Welcome to Write Club Training - Spring/Summer workshops 2008
From March through to August this year we've got some strenuous workouts for writers in all forms and at all levels - novitiate through to eighth-grade black belt.
We have new workshops from some of regulars like Laura Atkins, Naomi Foyle and Catherine Smith. But we're also welcoming new blood this spring, with a poetry and stage performance workshop from poet and playwright Heather Taylor; a course on the uses of plot with Anthony Joseph; and a workshop on the short story from the duo who bring you Short Fuse, Brighton's leading live short fiction night, Polly Tuckett and Tara Gould.
Alongside the workshops, we're running Write Club at the Quadrant Pub on Air Street, the second Thursday every month - where the floor is open for you to take what you've learnt in training and battle it out with fellow readers and writers. Write Club kicks off on Valentine's night, with strong opinions and muscular debate -questions, critiques, readings, open mic and impromptu workshops. And they're open to all.
So get stuck in. Read on and and get in touch if you'd like to find out more. And check our website where you can keep up to date with all our current workshops and events.
Select the appropriate option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. Please note if you book as a Friend of THE SOUTH you will be asked to send your Friendship number by email. If you'd like to become a Friend click here.
We look forward to meeting you, and your writing!
Nathan O'Donnell
Workshop Co-ordinator
THE SOUTH, Brighton Writers' Centre, Brighton BN1 3RR
T: 01273 571 700
Wednesdays, 30th April - 18th June (8 weeks) A Creative Writing Workshop, with Sarah Jackson
6.30 - 8.30 pm at The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea
£75/£70 concs
Want to write and don't know where to start? Already writing but feeling stuck? Wherever you are, this series of workshops will help kick-start your creativity and develop your writing voice. For complete beginners as well as more experienced writers, the 8-week course will offer you a relaxed and friendly setting in which to try out new ideas for writing, helping you to discover your own way with words. In partnership with THE SOUTH.
Sarah Jackson is returning to the De La Warr after an extremely succesful workshop series last year. She is studying for a PhD at the University of Sussex and is one of the poets featured in the first Poetry South Anthology, published in 2007 by THE SOUTH.
Tuesdays, 6th - 27th May (4 weeks) Writing Out Loud, with Tara Gould and Polly Tuckett
7 - 9 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£44/£40 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £40/£36 concs
With the growing number of short story festivals, flash fiction competitions, and live lit nights cropping up in the South East and nationally, there is now a greater opportunity for developing writers to 'exhibit' or 'perform' their work. Putting work out there in this way can be a route to gaining the recognition and encouragement necessary to persevere in what can often feel like a solitary and hidden occupation. This four week workshop is aimed at people who are interested in taking their work to an audience, and seeks to help develop their writing skills on the page, as well as the production of a short story that works well off the page too! Polly Tuckett and Tara Gould, directors of Short Fuse, a successful and increasingly popular monthly short fiction night held at Brighton's Komedia, will be running this innovative course
Tara Gould has taught creative writing for CCE at Sussex University, and privately since 2000. She has won two awards for her short fiction and has had two plays on BBC Radio 4. After a degree in theatre she completed an MA in Art, Education and Creative Writing. Polly Tuckett has taught creative writing and writes for children and adults. She has been shortlisted for prestigious short fiction competitions and has had work published in writing magazines.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£44 place
(Full)
£40 place
(Conc)
£40 place
(Friend Full)
£36 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturday 10th May Writing from Memory with Maggie Sawkins
12 - 3 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£16/£15 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £15/£14 concs
All of us have a story to tell. We don't need to have climbed Mount Everest or to have wrestled with a crocodile, we don't need to have won an Olympic medal or have been born with a voice like Pavarotti's. All lives are important - it is often the little things that are left untold that have mean the most. But where do we start? How do we decide which bits to leave in and which to leave out? To write an account of every moment of our lives would be impossible. Most autobiographies are selections and re-workings of truths. One way to begin is by sifting through our memories, by reliving moments from our past, by finding ways of recording. Of course our memory of an event may be entirely different from that of a sibling, a parent, or friend. But that's what makes our stories unique, they carry our signature, they are our stories.
