September - December 2014
n o i t c i f } scripts
Writing School Leicester Events and Courses
drama
“If there was a word that means more than excellent I would use it!” Anne Jordan
c raft
s ho rtsto ries
workshops poetry NoveLs
When I finally decided to ‘be a writer’ seriously, I signed up for a course at Writing School Leicester. At that point I had very little confidence in my writing, and was struggling to put pen to paper. Two courses later I was awarded a place on the MA in Creative Writing at UEA. Ten years on I was offered a two book deal with Picador, and my debut novel, Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love was published in 2013. It’s been a long, challenging and exciting journey, and I’m grateful to Writing School Leicester for that initial encouragement and support.’ Sarah Butler
Enrol online at: writingeastmidlands.co.uk
Welcome to Writing School Leicester’s brochure
Our Courses
Writing East Midlands* is the writer development agency for the region. We work to create opportunities for experienced writers as well as nurturing and developing new, talented writers from all sorts of backgrounds.
For over 60 years, Writing School Leicester has delivered courses taught by highly respected, published, practising writers. We welcome writers at any stage in their development, from beginners looking to delve into creative writing and explore different forms, to emerging professionals looking to develop and share their work in our Writing Workshops. We provide a welcoming environment for writers to learn a professional approach to writing, and we’ll help you to seek publication, performance, or to broadcast your work. Through our courses you will gain skills and confidence, valuable contacts within the writing community, and knowledge of the writing industry.
The Writing School is an important part of this work, providing expert tuition to writers wanting to develop their skills in all sorts of areas. In this brochure, you’ll find courses covering everything from novel and memoir writing to getting published and composing rude songs. Whether you’re completely new to writing or an old hand, we’re bound to have a course or workshop that will fire your imagination and help to hone your skills. Leicester Adult Education College has been and continues to be a fantastic home for us in Leicester and all of our core courses in this brochure will be taking place there. However, we’re also keen to spread out into other parts of the city so that as many writers as possible can benefit from our tutors’ expertise. This term, we have five Writing School Special Events taking place at other venues around Leicester – LCB Depot, The Phoenix, Embrace Arts and The Y Theatre. The description of each course and workshop in this brochure includes information on where it will take place and how to book. As always, we rely on you to let us know what you want from your Writing School – if there are courses you’d love to take or an area of writing you’d like to know more about, please do get in touch.
Venue Our regular courses take place at Leicester Adult Education College, Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HL, and our one-off Special Events take place at venues across Leicester as listed: Embrace Arts, 35 Lancaster Rd, Leicester LE1 7HA; LCB Depot, 31 Rutland St, Leicester LE1 1RE; Phoenix Square, 4 Midland St, Leicester LE1 1TG; The Y, 7 East St, Leicester LE1 6EY.
Parking & Accessibility for Leicester Adult Education College Please do let us know at the time of booking if you’ll require special access, so we can book an appropriate classroom. There are some pay and display on street parking (with disabled bays at the front of the college). The nearest car parks are on Dover Street, and also a car park on York Road. For more information please contact the college directly on 0116 233 4343.
Special Offers Henderson Mullin Chief Executive Writing East Midlands
We’re offering Early Birds 10% off some courses! See individual courses for details.
Gift Certificates are now available Treat a friend to a Writing School Leicester course and help them unlock their imagination. Visit www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk or call us on 0115 959 7929 to find out more.
* Writing East Midlands is a not-for-profit organisation supported by Arts Council England
2 Call us on 0115 959 7929 Follow us on twitter @WritingSchoolEM
Courses and Events Writing Your Own Story with Maxine Linnell You might want to write about something that happened to you, or a particular time in your life – maybe you want to write a memoir for publication, for a blog or for your family and friends. This course uses writing exercises to find ways of getting your story onto paper, looks at the issues of memoir writing and developing a personal style. You will be sharing some of your work and hearing how others go about theirs. Suitable for all levels of writing experience. 5 sessions from 15th Sept (No classes Mon 20th Oct) Leicester Adult Education College Monday 1pm – 3pm Course Code: WS1401 Price: £75 plus a 4% PayPal fee if booking online Early bird price just £67.50 if booked before 1st Sept!
