Tag Archives: West Midlands

Four Towers Walk

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m walking and talking this Saturday the 19th of October, tomorrow. The wonderful people at Overhear Poetry commissioned me to create a walk that would be a writerly response to my home city of Birmingham, so that’s what I’ve done.

This is not a facts and figures tour. It’s a creative look at a city you think you know, an interpretation of space, environment and architecture. But it’s not all me. I’ll be asking you to respond to points on the walk with snippets of poetic text in the style of Ian McMillan’s daily tweets.

Join me tomorrow at 10:30 outside Birmingham’s Roundhouse and delve into the heart of the city. There are a few tickets still available and you can get them here.

Submerged in the West Midlands

07 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in Birmingham, Birmingham Writers, books, Event, Mantle Lane Press, News, Short Stories, Short Story, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

You have two chances to hear me read from my latest book, Submerged, next week.

First up is City Voices in Wolverhampton. It all starts at 7:30 at The Lighthouse a few minutes walk from the train and bus stations. City Voices is one of the Midlands’ finest spoken word evenings and never fails to delight with its range and quality of work on offer. I will be selling books.

Secondly, will be the official Birmingham launch of Submerged, and it’s going to be a corker, but don’t just take my word for it check out the line-up here.

Career Voyeur.

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in help, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

I’m doing a bit of research; maybe you can help? I’m looking at jobs, different types of work, work I’ve not done before, stuff that’s unusual and usual. I’d like to shadow you while you work – this isn’t as creepy as it sounds it just means seeing how you do your job and what your job entails. The shadowing could last an hour, half a day, a whole day whatever’s best for you. I could even lend a hand if that’s permissible/possible – I won’t expect to sit in on any brain surgery though.Work Collage2
Please share this amongst your friends, followers, stalkers and if you are interested in having an affable writer scribble down some notes while you work then direct message me. For practical reasons, the work must be based in Birmingham unless it’s something unmissable, exotic, bizarre, rare, etc.

Room 204

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by in Room 204, writing, Writing West Midlands

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

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.

Rm-204-logo-WITH-WORDS-300x144

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

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
comicsketch

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.

Garrie Fletcher cropped for website
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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.