..and isn’t that always the way. The Oct/Nov/Dec issue of Mslexia is currently being compiled, and the listings are beginning to come together (do get in touch if you have any events/competitions/calls for submissions/retreats/book groups/writing workshops/anything else writing-related you’d like listed! The deadline is 13 September). The 2011 Diary is still ticking along, too, and across-office busyness shows no sign of lifting just yet.
Still, there is always time to recommend a link or two, so that’s what I’m here to do. How’s about a writing workshop to whet your appetite? As usual our monthly workshops offer a great range of creative possibilities, and this month’s is all about finding ways to replace adjectives with interesting and sparkling alternatives. There’s also a specially-commissioned brand new workshop from last month still available, should you have missed it, entitled ‘Seven Ways to Seduce Your Muse.’ Great stuff.
Or, if you’d rather, why not try this blog, sourced and described by Lydia Wall-Laws, our current intern:
“Pimp My Novel is a charismatic blog written by a man working in the sales department of a publishing house, focusing on what happens to your work after it has been acquired. He blogs insider tips and news from the publishing world with a pithy sense of humour and also offers help on anyone wanting to write their own blog, including The 10 Commandments of Blogging.”
Sounds like serious and insightful fun to me. Enjoy!
Sophie xx
Deborah Kay Davies
I urge you to get hold of a copy of True Things About Me. I read it in one sitting and adored its deliciously dark and twisted pages. The author, Deborah Kay Davies was kind enough to send me one of her personal copies in the post as we have got to know each other over the last couple of years through sharing a publisher (Parthian Books) and reviews I have written about her work including the incredible Wales Book of the Year winning short story collection Grace, Tamar and Lazlo the Beautiful. Last night I attended the Cardiff launch of the novel, out now through Canongate, at Waterstone’s, The Hayes.
Upon arrival Deborah and her partner Norman were both delightful and arty kisses, well wishes and drinks were passed between us. Deborah looked stylish as ever in a shimmering, long mint green gown. The bookshop soon filled up to standing room only, packed with family, friends and fellow writers (Philip Gross, Jon Gower) and Norman took to the stage to introduce the star of the night.
Norman drew our attention to all the wonderful press True Things has been getting. Things like: ‘an interesting brutality’; ‘Memorable, troubling and surprisingly funny’; and ‘brilliance‘.
Deborah had chosen tamer extracts to read because her mother was coming and she didn’t want her loved ones to run from the room screaming ‘make the nasty woman stop’. Having seen her read a few times recently (Oxfam Bookjam, Camp Bestival) I am glad to hear other parts of the text come alive and the room glitters with giggles as we hear about bread beatings, cool dentists and children who like to watch. She reads with a mischievous twinkle in her eye somewhere between naughty child and minxy minx. Everyone warms to her.
Deborah tells us that the novel grew from a short story that was told in 13 true-things-about-me parts. As such it was essentially easy to turn into a novel, in that she knew how the story went, but difficult in that she found certain aspects of the process of writing longer pieces – matching up timelines, for example – boring. I’d have to agree with her on that aspect of composing long fiction! Still, difficulties aside, in True Things Deborah manages to make the novel of girl meets bad guy compellingly her own, brutal and brilliant, unnerving and unstoppable, funny and fantastic. It is based on a women that the writer knows who was engaged in a hot affair with a bad, bad man who told Deborah that she only continued with it because ‘he had a big cock.’ There are times the writer became uncertain of what she was doing, ‘About three quarters of the way through writing the novel I got a little unstuck. I thought that it wasn’t a very edifying story. I wasn’t writing a book that would be thought of as saying something new.’
So what spurred her on to complete it? ‘Canongate were going to pay me £10,000! I finished it in the 11 days because I knew I was going to get money. I just had to sit down and write and so I did. Any writers in this room, if you are the kind to need everything just so, and to sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. Stop the pussyfooting around and the grizzling and the hysterics. Stop reading Best Magazine and just get on with it. Or give up. Treat writing as a job. Sit down and do it and be confident and be happy that it is your job. I love being a writer in all its wonderful, energising, mysterious, surprising, horrible, sparkling ways.’ That’s told you. And me. I note-to-self to finish my own novel faster.
