THE INKY SHEFFIELD WRITERS NEWSLETTER Spring - 2004 No. 29 ______________________________________________________ INKY NEWS Signposts on The Web Signposts is delighted to announce the launch of the new Signposts website. The website can be found at www.signpostsonline.org and includes the latest writing news, details of new projects, writing groups, new courses, book launches, poetry performances and writing opportunities within the Sheffield area. The site will be updated on a regular basis as and when new information becomes available. For this to happen we need you to send us your writing news, be it a new writing group that you want advertising, a reading event, a workshop, in fact anything that's happening in your writing world that you want people to know about. The 'Wordabout' news page is waiting for you to fill it! We want the site to become a vibrant source of information on the world of writing in the Sheffield area but, for this to happen, we do need your help. If you would like us to include your news on the site then please email it to us at: signposts@lineone.net Alternatively you can post it to us at the address at the end of this Inky. The New Online Inky The Inky can be sent now by email and is also available in a simplified format for easy reading on screen or for printing out in Word format. We will still be posting the paper copies out but if you would prefer to receive your copy electronically then send us your email address and we'll email your copy to you, we save on the postage and treat a tree into the bargain. If you decide to change from a paper copy to an e-copy then please let us know so that we can amend your address details on the database. If you have any comments or difficulties with the web site then please let us know. Writing For Children Advice Surgery Signposts now have the details of the first in a new season of Writers Advice Surgeries. If you are interested in writing for children then our surgery, run by Leah Fleetwood, will help you to sharpen up your work and increase your chances of getting published. Leah has been running writing workshops for quite a number of years and, through her work with the WEA, has helped to establish a Writing For Children course in Sheffield. The surgery will cover all aspects of writing for children from developing the initial idea through to finding a publisher. There will be opportunities throughout the surgery to ask questions and to share your own writing. The surgery will be held in the Signposts Training Room on Saturday 19th June between 10.30 am and 12.30 pm. Tickets are £3.00 (£1.00 cons') and must be bought from Signposts in advance. To book your place on the surgery please send a cheque or postal order, made out to Signposts, together with your details to: Signposts 4th floor, Furnival House, 48 Furnival Gate, Sheffield, S14QP "A Time To Be Proud Of" A "Poet's Afternoon" will be held at the Gardener's Rest on Neepsend Lane on the 26th June. In addition to Roy Blackman and other poets reading their work there will be a musical performance of "A Time To Be Proud Of" about the miners strike of 1984. For more details call Roy Blackman - (01709) 377097 Verbiage Workshops Two writing workshops will be held at Signposts in July, in connection with Verbiage, a performance of poetry and music that will take place in Sheffield's Winter Garden in October, as part of the Off the Shelf festival. There will be a variety of exercises on themes connected with gardens, from prize-winning vegetables to talking gnomes, slug traps to the war of the weeds, birth, re-birth, glasshouse utopias, cacti and other prickly themes. If you would like to take part in Verbiage, come along to the workshops, or send in poems you have written independently that might fit (or challenge) the theme. The Verbiage workshops will be held at the Signposts Training Room, 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm on Sundays 11th and 18th July. There is a charge of £3.00 (£1.00 Cons') for two workshops and pre-booking is required. To book your place on the workshops please send your details together with a cheque (made payable to Signposts) to: VERBIAGE, 29 Hobart Street, Sheffield S11 8DB. If you just want to send your poems in then please send them to the same address. For more information please contact Robin Vaughan-Williams on: 0114 258 7270, or email . If you would like to join a pre-workshop exploration of the Winter Garden on 11th July to collect ideas, meet us by the tallest tree in the Garden at 12.30 pm (look for the man with the Verbiage sign in his lapel). A New Independent Press for Sheffield This could be happening soon and if you would be interested in helping to establish a new independent, publicly funded press in Sheffield, or would just like to keep track of how it develops then here is your opportunity. If you think that you may be interested in being involved in any way, lending your support, sharing your ideas, your experience or just giving a few pieces of advice then please contact: Barbara Vesey: babzvz@aol.com or Oliver Mantell: olivermantell@elsewhere.co.uk Playwrights/Plays Wanted The Apex Players Drama Group, one of Sheffield's small drama societies, was formed in 1973 and produce two plays each year. Their current play has a large cast of five men and eight women (their definition of "large" is