Category Archives: workshop

Shakespeare revisited

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Having recently launched the audiobook of Michelle Penn’s Paper Crusade, we thought we should share the launch videos from the print launch last year. The print version is in our current 10th Anniversary Sale – use the code ARA10JUN to get 50% off until 30th June.

Also, as it is 400 years since the publication of the first folio (folio400), on 21st June (Midsummer! Solstice! actual anniversary of publication of Paper Crusade!), we are revisiting Paper Crusade in company with With Paper for Feet, by Jennifer A McGowan, another poetry collection that takes Mr S’s work and gives them a shake. Odd that both our Shakespeare collection have Paper in the title, it wasn’t deliberate.

Join us at Keats House to hear readings by the authors from both books and take part in a sonnet workshop, if that’s your thing. (There will be cake and you can just come for the readings and celebrate midsummer with us if you want) free tickets

Val Regan singing workshop

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Out Aloud Choir under the direction of Val Reagan (photo Nelly Naylor)

25th November 12:45-17:15 St Hilda’s Church Hall, Courtrai Road, Crofton Park SE23 1NL
In preparation for our planned women’s vote centenary celebrations we’ve invited renowned chorus leader and song writer Val Regan down from Sheffield to run a singing workshop. Come and learn a mix of songs about women by Val and others.

Val has worked as a community musician since 1993. She leads choirs and singing workshops around the U.K. and Europe, plus a host of music-making, composition and theatre projects. She writes songs for community choirs, is published by Oxford University Press and firmly believes there is no such thing as a wrong note.

Come and spend an afternoon learning some great songs. The workshop will feature a new original song, Nasty, for feminists of all genders and none, plus an Icelandic gem and a traditional Sheffield carol.

a capella, 3-4 part harmony, not individual singing.

Everyone is welcome, no experience necessary taught by ear.

£25 includes refreshments, and access to recordings after the event.

advance booking essential! Book here now

Any profit we make from this workshop (after paying Val, and the hall hire) goes towards the running of this year’s Solstice Shorts Festival.

Coming up: Workshops for Writers

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Join us in South London in September for workshops for writers that aren’t about writing! (All workshops are being run only once, £12)

What’s on offer:

Performance for Writers – reading your work aloud is a near inevitable part of success. learn how to do it with conviction and have fun in the process. Lead by Katy Darby. Wednesday 7th September 2-4pm at The Albany, Deptford SE8. (max 20 places)

 

 

Marketing for writers (basic) – Not sure if you need a website or social media presence? Are you spending your time effectively online? Learn what your online priorities should be and how you can leverage your online presence to build on your writer profile. Lead by Yen Ooi
Saturday 24th September 11-1 pm at The Albany, Deptford SE8. (max 10 places)

Marketing for writers (Advanced) – Are you effectively leveraging your online presence to improve your writer profile? Do you know what your brand values are, what messages your want to promote, and the new audiences you want to reach? Lead by Yen Ooi.
Saturday 24th September 2-4pm at The Albany, Deptford SE8. (max 10 places)

Managing Media for Writers Once you get published, your publisher is going to want you to talk to the media if they have the slightest intention of selling your book (we do anyway!). This can be quite intimidating, and it’s easy to get cross with silly questions. Comedian and broadcaster Rosie Wilby will help you sort out what you want to say and how to handle tricky questions, and where to look if a camera is involved.
Friday 23rd September 2-4pm Canada Water Culture Space, SE16. (max 20 places)

BOOK HERE

 

Spread the Word Towersey Timetable

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For anyone coming to Towersey who wants to join us for snappy stories and sultry poems, or to try out our writing workshop, here are the details (you will also get an opportunity to buy copies of Arachne’s two new titles, Mosaic of Air by Cherry Potts and Weird Lies which includes a story by David McGrath, Hot off the Press!

