity as labels, Identity as concept, Identity as spiritual, Identity as non-identity, Identity as breathing, Identity as voice, Identity as creativity.
With the advances in technology, it is easy to shift and change identities; to create the person we really want to be without a witness to confirm or contest the creation.�
With this in mind, the Lit & Phil are looking for poems from people of all ages and experience. The winning poets will be given the chance to read at the National Poetry Day event along with Sheree Mack, the Lit & Phil’s first writer-in-residence. Each person selected will also receive a small performance fee.
The closing date for submitting your poems is 15 September, and they should be sent to keasson@litandphil.org.uk
ENTERTAINMENT WITH A MIDDLE-EASTERN FLAVOUR…
Laughter under the Bombs is a play by Palestinian writer, Sharif Abudnnur which, incredibly, was performed nightly in Beirut during the recent Israeli bombing raids. To raise money for the Beirut theatre and relief funds, actors from Cloud Nine Theatre Company and students from Tynemet’s Performing Arts will be giving a reading of Laughter under the Bombs at Tynemet College’s Tom Hadaway Theatre. The event is taking place at 7pm on Friday 15 September, and will also include live music from South Shields-based Iraqi lute player, Firas. For more details or to book tickets, call 0191 2531901.
IS YOUR FICTION FLASHY?
Biscuit Publishing have launched a new ‘flash fiction’ competition, with a £1,000 prize up for grabs. So if you can write an extra-short story of 500-750 words (in any genre) you could scoop the top prize, or one of several ‘mystery’ prizes. The entry fee is £5 for the first story, and £4 for any additional stories submitted. The deadline is 27 January 2007 – but just think how many 500-word stories you could write in 5 months! For more information, visit www.biscuitpublishing.com
5-MINUTE FILM OPPORTUNITIES
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council and Northern Film & Media are teaming up to give local film-makers the chance to make some 5-minute original short films. The scheme is open to people based in the North East, or to people whose ideas are set in Gateshead. Applicants must be over 18 and not in full-time or undergraduate education – for more information, go to www.northernmedia.org, where you can download the guidelines and application form from the news section. But you’ll have to do it fast, because the deadline for ideas and applications is 31 August 2006!
WRITERS’ BURSARY REMINDER
We mentioned this in a newsletter a couple of months ago, but it’s such a good opportunity that we thought it was worth reminding you about. Medical Case Notes Assessment Ltd is awarding an £18,000 bursary to an aspiring writer who would like to dedicate up to 12 months to writing. The work can be on any subject providing it is original, imaginative and a work of fiction, and the successful writer will retain full copyright. And as they say on TV adverts, there really is no catch! The closing date is 30 November 2006. For more details of how to apply, follow this link to the website: http://www.medicalcasenotes.co.uk/bursary/
TLC SCRIPTWRITING COMPETITION
The Literary Consultancy’s script division has launched a new competition open to writers of theatre and radio. The competition is free to enter and the five winners will receive a full written critique of their script, and will then meet with one of the TLC’s “industry insiders� for further professional advice. The deadline for entries is 31 October, and submissions will be judged by the TLC’s team of script readers, who have worked previously with the BBC, The National Theatre and The Royal Court, among others.) To enter, writers should send a hard copy of up to 60 pages of script (either an entire script or an excerpt) to Patsy Trench, Play Competition, The Literary Consultancy, Diorama Arts, No 1 Euston Centre, London,NW1 3JG. For more information, email Patsy Trench at patsy@literaryconsultancy.co.uk or call 020 7813 4330.
DO YOU RENGA?
Artist and poet Alec Finlay has recently re-launched the renga website, www.renga-platform.co.uk and it is now the most visited website dedicated to renga in the world. Many local poets have taken part in the renga days that Alec, Linda France and Subhadassi have presented over the past three years, whether at Hill Forts and in gardens along Hadrian's Wall, at BALTIC, or more recently at The Alnwick Garden and the Garden Station at Langley (where the renga platform itself now lives). The new website includes collaborative poems from the renga days, 100 verse hyakuin renga written at schools in the region, a how-to-do renga section and an ongoing senku 1,000 verse renga. There will be a renga at the Garden Station on National Poetry Day, so watch out for more details. And if you have no idea what a renga is, then it’s probably time you visited the website!
