Poetry Masterclass in Gorleston

We all agreed that the Poetry Masterclass with Julia Webb was very enjoyable and has given us all some great ideas for the future. Here is the group at the Library 

POET JULIA WEBB DELIVERS MASTERCLASS IN GORLESTON

Julia Webb is delivering a masterclass in poetry to the Gorleston Rural Writes group and she is hoping to tease some autobiographical poetry out of the women. The workshop is generously supported by the Norfolk Arts  Project Fund and will be held in Gorleston Library, another partner in the community writing project. Julia is an experienced tutor, her latest collection reviewed below, is a beautifully moving and complex series of revelations.

Bird Sisters is a quest to understand the tangle of family and especially the river of a relationship that runs between siblings.  It is a brave book, a tense, personal evocation of life in a family overshadowed by the rule of a ‘Sun Father’, and his punitive severity blighting the lives of the children – and the shadowy orbit of ‘Moon Mother.’ Webb conjures childhood memories into enchanted, surreal motifs that fuse with the authentic detail of the everyday.  We are carried through the universe, only to land in a snatched sexual encounter outside the chicken abattoir, which twists into a mythical transformation.

To me, as a reader, I found the prose poems, the accounts of things that happened at home, compelling, like The Piano Lesson – (refused by Daddy), Lent and Rain.  This is a world of slights, longings and cruelties, darkness and difficulty, spiky, complex relationships, and acts, however small, of a rebellion and resilience.  There are wonderful images, ‘Her mother darns the window.’  - ‘Like a baby dandled on the knee of the sea.’ And lines that completely twine the natural world, the local, regional, recognizable world into the being of the characters that populate this collection – ‘you send your snaggle fingers down/into Breckland’s thin soil/snare rabbits in the net of your tresses.’ (From the Same Cloth).

This is an intriguing book, myth and miasma, real and sobering, as if the writer is still puzzling it all out.  A great read.

Bird Sisters, Julia Webb, Nine Arches Press, 2016.

Belona Greenwood

Words and Women

Still going strong in Gorleston

Hi, I'm Hilary the administrator of the Blog for the Gorleston Rural Writes group.

For your information, we meet every fortnight at Gorleston Library. Our next meeting will be on 31st January when Julia Webb will be giving a Masterclass in Poetry. The group are very much looking forward to this and to prepare, we are each composing a poem to be read on the day of Julia's visit. We have moved our original meeting date of 24th January to accommodate Julia's visit so our next meeting after 31st will be 7th February and every fortnight after that.

All our work this term is focused on Women of Norfolk to celebrate International Women's Day on 8th March. Our aim is to have enough material to produce a small book of prose and poetry later in the year. As we no longer have the services of Bel or the editing skills of Lynne in our armoury, we would like to call on our opposite numbers in both Swaffham and Watton to become our 'critical friends'! We are happy to return the favour too!

Over the next few weeks, we will be posting some of our work on the blog and would appreciate feedback from members of the other Rural Writes groups ( or indeed Bel if you want to contribute!). 

If the administrators of the other groups would like to contact me you should already have my email as I sent it to you before Christmas, if not, Bel has it and I am sure will forward to you.

Meanwhile, let's make sure that we keep the flag flying for Norfolk Women Writers!

Hello

Hi everyone at Rural Writes. Hilary here. Just testing

RURAL WRITES WRAPS UP THE YEAR WITH A CHRISTMAS WISH

The run up to Christmas has been busy for the Rural Writes groups - after the launches, all the groups have continued to meet and write - Swaffham has had a visit from poet and short story writer Kathryn Simmonds who delivered their first masterclass thanks to funding from Norfolk's Arts Project Fund with more masterclasses scheduled for January and February.

The beautiful book, Gull Stones and Cuckoos can be borrowed from every library in Norfolk now...but is also available to buy - and what better Christmas present than a copy stuffed into a stocking for friends and family.  This is a book of life writing and a social history document bringing contemporary country life to the fore.

