THE INKY The Inky Writers Newsletter Winter 2006/07 No. 40 INKY NEWS Writers’ One-to-One Feedback Opportunity Signposts are offering the opportunity to South Yorkshire writers to have their work read by established writer Daniel Blythe and to get a “one-to-one” session with the author who will provide critical feedback on the writing as well as advice on where to go next. Local writer Daniel has had twelve books published and his next novel ‘This Is The Day’ is due out in May. He also runs regular courses for the WEA on how to get published. Daniel’s experience of publishers, editors and agents goes back fourteen years and he is now offering a professional critique service to other writers. * Signposts are offering the opportunity for six writers to have a one-to-one surgery in which Daniel will spend thirty minutes with each writer. So that each writer will gain the maximum benefit from the surgery we will invite each of the six selected writers to submit up to ten pages (4000 words approx) of material which could be either an extract from a short story or novel, a children’s novel or a synopsis plus an extract from a short story or novel. The scheme is designed to give constructive feedback to writers who feel that they are just about ready to start approaching agents or publishers and those who submit manuscripts should expect a detailed and critical response to their work. If you think that you may be interested in applying for a one-to-one surgery with Daniel then please read the following information. 1. The surgery will consist of a thirty minute session with Daniel Blythe in the Signposts offices in Sheffield on Saturday 24th March. 2. We will need to receive your application by Wednesday 28th February and then, if selected, your manuscript by Wednesday 7th March. 3. Please include the following in your application on one side of an a4 sheet: details of your writing experience, details of your work to be submitted, how you think you would benefit from the surgery, anything else which you feel we should know. 4. Applications should be posted (no email submissions) to: Signposts, 4th floor, Furnival House, 48 Furnival Gate, Sheffield, S1 4QP. 5. There will be a fee of £15.00 (£7.50 concessions) payable only if your manuscript is requested. This will contribute towards the cost of the surgery and brief notes on your work. 6. Manuscripts may consist of up to ten pages (4000 words approx) of material which could be either an extract from a short story or novel, a children’s novel or a synopsis plus an extract from a short story or novel. 7. We expect that there will be a large uptake on this offer, but unfortunately we can only offer this to six writers. Please contact us if you have any queries: Email: signposts@lineone.net Phone: 0114 2634787 *See the article below by Daniel Blythe Daljit Nagra Workshop and Reading Daljit Nagra is coming to Sheffield to read in March and will also be running a workshop. Daljit Nagra’s collection ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ will be published by Faber in February. Daljit has only been focussing seriously on poetry since the late nineties but with a trail of work published in magazines such as Rialto, Poetry London and Poetry Review the future soon started to look promising. In 2004 Daljit won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem for the poem “Look We Have Coming to Dover!”, which nods to Matthew Arnold's “Dover Beach”, where Arnold gazed from the cliffs towards France. "In my poem I'm bringing people into the country," says Nagra. Daljit’s connections with South Yorkshire go back to when his family moved from West London to Gleadless, in Sheffield. This was where he dropped his science ‘A’ levels to study English Literature and where he happened upon a slim volume by William Blake and became fascinated by poetry. Daljit has been featured in recent articles in the Guardian, on Newsnight and Radio Four. The reading is at 2.00 pm in the Central Library and there will also be work read by guest reader Debjani Chatterjee and quite possibly by writers from the workshop Daljit will be running. The workshop and reading will all take place in the Sheffield Central Library on Saturday, March 10th. The workshop, which will start at 11.30 am and finish at 1.00 pm, is open to all, both new and experienced writers, but you must book in advance. Tickets for the workshop are £6.00 / £3.00 concessions and are available by sending a cheque together with your details to the Signposts address on the back of the Inky. The reading is free and everyone is welcome. There will be free food and refreshments. Daljit's book 'Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ as well as books by Debjani Chatterjee will be available to purchase and have signed at the reading. Books are also available now from Rhyme & Reason at Hunters Bar. If you require any more information then please contact Signposts: Tel: (0114) 2634787 Email: signposts@lineone.net Radio Antics Shows On Sheffield Live Radio The Radio Antics shows with Robin Vaughan-Williams will be mixing readings and interviews from recent guests and performers at Antics (see listings on the back page) with recorded tracks, a