Maggie Sawkins spent her childhood in Leigh Park, a large council housing estate north of Portsmouth. She began writing poetry at the age of nine after being inspired by her head teacher. Her first poems were published in Hampshire Poets when she was seventeen. In 2004 Maggie co-founded the popular Tongues & Grooves Poetry and Music Club in Southsea where she now lives with her husband, younger daughter and a growing menagerie. Flarestack published a pamphlet collection, Charcot's Pet, in 2003. The Zig Zag Woman (Two Ravens Press) is her first full collection.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£15 place
(Full)
£14 place
(Conc)
£15 place
(Friend Full)
£14 place
(Friend Conc)
Wednesday 14th May Crime Fiction with Susanna Jones
6 - 9 pm at Fabrica Gallery, 40 Duke Street, Brighton
£16/£15 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH, £15/£14
In this three-hour workshop we will explore the narrative possibilities of the crime scene. Susanna Jones, crime novelist and experienced creative writing teacher, will lead you through exercises, feedback and discussion in response to Fabrica’s INDELIBLE: Every Contact Leaves a Trace exhibition. We will look at different ways of unravelling the story of a crime, ways of using physical evidence to generate narrative, how to create atmosphere, a sense of place and suspense. Through practical and stimulating exercises we will explore aspects of craft such as plotting, structure and pacing. We will also discuss the challenges and rewards of writing crime fiction, its enduring popularity, what makes a page-turner and the relationships between investigation and resolution, character and morality. The workshop will end with practical tips on how to take a rough draft and develop it into compelling, suspenseful fiction. This workshop is suitable for beginners and experienced writers alike.
Susanna Jones grew up in Yorkshire and lived for several years in Japan and Turkey before moving to Brighton in 2000. She has published three novels, The Earthquake Bird, Water Lily, and The Missing Person’s Guide to Love (all by Picador). Her unconventional mysteries cross the boundary between literary fiction and crime fiction. Her work has been translated into twenty-two languages and has won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Memorial Dagger, a Betty Trask award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, London University.
For more information about Indelible, or about any other projects run at Fabrica Gallery go to: www.fabrica.org.uk
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£16 place
(Full)
£15 place
(Conc)
£15 place
(Friend Full)
£14 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturday 17th May Connections, with Mandy Pannett
10 am - 4 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£32/£30 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £30/£28 concs
During this one-day workshop you will discover all sorts of connections and associations between images, sounds, ideas, traditions, meanings, words and whole poems themselves. You will take part in collaborative and individual exercises and writing activities and will have several pieces of work in progress by the end of the day. It is intended that the workshop would be of interest to people at all levels of writing experience, especially fledgling poets or those who just want to take part and see what happens. The day will be hard work but also a lot of fun, exciting and stimulating.
Mandy Pannett has spent many years teaching English to pupils with a wide range of abilities including special needs as well as leading creative writing workshops for children and adults in various parts of the country. She runs an Arts Cafe in East Sussex and is involved in working with local writing groups, advising on and leading many sessions on poetry appreciation and writing. Two collections of her poetry have been published by Oversteps Books - Bee Purple and Frost Hollow and her work has been widely published in the UK, Europe, Canada and the States as well as on line.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£32 place
(Full)
£30 place
(Conc)
£30 place
(Friend Full)
£28 place
(Friend Conc)
Mondays, 19th May-23rd June (6 weeks) A Poetry Course, with Brendan Cleary
7 - 9 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£66/£60 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £60/£54 concs
Following on from his previous, highly successful workshops at the Brighton Writers’ Centre. Brendan Cleary returns with a course of poetry workshops. This 6-week course is based on Brendan’s no-nonsense, practical approach to help people improve their poetry through group discussion and appraisal. Because of Brendan’s encouraging approach, this course is ideal for people just starting out writing poetry as well as for more experienced poets. The session will include writing exercises and discussion of students’ work.
Brendan Cleary is a highly respected poet and teacher. He has published 4 full length collections including White Bread and ITV: Selected Poems 1985 – 1990 (Wide Skirt Press), The Irish Card and Sacrilege (Bloodaxe), and stranger in the house (Wrecking Ball Press). Jackson was published by Pighog Press in 2004 and Weightless by Tall Lighthouse in 2006.
