Writing Volunteers

The Literature Network are looking for volunteers to help young people and others in need develop their writing skills.

Writing is a vital tool for communication and self expression. Many young people and others in our communities struggle with both basic literacy and more advanced writing skills. But with one to one support or in small groups, people can make huge leaps forward in learning.

If you are a strong writer and would like to volunteer some of your time to share your skills with others we would like to hear from you. For more information please contact:

damien@charnwood-arts.org.uk

The small publisher is dead. Long live the small publisher.

I witnessed it myself, he was lying face down on the floor, blood pooling from his head. That he was dead, was quite obvious. Read more

European Funding for the Arts

Kevin Fegan reports on the CultureEuro seminar on opportunities for arts funding from the European Union. Read more

The Asian Writer

Hello

This month The Asian Writer speaks to Kavita Jindal about her journey as a writer, we introduce a bi-monthly column, In the Life of A Writer. Opening the forum to debate is the piece entitled There is no spoon by Vaskar Szen Kayastha who discusses the need to give his reader a rich cultural experience. Does the average reader dig deeper?

April is one of the most important dates in the publishing calendar as its time for the London Book Fair. This year the market focus was India, and 45 Indian writers attended the fair. It was amazing to see so many talented Asian voices all under one roof! Find out more about what took place here.

The wait is over and I’m pleased to announce the overall winner and Short Story category of our New Writing Competition is Sala Choudhury for his short story, The Critic, a brilliantly light story, about restaurant owner, Ahmed, on the verge of losing his restaurant business. Winner of the Poetry Category is Gurpal Stickland for her poem Playing on the Mountain. A skillfully put together poem. Congratulations to your both! Don’t forget to read their work and leave your comments!

Did you respond to our writing retreat request? So many of you did!
Shuhel Ahmed attended the retreat on April 19th and will report back to us in June! We will also be featuring Suneetha who recently attended a writer’s retreat in India and see how she got on. Did it turn her into the brilliant writer she always dreamed of becoming?

Fancy coming on a Writers Retreat in the Lake District?
I am planning to start a regular visit for like minded individuals by the beautiful and awe inspiring surroundings of the Lake District- not only to get away from the humdrum of modern day life and down to some real writing but to kick start some inspiration and network with other writers. Perhaps you want to share your work in an open forum or you just need a break. If you would be interested in finding out more about our Lake District Writing Retreats please email your interest today at editor@theasianwriter.co.uk. Dates to suit. Prices dep on group numbers.

Book Groupies Wanted
The Asian Writer is looking to start a book club – interested in discussing your favourite book? Email me at editor@theasianwriter.co.uk to join the group, which hopes to offer intellectual analysis, and explore themes in our most beloved books. Please note, these may not always be by Asian writers!

Competitions
With our competition now over I’m pleased to share with you lots of opportunities for you to get your work recognised! Please check them out under the Submissions section on our site. There are two really great competitions featured, opening the doors for South Asian writers especially. Don’t miss out on them!

Next Author Interview: Farah Damji – Any questions you’d like to ask her? Drop me an email.

Read April’s Issue available now at www.theasianwriter.co.uk

Happy reading!

Farhana Shaikh

Visit us at http://www.theasianwriter.co.uk

Writing East Midlands New Appointments

Writing East Midlands announces new appointments

Henderson Mullin, Chief Executive, is joined by Antonia Bell and Catherine Rogers to make up the team at Writing East Midlands. Previously Antonia was Office Manager for AI Digital, a Brighton based on-line digital marketing agency and will be PA and Operations Manager. Catherine worked as Literature Development Officer for Derby City Council and joins Writing East Midlands as Projects and Marketing Manager.

catherine@writingeastmidlands.co.uk T: 0115 959 7932

antonia@writingeastmidlands.co.uk T: 0115 959 7929

Writing East Midlands is a new writing agency in the region, which will support, promote and champion writing from the East Midlands. It aims to establish the region as a consistent producer of excellent writing and will create opportunities for practicing writers as well as discovering new writers of quality. Writing East Midlands is based at 49 Stoney Street, The Lace Market, Nottingham NG1 1LX. For details about Writing East Midlands, please go to the website – www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk

Whatever happened to the working class novel?

Class is that big thing we don’t talk about in relation to fiction. Mostly we don’t talk about it at all. Read more

Phrased & Confused UK Tour

Woodpigeon, Murray Lachlan Young
Aoife Mannix & Janie Armour, Dead Poets

9-14 May 2009
www.phrasedandconfused.co.uk

Phrased and Confused heads off on a UK-wide tour this May, taking its irresistible mix of song-writing genius and spoken word to venues in Bracknell, London, Norwich, Derby, Stockton and Exeter.

For this year’s tour, supported by Sound and Music/CMN, we’ve invited some of the most exciting contemporary songwriters and poets to climb aboard the tour bus, get lyrical and explore the spaces between poetry and music.

