THE INKY The Inky Writers Newsletter Summer 2006 No. 38 INKY NEWS SIGNPOSTS FUNDING NEWS More Activity This Year Signposts, who run The Inky, have been successful with Arts Council funding through Grants for the Arts to expand the amount of work we are doing over the coming year. The aim is to put on workshops, readings, advice surgeries and run projects for writers in and around Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. We want to attract new writers, people wanting to give it a go, and people from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as putting things on for more experienced writers. We will be able to increase the number of workshops and readings that we run, particularly in areas which are less provided for already, but also we hope that writers will want to try out workshops and readings in places further afield from home, to experience new kinds of writing, different workshops and to meet new writers. With this in mind all workshops will be advertised in The Inky and we will organise them so that different kinds of workshop take place in the different locations, and so that they don’t take place on the same day! Most of the new activity will take place in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham though we will also be running more workshops and events in Sheffield. We have been working in Barnsley over the last year, running workshops and the Writers Resource Centre in the Central Library and branch libraries, in partnership with B.M.B.C. Libraries and B.M.B.C. Arts Development. This has been very encouraging and the take-up and response to workshops has been excellent, as well as the number of enquirers at the Writers Resource Centre. We have also been able to add lots of new writers and subscribers to The Inky mailing list. If you are not yet on the free mailing list and want to join please do contact us (details on the back page). To reflect the fact that we are no longer only working in Sheffield we have changed our name from Signposts (Sheffield Writing Development Project) to Signposts (Writing Development Project). Calling Rotherham and Doncaster Writers, Organisers, Etc. We have not yet worked in Rotherham and Doncaster, and if you are involved in writing in Rotherham or Doncaster we would love to hear from you. We want to put on workshops, events and Writers Resource Centres and are keen to talk to writers, organisers, and workshop leaders as we very much want to work in partnership with you. We support writing groups in finding new people as well as supporting new writers in finding writing groups. We help to promote workshops and events already being run, want to find out what kinds of workshop and event you would like, and try to help put those on, and can add you to The Inky mailing list so that you are informed about other writing events in the region. If you are from in or around Rotherham or Doncaster, are in a writing group, want to find a writing group, want to join The Inky mailing list, or organise any kind of writing activity, then please contact us . . . Poetry Business Writing School The Poetry Business has established a Writing School which will include a scheme of workshops, mentoring and assignments, spread over 18 months, for a number of selected writers. They are seeking applicants for the new course, based in Huddersfield, which will start in the autumn of 2006. Closing date for applications: 31 July 2006 (earlier applications welcome). The course leader and mentor will be Dr Peter Sansom, together with guest tutors. Course members will be experienced writers in need of further direction. They will normally have published a collection, but exceptions may be made. There will be nine workshop days across 18 months. Students will also produce assignments and evaluations, and receive personal feedback. There will be a reading list. For application details contact: The Poetry Business, The Studio, Byram Arcade, Westgate, Huddersfield HD1 1ND. Tel: 01484 434840, Email: edit@poetrybusiness.co.uk New Sheffield Press Launch Following hot on the heels of the recent Longbarrow Press (featured in the last Inky) another new press has just launched in Sheffield. Broken Compass Press, the brainchild of Chris Brownsword, launches with a poetry anthology featuring the likes of J.H. Prynne, Peter Finch, Catherine Walsh and Alec Finlay, amongst others. To find out more about the press and the ideas behind it just flip over the page to where Chris explains the background to the press and what to expect in the future! Any Office Space? Signposts are on the lookout for new office space which is close to the centre of Sheffield. If you think you can help us we would like to talk with you. We are looking for an office space of around 200 square feet (or larger depending on the rent). It would be desirable if the office also included shared access to a larger space in which we could hold workshops, surgeries and events. If you think that you may be able to help us please contact Geoff either by email or phone. Email: signposts@lineone.net Phone: (0114) 2634787. The ACE Free Read Scheme (Manuscript Feedback) Signposts are now administering for the fifth year running a free read scheme for writers in South Yorkshire, in conjunction with NALD (National Association for Literature Development). The reads and feedback are provided by The Literary Consultancy (more details on the web, under that name), an