Back for a 3rd year, we are delighted to announce the programme for The Northern Short Story Festival 2018.
Bigger and better, it’s the only festival of its kind in the North, celebrating Northern writers and Northern talent. This year it takes place over 2 days, Saturday 2 June – Sunday 3 June, at the Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds.
The Festival promotes the short story form through workshops, panel discussions and events. Popular and published authors, editors and small press publishers will come together to share their stories, expertise and wisdom with you. Follow us @NoShoSto.
Tickets
Tickets – single event tickets, £Free-£12, Saturday Day tickets (includes 2 workshops and 3 events), £30 or weekend tickets, £44.50, can be booked online from the Carriageworks Theatre, by phone from the Carriageworks Box Office on 0113 376 0318 or in person at the City Centre Box Office,Leeds Town Hall, The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 3AD.
A Very Special Offer
Our friends at Dead Ink are sponsoring one weekend ticket for a low-income writer (claiming benefits or PIP, a single parent, or a part-time worker) who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. To apply, please email northernshortstoryfestival@gmail.com with a couple of sentences about how you would benefit from attending the Northern Short Story Festival by Saturday 7 April 2018. We will notify the chosen writer shortly afterwards by email.
The Northern Short Story Festival is a partnership venture between the Leeds Big Bookend Festival, Leeds City Council and Fictions of Every Kind, with funding from Leeds Inspired. The Festival’s Director is Leeds author SJ Bradley.
Programme – Download CWX Summer 2018 Brochure NSSF SPREAD 02.18 (1)
Saturday 2 June
Workshop 1: SOLD OUT
Nature Stories
10.00-12.00/ £12. Book your ticket here.
With Richard Smyth
Nature can play many parts in fiction: it can be backdrop, subtext, symbol or the story itself. We’ll explore how birds, animals, plants and wild landscapes can be woven into short fiction, and how writers of all kinds can tap into the drama, darkness and beauty of the natural world.
Workshop 2: SOLD OUT
Writing in the Second Person
10.00-12.00/ £12. Book your ticket here.
With Lara Williams
This masterclass will include studying the effectiveness of various pieces of fiction written in the second person, and the sensory / emotional / ethical implications of this. It will look at short fiction by Lorrie Moore, Margaret Atwood, Junot Diaz and others.
Panel Event
Prizewinning Collections with Influx Press
12.45-1.45/ £5. Book your ticket here.
Join Influx Press editor Kit Caless, plus critically acclaimed authors Clare Fisher (All The Good Things, How The Light Gets In) and C.G.Menon (Subjunctive Moods) as they discuss the art and craft of compiling a prizewinning short story collection. Hosted by James Nash. Eley Williams is now unable to attend this event.
Book Launch
The Ice Migration: Peepal Tree Book Launch
2.00-3.00/Free but please reserve a place here.
Join award-winning publishing house Peepal Tree Press as they launch a new collection, The Ice Migration by Jacqueline Crooks, (Asham Award & Wasafari shortlistee); with a sneak preview of Black Dogs and the Colour Yellow by Christine Barrow, (Uni of the West Indies). Hosted by Jacob Ross, winner of the Jhalak Prize.
Workshop 3: SOLD OUT
Stories Across Worlds
3.30-5.30/ £12. Book your ticket here.
With Jacqueline Crooks
This workshop will help you develop stories that range across landscapes, languages, space and time. Using writing exercises, visuals and soundscapes we will develop unique settings. We will develop characters and place them within settings that give them voice to tell their unique stories. This workshop is suitable for writers of all levels, particularly those from the margins, writing outside the mainstream.
Workshop 4: LAST FEW TICKETS
Transformative Fiction
3.30-5.30/ £12. Book your ticket here.
With Irenosen Okojie
A workshop for writers who want to take audiences beyond what’s expected. Through various techniques we’ll mine your imagination and explore writing surprising short fiction, looking at some masters of the short form to leave you excited about the possibilities of short stories.
Performance
Strix Magazine Reading Event
6.00-7.00/ £4. Book your ticket here.
Described in the Guardian as “handsome, streamlined and sharp-eyed”, this Leeds-based magazine has published nearly a hundred writers from all over the world since its launch last year. Founders Ian Harker and Andrew Lambeth introduce a pick ’n‘ mix of contributors from the first three issues.
Sunday 3 June
Workshop 5: SOLD OUT
Deadly Fictions
11.00-1.00 / £12. Book your ticket here.
With Naomi Booth
A workshop for writers who want to make the reader’s spine tingle. We’ll experiment with different approaches to dark short-fiction, from Poe’s formula for horror to contemporary versions of the uncanny. Not for the faint-hearted!
Workshop 6
An Introduction to Ghost Story Writing
11.00-1.00 / £12. Book your ticket here.
With Adam Z. Robinson
Join creator of The Book of Darkness & Light Adam Z. Robinson as he guides you through the basics of ghost story writing. Through a series of writing exercises, you’ll look at ways into your own gothic short stories, developing and unleashing your skills as a writer. Beginners and experts alike are welcome. 14+
Panel Event
The Short Story and Our World
1.30-2.30/ £4. Book your ticket here.
The short story and our world: STORGY and Comma discuss the political and out-of-this world possibilities of the short story, featuring EXIT EARTH winner Rachel Connor.
Fringe Events
Tuesday 22 May: The Walter Swan Short Story Competition Prize Giving and Book Launch at the Leeds Library. Free event but booking required. More information here.
Tuesday 29 May : Flash Fiction Slam at the Hyde Park Book Club. More information here.
