Category Archives: workshops

Navigating Birmingham.

18 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by in Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, Birmingham Writers, creativity, Poetry, workshops, Writers, writing, Writing West Midlands

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Paddling and writing along Birmingham’s canals

Ever thought of combining canoeing and writing? Well, now’s your chance. On April 23rd, Jo Bell (poet,) Alyse Fowler (gardener/writer,) and I will be doing just that. We’ll be taking groups down the industrial canals of Birmingham and using this unique perspective to inspire creative writing. Check out the press release below for full details and booking info:

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£20/£16 (concessions), children £10

Need some inspiration to get writing? Want to explore hidden Birmingham?

Look no further than our series of creative walks, bike rides and canoe trips developed in partnership with the Canal & River Trust, National Trust, Birmingham Roundhouse, British Canoeing and Big Birmingham Bikes, and delivered by five fantastic writers.

Canoe-write

Take to the waterways of Birmingham by canoe for a unique perspective on the city, returning to dry land for a writing workshop at The Roundhouse led by Alys Fowler (10am-1pm) or Jo Bell (2pm-5pm). Workshops for young people at both sessions will be led by Garrie Fletcher. Canoes and instruction supplied free of charge from British Canoeing and B-ROW.

Please dress comfortably: we advise that you don’t wear jeans, you do wear trainers, bring waterproof coat and trousers, and a complete change of clothes. The canoes have a weight restriction of 17.5 stone.
Drinks are provided free of charge but please bring a snack to sustain you.

Suitable for adults and children aged 8 and over. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Workshop 1 – 10am – 1pm (Alys Fowler) 

Workshop 2 – 2pm – 5pm (Jo Bell) 

Roundhouse Writers

Jo Bell is a former Canal Poet Laureate and currently appears on Nationwide’s ‘Voice of the People’ ads. Her poetry collection Kith is published by Nine Arches Press. She is co-writing a handbook for poets – How to be a Poet – and lives on a narrowboat.

Alys Fowler is an award-winning journalist, regular presenter of BBC Gardeners’ World and Guardian columnist. Her new book Hidden Nature charts her journey through the canals of Birmingham by canoe.

Garrie Fletcher writes short stories, novels and poems. His collection of short stories, Night Swimming, has just been published by Mantle Lane Press. He leads the Birmingham Young Writers’ Group for Writing West Midlands.

How to Book:
Please contact The BOX to book tickets on 0121 245 4455 or you can book online by clicking the button below.

Book Now

Get Your Trunks On!

08 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Birmingham Writers, Leicester, Mantle Lane Press, Publication, Q & A, Reading, Short Stories, Short Story, workshops, Writers, writing

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My first collection of short stories, Night Swimming, is almost here. It’s still not really sunk in. But on  Saturday, March the 11th, I will finally hold a copy in my hands – that should do the trick.

To be able to look at the cover of my book and flick through the pages, pages covered with words that I typed, deleted, retyped, crossed out, scribbled over and screamed at should fill me with joy, or at least a deep sense of satisfaction. Night Swimming cover-page-001

However, this isn’t ‘job done.’ Now starts the long process of promotion, of convincing people to buy my book. The first step, along the road of self-promotion, will be taken on Saturday at this year’s States of Independence in Leicester. I will be reading a short extract from, Night Swimming, as part of the Mantle Lane Press launch. I’ve read  my work at many events over the years, but this will be the first time that I’ve had a ‘product’ to promote. At the moment, I’m reading through the stories and trying to decide which one will tantalise the most and leave an audience wanting more.

If you’re in Leicester, or fancy a day out there, please come along to States of Independence. Here’s some info and details from their website:

States of Independence

Independent publishing | Independent writing | Independent thinking

A book festival in a day

 

This year’s States of Independence is our eighth. It’s a book festival in a day, a marketplace, a conference, a chance to relax and listen to some readings, an opportunity to argue about issues in the industry and to meet with independent presses from across the region.

States of Independence supports independent thinking, independent writing and independent presses. Join us for the day or an hour. Attend lots of events – you will be spoiled for choice – or just one, or simply come along and browse through the twenty or so bookstalls to see what the independent sector is publishing.

As always there are poetry and fiction readings and industry panels discussing current hot topics – this year focusing on independent literary magazines. Non-fiction wanders from British Palestine to John Clare’s escape from an asylum, via the political power of music, reminiscences about being gay in the 80s, and how to talk about poetry

States of Independence is a free event, underwritten by Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham and the Centre for Creative Writing at De Montfort University, with the support of over fifty writers and over thirty presses.

All sessions are free, no tickets required.
Just turn up and stay for an hour or two, or the whole day.

<!–Click here to download a printable programme.

–>

States of Independence is organised and funded by Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham and the Creative Writing Team at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Night Swimming Book Launch, 11th of March!

27 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by in Birmingham Writers, Event, get published, Leicester, Mantle Lane Press, Publication, Q & A, Reading, Short Stories, workshops, writing

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My collection of short stories, entitled: Night Swimming, will be launched on March the 11th, at States of Independence in Leicester. States of Independence is a gathering of independent publishers. There will be workshops, readings, panels, seminars, book launches, bookstalls, independent presses, regional writers and much, much more. I think it’ll be based at De Montfort University, but I’ll let you know the full details when I get them.

