About Skelmersdale Writers’ Group
 
Skelmersdale Writers’ Group meets on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at the Engine Rooms in Westgate, Skelmersdale. We are a friendly mixed group of writers whose ages range from 16 to 60 plus. Our members range from novice writers to experienced and published authors whose interests include, poetry, short stories, novels and non fiction writing. Our aim is to cater for all types of writing and writer and to provide events of interest to the wider local community. Visitors are always welcome and may attend three meetings before being asked to subscribe to the group.

 

Activities.

 Our meetings are informal with plenty of opportunity for members to read their own work and receive constructive feedback, if they wish to do so. We carry information on current writing competitions and possible openings for submission of work to agents and publishers. Workshops led by members are included in the programme and we also aim to host regular speakers from the North West writing community. We have good contacts with other writing groups in the area and are members of the National Association of Writers’ Groups.

After Nought -  Our first anthology - available now. 57 pages of excellent prose and poetry

BUY NOW - £3.OO + £1.OO P+P. Email for posting details writeme@carolfenlon.com

******* ONLY SIX COPIES LEFT******** NOW'' S YOUR LAST CHANCE TO BUY THIS ORIGINAL COLLECTION ********* DEFINITELY A COLLECTABLE OF THE FUTURE.. (January 2010)

LATEST NEWS=

AILSA COX, COMES TO SKELMERSDALE WRITERS

Dr Ailsa Cox from Edge Hill University's Creative Writing Department will be giving a reading and workshop on the short story at our meeting on Tuesday 16th March at 7.45pm. Venue is The Engine Rooms as usual. Dr Cox is an expert on the short story form and has done much to raise its profile in the UK, including the development of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for a published collection which is now a well recognised national competition. Ailsa Cox is the author of the Routledge Writer's Guide, Writing Short Stories. Her short fiction has been published in many lierary magazines and her short story collection The Real Louise and Other Stories has recently been published by Headland Press.

This is an open workshop, non-members are welcome to attend. Please email for more information

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Programme January to July 2010.

RECENT EVENTS

JENN ASHWORTH ON APPROACHING AGENTS  2nd February 2010

Preston based writer Jenn Ashworth shared her knowledge of synopsis writing and how to approach an agent. This was a skilfully presented workshop. Jenn included a wealth of information for writers aspiring to the publication of a full length book or collection and provided an useful handout for future reference.. Feedback from the group was excellent and we look forward to seeing Jenn read her own work at Edge Hill's Rose Theatre on Wednesday 3rd March 7.30pm

                          

an evening of poetry

with


Gladys Mary Coles

at the Engine Rooms

Westgate, Skelmersdale

TUESDAY 16th JUNE 2009

8 – 10 p.m.

Gladys Mary Coles is a poet, literary biographer and anthologist. The most recent of her ten collections are Song of the Butcher Bird (2007) and The Echoing Green (2001), both with Flambard. Her poetry is anthologized by  major publishers including Faber and Virago and she has won national awards and prizes throughout England and Wales. A tutor in Creative Writing at Liverpool’s universities and at Ty Newydd, Gladys Mary is also Managing Editor of Headland Publications.

This was a fantastic evening. Gladys Mary regaled us with examples of her poetry and talked about her sources of inspiration and how she constructed her work. In the second half she gave feedback on members' poems and made suggestions as to how they might be improved. Another successful guest speaker night which we will long remember.

Sponsored by the Safer Stronger Communities Fund.

 

 

 

Tales of a New Town – did the planners’ dream go wrong?  Wednesday 20th May at the Engine Rooms,

Skelmersdale. 7.00pm.

 
Stories of exile, immigration, conflict and integration – in Skelmersdale! Some people came, some people left, some people stayed, and some were always here. Our lives are the concrete results of government policies and planners’ dreams.  

