Andrew Oldham

11/07/2009 IAN PARKS: Narrative Poetry Workshop

INCWRITERS WORKSHOP

11/07/2009 10:00AM-1:00PM

IAN PARKS: Narrative Poetry – Stories in Verse COST £30

FINAL BOOKINGS BY 27/06/2009

BOOKINGS: http://www.incwriters.co.uk/KitschenWorkshops2009.htm

VENUE: Dormouse and the Teapot, Kitschen, W2/218, Woodend Mill 2, Manchester Road, Mossley, Lancashire OL5 9AY

The workshop is aimed at writers who already have some experience and who want to expand and develop their skills in a supportive atmosphere. We will look in detail at the main features of narrative poetry and how it differs from the lyric. With these features in mind, group members will be encouraged to begin work on short narrative poems of their own, exploring ways in which stories in verse can be initiated and sustained.

Ian Parks is a Hawthornden Fellow and was one of the National Poetry Society New Poets in 1996. His collections include A Climb Through Altered Landscapes (1998), Shell Island (2006) and The Cage (2008). His poems have appeared in Poetry Review, The Independent on Sunday, The Liberal, The Observer, London Magazine, Poetry (Chicago) and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

All workshops take place in Dormouse and the Teapot, Kitschen, W2/218, Woodend Mill 2, Manchester Road, Mossley, Lancashire OL5 9AY. The mill is situated by the Tame River and the Huddersfield canal with good rail links to Manchester and Huddersfield. There is ample parking outside the mill. Location Map can be found at the bottom of this page. The workshops take a maximum of 12 students in each and cost £30 each. The cost includes all refreshments. Workshops can book up quickly and it is advised that you book early to avoid disappointment. Please note there is no disabled access due to the age of the building.

Cheque bookings accepted, see website: http://www.incwriters.co.uk/KitschenWorkshops2009.htm

Tags: Ian Parks, Incwriters, Poetry, Workshop

New Book

Andrew features in the new academic book The Short Story edited by Ailsa Cox. His essay on Ray Bradbury is included along with an introduction by AL Kennedy that he aided to edit.

Long regarded as an undervalued and marginalised genre, the short story is undergoing a renaissance. “The Short Story” celebrates its unique appeal. Practitioners and scholars address the issues facing short story criticism in the 21st century. Author A.L. Kennedy shares the pleasures and frustrations of writing the short story in the literary marketplace. This is followed by an assessment of recent attempts to promote short story readership in the UK. Other contributors look at forms such as the short-short and the short story sequence.The range of authors discussed includes Martin Amis, Anita Desai, Salman Rushdie and James Joyce. The short story is the most international of genres; this is reflected in chapters on Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino and on Japanese short fiction. Postcolonial and translation theory are combined with the close reading of specific texts. Neglected authors, such as the Welsh writer Dorothy Edwards and the colonial figure Frank Swettenham, are re-evaluated and we also consider genre writing, with chapters on crime fiction and Ray Bradbury’s “Martian Chronicles”. Integrating theory and practice, “The Short Story” will appeal both to writers and to students of literary criticism.

Tags: Ailsa Cox, Andrew Oldham, Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, Short Story

Matt Simpson Dies

For those of you have anything to do with the poetry scene in Liverpool, there are two words that will make you smile, Matt Simpson. I met Matt several times under different guises, first as a performance poet, then as a journalist and then as an academic and at each meeting he was warm, friendly and a mine of information. He was also someone you could trust to be honest. He was always willing to give advice, point you in the right direction and introduce you to other poets.

I was sad to learn that he died after going into hospital last week.

Tags: Matt Simpson, Obituary

Michael Murphy Dies

I met Michael at a poetry reading several years ago in Manchester, he was reading with his partner, Deryn Rees-Jones. It was one of those lunch time readings that the Central Library are famous for, in the audience that day were William Park, Ian Parks and Steve Waling.

The truth was that Ian and I had come to watch Deryn, we had seen her many times before but it was Michael that day who raised the bar for poets who read. Michael was part of our conversation for years to come and on that day he was reading from a collection that was yet to be printed. It was raw, and it set the pattern for poetry to come.

Many years later I tried to arrange an interview with Michael but due to busy schedules and then his failing health, we never managed to meet again.

