Alan Warner at Strathclyde: Free Author Event

Another free/open to the public event organised by Doug Johnstone. The novelist Alan Warner (Morvern Callar) will be speaking in Livingstone Tower on the 5th of March.

ALAN WARNER
5pm, Monday 5th March 2012
Room LT509, Livingstone Tower
26 Richmond Street, Glasgow
Free entry, refreshments provided

Alan Warner is one of the leading lights of his generation of Scottish
writers. Born in 1964 he shot to fame with the publication of his
debut novel Morvern Callar in 1995. The book was adapted into a highly
acclaimed film directed by Lynne Ramsay, and Warner has gone on to
publish five more novels to great success. He won the Somerset Maughan
Award for Morvern Callar and the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the
Year Award for his novel The Sopranos.
In 2003 Alan was nominated by Granta magazine as one of twenty ‘Best
of Young British Novelists’. In 2010, his novel The Stars in the
Bright Sky was included in the longlist for the Man Booker Prize. His
seventh novel, The Deadman’s Pedal, is due for publication in May this
year. Alan also currently holds the position of Writer-in-Residence at
the University of Edinburgh.





Hope to see you there!

Jane Harris to speak at Strathclyde Author Event

Doug Johnstone, novelist and Keith Wright Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, has organised another event in February for all word lovers; this one is free, too! Please come. Don't be put off by the unrepentant ugliness of the building. Jane Harris wil be speaking about her latest novel, 'Gillespie and I,' among other things.

5pm, Monday 13th February 2012
Room LT509, Livingstone Tower
26 Richmond Street, Glasgow
Free entry, refreshments provided


Jane Harris is a British writer of fiction and screenplays. Her latest
novel, Gillespie and I, was published to critical acclaim in the UK by
Faber and Faber on the 5th of May 2011. Her first novel The
Observations was shortlisted for The Orange Prize for Fiction 2007 and
has been published in over 20 territories worldwide. In France, The
Observations was shortlisted for the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger in
2009. In the USA, The Observations won the Book of the Month Club’s
First Fiction Prize in 2007.

Waterstone’s chose Jane as one of its 25 Authors for the Future and in
2007 she was also nominated for the British Book Awards Newcomer of
the Year and for the Southbank Show/Times Breakthrough Award. In 2011,
Richard and Judy chose The Observations as one of their 100 Books of
the Decade.




** You can follow her on Twitter; perhaps you will even work up the nerve to ask her why she calls herself @blablafishcakes, and why she spells 'blah' without the 'h'.

Zoë Strachan at Write Now 2012

This is Zoë Strachan (see image above). 


We are thrilled that she is going to be a panellist at Write Now 2012. So thrilled that I thought I would tell you a bit about her. I was even more thrilled to discover that she has a perfectly readable bio, and there is very little for me to actually DO, other than cut and paste. I was also happy that she has a really nice headshot, as I am not feeling up to the challenge of Photoshopping anyone today. In all seriousness, I am looking forward to hearing people ask her lots of questions about whether or not it is really possible to teach creative writing.


On a sort of unrelated note: I am looking forward to talking to her about the University of Iowa, where she had a fellowship at the International Writing Program. I studied Speech Pathology and Audiology across the river, on the science ghetto part of the campus, looking longingly at the English building, wishing I had been less responsible and just done writing instead.


If you'd like to see Zoë, you can still register and get the early bird conference discount by booking via the University of Strathclyde online shop: http://onlineshop.strath.ac.uk/. Click on the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty link.