Writers and residents of Skelmersdale came together for an evening of poetry and prose where we shared our memories and experiences of the new town. Original inhabitants such as Val Keenan mourned the loss of the old town and treated us to a picture of Skelmersdale as it was in her youth. Arthur Adlen's poems recalled the worst of the dole years in Skem in the 70s and 80s after the major employers left the town. Other pieces focused on personal development, the transition from childhood or youth to adulthood against the backdrop of the town as it grew and changed. Our memories were jogged as we relived past events, and our past hopes and fears. Many of us felt the town, or at least its planners and policymakers had failed us, but it wasn't all doom and gloom, there were poignant, positive and funny moments, like Shakira Brojerdi's poem, 'Skem by a Skemmer', detailing how she grew up in the community spirit and camaraderie of a Skem estate, left it as an adult only to return. The readings sponsored lively debate in the coffee breaks and there seemed to be a consensus that whatever the future holds for Skem, we are all part of the town now and care deeply about what happens to it. 

We had hoped to produce an anthology of the pieces read on the night but don't have quite enough to do that at the moment. We intend to continue collecting pieces so that we can put together an anthology later in the year, so if you are reading this and you live or work in Skelmersdale, please feel free to send a contribution.
 

Contributions of poems, short stories, memoirs, anecdotes, jokes, articles on the theme of life in Skem, past and present, but with reference to the coming and development of the new town, welcome.

 

Please send contributions to Carol Fenlon   via email Carol@fenlonh.freeserve.co.uk

or Tel 01695 728320.

 

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Tuesday 5th May 2009

PULP IDOL

    The first heat of this year's Pulp Idol, the annual novel writing competition run as part of the Writing on The Wall festival, took place at the Engine Rooms, Skelmersdale on Tuesday 5th May. It is the first time Skelmersdale has been included in the prestigious Merseyside festival and the event was hosted by Skelmersdale Writers group.Ten budding novelists read extracts from their work to the judges, local authors David Evans and Carol Fenlon. Three of these won a residential writing weekend with a published author and the chance to compete in the final, which consists of twelve contestants drawn from four separate heats held across Merseyside. The winners were Skelmersdale writers Joe Welsh and Mark Bainbridge and Edge Hill student Sebastian Koehorst and they will now go forward to compete in the final which is to be held on Friday 29th May at the Everyman Bistro 3rd room at 8 p.m. The final will be judged by Dan Franklin from Canongate books, Merseyside author and university lecturer Jim Friel and Helen Walsh, author of 'Brass' and the winner will have an interview with a major publisher. Writing on The Wall runs throughout May and the full  programme can be accessed at www.writingonthewall.org.uk 

Pictured here from left to right, Judge David Evans, finalist Mark Bainbridge, Judge, Carol Fenlon, finalists Joe Welsh and Sebastian Koehorst.

Group members and contestants enjoy the readings

David and I listening to the readings, we are on speaking terms, really!

Tuesday 7th April 2009.

Launch of our first anthology of poetry and prose 'After Nought' at The Engine Rooms, Skelmersdale.

Members and visitors enjoyed a selection of readings from the anthology read by the authors. 'After Nought' is now available at £3 a copy, email me for details of how to obtain a copy by post.

Arthur Adlen reading 'After Nought'

Rita Hayes reading 'Tea With Sharon Osbourne'

Chris Carr reading 'Kids'

Val Keenan reading 'A Symbol'

         David Evans, novelist,  short story writer, playwright and poet was born in South Africa but has lived and worked on Merseyside for 35 years. Although much of his writing describes South Africa under apartheid, two of his plays, Beneath Olympus and The Reunion, were premiered in Liverpool theatres. A Touch Of The Sun won the 2004 Crocus North West Novel Competition and his recent short fiction collection, Portrait of a Playboy and other stories, published by Headland, includes stories set on Merseyside.

David Evans, local novelist, playwright and poet, was the special guest of Skelmersdale Writers at the Engine Rooms. An appreciative audience heard David talk about  his early career as a journalist in South Africa, which led to a politicization that resulted in imprisonment and subsequent exile back to the UK. For the last 35 years David has lived on Merseyside and has been active in encouraging writing in the community as well as publishing novels, poetry and plays. David entertained the audience with readings of ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ a story set in post apartheid South Africa and  ‘Mersey Venus’, a story about a female artist set in Liverpool and a musical interval was provided by Ted Fenlon. David is pictured here signing books during the reading.

 


Sponsored by the Safer Stronger Communities Fund.. 

For more information about the group and/or events, email writeme@carolfenlon.com