Towards a First Collection
With Linda France
Towards a First Collection is a new nine-month intensive programme for serious and talented poets who have completed a body of work and who now need critical feedback and editorial support to put together a first collection of their work. The programme forms part of New Writing North’s new portfolio of writer development programmes, Advance, and has been carefully devised for poets at a crucial stage in their development, who want efficient and high-quality guidance to help prepare a publishable manuscript for submission. As part of the programme, each poet’s work will feature in a final pamphlet, produced and launched to complete and celebrate the process. This is a rare and unique opportunity to take part in a bespoke development programme with one of the UK’s leading poets and tutors, Linda France.
Key facts about Towards a First Collection
The programme will have just six participants to ensure the quality of the experience. The six participants will be selected by competitive application and will be chosen on literary merit.
The structure of the programme will consist of two one-to-one mentoring sessions, nine masterclasses, a practical networking event with poets and poetry publishers, and the publication of a pamphlet featuring work from the group which will be launched in December 2010.
The programme will run during the day on 11 Saturdays, from 15 May to 9 October, with a summer writing period in the middle of the process.
The nine masterclasses will guide participants from having a body of work to having a collection of work ready for submission to publishers. During the programme, participants will have the additional support of two individual mentoring sessions with the course leader to keep their work on track.
To benefit fully from the programme, participants must be able to set aside time to work on their poetry between course sessions and be willing to work hard on revising their work over the summer writing period.
About Linda France
Linda France lives in Northumberland. She has published five poetry collections with Bloodaxe Books – including The Simultaneous Dress (2002) and The Toast of the Kit Cat Club (2005), a biography in verse of the 18th century traveler and writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu – as well as various limited edition pamphlets. Linda also edited the acclaimed Bloodaxe anthology Sixty Women Poets, which received a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. Her ‘year renga’, book of days, was published by Smokestack in 2009. A new collection, You Are Her, will be published by Arc in 2010. Linda’s work has been broadcast widely on radio and television and published in various anthologies, magazines and newspapers. She teaches creative writing in various educational and community contexts. She has a particular interest in cross-arts collaborations and has worked with visual artists and musicians on assorted projects, particularly in the field of public art. For more information, see www.lindafrance.co.uk.
Dates
The programme runs on Saturday mornings from 10.30am-12.30pm on the following dates: 15, 22 & 29 May; 5, 12, 19 & 26 June; 3 & 10 July; 11 & 25 September and 9 October.
Cost
The fee for participating in the Towards a First Collection programme is £900. The fee is payable by direct debit in six instalments of £150 from May to October 2010.
Bursaries
We may be able to consider support bursaries for particularly talented writers who lack the funds to pay for the programme. If you would like to apply for a bursary, please in the first instance write a letter detailing why you need a bursary and include this with your application. If you are offered a bursary, you will need to provide evidence of your financial circumstances.
More information
If you require more information on the programme please contact the office on the email address below.
How to apply
To apply, please send the following:
• 12 of what you consider to be your best poems
• A personal biography detailing your record of publication in magazines and any other awards or notices that your work has received
• A statement explaining the current status of your work, how many poems of publishable standard you think you have at present, and detailing any development work that you have undertaken as a writer (no more than one side of A4)
Closing date for applications
Please send applications by email by 23 April 2010 to applications@newwritingnorth.com. Queries about the programme can also be sent to this address. If you would like to discuss your application, please contact the New Writing North office on 0191 233 3850.