_______________________________________






Zoë Strachan is the author of three novels: Ever Fallen in Love (Sandstone Press, July 2011), Spin Cycle and Negative Space (Picador). The latter won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. In 2003 The Independent on Sunday listed her in their top twenty novelists under 30, and the Scottish Review of Books selected her as one of their new generation of five young Scottish authors in 2011. Her short stories and essays have been included in numerous journals and anthologies, she contributes journalism to various newspapers and magazines and her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3. She has received two writer’s bursaries from the Scottish Arts Council, a Hawthornden Fellowship and was UNESCO City of Literature writer-in-residence at the National Museum of Scotland. In 2008 she was awarded a Hermann Kesten Stipendium and spent time in Nuremberg, and in 2009 she received a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship which took her to France to write. In 2011 she undertook a British Council visiting fellowship at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. In recent years she has become more interested in interdisciplinary projects, for example collaborating on the exhibition and publication ‘I throw my prayers into the sky’ (Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia, Germany) with visual artists Laura Murray and David Sherry and writer Louise Welsh. Recent works for theatre are ‘Panic Patterns’ (with Louise Welsh, Citizen’s Theatre and BBC Radio Scotland) and ‘Old Girls’ (which opened the 2009/10 season of A Play, a Pie and a Pint at Oran Mor in Glasgow). Her short opera Sublimation (with composer Nick Fells) toured Scotland in May 2010 with Scottish Opera before going to Cape Town, South Africa in November 2010. She has taught on the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Glasgow since 2003 and is currently working on a major new opera project for Scottish Opera for 2012. You can find out more at www.zoestrachan.com<http://www.zoestrachan.com>


Zoë Strachan is an award-winning novelist who also writes plays, libretti, short stories and essays. She was born in Kilmarnock in 1975. In 2003 The Independent on Sunday listed her in their top twenty novelists under 30, and the Scottish Review of Books selected her as one of their new generation of five young Scottish authors in 2011. She has been awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship, the Hermann Kesten Stipendium and a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her latest novel is Ever Fallen in Love, has just been shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize, and in autumn 2011 she was British Council Writer in Residence on the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.www.zoestrachan.com<http://www.zoestrachan.com/>


One more thing: you can follow her on Twitter. She says that she is a bit scared, so play nice. Her handle is: @zoestrachan

CALL FOR PAPERS: WRITE NOW CONFERENCE MARCH 2012

Write Now

2 Day Creative Writing Conference

The Mitchell Library, Glasgow

Friday 9^th and Saturday 10^th March 2012 

Postgraduates and scholars with an interest in Creative Writing along with professional writers are invited to submit critical or practice based presentations to the second annual Write Now Conference.  

Three person panels are also welcome.  

Presentations may be structured as follows:

• A critical paper focused on a particular genre / author or style of writing
• A reading balanced by a critical element
• A paper on an aspect of Creative Writing pedagogy 

Creative writing is as diverse and varied as those who practice it, so there are no topics or themes to be adhered to.  We are as eager to hear from new voices as established names in the field.

All we ask is that you are passionate about your writing / research and you can transmit that enthusiasm.  

Write Now is an open forum which aims to allow writers and scholars to share their research and creative output fostering a community of writers and researchers interested in the many facets of creative writing.  

This year the conference will be held as part of Glasgow’s Book Festival - Aye Write!  This will bring writers, academics and readers closer than ever and demonstrates the commitment to foster new talent. We are also inviting readings for a public event during the conference to show off delegates’ performance skills.

Readings may consist of a number of poems or 1-2 short works of fiction / literary journalism and may be on any topic and in any style but must last no longer than 6 minutes  

Presentations 20 minutes

Panels 60 minutes plus 30 minutes for questions

Readings 6 minutes (maximum)

Send proposal abstracts of not more than 300 words and creative pieces accompanied by a brief bio to: bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk

Closing Date for Submissions: Thursday 15^th December 2011

Lead Organiser: Bryony Stocker, University of Strathclyde - bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk

Find us on the web at - http://flavors.me/writenow#72f/twitter and follow us on Twitter

Greetings From Write Now's Commander-in-Chief

Another update:
Our venue is the Senate Suite on the 1st floor of the Collins Building (look for the Collins Gallery) which is on Strathclyde University's Glasgow city centre (John Anderson) campus.  Please see the map with the building marked in black.  If you need further details on how to get to Glasgow you will find them on our website -
http://writenowglasgow.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-get-to-write-now-but-not-right.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

We have almost sixty attendees to check in, so to avoid a late start, please try and arrive no later than 9:15am.  We will have tea, coffee, water and some breakfast goodies, plus lots of interesting people to chat with.

