Our next meeting......

Just in time to remind you about our next meeting which takes place on Tuesday 1st March - it seems impossible that March is here already!- The homework theme for the meeting is 'Wine', definitely the type you drink and not the moaning kind, so up to 1,000 words on the subject will be welcome.  Actual bottles of wine might be confiscated (haha).
We are hoping for a better turn out for this meeting so, fingers crossed we'll see you there.

Also below is news of the Words Magazine winners ...

Until Tuesday,

Keep Scribbling,

Dave

Winners announced!

The results of our short story competition which closed on December 31^st 2015 are now on our website at http://www.wordsmag.com/results15.htm

Issue number 88 of WORDS magazine will be published on March 10^th 2016 and will be available in the usual formats: (printed, online interactive and on Amazon Kindle) fromhttp://www.wordsmag.com/subscription.htm

Full details of our current short story competitions are athttp://www.wordsmag.com/compcal16.htm

Words Magazine

Website: www.wordsmag.com

Email: admin@wordsmag.com

You can order a free PDF copy at http://www.wordsmag.com/freecopy.htm
For help with your writing see: http://www.wordsmag.com/guides.htm
To buy our magazine on Amazon Kindle go to: http://www.wordsmag.com/amazon.htm

Or you can donate direct at http://www.justgiving.com/wordsmag

Felixstowe Book Festival news

We hope you enjoyed our week of guest blogging and poems from the wonderful Felixstowe Café Poets. Don’t forget to check them out at this year’s festival. Perhaps they’ve awakened a poetical interest in you? We have plenty of other poetry delights scheduled for June. One of these will be ‘Poetry and Pimms’ with dynamic live poet Hollie McNish. Hollie was on Woman’s Hour recently and it’s well worth a listen. On the topic of our 2016 festival, we’re very excited to say that our programmes have now been printed. We’ll be distributing them all over East Anglia over the next few months, but if you can’t wait to peruse the programme, then pop along to Felixstowe Library where they are kindly storing boxes and boxes of them!

2016 tickets go on sale on Monday 21st March but don’t forget that there are five events already on sale. Crimefans won’t want to miss out on acclaimed writing duo Nicci French and our domestic noir panel event ‘Home is Where the Hurt is…‘ with Ruth Dugdall, Julia Crouch and Elizabeth Haynes. Martin Newell and the Hosepipe Band promise an atmospheric mix of poetry, music and local legend. Perhaps you’ve been enjoying ‘The Real Marigold Hotel’ on the BBC recently? Don’t forget that we haveDeborah Moggach author of the book that inspired The Best exotic Marigold Hotel film joining us in June. The final early-bird event we have on sale is The Naked Shore with Tom Blass. Tom will be talking about his fascinating book all about the North Sea which was published in January.

Our Harry Potter Book Night held with Felixstowe Library was a sell-out success! The photos at the bottom of the post give a little taste of the fun we had. Looking ahead to our children’s authors booked in for June and we have Ruth Fitzgerald joining us for school workshops and a writing panel event. We’d just like to congratulate her on being nominated for a Laugh Out Loud Book Award – we have our fingers crossed for you!

Some of you may have seen wonderful local author Jeanette Hewitt at our ‘Meet the Indies’ event last year. We’re delighted that she is returning in 2016 to talk about her debut crime fiction novel. Last week Jeanette viewed the cover of her book for the first time, so we asked her for a little update about how things were progressing…

“I’m so thrilled with this cover (which is a big relief!) The cover is an actual photograph of one of the many abandoned buildings in Chernobyl. It’s haunting and eerie and exactly what I’d hoped for. The tagline that goes with the book is:

With no law enforcement willing to go into the Exclusion Zone, a spate of murders are going almost unnoticed…

The release will be within the next couple of weeks and I should be having a book launch at Stillwater Books in Felixstowe. I’m hoping for the launch to happen at the end of April to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and I’m hoping some local book lovers will be able to attend. Stillwater has some brochures and bookmarks about Exclusion Zone so if anyone were to pop into the shop they’ll be able to get them free of charge. But they may want to hurry…”

All this news is making us very excited for June! If we’ve well and truly whetted your Book Festival appetite then don’t forget that Essex Book Festival starts on February 29th and runs throughout March. One of our festival faves from last year, Damien Le Bas, is their Writer in Residence and there’s a whole host of excellent events to choose from.

Keeeep reading!

Hannah and the Festival Team

Meeting report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 16 February 2016

Present:  Dave, Barry, Liliane, Dick, Beryl, Richard, Cathy.
Apologies: Caz, Jeanette, Mairead, Jane, Hayley.

Business:
Our sympathies were extended to Mairead, who has suffered a bereavement, and didn’t feel able to come along.

We were all pleased that Barry was able to join us. It is his college half-term, so he had the evening free. We’ve missed him, and it was great to have him back, if only for one meeting.

