June 10th: Writing and Patience

For our June meeting, our main speaker is Toby Litt — Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.

Writing and Patience

Is impatience holding you back from better writing? Toby Litt took 12 years to write his own novel, Patience – shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. The talk will focus on helping you develop your story ideas and your ideas about stories more gradually but with greater confidence.

Toby Litt is a writer, academic and environmental activist based in London. He grew up in Ampthill and went to Bedford Modern School. He has published novels, short story collections and poems. His most recent book is A Writer’s Diary (Galley Beggar, 2023) – and his diary continues to run on Substack. His novel Patience was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. He is a member of English PEN and editor of the Writers Rebel website. The recent Netflix series, Dead Boy Detectives, was based on Toby’s run on the Vertigo/DC comic of the same name.

Our guest speaker is HWS member Sam Christie. Sam was longlisted for the Bridport Prize, Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award 2021, was second place in the Bloomsbury Writers’ and Artists’ Short Story Competition 2022 and was third place in the New Welsh Writers’ Awards 2023. He is prepared to wrestle a polar bear if that might lead to the publication of his novel.

A Right Old Wild Ride

Sam Christie tells the story of his navigation over the summits and into the cols of the writing dream, gives some thoughts on how he survives the tricky times, and encourages members to share their own tips on staying chipper when the going gets hard. His talk will take you from his triumph as Bridport novel longlister, sharing the Hay greenroom with Richard E. Grant and Catherine Zeta Jones, all the way down to his ignominious rejections by Modern Drunkard, Taco Bell Quarterly and sundry other niche publications (yes, they’re real magazines).

The meeting will be Tuesday June 10th, at the Tower Arts Centre.

Come along from 7pm. Talks start at 7:30pm. Members free, non-member tickets £10, students £2 (no advance booking, payment on entry).