Friday 23rd August 5pm: Lit in the Ceilidh:
Readings from David McGrath, Cherry Potts and Esther Poyer, plus Debs Newbold and Tom Banks, Compered by Paul ‘Shez’ Sherreard.

Friday 23rd August 6.30pm Spread the Word Workshop, the Hive
Join Paul,  Esther, Cherry and David for a writing workshop looking at voice – narrator, character and dialogue.

Saturday 24th August 6pm Spread the Word Workshop,the Hive
Join Paul,  Esther, Cherry and David for a writing workshop looking at voice – narrator, character and dialogue. (This is a repeat of the Friday workshop!)

Saturday 24th August 10:30 pm Spread the Word Night at the Hive
Two sets of readings from Cherry, Esther and David.

Sunday 25th August 10:15 am Words for Breakfast The Big Club
more different readings from Cherry Esther David and Tom

Sunday 25th August 3.30pm Lit Down the Village Hall
moredifferent  readings from Cherry, Esther, David, Tom and Paul.

Monday 26th August Lit Open Mic 7pm The Hive
Your chance to share your own work, compered by Paul ‘Shez’ Sherreard.

Arachne goes to Towersey

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Arachne Authors, Cherry Potts and David McGrath are performing at the Towersey Festival  (Near Thame, Oxfordshire) over the August Bank Holiday with Esther Poyer, Debs Newbold, Tom Banks and Paul Sherreard.

Friday: We are performing at Lit in the Ceilidh tent 17-17:45pm  and running a workshop 18:30-20:00 in the Hive

Saturday: We will be running a workshop 18:00-19:30 and (our big night) we are on stage at the Hive  22:30-00:30

Sunday: Words for Breakfast in the Big Club 10:15-11:00, and Lit Down the Village Hall 15:30-16:30

Thanks to Spread the Word for making this possible.

Arachne Press at the Keats Festival Writing Workshop

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Saturday 25th May 2013 10.30-1.30 £10
Keats House, Keats Grove, Hampstead NW3 2RR

Contact Keats House on 020 7332 3868, or email then at keatshouse@cityoflondon.gov.uk to book.

Bitter-Sweet

Scents and smells for character, atmosphere and inspiration

…what soft incense

(Keats)

Explore writing using all the senses, but particularly smell, with Cherry Potts, author of Mosaic of Air and Tales Told Before Cockcrow, editor of London Lies, Stations and Lovers’ Lies and owner of Arachne Press.

Bring a large notebook and lots of pens, and expect to write. Weather permitting a stroll about the garden may be included. If you have a scent that means a lot to you, (and it is portable) bring it with you!

Suitable for all levels of experience, and for fiction writers and poets.

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Outdoor Readings

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Anxious following of the weather forecast – Will it rain? Yes. Ok: but will it STOP raining? …ye-es… good. Will it stop raining in time?

Two missed messages on the phone from Rosalind: It’s raining, will it still happen? YES!

Phew, the met office accurate to the minute almost, and we’re off to a rather soggy MVMNT cafe, which until about an hour before we arrived was failing as an Ark. I wonder if awnings would help?

But it didn’t matter; the sun came out and we sat on our rain coats, and drank warming cups of tea, and listened to some excellent stories from Jarred McGinnis, Jim Minton, Lane Ashfeldt, and Me!

Jarred has a junkie desperate for photos of the child she’s about to give up –  I recognised the story, and asked: had it been performed at Liars’ League?
No, says he, nonchalantly, on Radio 4.

And to think how rarely we get to listen to a story on Radio 4 these days!

Jim’s story goes more for the laughs, with straying security dogs and workplace bullying revenged.

Lane’s story is a clash of cultures too close for comfort in shared space above a pub, igniting trouble.

My story you can read in London Lies, (available from all good bookshops very soon!!)  – it’s about getting the hell out of a job you hate, for all the right reasons.  Here’s a snippet before the problem with background noise overwhelmed the camera.

London Lies writers will be back at MVMNT on 12th September.