Our Hint of History competition was won this time round by Joe Peters, pictured above with adjudicator Ken Ridley. Joe wrote a very moving piece about refugees in Eastern Prussia and the lies they were told by Hitler.
A box of old slides and photographs from her childhood in Rhodesia were the inspiration for runner up Claire Cox.
Alma Williams took third place with an account of one of her female ancestors who followed the man she loved all the way from Seacroft to Siberia!
Following the success of last year’s event, this will take place at The Golden Lion in Allhallowgate on Tuesday, 3rd July. This date will replace our usual fortnightly meeting and has been chosen to fall during Independent Booksellers’ Week.
There will be no admission charge for this event, which will begin at 7pm with the first reading at 7.30pm. Refreshments from the bar will be available throughout the evening.
Everyone is welcome, whether to read a piece of their own work or just to enjoy listening over a drink, so please spread the word.
Just in case the images are not clear, the items are as follows: a perpetual calendar, a torch, a sleeping mask, an incense burner, a box of sewing pins and a packet of Senna tablets.
All six objects are to be included in a story, not exceeding 600 words, to be read out at the next meeting (22nd May). Good luck!
Morag has received a grant from the Arvon Foundation to attend a workshop on writing for teenagers.
It will take place in August and we shall look forward to hearing all about it on her return.
Billy, we were led through a variety of exercises designed to dispel negative thoughts about our own capabilities as writers and then to explore previously uncharted parts of our brains for inspiration. We tried to avert our eyes from the coffin propped up in the archway!
Elizabeth B., Jan, Morag and Maggie travelled across to York for Defence against the Dark Arts, Nick David’s interpretation of how to overcome the dreaded writer’s block.
The well attended workshop in the upstairs room of the Brigantes Bar and Brasserie in Micklegate focussed on four main strategies to combat the block:
1. Past performance. You’ve done it before, so you can do it again.
2. Desire. What are you prepared to give up in order to concentrate on your writing?
3. Self belief. William Golding, one of only two British Nobel Prize winners for literature since WW2 – Winston Churchill was the other one – thought his writing not good enough!
4. Focus. Distractions are all around us.
It was a very enjoyable and useful session and we hope to see some of York Writers at one of our events in Ripon before too long.
Everyone is welcome to attend this event. Dr Xanthe Wells intends to cover ‘a variety of traditional and slightly more unusual ways of tapping into our creativity’.
Date: Saturday, 14th April
10.00 – 10.30 Arrival and coffee/tea.
10.30 – 12.30 Morning session
12.30 – 1-30 Break for lunch. Bring your own or take a five minute walk into town for a bite.
1.30 – 3.30 Afternoon session
Venue: Ripon Amateur Operatic Society’s hall on Water Skellgate.
Cost: £10
