Dave Hilliard interviews the writer and blogger Thomas Moronic. Here’s the obligatory Birmingham quote: The Midlands has other influences as well. As you know, it can be difficult being an artist round here sometimes because it can be quite an isolated place, if you are of a certain creative mindset. The place can be very … [Read more…]
Mary Rochford writes to inform of her new book, Gilded Shadows, which comes out later this month. Set in the West of Ireland, Birmingham, Dublin and Nice, five of these stories explore our need to come to terms with the past. Three sisters: Aefe, Fionuala and Sorcha, struggle towards a recollection and resolution of the … [Read more…]
Will Buckingham, the dude behind the Birmingham Words blog, is moving on but isn’t letting the site die. It’s to be taken over by the National Academy of Writing at BCU and will be run by students studying there. Running Birmingham Words over these five years or so has been a huge amount of fun. … [Read more…]
They just keep coming. The latest nomination to grace Catherine O’Flynn‘s What Was Lost is the Costa Book Awards where she’s in the running for best first novel. The Costa’s were previously known as the Whitbread’s and are pretty well respected in the book trade for bridging the gap between high-falutin literary and populist. Lest … [Read more…]
Meet The Authors is a nice looking local lit event tomorrow at the MAC with Brummie of the Year contender Catherine O’Flynn and Nicola Monaghan talking about their work. Catherine O’Flynn was born in Birmingham in 1970, where she grew up in and around her parents’ sweet shop before embarking on a career of curious … [Read more…]
A bit of local web buzz for Careless Talk, the new novel by Michael Richardson published by Tindal Street. Birmingham Words gave notice of the launch (which I missed telling you about – sorry), BiNS has a review and The Stirrer has a video interview:
Jan Bowman writes: I’m writing a children’s picture book about Birmingham and the Enlightenment, which will be ready to send to publishers by December. Inspired by the work of Czech illustrator Sasek it will also show undiscovered treasures lurking in the city, such as the attached. I’m looking for other good visual suggestions and suspect … [Read more…]
The Muslim Writers Award, an initiative coming out of Birmingham City Council which had its inaugural ceremony in April, goes national in 2008. The idea of the project is to assist and nurture emerging writers and get them published. We are looking at the writers creative talent – not their religious beliefs. The Awards were … [Read more…]