Newsletter

18 February 2025

News and Opportunities for Solent Writers and Writing

LitFest Local 2025
MAST Mayflower Studios
Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd March

ArtfulScribe gathers writers from around the Solent region for a three-day festival celebrating local literature. Featuring a diverse community-focused programme of showcases and workshops, this festival is produced by ArtfulScribe and delivered with support from MAST Mayflower Studios and with funding from Arts Council England. Literature lives locally.

Festival goers can look forward to workshops by Philip Hoare and Ellora Sutton, a local author showcase, a curated evening based upon women in science told through poetry and dance, and a community showcase bringing together a range of talented writers who take part in our regular programme.

Tickets are now on sale available via the MAST Mayflower Studios website.

Opportunity: Local Author Showcase
LitFest Local 2025

The Local Author Showcase, 7-9.30pm on the 21 March, is a voluntary opportunity for Solent-based writers to meet other locally-based writers, network, share and sell work.

Each selected writer will have approximately five minutes to speak about their work and read a short piece or extract from a longer piece of writing. We'll be offering as many slots as we can, ensuring we represent a range of genres and styles.

Apply for this opportunity by filling out the form linked below by Monday 24th February 23:59.

Application Form

Micro-Commission: Women In Science
LitFest Local 2025

The LitFest Local headline show is Women In Science: Told through Poetry & Dance, 7-9:30PM, Saturday 22nd March. ArtfulScribe is offering 4 x Creative Writing micro-commissions based on the theme of 'Women in Science', to writers based in Hampshire, Dorset or on the Isle of Wight.

The fee for each micro-commission is £50, covering the writing and the performance of the piece at MAST Mayflower Studios on Saturday 22nd March. The writing must be the writers' original work and this opportunity is for those willing to travel to MAST Mayflower Studios to perform. Commissioned writers will receive 2 tickets to attend the event.

Apply for this opportunity by filling out the form linked below by Monday 24th February 23:59. Further guidelines are available via the form.

Application Form

Local Author Showcase
Friday 21st March | 7:00 - 9:30PM | Pay What You Can

Celebrating a range of voices and writing from the Solent region, ArtfulScribe offers a showcase of talent for audiences to discover and connect with local writers.

Tickets are available via MAST Mayflower Studios' website.

LitFest Local Workshops
Saturday 22nd March | 10:00AM - 12:00PM | 1:00PM - 3:00PM | £20

LitFest Local features two workshops for writers to hone their craft and learn from leading poets and authors.

No Breaks - A Prose Poetry Workshop with Ellora Sutton will explore the borderless field of prose poetry and the tools a poet might deploy to keep one’s prose poetic.

The Art of Writing Non Fiction with Philip Hoare will discuss how to take personal experience and memory to weave stories out of the natural world, art, history and place. The workshop will include writing exercises and reading work aloud. Attendees are invited to bring short pieces of non-fiction – maximum 400 words – to be read for critique.

Tickets are available via MAST Mayflower Studios' website.

Women In Science: Told through Poetry & Dance
Saturday 22nd March | 7:00 - 9:30PM | Pay What You Can

ArtfulScribe, in collaboration with community artist Susmita Bhattacharya, presents an evening celebrating women in science, told through poems, stories, South Asian dance forms and music.

This community-focused headline event will bring the art and invention of these awe-inspiring women from around the world to life through creative representations of invention, hard work and talent; women who are mathematical geniuses, who have taken a mission to the moon, and who are leading figures in the UK's biomedical sphere today.

Tickets are available via MAST Mayflower Studios' website.

PLEASE SUPPORT US BY DONATING
We work with people from primary years to life's later stages. Help us help others make the most of life's opportunities by contributing to our cause to improve literacy levels in the Solent region. Thank you.

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If you'd like your events or opportunities for writers in the region to feature in our newsletter or social media, please drop a line to admin@artfulscribe.co.uk

ArtfulScribe Newsletter - JULY 2023

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