My second year and another brilliant programme. Thank you committee and all who made it a wonderful week. See you next year!
My second year and another brilliant programme. Thank you committee and all who made it a wonderful week. See you next year!
Matt Black
More infoClose BoxFour poetry writing workshops to suit beginners as well as more experienced writers.
Session 1
The five senses, and making our writing real.
Session 2
Writing ourselves - playful and serious approaches to writing ourselves.
Session 3
Modern odes, praise poems and love poems.
Session 4
Poems of revenge, anger and joyfully hollow apologies.
Sessions will include warm-ups, example poems, practical exercises, practical tips and a warm and enjoyable atmosphere.
Matt writes poems for adults and children, enjoys reading and performing, and likes to be entertaining and thought-provoking. He is experienced in leading workshops in all sorts of situations and is currently Derbyshire Poet Laureate 2011-2013.
His collections are Swimmer (for adults),
His poems are published in magazines including Staple, The Rialto, The North and Magma. He has won awards and commissions, and has toured (with British Council and Arts Council support) in Germany, U.S.A., Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic. He enjoys working with artists and musicians. His poems for children are published in anthologies through Macmillan, OUP, Hodder and Stoughton and Scholastic.
He has set a World Record (unofficial) performing in 50 venues in 5 hours on a tandem bicycle. He invented the world's first Poetry Jukebox which he uses regularly at festivals and schools, and created (with Jonny White, sculptor) the Fanti-Elastical ZingZong Poetry Imagination Machine.
View Matt's website
Roy Devereux
More infoClose BoxThe 'syllabus' will include:
(i) the size and scope of the 'leisure magazine' market
(ii) how to get ideas and target suitable magazines
(iii) how to plan, write and submit the text
... and, on the 'pictures' side:
(iv) how to take pictures that sell
(v) principles of digital photography
(vi) editing pictures in a computer
Roy Devereux has been writing feature articles for national magazines for over 20 years. He cut his teeth on titles devoted to boats and boating and later moved on to travel, nostalgia and, most recently, Family History. Roy is an award-winning photographer and he illustrates his own articles. He has been coming to Swanwick for many years and has been a Course Leader on several occasions.
Steve Hartley
More infoClose BoxSession 1
Humour: We'll look at the importance of using humour for the 7+ age group, and how to inject a little fun into your writing.
Session 2
The tricky subject of gender differences: do they exist, and how does gender manifest itself in children's publishing? We'll look at how to write for boys,the importance of plot, pace and story structure.
Session 3
Series fiction .v. Stand Alone books: we'll discuss why series are so important in publishing and what makes a great series, how to keep an idea fresh and interesting over several books, and what pitfalls to avoid.
Session 4
Voice: let in the child. We'll look at how to eliminate the adult from your writing, and write from a kid's point of view. We'll examine the places where that nasty grown up can sneak into your story: character, dialogue and plot.
Steve Hartley is the author of the Danny Baker Record Breaker series published by Macmillan Children's Books. The World's Biggest Bogey was long-listed for the 2010 Waterstones' Book Prize. A brand new series will be published by Macmillan in 2013.
He has presented at numerous events throughout the UK and Ireland, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Northern Children's Book Festival, as well as dozens of other festival, school and library visits.
Born and bred in Manchester, he now lives in Lancashire with his wife and daughter. He shoots arrows for fun, and takes silliness very seriously.
View Steve's website
Alexa Radcliffe-Hart
More infoClose BoxWith a focus on literary novels, both contemporary and classic, you will be given the tools to find a new voice with which to craft your fiction. Lexi believes that to be a writer you must write, so the course takes a workshop basis from there on, allowing you to explore new ways of cracking into the contemporary literary world.
This four part course will provide you with background knowledge into literary fiction and the creation of the literary novel, allowing you to explore this genre further in your own time during your stay at Swanwick and beyond. Please come armed with pen or keyboard and most importantly an open mind: this should open up new characters and situations which you might have previously not thought of!
Alexa Radcliffe-Hart, known by most as Lexi, is part of the editing team at Dog Horn Publishing, heading up projects for Fruit Bruise Press, the literary side of Dog Horn. She also provides freelance editorial services and an irregular but passionate blog via her website, Services to Literature.
Lexi's love of the literary and experimental knows no bounds, she is on the constant search for new voices from emergent writers as much as established ones. She's been writing prose and poetry for as long as she could write and believes stories lead life intrinsically and all you have to do is scratch the surface and hunt until the characters pop out and the words begin to flow.
View Alexa's website
Our selection of specialist courses form the backbone of the Swanwick programme, running throughout the week. These in-depth courses provide the opportunity for you to learn more about your chosen subject and develop your skills over the four sessions. Choose your favourite from the selection opposite. You may find you are spoilt for choice.
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