The Write Idea: February Book Events in Sedbergh 2012

Event 1 Tales from the Market Café

Colin Shelbourn

Organised as part of the new-look for Sedbergh's Wednesday Market, Book Town presents the fourth in a series of successful Morning Coffee, Cake & Company events at which local people talk about the books that have left a lasting impression upon their lives.

Cartoonist and Writer Colin Shelbourn will talk about the books that have mattered most in his writing life. Colin is a professional cartoonist, author and illustrator whose illustrations have appeared in over 100 books. He has written a dozen books of his own and his cartoons have been published in newspapers, magazines and online; indeed they have even appeared on stage, on TV and even on radio! His experience in teaching cartooning to both artists and non-artists led to Crowood Press commissioning him to write his latest book Drawing Cartoons.

Event 2 Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Trees, An Evening of Nature Poetry

Wild Life Poets, who came together at Janni Howker's workshop in Kendal, present an evening of their poetry. This event will be one of several which will be taking place across Cumbria to celebrate Cumbria Wildlife Trust's 50th anniversary in 2012.

Presented in association with the Local Support Group of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

Event 3 The Liars' League Presents…

The most innovative live fiction event in the north comes to Sedbergh Book Town!

Liars' League Leeds presents six stories from new and established writers plus contributions from local writers, brought to life by their cast of amazing professional actors. The Liars' League set up its northern wing in 2011 after ten glorious years of tale-telling and fiction readings in London. Now LLL brings the best in thought-provoking and original new short fiction to Sedbergh – so just grab a seat, make yourselves comfortable, and enjoy. After all, when was the last time anybody told you a story?

“Liars' League brings together actors and writers and allows each do what they are good at. The result is live fiction at its best. Funny, well presented, quirky, enjoyable.”.

Event 4 Aspects of Fiction

Peter Hobbs, (photo by Natalie Castellanos Ryan)

A prose writing workshop with the acclaimed novelist & short story writer Peter Hobbs who will host a full-day prose writing workshop that examines the key components of fiction – character, landscape, narrative, style – and how these work together to create engaging, convincing prose. Writers of all levels welcome.

Peter Hobbs is the critically-acclaimed author of ‘The Short Day Dying’, the winner of a Betty Trask Award and shortlisted for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and The Whitbread First Novel Award. He has also published a collection of short stories, ‘I Could Ride All Day in My Cool Blue Train’ which was longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. His most recent novel, ‘In The Orchard, The Swallows’, was published by Faber in January 2012. Peter is an experienced creative writing tutor who runs regular workshops for the Arvon Foundation as well being a writer-in-residence for the charity, First Story, which fosters creativity, literacy and talent in young people by placing authors in challenging secondary schools.

Of Peter's book ‘The Short Day Dying’ Gordon Burn wrote: “Without a doubt one of the best first novels of the new millennium – certain of tone, stylistically intelligent, effortlessly accomplished. Hobbs is a marvellous writer.” And David Peace commented: “In ‘The Short Day Dying’, Peter Hobbs has written the most assured, compelling and original British debut of this new century.”