Means of Expression

Welcome...

2009-11-07T04:58:00.001-08:00

I've been working in journalism and literature promotion and development for more than ten years now. Last year I set up Means of Expression as a way to consolidate all the work I do – and to provide resources to others that love literature, books and writing.
Means of Expression celebrates writing in all its forms. The MoE bookshop specialises in selling new and used books at affordable prices. The web-site has interviews with authors and other creatives and offers a wide-range of services to emerging writers. For any aspiring writers the services that MoE offers can help you develop your craft. From creative writing coaching and workshops to information and advice about where you can place your work.
The aim is for this site to develop into a one-stop shop for all that love literature. With that in mind new content is being added all the time. Keep on checking in to read the latest news and information. Or sign up for the monthly Means of Expression newsletter.

Thanks for visiting...

I have just completed my role as Festival Director for Write to Ignite – Hackney Word Festival 09. For reviews of events and details visit http://www.writetoignite.co.uk

Recent Projects/Publications

Bema Arts - Project Management & Marketing

I am Creative Arts Director for Words of Colour Productions
A community enterprise established to develop the next generation of journalists particularly from Black and minority ethnic communities.

I was Managing Editor of Calabash Literary Magazine, published by Centerprise Trust

Contact

2009-11-07T04:57:00.000-08:00

If you would like more details about the services I offer, or would like to book me for a project then please email: andrea.enisuoh@journalist.co.uk

CALL FOR MATERIALS ON AFRICAN SEXUALITIES

2009-10-05T03:31:00.000-07:00

This is a reminder call for materials for a contemporary Reader on African sexualities, which is being developed and edited by Prof. Sylvia Tamale - outgoing Dean of Law at Makerere University and Coordinator of the Law, Gender and Sexuality Research Project at the Faculty of Law.

This seminal work will be a compilation of diverse populist and academic pieces that either engage with or inform sexualities enacted all over the African continent. We are interested in collecting a range of materials including (but not limited to) essays, fiction, poetry, web blogs, art, crafts, photographs, film, documentaries, diaries, music, theoretical discussions, empirical papers, academic publications etc, that address and inform African sexualities.

The editor will obtain copyright permission where necessary. Although the main language of the Reader will be English, relevant materials published in French, Portugese, Spanish, Arabic and any African tongue will be translated for inclusion. This Reader aims to be as inclusive of all of Africa as possible. The deadline for submission is October 30, 2009. All received pieces will be acknowledged.

For further information please contact:
Stella Nyanzi
Law, Gender & Sexuality Research Project
Faculty of Law
Makerere University
P. O. Box 7062
Kampala, Uganda
E-mail: snyanzi@law.mak.ac.ug

Roopa Farooki makes The Times top 50 titles in 2009 list

2009-09-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

Roopa Farooki, who is appearing at Sydenham Library tomorrow evening (Tuesday 29 September, 7-8.30pm), has also has been listed by The Times as one of the 50 top titles published in 2009. Follow the link for the full list: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article6847448.ece
In association with Pan MacMillan publishing:
Roopa Farooki introduces
The Way Things Look To Me

Sydenham Library (Sydenham Road SE26)
Tuesday 29 September, 7-8.30pm

Roopa’s new novel places an autistic teenager with high-performing Asperger's at the centre of an often moving story about how her siblings cope with not being the centre of attention. Signed copies available on the night. For ages 16 and over.

1st Annual MyAfricanDiaspora.com SHORT STORY COMPETITION

2009-09-27T01:16:00.000-07:00

MyAfricanDiaspora.com launch their first Short Story Competition:

In our ongoing effort to promote positive images that reflect people of African descent, the website that connects that African Diaspora is pleased to announce our first annual Short Story contest.
We're looking for fiction that is unique, stories with characters we'll remember, plots that leave us thinking. The contest is open to anyone, any race, any country, any continent. The only caveat? The main character must be of African descent.

