End of Year Open Reading!

The final open reading night of this academic year will be held this Tuesday (May 1st) in the Frog and Fiddle. The fun kicks off at 7.30, and if previous events are anything to go by, you can expect readings that will impress, astonish, shock, titillate, and tickle your funny bone. It may be your last chance to get up on stage and strut your poetic (or prosaic?) stuff, so come along to join your fellow students and lecturers in what is sure to be an unpredictable evening.

Fundraiser for the Cotswold Listener

Join us for a fun post-Easter night out at the Cotswold Listener fundraiser on Tueday 24th. The Cotswold Listener is a free of charge talking newspaper for those who are visually impaired. Several University of Gloucestershire Creative Writing students and graduates have been involved with writing for or editing the paper. The fundraiser will feature live bands, comedy, and great prizes; and it’s only £2 entry. Come along and support this good cause at the Frog and Fiddle, 7:30pm on Tuesday 24th.

Tags: Cheltenham, Cotswold Listener, Lizzie Rogers, Local Events

Cheltenham Poetry Festival 2012

The second annual Cheltenham Poetry Festival will be running between the 18th and the 22nd April. This year the festival will feature nearly 100 performers over five days of spoken word and live literature events. The events take place at venues across the town: lots of the events are in pubs and lots of them are free! To check out the line up and to learn more, visit the Cheltenham Poetry Festival website. There are loads of interesting events but be sure not to miss University of Gloucestershire star Angela France, who ‘s appearing with Penelope Shuttle at Francis Close Hall on Friday 20th. The event starts at 6:30pm and tickets are £7/5.

Edited to add that we owe our apologies to another University of Gloucestershire star, Daniel Sluman, who also performed at the Cheltenham poetry festival on Friday night: Dan read to a packed room at the Exmouth Arms. Sorry!

 

Tags: Angela France, Cheltenham, Cheltenham Poetry Festival, Daniel Sluman, Local Events, Poetry, Publications and Performances

Call for submissions

A new quarterly publication, started by students at Oxford University, is appealing for contributions to be considered for publication in its first issue. They say:

The publication, which is internet-based, will run quarterly and be available either by yearly subscriptions or purchase of individual issues. It is our aim that the most popular stories will be published in a yearly anthology. We have also secured the help of a publisher who will aid us in creating an edition for Kindle which may be sold via Amazon.

The writers will retain all rights to their work, and the hope is that as the publication becomes established we will be able to provide a platform where talented young authors and industry professionals may establish contact and a base for future cooperation.

Each issue will contain three to five short stories of varying length, with an upper cap of 1500 words. We welcome submissions of all shapes and sizes (with the reservation that they don’t exceed the upper word limit) and from people from all subject areas and levels of experience. After the submission-deadline (31/5-2012) we will send the stories to our chosen artists and they will create the accompanying art. Submissions should be addressed to submissions@thestorygraph.com. We welcome queries of any sort, and such should be addressed to editor@thestorygraph.com.

Tags: Prose, Publishing Opportunities, Short Fiction

The Mansion’s Third Unbridled View

Those of you who are around over Easter may be interested in an upcoming event at the Parabola Arts Centre. Some of our Creative Writing students, third-years who are nearing the end of their course, are performing in a theatrical performance on April 12^th. The performance will tell a narrative through the interaction and movement of people on stage – and I, for one, am curious. They say:
Prepare for a very different theatrical experience. Unexpected and thought-provoking images, ravishing music including an operatic libretto assure a memorable evening from the Cheltenham-based performance group, Hand in Glove.

Whether you love innovative performance art, or (like me) have no frame of reference, come along and experience something different. The show starts at 7:30 and tickets are £10/8.

Tags: Cheltenham, Luke Op den Brouw, Parabola Arts Centre, Publications and Performances

Literary Prize Submission Call

Shakespeare and Company – the famous and long-established bookstore situated in the Latin Quarter of Paris – has just announced the 2012 Paris Literary Prize, which looks to be a whopping opportunity for up-and-coming authors.  The prizes are huge: a weekend stint in Paris for the top three entries, and 10,000 euros for the winner.  As you can imagine, competition will be fierce – though the field will be narrowed down somewhat by the criteria, as only authors who haven’t published a book can enter.  According to the guidelines:

The Shakespeare and Company independent bookstore in Paris has a long-standing tradition of opening its doors to aspiring writers. In keeping with that philosophy, the Paris Literary Prize is open to writers from around the world who have not yet published a book.

 

If you’re interested in joining the fray, full details are available on the official website: http://www.parisliteraryprize.org/

 

Space Newspaper – call for submissions

The University of Gloucestershire Students’ Union newspaper, Space, is inviting submissions of poetry and flash fiction for its next issue. The competition is open to all students at the University and it aims to find and showcase great student writing. The deadline for the next issue is midday on Wednesday 28th March. Flash fiction must be under 500 words. Poetry should be under 40 lines, although exceptions will be considered. There are no restrictions on forms. You can send your submissions or any questions to samkemp@connect.glos.ac.uk. This is an excellent opportunity for your work to reach a wide readership – good luck!

 

Tags: Competitions, Flash Fiction, Poetry, Prose, Publishing Opportunities, Sam Kemp, Short Fiction, Space