New Writing South

• Introduction
• Forming a writing group
• Past events
• Script reading service
• Side Shows
• Testimonials
• TLC Bursaries
• Workshops and events
• WriterGuide
• Writing groups
• Writing courses in the region
• Writer mentors

Testimonials

2009 has been a productive year for NWS and also for many of our members. We've provided development and support in a variety of ways that have had a big impact on a variety of individuals, schools and groups across the south east region.

We're proud to bring you a few testimonials from members and associates, and a selection of images from projects that took place in 2009, which demonstrates just some of the good work we do!

For me, 2009 was The Year Of The Courses. I started in spring with Stephen Wyatt's excellent The Craft of Writing for Radio. With much wisdom he illustrated the many options and techniques available to maximise the medium. In the summer Julie Everton focused on what a stage play could be and the different methods of approaching writing, in Playwrights Drawing Room. During the autumn Gordon House's Advanced Radio Writing brilliantly emphasised the importance of story, freshness and dramatic grip. So a good year of insights and knowledge and - hopefully to the delight of commissioning agents all around the country, two completed plays. Now a Happy Christmas and onto next year.
CRAIL LOW

Wishing everyone at NWS a big thank you for setting up the Creative Writers Group Bitsandpieces at Crawley Library in February 2009 under Kay Sexton's excellent guidance. The group has now been in existence for ten months and is still well supported by its original members so we must be doing something right! We thoroughly enjoyed Chris Taylor's informative workshop in November 2009 and we would like to thank you for all the support that we have received from NWS. As a new group we are especially grateful for the financial assistance that you have given us in relation to our forthcoming workshop with Kay in support of our first exhibition at Crawley Library in March 2010. Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
DAVID LOWE. Coordinator: Bitsandpieces Creative Writing Group

New Writing South has provided tremendous support for me as a writer, workshop leader, and producer in 2009. As a regional partner with East Kent Live Lit, the live literature network I run, New Writing South has provided speakers, workshops and ideas as well as guidance for our development, as a much more established organisation. I am very pleased to be a member of the NWS Creative Learning team; a recent residency at a local technology college inspired me to develop a new strand of workshops, Dig Lit, which focus on digital technology and how it is changing creative writing and challenging reading habits. Most importantly, NWS has helped me to make a major transition in my own work, offering a bursary for the TLC to read the first draft of my first attempt at a novel, when I really didn't know what I had. The reading gave me the confidence to rewrite and I am currently editing the novel after agent feedback. Thank you, New Writing South! I truly couldn't do it without you!
PEGGY RILEY

New Writing South have supported me and provided me with so many opportunities this year that it's hard to know where to start. There was an encouraging script surgery with Tony Milner; Cinestage with Vince O'Connell and a host of other writers, where we examined the difference between writing for screen and stage; enthusiasm and advice when we set up Paper Planes, our new writing night; and of course Cabaret on a Sinking Ship. But most importantly it's put me in touch with other writers, which has stopped me from going round in circles inside my own head like a crazy woman - for this I will be eternally grateful.
SUHAYLA EL-BUSHRA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Production shot from Cabaret on a Sinking Ship - a unique and daring piece of cabaret-style theatre that involved a team of seven writers all drawn from the NWS membership. September 2009.

Director Chris Taylor was invited to Athens, Greece in July to take part in the 5th International Festival of Making Theatre. Above are some of the tutors that took part: Mahmoudreza Rahimi (IRAN) Kemal Basar (TURKEY), James Smith and Abigail Gelehrter (ISRAEL), Arash Hamedian (IRAN), Michael Morgan (USA), Chris Taylor (UK), Simona Orinska (LATVIA) and in the front: Shamal Amin and Nigar Hasib (IRAQ)

New Writing South took part in a new festival organised by Brighton & Hove City Council entitled, The Book and the Rose on Sunday 26 April. Member Kay Sexton took the lead in gathering The Hatchery and Comedy of Errors writing groups (launched by NWS) to read at the main stage. Photos courtesy of Kay Sexton.

On 10 June, 15 students aged 13-16 from Brighton Youth Theatre, Falmer performed an exciting new performance piece at the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton. The piece entitled Insomnia, was the showcase finale of OurSpace, a two-term school project where students were given the rare opportunity to work with top professional practitioners to create and produce their own piece of theatre.