Our last two meetings have once again given members the opportunity to demonstrate their versatile writing skills. On 19th March we had the second of our five Writer of the Year competitions – this time for a historical short story of 2000 words maximum, set in an own choice period. Seventeen entries were received from members and the judge, Kay Green, will attend in mid-April with the results.
At our Manuscript Evening on 2nd April we were firstly entertained by member Amanda Giles, who read her cleverly crafted Catherine Cookson Cup entry entitled ‘Breath Control’, which had been awarded 2nd place in last year’s competition.
This was followed by Stephen Martin, Anne Spiring and John Cornelius each reading from their current works in progress for constructive feedback. The first two are working on children’s novels: Stephen read from the beginning of his gripping supernatural thriller, as yet untitled, whilst Anne read from the chapter ‘A Bad Day at School’ from her book ‘Alfie Jones and the Black Knight’ featuring time-travel adventures. In complete contrast, John read from his semi-autobiographical work ‘The Grottologist’ which is set in the early 70s. Lively discussion followed with some suggestions being put forward for consideration by the authors.
We still have some places available for our ‘Poetry Today’ half-day seminar on Saturday 28th April at the Southwater Community Centre. This will be led by poet and author Leslie Tate, who will look at the work of eight contemporary poets: Michael Donaghy, Sean O’Brien, Anne Stevenson, Derek Walcott, Don Paterson, Seamus Heaney, Les Murray and Geoffrey Hill. Cost is £7; students £5. Enquiries please to hastingswritersgroup@gmail.com or phone 01424 442471.
For more information about our group please visit hastingswriters.co.uk
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