See you bright and early on Friday!

Kind regards
Bryony

NB: I *always* try to do what she says. My life would be worth *nothing* if I didn't. She is a one-woman, universe-organizing, whirlwind.

Tah Dah!

I am pleased to announce that it looks like the (temporarily homeless) Write Now Conference has been given new digs in the Senate Room in the Collins Building at the University of Strathclyde. More details and map to follow.

Finding Us, Registering, Bribery, and the CCA

I've had an e-mail from someone to let me know that the link to register for the Write Now Conference on 3/6/11. is faulty. Please try this one:


http://tinyurl.com/5tslfjl


Registration is 10 pounds, which includes lunch/coffee/tea. As an additional incentive, there will also be home-made cake and biscuits**. Call it a bribe, call it blatant and unapologetic propaganda. I am unconcerned.


Our evening reading at the CCA kicks off at 7 in the Club Room, home of the Scottish Writers' Centre, with a recent addition to the lineup:  J L Williams. She was the Scottish Poetry Library Poet of the Month for March, and has recently published 'Condition of Fire'. 

** Some of them will technically be cookies.

Another Rallying Call: deadline for abstracts 8/4/11

‘Write Now!’
1 Day Post Graduate Creative Writing Conference
Strathclyde University, Glasgow
Friday 3rd June 2011

Critical papers and practice based presentations (a reading balanced by a critical element) are invited for the one day creative writing conference to be held in the heart of Glasgow.  Topics for presentations may include, but are not limited to:
• Language: found, reinvented or rediscovered
• Dialects: historical or modern
• Genre Fiction
• Emerging trends in fiction, poetry, drama and journalism

Creative Writing, Journalism and English postgraduates and scholars are invited to explore creative writing in the broadest possible terms considering genre, technique, language, historical development, impact and performance.  This conference aims to allow postgraduates and scholars to share their research and creative output but also to foster a community of writers and researchers interested in the many facets of creative writing.

               © Steve Lindridge
Keynote speaker Louise Welsh is the award winning author of The Cutting Room (2002) and most recently Naming the Bones (2010). She is also a successful playwright and is currently writer in residence for The University of Glasgow & Glasgow School of Art.

Readings may consist of a number of poems or 1-2 short works of fiction / literary journalism and may be on any topic and in any style.

Confirmed readers include:  Poet, linguist and Reader in English Studies David Kinloch who will read from his forthcoming collection Finger of a Frenchman (April 2011).  Somerset Maugham Award winning novelist and Creative Writing lecturer Rodge Glass will perform new work.  Award winning investigative journalist and Director of the Strathclyde University Innocence Project Eamonn O’Neill will give us an exclusive sneak peek into his forthcoming novel The Last Court of Appeal. Helen Fitzgerald (Aussie now living as a Weegie, novelist, ex-Social Worker, and many other things besides) will read from The Donor (July 2011), her latest novel.

Presentations 20 minutes
Readings 10 minutes (maximum)

Send proposal abstracts of not more than 300 words and creative pieces accompanied by a brief bio to: bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk

Closing Date for Submissions: Friday 8th April 2011

Applications can be made via our online shop at http://onlineshop.strath.ac.uk click on the Humanities and Social Sciences link under Conferences and Events.  You will find our conference here with an online application.  Alternatively, please complete the application form available on our website http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/conferences and return with the fee of £10 per delegate.
The closing date for applications to attend is the 20th of May.

Organiser: Bryony Stocker, University of Strathclyde - bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk
Promoter: Mary McDonough, University of Strathclyde - maryfmcdonough@me.com
Find us on the web at - http://flavors.me/writenow and follow us on Twitter

The Donor

We have another confirmed reader for Write Now on 3/6/11: Helen FitzGerald. She writes "comic noir" novels in which bad things happen to good people as well as to bad people. She was the last author in the Visiting Authors series of talks Doug Johnstone organised at the Ramshorn Theatre for this year on 30/3/11. She read just enough from her upcoming novel, The Donor (out in July 2011), and talked about her process as a writer, and why she needs contact with other people/writers to keep focussed and to keep going. The Donor is about a single, bumbling but well-intentioned, Dad to twin teenaged girls who finds himself in an impossible situation. There is apparently a lot of wine involved in his decision-making process....