The last question of the evening, does Deborah ever write out of her comfort zone? ‘No I don’t ever write out of my comfort zone, I am always completely comfortable writing whatever I want and need to write.’ Norman chips in here, ‘In my opinion Deborah’s comfort zone has considerably wider range than most.’ We laugh and the chat wraps up with goodbyes and plans to catch up at my Cardiff launch the following month. I can’t wait for her next release, which she informed me is a series of 300 short pieces of sudden fiction and poetry charting the life of one girl and her disastrous marriage. I’m a big fan of the prosetry hybrid, and I’m a big fan of DKD. You should be too.
Deborah’s success reminds me of writers whose careers I follow, look up to, and hope to emanate in later life. Growing up I always wanted to be a journalist and a writer. I kept all my glossy magazines until a house fire destroyed them. I used to read Jackie and Just 17. Then, in the 90s, magazines like Minx, Select and The Face caught my eye and the writings of Polly Vernon and Miranda Sawyer. I’ve tracked their ladder climbing ever since. Polly to her current role as Deputy Editor of the Observer Magazine, and Miranda, who also ended up at the Observer as a feature writer, and who contributes to GQ, Vogue and The Guardian.
Similarly, in writing, it is the careers of Gwendoline Riley and literary pals like Rachel Trezise that I have tracked, but in Deborah’s work there are more mirrors. Her first collection of poetry, Things You Think I Don’t Know, was published by Parthian in 2006. I am currently working on mine. Her second book, also through Parthian was the award winning collection of short stories, and my debut short story collection launches through Parthian a fortnight tomorrow. Her third a novel with another much loved publishing house of mine, Canongate. I am working on a novel now. Will I finish it? Will I get an agent? Will I jump publishers? Will it make anywhere near the splash DKD is now? I don’t know, but I can hope, and I can certainly be glad that all the other women writers I love – women like DKD, Ali Smith, Maggie O’ Farrell, MJ Hyland, Mary Gaitskill, Alison Millar, Clare Allan, Fflur Dafydd, Jenn Ashworth and Caroline Bird – exist.
In other news…
Congratulations to Gill McEvoy who won Cinnamon Press’ birthday competition and a place on their autumn writing course. Gill’s winning poems will feature in their April 2011 anthology and 10 Cinnamon Press books each also go to runners up, Amanda Rackstraw and Karen Harvey.
Want something to do on Saturday 18th September (after a fantastic night out at my book launch in Swansea on the 17th, obviously)? I think that the upcoming Academi literary bus tour Lynette Roberts in Llanybri looks good. Dr John Pikoulis will lead a tour through the Carmarthenshire landscape of Lynette Roberts, one of Wales’ most significant 1940s poets and essayists.
Right. I best get preparing for my weekend. The promo for my book is going mad, with articles and interviews left, right and centre! I’m also, rather appropriately, reading extracts from The Art of Contraception at the Cardiff one-day festival Sex, Wales & Anarchy at the Coal Exchange on Saturday afternoon. Fun times!
Hiya!
First of all I’d like to apologise for how long it’s been since I posted any sort of update here. Things with the 2011 writer’s diary have been building up, and in fact are still ongoing, so that I haven’t had much time for typing. Still, the project is coming along nicely, and suffice to say that hopefully you’ll all be very pleased with the outcome when it comes out a bit later on in the year. It should be up on the website and available for preorder from October, so keep your eyes peeled – and keep in mind any writers you know who might need a bit of a creativity boosting present for 2011…
Despite my absence and radio silence, I have been keeping my own eyes open on t’interweb. There are a couple of discussions about sexism and favouritism in literature which I’ve come across that are worth a read. I know it’s a contentious issue, but there are still compelling arguments for the existence of a publication like Mslexia – and an award such as the Orange prize – as research by Mslexia shows (Agenda: ‘Revisiting the Reviews’ by Jane McKenzie – issue 44), and as Cath Bore suggests. Also, read Jodi Picoult talking in the Guardian about favouritism towards ‘white male literary darlings’. See what you think. Let yourself be enraged or fired into action, whatever your view. Sometimes it’s good to argue out a point.
