I posted a blog ten days ago entitled ‘Latest News, opportunities and events’. Usually, this enables me to take a breather before the next batch of emails drop by. Wrong. There’s always something interesting going on in the literature world so here’s the ‘latest, latest news, opportunities and events. Read on!

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What Goes On Tour Stays On Tour

Back in October 2009 we teamed up with Faber & Faber and Cafe Writers to bring you an event with four exciting young poets: Fiona Benson, Toby Martinez de las Rivas, Jack Underwood and Heather Phillipson. Norwich was the first stop on a tour that took them to Cambridge, Oxford, Hull, Durham, Lumb Bank, Ilkley and across to Manchester.

What we didn’t know was that they were armed with digital cameras.

Norwich is the first installment and you can view their creation on the below clip. Visit the thought fox…the faber blog to view the other locations, posted day by day.

Day 1: Norwich from FaberBooks on Vimeo.

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Great to see that Nasty Little Press is going from strength to strength with its latest pamphlet – John Osborne’s What If Men Burst In Wearing Balaclavas?

The launch will be at Norwich’s new independent book shop – The Book Hive – and you can see further details (and a fantastic book cover with original artwork by Samuel Ratcliffe) on the launch invite below.

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Great Literature for Everyone?

Shaping the next ten years

Arts Council England is consulting the arts constituency on the directions it should take and the ways of working it should adopt over the next ten years.
NALD wants you to take part in the ACE process, you can access the documents and take part here. They have also created a space where literature professionals and activists can discuss ACE’s vision, goals and priorities. They will be making their own submission based on the views you express.

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THEATRE WRITER’S WORKSHOP

A THEATRE WRITER’S WORKSHOP AND SCRATCH PERFORMANCE…

Are you a Theatre Writer in the East of England?
Are you interested in working with one of the UK’s leading new writing companies?

Menagerie want to meet new and emerging writers prior to the selection of artists for the development of projects with BBC Radio in 2010 and the Hotbed Festival in 2011.

This is an opportunity to introduce yourself, meet fellow writers, have a masterclass workshop and write a short piece for a scratch reading.

Menagerie want to meet new and emerging writers prior to the selection of artists for the development of projects with BBC Radio in 2010 and the Hotbed Festival in 2011.

•        Wednesday 17th Feb: 11am-2pm: A masterclass playwriting workshop with Fraser Grace (Breakfast With Mugabe – RSC, Gifts of War/Frobisher’s Gold – Menagerie).

•        Thursday 18th Feb: 11am – 3 pm: Work with Menagerie’s Artistic team to develop a short 5-10 minute piece for performance the next day.

•        Friday 19th Feb: 3pm – 4pm: Reading of the scratch scripts by member’s of Menagerie’s acting ensemble.

This workshop is FREE but participation is by APPLICATION ONLY and there are a LIMITED number of places available. (Max 10 Places)

Application Details
Please send a CV and Cover Letter to Patrick Morris, Associate Artistic Director:  patrick@menagerie.uk.com
If your work is not known to Menagerie please provide an example (no more than 20 pages please)

They will select participants on the following criteria:
1)      Ability to articulate a clear need for involvement in the workshop
2)      Quality of CV
3)      Living and/or working in the East of England.

Deadline for Applications is Monday 1st February 9am

Details also available on www.menagerie.uk.com

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Free Writing Workshop @ Norwich Science Cafe with guest writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Next Science Cafe Wednesday January 20th 2010
Maddermarket Theatre Bar 7.30pm

To coincide with the launch of the Inspire Discovery Centre Writing Competition there is going to be a special science cafe in January with a bit of a twist. This month the session is a chance for adults to get an insight into writing about science and writing fiction. There will be a special introductory talk by established writer and journalist Hugh Aldersey-Williams, co-author of Panicology and author of Findings, who will give an insight into writing about current real-life science issues.

After the talk the session will turn to fiction with special workshop exercises to help get into the writer’s frame of mind. The exercises will be fun games and exercises to help with characterisation and plot forming. The event is free and there is no need to book. Everyone is welcome whether planning on entering the writing competition or not. The event is geared to let everyone have fun and have a go at writing, no-one will be forced to share their work with the group or expected to write a masterpiece. So if you want to figure out how Queen Victoria might react to an alien invasion or how Boudica might fare if sent into space, come along and have a go.

Contact Alex at Inspire on 01603 612612 for more information.