His latest collection will be launched at Poetry South on Thursday 5th June at the Joogleberry Playhouse, Manchester Street
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£66 place
(Full)
£60 place
(Conc)
£60 place
(Friend Full)
£54 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturday 24th May Starting The Novel with Anthony Cropper
10 am - 4 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£34/£32 concs, Friends of the South £32/£30 concs
Thinking of starting a novel? Tried before and found yourself getting bogged down? Think again. This class aims to unlock your novel writing potential. Break your novel into fragments, build it piece by piece, construct your novel from memories, anecdotes, stories, scenes. Create charismatic characters and learn some techniques on how to control description, on how to create meaningful dialogue. Lead the reader into the story, let them see and feel the characters you create. Whether your approach is to meticulously plan, or if it is chaotic, disorganised, this is the course for you. We will look at how to allow a story to develop and will write about people, places, events, and then see how to gradually piece a novel together. There's no one way to write a novel, this course will help you unlock the way that best suits your style.
Anthony Cropper has published two highly acclaimed novels (Jack and Sal, Weatherman) and has co-edited three collections of short stories. In 2005 he won the prestigious BBC Alfred Bradley Award for Radio Drama and has written for Radio 4 (afternoon play). He works full-time as a writer and has worked with many arts organisations on experimental text/music CDs and installations. He has held residencies in this country and abroad and is an experienced tutor of creative writing. He is currently working on his third novel.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£34 place
(Full)
£32 place
(Conc)
£32 place
(Friend Full)
£30 place
(Friend Conc)
Tuesdays, 17th June - 8th July (4 weeks) Writing for children and young people with Laura Atkins
7 - 9 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£44/£40 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £40/£36 concs
Have you ever thought about writing for children or teens, or started to write a picture book or novel but felt you needed more direction or help? This series of workshops will offer a great deal of group work and support, with focused themes, writing exercises, and sharing of books and strategies. Whether you are already an experienced writer for children, or have always felt it was something you wanted to try, this could be the perfect way to develop your writing aspirations.
Laura Atkins has been a children's book editor, a judge for the London Writer's Competition, and has taught at both undergraduate and MA level. She runs children's literature conferences and events including directing the first Brighton Children's Book Festival in April 2007 in partnership with THE SOUTH. This workshop follows her first successful workshop series in 2006 which turned into an on-going writers' support group. For more on Laura Atkins, visit her website: www.lauraatkins.com
'I liked Laura's style and constructive criticism.'
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£44 place
(Full)
£40 place
(Conc)
£40 place
(Friend Full)
£36 place
(Friend Conc)
Wednesdays 4th June - 9th July (6 weeks) Body Language, with Clare Best
7.30 - 9.30 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£66/£60 concs, FRIENDS OF THE SOUTH £60/£54 concs
Do you want to write the body - from birthmarks to bodybuilding, from facelifts to rigor mortis, from toothache to tattoos? This series of six workshops will help you wrestle with the language you need to explore and express the body, reaching the parts you haven't reached before. The course is about writing hard and taking risks to find fresh ways of verbalising the body. Beginners and more experienced writers of poetry, fiction, autobiography all welcome.
Clare Best writes poetry and prose. Her poems are published in magazines (including Smiths Knoll, Resurgence, The Frogmore Papers, The New Writer, Living Earth) and have been broadcast on radio. She is an experienced creative writing teacher and facilitator, and an Associate Lecturer for the Open University. She was leader of 'Tools for Writing' workshops for life prisoners, HMP Shepton Mallet Outside In project 2004, and Arts Council funded Writer in Residence at Woodlands Organic Farm, Lincolnshire 2005-2007. 'Your workshops gave me a buzz of inspiration - and the kick I needed.'
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£66 place
(Full)
£60 place
(Conc)
£60 place
(Friend Full)
£54 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturdays: 14th June, 5th July and 23rd August Developing a Screenplay from Scratch, with Heather Taylor
10 am - 4.30 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£88/£82 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £82/£78 conc.
This course takes place in 3 sessions, over 3 months. The first session will focus on the process of generating an idea, pitching it and developing it into a solid outline. With a first draft of a script completed or nearly completed, the second session will be on development and any issues arising in the script. The last session will take the second draft of the script and look at further development as well as discuss where you can take the script from there. This is a great course for intermediate writers who are looking for a kick start to finish an idea but never seem able to.