selection of poetry downloads from the web, and the chance to have your text poems read live on air. Antics on Air will be broadcast over the internet on Sheffield Live, and eventually on FM, and the next show will be on 8th March from 9.00—10.00 pm. For more details go to: www.sheffieldlive.org or http://spacers.lowtech.org/antics/ Huddersfield Literature Festival The 2007 festival will take place between Wednesday March 14th and Sunday March 18th 2007. Brochures will be available from February 5th 2007 - to pre-order one please send an email to brochure@litfest.org.uk with your name and address and they will send you one as soon as they become available. Huddersfield Literature Festival supports and showcases new and emerging writers, offering a platform to promote new work as well as the opportunity to attend intensive writing workshops (or labs). In their Helping Hands sessions established authors introduce and read with new talents that they want to foster. The festival is organised through the English Division of Huddersfield University and workshops and events are held across the town, offering a mix of genres including poetry, short stories, novels and performance. As part of the 2007 festival they will be running intensive workshops (labs) planned for screen writing, novel writing, poetry, and writing for theatre. These labs will run on Saturdays in March 2007 - if you'd like to know more about them please send them an email: labs@litfest.org.uk They want new voices to be heard, that's what literature is all about, so go along and have a listen or join in via one of the labs. For more details look at their web site: www.litfest.org.uk/index.htm Tel: 01484 473677 Apprenticeships in Fiction Awards Scheme 2007 For the second year Adventures in Fiction are offering five awards for first-time novelists of commercial or literary fiction, including one for fiction for children or young people. The placements, which have an individual value of £2,000, take the form of an apprenticeship with a professional writer working in a similar genre. The five apprentices will be selected from open competition. Four of the places are offered at a subsidised rate, with one free bursary award to the writer of the most promising manuscript. The individual apprenticeships will include a structured programme of manuscript appraisals and tutorials in addition to regular feedback and peer group support. The scheme is suitable for writers who have already produced a complete or almost complete draft of a novel. Candidates will be expected to meet a number of key deadlines and to aim towards concluding the programme with a novel in final draft. * The deadline is March 20th 2007 so you must act quickly. * For further information on the scheme please go to: www.adventuresinfiction.co.uk or write to: Adventures in Fiction, 15 Grosvenor Avenue, London, N5 2NR Telephone: 020 7354 2598 Creative Writing for Beginners Workshop Do you dream of telling your life story, or of creating exciting characters and plots? This 1-day workshop won’t make you a best-selling author overnight, but through a series of writing exercises in a friendly and supportive environment, it will show you how to get started, using memory and imagination to communicate your ideas. The workshop will be held in Hillsborough, Sheffield, on Saturday Feb 24th 2007 10am - 4.30pm and the cost is £35 (concs £25) which includes buffet lunch, plus morning and afternoon refreshments. To book or for more details, contact Susan Elliot-Wright: Tel: 0114 232 1434 Email: susanelliotwright@hotmail.com Poetry Business Writing Days The Poetry Business, based in Huddersfield, continues to run its monthly writing days and the next one will be on Saturday March 3rd starting at 10.15 and finishing at 4.15. The morning will consist of games and exercises which will inspire poems and this will be followed in the afternoon with a workshop where there will be the opportunity to look at the poems which people have either brought with them or have written in the morning session. The fee is £20.00 (£10.00 concessions) For more information please contact the Poetry Business: Tel: 01484 434840 Email: edit@poetrybusiness.co.uk National Poetry Anthology Poetry Competition This annual poetry contest is here again, is open to anyone and is free to enter. This popular competition has been running since 1998 and poets throughout the UK are invited to submit three poems (20 lines and 160 words maximum each) by the closing date of June 30th. >From all the entries that are submitted over 200 are picked and are printed in the National Poetry Anthology. Each author receives a free copy of the book and votes for the best poem in it. The overall winner receives a cheque for £1,000 together with the National Poetry Champion Trophy If this sounds tempting to you here are the contact details for further information and entry forms: United Press Ltd, Admail 3735, London, EC1B 1JB Tel: 0870 240 6190 Web: www.unitedpress.co.uk The Truth About Olga! Local writer Elizabeth Mills has written a novel about what really happened to Olga, the last Tsar’s eldest daughter. The dramatic story of the final years of the last Tsar and his family has fascinated people the world over, but this is the story from Olga’s own perspective. Elizabeth, based in Worsbrough Dale, near Barnsley, presents a brand new look at what really happened in the last years and days of the Russian Imperial Family. The book is published by Pen Press Publishers Ltd and is available via book shops and on the web at £7.99 or for more information go to: www.penpress.co.uk WEA create07 - celebrating creativity in Yorkshire and the Humber With support from the Arts Council, Open College of the Arts, the Arvon Foundation and Signposts, the WEA is holding a festival of creative arts throughout June this year.   