Another success for Jim Moeller, whose short story ‘Excepting February Alone’ has just been shortlisted for the Evesham Festival of Words short story competition. The overall winner will be announced by Katie Fforde on July 1st. Further details of the festival are available here.
Swindon Literary Festival
A lively evening is promised at the acclaimed Swindon Festival of Literature on Wednesday 4th May, when Iris Anne Lewis, will be reading work inspired by old 78rpm records.
Iris, along with other local writers, will be taking part in an evening hosted by Hilda Sheehan and Mike Pringle, featuring music from the 78rpm records as well as poems, stories and other writings.
Come and enjoy an entertaining evening at Swindon Central Library, 7.30pm – 9pm, Wednesday 4th May. *Free* Website here
Laurence Marks Visit
Laurence Marks – one half of the most successful comedy writing duos the UK has ever produced – invited members to the recording of his sitcom ‘Birds of a Feather’ at Pinewood Studios after visiting the group last summer (August 2015).
Marks, with his co-writer and childhood friend Maurice Gran, has been responsible for some of the most popular TV sitcoms in the last 35 years, including ‘Shine on Harvey Moon,’ ‘The New Statesman’ and ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’.
He spoke of his long career, including his time as a reporter for the Tottenham Weekly Herald, and the chance meeting with writer and presenter Barry Took which led to the two friends working for comedy legend Frankie Howerd.
He also gave some invaluable insights into breaking into the business. The duo’s theatre work includes ‘Dreamboats and Petticoats’ and ‘Save The Last Dance For Me.’
Their website can be found here
Stage Writing Workshop
The amazing Jarek Adams led a stage-writing workshop for Somewhere ElseWriters on 9th March.
For the last 20 years Jarek has earned her living as a writer and performer of theatre in education projects, creative writing tutor and novelist. Her latest project, ‘The Secret Life of Dads’, a play for families with live music, is being staged at Gloucester Guildhall throughout August and ‘The Mysterious Gentleman, a play about the Victorian magician John Maskelyne can be seen at The Playhouse, Cheltenham from Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th May.
Eerie Evenings in Stroud
In November 2015 members Graham Bruce Fletcher and Stephen Connolly came up trumps in the Stroud Short Story competition. Their stories were among the top ten chosen – there are no outright winners. They read them to a packed house at an “Eerie Evening” at the Stroud Valley’s Artspace.
See the Stroud Short Stories website for more details.
Cheltenham Literary Festival
Somewhere Else members Iris Lewis and Jim Moeller were invited to read at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October 2015 following their success in the annual Gloucestershire Writers Network competition. Jim was runner up in the short story section with his story ‘Taking Tea with the Natives’. Iris was runner up in the poetry section with ‘Woodland Burial’. Their works also appeared in the GWN Anthology.
Somewhere Else Writers Group 