Category Archives: Writing West Midlands

Up At The Lake

04 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in Art, Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, Birmingham Writers, books, Drawing, Inktober, Mantle Lane Press, Reading, Short Stories, Writers, Writers Group, writing, Writing West Midlands

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Another quick one – I just don’t have the time at the moment. This is a view of the south end of Coniston in the Lake District. It’s all fibre tipped pen and is actually black on white paper. The image is a sepia brown due to me taking the pic on my phone for speed.

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I did do a little tinkering in Affinity Photo to add the sepia splashes of cloud.

I’m hoping to get a bit of time at the weekend to do some longer drawing and some writing. That will hopefully be on Sunday once I’ve got my reading at Birmingham Literature Festival out of the way and finished working with my young writers group on the Saturday. I’ve set Saturday evening aside for watching crap with the family and drinking beer.

If you’re in Birmingham this Saturday morning (October 6th) come along to Birmingham REP, the Mezzanine, and hear some great stories from a bunch of wonderful writers. Hell, you could even buy some books.

A picture of Folk.

02 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Art, Birmingham, Drawing, Live Music, Writing West Midlands

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Apologies for the awful pun, but I couldn’t resist as I’m at the Moseley Folk Festival today.

This sketch was another 15-20 minute jobbie. It was a lot harder than the Brian sketch as I felt very self-conscious as people were all around me and people tend to move, a lot!

This one is also pencil, I may add some inks later to give it some more depth.

Im really enjoying this so far; I forgot how good it feels to draw.

The Write Stuff

21 Friday Jul 2017

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

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For those of you who are of a creative or aquatic bent, you may be interested to know that I will once again be leading canal based creative writing workshops. Those crazy fools at the Birmingham Literature Festival have asked me to lead dusk till dawn writing sessions as part of this year’s festival.

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It really was great fun.

I don’t have a lot of details yet, but I guess that they will be similar to the ones I ran back in April as part of the pop-up festival. Back then, we started from Birmingham’s historic Roundhouse and explored the canals via canoe and kayak. It was a real eye-opener for me. There are parts of the city you can only explore from the canal. Deserted glassworks, industrial loading bays and the Victorian red brick of disused warehouses stand beside the canal, and their decaying shells now home a multitude of wildlife and their walls canvases for graffiti artists and frustrated lovers.

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Come and witness my world famous invisible fish wrestling.

We will spend at least an hour on the water and then back inside the relative, although not guaranteed, warmth of the Roundhouse I’ll put you through your paces with some short, focused writing exercises that will nudge you towards creating longer pieces of work.

All photos are the property of the very talented Jana Eastwood. You can find more images from previous workshops here at her excellent blog, Escapes and Photography.

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Birmingham’s Roundhouse.

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One of the many incredible views along the canal.

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Wildlife in the heart of the city.

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

Book Cover Designers Needed.

06 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by in Anthology, Art, Birmingham Literature Festival, Birmingham Writers, Mantle Lane Press, Publication, Reading, Short Stories, Short Story, Submissions, writing, Writing West Midlands

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Calling all artists/photographers/graphic designers.

There’s a great opportunity at Mantle Lane Press for book cover designers.

There are three books that need covers including my own short story collection, Night Swimming. Please check out the link below for details and share this on your own networks.

Book cover design job link.

You can also hear some of the writers of the latest Mantle Lane Press Anthology read from the collection at this year’s Birmingham Literature Festival.

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What Haunts The Heart is a new collection of short stories by brilliant writers from across the Midlands, presenting a host of haunted characters: a waxwork-maker, a doomed puppeteer, an isolated writer… What Haunts The Heart weaves together tales of lost love, regret, bad decisions, madness, secrets, obsession and redemption.

Come and hear a selection of these fantastic stories performed live by writers including William Gallagher, Liza Kershaw and Fiona Joseph.

Tickets are £3 and available here.

Room 204

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by in Room 204, writing, Writing West Midlands

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I was lucky enough to be part of Room 204’s inaugural year. It was a huge benefit to me as a writer. It helped me to take myself seriously and look at different avenues in which I could produce work and get paid for it (no, really.) Thanks to Room 204 I had my first short story published had another placed in a competition got commissioned to produce work collaborated with an artist on a comic strip had poems published and so on.

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West Midlands writers: Room 204 opens for applications

Give your writing career the boost it needs.

Writers across the West Midlands are invited to apply to be part of this year’s Room 204 – the year-long support and career development programme run by Writing West Midlands. Now in its fifth year, Room 204 recruits between 10 and 15 writers a year, writing in all genres from poetry and prose to radio and TV scripts and gives them each over £1,000 worth of career support.