Up to 100 events in local communities will be celebrating the work of students in a wide variety of art forms - including writing, of course - as well as providing opportunities for people to get involved.  There will be two artists in residence, one of whom will be a writer, offering master classes as well as working collaboratively with WEA students.   Competitions in poetry, short stories and photography, open to all WEA students in the Region, are currently running, with excellent prizes for the winning entries - places on residential courses at Lumb Bank await the winners of the writing categories.   There is a web site (www.create07.org.uk) for further information, and a festival programme will be available in April.  The next issue of The Inky will have more about create07.  As festival patron Ian McMillan says: 'Enjoy.  Watch.  Listen.  Then take part.  Create!' More Writing Opportunities Liz Cashdan has organised some more writing workshops and weekends and here are some brief details. For more information please contact Liz directly. Writing Workshop at Weston Park Museum: Sunday 11th February 1-4 pm. Tutor Liz Cashdan. Writing Workshop at Millennium Galleries: Sunday 4th March 1-4 pm. Tutor Liz Cashdan. Writing Weekend in Bridlington in prose and poetry for new and experienced writers: 9th to 11th March. Tutor: Liz Cashdan. £130 pounds sterling for tuition and en suite accommodation. Contact Liz Cashdan by email: cashda@onetel.com or telephone: 01142 368361 Rotherham Arts - Mike Haywood Poetry & Short Story Competition Looking for a local competition? Then this one is for you. With a cash prize in each category of £75.00 (1st prize) & two runner-up prizes of £50.00 and a closing date of 31st May 2007 there’s no excuse for not having a go! Entry is open to anyone who is resident in South Yorkshire, North Nottinghamshire or North East Derbyshire and there is a fee of just £1.00 per poem or short story For a list of rules and entry form please contact: Graham Rippon, 19 Godric Drive, Brinsworth, Rotherham, S60 5AN Email: grippon1@tiscali.co.uk The Sticky Bun Travels Again! The Sticky Bun Writers Club has moved again and should now be somewhere in the centre of Sheffield but just to be sure please contact Jenny King for the details of the latest venue. They meet on the first Tuesday of every month at 7.30 pm and there is a small charge of £2.00 to contribute towards the costs. The next meeting will be on March the 6th, when Ian Pople will read from his new pamphlet ‘My Foolish Heart’, published by Flarestack. Pamphlet production appears to be flourishing at the moment and is a wonderfully accessible method for writers to get their work into the hands of the readers. Contact Jenny for the full details and then go along and give both Ian and the Sticky Buns your support. For more information please contact Jenny King: Email: ednjenny.king@btinternet.com Tel: 0114 2366225 New to the Inky Newsletter? The Inky is produced by Signposts Writing Development Project and We’re here to help support and develop creative writing at all levels throughout the South Yorkshire area (and beyond sometimes) and if you write, or would like to, then we’re here for you. We run various projects throughout the area including workshops, surgeries, writers resource centres and this, The Inky Newsletter. The Inky is published four times a year and includes news on many creative writing opportunities, courses, grants, competitions, interviews, live listings and much more. And, best of all, it’s free! If you would like to subscribe to the Inky then all you need to do is send your name and address to the Signposts address (on the back page of this Inky) and we’ll post it out to you as and when we publish each new issue. Over the coming year we plan to run a more workshops and surgeries throughout the South Yorkshire area. Keep your eyes out for the Inky Newsletter as this is where most of them will be advertised. The Inky Interview WEA organiser, Rob Hindle, has recently had a new book of poems published, Some Histories of the Sheffield Flood 1864. The Inky has been on the Flood Trail. Have you written and published anything previously? I spent about 15 years doing the ‘I want to be a writer’ thing before realising that I ought to knuckle down. Since about 2002 I’ve been taking it more seriously and have published a few poems and stories here and there – magazines like Staple, Frogmore Papers and The North. ‘Some Histories’ was written, more or less, while I was on the Yorkshire Art Circus Writer Development Programme. I couldn’t go to much, but