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Wednesday, 27 June 2007 |
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Flame Books is proud to announce publication of the award winning 'How We Were Lost' by new author Megan Taylor.
Marking a compelling debut novel, this contemporary story is fired with suspense and emotion as Taylor's richly visual prose paints the trauma and longing of a gifted teenage girl who is desperate to make sense of her self and her life.
The novel is available online at www.flamebooks.com
It's the start of the summer holidays, and two young girls have gone missing from a small seaside town. 14 year old Janie often daydreams to escape the lonely reality of her dysfunctional, motherless family and her hostile peers - but when the girls disappear from her local beach, her fantasies become obsession. While tourists and television crews swarm the town, she begins a search of her own, unaware that it will lead her into a disturbing adult world where nothing is quite as it seems. As the media hysteria continues, and tensions within the family increase, her search begins to raise other, deeper questions concerning the disappearance of her own mother eleven years ago. Precocious, unguided, and overwhelmed, Janie finally penetrates her family's silence to unearth a heartbreaking secret of loss and abuse that lies far closer to home.
"...The girls are bounding up the steps that lead to West Beach. They’re whispering and giggling and rolling into one another as they climb. When they start to run, their hair rises in brownish-blondish strings and you can see red blotches, picked gnat bites, dotted among the sun cream behind their knees. Between their swimming costume straps, their shoulder blades are gleaming. Two sharp little sets of honey-coloured wings. For a long time, they’re not going to notice the woman who is watching them. The woman who is already stepping neatly from the driver’s side of a long white car..."
"...I can’t help noticing the dozy bees that go floating by and the way that the sun winks through the foliage, sprinkling the great floppy leaves with sharp little beads of dazzling solder. The effect is hypnotic, a slow liquid rhythm of breeze and branches and shimmering light..."
'How We Were Lost' was placed 2nd in the novel category of the international Yeovil Prize 2006 (Betty Bolingbroke-Kent Award)
"A superior and moving novel that explores a thought provoking subject with a delicate touch. A remarkable debut."
- Margaret Graham (Yeovil Prize co-founder).
"Beautiful writing, page turning tension, and the subject will grab the heart straight away. I was frustrated when I had no more to read."
- Katie Fforde (Best-selling novelist and Yeovil Prize judge 2006).
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Article/feature writers wanted |
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Wednesday, 27 June 2007 |
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Harborne-based Harlequin magazine are looking for features and articles. Take a look at the website www.harlequinmag.co.uk where you will see the latest issues, or email Pam on harlequinmag@hotmail.co.uk.
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Prospective Journalists Wanted |
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Thursday, 21 June 2007 |
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The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), based in Stratford-upon-Avon, is looking to recruit print, audio, visual, and online journalists for the second year of its arts journalist development scheme.
The RSC is dedicated to making its work visible to a diverse range of people and has identified a number of audiences it wishes to target including 16-44 year olds and minority ethnic groups. As part of this work, the RSC would like to develop relationships with journalists who have connections with ethnic and/or youth press to raise its profile about various productions and initiatives. This is a fantastic opportunity to develop freelance work, network with national arts journalists, and enhance your arts journalism career.
Journalists who will share their career strategies for arts journalism and theatre criticism include: Gaylene Gould, freelance arts critic with BBC Radio 4's Front Row and Head of Creative Arts Programming at the Bernie Arts Centre; Deborah Williams, freelance critic and artist-in-residence at Reality Productions; Davina Morris, arts correspondent at The Voice; and Heather Neill, freelance theatre writer for The Guardian and www.theatrevoice.com.
To learn more about the scheme; meet actors, directors, and theatre staff; develop contacts with national arts journalists; speak to previous journalists involved in last year's scheme; and see shows in Stratford-upon-Avon, come to the RSC's arts journalism session on:
WHEN: July 7, 2007
TIME: 3pm-5.30pm
WHERE: RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon
COST: £5 payable on the door
If you have any questions, call Uchenna Izundu on 07984 648 745
To register a place by July 5, email mediachisolutions@googlemail.com
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Monday, 18 June 2007 |
John Edgar 'Live' The Lamp Tavern Dudley Friday June 29th 8.00pm
The renowned storyteller and performer John Edgar is joining Black Country Arts collective RoosterSpake for the last show at the Lamp before a summer break. John will be launching his new CD The Hanged Man and other Breton Tales and will take the main set for the night.
