Laurence Mitchell

This evening Norwich Writers' Circle welcomed back Laurence Mitchell to adjudicate our Travel Article Competition.

The travel writer commented that he was impressed by the high standard of 12 competition entries, and that he found the winner extremely hard to choose.

Laurence also commended all the entries for following his suggestions as outlined to us on his previous visit to us.

The competition winners were then announced as:

1st - The Colin Sutton Cup for Humour
Kalimera Strumphita
by Sally Newton

2nd
The Magical Mystery Tour
by Jo Amos

3rd
Sand Covered Nudists & German Wanderlust
by Anne Sanderson

We then heard a selection of the humorous competition entries, including all 3 winners, before chatting to the visiting writer.

Our next meeting is on 21st June, when writer, tutor and visual artist Clare Hamburger will be holding a workshop entitled Writing The Image.

We hope to see you then.

Rural Read

Congratulations to long-term Norwich Writer's Circle member Vera Clouting who has had a short article published in the May 2011 edition of The Countryman magazine.

We were luck enough to listen to the article at our recent Manuscript Evening where it proved to be a popular read.

Underworld

Congratulations to NWC member Elspeth Rushbrook who has another article published in Fine City Magazine.

Elspeth's most recent article examines the world of undercrofts beneath our familar city streets.

Issue 10 of the free lifestyle publication is now widely available throughout Norwich.

Traveller's Tales

This evening Norwich Writers' Circle welcomed Laurence Mitchell.

The local author and travel writer discussed his career to date, and well as launching our In-House Competition Five.

During the evening Laurence discussed his travels to date, and how his keen interest to see the world resulted in a career. We were also some photos from a recent trip to Calcutta and given information on writing for the travel market.

Laurence also informed us what he would be looking for in our witty competition entries. The visiting writers main points were:

• Show don't tell
• Have a beginning, middle and end
• Have an opionion
• Use culturally relevant metaphors
• Feature (a) local character(s)

We next meet on 19th April, for the Open Poetry Competition Adjudication and Prize-Giving Meeting. This evening will be hosted by the Competition adjudicator Martin Figura.

EDP WBN

Congratulations to Norwich Writers' Circle member Phyllida Scrivens who was one of 20,000 readers that distributed a million free books across the UK and Ireland on 5th March.

Phyllida's World Book Night efforts have been featured in the EDP.

Please go here to read the Eastern Daily Press article.

New York Norwich

Our fine city was recently featured in The New York Times.

The favourable article which describes Norwich as a book-lover's paradise can be read by going here.

Fine City Cinema

Congratulations to NWC member Elspeth Rushbrook, who has had an article published in Fine City Magazine.

Elspeth's article is about the history of Suckling Hall, located in St Andrew's Street, which is better known today as Cinema City.

The magazine feature is also the first in a series looking at other important buildings in our fine city, which have been overlooked by the Norwich 12 tourism initiative.

Issue 6 of Fine City Magazine is widely available throughout Norwich, for no charge. Check it out.

Lost In Austen

Congratulations to new NWC member Elspeth Rushbrook who has had a guest essay published in Jane Austen's Regency World.

The guest essay features in the magazine's November/December 2010 issue, which will available to buy later on in the year.

To purchase your copy of the magazine, which is published by The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, please go here.

French Passion

New NWC member Phyllida Scrivens has successful pitched an article to Practical Motorhome magazine.

The article, which will be published in February 2011 edition of the magazine, is about the France Passion scheme.

Congratulations from everyone at Norwich Writers' Circle.

Based On A True Story

Despite our previous announcement, tonight's NWC meeting took place, as usual, in The Assembly House's Sexton Room.

Unfortunately, once more, Lynne Hackles was unable to attend this evening's meeting. Tonight's meeting was for the adjudication of our Humorous Article writing competition.

In her absence, the adjudicator's report was read out. In the report, Lynne broadly commented on all 7 competition entries. Lynne's feedback was both insightful and enthusiastic, especially regarding the winners' humorous articles.

The competition winners were:

1st - The Colin Sutton Cup
The Geek, The Freak And The Large Hadron Collider
by Sally Newton

2nd
In My Black Forest Hideaway
by Anne Sanderson

3rd
The Fox Hole
by Anne Funnell

Following the announcement of the winners, we then heard all the competition entries, which ranged from school day tales to life in World War II. The readings then finished with our group listening to Sally's witty winning writing.

We next meet on Saturday 26th June for our popular Summer Social, which this year is being held in Sprowston.

Picture This Again With John Worrall

This evening, at The Assembly House, we welcomed John Worrall back to Norwich Writers' Circle.

Following his visit to us earlier in the year, John returned to adjudicate our competition to write an Article With A Local Theme of 800 words, + / - 20.

In addtion to John's constructive criticism of the competition entries, we also heard how he had had an entertaining time reading the 10 entrants. The writer and photographer also stressed to us the factors that make up a good article, including getting the reader hooked at the start, keeping their attention in the middle and then finishing off the piece properly.

The winners of the competition were:

1st
Booming Adult Ballet Classes
by Anne Sanderson

2nd
The Cathedral In The Fields
by Elizabeth Bencze

3rd
On Wishbone Ash
by Stuart McCarthy

After hearing the winning articles, we then listened to 2 more competition entries, both of which focused on the vibrant shops and colourful marketplace in Norwich.

Our next meeting is on 1st June, and will be an interactive workshop on Presentation & Punctuation by Anne Funnell.

We hope to see you next time.

Spotlight On Norwich Writers Circle

A history of our increasingly popular writing group has been featured in the Spotlight On... section of Writers' News. The interesting and enjoyable article has been written by Norwich Writers' Circle committee member Maureen Nisbet, and can be seen in the April edition of the magazine, out today.

Picture This With John Worrall

At The Assembly House this evening, Norwich Writers' Circle welcomed John Worrall, who gave us an interesting talk on Illustrated Features.

The writer and photographer's practical talk covered his 4 recommendations for getting your feature published.

The 4 areas highlighted to us were:

• Idea
• Pitch
• Writing The Feature / Doing It
• Doing It For Someone Else

Each of the areas above were covered in some detail by John, before we were then shown numerous examples, in books and magazines, of the visiting writers' work. The work shown to us then lead to a short Q&A session with the writer.

Tonight also saw the launch of our in-house Competition Four by John. This competition is the writing of an Article With A Local Theme of 800 words, + / - 20.

Our next meeting is the adjudication of Children's Adventure Story Competition, for The Cooper Prize, by Benjamin Scott. The above meeting is on 16th March , and we hope to see you there.

Contessa 32 Magazine Success

Congratulations to Circle member Jean Shackleton who has had two articles published in Contessa 32 magazine.

The interesting articles on yachting life, entitled News From The East and Boxing In The Baltic With Another Bob, can be found in the magazine's Summer 2009 issue.

The articles will also be available for everyone to read from our 15th September meeting onwards.