Birmingham Writers’ Group

Neon Literary Magazine seeks submissions of prose and poetry. We accept work from anywhere in the world, but are UK-based and as such have a particular interest in writers from the UK. We publish work that is contemporary, cold and with a slight horror edge. Back issues of the magazine are free to read online and should give a clear idea of what we’re looking for.

Submissions are accepted all year by email to: subs@neonmagazine.co.uk.

No attachments, please. Include a cover letter and brief bio. Response time is one month. Payment for accepted work is a token fee or two copies of the printed magazine.

More information, back issues and full guidelines are online at:

www.neonmagazine.co.uk

Social Literature is a workshop that is being run by The Gentlemen Press. The first will take place in The Mac, Birmingham. The goal of the workshop will be to…

• Combine drama and creative writing to help you build solid and realistic characters
• Jolt participants out of writer’s block
• Inspire creativity using improvisational techniques
• Give you a chance to work with others while stepping out of your comfort zone

As writers often work in solitude while concentrating on their own ideas, Social Literature will give you an opportunity to try a different way of creating a story/narrative. It should also work for anyone who are going through a creative drought. So you can leave your inhibitions at the door and work in a safe space with others willing to do the same.

This first workshop is aimed at beginners, aspiring/experienced writers, students and anyone interested in drama.  This first workshop will be open to those over the age of 16.

The results would be different for everyone and could involve…

• gaining confidence in your own creative abilities
• writing the beginning to a new story or a first draft

Popular Chick Lit and Women’s Fiction website Novelicious has launched a writing competition in association with Avon Books, Simon & Schuster UK’s Books and the City initiative and Literary Agent, Diane Banks.

Novelicious Undiscovered invites aspiring commercial women’s fiction writers to submit the first 3000 words of their novel to undiscovered@novelicious.com before April 3^rd.

The top twenty entries, as chosen by the Novelicious.com team, will be showcased on the site during May and put to a public vote in June. From these top twenty entries two winners will be chosen.

The People’s Choice award winner (the entry with the highest amount of public votes) will win:

• ·         A full manuscript critique with Avon Commissioning Editor Caroline Hogg over tea and cake in their London offices
• ·         A £50 voucher for writersgifts.co.uk
• ·         An introduction to and entry critique from Literary Agent Diane Banks of Diane Banks Associates Ltd
• ·         A selection of 10 Avon Titles
• A Kindle

The Books and the City Choice award winner (chosen from the top 20 entries by the Fiction Editorial department at Simon & Schuster UK) will win:

• A full manuscript critique from a member of the Fiction Editorial team at Simon & Schuster UK
• Author Mentoring and meeting with Sunday Times Bestselling author of RSVP, Helen Warner
• ·         A £50 voucher from writersgifts.co.uk
• A Selection of 10 Books and the City Titles

Maxine Hitchcock, Fiction Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster UK says:

“We’re thrilled to play a part in the brilliant Novelicious Undiscovered competition. Simon & Schuster / Books and the City prides itself on finding new talent and in recent years has discovered wonderful new voices such as Jane Costello, Milly Johnson, Helen Warner and Ali Harris who have gone on to hit the bestseller lists. We’re honoured to be working with Novelicious, such a supporter and champion of female fiction, to find potential new stars.”

Diane Banks of Diane Banks Associates Ltd says:

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to critique the winner of Undiscovered and the option to offer them representation.  A competition which is judged by readers is a promising way to discover new talent and I’m excited about seeing the shortlist”

Caroline Hogg, Commissioning editor at Avon says:

“It’s such a pleasure to be involved with the Novelicious Undiscovered competition. For years Novelicious has been championing fantastic women’s fiction and the team there sum up everything that’s best about publishing: a genuine love of good writing and the boundless energy and good humour it takes to keep trying new things. At Avon we’re always on the look-out for brilliant new voices to add to our list of stellar authors – among them bestsellers Miranda Dickinson, Trisha Ashley and Claudia Carroll – so who knows what we might find through Novelicious Undiscovered!”

Kirsty Greenwood, Founding Editor of Novelicious.com

“I am so excited to able to extend such an amazing opportunity to Britain’s aspiring writers. Novelicious is passionate about women’s fiction, and we are hopeful that the ‘Undiscovered’ competition will unearth some sparkling new talent in the genre.”

The Winner of Novelicious Undiscovered will be announced on 26^th June. For full entry details and terms and conditions please visit http://www.novelicious.com/noveliciousundiscovered2012.html

Last September, Birmingham Writers’ Group took part inArtsfest, Birmingham’s free arts festival.

There is a Youtube video available of one of these events, a performance called “John Bull on the Slab”

“Gallows humour as organs tell their tales at the autopsy of John Bull.
Warning: contains unrealistic scenes of human dismemberment.”

This runs for 30 minutes, so is split into two parts.

Friend of Birmingham Writers Group Leslie Tate has released an ebook of poetry.

