Christmas with North West Words

This Thursday evening it's the Christmas event at North West Words, Cafe Blend, Letterkenny. We are in for a treat with readings from  the poet, editor of Boyne Berries, and Boyne Writers' group member Michael Farry.

Manchester Writing for Children Prize 2014

Find details of the first ever Manchester Writing for Children Prize 2014 here.
Also, details of the Manchester Poetry Prize and the Manchester Fiction Prize can be found here

Get on yer bike and visit Lumiere Derry

Wow is Derry buzzing! There are four nights of Lumiere ending tonight 1st December, and the city is packed and full of fun.

Advice and resources on writing short stories

Sometimes writing advice really hits at the right time, and you read something about writing process that seems so true. In the beginnings of starting to write, I found it difficult to appreciate much of the wisdom on process. With hindsight, I do believe that writing publishable work is something that is learned gradually through trial and error, and mostly through some success and much rejection (damn it!). Here are some resources providing advice on writing short stories that I've found useful.

Interviews with the marvellous William Trevor

If you are like me and enjoy the writings of William Trevor, this is for you. I'm always keen to read anything that this masterful writer has to say about his craft. He is up there as one of my favourites. Recently, I've come across two instances of interviews with him that I found really enjoyable, and not surprisingly, very insightful on writing process.

An interview with The Paris Review from a few years ago here 

Also, since his recent and well deserved award of the inaugral Charleston-Chichester Award for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction, there is an exclusive audio interview with him available at Thresholds website here  

Respect Mr Trevor, respect.

North West Words in November - another great night planned

The last Thursday of the month means North West Words in Cafe Blend Letterkenny. And, there's another great line up this month. I'll be there.

 

The Letters Page - issue 2 out soon and a call for submissions for issue 3

The Garden Room Writers have a special interest in The Letters Page  edited by Jon McGregor and a team from The School of English in The University of Nottingham. Our own GRW Ann Hull had a letter in the first issue. What a lovely idea, hand written letters only. To look at issue 1 see here 

A Shelley Tracey Creative Writing Workshop in Co. Down

The Write to Belong: finding your place

in the family of things

Saturday 30^th November, 2013 10.00-4.30

The title of this creative writing workshop is based on the last lines of Mary Oliver’s poem, Wild Geese:

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

The Manchester Children's Book Festival...save the date!

A date for your diaries...the Manchester Children's Book Festival will take place from 26th June to 6th July 2014. The festival is held every two years and run by Carol Ann Duffy's team at the Manchester Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University. The programme will be announced in January. I also just discovered the festival blog here. Apologies for the generous advanced warning, I realise we haven't even had Christmas 2013 yet, but would hate anyone to miss out on what I am sure will be a superb festival.

Man With A Movie Camera - an outdoor showing at Ebrington Barracks, Derry

Some things are just super cool, and you'll go and see even in the cold and damp Derry air. So, this Saturday I headed into the big smoke (North West style) to see a showing of Man With A Movie Camera as part of Cinema City.