London Writing Workshops

A weekend of lively literary events is on offer at Foyles Charing Cross on the 11th and 12th of September with talks from debut novelists, non-fiction writers and historians, as well debates on digital publishing, and advice on marketing and pitching ideas for publication.

The Independent Alliance includes Faber, Quercus (publishers of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Granta Books, Profile (Eats Shoots and Leaves) and Icon. Writers taking part include P.D. James, Geoff Dyer, Max Schaefer, Alex Preston, Rupert Thomson, Jenny Diski and many others

For tickets, email events@foyles.co.uk (Day tickets are £15 / Weekend tickets £25 / Concession prices available too).

More information about the weekend is available at  www.foyles.co.uk/events.asp

Jane Rusbridge’s haunting debut novel The Devil’s Music was published by Bloomsbury in 2009, and was picked to be this year’s Bridport Literary Festival’s Big Read. She will be talking about the road to publication on Tuesday 21^st September at the HIGHGATE AND HAMPSTEAD LITERARY FESTIVAL together with literary agent Barbara Levy and Pam White, an experienced book publicist.

Jane took part in this year’s the London Writing Workshop’s Novelists’ Club, and also attended the workshop on Dialogue in 2009.

To book for this event click here. For more about the Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival click here.

WordTheatre in association with The Sunday Times Magazine Short story (now the largest single prize for short stories in the world) is hosting an evening of short stories to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support at the Tabernacle on Wednesday 14^th July at 6.30pm.

They have an incredible international cast of readers including Brian Cox, Gemma Jones and Ben Miller, and from the US the comic actor David Cross, Amber Tamblyn and Chris MacDonald. They’ll be reading work by Tom Wolff, US National Book Award Finalist Lydia Davis, and a number of  Pushcart Prize-winning authors. Tickets from: www.tabernaclelive.co.uk.

Flash Fiction is being broadcast for the first time this week on BBC R4′s Afternoon Reading programme. Sixteen stories by Short Review website founder Tania Hershman will be featured at 3.30pm on Tues June 29th, Wed June 30th and Thursday July 1st - read by the brilliant Nicola Walker (“Ruth” from Spooks”) and Tom Goodman-Hill.

Some of the stories are from Tania’s book  The White Road and Other Stories, but most are new. In her capacity as writer-in-residence at Bristol University’s Science Faculty, Tania has also been invited to take part in a discussion entitled “Blinded by Science” for Radio 4′s Off the Page, to be broadcast at a future date.

If you’re otherwise engaged at 3.30pm on a weekday, BBC programmes can be heard for seven days after the broadcast date by clicking on the BBC Radio 4 website.

I’m pleased to say that a short story of mine called ‘Waiting’ has appeared in issue 2 of a new South Asian literary journal called The Milestone. Click on this link to read the story.

On Saturday 22 May, I celebrated the 2nd anniversary of London Writing Workshops with the participants of The Writers’ Workout. We shared a carrot cake (decorated with two candles) and everyone sang! They were very good about my poor camera handling skills. Victoria took this picture of me blowing out the candles. A lovely group – as always!

I’m pleased to say that this lively and informative website is currently running a news item about the 2-year anniversary of London Writing Workshops.

Essential Writers offers heaps of practical information for those who write – whether for love or money – as well as a free author blog for subscribers, but what I like best are the reviews of writers’ websites (under the menu heading Resources/Websites). From glossy, highly commercial sites like David Almond’s to the more home-made efforts of sci-fi writer Ian Watson, it’s fascinating to see the different ways that writers choose to present themselves, and reviewer Judy Darley gives a clear-headed analysis. A site well worth book-marking. Here’s the link: Essential Writers

The London Writing Workshops website will be archived from now on, as part of the British Library’s UK Web Archive – a heroic project designed to capture ‘the rich diversity of lives and interests throughout the UK’ for future generations. The project has been running since 2004, and has archived  thousands of websites. Categories include Arts & Humanities, Business, Economy & Industry, Government, Law & Politics, Society & Culture. Anyone can nominate new sites for inclusion – click on this link to go to the archive.

I’m looking forward to teaching a one-day workshop on characterisation and setting in Norwich next Saturday, May 8th.

The website says it’s full but I have an idea there may be one place left. Contact the Norwich Writers’ Centre if you’re interested.