Novel Writing Workshop with Rod Duncan The only way to learn the craft of the novelist is to write a novel. This course - for students with some existing experience - will make the process of writing and editing easier and more enjoyable. You will share work-in-progress, receive constructive feedback, hear aspiring novelists sharing their work and offer your own feedback to them. This is an ongoing workshop built around extracts of work in progress and motivated by the shared goal of achieving publication. 9 sessions from 16th Sept (No classes Tue 21st Oct) Leicester Adult Education College Tuesday 7.15pm – 9.15pm Course Code: WS1402 Price: £135 plus 4% PayPal fee if booking online Early bird price just £121.50 if booked before 1st Sept!
‘Teaching was great – inspirational, practical, trustworthy.’
check the website for the latest course information www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk 3
The Magic of Fairy Tales
Inspiration Workshop
with Polly Tuckett
with Joel Stickley
Fairy tales are simple stories hiding complex psychological themes. First encountered in childhood, these darkly glittering tales continue to bewitch and mystify. Reading familiar and less well-known tales from the Brothers Grimm and Perrault, we’ll also look at modern re-workings of classic tales, along with folk tales from an oral tradition and contemporary fiction which borrows from the form. Students are invited to write their own tales of enchantment.
Every author ever interviewed has been asked the question: where do you get your ideas from? In these three specially discounted sessions, you can find out. There will be random plot generation, games of literary consequences, instant character creators and all sorts of exercises designed to hone your powers of invention. If you want to write but don’t know where to start, or write already but feel stuck in a rut, come along and get inspired.
5 sessions from 18 Sept (No classes Thu 23rd Oct) Leicester Adult Education College Thursday 10am – 12pm Course Code: WS1403 Price: £75 plus 4% PayPal fee if booking online Early bird price just £67.50 if booked before 1 Sept!
SPECIAL EVENT Writing School Leicester Taster Day If you like the look of all these courses and can’t decide which one to pick, why not do three of them, all in one day? Hosted by Embrace Arts, our Writing School Taster Day provides crash courses from Rod Duncan, Alison Dunne and Maxine Linnell, covering almost everything you’ll ever need to know about writing anything at all. Embrace Arts, University of Leicester Saturday 4 October 10am – 5pm Course Code: WS1404 Price: £40/£22 concession To book, contact Embrace Arts on 0116 252 2455 or at www2.le.ac.uk/hosted/embracearts
‘ The course tutors inspire you to explore what you want to write – whether it is short stories, poetry, memoir, novels and such like – with other like-minded students, who in turn, share ideas and show there are many ways to reach your goals.’
3 sessions from 15th Oct (No classes Wed 22nd Oct) Leicester Adult Education College Wednesday 7pm – 9pm Course Code: WS1405 Price: £20 plus 4% PayPal fee if booking online Early bird price just £18 if booked before 1 Sept!
SPECIAL EVENT What Do Editors Want? with Farhana Shaikh A one-off workshop aimed at helping you understand what editors are looking for, the role of an editor in a publishing house and putting editing skills into practice. Using examples and with expert guidelines to support your understanding this new interactive workshop will help you to get to grips with basic editing. Suitable for prose writers of all abilities. LCB Depot Friday 14 November 1pm – 3pm Course Code: WS1406 Price: £20 plus 4% PayPal fee if booking online Early bird price just £18 if booked before 1 Sept! To book, visit www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk or phone 0115 959 7933
‘ The teaching was excellent; very knowledgeable industry experience and great insight.’
4 Call us on 0115 959 7929 Contact us via facebook www.facebook.com/writingschool.eastmidlands
SPECIAL EVENT Writing Rude Songs
SPECIAL EVENT Preparing for Publication
with Rob Gee
with Maxine Linnell
The comedy song is often considered to be comedy’s equivalent to the naughty postcard – and yet audiences love them. Over the decades, several successful comedians have used music to subvert and entertain, often with some fairly rude jokes mixed into the message. This short taster course will help you create such a song around the target of your choice.
Writing a first draft is a real achievement, but there’s a lot of work to do to make your writing as good as it can be. This course introduces a simple threelevel model for editing your own prose. You will work on your own writing and give and receive feedback from others.