If this is too inflammatory for a midweek post, how about attending one of these interactive exhibitions, as picked out by the Guardian’s gaming blog? I do love a bit of gaming, and though I have been known to get addicted to Pokémon, it’s the interesting concepts that really please me. How about a bit of Chime, for example; a musical take on Tetris that is ever-so-pleasing to the eyes and ears. Or Portal, a wonder of physics and the unreliable narrator. The funny thing about games, for me, is that I’m far more likely to get emotionally involved in a plotline if I’m the one who seems to be making it happen. Scary movies never actually scare me, and I can watch them at any time of night or day, alone or in groups; they might make me jump but I’ll happily turn the light off and sleep pleasantly afterwards. Give me a scary game to play, however – or even to watch someone play – and I’m often a quivering wreck. (If you’re into that, try Silent Hill, or Dead Space *shudder*) Needless to say, I don’t play many scary ones, but it does go to show how different my experience is with the story. Am I the only one?
Sophie xx
Susie and her tiger hat (Photo by Rosie Reed Gold)
I don’t know about you, but Summer is turning out to be pretty hectic for me. What with going to festivals as a journalist, going to festivals as a performer, editorial work and preparations for the Bright Young Things book launches, I’ve got very little time for working on The Novel or slobbing about watching iPlayer. Let alone ploughing through my review pile of books. I did make time to write a short poem that was selected by Bugged though, yay, and I thought I ought to make time to blog here because I have some Literary Wales news…
Cerys Matthews has joined the judging panel for this year’s Dylan Thomas Prize. We love Cerys. I was a big Catatonia fan back in the day, but it still never fails to impress me how much guys STILL love her. I was dancing in the same tent as Cerys at a recent Green Man festival and you could hear the sound of multiple jaws dropping when they spotted the teeny-waisted blonde. She’s like our Kylie. Add to this fact she has brains, has given lectures of Yeats and is writing a novel herself and it doesn’t seem such a strange choice as when I first heard about the news. Cerys is judging the all new Sony Reader Award for Unpublished Writers.
What else can I tell you? I went to see poetic pal Joe Dunthorne read in his
hometown (Swansea, also my locale) on 29 July. Lots of people and Joe’s Mum were at the Dylan Thomas Centre to hear him perform witty words from his recent Faber pamphlet. I love his dry humour and deadpan delivery, and the fact he reads the full, original version of one of my favourite poems, ‘Future Dating’ (which featured in the Valentine’s Edition of Five Dials): ‘we wear scrolling badges that display:/Name; Favourite thing; Emotional state./I am Joe; Money; Anxious,’ and includes the bit that Faber omitted: ‘“Keepin’ it old skool!” /– High five – /“LOL!”’ In the break Joe, just back from an amazing Latitude tells me that he has stopped signing his books the Faber way (crossing out his name on the title page, and signing above it) because somebody said it was pretentious and now he is embarrassed. In his second half he reads an Oulipo poem and is heckled. It amuses me no end and sends Joe off on a tangent story before returning to finishing the poem.
As for me, I ventured out of Wales and performed stories and poems at a friend’s fundraiser in Chalk Farm the other day. I wore my new favourite thing, a tiger hat (see above photo), and the audience laughed in all the right places, which was nice. I think I may also wear my tiger hat at Green Man festival next weekend, certainly for the performing poems on the Literature Tent stage part. My slot is on Sunday, with Patrick Jones and two of my female poet pals Mab Jones and Rhian Edwards. If you are there come along and say hello.
The proof copy of my short story collection The Art of Contraception is off being printed. I’m so excited about that. Even in typeset PDF it looks pretty. The first launch is at The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea on Friday 17 September. There will also be dates in Bangor, Aberystwyth, Cardiff and London. Visit www.brightyoungthings.info for more details as they come in, and feel free to come along to hear me read, buy a book and sup some wine. I’ve written the ‘How I Did It’ column for the next issue of Mslexia too.
And finally, some sad news. The Swansea novelist Iris Gower has died aged 75. Iris was the best-selling author of over 30 historical novels and was three-quarters of the way through writing another book, showing her passion for and dedication to writing stayed with her right to the end. RIP.