ten plus) with an age ranging from thirty to sixty. The group are reticent to repeat plays and whatever work they do each year is dependent on the available cast. The group are finding it more and more difficult to find new material and would like to have a wider choice of genre that would offer interesting and challenging roles to the acting members. Are you an aspiring playwright and would you be interested in writing a play for the group? If you are interested in becoming involved with the Apex Players then please send your details to them at the following address: Louise Taylor (Apex Players) C/o The Gardener's Rest Public House 105 Neepsend Lane, Sheffield. Calling all Sheffield Writers On 3rd July, Endcliffe Park will be the venue for this year's Peace in the Park Festival. The aim of the festival is to promote a sense of peace amongst the diverse communities that make up Sheffield. Last year the festival attracted around 2000 people ... this year's looks to be even bigger. The festival will involve musical performances, interactive arts and open discussion. There will be two music tents, children's workshops, a healing area, information and craft stalls and much more. New this year is the open-mic stage. Anyone can come and take the microphone for a story, a poem, a song or whatever they want to share ... all are welcome! You are invited to come and share your talents with the community in the sunshine! For more info, visit the Peace In the Park website: www.peaceinthepark.freeuk.com or just turn up on the day. Knightvision Poetry Evening Knightvision, the music, poetry and art magazine (available from Blackwells on Mappin Street, £5.00) will be hosting a poetry evening in the Central Library, Surrey Street, on May 20th at 6.30 pm. The event is open to everyone and admission is free. For more info' contact the Library on 2734711. The Inky Review No. 1 Blood Sweat & Beers by Mike Hoy £3 Hi Rise Publications ISBN 0953557013-4 Mike Hoy's Blood, Sweat and (picture of two beers) is a likeable collection because it does exactly what it says on the tin. There are three distinct parts separated by a change of tone, subject matter and font. Blood: a celebration in a way, of itself, as all19 poems have been previously published in reputable magazines. Sweat: on the surface it's 9 poems concerned with the meat and muscle of life at the gym. Beers: the booze fuelled & mindful wanderings of a wordsmith. A recent review in Artscene said "the book dives for humour with the quondam success of an arthritic otter in the demonic sea of modern life". If that means; when you read the poems out to friends they usually laugh but sometimes don't, and that they can tell an older bloke in Sheffield probably wrote it, and they were inspired to think about something when they heard it, then I agree. Ray Hearne lyrically informs us on the back cover that Mike Hoy's work is not widely enough known and I agree with that too. The writing works because Hoy makes you think he's remembered every single detail he ever saw and that he's been around the block enough times to know how life and death works. This is certainly clearest in part one. Blood is definitely the most solemn section. Promised Land starts "sunset colours the station with sadness", and Growing Pains concludes "And his smile is sad and wise, 'Women are wonderful…and strange'. " Section two isn't all Pumping Irony or tweezered hamsters "re-shaping their meat into more attractive packages" either. It may start that way but the poems take you further than mere physical concerns. Surprised by the end to discover his words have taken you onboard a treadmill of well-worn themes; love, life, religion and war. Maybe it's no coincidence I just joined a gym…. Am I also looking to "leave the fitness factory, perfect as supermarket apples"? The last section, Beers is the favourite. There's rhyme, reason, timing and smiles. He's really nailed that relentless, annoyingly tipsy, bardonic questioning of everyday stuff like "shouldn't the headline PSYCHIC WINS LOTTERY be common?" Mike Hoy is clearly a prolific writer and a tireless, well-travelled watcher. Not surprisingly he won the Hilda Cotterill Poetry Competition during last years Off the Shelf festival. As far as Blood Sweat and Beers goes you'd cringe at the homemade cover so don't even look at it when your ordered copy arrives. Instead appreciate the bargain you just got and prepare to be moved. Review by Natasha Marshall (March 2004) Blood Sweat & Beers is available direct from: Mike Hoy, 2 Netherdene Road, Dronfield, S18 1TR. Email: mikehoy@aol.com Please enclose a cheque for £3.00 The Inky Review No. 2 New Work by the Writing Squad The Writing Squad was set up in 2001 by Steve Deardon, formally the Literature Officer for Yorkshire Arts and Danny Broderick, creative writing tutor at Hallam University, with the idea of developing an equivalent to already existing foundation courses for artists, musicians and dancers. The idea evolved into setting up a course that would find the best regional writers aged between 16-20 years and develop their skills to such a level that they would be well equipped to become the writers of tomorrow. "New Work" is a collection, not available to the public, put together by the members of the Writing Squad as an exercise; Emma Smith reviews a copy for the