Phoenix Square Wednesday 19 November 7pm – 9pm Course Code: WS1407 Price: £20 plus a 4% PayPal fee if booking online
LCB Depot Friday 5 December 1pm – 4pm Course Code: WS1409 Price: £25 plus a 4% PayPal fee if booking online Early bird price just £22.50 if booked before 1 Sept!
Early bird price just £18 if booked before 1 Sept! To book, visit www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk or phone 0115 959 7933
SPECIAL EVENT Powerful Plotting with Richard James
Poetry Writing for Beginners with John Gallas First-time writer, dabbler, hopeful or looking for fun with words, this two part course will set you on your way. Session One will help you to write poems in pairs, groups, and on your own, with clear targets, various forms and styles, learning through enjoyment. With some work on these at home between sessions, you will come to Session Two ready to make changes according to the responses of others in the group, to read, seek reactions, choose your ‘best’ work from your own and others’ opinions, and have something to work into a Final Version for submission to a publication. 2 Sessions from 26 November Leicester Adult Education College Wednesday 1pm – 3pm Course Code: WS1408 Price: £30 plus 4% PayPal fee if booking online
Drawing on practical examples and narrative theory, this intensive three-hour course offers an insight into what makes stories tick. Whether you write scripts, screenplays, novels, short stories or poetry, an understanding of plot and how it works will be vital for engaging your audience. The advice, tips and tricks learned in this session will provide you with the essential creative tools you need. The Y Theatre Saturday 13 December 1.30pm – 4.30pm Course Code: WS1410 Price: £22 Early bird price just £17.50 if booked before 1 Sept! To book, contact the Y Theatre on 0116 255 7066 or at www.leicesterymca.co.uk/
Early bird price just £27 if booked before 1 Sept!
‘ The Writing School course was perfect for me – very positive and encouraging, relaxed teaching and style. Just right.’
check the website for the latest course information www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk 5
Course Tutors Maxine Linnell Maxine Linnell has written three novels for young adults: Vintage, Closer, and Breaking the Rules, which are published by Five Leaves and A&C Black. “The most realistic, most compelling read I’ve come across for a long time.” Carousel. Real Reads have also published three retellings of novels by Thomas Hardy for children and young people. Maxine is a psychotherapist. She also mentors new writers and runs story cafes in Leicester Libraries. She’s currently working (sporadically) on an adult novel, a memoir and a poetry pamphlet.
Rod Duncan Rod Duncan is a novelist and screenwriter. His first novel Backlash was shortlisted for the John Creasey Dagger for the best debut crime novel of 2003. He has two further crime novels published by Simon & Schuster, a novella published by Five Leaves and a non-fiction book published by George Ronald. His next novel, The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter, is science fiction/fantasy and will be published by Angry Robot in 2014. Rod wrote the screenplay for the feature film How to Make a Movie for £43. He has been teaching creative writing for over 10 years.
Polly Tuckett Polly is a published writer and tutor of creative writing with over fifteen years teaching experience. She teaches in a range of settings and pitches her courses to people of all abilities and varying levels of writing experience. Polly has good knowledge of the local literary scene having curated Short Fuse, a short fiction spoken word showcase for several years in Brighton and Leicester.
Joel Stickley Joel Stickley is the Poet Laureate for Lincolnshire and author of the book 100 Ways To Write Badly Well. His work has been published by Penguin, Hamish Hamilton and Pan Macmillan, as well as appearing on BBC One, BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4. With Luke Wright, he co-wrote the film Crash! Bang! Wallow! which won the NFBC Short Film Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The pair also teamed up to produce the comedy book Who Writes This Crap? which the Guardian called “an inspired piece of parody.”
6 Call us on 0115 959 7929 Follow us on twitter @WritingSchoolEM
Farhana Shaikh Farhana Shaikh is a writer, freelance editor and publisher born in Leicester. She founded The Asian Writer in 2007 and recently established a small indie press, Dahlia Publishing. Farhana hosts the monthly Writers Meet Up Leicester and manages LeicesterWrites.co.uk. In 2010, Farhana won an Arts bursary from the Royal Shakespeare Company; she continues to write theatre reviews for The Public Reviews. On good days she writes feature articles, poetry, short stories and scripts. On bad days she writes nothing.
