Weaving Words

“Weaving Words” is a creative writing group that meets in the Wheatsheaf Library, Rochdale on the second and fourth Monday of each month. Meetings start at 5.30pm and finish at 7.15pm.

New members are always welcome.

Date	Theme	Workshop
9 August 2010	Curling
23 August 2010	Mugs	Ghost stories
13 September 2010	Stamps
27 September 2010	Holidays	Sufi poetry
11 October 2010	My family
25 October 2010	Halloween	Comedy writing
8 November 2010	Going over the top
22 November 2010	It's a crime	Editing
13 December 2010	Parties

For further details please contact:

• Seamus Tel: 07710515392
  Email: mail@shaysart.co.uk
• Pamela Tel: 01706 924941
  Email: Pamela.taylor-bramwell@rochdale.gov.uk

20 Great Authors (and Actors) Read Famous Literature Out Loud

Every now and then, the Open Culture site presents vintage clips of great authors reading classic literary works – works they have often written themselves. These are interesting because you get to hear the author's voice and their characterisations, which might or might not chime in with your own ideas.

Also featured here are some authors reading other people's work and a few classic clips of famous actors giving literary readings.

Weaving Words

“Weaving Words” is a creative writing group that meets in theWheatsheaf Library, Rochdale on thesecond andfourth Monday of each month.Meetings start at 5.30pm and finish at 7.15pm.

New members are always welcome.

Date	Theme	Workshop
8 March 2010	Living on the footpath
22 March 2010	My spare room	Constructive critique
12 April 2010	He was sat on a ….
25 April 2010	The cross word	Show, don't tell
10 May 2010	The middle of nowhere
24 May 2010	Nearly famous	Anglo-Saxon poetry
14 June 2010	She stepped away from the body
28 June 2010	Playing with fire	Poetry
12 July 2010	Soap
26 July 2010	Someone pulled the plug	Objects

For further details please contact:

• Seamus Tel: 07710515392
  Email: mail@shaysart.co.uk
  
• Pamela Tel: 01706 924941
  Email: Pamela.taylor-bramwell@rochdale.gov.uk

Celebrating Rochdale's Literary Heritage

Rochdale has a rich heritage of authors who have written in Lancashire Dialect or about Rochdale life. John Collier, who wrote as "Tim Bobbin," is said to have started the tradition locally and the tradition continues today with organisations such as the Edwin Waugh Dialect Society and local writers who include: Mark Hodkinson, Trevor Hoyle and Nicholas Blincoe.

Touchstones, Rochdale is celebrating our literary heritage with the exhibition "History, Mystery and Myth: Local stories and storytelling," which runs until September 2010.

Link4Life is also running a series of creative writing workshops, drawing inspiration from material in the collections at Touchstones, Rochdale.

Link4Life: Literary Tradition - including links to the exhibition and related workshops

Lancashire writing on the Web Catalogue - Lancashire dialect writing and local authors

The Edwin Waugh Dialect Society

Some local dialect authors

• Tim Bobbin - "the Lancashire Hogarth."
  
• John Trafford Clegg - "Th'owd Weighver."
  
• Oliver Ormerod .
  
• Edwin Waugh

Contact

Touchstones Rochdale
The Esplanade
Rochdale OL16 1AQ
Telephone: 01706 924492

Tell Your Story

Do you have a story to tell?

Samuel Bamford was the first to publish his account of everyday life in Middleton. In his diaries published in the 1840’s, he describes the daily life of the local handloom weavers, the customs and celebrations which they enjoyed and their struggle for political reform.

In her biography, Alice Mellalieu-Campbell describes working in the Middleton Junction jam works in the 1930’s. Basil D’Oliveira wrote about the welcome he received from local folk when he joined Middleton Cricket Team in 1960. Helen Tse wrote “Sweet Mandarin” in order to tell the story of her grandmother, Lily Kwok, who opened the first Chinese restaurant in Middleton in the 1950’s. And not forgetting Alfred Howarth’s ‘Memories of a Middleton Moonraker’, his
recollections of life during the twenties and thirties.

All these books are available in the local studies section at Middleton library. We also have a wealth of unpublished accounts of local people’s lives.