Inky. Inspired by football's youth schemes, the Writing Squad's directors 'dreamed of an academy for Beckhams whose talents were verbal'. This collection of poetry, drama, prose, and much in between, gives us a privileged glimpse of work in progress by the Squad's nine promising young writers, some of whom will no doubt play a part in the north of England's literary future. Each has a well- developed, individual voice and the great majority engage with traditional and innovative literary forms in ways that are both powerful and totally fresh. As we would expect, they deal with birth and death, love and sex, the pain of loss and the agonising difficulty of creation, but there's also a shared sense of being on the periphery, looking in on the world with that sharper vision artists possess. So we are treated to Gavin Hudson's Venus waxing her bikini line and getting a boob job, and his brilliantly subtle and formally innovative portrait of a psychiatrist descending into madness. Joe Shrewsbury's excellent radio play is a poignant depiction of working-class life and death in a steel factory; Rachel Maloney's 'Underneath the Blossom' is an example of the intensity of visual description which makes for high quality screenwriting; and Penny Broadhurst's defiant poetry writes the chaos of contemporary society into poems which break up poetic and grammatical structures. Blood, Sweat and Beers For me, though, the real delight was to stumble across one writer whose work surely stands on a level with some of the finest contemporary short fiction. The three stories by Steve Van Riel are both bewitching and stylistically faultless. He has that rare skill of being able to see the world 'in a grain of sand': how the moment when a first date goes bad can reveal so much about the subtle politics which make or break personal relationships; how a brief encounter between two travellers in a snowbound airport can take us to the core of what happiness is. Set in communist Russia, 'Consequential' is the highlight of the collection: a wonderfully humanising portrait both of the formidable figure of Lenin taking milk home for his wife, and of the three unfortunate thieves who discover they have just made the accidental but fatal error of robbing him! Not only is this nothing short of satirical genius, but it also demonstrates an engagement with history and politics that is truly remarkable given that Van Riel was 19 at the time of writing. The second Writing Squad is, I believe, now in training, and I look forward immensely to seeing what literary gymnastics they will perform. Review by Emma Smith (April 2004) For more information about the Writing Squad please send an e-mail to Steve Deardon: steve@writingsquad.com THE INKY INTERVIEW After working for nearly thirty years as a secondary school teacher, Ann Hamblen, frustrated by having to dance around the National Curriculum decided to go freelance and is now working with writers of all ages and backgrounds. The move in direction means that she now has more time for her own writing, mainly poetry, and that the line between work and play has become indistinguishable. Dave Sissons managed to catch up with Ann for the Inky interview. Are you from this region or did you move into it? This is my adopted home. I was born in south London, and spent my childhood in the stockbroker belt of Surrey, where my mum worked as living-in housekeeper. Because I grew up in other people's houses, I never felt any sense of belonging in the south. In 1974, I puttered into Sheffield's (then pretty derelict) canal basin, on a narrow boat called the Alice Bramble, and I've been here ever since. You teach Creative Writing. What writing do you do yourself? Do you prefer any particular genre? I'll have a go at anything, but I could never write a novel – don't have the stamina! I think of myself as a poet; I love tinkering with little bits of language until I find the patterns that feel right. I sometimes think that my true "genre" is actually research. I recently made myself into a world authority on the life of Mrs. Edith Pretty, owner of the Sutton Hoo estate at the time of the excavation of the Saxon boat burial. She has yet to tell me what genre she would like to organise herself into! Perhaps I could take photographs of my piles of files of the fascinating notes and images that I gather obsessively, publish the pictures and move on! Worrying thought – perhaps I'm not really a writer at all … Your particular Creative Writing classes tend to be WEA or Northern College. Are there any reasons for the choice - for example is it a matter of going where the work is or is there an ideological commitment to 'second chance' groups? I'd like to have "an ideological commitment" – it sounds very serious and grown- up – but all I can really claim is that I have most fun when I'm encouraging the creative writing of people who share my enthusiasm, whoever, wherever. WEA groups and Northern College students are really exciting to work with; adult students are so enthusiastic and supportive of each other, and it's great when new writers begin to gain confidence in the power and value of their own writing. But this is just as true of groups of children in classrooms responding to Tudor portraits, or children writing on location at the Graves Gallery, the General