the hour a month I spent with my mentor on the programme, Phil Simmons, was invaluable: it made me produce, and kept me going with the project. Writing for me is always about the ‘I’m good / I’m crap’ poles, as I suspect it is for most people: given that the best motivation is for someone saying positive things at regular intervals. There have been prose accounts of the 1864 Sheffield Flood, and there is a Sheffield Flood Trail for which guided tours are available. What other dimensions or viewpoints were you hoping to add by writing a verse account? You use the word ‘accounts’ in relation to prose responses which indicates a narrative, causal focus; tours have a similar function. Poetry, however, can work against this structure, so that sounds, images and themes recur within a non-linear framework. Connections are made and remade by each audience, according to the circumstances which bring them to the poetry. While of course a sequence of poems is assembled according to some kind of selection and continuum, the interest for me is in the evolving / shifting possibilities of the fragmentary rather than the determinism of the ‘account’. Thus Samuel Harrison’s contemporary document ‘A Complete History of the Great Flood at Sheffield’ views the event in a very different way to ‘Some Histories’. Previous creative writers have used the fact of a flood in some kind of moral or symbolic way - George Eliot for example in 'The Mill on the Floss' and D. H. Lawrence in 'The Virgin and the Gypsy'. And there are always echoes of the Gilgamesh and Genesis Floods. Are you using the Sheffield Flood in some comparable way? The narratives you mention confer a moral or symbolic significance on flood events in that they are seen as some kind of intervention – either as a response to human action (as in Gilgamesh and Genesis) or to fulfill the dramatic logic of the narrative (Eliot) or both (Lawrence). The poems of ‘Some Histories’, however, take a more ambivalent moral stance. Unlike the many ‘accounts’ of the disaster, which seek to determine reasons and culpability, the moral interest for me lies in what might be glimpsed – of the lives of individuals and communities, and by extension the social norms that prevailed – as a result of the introduction of an indiscriminate natural violence. The symbolic power of the flood for me is encapsulated in the many photographs taken in the immediate aftermath of the event which illustrate how it ripped away whole rows of house fronts to reveal domestic interiors. I would suggest that my approach to the act of writing was archaeological rather than historical – a basic stripping away, which leaves the formation of the narrative to the audience. This is perhaps best expressed in ‘Alathea Hague’ when searchers discover her body as the water recedes: ‘Those searching the sludge / see the trails your feet make / against the current.’ A question about technique. In your poem, 'At Rotherham', you write: 'For the past four hours the river's been rocking Mary Appleby's body out of her night-dress’ Supposing I changed that to: 'For the past four hours the river's been rocking Mary Appleby's body out of her night-dress' I could justify that by saying that the stanza split between 'body' and 'out' gave emphasis to the 'out'. Would my variation make any difference to what you are trying to put across? I think the change you suggest would give the lines a much stronger, metrical rhythm which would support the idea of the motion of the river. However, my arrangement attempts to break up, to resist the rhythm to a degree, as the intention in this poem is to suggest an unnerving subject (in contrast to ‘Mrs’, for example, in which the river is configured more positively, as a protective, solicitous force). These lines are also the beginning of the second half of the poem and seek to respond to the opening lines, offering a new perspective: the night-dress, originally presumed by the witness to be empty, is now revealed to the reader as clothing the body, at the moment at which it is separated from it. The emphasis for me is not on the process of revelation, but on what is revealed. Thus the stanza break focuses on the ‘body’. Would you expect a reader to pick up on what you've said about the reasons for the stanza break? For me the poem revolves around a series of images: the night-dress, the body, the garden, the cart; by extension, it is also about seeing (and who sees) these images. The body is emphasized by substituting the image of the night-dress in the first line – and by breaking the stanza. I don’t think I would expect a reader necessarily to recognise how the poem has been constructed – I don’t fully know that. What informs my approach is the presentation of an image, or images. Form is one part of this. 