Category Archives: Hacked off – journalism issues

There is a lighthouse and it never goes out

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I’ve been so busy with my Sillitoe project for The Space that I haven’t had time to announce through this blog that I’ve since become the Chair of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio. One of the first thing’s I’d like to see is greater publicity for our members as some are signed to smaller publishers and so could do with additional help. Other members are simply very humble and could do with being reminded that they deserve the attention. Seeing your work reviewed in more publications as well as more coverage from local media is one way in which we can help out. It’s amazing how many writers are in denial, feeling that they are unworthy of such a weighty label.

Alison Moore is the most recent success story, who, perhaps, doesn’t need our help as she’s been shortlisted for the Booker, although her publisher Salt are a small press in the grand scheme of the publishing industry. I would imagine they’ve taken quite a gamble in pushing her novel (a gamble in the sense of money, not choice of author) which thankfully has paid off. The benefit for the studio is that we gain in prestige and reputation, something which is essential if we’re ever going to lure agents and big fish caught inside the loop of the M25.

Below is our first PRESS RELEASE to promote Alison Moore. On releasing it we were instantly contacted by another NWS member who pointed out we had missed Sarah Jackson off our list which I’ve added now. The fact that a member contacted us on behalf of someone else shows that the process is already working and that Nottingham has even more reason for celebration.             

“To celebrate the success of Nottingham Writers’ Studio member and Booker Prize nominee Alison Moore, we are urging the whole of Nottingham to show their support by reading her book The Lighthouse. But don’t just read it at home, read it out and about, on buses, in cafes, in pubs, the library, everywhere!

You are also encouraged to tweet your support on the eve of the Man Booker Prize judges’ announcement on 16th October, using the hashtag #booker. This could be photographs of people reading the book in public, comments about Alison’s debut novel, or simply a good luck message.

James Walker, NWS Chair, said, “2012 has been a fantastic year for members of the Studio. Jon McGregor won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Even the Dogs; Sarah Jackson has been nominated by readers for the Guardian First Book Award; the Alan Sillitoe Committee have their second Sillitoe Day on 27 October, where they will launch a Mobile App literary trail commissioned by the new multimedia platform The Space; Ian Douglas has been commissioned to write for the V&A Museum of Childhood exhibition; Michael Eaton has worked on various plays to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens; and now Alison Moore has been shortlisted for the Booker. It just goes to prove that publishing exists outside of the capital.”

Nottingham Writers Studio is committed to supporting and developing emerging and established writing talent in and around the city.

Twitter: @NWStudio

Twitter: @thespacelathe

 

 

LeftLion 49

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LeftLion 49 is out and it’s a right whopper, weighing in at a gigantic 56 pages. And before you start, there’s only 15 pages of adverts. That means 41 pages completely devoted to Nottingham culture. I dedicated the WriteLion page to Black History Month and ran with an interview with Kerry Young, whose debut novel Pao was nominated for the Costa as well as the East Midlands Book Award and examines the changing fortunes of Jamaica, which celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence this year. Kerry is yet another success from the NTU MA in Creative Writing which just goes to prove getting in debt can pay off now and then.

I ran with three mini features at the bottom of the page celebrating Black History Month. These were I is AnOther, an exhibition celebrating Jamaican identity at the New Art Exchange which takes its name from an Arthur Rimbaud poem; Mouthy Poets, an open collective of young people whose  latest production ‘Black T-Shirt Collection’ will be performed at the Playhouse on 9/10 November; Blackdrop who were celebrating their ninth birthday by returning back to their roots at the Canal House. It’s not really LeftLion style to be explicit or ‘right on’ with issues but I do think we should do more to support Black History Month.

Our illustrated poem was about Rosa Parks and written by Alex MotaMouf Young who I commissioned to rap about finding solitude in the digital age for The Space. We also included an interview with Andrew ‘MulletProofPoet’ Graves who was also commissioned for the Sillitoe Trail project on The Space. Andrew recently had his first poetry collection Citizen Kaned published by Crystal Creators and will also be hosting Sillitoe Evening at the Nottingham Contemporary on 27 October which will include music from Gaffa and Sleaford Mods. The fabulous photograph was taken by David Sillitoe.

Our Notts metro map went down a treat and is another example of something that should be pushed further through merchandising but sadly nothing will come of this because it never does. Maybe there’s a savvy business graduate out there who could get in contact and help us develop our somewhat stagnated business model. And don’t even get me started on the fact that we don’t have an App for the mag…

I had the privilege of interviewing Jon Ronson who is a big hero of mine. I met him at No Direction Home Festival in June and then arranged a phone interview. Jon is a genuinely lovely person and when I called him in September at his home in New York (80p per minute from a mobile or 8p per minute if you pay £2.80 for a phone deal in advance) he put me completely at rest. Given the topics he writes about it was a pretty easy interview as I was spoilt for choice. I was disappointed that there was only 100 or so people for his talk at the Broadway Cinema on 4 October which I think was down to the following reasons: It clashed with Goose Fair, it was at an odd time at 6pm and it wasn’t marketed very well (probably because sponsors Waterstones have just changed managers). Afterwards, Jon stayed behind signing copies of his books and insisting on having at least a five minute natter with everyone he met. If only all writers were as lovely. He absolutely loved the illustration and so I’m dedicating this issue to those people who make the magazine beautiful. Illustration wise it’s Adam Poole, Steve Larder and the one and only Rikki Marr, official Secret Wars champion of Britain, and of course our photoshop Jedi and designer, Becca Hibberd.