Ok so it is about time I introduced myself. I am an almost new member of the Mslexia team. I have been here just over a month now but haven’t come on here yet because I was well and truly thrown in the deep end dealing with the poetry competition. Well I have resurfaced, fresh and new and ready to tackle whatever’s next.
Well, it’s the diary, yes readers 2011 is looming over us already, reminding us of all the unkept promises we made as the hand stroked midnight on the 1st January. Well that’s how I feel, and I am not sure I want to talk to any of you who have had a productive year. It’s just too heartbreaking!
Anyhoo I have been endeavouring to find some interesting dates to put in next year’s diary; unfortunately my birthday was deemed not of sufficient importance to make the final cut. (In October please send presents to the normal address) There were some good ones, and some not so good ones. Here is the slush pile of days and observances the world has to offer but something tells me, just like my birthday, they will not make it onto the pages.
Feburary the 11th is supposedly Chocolate Day. As if we need a designated day for that?
July the 6th is International Kissing Day… If anyone has ever heard of a worse excuse to get out of a sexual harassment case then please let me know. I wasn’t forcing myself on anyone Justice, it’s ummm, errr, well it’s International Kissing Day!
As an admin assistant I think it is high time that Britain followed suit from the Americans and celebrated Administrative Professional’s Day. So if you’re reading this fellow colleagues, Vicky and I will be expecting our desks laden with gifts on April the 27th.
Finally I found another idea from across the pond, National Men’s Grooming Day. So Brillcream and aftershave at the ready gents because in 9 days time you have some impressions to make.
There are some even weirder days out there, if we were to celebrate them all no one would get any work done…but I’m sure there is a potential story in there somewhere.
Are there any other even more bizarre days that spring to mind?
Martha
..especially when there are many aspects of the administrative peculiarities of the poetry competition to complete! Don’t get me wrong, it is not I that is in charge, not by a long shot – the whole thing is being admirably coordinated by Vicky – but there are a lot of bits and pieces to do in order to ensure anonymity of the entries for the judges, and to make sure that every part of processing is completed as efficiently as possible… well, phewf! It is all winding down a bit now, though, so here I am taking a breath. Good luck if you’ve entered the competition: we can’t wait to witness the winners emerge from the administrative technicalities.
We have also started work on our 2011 Writer’s Diary (already! I know!) and so my perspective on the year we are in at the moment is starting to slip. Staring at year summaries for 2012, and working with the week-to-views of 2011, is enough to bring on 2010 anxiety; especially when writing down and typing dates is so important for administrative tasks. I have to keep reminding myself of which year is reality, but unfortunately that isn’t necessarily unusual…
How about an opportunity to help us keep the mind sharp? Bookhugger have launched a new scheme: Real Readers, which gives you the chance to read and review the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction books before they are published, as well as comment on cover designs and feedback on specific topics to publishers. Sounds like a reader’s dream job to me, but as if the work wasn’t its own reward, there will also be chances to ‘get books for friends and family, attend exclusive author events and share your thoughts with authors and publishers.’ Just send them your details on the online form to apply! Get to it!
Sophie xx
Caroline Bird
Happy Friday Ladies. In need of a new reading list? You can’t go far wrong with the third longlist for the now annual University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize; announced earlier this week. Rachel Trezise and Nam Le have taken the gong previously. Standards are high.
This year the seven-strong panel of judges chaired by Hay Literature Festival founder Peter Florence has selected 16 literary works, which includes poetry, novels and a play. The £30,000 prize is open to any published writer in the English language under the age of 30 and the 2010 longlisted writers span four continents with five hailing from the UK.
I’m over the moon for English poet Caroline Bird, now aged 23, who was shortlisted for the 2008 University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize, is once again in contention for the award with her third collection of poems, Watering Can (Carcanet). She has to be one of my favourite poets of the day — witty, acerbic and inventive. Multi-award winning New Zealander Eleanor Catton (The Rehearsal, Granta) and Desmond Elliott Prize winner Ali Shaw (The Girl With The Glass Feet, Atlantic Books) are also in the running.
The shortlist will be announced in September.