'Workhouse 5' is presented as a 'found poem' – what's legible on a set of workhouse rules and regs after flood damage. Ezra Pound did something similar in 'Old Papyrus' – three unfinished sentences from which you can deduce a universal theme that poets have reiterated down the ages. I can see the point of yours and Pound's – his is a joke, yours is the opposite – but does what is presented in both cases work as poetry? i.e. is what is on the page or what is read out 'a poem'? Well, I suppose I might say that a poem is at least as much about what it does as what it looks like or sounds like. And then again, of course, we might agree that what a poem does depends on what it looks/sounds like. But actually I do think this is a poem for both reasons: the sounds, echoes and rhythms of the language, partly because of the particular vocabulary and cadences of the original document (the Poor Law of 1842), partly as a result of what I have removed and what I have left, are poetic. The fact that the remains of a document which is about repression and control is floating around in the aftermath of chaos (scenes, no doubt, of ‘obscene or profane language’) is what gives the ‘fragment’ the kind of power I would suggest is poetic. It’s about the hubris of power, I think, in a similar way to Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’, where the stone-carved words ‘Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ are all that is left of his kingdom. What are you working on at present? A number of things. Since completing ‘Some Histories’, I do find myself drawn to sequences and series – and also to historical subjects. Projects I’m currently on with include a series called ‘Dog Star’, which uses astronomy as a way of talking to/about myself, a long piece about a local highwayman who was gibbeted at Attercliffe for 35 years, which I’m calling ‘Spence Broughton’s Limbo Diaries’, and some sonnets about SmallFilms, the Oliver Postgate company which created Noggin the Nog and The Clangers, and thereby gave me my first taste of magic. Thanks to Rob Hindle ~ Interview by Dave Sissons Some Histories of the Sheffield Flood 1864 is published by Templar Poetry, price £3. It is available to buy online at www.templarpoetry.co.uk, or from Waterstone's, Blackwell's (Sheffield) and Philip Howard Books (Rotherham). Writing Group News Rotherham ‘Metro Writer’s’ - meet between 7.30 pm - 10.00 pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month. The venue is Nellie Deane’s public house in the centre of Rotherham. All are welcome and for further information contact Brian Webster on: (01709) 371413 The new ‘Barnsley Writing Group’ meets on the second Monday of each month at the Pack Horse public house on Church Street, Royston, at 7.15 pm. The main aim of the group is to provide support and encouragement for each other, pool knowledge and resources and provide feedback to each other. For more information contact Vasiliki Scurfield on (01226) 722571 or email: vasiliki@scurfield.fslife.co.uk Critical Mass Sheffield-based writer Daniel Blythe has been working to deadlines and honing his manuscripts for publication for fourteen years - now he wants to show others the path to publication. Daniel, born in Maidstone in 1969, came to Sheffield in 1994 shortly after having his first novel published by Virgin Books. Subsequent books placed with Penguin, Hamish Hamilton, Capstone-Wiley and Allison & Busby have taught him the value of good editorial work, while his teaching - for the WEA, Sheffield College and privately - gave him an insight into what unpublished writers most needed. “I was able to have one-to-one time with students,” Daniel explains, “and people found this very valuable. I was giving people close feedback on their dialogue, plotting, characters, style and so on, helping them to be good editors of their own work and to look at their writing as work-in-progress. It occurred to me that I should provide this service on a business footing.” Less than 1% of material submitted to literary agents is taken any further. Daniel explains: “Sometimes, it’s just that people don’t send it to the right place, or don’t present their work effectively enough. But often - and most importantly - people just send work off before it’s really ready. Your book is more likely to succeed if it has had a lot of work and a full critique – from a workshop, a writing group or a writer or editor working in the field.” Daniel’s speciality is the novel, and he acknowledges how hard it is to get an editor or agent even to look at your work these days. “When I started out, things were a bit different - you could even get a few encouraging lines on a rejection letter. Today, these professionals are so swamped that, really, you’re lucky if you get anything at all.” Daniel Blythe will offer professional critiques at competitive rates of short stories, novels and children’s novels, and will also consider non-fiction books - but please email him first at danielblythe@blueyonder.co.uk for an informal discussion. “With the internet it’s really easy to do the practicalities - a client can email me their work as a Word file and I can return it with the critique in the same way.” Daniel has one final point: “A good critique is honest,” he says, “and tells you what is working as well as the areas which need further development. Feedback must be professional, but constructive too. People put a lot of heart and soul into their writing, and it’s important to tell them what they’re doing right as well as what they’re doing wrong.” Daniel’s website has full details of all his work, including his upcoming novel This Is The