Felixstowe Book Festival
Dave has been contacted by Ed Broom, who took part in the Scribblers Flash Fiction event at last year’s festival. Ed has offered to help with the Flash Fiction event this year if we would like him to – this met with approval from all present.
Cathy mentioned that Jeanette’s crime thriller, Exclusion Zone, is now available on Amazon.

Jack Wilkinson Trophy Competition
Although numbers for the meeting were low, we still had six entries for Beryl and Dick to read out, which they did admirably, as usual. We heard tales about everything from dinosaurs to child abduction – what imaginations we must all have!  

The voting was very close, but eventually Dave was able to announce that Dick was the winner with his dragon tale named ‘A heating problem’. Dick was amazed to come in at first place, but the story was delightful, and his win was well deserved.

Cathy took second place with ‘A family revelation’, with Richard in third with his poem ‘Hugh at the Zoo’.

The three remaining stories, all thoroughly enjoyable, were

Why the dinosaurs vanished, by Liliane

Hannah, by Barry

Danger on the beach, by Dave

All in all, an excellent meeting.

Next meeting:    Tuesday 1 March  – 1000 word stories with the theme ‘Wine’.


Ed: Caz was unable to attend due to a family accident.

A well deserved win...

This evening (Tuesday 16th) saw the staging of the Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy. Despite a low and disappointing attendance, the quality of the entries were sublime. For those who missed the event, they missed a very good meeting.

In the final count of votes there was a three story tie which would normally have been decided by Caz who was unable to attend because of a family accident. So a further vote was taken and the result was:

1st place. A Heating Problem by Dick.

In second place A Family Revelation by Cathy

In third place Hugh at the Zoo, a poem by Richard.

It was the closest competition for a long time with Dick just edging home. Congratulations to him! Well done everyone else and a big thank you to Beryl and Dick for again reading out the entries.

Dick receiving the trophy from the last holder, Cathy.

Our next meeting will be on 1st March with a 1,000 word homework assignment on "Wine".

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Jack's Memorial Trophy meeting.

Maybe this reminder is a day or two earlier than usual but with a competition for the Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy on Tuesday next, 16th February, you might just need the time to create your entry. The meeting will start at 7.30.

Here's a little reminder about Jack and the competition

Jack first attended a Scribblers meeting as an eight year old when he came along with his mother Caz who was unable to find a baby sitter for the evening. Far from being a nuisance as some had expected, Jack became a writer in his own right. Talented, fun loving and very, very courteous, there was never a time when he was anything less than an accepted member of our adult group.

Jack always ensured that he did his scribblers homework even if it meant coming in, laying on the floor and writing one of his fascinating and mature poems as the meeting progressed.

The group has been the poorer since Jack passed  in 2006 from cancer. A member for four years, he will never be forgotten by those who had the honour and pleasure of knowing him.

Here are the basic rules for this competition :

It is only open to attending members. 

The entry should be up to 1,000 words written for children or, alternatively, a story that has a child included as an integral character. 

Whenever possible, independent people will read out member's work. 

Members will  vote for their favourite work of the evening. 

When votes have been counted then the writer with the top marks will be awarded the trophy.

 In the event of a tie then Caz will have the casting vote. 

The trophy does not need engraving; instead the winner will receive a certificate for their achievement.

The Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy will be held twice yearly. 

Winners must undertake to return the trophy at the next staging of the competition.

Hope to see you there!

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave

Forthcoming events at the Library

Hello Friends of Felixstowe Library!

I have news of three film recordings of live productions which we are showing here at the library. 

Firstly, on Friday 11 March we have Vikings from the British Museum, a private view of the Vikings: Live and Legend exhibition.   
Watch the trailer here:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE9WO65dBU

Staged in 2014, it was the first major vikings exhibition at the museum in 30 years. Here the exhibition is brought to life by curator Gareth Williams and historians Bettany Hughes and Michael Wood, alongside experts on Viking ships, swords, burial, beliefs, language and legacy.  It includes demonstrations, stunning close-up photography of objects and a torch-lit 'burial' staged in the museum grounds.  I personally recommend this; it's well worth seeing. 

On Friday 8th April we will be showing another production from Shakespeare's Globe, performed last year: Antony and Cleopatra, starring Clive Wood and Eve Best. 

Find out more about the production here:

  http://onscreen.shakespearesglobe.com/productions/antony-and-cleopatra/

Cleopatra, the alluring Queen of Egypt, has bewitched the great Mark Antony, soldier, campaigner and now one of the three rulers of the Roman Empire.  His infatuation threatens to split the empire in two.

