Poetry Comp Details

Yes, it's here again.  The annual poetry competition.  This time with the theme of STILL.  Closing date May 20th.  Adjudication June 24th, by John Gallas.  Get to it.

Short Story competition

It's competition time again.  The next one comes up fairly quickly with a closing date of March 18th.  So get scribbling.  It's to write a short story between 1000-2000 words on the theme of 'Metropolis'.  Adjudicator is Polly Tucket, and the result will be announced on April 15th.

Volunteers required...

Hi all.  On Saturday March 20th, De Montfort University is hosting an Independent Publishers Day, organised by Ross Bradshaw of Five Leaves Press.  LWC will have a stall there and we are looking for volunteers to help throughout the day, basically to advertise ourselves and hopefully draw in a few new members.  If you think you can lend an hour or more, drop Maxine a line.

Sally Vickers

Now that the snow has hopefully left us we can look forward to some interesting events in the months to come, not least the visit of novelist Sally Vickers on March 25th.  Entry free!  So encourage your friends.  Sally's first novel, Miss Garnet’s Angel, became an international word-of-mouth bestseller and a favourite among book clubs and reading groups. She now writes full time and lectures widely on many subjects, particularly the connections between, art, literature, psychology and religion. The acclaimed actress Dame Eileen Atkins will be reading Sally's latest book, Dancing Backwards on BBC Book at Bedtime, Spring 2010.

Getting Published

A new season, a new speaker. LWC kicks off its latest crop of events with a visit from Elizabeth Cochrane, a rights manager at London literary agency Greene and Heaton. She is also a freelance editorial consultant and has worked in the publishing industry since 2003. Elizabeth will speak about the reality of representation and the publishing process for writers, giving an insider’s view of the industry and offering honest advice about how to improve your chances of success.

This event is sponsored by Creative Leicestershire and is FREE to enter. 7-9pm. Thursday December 3rd. Leicester Adult Education College. Wellington Street, Leicester.

We wuz robbed!

Sadly, LWC did not win the best anthology category at the David St John Thomas awards today, held at the Society of Authors, in London. To make matters worse, we were beaten by a club with an unpronounceable name: Wingerworth Wordsmiths. Try saying that several times over, quickly. In the post-ceremony discussion, we were very much of the opinion that we did not lose on the quality of our writing, but more that our decision to publish a book of selected wordbites was not quite what the judges were looking for. Nevertheless, we all agreed that we would not have done the anthology any other way and therefore we lost nothing in defeat. Members will be pleased to know that a grand day out was had by all. It didn't rain, and we got a stroll through a bit of Hyde Park. We send our congratulations to the winners. It was genuinely a pleasure to see how excited they were to receive their cup. Maybe another year for us.

Reminder!

Don't forget that this Thursday, May 7th, David Belbin, Claire Tulloch and Dan Tunstall will be at the Club to talk about writing fiction for young adults. This is sponsored by the excellent Five Leaves Press. This is a FREE open evening. Bring a friend! Please note that the event begins at 7:30pm, to give time for people attending the BBC Writersroom event at DMU to arrive.