Birmingham Writers’ Group

Meet Samantha Hayes, bestselling author of Until You’re Mine, which was chosen as this year’s Birmingham Big City Read.  Samantha will be reflecting on the Big City Read and introducing her gripping new psychological suspense novel Before You Die.

About Before you Die:

It has taken nearly two years for the Warwickshire village of Radcote to put a spate of teenage suicides behind it.Then a young man is killed in a freak motorbike accident, and a suicide note is found among his belongings. A second homeless boy takes his own life, this time on the railway tracks.

Is history about to repeat itself?

DI Lorraine Fisher has just arrived for a relaxing summer break with her sister. Soon she finds herself caught up in the resulting police enquiry. And when her nephew disappears she knows she must act quickly.

Are the recent deaths suicide – or murder?

And is the nightmare beginning again?

Tickets £5 available from the Box – birmingham-box.co.uk

Join the Library of Birmingham to celebrate World Book Night.  Authors Adele Parks, Matt Haig, Jane Fallon and Ben Aaronovitch will be joining us for a very special event.

The authors, whose books all appear on this year’s World Book Night title list, will be taking part in a special panel event in the Studio Theatre.  The event starts at 7pm.  Tickets are free and are available at Birmingham-box.co.uk. Everyone who attends will get a free World Book Night book!

At 5.30 – 6.15, the authors will be doing pop-up book clubs in the Library.  These are not ticketed and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

There are lots of other things going on in the library during the day.  See www.libraryofbirmingham.com for more details.

Birmingham Independent Book Fair will take place on Saturday 12th April

Browse, buy and discover new books, many of which are not available on the high street.

This day-long event will feature independent publishers from the West Midlands and beyond, offering you the chance to buy books directly from the publishers, who will be on hand to answer questions and introduce you to new writing. From poetry pamphlets to prose fiction, graphic novels to science fiction and fantasy, a wide range of forms and genres will be represented.

The fair is free and all are welcome!

11:00am – 5:00pm

Ikon Gallery, 1 Oozells Square, Birmingham B1 2HS

http://ikon-gallery.org/event/birmingham-independent-book-fair/

‘Come to a reading of popular stress-busting poems by a team of trained readers from the Hearth Centre’s resoundingly successful Speaking Out project with Time To Change.

Open mic: bring your own Poem in Your Pocket, or track one down on the night using our resources.

You can read your own poem or a member of Hearth’s team will share your poem with the audience in the second half of the evening.

The evening will also provide a fantastic friendly space and the chance to talk, sharing and learning about mental health, good and bad, in our society today.

In the Hexagon theatre at the Mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH

Wednesday 2nd April 7:30pm start

Tickets £5 or £2 concession

Box office: 0121 446 3232

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1432001843713755

A Hearth Centre event funded by Time to Change’

From Emma Wright:

I run the Emma Press, an independent poetry publisher based in Reading. We have just published an amazing new collection of poems about motherhood, The Emma Press Anthology of Motherhood and we are very excited to be launching it around the country this month.

On Sunday 16th March we will be coming to Birmingham for an afternoon launch event in the Church Street branch of the Urban Coffee Company. There will be readings from three poets from the book, including local poetry superstar Liz Berry.

The Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/257197651119860/

This is a readers’ day, running from 9.30-4.30 and features Girl With a Pearl Earring superstar Tracy Chevalier, and Richard and Judy Book Club bestseller Beatrice Colin, along with a feast of other exciting writers and reading from across the world.

It’s a day full of talks and workshops and goodybags!

Tickets are £15 and are available from birmingham-box.co.uk

Tel: 0121 245 4455

http://www.libraryofbirmingham.com/event/Events/aroundtheworldin80books

http://www.libraryofbirmingham.com/

Recently published book The Sea in Birmingham celebrates 30 years of the influential Tindal Street Fiction Group

Contributors Sibyl Ruth, Polly Wright and James Goodwin will be at Kings Heath Library on

Thursday 27th February at 7.30pm

to read, talk about their work and discuss writing groups.

This is a free event. Doors open at 7.15pm

Kings Heath Library, High Street, Kings Heath,  Birmingham B14 7SW

0121 464 1515

Kings.heath.library@birmingham.gov.uk

After the success of last year’s Discovery Day, aspiring novelists are once again being offered the chance to pitch their ideas directly to agents during the second Discovery Day at Foyles Charing Cross Road

It’s a free event, but you must book a place.

Curtis Brown:

http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/discovery-day-returns-to-foyles/

Foyles:

http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Detail.aspx?eventId=2025