Then on Friday 20th May we will be showing our first musical:  Billy Elliot. (cert 15)
Filmed in September 2014 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London, this production stars Elliott Hanna, Deka Walmsley and Ruthie Henshall.
Set in a northern mining town during the 80s mining strike, this is the inspirational story of Billy Elliot, the young boy who discovers a passion for dance.  It features sensational dance and a score by Elton John.  Spectacular.

Tickets cost £7.50 for all events.  Doors open 6.30pm and the screening starts at 7pm. Tickets for previous productions have sold out  fast. Remember we have only 30 spaces for each event. If you would like me to put tickets aside for you to collect before the night let me know asap.

Best wishes

Debra Rowe
Library and Information Advisor

Felixstowe Library, Crescent Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 7BY
01394 694880

debra.rowe@suffolklibraries.co.uk
www.facebook.com/FelixstoweLibrary
www.suffolklibraries.co.uk

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SuffolkLibrary

Free Talk at Woodbridge

Waveney Author Group Meeting at 

Woodbridge Library, Wed, 17 Feb. 

at 10.30.

Hello Scribblers

 

The above group of 4 women authors 

are giving a talk entitled ‘Find out more 

about publishing (traditional and 

independent), at the invitation of 

Woodbridge Novelist Writers.

To book a FREE! place, contact 

Woodbridge Library: 01394 446510 

(no tickets required). Authors will have 

their books for sale.

 

Mavis Cuthbert

Woodbridge Novelist Writers

Ipswich Writers' Cafe

Here's a note from Ed (who helped us at last year's Book Festival) about the next Writers' Cafe.

Hi everyone, and I hope you're all keeping well.

Remember that crazy hot Writers' Cafe we did way back in July last year? It's been far too long since then so I propose to hold an impromptu winter edition as follows:

* Monday 22nd February, 7:30pm

* La Tour Cycle Cafe, 17 Tower Street, Ipswich IP1 3BE

In case you don't know that location, it's a relatively new locally run and independent cafe next to the Citizens Advice Bureau opposite St Mary le Tower church. To the rear you'll find a cosy back room full of chairs and sofas, and that's where we'll be.

Usual format. Bring something to read aloud for up to 5 minutes or just come along and enjoy the wide variety of writing. 

As ever, apologies for the short notice -- hopefully see you there? 

Ed

PS Please spread the word to ensure a decent turn-out. Thanks!

Creative Writing Break

Meeting report

Minutes of Meeting held 2^nd February 2016.

Present:  Dave, Mairead, Liliane, Jane, Beryl, Marc, Tony, Hayley, Cathy.

Apologies: Caz, Jeanette, Richard and Gerry

Business:

1.     Dave spoke briefly about the very pleasant meal that some of us had at The Orwell on 26 January. All agreed that the evening had been a success.

1.     Felixstowe Book Festival: Dave clarified the slots we have been given

o    Sunday: 10 – 10.30 in the Furneaux Suite, when we will be hosting ‘Start the day with a story’, giving readings of some of our work

o    Sunday:  4.30 – 6, again in the Furneaux Suite, where we will be hosting a Flash Fiction event, and giving readings of our work on the theme of ‘Felixstowe’ that we have committed to. Agreed to use an early April Scribblers’ meeting to discuss this theme again. Dave noted that those of us who are prepared/able to assist at the FBF need to put our names forward a.s.a.p, so cover for the two sessions can be planned.

o     The Orwell Writers’ League are to be allowed to share/borrow a section of Scribblers’ display board for their slot at the festival.

Flash Fiction exercise

We used to call this the four word creative writing exercise, but have now opted for the new, snappier title!

Those of us present duly selected our four words from the random selection we’d all contributed, then set about writing a story in thirty minutes. From the most unpromising word combinations we all managed to achieve complete stories, using all our words – what a triumph. As usual, a wide range of topics, all imaginatively covered.

Thanks

At the end of the evening, thanks as ever were given to Mairead for providing sweet treats. Dave and I proved to have the least will power of the entire group, but my, those mini doughnuts were just too good for us to resist!

Next meeting:    16 February  – 1000 word stories, either for or about children, for the Jack Wilkinson trophy.

The flash fiction meeting...

What a tremendous evening of entertainment... First the grimaces because of some of the drawn words before they were included  in a plethora of thirty minute short stories.

That was the time for writing, thirty minutes when the creative abilities of the Scribblers came to the fore. Each offering was  a complete short story and every one different from the rest.

These meetings bring out the best from our writers when comfort zones are tossed aside. Everyone agreed that these types of meetings are really good exercises and should continue.

Our next meeting will be The Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy on Tuesday 16th February.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling,

Don't forget...

... TONIGHT, Tuesday 2nd February, we are holding our flash fiction event for Scribblers, in The Room at The Top. Start time 7.30. Please bring four words each written on a small seperate slip of paper... then the 'fun' will begin!

Please remember to bring some writing material as you will need it!

Keep Scribbling!!!