.jpg "How to Pour Madness into a Teacup")
Forward? Me?
Another good week for Cinnamon Press. How to Pour Madness into a Teacup by Abegail Morley has been short listed for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. The title has been a winner from the outset – first winning the Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award. The collection is described as ‘a compelling first collection from a poet whose exploration of mental illness is acutely observed, wry, poignant, dark and humane.’
With submissions beginning to pour in ahead of the Poetry Competition deadline on Monday, the volume of the Competition is currently amped up to a manageable (yet busy) seven. But within the space of a day this could easily be propelled to an oh-my-god-how-are-we-ever-going-to-process-all-these-poems ten. It’s fair to say, some hectic days lay ahead.
How do I (and Martha our admin saviour while Office Manager Helen is off on maternity leave) best prepare for an intimidating workload? Cinema. A couple of hours of mind-blowing (or even mindless) entertainment does wonders for the psyche. And we can only praise the film gods that Pixar have chosen now to release the third edition in one of my most adored franchises of all time – Toy Story 3.
When the Toy Story was released back in 1995 I was nine-years-old and knew nothing of CGI. I remember a huge buzz (pardon the pun) around the film that was tipped to change cinema forever. Immediately I disliked Toy Story and vowed never to see it. Irrational I know, but at nine I’d just really discovered film and now someone was telling me it was all going to be different from now on. Poppycock. I would have none of it.
Well things did change but it wasn’t the demolition of classic cinema convention I feared. In fact I came to realise that without Toy Story there would have been no Lord of the Rings, Finding Nemo or Avatar. A few years ago I gave in to overwhelming curiousity and finally watched Toy Story – it was brilliant, a classic, completely heartbreaking.
So now I can’t wait to get myself in that seat tonight. Popcorn in hand, 3D glasses on (although they leave sore red marks on my nose) and mind open, I’ll be waiting to be wowed. I’ve never not loved a Pixar film and am not ready to start now. A little over-excited? Yeah. But a bit of escapism will have me ready to face anything the Poetry Competition throws up. Anyone else feel the Buzz (I had to get it in again)? Let us know what you think of the film or anything else out there at the moment. Inception: brilliant or baffling?
Vicky x
Tyler Keevil
Terry Hetherington Awards
I returned to Swansea from my travels around the South West just in time to attend the third memorial evening for the late Neath writer Terry Hetherington on Wednesday 7 July. The evening, hosted by the Dylan Thomas Centre, saw readings and tributes from his friends, and doubled as the award night for the second Terry Hetherington Bursary to a promising young writer from Wales.
I went along to support my fellow Bright Young Thing Tyler Keevil (mid-Wales) who was granted Joint Second Place for his short story alongside the poetry of Anna Lewis (Cardiff). Team Parthian Books were all absent on their summer holidays, so it seemed only fair. Plus I really enjoy Tyler’s readings and it was a shame to have to wrap up the night early, all winners at the mercy of train timetables.
The judges, led by Terry’s long-time partner Aida Birch, were impressed by the quantity and quality of the entries. Jonathan Edwards of Newport took the First Prize of £1,000 for his quirky poems, while Ben James of Llanelli was Highly Commended. All winners performed their work in the second half, and were joined by last year’s winner, Rose Widlake, who spoke of how the bursary had helped her both with her confidence as a writer and with furthering her studies at university, and in funding a publishing course she planned to take after completing her degree.
The evening also saw the launch of the accompanying publication Cheval 3 featuring the bursary winners and other selected writing by and about Terry.
Oxfam Cymru Readathon 2010
One week later it was my turn to take to the stage. I had been asked to perform at the Oxfam Cymru Readathon in Milgi Lounge, Cardiff and I was happy to support their cause. This happiness gave way to intimidation and nerves when I saw the running order. It went like this:
6.30pm Philip Gross AKA this year’s winner of both the TS Eliot Prize and Wales Book of the Year
6.45pm Susie Wild
7.00pm Peter Finch, Head of Academi
The amazing line-up continued until 11pm without any breaks. It was immense. After seeing the line-up I opted to read prose instead of poetry. Philip gave a great performance reading from a selection of his work, including the two winning titles. He donated a pamphlet, a first edition of his first printed poems, and was every bit as down-to-earth as before his accolades. One of his students from Glamorgan University confided ‘he’s exactly the same performing as he is in class, he’s completely himself.’ It calmed my nerves unlike the bank of cameras and journalists lined up in front of the microphone. My turn. I read a couple of extracts of stories from The Art of Contraception as well as a piece of microfiction I’d written for the current issue of Buzz Magazine (page 50) based on Couvade Syndrome. It seemed to go down well. Peter Finch later commented on my FaceBook: ‘Susie Wild sounded like she knew what she was doing to me. An excellent performance.’ Thanking you.