I was saddened to hear that  Michael had a brain tumour and that he died recently. You can read his obituary at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/13/obituary-michael-murphy

Tags: Dies, Michael Murphy, Obituary, Poet

RED INK NEEDS YOUR HELP

http://www.incwriters.co.uk/shop.htm
2009 has been a tough year for publishers across the UK and small press magazines are feeling the pinch too. Over the last 12 months we have seen our subscriptions plummet by 90%. This means that from this summer Red Ink will become unviable and will cease to be published. We don’t want to see this happen.

Red Ink has nurtured new and established poets over the last 3 years. It is the only UK publication to print a series of poems by a handful of poets, allowing readers to see a bredth of work and giving poets the opportunity to see more than one poem appear in an issue. We only concentrate on one fiction writer an issue. We are unique and up to 2009 we were growing. Subscribing to Red Ink is cheap, it is £7.50 for 2 years (we will email you with new edition in Summer and Winter of each year). That is less than £1.90 an issue for over 50pp (Red Ink 5 contained 100pp). A percentage of these monies from the magazine subscriptions goes into supporting Incwriters promote writing and reading at a grass roots level.

If each one of you take out one subscription and get two of your friends to do likewise you will help us to keep going. Please help, in any way you can, buy a subscription, buy a back issue or spread the word. The latest and last issue that Andrew edited has just been published and features poetry by Matthew Friday, R.G. Gregory, Jenny Harrow, Kathleen Kenny, F.J. Milne, Molly Naylor, Nusra Nazir, Phoebe Power and features a short story by Kath McKay .

Thanks for supporting us.

Tags: Fiction, Help Support Us, Literary Magazine, Poetry, Red Ink

Writers Retreats

With the credit crunch biting, don’t deny yourself the chance to recharge the batteries and be creative. Alizon Brunning has passed this onto me, Alizon is an old friend, and this is her new venture. This is a stunning region and a wonderful place to stay.

The apartments are in our own lovingly restored town house which is located right at the heart of the Arabic quarter with its ancient historic buildings and cobbled winding streets. The apartments have been designed as romantic hideaways where you can get away from it all, yet have access to lively bars, and shops. From the terraces you can watch the light change over the olive groves, see the farmer plough his field, the goatherd drive his animals home and spot many birds of prey. Summer evenings bring spectacular shows of shooting stars.In a few minutes you can walk to the magnificent gorge with its ruined flour mills and abundance of flora and fauna. Five minutes brings you to two traditional squares surrounded by lively bars where the tapas are still free and top quality Rioja is served. A short drive takes you to the hot springs after which the town is named. Swimming can be in the local pool or at Lake Bermajales only a 15 minute drive away. An artist’s and writer’s paradise.

Tags: Alizon Brunning, Andalucia, Writers Retreat

Final Week to Book: Andrew Oldham

20/06/2009 ANDREW OLDHAM: Re-writing

FINAL BOOKINGS BY 06/06/2009

Anyone can write but only writers can re-write. This is skills based workshop looking at the authorial voice, reader response, publishing markets, characterisation, genre conventions and exercises to keep you writing. For poets and writers.

 Andrew Oldham is an award winning writer and Creative Writing Lecturer for Edge Hill University and the OU. His work has been heard on BBC Radio 4 and has appeared on the pages of North American Review, Transmission, Ambit and Gargoyle. He has edited several small press magazines. He is published by Route Books.

This is one of several workshops available over summer. You can view the full programme and book online or find information on sending a cheque at:

http://www.incwriters.co.uk/KitschenWorkshops2009.htm

Tags: Andrew Oldham, Dormouse and the Teapot, Kitschen, Mossley, Rewriting, Workshops

New Blog

I’ve also been busy working on a new blog setup for Incwriters utilising the good people at Wordpress. This is a blog open to any Wordpress user interested in reading, writing or publishing. Publishers can join and showcase their new publications and more importantly it will give opinion from readers, writers and poets on the state of the industry. Some times these opinions may be controversial or even wrong, but the spirit is to create debate and discussion on the blog. What will be the future of reading and writing if we don’t discuss it?

Visit the blog at: http://incwriters.wordpress.com/ and register with Wordpress at: http://en.wordpress.com/signup/

Then send your signup email to incwriters@yahoo.co.uk with information on you and your work.

