Get ready for the launch!

We have spent the last 14 months working on it, and it's finally here - it's nearly time to launch Blakenhall Writers Anthology!

It all started at the end of 2013 when Roma, Kuli and Cherry decided to create an anthology of member's work to showcase the talents of our group, and to get people from the community we sit in involved in writing and showing off their work. With the group's help we settled on a theme of 'identity' to reflect all facets of ourselves, and we were off!

In order to fund this project, an application was made to Arts Council England, who reviewed our case and kindly granted us some money to progress the anthology. This meant the project was run tightly and in accordance with ACE guidance, as we will be reporting back to them on the successes of our anthology.

2014 comprised workshops geared towards creation of content of our anthology - some run by group members, and some run by local writers who provided us with different viewpoints on 'identity', and armed us with different tools to enable us to write varied pieces. We invited guests to attend our workshops too.

Our members (and guests!) beavered away creating pieces which reflected the theme of 'identity'. Roma, Kuli and Cherry shortlisted, edited, proofread and compiled the pieces into the final anthology, as well as working with a local designer in the background to create a stunning cover.

So much hard work has gone into the creation of this booklet, from workshops run by local writers, to busy writers creating stunning pieces, and hours of editing and proofreading. Now we're gearing up to launch in several places.

Our main launch will be held during our March session, on 12th March, 11:00 - 13:00 at the Old School in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton. We will be providing a buffet lunch beforehand, followed by performances from our contributors.

We have also been invited to launch our anthology at City Voices, on 12th April, 19:30 - 21:00 at the Lych Gate Tavern in Wolverhampton city centre. We will be performing alongside other writers on the night (£3 entry).

Some of our members are also attending a poetry reading event at Walsall Arboretum on 13th March, 14:00 - 16:00, where they will be promoting and reading from the anthology.

Please feel free to join us to celebrate the hard work of our contributors. We hope to see you at one or more of these events.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Blakenhall Writers during the creation of this anthology.

Call for submission to our anthology!

Our anthology project is now live, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and we would like to officially invite our members to begin submitting their work to us for consideration for our anthology. We have some important guidelines to run past you first, so please make sure you read the below to brush up on what the project is all about.

 

1) Please submit work on the theme of 'Identity.' You can interpret this as broadly as you like, but it may include pieces on your community, your history, your childhood memories or anything else that's all about who YOU are.

 

2) Please submit no more than four pieces of unpublished work. We really want to showcase everybody in the group so please be considerate to your fellow writers by submitting up to four pieces of work each.

 

3) Each piece can be up to 25 lines of poetry or up to 500 words of prose. Again, we need to make sure we fit everybody in to the anthology, so please keep your submissions within these lengths.

 

4) We are accepting submissions from our regular group members, as well as non-members who attend our workshops. We want to represent the talents of Blakenhall Writers, but anybody who attends one of our sessions by invitation is welcome to submit.

 

5) You have until 30th September 2015 to send us your work. You don't have to send everything at once - you can send in your pieces at any point up until that date. We have some more Identity-themed workshops lined up, including another guest facilitator in September, so make the most of the time to really clean up your pieces.

 

6) Please make sure you proof-read and spell-check your work before submitting. Although we will let you know if we find any errors in your work, it will make the editing process a lot smoother if you make those final checks on your work before submitting.

 

7) Please send your submissions to blakenhallwriters@gmail.com with 'Submission' in the subject box. Alternatively, you may hand in printed copies to Roma, Kuli or Cherry at our August or September meetings.

 

8) We will be undertaking a feedback process during editing. We want this anthology to help us all develop our writing, so Roma, Kuli & Cherry have received training in best practice for editing an anthology. Therefore we may offer suggestions for improvement on your pieces, or open them up to feedback from the group, in line with our training. Please bear this in mind when submitting.

 

9) There will be a chance to perform your work which is accepted for the anthology. Should you want to, you will have chance to showcase your work at our launch events in early 2016.