Helen is all OVER the Web, and needs you to be her friend, because "writers need input" and audiences.


http://www.faber.co.uk/author/helen-fitzgerald/
http://helenfitzgerald.posterous.com/
Befriend her on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/3b6d5ac
or follow her on Twitter: @FitzGeraldHelen


Come meet her and hear more about The Donor for yourself on the 3rd of June. You can now register to attend on-line; http://tinyurl.com/43sjsoz takes you directly to the University of Strathclyde on-line shop. 


There is still time to send an abstract too, and we would love to hear from you: 


http://bit.ly/CFPDOC
http://bit.ly/CFPPDF

The Last Court of Appeal

Eamonn O'Neill will be reading from his forthcoming novel, The Last Court of Appeal, on 3/6/11, at the Write Now Creative Writing Conference at the University of Strathclyde. Eammon is a lecturer in Journalism at the University of Stathclyde, works as investigative journalist, and has previously authored 3 non-fiction works. Apart from being rather illustrious company, Eamonn also likes a good chin-wag (source who refused to be named; I'm prepared to remain silent, since I retain my 5th Amendment rights). There is still time to send Bryony Stocker an abstract; please see the CFP (in either PDF or Word format). We also welcome volunteers for a free reading of works in progress taking place in the evening after the conference is over.


http://bit.ly/CFPDOC
http://bit.ly/CFPPDF


Eamonn chirps as @EamonnONeill on Twitter; you can follow him there or subscribe to his site http://www.eamonnoneill.com for regular updates.

Unashamed Plugging

On the 21st of April, my loyalties and attention are going to be a bit...divided, let's just say. At 7 p.m., at the CCA on Sauchiehall Street, David Kinloch's poetry collection Finger of a Frenchman will officially be launched by Carcanet Press. Copies can be ordered via the usual outlets, or direct from Carcanet: http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781847770745. The blurb says that the book "explores looking, and writing about looking." I'm looking (ha ha!)  forward to hearing and reading Finger of A Frenchman. I'm also glad I don't have to wait until June 3rd at the Write Now Conference, because I'm actually pretty impatient and not keen on delayed gratification (sometimes an awkward thing for a poet to be). 


At 7:30, at the Mono bar about a mile and a half away from the CCA, a group of truly talented and enterprising 4th year students at Strathcyde are launching a new literary magazine, Valve, with a program of acoustic music and readings. For further information, or to try to snaffle and invitation, check out valvejournal.co.uk. I haven't read any of it, but have heard some of the contributors read before, and it will be well worth the trip to the launch or Waterstone's to buy Valve.


One of the things I love most about living in Glasgow is that people DO things. Having an embarrassment of riches to choose from, bookily speaking, is a great diary conflict to have. Come sprint, lurch, stagger, run, saunter with me on the 21st of April; we've got a lot of listening to do.

Creative Writing: What Does It Mean, Anyway?

Come join us at the first Write Now Creative Writing Conference in Glasgow on 3/6/11. Please see below to download the Call For Papers. We are also trying to organise an evening reading event, ideally open to the public, if we have enough brave volunteers.

Confirmed readers include:
Louise Welsh (Keynote Speaker, novelist, and lots of other things besides)
David Kinloch (poet, with new collection coming out in April 2011 from Carcanet Press)
and
Rodge Glass (novelist, biographer, and graphic novelist).

Please contact our Organiser-in-Chief, bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk, to submit an abstract/with any questions, marymcdonough@me.com, to discuss sponsorship or the possibility of setting up a booth/information point in the breakout area, and/or stewart.melville@strath.ac.uk if science fiction or dystopian fiction is your thing. More than enough room for anyone willing to engage in debate, reading, and talking about writing. We look forward to meeting you.


Word version of CFP
PDF version of CFP