Another Great Open-Mic Night at Chester University

 

 

 

The English Department had another thoroughly enjoyable open-mic night, on 30 January, hosted brilliantly by BA students and Pandora’s Box editors Liz Milne, Jonathan Hay and Cal Buckley.

A wide range of poems and flash fictions were read out: comical, absurd, dark, weird, political, satirical, tender, heartfelt, and thought-provoking. Donald Trump and certain men would have been squirming in their seats. 

A number of prizes were awarded: Jordan Fleming won for the best overall performance; Natalie Webster won for the best impromptu poem or flash; and George Hill and Luke Cheadle won for the funniest piece. 

Thanks to Liz Milne for the photos. To see more, go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/616588868514110/

For information about Pandora’s Box: https://www.chester.ac.uk/pandorasinbox

For details about the English Department and the BA Creative Writing: https://www.chester.ac.uk/english

Dr Ashley Chantler

A Seminar with Poet John Lindley

John Lindley, author of nine poetry collections, gave a talk to second-year Creative Writing students taking the module An Introduction to Publishing, run by Dr Peter Blair.  

John, who has been Cheshire Poet Laureate and Manchester Cathedral Poet of the Year, shared his wealth of experience in getting poetry published and working as a writer in the community. 

You can read about John’s work on his blog:

https://johnflindley.wordpress.com/

Flash fiction at Verbose

Drs Peter Blair and Ashley Chantler (above left and right) and author David Swann (middle) were ‘headliners’ at the Verbose ‘Live Literature’ night in Manchester on 23 January 2017.

Peter read a selection of flashes from Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, Ashley read from his work-in-progress collection, and David chose a range from his chapbook Stronger Faster Shorter: Flash Fictions.


For more information about Flash: http://www.chester.ac.uk/flash.magazine


If you are interested in Stronger Faster Shorter: http://www.chester.ac.uk/flash.fiction/press


Verbose’s Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/events/1830742467168498/

New Flashes by Lecturer Ashley Chantler

Dr Ashley Chantler has had three flashes published by Connotation Press.

They can be read here: https://www.connotationpress.com/fiction/2946-ashley-chantler-fiction

Literary Journal Edited by Former Creative Writing Student Caroline Jones

The literary journal MISO is edited by Caroline Jones. She founded the journal after graduating from her MA in Creative Writing, University of Chester in 2012. MISO was established in July 2013 as a platform to encourage creative writing students and graduates. The original journal was printed twice a year. MISO is now a carefully curated blog. You can contact MISO via editor@misomagazine.co.uk or via twitter with any queries.

Recent work includes contributions by Rachel Allen, Libby Meredith, Dan Ryder, Sam Buchan-Watts and Martha Sprackland. Just posted on MISO is a flash essay, ‘Another Country’, by Creative Writing lecturer, Dr Ian Seed.



Cheshire Prize for Poetry 2016 Awards Evening

The Cheshire Prize for Poetry 2016 Awards evening was hosted by the Chair of the Panel of Judges, Dr Ian Seed, on Tuesday 22 November. 

Talks were given by poet and radio broadcaster, Ian McMillan, and by the High Sherriff of Chester, Mrs Kathy Cowell OBE. 

The first prize of £2,000 was presented to Cheryl Pearson, from Levenshulme, Manchester, for her poem The Cartographer’s Daughter. 

Three runners-up were also announced and each received £250. They were: Helen Kay, from Nantwich, for her poem Dad: Latin at the Village School, 1969; Joy Winkler from Macclesfield, who wrote Shakkei - Borrowed Scenery and John Paul Davies, from County Meath in Ireland, for his poem The Darkroom. 

As well as cash prizes, the winning entries and a selection of other submissions will be included in an anthology produced by the University of Chester Press next spring.



First Open-Mic Night of 2016-17

The first open-mic night for the year 2016-17 was held on Wednesday, November 16.  Students and tutors read out their poems, scripts, stories, flashes, and monologues, and there was even a bi-lingual reading of some Italian poetry.

Some fun writing and performance competitions were held, with a number of prizes being awarded. The winner of the top prize – a £30 book token – was student Bjorn Ephgrave.

A healthy amount of red wine was drunk and a good time was had by all! 

The organisers of the evening were the three student editors of Pandora’s Box: Cal Buckley, Jonathan Hay and Liz Milne.