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The Book Hive to launch The Hostage Handbook

by Anthony Grey

With the recent release of Peter Moore this book could not be a more important and relevant piece of work. Come and meet the author and buy the book – The Hostage Handbook will be launched at The Book Hive on Friday 29th January at 6.30pm

• Highly-charged diaries of the first western hostage of the modern era, published verbatim for the first time, forty years after his release.
• Recorded secretly in shorthand, the diaries chronicle two years of solitary confinement in the heart of Beijing during the chaotic.
Cultural Revolution, which resulted in three million deaths.
• A key part of the author’s fight against isolation and despair, they describe the psychological battle for survival all hostages face – and show how keeping a diary can help face up to many hardships.
• Interspersed with reflections on how Anthony Grey sees the ordeal today and how the experience changed his life.

Anthony Grey became a foreign correspondent with Reuters after a career in provincial journalism. He reported the Cold War from East Berlin, Prague,Warsaw, Budapest, Sofia and Bucharest before being assigned to China in early 1967 to cover the Cultural Revolution. He became the focus of worldwide headlines for two years when seized as a hostage by Mao Tse-tungs’s Red Guards. Since his release, he has gone on to establish himself as a radio and television broadcaster and an international bestselling novelist, translated into 17 languages.

Reviews
‘Grey’s experience – through fear, false hope, deep depression, suicidal thoughts and outrage at the failure of the British government
to secure his release – is painfully similar to those of his later colleagues in Beirut and Baghdad…Mercifully he came home to sunlight and love – and lived on to work for the BBC and write exciting novels.’
Robert Fisk, The Independent.

‘This real-time journal of two years captivity gives a vivid picture of the afflictions and frustrations he faced and the often mindless and
inhumane behaviour of his captors…But it also reveals Tony’s stubborn capacity for inventiveness and imagination, which created
an inner space for his spirit’s survival in spite of all.’
Sir John Weston, Britain’s former ambassador to the UN and NATO

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University programme offers path to literary success

An initiative to support emerging literary talent is being launched by the University of Bolton in collaboration with the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester.

The Writers’ Pathway starts in February 2010 and is aimed at new writers, of Chinese descent. It will provide a 14-week programme to develop the writers’ craft through professional supervision and distance learning with the help of a professional mentor. The programme opens with a five-day residential workshop at the prestigious Arvon Foundation Lumb Bank Centre in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, and culminates in a showcase of practitioners’ work at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton. Poets, novelists and playwrights can submit samples of their work and a panel, comprising professional writers and University tutors, will make the final selection for the 12 places available on the programme.

Rebecca Albrow, Project Manager, said: ‘For someone still in the early stages of their literary career, this programme could be the catalyst that enables their talent to flourish and grow. Those taking part will have the opportunity of working with renowned writers including experts from BBC Writersroom.

‘We’re delighted to be working with the Chinese Arts Centre on this project and looking forward to nurturing the careers of new North West literary talents.’

For further information about the Writers’ Pathway initiative please visit www.bolton.ac.uk/AME/writerspathway/ or email writerspathway@bolton.ac.uk.

For further information please contact:

Rebecca Albrow
Creative Industries Project Manager
School of Arts, Media & Education
University of Bolton
Deane Campus
Room T4-076
Deane Road
Bolton BL3 5AB

(T) 01204 903332

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Exhibition news from Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery

Verb: to read and write
Wednesday, 20 January – Saturday, 27 February 2010

Words, written and spoken, are the building blocks of communication. We spare them scarcely a thought as we read and talk. Yet to many artists they are much more. Words individually have form, often beautiful, in their own right and, when gathered into literary works, they can inspire people to great acts and influence world events.  In this exhibition, scripts, books, conversations and more, reading and writing are actions used by the artists in this exhibition to engage us, even to the sound of words being written.

The exhibition will be a busy place, with three contributions:
Guestroom
Artist Duo, Guestroom, aka Ruth Höflich and Maria Benjamin explore the obsessive and meticulous nature of collecting. They look at reading and writing as an action and have taken an especial interest in libraries. Two projects are featured, Reading Room and The Librarians. They examine the keeping of books and reading.
Caroline Wright
Caroline dips into the Gallery’s history. Inspired by its location, The Market Cross, where sermons were preached in mediaeval times, she copies the Ten Commandments continually for 6 hours, while the sound of her pen is broadcast out across the marketplace.
Flávia Müller Medeiros
Flávia exhibits a range of work, some completed and some in progress, demonstrating her passion for art books and catalogues. Included are two specially designed shelves containing catalogues from the renowned Gimpel Fils Gallery charting its role from the 1950s onwards in encouraging avant-garde artists.  Also featured is the in-depth One Work series by Afterall, which highlights changing approaches to art books and was an influence on Müller Medeiros.
The Library of Influential Reads has been created by Curator, Catherine Hemelryk. Visitors will be invited to curl up with a good book in the cold winter months.  The titles have been suggested by a wide range of people as books that have been the most influential in their lives.

For further information please contact:
John Appleyard, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, The Market Cross, Cornhill, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1BT
Telephone: 01284 762081 john.appleyard@burystedmundsartgallery.org