Day: www.danielblythe.moonfruit.com Book Review Linda Lee Welch’s The Artist of Eikando slipped through the Signposts review net when it first came out in hardback. The book has now been released in paperback and this time we caught it. The Artist of Eikando is Linda Lee Welch’s second novel. Her first, The Leader of the Swans, struck me as a brave book and would have earned her both sales and critical acclaim if there had been any justice in the world. The Artist of Eikando is more straightforward narrative than its predecessor. Incidents largely in the present are interspersed by events from the protagonist’s family history. Flashbacks throw light on character motivation and reveal one of the key themes of the author’s work: what happens to people to render them incapable of love. The present, on the other hand, focuses on Junko Bayliss’s journey to Japan to explore her parents’ secret past. It’s tempting to feel that here the author is seduced by conventions of chick-lit romance: shopping, clothes, exoticism, chance meetings with soul mates and cute men. Is she making concessions to the glamorous take on the transforming power of travel? Ultimately, no. There are sharp evocations of Japan and its unique landscape, climate and contradictions. There is depth of characterisation and many ebbs and flows between discovered strength and resurgent vulnerability. The most surprising way in which the book defies romance convention is in the protagonist’s ultimate attitude to men. Males are portrayed as seductive but flawed – certainly not the ultimate fulfilment. Junko is tempted, but eventually finds hers in the durable consolations of her art, motherhood and the circle of friends and family she is rewarded to find by embracing the world. The book is indeed about the transforming power of travel and Junko does undergo healing and rebirth. The author exposes her readers to a world of damaged souls whilst retaining a spirit of optimism. Sceptics may curl a lip. I have a feeling Linda Lee Welsh has more to say on the matter. I’m still interested. The Artist of Eikando is published by Virago Press Ltd, price £8.99. Review by Matt Clegg Interviewing the Interviewer This being the 40th edition of The Inky we thought that this would be a good opportunity to interview Dave Sissons, the Inky interviewer, and that’s just what Matt Clegg did. Dave, you’ve been interviewing writers for the Inky for some time now. Could you tell us a little about how you came to be involved with that? What kind of experience has it been? Issue No. 12 of the Inky (end of 1999) asked its readers for suggestions for questions to be put to local writers, and as a result of my response I was invited to do the next interview. I immediately contacted Otley-based poet, Vernon Scannell. He’d been at the Off the Shelf Festival in Sheffield the previous year and a few weeks later had been diagnosed with throat cancer, so 1999 had been a harrowing year for him and he had difficulty speaking on the phone. The interview was conducted by snail mail. I’ve continued doing the interviews ever since. How honest do you think writers are able to be about their aims and motivations – especially in public? Have there been moments over the years when you’ve felt a writer has dug deep to answer a question or take a dialogue to particularly exciting places? Both interviewee and interviewer are conscious of talking in public, so there’s automatically a two way constraint on what’s said, but I think most writers have tried to be open about their aims and motivations. As for ‘exciting’ places, I think ‘interesting’ rather than ‘exciting’. I’d get excited if someone could put their finger on what’s wrong with contemporary poetry – why is most of it like tenth-rate, boring prose? I’d like to linger a little longer on what you feel you have or haven’t learned about writers’ methods and motivations through these interviews. Are there any striking ‘lessons’ or ‘admissions’ that spring to mind? Glyn Hughes offered an interesting ‘admission’ when he talked about the wrong direction he took when he started writing novels and neglecting poetry. He’s just published his first book of poems in a quarter of a century, and he’s currently working on a long autobiographical poem. Vernon Scannell offered a possible ‘lesson’ when he talked of 20th Century experimental poetry (free verse etc) having had little enduring influence, unlike the various ‘traditional’ practices in versification since Chaucer. Ann Atkinson and Elizabeth Barrett gave a challenging alternative view. When you say ‘traditional’ do you mean rhyme? Do you think there is a lack of craft apparent in a lot of contemporary poetry? When you talk of the ‘10th rate prose’ effect, are you referring to those who don’t appear to have any craft or the avant-garde who would deliberately inflict violence on traditional approaches? By ‘traditional’ I mean the combination of metre and stress that occurs in the iambic pentameter, and the use of various forms, like ballads and sonnets, plus tricks like rhyme and alliteration. All these have been used and developed from around the 14th century. Popular influence of this ‘tradition’ shows itself every time someone