At our meeting on 13 July Shaniqua Benjamin will talk about her writing and about being Croydon’s first poet laureate. Besides being an accomplished performer and poet, Shaniqua is a skilled consultant and facilitator, and it should be a very interesting meeting.
We will meet in our new regular venue, St Mildred’s Centre, and the meeting starts at 7.30
Our friends in the West, Sutton Writers, are celebrating their fortieth anniversary, and will launch a special Ruby Anthology as part of Carshalton Festival. The Book Launch is on 2nd July at 7:30pm to 8:30pm at Cryer Arts (39 High St, Carshalton SM5 3BB), in the Marquee at the back of the venue.
They have invited us to go along, and we will be represented: if you would like to be there too, please RSVP to suttonwriters@yahoo.com.
Nikki will host the Saturday morning meeting on 27 June. Meet in the Clocktower Café in Katharine Street at 10.30. Bring a short piece to read for feedback or just come and chat!
I have updated my list of current writing competitions…
After the unexpected and unseasonal heatwave last week, it’s nice to get back to more comfortable temperatures and enjoy writing without melting. The newsletter includes three pieces on the weather, as well as updates about our activities.
Here’s a thought which may spark an idea for your writing:
“Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?”.
Dodie Smith
Many thanks to David for a really informative and thought-provoking talk on the subject of telling true stories as fact or as fiction, using the example of Sarah Woodbine, a black nurse who trained and worked in Victorian Croydon. We came away feeling that with hard work and dedication anything is possible when you’re a writer! The meeting went very quickly and it was great to spend a little time writing our responses to a newspaper article.
David has provided an update on Sarah’s story – I’m afraid it’s a disheartening read.
My updated list.
Our first Saturday morning meeting was judged a great success, so we hope to make it a regular thing.
The second one was on 30 May. We met for a coffee and chat in the Clocktower Café in Katharine Street 10.30. Look out for news of the next Saturday meeting.
We enjoyed another lunchtime trip to the historic pub near London Bridge.
The George, owned by the National Trust, is London’s only surviving galleried pub, last rebuilt after the Great Fire. Dickens visited and mentioned it in his books.
Thanks to Stella for organising.
