The write way to help East African famine
Released: Wednesday 7th September 2011 at 10:28
RENOWNED authors and poets from the North East are joining forces at a fundraising workshop designed to discover new talent and offer top tips to budding wordsmiths.
Alex Lockwood, a creative writer and lecturer in journalism at the University of Sunderland, is running a day-long series of writing workshops to raise money for the East Africa famine on Saturday, September 17.
Held at the Settle Down Café in Newcastle, from 9am to 6pm, there are nine workshops throughout the day focusing on creative, imaginative and journalistic writing.
A group of accomplished and writers are generously donating their time to run workshops, including: novelists Kitty Fitzgerald (author of Pigtopia) and fellow Sunderland creative writing lecturer Alex Pheby (Grace), BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live poet-in-resident Kate Fox, and former Mslexia editor Daneet Steffens, with other big names from the region to be confirmed.
There will be a maximum of 15 people per workshop, all paying just £2 each, with all the money going to charity.
Alex said: "Writing can often feel a little self-indulgent and journalism sometimes a little too dispassionate when faced with crises, especially on such a large scale as the East Africa famine. So I wanted to come up with a way that writers could contribute to raising money for the cause while at the same time developing their own creative practice.
"I really wanted to bring people together to write about the subject and support the creative community in the North East. I'm particularly thankful for the generosity of the writers who are running the workshops. They all came forward immediately and we've filled up all 135 available places already!"
Work produced from the day will form a special issue of the online creative writing journal Friction Magazine, put together overnight, which it's hoped people will sponsor to raise even more money.
Alex is also entering the Great North Run the following day (September 18) to raise money for the appeal.
The event is supported by the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA) (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla) and the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media at the University of Sunderland (http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/faculties/adm/).
The Settle Down Cafe is around the corner from Central Station, in Thornton Street on the pedestrianised square. They will be serving breakfast, soup, sandwiches, salads, coffee, cake and cold drinks throughout the day.
For more information and booking please visit: http://www.frictionmagazine.co.uk/write-for-east-africa/ or email frictionmagazine@gmail.com