 

10) You will receive two free copies of the anthology. Members of Blakenhall Writers, as well as non-members who have a piece included in the anthology, will receive two free copies of the anthology.

 

If you have any questions let us know. We look forward to reading your pieces!

Roma, Cherry & Kuli

December 13th Session & December Writing Task

December marked our last session of the year, when we traditionally have a ‘reading session’, and discuss a book we’ve read that year. We brought in some food and had a great time talking about our reading lists. Here are the books the group brought in and our thoughts on them:

Cherry - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

 

An ageing writer becomes obsessed with his 12-year-old stepdaughter, who he calls Lolita. This controversial book is beautifully written, although the language can be quite complex at points. It has an unreliable narrator and plot twists.

Roma - The Shock of The Fall by Nathan Filer 

A teenager called Matthew suffers from a mental illness following the loss of his brother. This award-winning novel was well-researched and the narration demonstrates Matthew’s skewed vision of the world.

Richard - The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

A man charts his life and relationships and reflects on the effects of a suicide. This Man Booker Prize-winning novel makes you want to read the story over again. It is written well and even people who don’t usually read will enjoy it.  

Kuli - The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

This story introduces children to important life lessons using the selfless actions of a swallow and a statue he meets on his travels. It is a poignant and emotional story which can be enjoyed by all ages.

Nirmal - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling/ Luis Suarez biography  

The schoolboy wizard continues his adventures in the second instalment of the series, battling a giant serpent in the chamber of secrets. / An insight into Suarez’s most notorious moment on the field, and the events in his life which led up to it. A thought-provoking biography which elicits empathy.

Anne - When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

The story of a young woman growing up, and the relationships she forms along the way, particularly with her brother and best friend. Award-winning and well recommended, the storyline is more ‘woven’ than linear, which adds a nice complexity to the story.

Des – Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

Teen vampire romance novels, detailing the burgeoning relationship between a human girl and her undead lover. Recommended for lovers of romance and horror, these books are easy reading.                                                    

Michael - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 

These well-known thrillers featuring England’s most famous detective are well-written and exciting. They created many of the standards for modern detective stories and there are many interesting tales behind the writing. They have been adapted and modernised many times, but the original stories stand the test of time despite their age.  

It was very interesting to see what people had been reading during the year, and we have a lot of new recommendations for our reading lists.

December Writing Task

We did a small exercise to take away and use for our writing task. We took a piece of paper and wrote down a potential novel title. Then we swapped pieces of paper so nobody ended up with their own. The idea is to use the novel title to inspire a poem/short piece of writing. When we reconvene, we will compare the original idea behind the title and the interpretation by the recipient.

Don’t forget that next month we will be joined by Poetry on Loan’s Roz Goddard, who will be leading our session for us on poetry! Look forward to seeing you all there!

Nice November

For this month's session, three of our members brought some items which kick-started the group's imagination and inspired them to write poems and stories. These items were collected from India, the Philippines and the UK. They include:

~ a figurine of the Taj Mahal
~ a real peacock feather
~ a figurine of an Indian goddess
~ a booklet of Tagalog instructions of how to pray with a Rosary
~ a bottle of eucalyptus-scented oil
~ an oyster shell
~ a charm bracelet from the 1940s
~ a piece of broken pottery found in a beach
~ and some horse brasses

Our members came up with different and interesting drafts. We had a poem about a potter, a poem about letting go and moving on, an interesting piece about a man who goes to church to 'cleanse' himself, a piece about the beauty of a peacock, and many more.

We definitely had a great time writing and we hope to post some of our finished works here soon. Watch out for that! :-)

Launching kulikohli.co.uk!

Our member Kuli Kohli is riding high following the success of her debut collection, Rag Doll. This week, she has launched her website, packed full of information about her life and writing.

Kuli’s life has been full of challenge and adventure in equal measure, and her work reflects this dichotomy thoughtfully. Now there’s one central place to learn about all things Kuli!