organisation set up by Arts Council England for this purpose. The scheme is designed to give manuscript feedback from readers in the publishing industry, and those who submit manuscripts should expect a detailed response to their work. Applications should come from writers who are ready for such a response. People who sent work in previous years were very impressed and positive about the scheme. The idea is to use the free reads mostly for novelists and short story writers, but there will be room for two or three poets as well. A free read for a full novel may be available if it isn't too long, but a synopsis and some sample chapters is more likely as then there will be more money left for other people. Priority for free reads will go to people who would have trouble affording the service otherwise. If you want to apply for a free read, please send an email to: matt.black@pop3.poptel.org.uk or a letter to: Matt Black, 51 Pearson Place, Sheffield S8 9DE, by August 31st, and give a rough idea of how much work you want to submit. Please also say whether the work has been seen by anyone else, either through a workshop or any other reader. We can then let you know whether you will be able to have a free read, how TLC would like the work presented, etc. If you require any further information please email or telephone Matt Black. Phone: (0114) 2554030. Creat0!vate Creates a Fête Creat0!vate is organising an all-day festival on Tuesday 25th July, and is looking for 'nature poets' who would like to take part in a reading being held at the Botanical Gardens on that day between 3.00 and 4.00 pm. The day promises to be jam packed with fun and performance so if you’re interested, call Becky. Phone: 07772 371 986, Email: rebecca.virgo@ntlworld.com Writer Wanted Signposts, in partnership with Arts Development BMBC, are looking for a writer to run ‘Your Story’ project, collecting true, extraordinary and ordinary stories, both oral and written, with 6 groups, each from a different area and/or community in Barnsley. We expect the writer to be able to work with groups from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities. The writer will edit the writing from each group, creating 6 booklets to be published, launched and distributed in each of the neighbourhoods. The fee is £1,830 To apply please send a letter of interest (no more than 1 side of A4) outlining your experience for the job and how you would approach the work, and your CV (not more than 2 sides) to: Email: signposts@lineone.net or by post to: Geoff Briggs, Signposts, 4th Floor, Furnival House, 48 Furnival Gate, Sheffield S1 4QP. The deadline for applications is July 21st. College Writing Course Gathers Steam Rotherham College of Arts & Technology is again offering places to potential writers on the only college Creative Writing course in the area. The class is ostensibly an assessed course but the priority is towards developing creative writing skills and there is room for a large degree of negotiation between students and tutors as to which direction the course will take. There’s a fee for the full year’s course but if you are on a pension or receiving certain benefits, the course will be substantially reduced or may even be free. The course code is PR139AT, it lasts for 34 weeks beginning 22nd September and is currently listed in 'RCAT News' under 'Literacy Courses'. Students can enrol from 12 June onwards. The class will be held in the Clifton Building of Rotherham College in the centre of Rotherham. Creative Writing courses have been neglected by most local colleges so this is a good opportunity to turn the tide, to develop the facilities available to writers in Rotherham and develop your writing skills at the same time. For more information on this course please contact the College on (01709) 362111. 69 Poets Work Out on Oxfam CD 'Life Lines', a CD of poets reading their work, has just been launched by Oxfam. The CD contains a great range of contributors including Denise Riley, David Harsent, John Hegley, Wendy Cope and Andrew Motion and is available to buy in Oxfam stores for £4.99. For more details visit your local Oxfam or log on to: www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/online/poetry.htm CreatO!vate Comes Out! Over the past few months, you may have become aware of a new ship at sea, creatO!vate; Becky Virgo tells the tale. CreatO!vate has been presenting a monthly showcase of spoken word, poetry, comedy and live music. Those intrepid folk who have actually BEEN to one of the monthly showcases will have been aware that there are several features which seem unusual, for example a focus on excluded and largely under-represented performers. As a woman with hidden disabilities and a regular poetry, comedy and theatrical performer, I have developed an agenda! The comedy world has to accept new and unusual viewpoints… after all, we are taught what IS funny and what is just plain wrong! The poetry world is often in danger of taking itself too seriously and the Disability Arts is an insular movement. CreatO!vate brings ALL into the same event and the audience are pleasantly provoked with a wide range of acts, interpreting life in unique ways. “The aim of CreatO!vate is to promote an equality and diversity of performance, to showcase work from artists and aspiring individuals who are under-represented within the same arena as established performers. As a woman with hidden disabilities