If you’re in Leicester, or fancy a day in that fine city, then please come along and say hi. Previous events have been free of charge and there’s plenty to see and do

night-swimming-clothed

SEN Comic Book Workshop…

07 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by in Comics, Special Needs, teaching, workshops, writing

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What’s coming up on the writing workshop radar? Well, this.

Bournville_BookFest_cover

Those crazy people at the Bournville Bookfest have only gone and asked me to run a comic book writing workshop as part of their programme for children with Special Needs!

book fest slot

From the Bookfest brochure.

The workshop is aimed at anyone who’s interested in making comics. I’ll be using the Comic Life app to show you how you can very quickly make slick looking comic strips. We’ll be focusing on the essentials: character, plot and dialogue. Everyone who attends will have the opportunity to develop a unique story and to produce a finished comic strip. We won’t worry about drawing ability or drawing full stop, if you’re not comfortable with that, as you can use anything you want to tell a story. (You can use photographs from your iPad or take pictures on the day.) The only boundaries will be your imagination!

adventure-time-comic-book

Adventure Time meets the Avengers.

I’ve taught children with Special Needs for many years and have found that the visual, sequential nature of story telling used in comics is something that they easily relate to – just the same as mainstream kids – and that they can get a great deal of pleasure out of producing their own.

The workshop will be at Selly Oak Trust School on Saturday the 19th of March. There’s no recommended age for the workshop. We’ll leave it up to parents to judge for themselves, after all, no one knows your children better than you. All I would ask is that participants have an interest in comics and that they can tolerate me working with them. They will need some level of literacy – I’m not bothered about spelling – as they will be writing dialogue for their marvellous characters.

 

adventuretime-036-press-7-118908

Finn and Jake in trouble again.

 

How do I book this great workshop? Scroll to the end and I’ll tell you.

phoenix-weekly

The UK’s finest weekly comic.

 

Here are some examples of what you can do with the Comic Life app:

chubby bunny and dusty hare -1horrendous holiday!-1Blank-1

Booking for the workshop can be made by clicking here. The link will take you to the Bournville Bookfest booking page.

The programme can be downloaded here.

If you have any questions regarding the workshop please leave them in the comments section below.

 

10 rules for teaching the arts.

13 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Art, Arts, teaching, workshops, writing

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Michael Rosen, poet, writer and long time advocate for the arts in education, recently posted a wonderful piece on the Guardian website about how we teach the arts being just as important as the fact that we do teach it. Many of you out there that work in the arts and teach, already know how important that is, but I thought his ten key points to how that should be approached and why are so important that they’re well worth sharing again.

Michael Rosen is a children’s novelist and a former British Children’s Laureate Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Michael Rosen is a children’s novelist and a former British Children’s Laureate Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Michael Rosen’s teaching of the arts checklist:

1) have a sense of ownership and control in the process;

2) have a sense of possibility, transformation and change – that the process is not closed with pre-planned outcomes;

3) feel safe in the process, and know that no matter what they do, they will not be exposed to ridicule, relentless testing, or the fear of being wrong;

4) feel the process can be individual, co-operative or both;

5) feel there is a flow between the arts, that they are not boxed off from each other;

6) feel they are working in an environment that welcomes their home cultures, backgrounds, heritages and languages;

7) feel that what they are making or doing matters – that the activity has status within the school and beyond;

8) be encouraged and enabled to find audiences for their work;

9) be exposed to the best practice and the best practitioners possible;

10) be encouraged to think of the arts as including or involving investigation, invention, discovery, play and co-operation and to think that these happen within the actual doing, but also in the talk, commentary and critical dialogue that goes on around the activity itself.

To read the article in full click here.

Writing Begets Writing

11 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by in creativity, Mental Health, Short Stories, teaching, workshops, writing

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I’ve recently been involved with the wonderful Hearth organisation. Founded by Polly Wright, the artistic director, Hearth aims to use the arts to animate key issues in mental health, social care and the humanities, and to promote well-being. I’ve been enlisted, as part of the Writing Begets Writing initiative, to deliver a creative writing workshop in a mental health setting. I’ll be working alongside a mental health practitioner who will continue the work that I start, promoting creative writing as practice to promote well-being and who will encourage the service users to submit work to a short story anthology.

workshop

Fellow writers (left-right) Eugene Egan, Andy Cashmore and Vim Ayadurai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really looking forward to working in this field as a writer. I have some experience of working with people who need mental health support but this will be the first time I’ve worked in this setting as a writer. The feedback from mental health service users regarding the benefits of creative writing were incredible.

You can find out more about this project and Hearth here.

A Writer’s Blog?

22 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in work, workshops, writing

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I’m in the middle of updating this blog.

I want it to be informative and entertaining, I want it to be somewhere people feel welcome and want to come back to.

So, with this in mind, I’m asking you, the good people of the Blogosphere for some advice.

