Armistice Centenary

This year is the hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War. To mark the occasion, Somewhere Else Writers are broadcasting ‘Beyond the Pale’, a play which centres on  the effect of the War on ordinary people, both at the time of the conflict and the long shadow it cast over the rest of the twentieth century. The story is told chiefly through the medium of letters. Writer Iris Anne Lewis  was inspired to write this play by the Great Western Railway War Memorial at Paddington station. The dominant feature of the memorial is a large bronze statue of a British First World War soldier dressed in battle gear, wearing a helmet, woollen scarf, and a greatcoat draped over his shoulders. The soldier is looking down, reading a letter from home.

Letters to and from the battle fields were an important part of the war effort. Some, of course, were official letters but many were personal and vital in maintaining morale. Up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line. it took two days for a letter to reach the front. Its journey began at a specially built sorting depot at Regent’s Park. By the end of the War two billion letters and 114 million parcels had passed through it.

‘Beyond the Pale’ will be broadcast on Corinium Radio at 4.30pm on Sunday 28th October. If you miss the broadcast it will be available on Corinium Radio’s ‘Listen Again’ feature and in the ‘Broadcasts’ section of this website.

 

Stephen Connolly’s monologue ‘Nosferatu’, previously performed at the Gloucester Citizens event in Gloucester earlier in 2018, will be performed again at the Cockpit Theatre, London in November 2018.

Bashir Productions’ Creative Collisions is an industry showcase comprising monologues and scenes, written by a variety of wonderful up and coming writers and featuring colourful, dynamic characters. There will be two performances on Tuesday 27th November at 2pm and 7pm.

 

Somewhere Else Writers are heavily featured in the latest edition of Graffiti Magazine available now.

Graham Bruce Fletcher’s story ‘The Scent of Darkness’ won the short story section and the poem ‘A Ghost of a Girl’ by Iris Anne Lewis won the poetry competition. Clare Finnimore’s story ‘The Revenge of Chesil Beach’ was highly commended.

 

Two of our writers – Stephen Connolly and Graham Bruce Fletcher – have stories in the new Stroud Short Stories Anthology due to be launched on Friday 28 September between 7.00 and 10.00pm at the Ale House in John Street, Stroud, GL5 2HA.

The Anthology, which covers the last six, twice-yearly Stroud Short Story events, has 57 stories by 45 Gloucestershire authors. It runs to 254 pages and costs £10. The evening is free and unticketed.

More information, including how to reserve a copy and a full list of all 45 authors in the Anthology, is here.

 

Do tune into Corinium Radio on Thursday October 4th to hear a play inspired by Gloucestershire martyr William Tyndale.

‘Death in Flanders ‘ is written by chair of Somewhere Else Writers Frank McMahon and was inspired by a stop at the Tyndale Monument near Wootton-Under-Edge.

“Suddenly I remembered Melvyn Bragg’s TV documentary and a wonderful play by David Edgar, Written on the Heart, which has some very powerful scenes involving Tyndale. I decided that I must find out more and discovered a very detailed and moving biography by Professor Daniell.

“It revealed not just a story of the turbulence of the Reformation, religious intolerance, his exile and courage. It showed  both his prodigious scholarship and the way he used  the English language to make his translation of the Bible accessible and memorable. His work has had a profound  influence on our language. No Tyndale, no Shakespeare.”

Tyndale’s translation of the Bible into English fed the desire of ordinary people to improve their lives through reading and self-education. It is also argued that it fed the pressure for democracy and public discourse.

Tyndale was executed by strangulation and then burnt at the stake in 1536.

‘Death in Flanders’ will be broadcast at 6pm. If you miss the broadcast it will be available on Corinium Radio’s ‘Listen Again’  feature and in the ‘Broadcasts’ section of this website.

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How to sprint to the heart of a story was the theme of a flash fiction workshop led by American creative writing tutor Lisa Lutwyche for Somewhere Else Writers.

Poet, author, artist, playwright, and actor, Lisa has been published in anthologies and literary magazines across the US and in the UK, including Mad Poets Review, Falklands War Poetry, Minerva Rising, the cancer poetry project 2, In the Questions – Poetry By and About Strong Women, Fiction Vortex, and Riddled with Arrows. Her full-length poetry collection, A Difficult Animal, was published in 2016 by Saddle Road Press. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2000 and in 2015 for poetry, and has a short story nominated for inclusion in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 anthology.

Over a lively, two hour session Lisa discussed principles of writing including Aristotle’s principles of the dramatic arc.

Exposition & Inciting Incident
Rising Action
Climax/Turning Point
Falling Action
Resolution

The session also included practical exercises which left the group buzzing with ideas.

Lisa is currently an adjunct Professor of English at Cecil College in Maryland, at Delaware County Community College in Pennsylvania, and at Delaware Technical Community College in Wilmington, Delaware.

Somewhere Else chair Frank McMahon has just had a story, ‘Grace Notes’ accepted for publication by Scribble Magazine, Stow-in-the Wold.

He sat down slowly and deliberately on the wicker chair beside the bed. A wisp of vapour floated from the cup of blackcurrant tea which sat untouched on the bedside table. Silence seemed to gather from the corners of the room and hover above the counterpane.

A breath of wind stirred the curtains. A thin shaft of light illuminated the brown corduroy pattern of his trousers. He breathed out slowly.

His sister Flora had briefed him before he had arrived and made him repeat it after he had unpacked.

“This is the most important part, Marcus. If you don’t get it exactly right Mother will keep reminding you about it for the rest of the day. So, ready?”…

He has also had two poems accepted for publication. The first, ‘Shoes’ will feature in Persona Non Grata and ‘Universal Credit’ in Fly on the Wall.

 

Somewhere Else Writers are delighted to welcome Frank McMahon as their new chairman. Frank, who attributes membership of the group for a surge his own creativity, paid tribute to retiring chair Sophie Livingston for her work over the last three years. Sophie said: “I am thrilled that Frank has agreed to take on the role. The group has changed enormously over the six years since it was  founded and grown hugely more ambitious. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens next.”