Hampshire Writers Society meetings are held in Winchester at the Tower Arts Centre which is next to King’s School — just off Romsey Road not far from the university.
For help finding the Tower Arts Centre, Google Maps map is here. SatNav may send you down the wrong side road, so don’t rely on it!
The Tower itself is easy to spot. For parking, take the last exit at the roundabout. Walk round to the front of the Tower and enter by the main sliding doors.
The June meeting will be held in our new venue: the Tower Arts Centre, which is off Romsey Road not far from the University.
Come along from 6:30pm to enjoy the Book Fair — an excellent opportunity to show off your books (whether self- or traditionally published) to your fellow writers, or if you are working towards publication, a great chance to find out how it’s done!
We’re delighted to have as our main speaker the legendary Della Galton. She’s a novelist, short story writer and journalist with over 35 years’ experience. Her writing credits include fifteen novels, several novellas, six non fiction books and over 2000 short stories published in the UK and abroad.
She was the agony aunt for Writers’ Forum magazine and is a qualified Adult Education tutor.
Her latest novels, The Bluebell Cliff series and The Puddleduck Farm series, are published by Boldwood Books. Her ‘How to Write’ Books are available from Amazon. For more information see www.dellagalton.co.uk
Her talk is titled My Path to Publication and some very important things I’ve learned – that may help you too (including SIX important rules).
Our guest speaker is AJ Spencer, who’ll be sharing tips on how to write believable LGBTQ+ Characters; how to show (not just tell) that your character is LGBTQ+, how to avoid avoid the ‘token gay character’ trope, and what topics are appropriate to write about.
Della is judging our competition this month. The results will be announced at the end of the meeting, so if you’ve entered, do attend — if you win, you’ll get a certificate and we’ll all celebrate with you.
Entry is free for members, £10 for non-members, and just £2 for students. No booking required — just turn up. For help finding the Tower Arts centre, see here.
We hope to see many of you there for this not-to-be-missed meeting!
We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be meeting at our new venue, the Tower Arts Centre, just off Romsey Road not far from the university.
Our main speaker is Joanna Barnard, winner of the prestigious Bath Novel Award and author of two books published by Ebury Press. She’s also a counsellor, writing coach, and teacher, and she’ll be sharing some tips on navigating the ups and downs of the writing life in her talk, From Rejection to Auction: Failure and Success in the Writer’s Life.
We’re also excited to have Louise Morrish back as our guest speaker. She’s just published her debut novel, Operation Moonlight, which won the 2019 Penguin Random House First Novel Competition.
Joanna Barnard has kindly agreed to judge our competition this month. The results will be announced at the end of the meeting, so if you’ve entered, do attend — if you win, you’ll get a certificate and we’ll all celebrate with you.
Come along from 7pm to meet and chat with fellow writers. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm.
Entry is free for members, £10 for non-members, and just £2 for students. No booking required — just turn up. For help finding the Tower Arts centre, see here.
We hope to see many of you there for what should be an excellent meeting!
Our April meeting will be held in a new venue: the Tower Arts Centre, which is off Romsey Road not far from the University. For more information, see the web page here, and the map is here.
As usual, the meeting starts at 7:30pm. Entry to the talk is free for members, £10 for non-members, students £2.
Our main speaker is Cheryl Butler. She is a historian, writer, former Head of Culture at Eastleigh, Honorary Fellow of the University of Winchester, Fellow of the Royal Historical Association and has written extensively on the history of Southampton as well as being an editor for the Southampton Records and member of the Southampton Tourist Guides Association.
In Cheryl’s talk, Shakespeare, Travelling Players & The Historic Henry, she’ll be looking at the events of 1415, which had a big impact on Hampshire, Shakespeare’s interpretation, and at his potential knowledge of the area via the travelling players routes.
Our guest speaker is Chris Heal, discussing his latest book: The Winchester Tales. Chris Heal completed his history PhD at Bristol University in 2012 when he was sixty-five-years-old.
The sun is shining (we hope), birds are singing, flowers are flowering — and writers are busily writing. If you can bear to tear yourself from your keyboard, why not come along to the cafe at the Winchester Arc (also known as the library) to meet new writer friends in a relaxed setting, or just enjoy coffee and cake.
Tell us about your your nagging plot problems and misbehaving characters, your non-fiction or poetry — we’re all writers!
Members and non-members welcome.
These informal meetings aren’t hosted or organised in any way, but Catherine will attempt to attend and bring a (hopefully) easily visible 30cm artist’s mannequin (see image below) to help you find the group.
For these months we’ve picked some dates that aren’t Tuesdays (shock) to allow people who can’t do Tuesdays to attend. So please make a note of the days and dates below, and let us know what suits you best.
Monday, March 20th 10:30am
Wednesday, April 19th 10:30am
Friday, May 26th 10:30am
If you have a request for a different day, time, or venue, or any questions, email inquiries @ hampshirewriterssociety.co.uk.
by Marion Dante
For many years I felt compelled to write. Perhaps it could have been because my surname is Dante! Of course not. If only I was related to the great Dante Alighieri 1265–1321, considered to be the greatest Italian poet, best known for The Divine Comedy, an epic poem that is one of the world’s most important works of literature. Dream on….
Most likely it was the shock of struggling to cope after leaving a religious order of nuns that I had joined aged fourteen and remained a member of for thirty-three years that necessitated that I put pen to paper. The launch of my autobiography ‘Dropping The Habit’ felt like a great release.