Head and Heart tells the story of two lovers and their escape from empty marriages into passionate fulfilment. From nervous first meeting to deep involvement, exploring divorce, alopecia and the language of love, these poems will surprise, delight and challenge. Presented in themed sections with short, helpful introductions they offer a new take on boy meets girl. Enjoy them as original lyrics or an A-Z of modern love; learn how to “stay in the bubble” and keep the love light alive; share love’s unseen presence in cities, galleries, parks, gardens and nature ? or go with the poems to explore the raw, rich power of Eros in words, with expression, as song.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Head-and-Heart-ebook/dp/B007671C70/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328607228&sr=1-1

Curiosity Quills are calling for submissions for an anthology called Creature Feature. Deadline 18th March

Short stories between 1000 and 6000 words. All genres are welcome. Poetry is not excluded, but it would need to be exceptional. Files should be provided in .rtf, .doc, or .docx.

This collections is designed to be enjoyed by everyone, so keep the sex, violence and cussing to a minimum, and the graphic blood, gore, torture, child and animal abuse and rape out of it completely. The dark subjects have their place, but this anthology isn’t it. While it’s a blurrier line, hopelessly depressing, soul-crushing dystopias probably don’t fit either

http://curiosityquills.com/call-for-submissions-creature-feature-anthology/

Here are two extracts from Judith Allnatt’s newsletter.

I also enjoyed meeting writers who came to my workshop on the short story at Mickleover, Derby. This proved to be a popular workshop so it will be running again on 21^st April if anyone is interested in coming along. Details are at http://www.derby.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/libraries/library-events/writing-short-fiction-with-judith-allnatt/

 I’m delighted to have been asked to take part in a panel discussion with David Edgar and William Ivory on the theme of writing from history. As novelist, playwright and screenwriter respectively, we will discuss the challenge of writing about an historical event bound, to a degree, by the facts of the story. ‘Do Facts get in the way of a Good Story?’ will be at the Derby Theatre Studio on Friday 27^th Jan. http://www.writersguild.org.uk/news-a-features/events/232-do-facts-get-in-the-way-of-a-good-story

Wed 29th February 2012 6.30pm (for 7.00pm start) @ Birmingham Library Theatre, Central Library, Birmingham (This is a free event)
To book your free ticket(s), please contact the Reader Development Office on 0121 303 2895/0121 464 2690 or email: reader.development@birmingham.gov.uk
Live, love, read, it’s your library

The book: BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is the story of Christine, a fortyseven year old writer who, following a catastrophic accident in her mid?twenties, is incapable of forming and maintaining new memories for more than a day. Trapped in an existence in which she wakes every day believing herself to be single and with a whole lifetime of choice ahead of her she discovers instead that she lives with her husband, Ben, with most decisions already made. The novel charts her attempts to make sense of her world. When Christine learns that she has been meeting with a doctor who is helping her to recover her memory ? and that following his suggestion she has been keeping a journal in order to record her fragmentary recollections and piece together her past ? she is hopeful that she may be cured. But the story that emerges is to set in motion a terrifying voyage of discovery that will ultimately have startling consequences for her and all who love her, leading her to question whether the truth is sometimes better left forgotten.
Before I Go to Sleep is the stunning debut novel from British newcomer SJ Watson and was the winner of both the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for best debut novel of 2011 and the Galaxy National Book Awards Crime & Thriller of the Year 2011. The book has attracted world wide acclaim and has been sold to over 30 territories around the world and translated into over 30 languages. Before I Go to Sleep has been also been acquired for film by Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, with Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later; The American) to direct. The novel has been acclaimed by some of the most respected and bestselling contemporary authors and SJ Watson has since been widely recognised as one of the most exciting new authors of 2011 by national newspapers and magazines.
2012 has already seen Before I Go To Sleep as the number one selling book in the Sunday Times bestseller list. It has also been selected for The TV Book Club and is featured in Richard & Judy 2012 Book Club.
The writer: S J Watson was born in the Midlands, lives in London and worked in the NHS for a number of years. In 2009 Watson was accepted into the first Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ Course, a programme that covers all aspects of the novel?writing process. Before I Go to Sleep is the result. For more information about Steve and his work, please visit: http://www.sjwatson-books.com
How to book tickets: Please note a guest list will be in operation for this event. To book seats, please email: reader.development@birmingham.gov.uk or call 0121 303 2895/0121 464 2690.
For more details about this and other author events at the Library Theatre, please contact Nikki Bi (nikki.bi@birmingham.gov.uk). We are now also on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to be the first to know about upcoming author events at the Library Theatre, Facebook us at ‘Birmingham Reads’ or follow us on Twitter: @BirminghamReads.

This is a regular Spoken Word event, where Chris Lowe often contributes:

SW@N Club

New Hampton Inn

Richer St

Wolverhampton

1st Monday of every month, 8pm

Chris will also be at Alcester Winter Warmer Folk Festival

Susan Hampton, a friend of Birmingham Writers’ Group who visited us a few months ago has sent the following news:

My first novel for adults is now live online and can be downloaded from Amazon to read on Kindle. It will soon be available through I-bookstore, Kobo and Googlebooks too. An audiobook version will follow in a few weeks. I went up to a studio in Soho yesterday to start recording the audiobook, above a space where the Beatles used to rehearse!

It’s called ARIA, and it’s the story of two mature sisters on holiday, inspired by Sense and Sensibility and set in Florence and then Positano.The ISBN is 97819086830201. They’re categorizing it under Fiction General and Fiction Romance. This is the link to find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ARIA-ebook/dp/B006YVC8YK/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326865181&sr=1-3

Even if you can’t read it this way yourself do tell others who might be interested. And stand by for the launch of Leslie’s e-book, HEAD AND HEART, a collection of love poems to me.