Members of Somewhere Else Writers attended an evening of dramatic monologues in Cheltenham this week to raise awareness and funds for abused women.

The V-Day event, coordinated by University of Gloucestershire lecturer in dramatic writing, Senja Andrejevic-Bullock, featured work by some of the biggest names in contemporary literature and drama, including Maya Angelou. They were performed by students at the university.

V-Day is a global campaign founded by Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, to help stop violence against women. Money raised from the event will go to Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service. After the event, service manager Sally Morrissey spoke inspiringly about the need for greater understanding of the psychology of abuse.

We’ve just finished recording the final episode of our soap opera The Inn on The Green. At the moment there are no plans to do more – but who knows? We have lot of new members with new ideas – and there’s been a suggestion that a body might be discovered in the walls of the pub– so watch this space.

Thanks go to Selwyn Morgan who steered our sometimes leaky ship to harbour. He made it look easy, when we all know it was not – and to Corinium Radio who provided us with a safe space to experiment and learn from our mistakes.

We have learnt huge amounts about writing radio scripts, grown in confidence when performing and – perhaps most importantly – laughed – and learnt not to be too precious about it all.

Episode six is due to be broadcast on Corinium Radio at 4.30pm on Sunday February 25th. If you miss it you can catch up, along with earlier episodes, on this website.

Episode 5 of The Inn on the Green is now available here!

Stephen Connolly’s ‘The Destiny of Shoes’ is one of a number of scripts that will be produced by York-based Off the Rock productions in 2018.

Off the Rock will be recording the selected plays throughout the year for their Sound Waves series but rehearsal and recording dates are still to be confirmed.

Following the success of Climbing the Mast, her collection of short stories and poems, Somewhere Else Associate member, Bridget Arregger has published her first novel Switching Switching, using Lulu.com, a printing service that costs only the price of a copy. Material must be in the correct format ready for printing and authors need to do all their own editing and marketing. Copies are printed on demand and can be made available on Lulu.com, Amazon and other websites.

Bridget loves to write speculative fiction, which includes fantasy and science fiction, and delves into themes of gender and transgender identity, sexual orientation, love and marriage.

Switching Switching was inspired by Bridget’s own struggles with combining a career with being wife and mother and explores the extent to which personal success is due to circumstances or individual attributes. She is hoping it will be adopted as a Reading Group favourite as it is proving to be a ‘love it or hate it’ book and provokes lively discussion.

Switching Switching is now on sale from Lulu.com at £9.50.

Stephen Connolly’s short story ‘Four Funerals and a Wedding’ has been accepted for publication in Scottish Literary magazine Far Off Places. The as yet untitled issue will appear later in 2018 and will be the last print edition before the magazine switches to online and podcast formats.

Stephen’s short short story ‘Fairy Tale Ending’ appeared in the very first issue of Far Off Places, Fairy Tales Retold, published in March 2013.

Somewhere Else Writers’ newest member, Frank McMahon, has had several poems  published in the past few weeks.

Five poems: I am a citizen; Shoes; Berlin 1933; Times like these and Universal Credit were published  on-line by Reuben Woolley’s ‘I am not a silent poet’ website. The site was set up to give poets an opportunity to protest about abuse and injustice.

Shoes and Berlin 1933 were inspired by a summer trip to Budapest and Berlin and to sites where hatred and intolerance were unleashed. The other poems come from deep concerns that our country is turning its back on the world and making it acceptable to hurt the most vulnerable people in society.

Universal Credit opens:

Learn this lesson: assume the supplicant’s
position, low before the arbiter.
Hang your petition on the ox’s horn and
pray as it turns and plods inside the keep.
Forty two days in the wilderness.

Two other poems: Sourdough and Evolution are published  in the latest edition of  ‘The Cannon’s Mouth’.

Three of Sophie Livingston’s stories have been sold to Woman’s Weekly magazine. ‘The Makeover’ is in the January 2018 edition of the magazine’s ‘Fiction Special’ and a further two stories: ‘Mavis Tank’ and ‘White Horses’ are due to appear later in the year.

The magazine was founded in 1911 to appeal to the growing class of office-employed women who sought a magazine for reading on their daily commute by train, tram and bus. It has a circulation of just under 300,000.