Cemetery, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet or Kelham Island, or groups of teachers exploring English Heritage sites or the fantastic aerial photographs of Yann Arthus-Bertrand through writing poetry …. Working freelance gives me the chance to enjoy working with many different writers in different situations. What work are you doing with the BBC at present? The much-publicised BBC2/3 short story competition, End of Story, has been launched with free writers' workshops all over the country. Radio Sheffield's Open Learning Centre manager, Andrew Bowman, at Shoreham Street, has booked me to do a series of these, partly to support writers wanting to enter the competition, but also to create stories for the new Radio Sheffield Artlife slot. We hope that the writers of the best tales will record their work for broadcast themselves. I'm really looking forward to getting started on these sessions. Do you have any favourite writers? Many! My tastes are as catholic now as they were when I was a kid, devouring Austen and Blyton, Henry James and Ruby Ferguson's pony books. I read crime fiction to escape – I'm in the middle of the latest Val McDermid at present. I've recently started enjoying short stories (they used to irritate me – always stopped too soon!) – Michelle Roberts, A.S. Byatt. I'm an avid "cross- over" reader; I'm looking forward to the last part of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori trilogy. I love Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, of course, though I have to confess that I haven't managed to get past the death of the angel in The Amber Spyglass yet – too painful! Jacob Polley and Robin Robertson are my current poetry passions. The book pile beside the bed always sways dangerously. I've just bought a torch that fits round my head, like a miner's lamp, so that I can read in the night without disturbing my partner. Thanks to Ann Hamblen Interview by Dave Sissons WRITING GROUP NEWS CHANTWRITERS, Community Writing Group, is still alive and kicking (despite that awful pun). The name was born from a performance event commissioned by Pitchbend for Off the Shelf and has stuck – they don't just write football chants. There is a huge scope for writing with an anti-racist message and, as in other writing groups, the aim is to have fun. There is no need to be an established writer and although they approach anti-racism from a football perspective, there is no need to be a keen football fan. Meetings generally take the form of writing exercises, discussions and reading and FURD has a superb resource library to browse and join. The group is hosted by Football Unites, Racism Divides, and is based at The Stables, Sharrow Lane, Sheffield. Meetings are held every 1st and 3rd Wednesday in the month between 7 and 9pm. For more information contact Ralph on 01246 850023 Email: rhancock-pilsley@fsmail.net or call in. Sheffield U3A Group The University Of The Third Age (U3A) Writing Group meets in member's homes once every four weeks. Usually a work is discussed and then followed up with a piece of writing. The group, based in the south of Sheffield, is looking for new members to join up with them. If you are interested and would enjoy writing in a congenial atmosphere (refreshments provided) then call Peter Barclay on: 0114 230 4327 Radio Opportunities If you write monologues, short stories, poetry or radio plays, the Write Direction Group are inviting you to become involved in their new project. WDG is the writing group for Sheffield Live; Sheffield's very own community radio station. The group would like to produce a weekly hour-long programme throughout Sheffield Live's FM Broadcast during the summer. The aim is to open the slot up to other local writers and use the opportunity to showcase local talent. Recordings will take place on the last Tuesday of every month so if you are interested please get in touch with them so that studio time can be booked for you. Contact Sangita on 0114 2814082 (The Drum) or email her on: artists@sheffieldlive.org.uk EMAIL NEWS FORWORDS forwords is a new bi-weekly email bulletin, offering a digest of information about poetry and spoken word events, workshops, and other literary events in Sheffield and the surrounding area. If you would like to subscribe to the list, please email with 'subscribe' in the subject line. You can unsubscribe or alter your details by writing to the same address. forwords will not pass addresses on to third parties, and because information is posted only every two weeks, it won't clutter up your mail box. If you wish to publicise an event, then please send your details to: , including: the event name, the date, time and location, the entrance charge (if any) and brief details about the event together with any contact details. If a performance event, please indicate whether there will be guest performers, an open spot, or both. Regular classes and writing or discussion groups won't be included in the listings. However, there will be a section where such groups can receive occasional publicity. The first posting will be on Friday 14th May and they will be on alternate Fridays subsequently. MAGAZINE NEWS Carillon Magazine (published in Rotherham) is seeking a local co-editor (or perhaps two or three persons to form a Small Press co-operative with a wider remit). The main requirements are: Reliability, sufficient