Do you have memories of day to day life or significant events in Middleton history? If so we would like to invite you to a “Tell your Story” event at Middleton Library on Tuesday 2nd June from 10 – 12pm.

Come and view these first hand accounts of Middleton life.

• Alice Campbell will be there to tell people how she wrote her autobiography and had it published.
• The ‘Memories of Middleton’ Team will also be present. They can tell you how to write a short article for their magazine.
• Why not write a page or two and bring it with you. We will also have a member of a local writing group to tell you about the group she attends and maybe advise you on how to write your own life history.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Refreshments provided. Please phone Middleton library on 643 5228 to book your free place.

A day of poetry celebrating Friendship, Love and

Times: Workshop: 11am , Poetry reading: 2.30pm

Anjum Malik returns to Rochdale to read a selection of her wonderful poetry in both English and Urdu. For all you Rochdale writers, there will be a creative writing workshop with Anjum on the theme of Friendship, Love and Food. The workshop starts at 11am.

For more information and to book your free place for the workshop please contact the Reader Development Librarian at the Wheatsheaf Library on 01706 924941.

Meet the authors!

Date: Saturday 5 July 2008 Time: 2pm - 4pm

Everyone is welcome to come along and meet local author Pamela Hill, who will be at the Wheatsheaf Library on Saturday 5 July between 2pm and 4pm to talk about her new novel "A Sense of Belonging".

Date: Wednesday 30 July 2008 Time: 7pm - 9pm

Spotland Library is hosting an evening evening in the company of local author Shirley Wells from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday 30 July. Shirley will be talking about her Lancashire-based crime novels featuring Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham.

Both events are free. More details of these events are available from the Reader Development Librarian on 01706 924941

Tangerines, Air Raids and Santamobiles

Our friends at Cartwheel Arts have been working with groups and individuals in Darnhill and writer Joy Winkler to create a little gift book of Christmas words called "Tangerines, Air Raids and Santamobiles" to get people into the Christmas spirit.

Wartime memories and stories for children sit alongside stories about how we celebrate Christmas today and young people's hopes for the future. Joy Winkler has also contributed a special new poem to the book.

You can find some copies of the book at Darnhill Library.

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Darnhill Festival was a great success. Seasonal cheer was provided by Father Christmas, who dealt with 150 children with the full great good humour that only he can bring.

Pure Passion: Christina Jones

Castleton Library was the venue for a very successful "meet the author" event featuring novelist Christina Jones on Wednesday November 14th.

Many thanks to everyone who turned up to the event and joined in the question and answer session. Thanks also to Janice and Bev for making such a good job of all the arrangements.

Christina is currently at the top of a regional vote to find readers favourite romantic novelist, thanks to her latest book, ‘Love Potions.’ Her writing has been published in many magazines including ‘Take a Break’ and ‘Company’. She had her own monthly humour column in the Oxford Times for six years, and now broadcasts regularly on radio and television.

Christina’s appearance was part of ‘Pure Passion’, a promotion of 20 of the best contemporary romantic novels available to borrow from public libraries in the borough. You can vote for your favourite reads online and make your own recommendations.

Alternatively, you can complete a ‘Pure Passions’ postcard at any library. The region’s most popular will be announced in time for Valentine’s Day 2008.

Elsewhere

Sixteen budding authors enjoyed a free short story workshop at Wheatsheaf Library in Rochdale on Saturday. Frode Grytten, one of Norway's most respected authors and Dinesh Allirajah a founder member of the North West writing group 'Asian Voices, Asian Lives' read some of their most popular work and shared their literary experiences.

The workshop dealt with different approaches to the "small town" story and provided a forum for debate on what makes a great story and enable participants to share Dinesh and Frode's wealth of writing experience.

A "simultaneous translation" reading was a particularly popular feature of the event. Frode read his story in the original Norwegian with an English translation scrolling on a screen behind him. This let the audiences experience the cadences of the original writing whilst still being able to follow the story.

Frode has published five short story collections, two children's books, a poetry collection and a travelogue. Dinesh has performed at venues all over Europe with his short story collection 'A Manner of Speaking' recently published by Spike Books. (More about the writers)

Eighteen people attended the readings of the results of the workshop, which were enthusiastically received.

Many thanks to everybody involved in the event.