What would you expect to see on a writer’s blog? News of their latest work, information on how to get hold of that work, workshops that they run, ideas about writing, tips about writing, a small sketch they once did on the edge of a napkin, or maybe a highly processed photo of a stick in the shape of a fist?

Leave me a comment below and you never know I might use your idea.

Cheers.

 

Tweeted Objects

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in creativity, Short Stories, Think Tank, workshops, writing

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A huge thanks to all the staff and kids who were at the Tweeted Objects workshop on Tuesday. I was made to feel really welcome and was allowed to wander through the stored items in the warehouse, which has to be seen to be believed. Extra thanks to Lynsey for organising it all and for introducing me to Story Cubes. Here are some pics of the day.

Kipper ties!

Kipper ties!

Happy scribbler.

Happy scribbler.

The cabbage hat.

The cabbage hat.

Inside the vaults.

Inside the vaults.

The kids produced some great tweeted fiction and managed to tell some marvellous stories in 140 characters or less. Tales of cabbage hats, of cats trapped in boxes and the bejewelled wonder of a jealous prince…

Check out the exhibition in May to see their work and to tweet your own. I’ll post full details nearer the time.

Tweeters of the Lost Ark

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in creativity, Event, teaching, workshops, writing

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On Tuesday, the 18th of February, 2014, I shall be working with young writers at  Birmingham Museum’s Dollman Street Collection.

This is a warehouse full of items that the museum is unable to exhibit permanently; picture the huge warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones’ Raiders of the Lost Ark, now bring the scale down a tad and instead of sealed crates imagine engine parts, huge, ornate clock brackets, antique computers and old prototype cars that never saw production.

Giddy up

Giddy up

Dollman street triangleYou get a very rough idea from these pictures of the type of thing you can elect to discover there.

This workshop is open to children aged 13-16 and will allow the children to explore this great space and then to handle objects from the collection.

I’ve been sent some pictures of the objects and they’re rather marvellous: kipper ties, weird hats, strange cats and other stuff I can’t identify. I’ll be putting the kids through a series of warm up exercises and focused tasks that lead up to them writing about the objects in no more than 140 characters (that includes spaces, punctuation etc.) just like a tweet, hence the title.

I’m really looking forward to this. I think it’s a great idea and will help them to think about editing and getting to the heart of writing: make every word count.

Here’s a rough outline for the session:

12.00 Arrive at MCC
12.15-12.30- Tour of the stores
12.30- 1.00- Lunch
1.00- 1.30- Introduction to the objects by a curator
1.30- 3.30- Facilitated session to create the interpretive material 4.00- Collection by parents

Here’s the brief:

Outline

  • This project will utilise the interpretation device of creating ‘Twitter Labels’. This means producing a piece of creative writing about an object using a max- imum of 140 characters, i.e. the method of delivery on the microblogging, so- cial media site ‘Twitter’. This challenging method of interpretation is inspired by modern tends in twitter story writing where authors are using a single tweet or series of tweets to tell a story. We would like the participants to create a story or piece of creative writing using an object as inspiration, in the format of a tweet. We are not looking for historical information about the object, i.e. its date, name etc. that information will also be displayed alongside.

Participants will be working with objects from the ‘Patterns and Textures’ sec- tion of the exhibition including examples of textile, glass, carved wood and more.

dollman_street_racks2-300x225I’m not sure who you contact if you have a young one who’d be interested in this project but you could try Dollman Street, just click on this link for details Dollman Street.

Cheers

Teach yourself fitter.

28 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in teaching, workshops, writing

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Calling all teachers, yes you. Crawl out from beneath that mound of marking, take ten and read this post, you deserve it.

Those lovely people over at Writing West Midlands have recruited the novelist, Helen Cross, to deliver a course aimed at helping teachers to become writers. Helen is a novelist and all round creative whirlwind and just the kind of person you need to help you become a more accomplished writer for yourself and in school.

Check out the blurb below for more info:

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In these six creative workshops novelist Helen Cross shares tips and techniques for improving teachers’ own creative writing and energising the subject in the classroom. Through a series of practical activities and discussions Helen’s workshops, which cover poetry, drama and prose, examine the core aspects of creative writing.

The course will be useful for teachers wishing to develop their own writing, and those looking for exciting ideas to share with Key Stage 1,2 and 3.

Key topics include:

creating believable characters with detailed identities and dramatic possibilities
techniques to sharpen and improve prose and poetic style
autobiographical writing and the importance of lived experience
engaging dialogue for stories and scripts
thinking empathetically about other people, real and imagined.
structuring, editing and shaping towards a final draft
Helen Cross is the author of three novels, including My Summer of Love, which became a BAFTA award-winning movie, and most recently Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, which she has recently adapted for the screen. She is an experienced tutor of creative writing in schools and universities both in the UK and abroad. She has worked with all the leading creative writing in education organisations including Write On! The British Council and The Arvon Foundation. She lectures in writing at Leeds Metropolitan University, and Birmingham City University where she is a Fellow of the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.

http://www.helencross.net / http://www.writingwestmidlands.org

To Book follow this link.