John works all over England tantalising audiences with his adaptations of French Folklore so this will be a very special night for the 'regulars' of RoosterSpake's monthly gathering of poets, singers, writers and performers. Tickets can be reserved with Lozz on 01384 231013 they are £ 5.00 each and very limited so don't delay. BC folk duo RoosterSpake will also play a short opening set combining dialect poetry with Black Country Folk songs from their own forthcoming CD. If you cannot phone e mail lozz at lozz@roostersstudio.com.
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Thursday, 14 June 2007 |
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Stone Voices Part 1
If Lichfield Cathedral could speak, what would we hear?
Stone Voices is a mythic odyssey through the heart and soul of Lichfield Cathedral. 12 local writers from The Company of Poets have been working with professional author, David Calcutt, to give voice to characters from the cathedral in a sequence of original and exciting poems. Alongside these is a longer poem, written by David, in which words, phrases, images, ideas and themes from these individual pieces are interwoven with his own to shape something entirely new: a composite epic; a communal song; a narrative poem in which the many voices of the cathedral speak and sing!
Part of the Stone Voices poem has already been performed to great acclaim, and the piece in its entirety is eagerly awaited. Join us for a special, one-off performance of this locally produced epic and choral poem as part of the 2007 Lichfield Festival.
Saturday 14th July – 10.30am
The Deanery Marquee, Cathedral Close
Tickets - Adults £3 Children £1
available only on the door
Call Box office for details 01543 412121
or visit www.lichfieldfestival.org
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Monday, 11 June 2007 |
Those of you who listen to Radio 4 may have heard Ian MacMillan's recent programme Poets Don't Drive. They prefer, apparently, to get the bus (claiming that they can thereby gather lots of useful poetic material) or, if possible, to get their friends to drive them instead. After all, you can't read when sitting at the wheel, whilst you can on the bus.
But, of course, the bus is not always the ideal option. A few weeks ago, I wandered from the Midlands Arts Centre to the bus stop with a small group of assorted poets and novelists, to wait for a no. 1 bus. The No. 1 in theory should come every quarter of an hour, so by the time half an hour had passed, we were getting a bit twitchy, in particular because one of our number was appearing at a poetry reading in town. After three quarters of an hour, we telephoned the Network West Midlands hotline, and the helpful gentleman there told us that the bus service was running as normal. After one hour and fifty minutes with no sign of a bus, we flagged down a cab and headed into town that way instead. Which is, of course, why people don't take public transport.
There is, however, a third option. We've got legs, dammit. And some of the best thinking, Bruce Chatwin used to insist, is done on foot. So why not walk? OK, so you can no more read when you are walking than you can when you are driving, but it's true that a good walk is one of the best cures for writer's block. And the advantages are many: it's summer, so why sit in a tin box?; you get to see bits of the town you wouldn't normally; you get some exercise which entitles you to a Danish pastry later on in the day; the environmental cost is minimal; and you don't have to steep in the fumes of dubious substances being smoked on the upper deck.
All of which is why you should go to WalkIt.com, the walking route planner. If you live in Britain's second city (i.e. London), then the site is up and running already. If you live in Birmingham, on the other hand, the site is still in Beta, which means that they are still testing it, and they could do with your help. So just go to the site, select "Birmingham" from the drop-down box at the top right, and test it out. And do then get in touch with the site owners and tell them what works, what doesn't, and what you'd like to see changed.
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Wednesday, 06 June 2007 |
 On Thursday June 12th, Tindal Street Press are launching their latest book, Mick Scully's Little Moscow. A series of interwoven tales by a dark new talent, the stories are set around the Little Moscow canalside bar. The launch event starts at 7.30pm at the Bond, 180-182 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, and if you'd like to come along, contact Emma at Tindal Street (info@tindalstreet.co.uk or 0121 773 8157).
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Monday, 04 June 2007 |
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 It's been a long wait, but Perfectly Formed, our latest publication, is now online and downloadable, as usual, from http://www.birminghamwords.co.uk/publications/downloads. Featuring the work of Ann Alexander, Robert Ronsson, Frances Gapper, Emily Eatwell, Tina Freeth and John Welch, and with stunning design by Andy Rouse of The Graphic Aware, we think that our latest publication, though short on words, is strong on substance.
Get yourself a copy, sit yourself down, and have a read. And thanks to all of our contributors!
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Monday, 28 May 2007 |
 We're delighted to announce that Birmingham Words old hand, Ann Alexander, has had her second poetry collection published by Peterloo Poets.
We're big fans of Ann's work here at Birmingham Words, and are proud to say that some of the poems in this collection you will have seen here first.
The collection has the fabulous title Nasty, British and Short and you can get hold of your copy by going to the Peterloo Poets website. http://www.peterloopoets.com/html/latest_volumes.html.
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