Rob Gee Poet, comic and reformed psychiatric nurse, Rob spent five years on the comedy circuit as half of the duo Rob & Skatz. During this time, they performed The Download Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe and The Comedy Store, and shared stages with Frankie Boyle, Sarah Millican, Russell Howard, Rhod Gilbert and Greg Davies, among others. Rob now works full time as a stand-up poet.
Richard James Richard James is an award-winning screenwriter with over 20 years’ experience in writing for TV, radio, film, stage and online. He teaches at De Montfort University and works as a freelance professional script editor as well as continuing to develop his own projects for TV and film.
John Gallas John is a poet from New Zealand, with ten poetry books published by Carcanet Press, two books published with Agraphia and two Chold Hub Press books published. He has 40 years’ experience of school and adult education teaching creative writing, poetry classes and workshops, readings and performances, recordings and competitions. He was shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award in 2012 and was recently made FEA (Fellow of the English Association) for creative writing. www.johngallaspoetry.co.uk
How to Book To book on any of the courses in this brochure, please complete the booking form on the back and return to Writing School Leicester Admissions, Writing East Midlands, 49 Stoney Street, Nottingham NG1 1LX. If booking for someone else, please include their name and contact details in the Additional Information section. Alternatively you can book online at www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk and pay by debit or credit card. There is a 4% PayPal fee if booking online. For the courses at Leicester Adult Education College, you can pay by cash or cheque (made out to Writing School East Midlands Ltd) over the counter at the college, or send a cheque in the post, along with your booking form, and a selfaddressed stamped envelope to the college. Please make the cheques payable to Writing School East Midlands Ltd. For Writing School Special Events at other venues, details of how to book are included with the listings in this brochure. This brochure includes courses and events from Sept 2014 – Dec 2014. Please keep checking our website for updates to the programme, and sign up to our newsletter at www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk to receive special offers and changes to the programme.
Course Cancellation In the event of cancellation by us, you will be offered a full refund or the opportunity to transfer to another course. Refunds are not normally made in other circumstances. In exceptional circumstances consideration will be given to a written request from a student who wishes to cancel. If a refund is agreed, a ÂŁ10 administration fee will be charged. It is also possible for the fee you have paid to be credited against a future course. Full Terms and Conditions can be found on our website.
Contact Us Email: info@writingeastmidlands.co.uk Telephone: 01159 59 79 29 Website: www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk Twitter: @WritingSchoolEM Facebook.com/writingschool.eastmidlands
Gift vouchers are now available Treat a friend to a Writing School Leicester course and help them unlock their imagination. Visit www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk or call us on 0115 959 7929 to find out more.
check the website for the latest course information www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk 7
Booking Form Cost
Early Bird
WS1401
Writing Your Own Story with Maxine Linnell
£75
£67.50
WS1402
Novel Writing Workshop with Rod Duncan
£135
£121.50
WS1403
The Magic of Fairy Tales with Polly Tuckett
£75
£67.50
WS1404
Writing School Leicester Taster Day
WS1405
Inspiration Workshop with Joel Stickley
£20
£18
WS1406
What Do Editors Want? with Farhana Shaikh
£20
£18
WS1407
Writing Rude Songs with Rob Gee
£20
£18
WS1408
Poetry Writing for Beginners with John Gallas
£30
£27
£25
£22.50
To book, contact Embrace Arts on 0116 252 2455
WS1409 Preparing for Publication with Maxine Linnell WS1410 Powerful Plotting with Richard James
Tick
To book, contact the Y Theatre on 0116 255 7066
Please enter the total fee
£
Name Address
Telephone Daytime
Mobile
Date of Birth
Signature
Date
Special access requirements / additional notes If booking for someone else, please provide their name and FULL contact details here
How did you hear about the course?
Data protection I authorise Writing School East Midlands Ltd (t/a Writing School Leicester) to handle and store the data on this form. This data is processed for Writing School Leicester accounts and records and their own marketing only. Please make cheques payable to Writing School East Midlands Ltd and send with a completed booking form and a self addressed stamped envelope to Writing School Leicester Enrolments, Writing East Midlands, 49 Stoney Street, Nottingham NG1 1LX