Writers' Day
Saturday 11th March – 9:30am-2:30pm - SOLD OUT
Are you interested in the writing process? Would you like to improve or share your writing?
Join us at a Writers’ Day for a range of talks, workshops and an open mic that will allow you to discover, improve and share the process of writing and publishing adult fiction.
Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author Mike Gayle will be discussing his work and his journey into writing, established local crime writers will be discussing routes into getting published and writing workshops will be available from the creative writing team at the University of Worcester.
Agenda:
|
9:30am |
Registration and market place |
| 10:00am | Keynote Speaker: Author Mike Gayle - interviewed by author Kim Nash |
| 11:15am | Panel Discussion 'How To Get Published' with crime authors Sue Watson, Carla Kovach and Charlie Barnes - chaired by author Kim Nash |
| 12:00pm | Break & Refreshments - market place, book signing and drop in sessions |
| 12:30pm |
Writers' Workshops - led by the University of Worcester Creative Writing Team
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| 1:45pm | Open Mic - an opportunity for event attendees to share their work or share a favourite piece of prose. Suitable for an adult audience only. |
| 2:30pm | Finish |
Do I need to book?
Places are £3.00 per person and can be booked here. You are welcome to join us for the whole day or to take part in selected sessions. Places on the workshops must be booked separately. See the writers’ workshop section below for details.
Writers’ Day - SOLD OUT
Writers’ Workshops
Places for the workshops and now sold out and must be pre-booked. You must have booked a ticket for Writers’ Day to reserve a place on a workshop. If you haven't booked a session, please speak to staff when you register on the day and they will let you know if any spaces become available.
Workshop 1
Writing Feelings: How do we write literary fiction? Led by Katy Wareham Morris published writer and Senior lecturer at the University of Worcester.
This workshop will introduce participants to fiction which blurs the boundaries of form and genre. We will experiment with writing that does not fit with established convention; that which is playful, and sometimes challenging. Often considered experimental and contemporary and, in the world of publishing, labelled ‘literary fiction’, we will explore how we write stories which are led by characters and their emotions, thoughts and feelings rather than their actions.
Workshop 2
Writing Crime Fiction. Led by Dr Charley Barnes published writer and Associate Lecturer at the University of Worcester.
In this workshop we’ll consider the foundations of crime writing, including detective; landscape; and of course, the criminal. Throughout the workshop we’ll develop each of these areas to consider the ways that one can feed the other when developing a cohesive plot, and we’ll work out the “hook” of a good crime story that draws a reader in. There will be prompts delivered throughout to start us thinking about the early seeds of these ideas, and we’ll expand out from those as the session to continues, to leave us with a room full of detective dramas in the making.
Workshop 3
Writing Memoir: Thinking about Drama, Detail and Dialogue. Led by Ruth Stacey, lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Worcester
Everyone has a story to tell but how do we make it interesting and readable? What do we leave in and what do we leave out? This workshop will help you to think about your memoir in relation to the broader themes of the narrative to enable you to choose what is relevant to the story and create a gripping narrative. We will use writing prompts to produce some memoir drafts and practice how to dramatize memories with the use of vivid description and dialogue.
Drop-in Sessions
Local author Abigail Osborne will be offering drop in sessions as part of the market place, to answer any questions or advice you need on writing or getting published!
Open Mic
An opportunity for attendees and local authors to share their work! Slots for the open mic session will be limited to 5 minutes per person and can requested on the day. Places on the open mic session cannot be guaranteed. Please note, the open mic session is for an adult audience only.
About Mike Gayle
Mike Gayle was born and raised in Birmingham. After graduating from Salford University with a degree in Sociology Mike moved to London with ambitions of becoming a music journalist. This didn't happen however and following a slight detour in his five-year plan he ended up as an agony uncle for teenage girls' magazine Bliss before becoming Features Editor on the now much missed Just Seventeen. Since those early days Mike has written for a variety of publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Cosmopolitan.
Mike became a full-time novelist in 1997 following the publication of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller My Legendary Girlfriend, which was hailed by The Independent as 'Full of belly laughs and painfully acute observations,' and by The Times as 'A funny, frank account of a hopeless romantic.'
To date Mike is the author of twelve novels including Mr Commitment, Turning Thirty and Wish You Were Here. His books have been translated into over thirty languages.
About Kim Nash
Kim Nash is an author of uplifting, funny, heart warming, romantic, feel-good fiction.
She lives in Staffordshire with her son Ollie and English Setter rescue dog Roni, is Digital Publicity Director for publisher Bookouture (a division of Hachette UK) and is a book blogger at www.kimthebookworm.co.uk.
When she's not working or writing, Kim can be found walking her dog at Cannock Chase, reading, writing and binge-watching box sets on the TV. She's also quite partial to a spa day and a gin and tonic (not at the same time!) Kim also runs a book club in Staffordshire and organises local and national reader/author events.