KENDAL IS LIT UP FOR PERFORMANCE
If you’re involved in – or just curious about – performance-based literature, then you may want to book your ticket to Kendal to partake in Lit Up, the UK’s first showcase for performance literature. The festival takes place at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal between 20 and 22 September, and promises to deliver a wide range of live literature, “from theatre, storytelling and reading through to rapping, beatbox and poetry slamming.� You can also support North East publisher, Bloodaxe, by going along to their ‘Being Alive’ event, featuring the work of UA Fanthorpe, Helen Dunmore, Julia Darling and WH Auden. Tickets cost £5/£3 per session or £12/£7.50 for 3 shows. You can view the complete Lit Up programme at www.litup.org
PLAYWRITING MASTERCLASS WEEKEND IN LONDON
If you have £300 to spare and would like to take part in a “stimulating, entertaining and career-changing� playwriting course, then this is your opportunity! Playwright Stephen Jeffreys (The Libertine, A Going Concern) is leading a 3-day masterclass, which promises to be a practical guide to every aspect of writing plays. It is being held at the Royal Court Theatre and the Radisson Edwardian Mountbatten Hotel on Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd September. For more information, visit www.stephenjeffreys.co.uk
NORTH EAST EVENTS NEWS - By John at Literature Northeast
Poets making the trek down south for the increasingly popular Write Room at Wolviston's Wellington Inn are the extremely talented Kevin Cadwallender and Aidan Halpin, who are travelling down from Newcastle. Also appearing are Dominic Windram and Lynn Boyd from Hartlepool, alongside local poetry duo Voicebox. A young poet from Stockton, Paul Wylde, is on the bill and two Mudfog poets, Shirley Hetherington and Geoff Strange, will also be filling the room with poetry.
For more details on these and the rest of the month’s events, see www.literaturenortheast.co.uk. If you promote literature events in the North East and your event isn’t listed, please get in touch with john@literaturenortheast.co.uk.
AWARD FOR PETE MORTIMER
Congratulations to Peter Mortimer, who has been given a special award by the Arab magazine Yemen Voice! The award is for his services to the Yemeni community in Britain and was presented to Peter in Dudley, West Midlands when he was the guest speaker at the region's special Yemen Day. Peter Mortimer wrote the play Riot - South Shields 1930, and the book Cool for Qat - a Yemeni Journey, both of which appeared in 2005.
COMPETITION SUCCESS FOR LOCAL POET
Well done to Elizabeth Whyman, whose collection of poems was shortlisted for the Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award. A selection of her work will also be included in the winners’ anthology.
NEW WEBSITE OF INTEREST
To mark their 100th edition, The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook (a must-have companion for every writer, aspiring or established) has launched a brand new website. As well as details of their 100-year history, the site also includes a guide to getting published and a directory of literary agents. Visit the site at www.writersandartists.co.uk
NEWS FROM THE NORTH…
The Community Creative Writers in Berwick have recently held their annual 60-word story competition, which has attracted entries from all over the North East. Each story had to contain a plot, realistic characters and dialogue – as well as a beginning, middle and end. The competition took place at the Castle Hotel in Berwick-upon-Tweed and was won by Mary Thomas. For more information about the group and how to enter next year’s competition, email mavismaureen@aol.com
All information is correct at the time of going to press.
New Writing North is funded by Arts Council England and some of our project work is supported by the CSDI programme which uses funds from the European Union, ERDF and ESF programmes to support the development of work opportunities and training for writers.
News from New Writing North
The 25th of August bulletin from one of our Cultural Partners...
In this issue:
Bookings open for Julia Darling celebratory evening
NFM screenwriting seminars
National Poetry Day at the Lit & Phil
Palestinian play-reading from Cloud Nine Theatre
Biscuit flash-fiction competition
Make a 5-minute film courtesy of Gateshead Council
Writer’s bursary reminder
Literary Consultancy scriptwriting competition
Good news for renga lovers
Lit Up Festival in Cumbria
Scriptwriting masterclass with Stephen Jeffreys
Events news from Literature Northeast
Award for Peter Mortimer
Competition success for Elizabeth Whyman
New website for Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook
News from Berwick Community Creative Writers
Read on for the full bulletin:
BOOKING NOW OPEN FOR SUDDEN COLLAPSES EVENT
You can now book tickets for a special performance of the poetry of Julia Darling, hosted by The Sage Gateshead. Poems from Julia’s collection, Sudden Collapses in Public Places, have been made into a song cycle with original music by Neil Blenkinsop and David Scott. Zoe Lambert will be performing the songs, with help from Neil and David; the event will have a filmic backdrop, and will be directed by Live Theatre’s Jeremy Herrin. The show will run on 26, 27 and 28 September at 8.30pm, with tickets costing £13 (£7 concession.) To make sure you don’t miss out on this celebration of Julia’s life and work, call the Sage Gateshead box office on 0191 4434661.
SCREENWRITING SEMINARS FOR NORTH EAST WRITERS
If you’re a budding – or working – film writer, and want to get tips on dialogue and scene structure, Northern Film & Media are holding a series of writing seminars this autumn. The seminars will be taken by Wendall Thomas, who is Head of Script at the University of California in Los Angeles. There are still a few places left, so if you’re interested go to www.northernmedia.org and get yourself booked in by 31 August.