Rules
1. The contest runs from October 1 – December 31, 2009, winner announced February 1, 2010
2. Entries must be 1500 words or less
3. The entry fee is $10 (via paypal or money order payable to DreamDeep LLC.) Address:
DreamDeep LLC
9360 W. Flamingo Rd.
#110-117
Las Vegas, NV 89147
4. Main character must be of African descent
5. Story must be previously unpublished
6. Submit entries to info@myafricandiaspora.com, with the words “Short Story Contest: (input name of your short story)” in the subject line. Ex. Short Story Contest: My Story. Copy & Paste into the body of the email. No attachments.
7. Be sure to include your contact information and word count with submissions
8. here will be one overall winner and one winner from each of the following genres: Literary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery, Romance (we prefer stories without gratuitous sex or violence)

Prizes
1. First Place: $500 Genre Winners: $25 Borders Gift Card
2. Each winner will have their story and a feature article published on myafricandiaspora.com
3. The winners and top three entries in each genre will have their short stories published in a short story collection at the end of the year
Introducing the 1st Annual
MyAfricanDiaspora.com

SHORT STORY COMPETITION
In our ongoing effort to promote positive images that reflect people of African descent, the website that connects that African Diaspora is pleased to announce our first annual Short Story contest.
We're looking for fiction that is unique, stories with characters we'll remember, plots that leave us thinking. The contest is open to anyone, any race, any country, any continent. The only caveat? The main character must be of African descent.
Rules
1. The contest runs from October 1 – December 31, 2009, winner announced February 1, 2010
2. Entries must be 1500 words or less
3. The entry fee is $10 (via paypal or money order payable to DreamDeep LLC.) Address:
DreamDeep LLC
9360 W. Flamingo Rd.
#110-117
Las Vegas, NV 89147
4. Main character must be of African descent
5. Story must be previously unpublished
6. Submit entries to info@myafricandiaspora.com, with the words “Short Story Contest: (input name of your short story)” in the subject line. Ex. Short Story Contest: My Story. Copy & Paste into the body of the email. No attachments.
7. Be sure to include your contact information and word count with submissions
8. here will be one overall winner and one winner from each of the following genres: Literary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery, Romance (we prefer stories without gratuitous sex or violence)
Prizes
1. First Place: $500 Genre Winners: $25 Borders Gift Card
2. Each winner will have their story and a feature article published on myafricandiaspora.com
3. The winners and top three entries in each genre will have their short stories published in a short story collection at the end of the year

Just recieved Diana Evans's new book..looking forward to reading it...

2009-05-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

It came in the post yesterday, The Wonder, the long awaited new novel from Diana Evans. Her first novel, 26a, received a Betty Trask award, a nomination for the Guardian First Book Award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel of the Year Award. It was also the inaugural winner of the Orange Award for New Writers.

Looking forward to reading this one - look out for my review very soon...

For now here's the press release blurb:

As a child, Lucas assumed that all children who'd lost their parents lived on water. Now a restless young man, and still sharing the West London narrowboat with his down-to-earth sister Denise, he secretly investigates the contents of an old wardrobe, in which he finds relics from the Midnight Ballet, an influential black dance company of the 1960s founded by his Jamaican father, the charismatic Antoney Matheus. In his search to unravel the legacy of the Midnight Ballet, Lucas comes into contact with people who were drawn towards Antoney's bright and dangerous star. He hears of hothouse rehearsals in an abandoned Notting Hill church, of artistic battles and personal betrayals, and a whirlwind European tour. Most importantly, Lucas learns about Antoney's passionate and tumultuous relationship with Carla, Lucas' mother, and the events that led to his father's final disappearance. Vividly conjuring the world of 1950s Kingston, Jamaica, the Blues parties and early carnivals of Ladbroke Grove, the flower stalls and vinyl riflers of modern-day Portobello Road, and the famous leap and fall of Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, Diana Evans creates a haunting and visceral family mystery about absence and inheritance, the battle between love and creativity, and what drives a young man to take flight.

Forest Gate by Peter Akinti (pub: Jonathan Cape)

2009-04-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

Suicide is the second biggest killer of young men in this country. More prevalent than death by road accidents and Aids. It kills three times more young men than all the class A drugs combined. For men aged between 15 and 24 suicide accounts for 20% of all deaths. Harsh facts that I had known for sometime. But it took Peter Akinti’s haunting debut novel to get me really thinking about the issues behind such tragic figures.

Ashvin and James live in Forest Gate, a sprawling East London community where poverty is the norm. A community where people from different ends of the world rub along together on a daily basis. It’s in Forest Gate that Ashvin and James haunted by their past and their present make a pact. It’s in Forest Gate that standing on top of twin-tower blocks they face each other and each with a rope around their neck jump. Only Ashwin dies.

The story that unfolds is a moving and sometimes horrifying tale of the lives that went before that night. The terror that faced Ashvin and his sister Armenia in their home-land of Somalia. The reason they were forced to flee to Britain to try to build a future. Also the sheer frustration felt by British-born James, always living in the shadow of his dysfunctional family.