Aware that this book had been edited and supported, I sought writing courses in order to improve my first ventures into publication. Fortunately I discovered Hampshire Writers’ Society. I was delighted when Barbara announced my autobiography.
The Hampshire Writer’s Society became my refuge, Barbara Large, its founder, my patient heroine, generous tutor, guide and supporter. I entered many competitions set by the Hampshire Writers’ Society. I even managed to win ….was it third place? on one occasion. Encouraged by her I succeeded in publishing two novels as a result of a correspondence course with her, often visiting her home.
Without Barbara’s support I felt bereft. Memories of her saying her farewell days before she died took its toll. Eventually however, I have produced the third novel to form a trilogy. Again I turned to Hampshire Writer’s Society for an editor. Thankfully, Secretary Maggie Farran recommended an excellent editor.
Through the direction of Joanna Barnard and Christine Hammacott of the Art of Communication, the design of the book cover, formatting and a great deal of help, Camino Tales is now published.
Visit Marion Dante’s author website to find out more about her books and read her blog.
Join us at 7:30pm at the University of Winchester, Winton Room 5, when our main speaker with be local author Claire Gradidge, and our guest speaker is Sara Gangai. Results of the February competition, judged by Claire Gradidge, will be announced, along with the details for the March competition.
Talks are free for members. Non-members are also welcome — tickets £10, students £2. No booking required.
Claire Gradidge was born and brought up in Romsey. After a career as, among other things, a nurse and a school librarian, she went to the University of Winchester, where she graduated in 2009 with a first class honours BA in Creative Writing.
In January 2018, she was awarded a PhD in creative writing. The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox, written as the creative element of her PhD study, went on to win the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition.
The third book in the Josephine Fox series, A Conflict of Interests, was published in October, 2022.
In her talk, Claire will discuss how memory and old maps, family stories and local history helped her create the Josephine Fox mystery series.
An Associate Lecturer on the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Winchester, Claire also leads a local Adult Education class. She has had short fictions and poetry published in South, Orbis and Vortex. An active member of the creative writing community, she is a founder member of Chandlers Ford Writers and participates in local writing events, including as a judge for poetry and prose competitions.
Find Claire on Twitter (@ClaireGradidge) or online at
www.chandlersfordwriters.wordpress.com/chandlers-ford-writers
Sara Gangai was the Event Manager and then Director of the Winchester Writers’ Festival before starting Writers’ Weekend when the university decided to close the Writers’ Festival.
In 2022, after ten years with the Writers’ Festival and Writers’ Weekend, she passed the torch to the team at I AM in Print so that she could focus on her passion: interviewing and capturing life histories on video.
Her interest in oral histories began while she was studying for her MA in Regional and Local History and Archaeology at the University of Winchester. She knew that it was common to record people’s recollections for academic research, but felt that every one of us had an interesting and unique story to tell.
She began SharedMemories.uk to give people the opportunity to tell their life stories so that they can be shared with family and friends and treasured for generations to come.
She will be speaking about the value of recording your life story and the power of authentic voices and memories to inform your writing.
Join us at 7:30pm at the University of Winchester, Winton Room 5, when our main speaker will be author Nick Cook (presenting by video) and our guest speaker, children’s author Yarrow Townsend. Results of the February competition, judged by Yarrow Townsend, will be announced, along with the details for the March competition.
After a long and successful career in the video games industry, Nick Cook turned to writing science fiction.
Nick has many interests, from space exploration and astronomy to travelling the world. He has flown light aircraft and microlights, an experience he used as research for Cloud Riders. He’s always loved to cook, but then you’d expect it with his surname. His writing in many ways reflects his curiosity about the world around him. He loves to let his imagination run riot to pose the question: What if?
Yarrow Townsend spent her childhood among the moss, oak and heather of the New Forest. After working as a teacher, and then as a stablehand, Yarrow completed an MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, before returning to the forest to work for the RSPB. Always in search of ways to be closer to the outdoors, Yarrow now lives on a narrowboat, travelling the canals with her garden on the roof. The Map of Leaves is inspired by her life by the woods and the water, and by her own parents’ herb books. Follow her: @yarrowtownsend
The Map of Leaves is published by Chicken House.
Celebrate the start of a new year of writing by coming along to the cafe at the Winchester Arc (also known as the library) to make new writer friends in a relaxed setting, or just enjoy coffee and cake. Members and non-members welcome.
These informal meetings aren’t hosted or organised in any way, but Catherine will attempt to attend and bring a (hopefully) easily visible 30cm artist’s mannequin (see image below) to help you find the group.
Bring your New Year’s writing resolutions, goals and challenges for mutual inspiration and encouragement!
Dates:
Tuesday January 24th 10:30AM
Tuesday February 21st 10:30AM
If you have a request for a different day, time, or venue, or any questions, email inquiries @ hampshirewriterssociety.co.uk.
We usually hold a Book Fair at our December and June meetings. This is an opportunity for members who have published books (including self-publishers) to show off their work, discuss and sell it.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to scale back the December Book Fair as the Stripe Foyer was not available this month. However, we can offer places for FOUR HWS members who have published (self-published or mainstream) to set up their books at tables outside Room 5 in the Winton Building where we usually hold the HWS meetings.
From January and at every monthly HWS meeting we plan to give two members the opportunity to display their books to sell and share with the audience.
If you would like to participate in December or are interested in having a table in future months, or need more information, please contact Karin Groves, stating which months you are available. Slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.