Learn from top authors at AK Bell Library event

Feb 2 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

TOP names from the literary world are coming to Perth this spring to share their expertise with local writers.

Writers' Day at the AK Bell Library on Saturday, March 20, will cater to all kinds of wordsmiths: poets, short-story writers, novelists, experienced writers and beginners alike.

This year's varied programme includes workshops, talks, book launches, poetry readings and the opportunity to read your writing aloud at the ever-popular Open Mic Night.

The 13-hour programme of events begins at 10am with a poetry workshop led by the acclaimed New Zealand-born poet Gerrie Fellows, whose fourth collection Window for a Small Blue Child was shortlisted for the Sundial Scottish Poetry Book of the Year. A Geography of Loss will explore ways of writing about all kinds of loss: loss of place, language, childhood, and the traumatic bodily losses of illness or death.

Three local poets will celebrate the launch of their first published collections at a free lunchtime event. Andy Jackson will read from The Assassination Museum, Deborah Trayhurn from Embracing Water, and Morgan Downie from stone and sea. All three are members of the Soutar House Writers’ Group.

Writers who entered their short stories for the 2010 William Soutar Writing Prize will be on tenterhooks at 2pm when the judge of this year's competition, writer Ron Butlin, announces the winning story. Then Ron, who is both a prize-winning novelist and Edinburgh Poet Laureate, will lead a two-hour fiction workshop. This will be an informal get-together to discuss the problems and pleasures of writing prose as well as opportunities for publication. Participants will do some writing in the course of the afternoon. The event is designed to benefit everyone from experienced writers to complete beginners.

Fancy a career in writing but don't know where to start? At 5pm screenwriter Adrian Mead will be offering invaluable advice in his free talk: Must-do stuff - building a career in writing. Adrian, who worked as a hairdresser and nightclub bouncer for 20 years, is now a full-time drama writer and director whose television credits include The Last Detective, The Eustace Brothers, Paradise Heights, Where the Heart Is and Waking The Dead series seven.

And to round off the day everyone is invited to the always-entertaining open-mic night: a chance to read your writing aloud to a supportive crowd in a relaxed setting, or just to sit back and listen. Singer-songwriter Craig Anderson will supply the music.

Tickets for the fiction and poetry workshops are £10 (£7 concession) and can be obtained from the AK Bell Library (01738 444949). All other events are free. Programmes are also available from the AK Bell Library.