NATIONAL POETRY DAY: THE LIT & PHIL NEED YOU!
For National Poetry Day on 5 October, the Lit & Phil in Newcastle are holding a special evening event on this year’s theme, Identity – and they need your poetic input! They write:
“Identity is perceived externally but we can only exist within it. There are many meanings of identity and many ways of presenting/ representing identity: Identity as image, Identity as biological, Identity as fantasy, Identity as labels, Identity as concept, Identity as spiritual, Identity as non-identity, Identity as breathing, Identity as voice, Identity as creativity.
With the advances in technology, it is easy to shift and change identities; to create the person we really want to be without a witness to confirm or contest the creation.�
With this in mind, the Lit & Phil are looking for poems from people of all ages and experience. The winning poets will be given the chance to read at the National Poetry Day event along with Sheree Mack, the Lit & Phil’s first writer-in-residence. Each person selected will also receive a small performance fee.
The closing date for submitting your poems is 15 September, and they should be sent to keasson@litandphil.org.uk
ENTERTAINMENT WITH A MIDDLE-EASTERN FLAVOUR…
Laughter under the Bombs is a play by Palestinian writer, Sharif Abudnnur which, incredibly, was performed nightly in Beirut during the recent Israeli bombing raids. To raise money for the Beirut theatre and relief funds, actors from Cloud Nine Theatre Company and students from Tynemet’s Performing Arts will be giving a reading of Laughter under the Bombs at Tynemet College’s Tom Hadaway Theatre. The event is taking place at 7pm on Friday 15 September, and will also include live music from South Shields-based Iraqi lute player, Firas. For more details or to book tickets, call 0191 2531901.
IS YOUR FICTION FLASHY?
Biscuit Publishing have launched a new ‘flash fiction’ competition, with a £1,000 prize up for grabs. So if you can write an extra-short story of 500-750 words (in any genre) you could scoop the top prize, or one of several ‘mystery’ prizes. The entry fee is £5 for the first story, and £4 for any additional stories submitted. The deadline is 27 January 2007 – but just think how many 500-word stories you could write in 5 months! For more information, visit www.biscuitpublishing.com
5-MINUTE FILM OPPORTUNITIES
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council and Northern Film & Media are teaming up to give local film-makers the chance to make some 5-minute original short films. The scheme is open to people based in the North East, or to people whose ideas are set in Gateshead. Applicants must be over 18 and not in full-time or undergraduate education – for more information, go to www.northernmedia.org, where you can download the guidelines and application form from the news section. But you’ll have to do it fast, because the deadline for ideas and applications is 31 August 2006!
WRITERS’ BURSARY REMINDER
We mentioned this in a newsletter a couple of months ago, but it’s such a good opportunity that we thought it was worth reminding you about. Medical Case Notes Assessment Ltd is awarding an £18,000 bursary to an aspiring writer who would like to dedicate up to 12 months to writing. The work can be on any subject providing it is original, imaginative and a work of fiction, and the successful writer will retain full copyright. And as they say on TV adverts, there really is no catch! The closing date is 30 November 2006. For more details of how to apply, follow this link to the website: http://www.medicalcasenotes.co.uk/bursary/
TLC SCRIPTWRITING COMPETITION
The Literary Consultancy’s script division has launched a new competition open to writers of theatre and radio. The competition is free to enter and the five winners will receive a full written critique of their script, and will then meet with one of the TLC’s “industry insiders� for further professional advice. The deadline for entries is 31 October, and submissions will be judged by the TLC’s team of script readers, who have worked previously with the BBC, The National Theatre and The Royal Court, among others.) To enter, writers should send a hard copy of up to 60 pages of script (either an entire script or an excerpt) to Patsy Trench, Play Competition, The Literary Consultancy, Diorama Arts, No 1 Euston Centre, London,NW1 3JG. For more information, email Patsy Trench at patsy@literaryconsultancy.co.uk or call 020 7813 4330.
DO YOU RENGA?
Artist and poet Alec Finlay has recently re-launched the renga website, www.renga-platform.co.uk and it is now the most visited website dedicated to renga in the world. Many local poets have taken part in the renga days that Alec, Linda France and Subhadassi have presented over the past three years, whether at Hill Forts and in gardens along Hadrian's Wall, at BALTIC, or more recently at The Alnwick Garden and the Garden Station at Langley (where the renga platform itself now lives). The new website includes collaborative poems from the renga days, 100 verse hyakuin renga written at schools in the region, a how-to-do renga section and an ongoing senku 1,000 verse renga. There will be a renga at the Garden Station on National Poetry Day, so watch out for more details. And if you have no idea what a renga is, then it’s probably time you visited the website!