I have much experience of the barriers between expectation and performance. Promoting such a mixture of approaches breaks down this barrier to entertainment. Although "CreatO!vate" does not seek to represent any particular group entirely, it does hope to create events which give better visibility to all.” CreatO!vate SUMMER MADNESS our one day “festival” is scheduled on the 25 July 2006. We are planning to show amazing films and animation, feature published punk poets, circuit gods of comedy and bedazzle with spectacular music on the 25th July. Details available on the website after the 30.5.06. July will be last time this wonderful concoction is brought to your world without charge. Support is pivotal and you would be crazy not to come! After July, we decide what the world has asked for and try to give it! There will, as always, be an open mic, but bookings have already begun, so act quickly! To book a spot or for more information: Email: rebecca_virgo@hotmail.com Web: www.creatovate.com It’s always exciting when a new press comes to town —Chris Brownsword explains the background to his new venture - The Broken Compass Press Broken Compass is maybe a clustered accident spurred on by kind words of encouragement from three people in particular: Alan Halsey and Geraldine Monk (West House Books), together with Andy Hirst (Longbarrow Press). It's autonomous rather than automatable, the idea being to create good quality A6 booklets on a non-profit basis (my wallet, everyone's wallet - is already filled with enough blood as it is) with poetry standing as the main focus of attention; that whole explosive thought upon the page which we stagger and tremble through the night to find. Right now all plans are in the present, just to keep going one day at a time until the lights give out. I guess it's a feeling of ragged persistence in a society which objectifies even our busted hearts so as to oil the gears of the machine. Besides, our brows have long since been crushed beneath the kisses of Late Capitalism/New Media (thus creating a spurious guilt complex), shouldn't we be desirous of life beyond mercantilist trade? Passion borne out from the fetters of social/financial/cultural hierarchy etc. But yes, a limited edition anthology of, shall we say, linguistically innovative poetry called '...In Blossoms Atop Reeds It Flares' and featuring J.H Prynne, Peter Finch, Catherine Walsh, Alec Finlay and Keston Sutherland amongst others, is available, price £4.00, from Rare And Racy in Sheffield or alternatively contact Chris. Email to: cbrownsword@hotmail.com The South Yorkshire Page Barnsley Access Poetry Barnsley Access Poetry are stepping out over the summer and autumn period as the Central Library (their usual meeting place) will be closed from July onwards for renovations. The Barnsley group will be meeting at the Emmanuel Methodist Church, Huddersfield Road, Barnsley on Monday, July 10th and Monday, September 11th, between 7.00 pm - 9.00 pm. There will be no meeting in August. For further details please contact Access Poetry. Tel: (01226) 232604. Poetry Party in the Park Access Poetry Barnsley and Access Poetry Wakefield will both be at the 'Poetry Party in the Park' on Sunday 16th July at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (Junction 38, M1). The party kicks off at 11.00 am and there’ll be poetry readings from 2.30 pm (10 min slots). For further information please send an SAE to: John Clarke, Poetry Party Organiser, 3 Sandal Cliff, Sandal, Wakefield. WF2 6AU. Rotherham Metro Writers Poetry Slam Rotherham will be buzzing with arts activities and events this September with a three week long programme of arts and cultural activities all across the Rotherham area. Details are still a bit sketchy but what has been confirmed is a huge poetry slam organised by Rotherham Metro Writers. The slam will start at the Rotherham Trades Club at 12.00 noon on Saturday 23rd of September. The entry fee is £1.00 and for this you’ll get a full afternoon of poetry and fun with a first prize of £50.00 and two second prizes of £25.00. For those interested in entering, the Judges will be marking on - 1. The poem 2. The performance 3. Audience reaction Maximum reading time 2 minutes per round Props and costumes allowed (within reason). Those who progress beyond the first round will need a second poem for use in the second round and in subsequent rounds. A limit of 30 entries because of time constraints. Pre-entry would be welcomed. For more information contact over-all commander Brian Webster, Chairman of Rotherham Metro Writers, Tel: (01709) 559144 or Graham Rippon at: Email: grippon1@tiscali.co.uk For further developments on Rotherham Arts Festival keep your eye on their website at: www.rotherhamartsfestival.org or give Bianca King a call on (01709) 823636 and request a copy of the festival brochure. Doncaster Doncaster Write-In Competition Calling all Doncaster Writers, we want you to tell us what you know about who is writing, where they are, and what they write about, and anything else that you think we should know! And we have gifts galore to tempt you. We are offering five prizes of bundles of books of contemporary writing and CDs to those Doncaster writers who contact us with the details of current writing happenings within and around the Doncaster area. In addition to the five prizes there will be a star prize of a £10.00 book token, a bundle of books, a poetry