Puppet Live Action Film, Directed and Produced by NWS member Marcus Clarke of Hands Up Productions Limited and entitled, ‘Clayfields House Film’ has won a Koestler Award. The film was made by Marcus with only the help of the young people and staff of Clayfields House Secure Children’s Home in Nottinghamshire

Artform
‘Off-the-Cuff Speaking’

Award
Writers in Prison Network, Under 18’s Special Award

Office to Rent: Private office (large) to rent at NWS £125 per month from 01 November 2009. Lovely location in Lace Market with access to NWS facilities. Sharing might be possible.
Hot Desk Deal: BOGOF on Hotdesking at NWS for all of September – this means a full day is now only £3.50 per day if you book two days! What are you waiting for?!
For more information please call (0115) 9597947 (Messages left after 04/09 will be replied to after September 14th)

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS! WORD OF MOUTH Nicola Monaghan is curating the next Word of Mouth, to take place on November 11th. She would particularly like to hear from new voices in the studio and people who haven’t performed before at this event, but submissions of recent work from past contributors will also be very welcome. We’re planning to have mulled wine and an autumn/winter feel to the evening, so some pieces that explore this kind of theme would be very welcome, although that isn’t at all a requirement of submissions. Please send your pieces, maximum 15 minutes when read aloud, to Aly Stoneman at nottinghamwritersstudio@gmail.com by Friday 25 September 2009. Aside from gaining critical feedback from Nicola Monaghan, we have lots of exciting opportunities for the people whose work is selected, including the opportunity to have work performed by Royal Company actors, free training by a professional actor at the Royal Centre for those who would like to read their own work and the possibility of your work being featured in local media including radio and podcasts. WOM will also be featured as a podcast on our shiny new NWS Website (due to be launched in October!) with links from our Facebook site, so your work will have a global reach! For new members and those who haven’t attended yet, Word of Mouth is an evening of spoken word run by Nottingham Writers’ Studio upstairs at The Royal Centre in Nottingham (next to The Royal Concert Hall.) There is a tram stop right next to the building (the Theatre Royal stop) so you can always park at the Forest park and ride if you’re from out of town. The evening includes a 15 minute interval and is very friendly. We usually have between six to eight writers reading – work can range from poetry to script, short stories, extracts from forth-coming novels or even journals or academic essays and reviews. New writing is preferred. The curator will also read – on this occasion Nicola will read from her novel-in-progress Blind, Following - something of a coup as it is not yet published.  The event is open to the public and we are keen to attract a larger audience so even if you don’t wish to submit, do come along and enjoy the performances and social evening – you never know who you might meet! Please send your pieces, maximum 15 minutes when read aloud, to Aly Stoneman at nottinghamwritersstudio@gmail.com by Friday 25 September 2009.

The 10th Annual Lowdham book festival was a fantastic event this year and we now have some photos from the event which you can link to from Facebook:

http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=701542&l=f1dffa6e9b&id=1197021327

If you aren’t friends already – join us for updates on events, photo’s etc!

http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1197021327&ref=name

Word of Mouth in July was a great platform for some really interesting writing, so thanks to Michael Eaton who kindly curated the event and to everyone who took part.
Full review of the event in LeftLion Magazine Online: http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm?id=2610 

Back in July we had a fantastic evening with independent publisher Ian Collinson (Weathervane Press) and Graphic Designer/Novelist/New College Nottingham Course Leader Richard Johnson discussing Self Publishing and alternative routes into publishing, including online opportunities. I have finally managed to upload this file onto DivShare so if you click on the link below or copy it into your browser it will take you through to the podcast which is around 1.5 hours long. With Div share you need to wait for the play icon to pop up on the screen and then click on that for the podcast to start. It can also be accessed from the NWS website – Blog page.

Long term supporter of NWS, LeftLion Magazine, have just produced their first podcast called WriteLion. This is a spoken word related podcast that intends to promote all facets of the written word. The first podcast includes screenwriter Jamie Rhodes, poetry from up-and-coming members of the LeftLion creative writing forum and Rosie Gardner, Michelle ‘mother’ Hubbard and Louise Ashley reading their winning entries to the Nottingham Poetry Society competition.  If you want to be interviewed, promote your work or have information you wish to share please contact James Walker at books@leftlion.co.uk
You can hear the podcast at http://www.leftlion.co.uk/audio.cfm/id/37

