Past Events
Below are events that are now closed, but which give a flavour of the range of our live activity for writers. For more detail about these events as well as news about them see Events News.
TIME
6.30 - 8.30pm
6pm start - be early
LOCATION
Free Word Centre
19th December 2011
A Hint of Danger: An Evening with Ludwig van Beethoven, Leoš Janáček, Leo Tolstoy and Ted Hughes
The Literary Consultancy is delighted to invite back The Tamesis Quartet and Edie Campbell for an unforgettable evening celebrating passion and love – with a hint of danger.
The Tamesis string quartet, featuring highly acclaimed violinists Nadia Myerscough and Anna de Bruin, Matthew Quernby on viola and cellist Christopher Allan, stunned us with their performance of works by Debussy and Satie earlier in the year. Now they will perform two exquisite works by Leoš Janáček. The String Quartet No. 1, Kreutzer Sonata, inspired by Leo Tolstoy‘s novella The Kreutzer Sonata which was in turn inspired by Beethoven‘s Violin Sonata No. 9, known as the Kreutzer Sonata after the violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer who first performed the piece. Janáček’s powerful String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, also known as the composer’s manifesto on love, was written to his muse and beloved Kamila Stösslová, the young wife of an antique dealer from Písek, who greatly influenced the composer’s last period of productivity. Together these pieces create an inimitable atmosphere of tension, beauty and taut love.
Edie Campbell performed the sell-out performance of her one woman show Emily Dickinson and I: The Journey of a Portrayal for TLC in March this year. Here she will read from the work of Tolstoy, Ted Hughes and Leo Janacek to help locate and heighten this unique event.
Devised by Rebecca Swift of The Literary Consultancy and Jack Lynch of LynchPin Productions.
6.30 (drinks) performance at 7pm.
Tickets: £12 / £8 (concessions)
Click here to book or call Free Word at: 020 7324 2570.
For more information please email TLC at info@literaryconsultancy.co.uk.
TIME
6.30 - 8.30pm
LOCATION
Free Word Centre
1st December 2011
TLC Charity Event for the Maya Centre
The Literary Consultancy presents a fundraising evening on behalf of The Maya Centre,
a charity providing free psychodynamic counselling and group psychotherapy for women in Islington
Novelist, journalist and campaigner Melissa Benn will host an illustrious line-up of writers who will read from their work highlighting a variety of experiences
from women’s lives. The event will entertain, dazzle and help us reflect about the work of the Maya Centre and many aspects of our society.
Jill Dawson * Margaret Drabble * Helen Simpson * Sarah Waters
Join us for an intimate evening at the vibrant Free Word Centre. Enjoy a glass of wine, canapes and a sparkling raffle that will kick December off with a bang.
Tickets are £25 but we have offered various pricing options so that you can donate more if you wish. All proceeds go to the Maya Centre.
You will also have the chance to donate more on the night, and we are of course extremely grateful for anything you can manage.
Tickets: £25 £50 £75 £100
Click here to book or call Free Word at: 020 7324 2570.
For more information please email TLC at info@literaryconsultancy.co.uk.
TIME
10.00 - 5.00pm
LOCATION
The National Glass Centre
26th November 2011
Get Your Work Published
How do you find an agent for your book? Who might take it on and what happens from there?
New Writing North offers a complete overview of the current publishing scene and advice on the how you can get your work published, including insight into what makes the independent presses different from the big guys and the pros and cons of self-publishing.
TLC director Rebecca Swift will be part of the full day programme, helping writers to understand how best to present themselves to the industry.
The event takes place at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.
Tickets: £20
Click here to book.
For more information please see New Writing North’s website or email TLC at info@literaryconsultancy.co.uk.
TIME
2.00 - 3.30pm
LOCATION
Free Word Centre
15th October 2011
How To Get Published
The Literary Consultancy Director Rebecca Swift is joined by TLC manuscript assessors Kavita Bhanot and Aisha Rahman, along with broadcaster and author Isabel Losada. Together they will discuss the ways in which new writers can begin to think about what it will take to get their work published, and how your own projects might fit in to a rapidly changing literary landscape. This is a great chance to put your questions to these first-class editors and writers, who have between them years of experience and cover most literary genres. The Literary Consultancy, founded in 1996, offers objective editorial advice to writers, and holds a strong track record of helping writers get into print.This event is supported by The Literary Consultancy and Diversity in Publishing Network (DIPNET)
Tickets: £5 / £12 (for an all day ticket)
Click here to book or call Free Word at: 020 7324 2570.
This event is part of a series of events for the DSC South Asian Literature Festival at the Free Word Centre on Saturday 15 October. Click here to view all events on this day and purchase an all day ticket.
TIME
6.00 - 8.30pm
LOCATION
Shooting Star pub
30th June 2011
Publishing and Getting Your Book Noticed
Are you unsure about what publishers are looking for and how to submit to agents? At this informal discussion you’ll gain insight into the publishing industry and the current options available.