wants to knock out a poem for an occasion – have you ever heard of someone in an office writing a birthday poem in the style of Hilda Doolittle or Bob Cobbing? The positive side of this tradition is that it demanded sustained concentration and, if done correctly, what was said required a degree of power from the way it was said. The negative side is easy to access by browsing through verse by writers like Jean Ingelow, Alfred Noyles or John Drinkwater. It becomes obvious why Ezra Pound wanted to 'make it new 'new'. But then try browsing through avant-garde poetry books and they're just as boring. It definitely isn't the function of poetry to bore. Yes, I do think there is a lack of craft in contemporary poetry, and also an absence of communication. A lot of it is of no interest to anyone except the writer and a coterie of associates writing in a similar manner. No harm in people talking to themselves, but why does it have to be published? Despite recent propaganda, poetry does seem to be losing shelf-space and readers. Efforts at popularising it seem superficial. And yet hoards of us still write. More poets are published every year we are told. Do you think there is a bigger potential audience out there, if only poets and readers can reconnect? In my cynical moments I’m inclined to think that hoards of people still write ‘poetry’ because it's relatively quick and easy to knock something out resembling a short poem, and though there’s usually no money in it, there is a special status that still surrounds the words ‘poetry’, ‘poet’ and ‘poem’. On a more positive note it is also very therapeutic for the writer, if for nobody else. In contrast, ‘novel’ and ‘novelist’ don’t have the same quasi-mystical status, and novels usually take a long time to write and involve a lot of slog. The most popular poets in the UK tend to be people like John Betjeman and Rudyard Kipling, and their most popular poems tend to be their most crass. At present I think the image of ‘the poet’ is more popular than what ‘the poet’ says or writes. How to bring the genuine article to a large audience is a big problem. Finally, are there any projects you are currently involved with that you’d like to tell us about? The only literary project in which I’m currently involved is a prospective booklet of literary walks within forty miles of Sheffield. Writers included are sometimes well-known, like Ted Hughes, Barry Hines and D. H. Lawrence, but there are less well-known ones too, like Fred Kitchen and John Hamilton, plus one of the greatest ‘Anons’ of all – whoever it was who wrote that incredible late fourteenth century poem we now call ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’. I’ve spent a lot of time in 2006 trying to work out walks on the ground and coming up against all sorts of problems to do with public rights of way. Thanks to Dave Sissons ~ Interview by Matt Clegg Many people speak about ‘becoming a writer’ and some actually take one or two steps along the path before ‘life’ drags them back onto the straight & narrow. And then there are the few who decide that the pen nib has prodded just once too often…. Here’s part one of a series of articles about one such prodded person’s path. A Writing Journey By Beth Longstaff For years my mental ‘to do’ list has gone something like this: paint radiators (or similar unfinished DIY), ring mum (or other neglected family member) and ‘become a writer’. To avoid doing anything about the last of these, I’ve used a mixture of the Too Busy defence - ‘ah yes, would become a writer but am fantastically busy painting radiators and ringing relatives’ – and the ‘born not made’ theory (if I’m destined to be a writer it will just happen; a novel will burst out of me one day, alien-like). Sadly, I’ve always known I was deluding myself. I knew the main thing holding me back was fear – fear of failing and fear of the hard work that is involved in taking writing seriously. Last year I decided to feel that fear and do it anyway. It started when I confessed to someone who works in the writing business that I secretly and shyly dreamt of becoming a writer. He started leaving things on my desk - flyers for workshops, notes about bursaries, information on courses. I realised he was taking me seriously, and that he thought it was normal – wonderful in fact – that I wanted to write. If he was taking me seriously, why shouldn’t I? I decided to apply for the Writer Development Programme at Yorkshire Art Circus. It’s a 12 month programme ‘for established writers who want to develop their writing skills to a professional level’. Dare I describe myself as an established writer? I’d had a number of columns and features published a few years ago, and still wrote pieces here and there. I’m a sucker for a challenge, so I sent off my application. The interview was extraordinary. I had to talk about myself as a writer - without laughing, without hiding behind a cushion and without listening to the inner sneers of ‘who do you think you are?’ It was agony – and wonderful. I realised the programme was going to be as much about establishing an identity as a writer as developing the craft of writing. I was over the moon when I was offered a place. The first meeting was in October. Gathered round a table in an old school in Castleford we were a reassuringly varied bunch. Between us our writing covers sci-fi, TV drama, writing for children, short stories and novels. Some of us have done formal creative writing courses, others haven’t. Some have been published, many haven’t. One is an established film maker (yikes!), one is on their second novel (double yikes!). I felt - and still feel - in awe of everyone. They’ve all been doing this so much longer than me, and they all have clear plans for the programme – to find an agent, finish the novel, submit the screen play. I’m still trying to find a voice for writing fiction, so have set myself modest goals of writing some short stories and a radio play. The tutor assures me that this is fine, that the goals of the programme are different for everyone, but I still have moments where I wobble and wonder if I’ve got any business being here. One way to find out is through peer assessment, a key part of the programme. We have regular deadlines for submitting work, and then review and discuss each other’s submissions. The first deadline came in November, and I was on the sixth frustratingly awful draft of my first ever short story. I had a story outline which I was convinced was the cleverest ever. So why did writing it feel like trying to stuff a huge unwieldy duvet into a teapot? I sulked, I raged, I flounced. Finally I gave myself permission to abandon the ‘clever’ storyline, and write something more personal but more real. Suddenly it was easy, and the writing flowed. I submitted the story to my peers, and braced myself for their comments. See the next issue of the Inky for part two of Beth’s journey into the world of writing and if you think that you would like more details of the Writer Development Programme then contact the Yorkshire Arts Circus: Web: www.artcircus.org.uk Tel: 01977 550401 LIVE LISTINGS February 2006 In February Saturday 10th February Barnsley Writers Resource Centre Free information & advice on all aspects of writing Barnsley Central Library, Shambles Street, Barnsley 11.00 am - 1.00 pm. Free, no need to book. Info: Tel (0114) 2634787 Sunday 11th, 18th, 25th February Opus Unplugged, A new night, every Sunday, featuring all manners of performance, from poets to speakers to players. Riverside Cafe, 1 Mowbray Street (bottom of Corporation St, over from Kelham Island), Sheffield Entry: Free. 8.00 start Info:opus-creations@hotmail.co.uk Monday 12th February Access Poetry Barnsley Writing news and a chance to share your writing with others. Emmanuel Methodist Church, Huddersfield Road, Barnsley. 7.00 pm—9.00 pm Info: Tel (01226) 381084 Tuesday 13th February Antics Upstairs @ The Red Deer– Margot Douaihy Margot was a featured poet in the Troubadour's New Voices Series, London. Currently, she is a resident writer at the Llano de la Luz Retreat in Andalucia, Spain. The Red Deer, 18 Pitt Street, Sheffield. 8.00 pm for 8.30 pm Info: Tel (0114) 2587 270 Tuesday 27th February Creatovate - Performances from musicians, comedians, poets and storytellers Showroom Bar, Paternoster Row, Sheffield. 7.00 pm start, free. Info & to book open mic slot - Email:rebecca.virgo@ntlworld.com Tel: 0114 276 3534 March 2006 ——————————In March Sunday 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th March Opus Unplugged, See previous listing for details Tuesday 6th March Sticky Bun Writers Club Ian Pople will be reading from his new pamphlet ‘My Foolish Heart’. Sheffield 7.30 pm start, Free, Full details, venue and info from: ednjenny.king@btinternet.com Tel: 0114 2366225 Saturday 10th March Daljit Nagra—Live reading Daljit Nagra reads work from his debut collection—’Look We Have Coming To Dover!’ with Debjani Chatterjee & other readers, refreshments & food Sheffield Central Library, Surrey Street, Sheffield. 2.00 pm start, free. Info: (0114) 2634787 Saturday 10th March Barnsley Writers Resource Centre - See previous listing for details Monday 12th March Access Poetry Barnsley See previous listing for details Tuesday 13th March Antics Upstairs @ The Red Deer– Jeff Cottrill Jeff Cottrill is a writer and spoken-word performer from Toronto, Canada, whose stage act uses elements of performance poetry, comedy, theatre and storytelling. The Red Deer, 18 Pitt Street, Sheffield. 8.00 pm for 8.30 pm Info: Tel (0114) 2587 270 Tuesday 27th March Creatovate - Sheffield See previous listing for details 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 For free information and advice 2nd Saturday of each month 11.00 am - 1.00 pm. The Central Lending Library, Shambles Street, Barnsley For more information contact Geoff on: Tel: (0114) 2634787 Email: Signposts@lineone.net Sheffield Writers Resource Centre For free information and advice Wednesdays 5.15 pm - 7.30 pm The Central Lending Library, Surrey St, Sheffield, S1 1XZ For more information contact Geoff on: Tel: (0114) 2634787 Email: Signposts@lineone.net To be included on The Inky’s Listings - Email: signposts@lineone.net or contact Geoff 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 and ….. the printed version (as well as being easier to read) is much more fun! *************************************************