TINA PEPLER APPOINTED / RECEPTION

Screenwriter Tina Pepler has been appointed Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at the University from October 2009. Tina was born in Baghdad and during her childhood lived in the Middle East, USA and France. She originally established her reputation as a leading radio dramatist but now works mainly in TV and film. Recent TV credits include the drama documentary, The Princes in the Tower (RDF for Channel 4) and three scripts co-written with Julian Fellowes for the series A Most Mysterious Murder (Touchpaper / BBC1): The Case of Charles Bravo (2004), The Case of George Harry Storrs (September 2005) and The Case of the Earl of Erroll (December 2005). Her latest radio broadcasts include Aftershock (BBC Radio 4, August 2009) a drama documentary ten years on from the Istanbul earthquake, and The Presence (BBC Radio 4, March 2009), a dramatisation of Dannie Abse's moving memoir following the death of his wife Joan. She has several film and TV projects in development.

     The RLF fellowship is established to help the whole University community to develop their writing by providing access to confidential guidance and advice from a professional writer. Tina Pepler will be available on campus two days a week in term time and can be contacted via Learning Development.

     A special Royal Literary Fund reception has been arranged for Monday 19 October, 6pm, in the Sherwell Centre at the University. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wendy Purcell will introduce new RLF fellow Tina Pepler and celebrate the work of the first RLF fellow, novelist Babs Horton. There will be readings from both writers. The event is open to all, booking is essential, click here for the link to book your place.

THE BIG WHEEL

Congratulations! to MA Creative Writing graduate Andrew Nightingale who was recently awarded a three year full time research studentship to work on a PhD in Creative Writing at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, beginning in 2010. Andrew's latest poetry collection is The Big Wheel published by Oversteps Books in 2009. I know that he was working in Italy for a while after finishing his MA, and lately I've found his work published online in Great Works, The Argotist, HQ, Poetry Salzburg, and Nth Position. I understand that his more recent poetry is forthcoming from The Text and Neon Highway. 

SPOKEN / WRITTEN SW

Shane Wolfland, who publishes as S. V. Wolfland, must be among the most enterprising and productive graduates of the Plymouth MA Creative Writing programme. Shane runs the Spoken/Written Bulletin SW, a regional e-newsletter serving spoken and written word artists, promoters and venues in the South West. The free newsletter gives information on performance opportunities, magazines seeking contributions, travel writing, competitions, courses, workshops within the South West region and beyond. Shane is a member of the Cartwheels Collective which supplies all kinds of arts events, from storytelling by performance duo Widsith and Deor, to stand-up philosophy, poetry performance, willow art, and workshops in puppetry, musical instrument making, mixing music and sound, and many various kinds of arts activity. 

    Cartwheels Collective has published her poetry including The Book of Contentions, The Book of Indictments and The Book of Offences, and a children's fantasy novel Porlock the Warlock. All four books are available from the Cartwheels site here. Spoken/Written Bulletin SW was set up with the aid of a grant from Arts Council England, and Shane is currently seeking patrons and supporters for this useful writers' and spoken word artists' resource.

    

GILES GOODLAND IN PLYMOUTH

The next guest reader at the Language Club, Plymouth Arts Centre, Looe Street, at 7.30pm on Saturday 3rd October, will be Giles Goodland, author of highly original poetry collections conceived as coherent books rather than arbitrary collections. His most recent books are What the Things Sang just published by Shearsman, and Capital, published by Salt in 2006. Giles works in Oxford as a lexicographer and lives in London. The Language Club is a tolerant and friendly performing writers' scene, a Plymouth open mic event with a bar. Musicians, poets and singers, and their friends are all welcome.

GERARD DONOVAN JOINS PLYMOUTH

Gerard Donovan is an acclaimed Irish-born novelist and poet who has just been appointed Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth. Gerard's main UK publisher is Faber. He will be joining the Creative Writing programme in Autumn 2009. His career as a novelist took off when his debut novel Schopenhauer's Telescope was long-listed for the Man Booker prize in 2003. Since then he has published Doctor Salt (2005), Julius Winsome (2006) and Country of the Grand (2008). His 3 books of poetry are Columbus Rides Again (1992), Kings and Bicycles (1995) and The Lighthouse (2000). Gerard joins the English and Creative Writing team at Plymouth having recently been working in New York. Read more about Gerard Donovan in the Irish Times.

     Martin Goodman is leaving Plymouth for Hull, where he is taking up a chair in Creative Writing. Martin has made a terrific contribution to writing at Plymouth, and he is a much-loved teacher in English and Creative Writing.

KENNY KNIGHT

Among the new books from Shearsman of Exeter is The Honicknowle Book of the Dead, a first collection by Plymouth writer and Language Club regular Kenny Knight, the editor of the Plymouth magazine Tremblestone. Kenny has been working on this book for years and I have heard some of the poems at readings in Exeter and Plymouth, they are entertaining and unpretentious, zany and intelligent, definitely his own original and idiosyncratic voice. I recommend this collection as a necessary purchase. Kenny is an excellent poetry performer with a great sense of timing and very funny delivery, he ought to be more widely known. 

BABS HORTON IN GERMANY

Here's the cover of Babs Horton's latest book published in Germany. Babs has been the Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at the University for two years and she has helped many writers develop their skills. I want to publicly thank Babs here for her really terrific contribution to writing at Plymouth, her tutorials with students from all parts of the University, the talk she gave for Peninsula Arts, the recent research seminar on writing a novel, and the contribution she made to the Beryl Cook exhibition catalogue. Babs lives close to the University and we know she will continue to keep in touch with the writing community in the future. Her main publisher is Simon and Schuster. We will have a new Royal Literary Fund fellow at the University in September 09.