Pathways to Publication

With Genevieve Pegg (Harper Collins), literary agent Louise Lamont (LBA Books) & author Okechukwu Nzelu

Hosted by Ric Michael

This facilitated discussion looks at key steps in the publication process for new authors - from how to approach agents and when to approach publishers, through to how literary agents and publishers work with authors once a book deal is signed. This discussion also reflects on new challenges faced by writers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Creative Workshop: Writing For Audio Platforms

with Aisling Caffrey

Please note: this session is now fully booked. Participants will be sent a Zoom link.

This live Zoom session is for writers looking to create spoken word pieces using audio-only platforms. 

Aisling will guide participants through an easy-to-follow process, giving key pointers on pacing, structure and dialogue to help your story and characters shine in audio formats. This is a workshop session, with time to focus on plot points and character development.

Places are limited so book early. This will be a supportive session for writers at all levels.

Aisling has worked in the performing arts for over a decade. Her play One Good Night was at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester for its' first full production at the end of February... just before the world went Orwellian! Her work has been performed at Oldham Coliseum, Hope Mill Theatre, 53Two and she has worked extensively as a facilitator including at The Lowry, Salford and Part of the Main Theatre.

http://www.aislingcaffrey-writer.co.uk

In Conversation with Heather Morris

Hosted by Ric Michael

Born in New Zealand, Heather Morris is an international number one bestselling author, who is passionate about stories of survival, resilience and hope. In 2003, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who 'might just have a story worth telling'. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Heather used Lale's story as the basis for The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which has sold six million copies. Her follow-up novel, Cilka's Journey, has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

Mon 23 Nov

Tilda Johnson

After working in publishing in Oxford and London (David Fickling Books, Penguin Random House Children’s, Hot Key Books / Piccadilly Press) children’s fiction editor Tilda Johnson relocated to the North in 2017. She runs the Manchester branch of the Golden Egg Academy, freelances for publishers, works with writers directly and recently co-founded the Children’s Books North network. 

Tue 24 Nov

Melissa Welliver

Melissa writes YA speculative fiction about how the End Of The World is never really the end of the world. After studying MA Creative Writing under Jeanette Winterson at the University of Manchester, she went on to complete Curtis Brown Creative’s Writing for Children course. Her work has listed in Bath Novel Award, Mslexia, the Hachette Children’s Novel Award, and the Wells Book for Children Competition. She has been published in two short story collections and is an avid member of the Twitter writing community. Born in Stockport, she now lives in the High Peak and works as a freelance editor. Her debut novel, The Undying Tower, will be the first in a new trilogy and will be published in Autumn 2021 with Agora Books.

Wed 25 Nov

Adam Farrer 

Adam is a writer, spoken word performer and the Editor of The Real Story, an Arts Council England-funded journal and spoken word event series, working to nurture emerging creative nonfiction talent. 

He was the inaugural Writer in Residence for Peel Park, Salford and has run workshops on creative nonfiction writing for the Prestwich Arts Festival, Victoria Bath's Weekend of Words, University of Salford's Festival of Research and the Northern Lights Writers Conference. 

He has performed his work at a number of arts and literature festivals across the north, including Sheffield Doc/Fest, the Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival, the Not Quite Light Festival and the Manchester Literature Festival. His work has appeared in numerous journals and publications and is soon to be included in Test Signal, an anthology of northern writing to be published in 2021 by Dead Ink Books and Bloomsbury.

He was recently awarded an Arts Council England grant to complete GOD HATES WITHERNSEA, his first collection of essays

Thu 26 Nov

Jazmine Linklater

Jazmine’s most recent publication is Figure a Motion (Guillemot Press, September 2020). She has published two previous pamphlets, Toward Passion According (Zarf, 2017) and Découper, Coller (Dock Road, 2018). She is a co-founder of the queer feminist collective, No Matter. Jazmine works for Carcanet Press and T-Junction International Poetry Festival, and sits on the editorial board for Broken Sleep Books. Jazmine also facilitates CIT’s Writers’ Group which returns in January 2021.