CD, a current poetry anthology and any other goodies that we can find, which will go to the person who sends us the most information that we are looking for and that’s all there is to it – simple! The five lucky runners - up will be the ones who provide us with next to the most information on writing groups, etc, in the Doncaster area, together with any relevant contact details. Don’t forget to include your name and address so that we can send you your prize. Send your entries to: Doncaster Write-in Competition, Signposts Writing Development Project, 4th floor, Furnival House, 48 Furnival Gate, Sheffield, S1 4QP. The Inky Interview As inspiration for her children’s novels, Theresa Tomlinson combines the historical backgrounds of her native Cleveland and Whitby with that of the Sheffield and Derbyshire area. The Inky digs deep into the dark ages with Theresa. You lived in Sheffield for many years and have now moved to Whitby. Could you say something about the move and the comparative attractions of both places? As a young child I lived in a small steel working village in Cleveland, just a little further up the coast from Whitby. Our house was set beside the steel works gates and my earliest memories are of the sound of mens’ boots as they walked into work in the mornings, and the constant dust and clang and clatter that came from the work sheds. Whitby was where we went for a day out. I thought it a magical place and particularly remember looking over at the Abbey from a busy street on the West Cliff, thinking that the ruins seemed to float above the town on a wonderful green island. I came to Sheffield for my husband's work and spent thirty years there, bringing up my children. The industrial history of the place fascinated me and brought echoes from my own early childhood, making it the focus for much of my writing. I spent many happy years like that, but I'd always had a hankering to try living in Whitby. After my children had left home it felt as though the time was right to make the move. It was quite hard to uproot ourselves after so many years living in comfortable Millhouses, and to cram ourselves into a small cottage, but we have a grand view over the Upper Harbour, which makes up for lack of space. The reality of living in Whitby is less romantic but more vivid and interesting than I'd imagined. It's never boring! One thing Sheffield and Whitby have in common is that they're both trying to re-invent themselves and simultaneously trying to market themselves on the basis of past glories - steel in Sheffield and fish in Whitby. Do you have any predictions in relation to both settlements? I'd love both Sheffield and Whitby to succeed in interesting both inhabitants and visitors in the history of their past industries, but I'm not optimistic that this will work. In a literary way I find that fiction based on industrial history goes out of print very fast and nowadays an author would be lucky to get it published at all. Such works seem to be considered by publishers to have little appeal to a global readership. I wish I knew the answer to this - but I don't. Are you working on any writing projects at the moment, or about to publish something, or is there a new book in the shops? I've long had the idea of working on a book or series using Abbess Hild of Whitby and her monastery as the setting. Princess Elfled was a small baby when she was put into the care of the abbess by her father King Oswy. She was given to God in return for his success in battle. I was interested in what life might have been like for Elfled growing up in the monastery, and how she might have felt about having the role of a nun imposed upon her. My editor thought at first that the idea was too quiet for the modern young person's market, so I decided to introduce an element of mystery and adventure, inspired to some extent by Ellis Peters’s Cadfael stories and Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma. The first book, Wolf Girl, was published early this year by Corgi, and I'm working hard to get a sequel finished at the moment. The move to Whitby helped very much with research as I now live very close to the Abbey site. I'm developing a picture in my mind of Anglo-Saxon Whitby that is more 'how I would like it to have been', than an attempt at detailed historical accuracy, and I'm enjoying the project very much. So your editor thought your idea was 'too quiet for the modern young person's market'. Is the modern young person especially allergic to silence or have we always been like that when we were young? You see people jabbering into mobile phones or wearing headphones that barely suppress the heavy percussive noise within, and you wonder if people are unable to cope with silence, let alone appreciate its potential spiritual benefits. It may be that 'zappy', fast moving stories are what a lot of marketing people think young people want. Writers have to sell their books to publishers, so it's difficult not to be influenced by this. On the other hand I find that the modern market for young people does give a writer a lot of freedom as to the subject material. Really serious themes can be tackled and there's no set formula as to the way a story can be told. There are still successful children's books being published that are quiet and slow moving - Adele Geras's Ithaka for one. The Dark Ages are increasingly less dark than they used to be and modern archaeological