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