The story is told in part by Armenia, a young girl who with the death of her brother has now suffered the loss of her whole family. She desperately wants to understand why Asvin took his life and through James hopes to get answers.

Though it deals with many issues: war, mental illness, drugs. Set in London, Somalia and Brazil it reveals the traumas that have brought many young teenagers to London. It also confronts the issues that shape the lives of many British-born teenagers.

Above all Forest Gate is about love. The unconditional love the characters’ feel for their family, even when they don’t quite realise it; the love that grows between James and Armenia as they seek comfort in each others arms.

Akinti, former editor of men’s magazine Untold certainly understands his subject matter. His characterization of those affected by mental health issues is understated and powerful. He narrates in a woman’s voice for much of the novel and does so skillfully. There are times though when the narrative seems weighed down with the amount of social commentary he tries to cram in. Real life racial attacks and murders and other headline grabbing events affecting the black community at times seem not entirely relevant to the plot. Sometimes this detracts from the otherwise seamless narrative.

Well-paced and uncompromising Forest Gate showcases a refreshing type of writing rarely seen these days. Akinti has produced a novel that throws a light on many of the issues surrounding young people in Britain today. While hopefully read and discussed by many young adults this book isn’t just for them. This is a book for anyone that enjoys a narrative rooted in real urban communities.

2009-04-08T04:47:00.000-07:00

Words of Colour Productions is a new community enterprise established to nurture, train and advise the next generation of creative writers and journalists - http://www.wordsofcolour.co.uk/

2009-04-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

Literature training - information for writers and those involved in creating or supporting new writing and literature in the UK.

A Life Laid Bare – Rachel Manley

2009-03-29T02:17:00.000-07:00

Her life has been billed as a true-life Cinderella story: the stationmaster’s daughter who married one of Jamaica’s most charismatic Prime Ministers. Now in her candid autobiography, The Manley Memoirs, Beverley Manley lays bare the story of a life that has been both troubled and highly inspirational.

When Beverley Manley married Jamaican Prime-Minister Michael Manley, the union of this dark-skinned woman with unprocessed hair from working class roots with a near-white, London School of Economics-educated husband 17 years her senior, met with some controversy. She has admitted that she is often asked if Michael Manley chose her to ingratiate himself with his poor, Black constituents. ‘The truth is we just fell madly in love.’ is her response.
Despite the cynicism, their union lasted 21 years and gave them two children. They survived two violent election campaigns in 1976 and 1980. They divorced in 1993 for the usual domestic reasons: differing outlooks on life and her husband’s unfaithfulness. ’ But in spite of the infidelity, she says; ‘We did have a really wonderful marriage.’
As the charismatic leader of Jamaica’s People’s National Party Michael Manley served three terms as Prime Minister, following a radical social and economic platform. He became a close friend of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and endeared himself with Jamaica’s largely Black underclass while alienating the country’s fair-skinned elite. He died of prostate cancer in 1997.
Marriage to Michael led to Beverley Manley’s political awakening. She took on an activist role in the People s National Party (PNP) and seized the opportunity to study in Higher Education. ‘I had always wanted to go to university but my elder sister was the one allowed to go. Then as the wife of the Prime Minister I could.’
On top of her responsibilities as a high-profile Prime Minister’s wife, she did a first degree, then a Masters.
‘Actually it helped steady me. Studying for me was like other people having a hobby.’
Her studies in Political Science shaped many of the opinions that she holds till this day. ‘What I studied was very relevant to what I was going on in real life. I was growing up with a second wave of feminism and getting the theory to correlate to the practice. When women realise their worth and carry that into relationships we will get true partnerships. That’s when society is really going to take off.’

She rejects the idea that women hold the power in Jamaican society. ‘Women in Jamaica are still deeply economically and psychologically dependent on men. Couples count. You are told you have to get married. That if you do such and such a thing then no man will want you.’

Though women in Jamaica are often seen as the heads of most households, Manley says there is much more to it. ‘That doesn’t come from choice but because for one reason or another the men have not been able to take up responsibility. In my mother’s case my father worked for pay and she worked for no pay. Is that the kind of power we want for women, no earning capacity?’