techniques are making us drastically reinterpret the accounts of contemporaries like Bede. Isn't there a danger that fictional accounts are liable to be so completely outdated by developments that they lose credibility? Part of the research for my latest book set in Whitby has involved keeping up to date with the very latest archaeological information available. It's due to this and not to Bede that my picture of Hild's monastery includes weaving sheds, metal work hearths and nuns who wear jewellery and carry combs at their belt. I found that the more research I did, the less I felt certain of, and this brought a strange sense of freedom with it. Historical novels can present an opportunity to jump ahead of the latest archaeological information, and the subject itself can become an important theme in a story, as in Julia Jarman's excellent Anglo-Saxon time-slip, Peace Weavers. In Wolf Girl one of your invented main characters is the Hermit of Uskdale, Nelda. The eremitic life was very much institutionalised during the 'Dark Ages' and early Middle Ages, and these hermits and eremites practised an austere and world-renouncing type of Christianity - often on islands like Farne and Coquet, or in wooded areas like the Warkworth hermitage. Nelda however seems to have reverted to Paganism. Are there historical examples of this? I don't know that there are historical examples. The way I see the character of Nelda is that she always was a pagan at heart, but her fondness for her nursling Hild made her try to follow her example and become a Christian. I see Pagan religions running side by side with Christianity at this time, so that many people hedged their bets. For example the Sutton Hoo burial contained both Pagan and Christian artefacts. And Bede refers to people slipping back to their Paganism in times of plague. Can I ask about being brought up as the daughter of a vicar? In what ways has it been deeply and permanently influential? Despite a fairly strong Christian upbringing I don't have any religious beliefs myself. However, when I'm creating fictional characters I do see their beliefs as being an important part of them. Stories of the Northern Anglo-Saxon Saints – Hild, Cuthbert, Wilfrid, Elfled, were a familiar part of my childhood and I’m glad of that. Now I see these people as interesting and vivid historical figures - good characters to base historical fiction around. Theresa’s latest book ‘Wolf Girl’ is published by Corgi, price £5.99. Thanks to Theresa Tomlinson ~ Interview by Dave Sissons LIVE LISTINGS July / August 2006 In July Tuesday 25th July Creatovate - Performances from musicians, comedians, poets and storytellers. Starts off in the Botanical Gardens and continues in the evening at the Showroom. Botanical Gardens Café, Clarkehouse Road. 3.00 then on to the Showroom Bar, Paternoster Row, Sheffield. 8.00 pm start, free. Info & to book open mic slot- Email:rebecca_virgo@hotmail.com In August Saturday 5th August Poetry Business Writing Day Morning games & exercises to inspire poems followed by the opportunity to delve further with an afternoon workshop. The Studio, Byram Arcade, Westgate, Huddersfield. 10.15 am - 4.15 pm Info: (01484) 434840 Sunday 13th August Waterstone’s Sunday Reading Group - Discussing ‘Love Medicine’ by Louise Erdrich. Waterstone’s Bookshop, Orchard Square, Sheffield. Free. 2.00 pm start. Info: Tel (0114) 2728 971 Monday 14th August - Sunday 3rd September Where ever you like - A chance to relax and languish, catch up with that wobbly pile of books, eat strawberries and float through the last three weeks of the summer. Forget your problems, forget the bills, forget everything, just drift away on a sea of summer sunshine and fragrances. Any where, any time, any place, Start time - when ever you like. Good summer wishes from all at the Inky x We always welcome entries for our listings page - If you have anything that you want us to include then please send us the details Barnsley Writers Resource Centre The Barnsley Resource Centre will be missing for a few months while the Central Library is being refurbished. Keep your eyes on the Barnsley Chronicle and the Inky for news of our return and for details of one off events in and around the Barnsley area. Sheffield Writers Resource Centre For information and advice Wednesdays 5 pm - 7.30 pm The Central Lending Library Surrey St, Sheffield, S1 For more info - 0114 2734 726 To be included on The Inky’s Listings - Email: signposts@lineone.net or contact us at the address below. The Inky acknowledges support from: The Inky is a Signposts Project - Signposts Writing Development Project www.signpostsonline.org Please send contributions for the next issue to: The Inky SIGNPOSTS 4th Floor, Furnival House, 48 Furnival Gate, Sheffield, S1 4QP For more information - Phone Geoff Briggs on 0114 2634787 or Email: signposts@lineone.net If you would like to receive a hard copy of The Inky then please contact us at the above address, we will need your address details and your permission to keep your details on our database. If you wish to receive the email version of the Inky we will require your email address together with your permission to keep your details on our database. *Please note* - The hard copy of The Inky may well precede the e-version by a number of weeks and some articles may be out of date by the time the e-version is received. *************************************************