We’re very proud to have Kuli as a regular and leading member of Blakenhall Writers, and wish her all the best in her continued success.

Why not take a peek at her website and learn more about this inspiring woman?

The lovely Kuli - picture courtesy of Kuli Kohli

Blakenhall Writers Autumn News

We have plenty of things going on in autumn so make sure you’re up to date by checking through this post!

September 6^th – Kuli and Cherry appeared at the Stafford Arts Festival, reading their poetry in St Chad’s Church Stafford. The event was organised by the Staffordshire Poet Laureate, and Kuli was invited to do further readings as a result of the great reception her poems received.

October 11^th – We will NOT be having a session in October. This is due to Roma, Kuli and Cherry being at the Offa’s Press Writing Day. We discussed our options at the September meeting and decided this was what we wanted to do. We’ll see you in November! If you want to head along to the Offa’s Press Writing Day with us, check out the details here.

October 14^th – Roma will be reading at Wolverhampton City Voices in the Lych Gate Tavern, 7:30pm, £2.50 on the door. Let’s turn up and support her!

November 8^th – We will be back on schedule with a session on Poetry & Prose techniques. Come along to Blakenhall Healthy Living Centre at 11:00 – 13:00.

Other news!

We will be starting conversations soon about putting together a Blakenhall Writers anthology in the early part of 2015. We will need some funding to put towards this, so any ideas you have, please let us know! Start having a think about what you might want included in the anthology, and we will start discussion in the next few months.

We also want to hear from you about your writing plans. We’ll be tailoring next year’s schedule to what people want to develop, so start thinking about why you write and what your goals are, ready for when we have those conversations.

Take care everyone, and see you in November!

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news :)

August 9th Session & August Writing Task

We had a bit of a different session this month – instead of meeting in our usual place, we met up at Wolverhampton Art Gallery to try and inspire some writing from the artwork!

This technique is known as Ekphrasis, which is one art form responding to another. It’s a good technique for practicing idea development, as you already have a starting point.

We looked round the gallery, which has all sorts of artwork, from medieval paintings, to Victorian art, to sculpture, to modern art.

A good starting point is to ask yourself questions about the art:

•       What happened to this piece before it ended up in the gallery?
•       What are the people in the piece feeling or thinking?
•       What does this remind me of?
•       What were the people in this piece doing before, during or after this painting?
•       Where in the world has this artefact come from?
•       Who used to own or use this piece?
•       Who are all the different people involved in this piece (subjects, artist, owner etc), and what are their perspectives on the piece?



New Wire Across The Somme - Brian Yale





Looking Towards Ypres - Brian Yale



Whisper of Spring - Sara Page





The Lady of Shalott - Henry Darvall





A Japanese Book purchased by Wolverhampton Art School in the 1800s



Job: Man of Wood - Lancelot Bryan

Stained Glass display in the gallery

The Apothesis of Penelope Boothby - Henry Fuseli

Thanks to Wolverhampton Art Gallery for letting us take photos of these brilliant pieces. The writing task for August is to see if you can develop a poem or short story from one of the pieces of art you saw in the gallery.

If you didn't manage to come along to the session, why not visit the gallery in your own time? It's free to enter and conveniently in the centre of Wolverhampton. Alternatively, use another piece of art you're familiar with to try and inspire some writing, or even use the pictures in this article.

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Three of our members' works at The Poetry Fence at Acton Scott!

If you happen to find yourself roaming around Shropshire, please visit the historic farm, Acton Scott, nestled in the natural beauty of an English countryside. And don't forget to pass by the Poetry Fence where three pieces of poem by our members Romalyn Ante, Cherry Doyle, and Kuli Kohli were featured hanging in a red-silk tie along the fence. 

 Click HERE to check those lovely pieces of poetry.

 Thank you to the poet in residence of Acton Scott, Jean Atkin, for featuring such lovely poetry! Visit the Acton Scott website HERE

:-)