Heather Taylor is a writer, performer and educator whose writing has been performed and published throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Her full collection horizon & back was published by Tall Lighthouse in October 2005 and she recently toured the 2-person poetry show, Accents on Words, in the UK, Ireland and India. As a playwright, her work has been seen at the Tricycle, Soho Theatre, Greenwich, the Pleasance, & Theatre 503 in London as well as in various venues throughout the UK and Canada. This year, two of her short films are set for production and her first feature film will be released in conjunction with Artificial Eye and NFTS.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£88 place
(Full)
£82 place
(Conc)
£82 place
(Friend Full)
£78 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturday 21st June Making Your Own Luck with Neil Nixon
10 am - 4 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£32/£30 concs, Friends of the South £30/£28 concs
Can you create a CV out of thin air? If miracles are your speciality please ignore this blurb, if not our one day masterclass in conjuring luck from the unlikeliest elements could move your writing career along rapidly. Partly expert instruction on day to day ducking and diving and partly a serious attempt to push your creativity to its limits and ask yourself serious questions about where you stand with regard to art and commerce.
This class is delivered by Neil Nixon, an experienced writer with a CV boasting 17 books, spells as a writer for everyone from Sooty Films to Viz Comic and ten years experience as founder and leader of the UK's oldest full-time Higher Education course in Professional Writing.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£32 place
(Full)
£30 place
(Conc)
£30 place
(Friend Full)
£28 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturday 28th June Handle with Care: Writing with and for Vulnerable Groups, with Jennifer Farmer
12 - 4 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£22/£20 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £20/£18 concs
Theatre is often the forum in which the voices of the marginalized are heard. But when using people's personal stories, do writers have a responsibility to tread carefully? To whom, if anyone, are we accountable? Handle With Care explores the challenges and moral dilemmas that arise for writers working with personal and sensitive material and offers practical ways in which a balance can be struck between artistry, truth and responsibility.
Playwright Jennifer Farmer has written for and with women in prison, children at risk and refugee groups. Her acclaimed play, COMPACT FAILURE, was written as part of a residency at HMP Send for Clean Break. Her most recent play, BULLETPROOF SOUL, premiered at Birmingham Rep in March 2007 and Jennifer has written plays for the Bush Theatre, Paines Plough, the National Youth Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and BBC Radio 3 and 4. Her current commissions include plays for the Tricycle Theatre, Birmingham Rep and BBC Radio 3.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£22 place
(Full)
£20 place
(Conc)
£20 place
(Friend Full)
£18 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturdays 12th & 19th July The king Died, the Queen Died: Understanding Plot with Anthony Joseph
12 - 3 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£32/£30 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £30/£28 concs
Plot at times takes on a mysterious quality. This workshop aims to dispel the myths and to show the universality of plotting in storytelling. Participants will work individually and in groups, examining the relationship of characterisation to plot, generating stories and taking part in writing exercises which will develop suspense and tension in their fiction.
Anthony Joseph is a Trinidadian born poet, novelist, lecturer and musician who has been described as 'the leader of the black avant-garde in Britain.' His publications include Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1997) and The African Origins of UFOs (Salt, 2006). In 2004 he was chosen by the Arts Council as one of 50 black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature, appearing in the historic 'Great Day' photograph. He was also the British Council's first poet in residence at California State University. He performs internationally and lectures in creative writing at Birkbeck and Goldsmiths College, University of London where he is completing a PhD.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£32 place
(Full)
£30 place
(Conc)
£30 place
(Friend Full)
£28 place
(Friend Conc)
Saturday 9th August Endgame, with Catherine Smith
10 am - 4 pm (with short lunch break) at Brighton Writers' Centre
£32/£30 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £30/£28 concs
You've come this far with your narrative...so why is the ending proving so difficult and unsatisfactory? In this practical and supportive workshop, we'll look at some of the problems presenting themselves when writing the final part of a short story or novel, and, discussing narrative structure in general different types of endings in particular, and also looking at several examples from published work, explore practical strategies for writing satisfying and resonant endings. Please bring work in progress plus a brief synopsis/summary if you're working on a novel and be prepared to share your work and your ideas!