Championed by Steve Lamacq, and described by the Guardian as ‘Canada’s best kept secret…the most unjustly overlooked band in Canada’, music collective Woodpigeon are rapidly gaining a cult following for their laid back and lush folk pop. Joining Woodpigeon will be darkly funny satirist Murray Lachlan Young, whose playful command of the English language and love of the absurd have won him legions of fans, not least for his regular spot on Radio 4’s Saturday Morning Live, and who Neil Tennant rates as ‘the best since Betjeman’.

With nods to Patti Smith, John Cooper Clarke and Tom Waits poet Aofie Mannix and accordianist Janie Armour mix live and recorded sounds to create beautifully haunting soundscapes. And finally, unleashed on a national audience for the first time, Dead Poets, a cheeky fast-paced and laugh-out-loud mash up of ‘proper’ poetry and sharp-eyed MCing, courtesy of Mr Mark Grist and MC Mixy.

Phrased and Confused was born out of the question ‘Which would you save if your house was on fire? Your books or your records?’ We love music and poetry and were convinced that there were people like us all around the country who love poetry, but have never been to a reading in their lives. So we thought that we’d have a go at putting on live literature events that had all you would expect from a music gig – great sound, good lights and a really relaxed environment. Our aim from the outset has been to introduce music fans to high quality spoken word, and to build audiences for spoken word around the country.

WORD! with Ann Sansom

May 5th, 8pm. The Y Theatre, 7 East Street, Leicester.

Ann Sansom is a poet, playwright and tutor. She has published six collections of poetry; is published in several Forward/Faber anthologies, Russian Vogue and others. Ann is presently working with The British Film Institute and is a director of The Poetry Business (which publishes ‘The North’ magazine and Smith/Doorstop books). She is the winner of countless awards and a seasoned performer of poetry – in places as exciting as the Southbank. Come hear her read at WORD! and find out why The Guardian, Independent and Poetry Review all think she’s great.

WORD! is Leicester’s longest running and most established poetry and spoken word night. It takes place on the first Tuesday of every month in the main auditorium of The Y Theatre. If you’d like to read or perform original material, arrive for 7.30pm and register with the compere – in May, Lydia Towsey. The night starts at 8pm.

Apprenticeships In Fiction 2009

29 May 2009 – UK
A one-year professional development programme for first-time novelists. read more…

EMIT April 2009 – Enter the bloggers

Connecting the literature community
A Literature Network publication

http://literaturenetwork.org

Hello,

Why are we Waterstoning down our libraries? How many readers does a writer need? Why do we read at all? These are just a few of the questions occupying the literary bloggers at LiteraturNetwork.org. Lydia Towsey muses on when enough is enough in the world of freelance work. Helen Jaeger questions why libraries are abandoning their Unique Selling Points of books and silence just when they need them the most. Drew Gummerson and James Burt ponder the issue of why we read and why we write. And starting next week Ross Bradshaw asks hard questions about working class literature. Why not join in the debate yourself?

This month our creative showcase features the work of poet Wayne Burrows, including poems and a new prose piece. Peter Deville shares hints and tips on making it in the screen trade gleaned from De Montfort university’s scriptwriting day. And we have details of upcoming events and opportunities for writers. For all this and more, please read on…

Damien Walter, Literature Network Coordinator

ARTICLES and NEWS

The Nottingham Poetry Series
A new series of readings, craft talks, and workshops to be held at the University of Nottingham, with the support of the Arts Graduate Centre and the Literature Network, will hold its inaugural reading on 7 MAY 2009 (Thursday), at 7:30 in the evening, in the Angear Visitors Centre at the University of Nottingham. Read more…

• Showcase: Wayne Burrows

• Finding success in the screen trade

• Summer courses at Writing School Leicester

Read more Articles

Read more News

BLOGGERS

Waterstoning down our libraries?
I don’t go to my library for coffee. I go for books and silence. So why are our libraries changing ? The future of UK libraries has long been debated. A government push for community involvement – think Idea Store, London UK – means fewer books and reduced quiet. So is this a good thing? Read more…

• When is enough really enough?

• Why read?

• How many readers do you need?

Read more blogs

EVENTS

Shortfuse: Bitter Bread
Short Fuse returns with the theme of “Sweetbread, Bitter Bread”. Headlining is Tara Gould, reading her story ‘Little Birds’ and you can also catch LiteratureNetwork.org blogger James Burt reading live at this short fiction showcase. Read more…

• The Reader Conference

• Storytelling Cafe

• The Middle Yard at Stanton nr Ashbourne

Many, many more events near you!

OPPORTUNITIES

Writing Speculative Fiction
Writer Damien G. Walter leads two linked courses exploring the the weird world of speculative fiction. An introduction for fans of the genre and a first step to breaking into the industry for advanced students. Read more…

• The Authors Foundation Grant

• 2009 National Short Story Award

• BBC Drama Writers Academy

Many more opportunities for writers.

*****

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