KENDAL IS LIT UP FOR PERFORMANCE
If you’re involved in – or just curious about – performance-based literature, then you may want to book your ticket to Kendal to partake in Lit Up, the UK’s first showcase for performance literature. The festival takes place at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal between 20 and 22 September, and promises to deliver a wide range of live literature, “from theatre, storytelling and reading through to rapping, beatbox and poetry slamming.� You can also support North East publisher, Bloodaxe, by going along to their ‘Being Alive’ event, featuring the work of UA Fanthorpe, Helen Dunmore, Julia Darling and WH Auden. Tickets cost £5/£3 per session or £12/£7.50 for 3 shows. You can view the complete Lit Up programme at www.litup.org
PLAYWRITING MASTERCLASS WEEKEND IN LONDON
If you have £300 to spare and would like to take part in a “stimulating, entertaining and career-changing� playwriting course, then this is your opportunity! Playwright Stephen Jeffreys (The Libertine, A Going Concern) is leading a 3-day masterclass, which promises to be a practical guide to every aspect of writing plays. It is being held at the Royal Court Theatre and the Radisson Edwardian Mountbatten Hotel on Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd September. For more information, visit www.stephenjeffreys.co.uk
NORTH EAST EVENTS NEWS - By John at Literature Northeast
Poets making the trek down south for the increasingly popular Write Room at Wolviston's Wellington Inn are the extremely talented Kevin Cadwallender and Aidan Halpin, who are travelling down from Newcastle. Also appearing are Dominic Windram and Lynn Boyd from Hartlepool, alongside local poetry duo Voicebox. A young poet from Stockton, Paul Wylde, is on the bill and two Mudfog poets, Shirley Hetherington and Geoff Strange, will also be filling the room with poetry.
The Writers' Café at Stockton's Georgian Theatre this month also features a presentation of Mudfog poets, including Tara Bergin, Gary Newmarch, Syndou Diarrassouba, Shirley Hetherington and Gordon Hodgeon.
Ekko Words Inc at Newcastle's Sports Café is a new open mic night with readings from Keith Armstrong, Kate Fox and Martin Bloomfield, guest slots from comedian Ken Stott and charva hating rapper MC Gizza Tab. Plus more guests on the night.
The Write Room Wellington Inn, Wolviston: 19:45, Tue 29 Aug 2006
Ekko Words Inc The Sports Café, Newcastle: 19:30, Mon 4 Sep 2006
The Writers' Café The Georgian Theatre, Stockton: 19:30, Wed 6 Sep 2006
For more details on these and the rest of the month’s events, see www.literaturenortheast.co.uk. If you promote literature events in the North East and your event isn’t listed, please get in touch with john@literaturenortheast.co.uk.
AWARD FOR PETE MORTIMER
Congratulations to Peter Mortimer, who has been given a special award by the Arab magazine Yemen Voice! The award is for his services to the Yemeni community in Britain and was presented to Peter in Dudley, West Midlands when he was the guest speaker at the region's special Yemen Day. Peter Mortimer wrote the play Riot - South Shields 1930, and the book Cool for Qat - a Yemeni Journey, both of which appeared in 2005.
COMPETITION SUCCESS FOR LOCAL POET
Well done to Elizabeth Whyman, whose collection of poems was shortlisted for the Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award. A selection of her work will also be included in the winners’ anthology.
NEW WEBSITE OF INTEREST
To mark their 100th edition, The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook (a must-have companion for every writer, aspiring or established) has launched a brand new website. As well as details of their 100-year history, the site also includes a guide to getting published and a directory of literary agents. Visit the site at www.writersandartists.co.uk
NEWS FROM THE NORTH…
The Community Creative Writers in Berwick have recently held their annual 60-word story competition, which has attracted entries from all over the North East. Each story had to contain a plot, realistic characters and dialogue – as well as a beginning, middle and end. The competition took place at the Castle Hotel in Berwick-upon-Tweed and was won by Mary Thomas. For more information about the group and how to enter next year’s competition, email mavismaureen@aol.com
All information is correct at the time of going to press.
New Writing North is funded by Arts Council England and some of our project work is supported by the CSDI programme which uses funds from the European Union, ERDF and ESF programmes to support the development of work opportunities and training for writers.
New Writing North
2 School Lane
Whickham
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE16 4SL
Tel: 0191 488 8580
Fax: 0191 488 8576
www.newwritingnorth.com
Posted by Barbara-Ann Brown on August 30, 2006 4:58 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.cultureandcreativitygateshead.org/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/365
Your Comments