time to do the job properly. Proven writing and proof reading skills. An eclectic outlook - poetry and prose, modern and traditional, local and global. A willingness to share modest costs if necessary. These, together with the ability to be tactful - you'll have to say "No" to some well- meaning writers! The magazine has established a decent reputation but desperately needs more help and fresh input to take it forward and secure its future. If you are interested then please email Graham Rippon, at: editor@carillonmag.org.uk Proof e-magazine is looking for submissions. The theme for the next issue of the creative writing and arts e-zine will be 'higher'. They welcome poetry, prose, scripts, images, sound, web-art and multimedia submissions -in fact anything that's suitable for web publication. Please send material as an email attachment to: s.l.earnshaw@shu.ac.uk Submissions are open to all and the deadline is 1st June. View the current issue at: www.shu.ac.uk/proof Horace is a new poetry magazine recently uprooted from Essex to Sheffield, and is on the lookout for new contributers, any style of poetry considered. Issue 2 of Horace has just appeared, and will cost interested readers no more than the price of a large sae. If you are interested in picking up a copy, or submitting your work for future issues please contact: Ben Hastie, 124 Onslow Road, Sheffield, S11 7AG "Chinese Whispers" Virus Hits the Inky Apparently, the last issue of the Inky was infected by the dreaded "Chinese Whispers" virus! In a short article about the history of the Red Deer it was mentioned that Matt Black hosted the poetry evenings for about ten years. It was actually Maureen Barry who organised many wonderful evenings for about ten years and who, together with other Sheffield writers, also produced the excellent Red Deer Anthologies 1 & 2. We believe that the virus was passed on by people talking to each other, the odd glass of beer and the passage of time. Thanks to those concerned for pointing the errors out to us. LISTINGS OF LIVE EVENTS In May Tuesday 25th May Meet Jeanette Winterson The author will be reading from and discussing her new book "Lighthousekeeping." Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, Sheffield 6.30 pm start Tickets £3.00. Tel: 0114 2757727 Tuesday 25th May Bcuk Off at Bukowski's Two Liverpool Poets - Mandy Coe reading from her new book, together with Colin Turner. First Lines Quiz Poetry Book swap: bring a book of poems to swap with another. The Beer-Break Instant Poem Competition Free 8.15 pm start Bukowski's Piano Bar Diner 217-219 London Road Tel: 0114 258 4700 In June Tuesday 1st June The Sticky Bun Writers Club Simon Heywood, who teaches storytelling in the creative writing programme at Derby University, will talk about, discuss and tell some stories. Fat Cat Pub, Alma Street, Sheffield Free. 8.15 pm start Tel: 0114 2366 225 Wednesday 2nd June Blue Moose Poetry Reading Group Meeting of this new poetry reading group, all welcome, bring along a poem or two to discuss. The Red Deer 18 Pitt Street, Sheffield 7.30 for 8.00 start. Tel: 07793 730 250 Tuesday 8th June Antics Upstairs @ The Red Deer Informal evening of spoken words - story telling, poetry, fairy tales and beautiful lies. The Red Deer, 18 Pitt Street, Sheffield. 8.00 for 9.00 start Tel: 0114 258 7270 Saturday 19th June Writing for Children Surgery First of this years surgeries held by Signposts, with Leah Fleetwood running the session. Signposts, 4th floor, Furnival House, Furnival Gate, Sheffield 10.30 am - 12.30 pm Tickets £3.00 - Book in Advance Tel: 0114 2634 787 Saturday 19th June The Poetry Business Writing Days Morning games and exercises to inspire. Afternoon workshop to delve further. No need to book. £16 waged, £8 unwaged. The Studio, Byram Arcade, Westgate, Huddersfield, HD1 1ND 10.15 – 4.15 Tel: 01484 434 840 Saturday 26th June A "Poet's Afternoon" and musical performance of "A Time To Be Proud Of" about the Miners Strike. The work of Roy Blackman together with other poets plus music. The Gardener's Rest 105 Neepsend Lane, Sheffield Tel: 01709 377097 Tuesday June 29th Bcuk Off at Bukowski's Guests will be Char March from Leeds & Jim Caruth from Sheffield. First Lines Quiz Poetry Book swap: bring a book of poems to swap with another. The Beer-Break Instant Poem Competition Free 8.15 pm start Bukowski's Piano Bar Diner 217-219 London Road, Sheffield Tel: 0114 258 4700 In July Saturday 3rd July Peace In The Park Festival Music, arts, food, discussion, children's workshops, craft stalls and an open-mic' stage. More info: www.peaceinthepark.freeuk.com or just turn up on the day _____________________________________________________________________ SHEFFIELD WRITERS RESOURCE CENTRE For information and advice Wednesdays 5pm - 7.30pm The Main Lending Library Surrey St, Sheffield, S1 For more info - 0114 2734711 (Sheffield Central Library) To be included on The Inky's Listings - Phone 0114 2634787 Email: signposts@lineone.net The Inky acknowledges support from: _________________________________________________________ The Inky is put together by Matt Black & Geoff Briggs The Inky is a sIgnpOstS Project. Please send contributions for the next issue to: The Inky SIGNPOSTS 4th Floor Furnival House, 48 Furnival Gate, Sheffield, S1 4QP, UK Phone Geoff on 0114 2634787 or email Signposts@lineone.net