OPPORTUNITIES/ SUBMISSIONS
SUBMISSIONS FOR NOTTINGHAM POETRY SERIES
Submissions are invited for Nottingham Poetry Series, which holds three juried readings a year, each featuring one invited reader and two chosen from a pool of submitted work.  We invite submissions from poets for our October reading with George Szirtes (http://www.georgeszirtes.co.uk/).  Please feel free to forward this information.
When to submit:
Submissions for the reading on October 22nd, 2009 (with George Szirtes) are open August 10-September 4, inclusive.
Response times:
Authors of successful submissions will be notified during the week following the last day of the submission period. We regret that due to the volume of submissions we are unable to notify unsuccessful applicants.
How to submit:
Submit via email only to submissions@nottinghampoetryseries.com
Submissions may include up to eight poems as a single Microsoft Word document. Put your name, email address, postal address, and telephone number, as well as the titles of all submitted poems, on a cover sheet. Do not include your name on any of the poems. A covering letter, including any relevant publications, is optional.
What we’re looking for:
The Nottingham Poetry Series aims to offer the public well-crafted, exciting, challenging poetry that is effective on and off the page, read by poets whose presence is commanding, open, and generous.
You can, as always, find out more about the Poetry Series, the readings, and ways to get involved at http://www.nottinghampoetryseries.com. The submissions information page is http://nottinghampoetryseries.com/submissions.html .
NOTTINGHAM POETRY SERIES are also organising LINES FOR THE CITY, a Nottingham-based poetry reading initiative presented by the Nottingham Poetry Series and Nottingham City Libraries, which will run from August through October.  Like the Big Read in U.S. cities (where each city chooses a book which is then made available for general reading through the libraries, which facilitate reading discussion groups and other events), Lines for the City is intended to promote the reading and discussion of poetry in Nottingham. Lines for the City has designated Melissa Kwasny’s book Reading Novalis in Montana as the first book in the program, and has worked with the publisher (Milkweed Editions, US; http://www.milkweed.org) to provide a reading guide.  At the end of August, three discussion groups will meet at libraries around the city, giving readers a chance to share and discuss their experience with each other. http://www.nottinghampoetryseries.com or see NWS Website for more info.
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INDIGO DREAMS PUBLISHING COMPETITION – POETRY
Hi, we have recently relocated to Leics and were wondering if the following competition may be of interest to your group. We also publish 3 magazines, details at www.indigodreamspress.co.uk. Many thanks, Ronnie Goodyer
Indigo Dreams Winter Poetry Collection Competition 2009
Three winners will have collection published by Indigo Dreams Publishing and receive 50 copies of 44 pages stapled booklet with opportunity to upgrade to perfect bound (spine) with min 52 pages for balance amount.
Submission: Selection of 10-15 poems to 36 lines max.
Entry Fee: £18 per block of poems
Closing Date: Friday 20th November 2009
Email submissions – see website www.indigodreamspublishing.co.uk
Cheque payable to ‘IDP’ and entries to Indigo Dreams Winter Collection, 132 Hinckley Road, Stoney Stanton, Leics LE9 4LN or PayPal from website. Please email any queries to dawnidp@btinternet.com  Full details/email/overseas entries visit www.indigodreamspublishing.co.uk
See all opportunities for publishing poetry and prose in our magazines: Reach Poetry, The Dawntreader, and Sarasvati using our websites www.indigodreamspress.co.uk or www.reachpoetry.com.  More publishing opportunities, competitions for publication and IDP books for sale at www.indigodreamspublishing.co.uk Email for further details or a sample copy.
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FREE POETRY COMPETITIONS FROM UNITED PRESS
There’s a £100 first prize in the United Press open competition, Fact and Fantasy. You can enter by post or email and make sure you put “Fact and Fantasy” at the top of your entry. Your poem can be on any subject you like but must be no more than 160 words or 20 lines, and you can’t use “Fact and Fantasy” as the title. Send your entries now because this competition closes in September. There’s also a £1000 prize to the winner of our annual Local Poem competition. You must put “Local Poem” at the top of your entry and the theme must be someone or something local. You can submit online, or post (see website for details).
http://www.unitedpress.co.uk/

NWS member Cathy Grindrod has a new website – www.cathygrindrod.co.uk
describing the projects she’s been involved in and the services she offers, which includes workshops, and managing residencies and participatory literature projects, but also services for writers both individually and in groups. Cathy has also won second prize in the East Midlands New Perspectives/Theatre Writing Partnership Dream Up Monologue Writing Competition. The winning monologues are to be performed in a showcase in the near future.
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KEVIN FEGAN IN THE STUDIO THEATRE AT THE PLAYHOUSE THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 6PM
Kevin Fegan will be performing his dramatic poem of migrant workers Let Your Left Hand Sing. One morning on his way to work Kevin decided he would knock on all his neighbours doors, not just to say hello but to find out what their stories where.  By the time he’d reached the end of the street he’d met pretty much half the populations of the world and they where just like him.  Let Your Left Hand Sing recounts these stories as well as Kevin’s own. Kevin has written over 40 plays for the stage, 7 plays for BBC Radio 4 plus a Woman’s Hour Serial and a Classic Serial, a few short films plus a spell as a Storyline Writer for Coronation St and 8 volumes of poetry.
Tickets: £6 from The Playhouse Box Office 0115 941 9419
For more information on Kevin please go to www.kevinfegan.co.uk. For more information on forthcoming shows at Nottingham Playhouse please visit www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
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If you follow any poetry related news (beyond Ruth Padel and Derek Walcott) Chris and Jen (Salt Directors) have been struggling to keep Salt moving since June last year when the economic downturn began to affect their press. Their three year funding ends this year, and they cannot apply through Grants for the Arts for further funding for Salt’s operations. Spring sales were down nearly 80% on the previous year, and despite April’s much improved trading, the past twelve months has left them with a budget deficit of over £55,000. It’s proving to be a very big hole and they’re having to take some drastic measures to save their business.
They’re asking you to buy just one book, right now. They don’t mind from where, you can buy it from them or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you’ll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. They need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to their online store and help keep them going.
It’s often said that there are many more writers of poetry than there are readers of poetry. Salt is responsible for publishing a few Metaroar/FYI favourites, including Anthony Joseph, whose new collection (http://bit.ly/X1JOE) launches officially on the 3rd of June (http://bit.ly/JbNKo). Support your independent presses!by James Walker, Literature Editor at LeftLion Magazine

NWS members Kevin Fegan, Jenny Swann, Ross Bradshaw and Cathy Grinrod feature among a great line-up which includes Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and Britain’s Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Copies of the Southwell Library Poetry Festival programme are available from Southwell Library and appear on www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/southwellpoetryfestival.pdf or from southwell.library@nottscc.gov.uk.