The deadline for submissions is Thursday 25 February, and you can find the full submission details here.

Lost Districts almost here

26 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by in Art, competitions, Poetry, prize money, Short Stories, writing, Writing West Midlands

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Hi, only a week to go now before the Lost DistrictsIMG_6331 competition launches.

You’ll remember from my earlier post that Lost Districts is all about celebrating the work of writer and poet, Joel Lane, who is sadly no longer with us. So, if you know a photographer, or visual artist, who’s based, or has work based in the West Midlands, UK, get them to check out the Lost Districts page, they could win £100 and have their work splashed across the web!

 

Raven: Comic Book Commission Q&A with the artists

05 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by in Art, Comics, comissions, Q & A, Short Stories, Writing West Midlands

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Ripped straight from the Birmingham Literature Festival programme.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished thing. The Q & A should be interesting, especially if you guys turn up.

Raven: Comic Book Commission Q&A with the artists
October 8 @ 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm | Free
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Raven is a collaboration between writer Garrie Fletcher and artist Anya Jung. Commissioned by the Birmingham Literature Festival; they will focus on the relationship between narrative and image, and the journey from snatched ideas and rough sketches to a finished product you can hold.

A modern take on an urban gothic tale, set amongst the twisted architecture of Birmingham; Raven will explore the real and the distorted in this documentation of the loss of childhood and the reclamation of hope.

Raven will be created within the Library of Birmingham throughout the ten days of the Birmingham Literature Festival. This event is the opportunity to see how Garrie and Anya are getting on with the process of collaborating and to find out more about the process of creating a comic book from scratch.

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Garrie Fletcher

about-portrait-newAnya Jung is an illustrator and recent graduate from University College Falmouth. She takes her inspiration from stories, myths and fairy tales as well as the world around her, often drawing on location to capture the essence of a place. She enjoys working in traditional mediums and only deploys digital tools in the final stages of the creative process to bring an image together. To see more examples of her work please visit http://www.ajungillustration.co.uk.

Garrie Fletcher likes words, big cities and avoiding Northampton. He writes short stories, novels, comics and poems. He’s a member of the Tindal Street Fiction Group and loves talking nonsense to kids. His work can be found in various anthologies, Unthology 5 being the most recent. You may even have seen his work at the cinema, if you’re not prone to blinking. https://fletchski.wordpress.com/.

This is a free event. No need to book!

Details

Date:
October 8, 2014
Time:
6:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Cost:
Free
Event Categories:
Comic book, Free, Illustration
Event Tags:
2014, fiction
Organizer

Birmingham Literature Festival
Venue

The Foyer, Library of Birmingham
Centenary Square, Broad Street Birmingham, B1 2ND
+ Google Map

Check out the original posting here for maps, art samples and a scary photo of me.

Writing West Midlands

08 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in New Birmingham Library, Writers Group, writing, Writing West Midlands

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I’ve been very lucky to have been involved with Writing West Midlands over recent years. They are a fine bunch of human beings who live to promote literature in the West Midlands region.

I was approached by them to see if I’d mind being included in their new brochure, this would include being photographed by a professional photographer. Of course I didn’t mind.

I’ve been involved with a number of projects through Writing West Midlands and run one of their many Write On! Young Writers groups. If you are a writer based in the West Midlands you should get in touch with them. Anyway, the brochure is now out. Here’s the cover:

You can just spot me on the left amongst the grime of the old library.

You can just spot me on the left amongst the grime of the old library.

Inside the brochure there a wonderful overview of all the incredible work that the Writing West Midlands team does across the region and across all the possible formats that writing can take. There’s a great map of the region, beautifully put together by Kerry Leslie, that pinpoints some of the outstanding talent that has come from the area. This includes J.R.R. Tolkien, who used to live just down the road from me, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jonathan Coe, Carol Ann Duffy, John Osborne and of course William Shakespeare. Information on the Birmingham Literature Festival, Write On! Young Writers, The New Library of Birmingham and tons more.

The brochure is beautifully put together with great photography, a cool layout and printed on pleasingly thick paper.

Inside there is a section on local writers that WWM work with and there are brief interviews with: William Gallagher, Deborah Alma, Cindy George, Fiona Joseph, Rochi Rampal, Helen Cross and me.

My page can be read below. Just click on the picture and it’ll open at a readable size.

Cheers.

Scary man in cool coat.

Scary man in cool coat.