Catherine Smith writes prose, poetry and drama. She has published three collections of poetry, The New Bride , The Butcher's Hands and Lip. Catherine has been listed as one of the 'Next Generation' poets by the Poetry Book Society/Guardian and her short stories and drama has appeared in various anthologies and on Radio 4. She is also a highly experienced creative writing tutor and teaches at universities and schools in the region.
Select an option from the choices below to purchase places on the workshop. All prices are subject to a 5% booking fee which will shown as VAT on your invoice.
£32 place
(Full)
£30 place
(Conc)
£30 place
(Friend Full)
£28 place
(Friend Conc)
BOOKING AND INFORMATION
How to book
Whenever possible please book online as it saves on paper and reduces admin costs and time. Please note that to secure a place on a course, we must receive payment in full in advance.
If you would still prefer to pay by cheque please print off a booking form and send with a cheque made out to THE SOUTH to:
Workshops,
THE SOUTH,
Brighton Writers' Centre,
49 Grand Parade,
Brighton BN2 9QA.
Our offices are open 10am-5pm weekdays if you would like to call in.
We will send you an email to confirm your booking. If you require confirmation by post, please send a stamped self-addresses envelope.
Queries and more information
If you have any queries please call Nathan O'Donnell, our Workshops Co-Ordinator on 01273 571700 or email
Refunds and Cancellations
You will receive a full refund (less £5 admin charge) if you cancel a course or workshop more than 6 days before it starts. If you make a cancellation less than 7 days before a course starts, or after the course has started, we will be unable to offer you a refund.
Cancellations of courses
Occasionally we may find we have to cancel a course if not enough people sign up. We try and leave this as late as possible as we often get late bookings, but if a course is cancelled we will give you at least one day's notice and a full refund, plus priority booking on the course if it's re-arranged.
How to find us
Unless stated otherwise, all our courses are held at the workshop room at THE SOUTH, Brighton Writers' Centre, 49 Grand Parade, Brighton BN1 3RR. We are next to Blow-up Printers on Grand Parade and close to Hector's House pub. We are a 10 minute walk from Brighton station. There is pay and display parking in nearby streets and free parking after 6 pm.
PAST WORKSHOPS
Mondays, 7th - 28th April (4 weeks) Storytelling and You: a course with David Taubman
7 - 9 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£44/£40 concs, Friends of THE SOUTH £40/£36 concs
Building on from the success of his previous workshops with THE SOUTH, David Taubman will now be holding a four-week storytelling workshop. During this time you will explore storytelling techniques, styles and traditions, and the use of archetypes in storytelling to help construct positive life-scripts. You will examine the history and uses of storytelling; look at how to tailor storytelling for your own personal and professional development; and will explore the development of your own practice - themes, styles and applications.
Dr. David Taubman is a storyteller working mainly in the field of personal, social and emotional wellbeing. He has a doctorate in the educational use of story, has lectured at Sussex and Middlesex universities, and has taught R.E. in secondary school for a number of years. A workshop leader for the Society for Storytelling, he also produces Personal and Social Education teaching materials for schools and writes on youth culture for the journal of the UK's leading progressive think-tank, IPPR. David is currently working on his first novel. Visit his website www.abracadia.com for further details.
'Brilliant, constructive feedback - total involvement of the whole group... Can't wait to put this into practice!'
Saturday 26th April Using the Theatre in your Performance Poetry Show, with Heather Taylor
10 am - 4 pm at Brighton Writers' Centre
£32/£30 concs, Friends of the South £30/£28 concs
There are more and more poetry shows that are being developed but often theatricality and the sense of journey which is the force behind storytelling is missing. Whether you want to develop an hour long show that can be done at festivals such as Edinburgh or beyond or hone a solid 15 minute performance, this class will give the skills to develop a story arc and sense of character throughout your poetry performance.
Heather Taylor is a writer, performer and educator whose writing has been performed and published throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Her full collection horizon & back was published by Tall Lighthouse in October 2005 and she recently toured the 2-person poetry show, Accents on Words, in the UK, Ireland and India. As a playwright, her work has been seen at the Tricycle, Soho Theatre, Greenwich, the Pleasance, & Theatre 503 in London as well as in various venues throughout the UK and Canada. This year, two of her short films are set for production and her first feature film will be released in conjunction with Artificial Eye and NFTS.
'I feel motivated to go home and work more.'
'Raised some very interesting ideas and questions for me to pursue further.'