Join expert speakers from the publishing industry, TLC Director Rebecca Swift, Nicola Morgan, best-selling YA author and new writers’ bible Write to be published and Rebecca McEwan, Publicity Manager for Fourth Estate books. Each will give a short talk and answer questions in an informal, but informative event.
The event starts at 7pm (mingling and drinks from 6pm).
Tickets are £8 but all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Cancer Research UK.
Please sign up in advance on the webiste as places will be limited. 60 tickets will be made available for this event.
TIME
6.30 - 8.00pm
LOCATION
Free Word Centre
26th May 2011
Free Word & The Literary Consultancy present: Margaret Drabble & Helen Simpson – Short Stories the Form of the Future?
To celebrate the publication of Margaret Drabble’s volume of short stories, A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman, the novelist will be in conversation with Helen Simpson, the UK’s leading short-story practitioner, a unique voice in contemporary fiction.
Margaret Drabble has had a long and distinguished career as a novelist, biographer and critic. Her last of seventeen published novels was The Sea Lady (2006), and a memoir, The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws came out in (2009). Margaret was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2008. Helen Simpson is the author of five volumes of short stories, from Four Bare Legs in a Bed and Other Stories (1990), to her latest collection, In-Flight Entertainment (2010). Helen has also received six awards, among them the E.M.Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2002).
Join us for drinks and an evening of debate, entertainment and revelation.
6.30-8.00pm (drinks available from 6pm)
£10 entry. Click here to book.
TIME
10.00 - 4.00pm
LOCATION
Plymouth College of Art, in Bristol
24th May 2011
Take me to Market – Writing & Publishing
TLC Director Rebecca Swift will lead the day in developing your ideas and giving you invaluable advice about getting your work published.
Rebecca has appeared at numerous literary festivals and on many panels talking about the work of TLC and the relationship between writers and the publishing industry. She has taught poetry at West Dean College of Further Education, life-writing for the Hackney Music Development Trust and ‘Approaches to Publication’ for Skyros Writers’ Lab and TLC’s own Literary Adventure holiday.
In partnership with Cyprus Well. There will be a guest speaker and a Q&A session.
£45
For queries contact lwasley@plymouth.ac.uk.
TIME
10.30 - 4.30pm
LOCATION
Free Word Centre
7th May 2011
TLC 15th Birthday Master Class: HOW THE NOVEL WORKS
What archetypal structures under lie all novels? Does your story suit the form you have chosen? Are you struggling unnecessarily to make it work? Structure can present problems for even the most professional of writers however author and tutor Jacob Ross offers an all-day workshop which draws on his years of experience, to teach what he has learned about the novel form. In this inspiring master class he will examine how fictional narratives are made. He also considers what makes a novel more or less marketable, why titles matter and sets you purposeful challenges and exercises that you can take away with you.
Jacob Ross has been hailed as ‘a writer of formidable technical range and emotional depth’. His novel Pynter Bender was published in September 2008 to much critical acclaim. It was short-listed for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Regional Prize and chosen as one of the British Authors Club’s top three Best First Novels (2009). Jacob is also the author of acclaimed short story collections, Song for Simone and A Way to Catch the Dust. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a judge of the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, the Olive Cook, Scott Moncrieff and Tom-Gallon Literary Awards. Jacob has taught at Arvon and Goldsmiths, and currently works as a manuscript assessor for TLC.
£75/ £45 concessions. Includes lunch, tea and coffee.
TIME
12.00 - 12.00pm
LOCATION
Casa Ana, Andalucia, Spain
26th March 2011
Literary Adventures Writing Courses in Spain
25th March – 1st April 2011 and 2nd – 8th April 2011
The first of our two weeks at Casa Ana will be led by Rebecca Abrams who joined us last year, and was a resounding success. A focussed, impressive teacher and first-class writer, Rebecca is looking forward to working in Spain again.The second week will be run by highly gifted teacher, writer, Jacob Ross whose latest work was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Regional Literature Prize. Visiting speakers in the first week will be Chris Stewart, best-selling author of Driving over Lemons and his Granada radio co-host, travel writer and Andalucian expert Michael Jacobs. Both writers live in Spain. The Literary Consultancy’s Director, Rebecca Swift, will be present throughout. Click here to learn more.
TIME
6.30 - 8.30pm
LOCATION
Free Word Centre
17th March 2011
Emily Dickinson and I
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
TLC’s celebration of literature continues as this time we explore Emily Dickinson’s life and Poetry, through a performance by Edie Campbell. Emily Dickinson & I: The Journey of a Portrayal, is a self-defined “one woman play about writing, acting and getting into Emily Dickinson’s dress.”
This Literary Evening helps mark the publication of Rebecca Swift’s new biographical study of Emily Dickinson, Poetic Lives: Emily Dickinson, Hesperus Press.
Drinks available from 6.30pm – Event starts 7.00pm.
Join us for an enjoyable evening with theatre, poetry and wine for only £10. Click here to book.