Join us to celebrate the launch of Birmingham City University’s Institute of Creative and Critical Writing, with readings from BCU’s Fellows including myself, dramaturg and theatre practitioner Caroline Jester, author and broadcaster Ian Marchant, poet and novelistPatrick McGuinness, and poet and critic David Morley. The event will be introduced by the poet and Director of the Institute, Gregory Leadbetter.

The evening will begin at 6pm with a complimentary wine reception.

The Institute of Creative and Critical Writing exists to cultivate the literary arts and the life of ideas through an exciting programme of public events.

How to book:

Places are free but limited, to book through the online box office Eventbrite; please click here.

www.bcu.ac.uk/iccw / www.writingwestmidlands.org

Shock Of Spring Readers Day May 2013 (1)On Saturday 11 May  West Midlands Readers’ Network, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Writing West Midlands present a readers’ afternoon with myself, Sabine Durrant, Chris McCabe and Nathan Filer. Join us for an exploration of the psychological thriller, the crime novel and the novel that unearths the underbelly of domestic life.

Book here for this afternoon of literature, discussion, and afternoon tea all in the splendid setting of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery’s Waterhall Gallery. All four writers will read and talk about their work. The afternoon will be chaired by Roz Goddard, Co-ordinator of West Midlands Readers’ Network.

 

I will be taking part in the Student Writers’ Toolkit at Coventry University on the afternoon of Saturday 2 March.  There are all sorts of informative sessions and panels scheduled as part of this special event for student writers. I’ll be speaking about publishing and writing for radio.   More details about the Toolkit, and how to book here.

As part of the 2013 Bath Literature Festival I’ll be teaching a day-long workshop on the subtle art of writing effective dialogue for stories and plays. The workshop will be held on Thursday 7 March at the Holburne Museum of Art on Great Pulteney Street from 10.00am to 4pm.  More details and to book here.

The wonderful Hyde Park Picture House cinema in Leeds has its 100 year birthday in 2014 and to celebrate I am running a series of workshops in the cinema in March 2013 . We will be exploring the building’s glorious past, present and possible future,  and the resulting writing  will be broadcast on East Leeds FM radio station later in the year.

I’ll be teaching an Arvon course called Starting to Write,  with writer Ian Marchant, at Lumb Bank, in Yorkshire, 21 to 26 January 2013. We’ll be looking at ways into writing both fiction and non-fiction.

I’m delighted to have been invited to become a Fellow of the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing at Birmingham City University.  Led by Dr Gregory Leadbetter, the Institute is an exciting new venture devoted to cultivating the creative imagination, the life of ideas, and the literary arts.  In 2013 I will become a Teaching Fellow at the Institute, teaching the Fiction option of the MA in Writing.

I’ll be reading my latest short story,  Back to Work, at an event at the Copthorne Hotel in Birmingham on 20 November 2012 at 7.00pm.  My story, written for Hereford’s Women 4 Women group,  is one of six stories commissioned by West Midlands Readers Network.  The Seven-Minute Stories event features  extracts from all six stories, plus you’ll receive a free limited-edition publication containing all six stories in full.

The event is free but booking is advised on 0121 245 4455. More details here

In February 2013 I will be Writer-in -Residence for Exeter’s EXEtreme Imagination Festival. The festival in 2013 is celebrating writing about childhood.  More details, including my whereabouts during the festival, will be available soon.

 

 

The popular Writers’ Toolkit returns to South Birmingham College on Saturday 17 November 2012. This year I’ll be giving the key note speech , as well as chairing panels and taking part in discussions.   You can book to attend The Writers’ Toolkit here.