Tags: Blog, Incwriters

New Forum

I’ve been busy over the last few days working with Incwriters again. They have brought me back on board to up date their forum. They’ve had constant problems with the last forum servers. The forum servers for some reason decided to link key words to advertising. This is a low trick and means users logging on for information were often directed to wrong sites. Incwriters ap0logises for this.

So, for the last week a team has been working to bring the forum forward. The old forum will remain up until mid-June and then it will be deleted. Users don’t need to wait for Administrators to register them BUT any user not adhering to the netiquette of the forum will be blocked. Prior to this we could only block emails, now we can block the PC and the network. This is step forward to keeping spammers out and getting writers, poets, publishers and readers in. The polls are new and easy to set up, as are the avatars and links. More importantly, if you’re not a member you can’t access all the forum, so you miss out on a lot of information.

I hope you join by going to: http://incwriters.phpbbhosts.co.uk

Click on register in the top right hand corner.

Tags: Forum, Incwriters, New

Embarrassment to Poetry?

Ruth Padel, the first woman to be voted as Oxford’s Professor of Poetry yesterday resigned from the post. It is an obnoxious end to a smear filled election that has damaged a poet who has spoken the truth. The favourite for the post, Derek Walcott, removed himself from the running after allegations. These allegations had nothing to do with his poety and where over two decades old. The problem is, even if the allegations may have been true, they were never proven in a court of law (the fact is it was all settled out of court). Therefore, they fall into a distinct grey area, is it truth, is it not? When Ruth Padel passed this information on, she may have been acting honourably but the information was flawed from the start. You can bark and swear and say, ‘But it’s true!’ but the law says otherwise. Regardless of what I believe, this was a dangerous line for Ruth Padel to tread, I admire her for it but at the same time I am angry. She was the first female Professor of Poetry at Oxford! Regardless of the milestone this was, it was up to the election panel to look into the pasts of all the candidates, not for the candidates to do this. When Ruth did this, it became an emotive, subjective argument, she was passing on Chinese Whispers (there may be truth somewhere in there but prove it or be open to liable). She states: “I genuinely believe that I did nothing intentional that led to Derek Walcott’s withdrawal from the election. I wish he had not pulled out. I did not engage in a smear campaign against him, but, as a result of student concern, I naively – and with hindsight unwisely – passed on to two journalists, whom I believed to be covering the whole election responsibly, information that was already in the public domain.”

Where does one start with such a mistake? The law has clearly defined the past mistakes of Derek Walcott is a closed book. Yet, Ruth Padel trusted a student rather than the facts (which, yet again, are grey and not founded in a court of law). She passed this onto journalists who she deemed honourable. Ruth Padel could be forgiven for the mistake of believing the student. She cannot be forgiven for passing on what is deemed as confidential information to the public sector. This is an abuse of pastoral care. Now, before you say this was public domain information, it is not when a student talks to you privately. I think Ruth has been manipulated, and this is a shame, and that factions in Oxford have used her. She is a great poet, who has made a silly mistake.

The only mistake she has made is a breach of conduct. What happens in a seminar is private, and effectively belongs to the institution. There are procedures when a student passes anything that can be deemed as personal or of a sensitive nature. This information is dealt with by line managers, heads of departments and corroborated. Now, this mistake has meant that the student could become a public figure or worse, end up in court, and asked to evidence allegations. Yet again, I have to direct you to the out of court settlement that Walcott’s lawyers won, these would have had certain terms attached. 

I think Ms Padel in a moment of weakness thought she was speaking the truth but the truth can only be told by Walcott or the alledged victims. Heresay is not fact. Heresay is not truth. But more importantly it was up to the election committee to take control of what was becoming a shambles and to make sure that, like a proper election, there should have been a perda period.

Unfortunately, the people who first started the smear campaign made the wrong decision for the world of poetry. They have sent the message out to young poets that it is okay to cut corners, to smear your colleagues, comrades and friends with information that is not the proven truth.

 That is a very silly mistake to end a shambles of an election.

Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/25/ruth-padel-resigns-oxford-poetry-professor

More information is leaked from the Evening Standard on the 26/05/2009 by Robert Mendick and Peter Dominiczak: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23698409-details/Revealed:%20Ruth%20Padel%20s%20email%20that%20smeared%20her%20Nobel%20rival/article.do?expand=true#StartComments

Tags: Derek Walcott, Evening Standard, Oxford Professor of Poetry, Poetry, reputation, Ruth Padel resigns, The Guardian