Creative Writers Network
Spring Programme 2008

Thursdays, March 6 & 20th, 2008
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Writing for Radio with Annie McCartney
Cathedral Quarter Managed Workspace
109-113 Royal Ave., Belfast
Cost: £10 - SOLD OUT

Famous for her best-selling novels, Annie McCartney has also produced numerous radio plays for the BBC and others. In this two workshop series she will impart the basics of writing radio plays, using examples from her own scripts and production recordings. Not to be missed by anyone trying to break into this lucrative field. Places will be limited, early booking essential.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Visit by Richard Bausch
11:00 a.m.
Belfast Central Library
Royal Avenue, Belfast
Cost: Free

Reading and question and answer session for creative writing and reading groups, everyone welcome.

7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
In Conversation with Glenn Patterson
Linen Hall Library ‘Between Words’ Festival
Cost: £5.00

Acclaimed American writer Richard Bausch appears as part of the ‘Over Here’ mini-festival in a day of events, readings and workshops.
   Richard will be at Belfast Central Library in the morning to read and speak with members of local reading and writers’ groups. In the afternoon he will run a workshop for short-story writers.
   The main event of the day will have Richard appearing ‘In Conversation’ with local novelist, Glenn Patterson, at the Linen Hall Library’s Between Words Festival at 7pm.

Saturday 15th March 11-3pm Boardroom, Cathedral Quarter Managed Workspace
109-113 Royal Avenue, Belfast.
Thirteen Mistakes Scriptwriters Make.
A lecture/workshop by James Bartlett
Cost: £5.00

In Hollywood, thousands of scripts land on the desks of producers, agents, actors and studio executives every day – how can you make sure that yours makes it past the first hurdle? This lecture and workshop will discuss some of the simple but fatal “red flag” mistakes that screenwriters make - and how to avoid them. There will also be discussion about the differences between Hollywood and the UK/Ireland film industry, and, time permitting, group discussion of your own script and story ideas.

James Bartlett is a writer and journalist living in Los Angeles. He is also a story analyst for National Geographic Films, New Regency, UCLA and the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Nicholl Screenwriting Awards, as well as several regional funders in the UK and Ireland.

Saturdays, April 5th & 19th, 2008  
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Writing Short Films with Vincent Kinnard
Cathedral Quarter Managed Workspace
109-113 Royal Ave., Belfast
Cost: £10

A prize winning Director/Writer and Producer, Vincent Kinnard has spent more than half of his life working in the Film and Television industry. For the last decade, he has been directing and producing professionally on documentaries, programmes and fiction films for BBC, More 4, RTE and the International Film Festival circuit.
   In two four-hour sessions he will bring participants through the basics of scripting a short film, including thinking visually, writing dialogue and the all important pitch. Vincent will use his own short-films and scripts to illustrate throughout.

April 10 thru 13th, 2008
Visit by Loren Niemi

April 10, 2008
Master class ‘The Book of Plots’
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Location: Training Room, Central Library, Belfast
Cost: £10

April 12th & 13th, 2008
Facilitation Skills Workshops ‘Telling Difficult Stories’
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cathedral Quarter Managed Workspace
109-113 Royal Ave., Belfast
Cost: £50

April 12, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Old Museum Arts Centre
College Square, Belfast
Storytelling Performance: My Confession
Cost: £5

From chronicles of misadventure, to progressively darker tales, to more emotionally and philosophically difficult stories, Loren finds the notion of "owning his wickedness" an easy frame to hang the stories on.

Loren has spent more than a quarter century as a professional storyteller, creating, collecting, directing, performing and teaching evocative stories about what matters to audiences of all ages in urban and rural settings. Storytelling is also at the core of forty years as a community organizer and public policy advocate working with marginalized communities and non-profit groups to articulate their dreams, fame their messages and resolve their conflicts. In 1998, Loren was a recipient of a Bush Leadership Fellowship to research the vital role of storytelling in neighborhood and community development. In 2001 he created The Public Policy Project, training low-wealth and communities of color identify, shape and tell their stories of race, equity, and civic engagement.

He is the author of The Book of Plots, published by Llumina Press, on the uses of narrative in shaping meaningful stories and the co-author, with Elizabeth Ellis, of Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories, from August House Publishers, the critically acclaimed text on the value and necessity of telling the stories that are hard to speak and uncomfortable to hear.

Creative Writers Network. 109-113 Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1FF Tel:02890312361 | Charity reference no. XR 24529