The stellar cast of the evening also name-checked these wonders: Jo Verity, Patrick Jones, Alexandra Claire, David E. Oprava, Jon Gower, Deborah Kay Davies, Rhys Thomas, Matthew Scott, John Williams, Sule Rimi, and Rachel Trezise. After our performances we were all led up the garden shed, one-by-one to sit in the dark and be interviewed for Radio Cardiff, helping to illuminate the journalist’s questions by pressing the button on her mobile intermittently to make the light shine. See, such glamorous lives we lead.
Highlights of the night for me including performances by and chats with up-and-coming talent Alexandra Claire and my favourite woman writer in Wales, the ever stylish Deborah Kay Davies. A former contemporary dancer and choreographer, Alexandra began writing about five years ago and Parthian published her first, and then only, story. She discussed the difficulties of finding writing time as a working parent, as well as her first publishing accolades: ‘I’ve now had four short stories for adults published. I received an Academi New Writer’s Bursary award in 2007 and am now trying to get the urban science fiction novel I’ve written published – Random Walk.’ If the reading she gave from it is any indication, it shouldn’t be long before the novel is snapped up. Deborah Kay Davies immediately began a bubbly chat with me before realising she was soon due to take her turn, ushered into the Yurt by the Oxfam Bookfest crew. I followed, excited to hear the first extract from her new Canongate novel, True Things About Me. It was wonderful and I can’t wait for my copy of the book to arrive, Deborah assures me I won’t be waiting long. All-in-all a delightful evening.
In Chapters: Beaches
The next evening it was my turn to relax and enjoy other people’s performances at the fourth instalment of In Chapters, the music and spoken word collaborative evening hosted at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff by the writer John Williams and musician Richard James. Joined by my lovely creative writer tutor friend Briony, we were lucky enough to get seats, unlike the standing many, and be entertained by top Welsh talent, with all creative work thematically linked to the seaside.
As with all previous instalments, the standard of performance was high, but the number of women artists was low. A point of contention amidst the later bar chatters of many of the women writers in attendance in the audience. Still writer and folk musician Charlotte Greig performed a song, and Lindsey Leven also offered us some psychedelic pop in which she played seashells and was accompanied by a very beardy Guto Pryce (Super Furry Animals).
The rest of the evening was dominated by the male. Top Welsh-noir writer Rob Lewis reading from his second novel Swansea Terminal (on the eve of publication of his third and final in the crime trilogy, The Bank of the Black Sheep). Surfer Tom Anderson read about his experiences of waves at Cape Cod as documented in his book Chasing Dean, and John Williams read his own surf-themed extract featuring Porthcawl from his novel Cardiff Dead.
Others were more imaginative, writing new work fitting the theme specifically for the event, well done to the crazy dreams of Des Barry and the fantastic poetry and music collaborative performance between Richard James and ace Cardiff poet David E. Oprava.
Other than niggles about gender balance In Chapters utterly charmed Briony and I once again. More please.
Friday’s rolled around again offering a weekend of excitement, relaxation and – in the North East at least – lots of blustery gales. I’m planning on seeing Inception the first chance I get, and I’m also looking forward to listening to the new Kate Nash album on the strong recommendation of A Friend Who Knows. Plus, I’ll be reading Tana French’s new thriller, Faithful Place.
Any other downtime will be focused on my new favourite blog, hyperbole and a half, where oddities, delights and wonderful brain-ticklers such as the entertaining Alot and the Sneaky Hate Spiral await those who venture there.
Happy Friday everyone – and have a wonderful weekend!