She recalls a conversation she once had with Cuba’s Fidel Castro about women’s rights. ‘He told me that (workers rights) as difficult as it was, would triumph long before the struggle for women’s rights. That upset me so much because I knew how difficult the struggle for worker’s rights was. I have since come to understand how correct he was. We just have to keep on keeping on.’

The response to her memoir had been overwhelming. A few have asked “Why did you have to be so frank?”
She has no time for the idea that she should “keep things to herself”. ‘I hope women get that it's okay to tell the truth about our lives. The critical thing is to learn from our experiences, even those we label as bad.’
Manley now works as a policy analyst and gender specialist. She also hosts a popular radio show in Jamaica. Though still interested in politics, she says she decided long ago never to run for office. ‘What I do now on my radio program is to go above partisan politics by just facilitating a process whereby people can transform their own lives. That is what turns me on.’

Visit my bookshop to purchase copies of The Manley Memoirs

By the Time you Read This - Lola Jaye interview

2009-03-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

By the time you read this…

When Lola Jaye decided nearly ten years ago that she wanted to be a published author she had no idea of the highs and lows she would experience along the way. She also had no idea that her first novel would cause such excitement that it would be billed as ‘THE commercial fiction debut of the year.’

By The Time You Read This is the touching and very original story of Lois Bates, who after the death of her father is handed a manual that he wrote for her. At first she can barely bring herself to read it as the pain of her dad's death is still so raw. Yet soon his advice is guiding her through every stage of her life - from jobs to first loves and relationships. It was the originality of the story that first grabbed me, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit to Lola that at stages her writing had managed to move me to tears. ‘You’re not the first person to admit to that.’ she laughs when we meet. ‘But I am glad you enjoyed it too.’
Why did she choose such potentially depressing subject matter? ‘I remember the idea came to me a while back when I was watching TV and there was this story about terminally ill women who had left video tapes for their children for when they knew they weren’t going to be around. It really got to me. Then I started to imagine if it was a man that was about to die. You don’t often hear of men in those situations. Then I started to imagine a story like that set in a time where there were no DVDs or ipods; no cds or anything like that. I literally turned off the TV and wrote about 6,000 words that day.’

Though for this story at least the words literally poured out of her (within 6 months she had finished the first draft) she knew that finding a publisher wouldn’t be so easy. ‘I had been trying to get published for quite a while and had lots and lots of rejections. I remember particularly trying to find an agent – it wasn’t easy. I remember going to this writers’ event that was a bit like Pop Idol. You went and talked to a panel and there were people coming out in tears after being told they couldn’t write.’
Fortunately for her she was encouraged to send in her work to an agent when she had finished it. It was still a while though before she had the manuscript that was to get her a publishing deal. ‘Eventually my agent said to me why don’t you go away and write a book for you – something that you want to write. It was after she took this advice that By The Time You Read This took shape. ‘I started to write something just for me and it really worked.’

The days of the book being just for her are long gone now. As we chat Lola talks of publishing dates for America, Germany, Serbia and Korea. Her excitement is palpable. Her conversation is littered with talk of agents that she has met and events she has been to. Her book launch is planned for two days after we meet and it is clearly a big deal for her. ‘I am really nervous I have to admit. Future plans? I can’t really see past the launch at the moment.’
‘All my life I have wanted to be a writer and getting the book published and getting paid for doing something I love, well it kind of validates it all.’ For now Lola is keeping her day job, she currently works for the NHS as a counsellor for people wanting to quit smoking. But with a major promotional campaign just beginning and book number two already written and planned for publication it is clearly the publishing game that will be occupying much of her time in the future.

Book reading events are already planned in local libraries and prisons and she is particularly excited that she has been invited to speak in schools about her journey to being a published author.
‘Erm don’t you want to know a bit more about my background?’ she asks sounding like a seasoned professional.
Lola fills me in on her early years. Fostered from a young age she spent her formative years living with a white family. She has spent ‘the odd year or so’ in Nigeria where her mother lives.
I have a feeling that the writer Lola Jaye is going to be around for quite a few years to come.

By The Time You Read This is published by Harper Collins and is on sale now.

Lola’s new novel While You Were Dreaming is due out this summer. Info: http://lolajaye.com/
`

Jacob Ross interview - Island Life

2009-03-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

There are few debut novelists as eagerly anticipated as Grenadian writer Jacob Ross. Already an established name as a teacher, poet and short story writer, he has now published his first novel, Pynter Bender - one that he has reworked sev-eral times over a period of fifteen years. So important was getting the book ‘just right’ that he rewrote the whole manuscript five times.