Below is a very long link but click on it and it will take you to where you can order the book online!










https://wordery.com/gull-stones-and-cuckoos-lynne-bryan-9781910061411?cTrk=MzI2OTc1Nzl8NTg0ZWQ1ZWRiNjE1YToxOjE6NTg0ZWQ1ZDdmMzQyODguNDczMTk1Mjg6YjJhMTcyNGU%3D

Keep watching this blog for new writing in the new year.

OUR LOVELY LAUNCHES...

It's official and it's out! Gull Stones and Cuckoos has been launched at events in Watton, Gorleston and Swaffham, hosted by the three local libraries.  Here are some of the readers.

WATTON

M.C. Gardner at Watton

Jayne Winterbone

Nichola Lovell

Gill Ashton

It has always been a special project and the launch events just seemed to bring out the unique warmth and supportive ethos of the groups even more.  The community librarians supporting Rural Writes have been marvellous, especially Kathryn Jennings who oversaw both Watton and Swaffham - but everyone involved in the project has given time, energy and goodwill. This project has been generously supported by the Arts Council and Norfolk County Council.  This project illustrates how creative libraries are, how critical they can be for creating material change in the heart of rural communities. Women have discovered new things about themselves, developed their skills, made new and lasting friendships and had that adventure of writing and publication.

GORLESTON

Hilary Hanbury at Gorleton

Jane Rudd

Our first launch was in a very well-attended Watton - just as many of the women were first time writers, almost all of the writers had never read in public before  either - but it would have been hard to tell.  Gorleston brought in some surprise audience members mesmerised by what was going on next door to their meeting, Swaffham was packed.  It was really inspiring.  It takes courage to write about your life and then read it publicly and so our Rural Writes women are all brave. The proceeds from the sale of books will all go back to the libraries to continue to support the women's groups. 

The book is out but this isn't the end of the project - the beauty of the experience lies in the continued existence of the groups, all of which are continuing to meet, all the women are continuing to write and their first masterclasses with a poet and novelist will start in November and early December. Their work will feature on this blog over the coming year.  Please come back and read their words. 

Cynthia Gallogo

Lyn McKinney

SWAFFHAM

Julia Howarth

Leah Spencer

Jurgita Stipiniene

Camilla Balshaw

Katrina Stockdale

Charlie Dearden

Larie Danson

Rhonda Peake

Text of the press release going out about our lovely launches...

NORFOLK LIBRARIES AND WORDS AND WOMEN LAUNCH GULL STONES AND CUCKOOS – A BOOK OF CONTEMPORARY RURAL LIFE WRITING.

An anthology of compelling and passionate stories, Gull Stones and Cuckoos is to be launched in three local libraries in Norfolk this October; celebrating the results of a unique creative opportunity for women living in rural and coastal communities.

The anthology has grown out of Rural Writes, a partnership between Norfolk Library and Information Service and Words and Women supported by Arts Council England. Women of all ages and backgrounds from Gorleston, Watton and Swaffham were invited to attend 10 weeks of life-writing sessions in their local libraries led by two professional writers, Belona Greenwood, co-organiser of Words and Women and award-winning poet, Heidi Williamson.

The result, illustrated by Rose Cowan and edited by Lynne Bryan and Belona Greenwood is a bold, honest and vivid narrative of local lives. Published by Unthank Books, it tells of lost halls, early morning walks, stillness, fairy-light skies, telescopes on allotments, the loneliness of grief and the adventure of new places in rural Norfolk. The writers in this book are new to writing but their stories and observations are compellingly authentic.

The collection will be available to borrow from all Norfolk's libraries and to buy. 

‘This project shows how vital libraries are in bringing communities and people together.  The women who joined were strangers until they signed up to try their hand at writing. They have made friends, supported and inspired each other. The book itself, is fantastic but the fact the women’s writing groups are continuing is enormously important and heart-warming’ said Belona Greenwood from Words and Women

The book launches will take place in Watton Library at 6.00 pm on October 26^th, Gorleston Library, 6.30 pm on the 27^th and Swaffham Library, 6.30 pm on the 28^th,

Rural Writes doesn’t end with the book, all three writing groups continue to meet in their local libraries and to post on the Rural Writes blog.

www.ruralwrites.blogspot.co.uk