Pynter Bender is set in and around the cane fields of an imagined Caribbean Is-land. Cane fields, reveals Ross are in many ways a metaphor for slavery in the West Indies – just as cotton fields for many in North America, carry the reso-nances of slavery.
‘It is,’ says Ross, ‘an exploration of the history of an island and its people; the conflict between the world of men and women. Men who walk away from their families and from the cane fields and their women who forbear.’

At the heart of the story is the character Pynter Bender, born blind into a society where its people are becoming conscious of the wider world and want something better than their life of semi-serfdom for their children. Though born blind Pynter’s eyes are healed and he experiences first hand the painful, oftentimes violent awakening of his country.

Pynter Bender has a twin – so does Ross - how much of the novel is autobio-graphical?

‘It does touch on some of the things I experienced growing up in Grenada. But it is also about the fragility of life. Pynter is a metaphor. He was meant to die.’

At the heart of this novel is violence. Ross sees this as inevitable. ‘Pynter Bender grows up in violent times. Transition and fundamental change are always ac-companied by violence.

‘In some ways this is the story of my life.’ admits Ross, ‘Although not autobio-graphical it is about about being born into a society where being young and ar-ticulate could literally have been a death sentence.’

Why did he not simply base his narrative in Grenada rather than an imagined island?
‘To use specifics involving real names and places could be a distraction,’ he says, ‘It reins in the imagination. This is a work of fiction not a historical text.’

Though he has made sporadic returns to Grenada over the years, his most re-cent visit had a major effect on him. ‘The changes there are enormous::the peo-ple, the infrastructure, everything has changed. Once it would have taken two hours to get from one end of the island to the other, now it can be done in forty minutes. It is a very forward looking nation. And considering that the place was practically flattened by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, it is amazing how it has been re-built.’
His observations are tempered by the politics of the country. ‘I was there in the middle of the election and in many ways I was despairing. There were two strong parties and the politics were highly polarised. The country seemed split down the middle and there always seemed to be the suggestion of intimidation, violence and tribalisation. It reminded me in many ways of Jamaica in the 1970s. Then there is the crack cocaine that is affecting some of the youths there now.’
Despite his concerns, his love for his home shines through.
Ross was back in Grenada partly to research his next novel.
Pynter Bender is the first in a trilogy of novels. ‘I needed to relocate myself in Grenada to get some aspects of the story right.’

Ross is a master of the short story form. He has published two critically ac-claimed collections (Song for Simone and A Way to Catch the Dust) and has taught creative writing for close to twenty years. Ross recently won an Arts Council of England Award for his novel in progress, The Village Above the Wind.
Is his turn to the novel permanent?
‘The short story is very comfortable for me. Short narratives are integral to our culture - from gossip and rumour-mongering to ‘Anancy’ stories. But I decided long ago that I wanted to be a novelist. Finishing a novel is one of the most fulfill-ing experiences there is. A short story is like a morsel of food – a novel is like a bellyful.’

Pynter Bender is published by Fourth Estate and is on sale now.
Info: www.jacobrossonline.com

The Meaning of Love...

2009-03-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Love. That wretched emotion that can build you up or tear you apart. That feeling that can make your heart sing or tear it in two. It is also the subject of the sizzling debut novel by Gemma Weekes. Already known as a spoken word artist and singer, it has been said that Gemma has a way ‘with language that puts all the music, sweat, colour and raw emotion of a city night directly on to the page.’ Hype like that leaves a lot to live up to. But Love Me, released this month may just prove the point.

The novel is set over the course of one summer in London and Brooklyn. It is a story of sexual obsession, family tensions and the transformative power of love.
I caught up with Gemma to talk abut the book, her career and her lovely little boy who seems even more excited about the interview than she is.

So the book is about love…
It is about love, but also about a young woman’s journey. It is a coming of age story. In a way it’s about being stuck – and what makes you stuck in the first place.
What do you mean by ‘stuck?
Let’s face it there are a lot of people in their twenties especially that get stuck these days. I’ve seen it in my peers. A lot of us have been lost. If you compare it to our parents generation it is a luxury to be lost. Our parents had a clear idea of what they wanted: the house, the job, and the children. For us we all think we have a big purpose in life but are not sure what it is. It is an examination of my own life as much as anything.
So is there much of you in the book?
The book is in many ways an examination of my own life. Once I started to unpick that the characters just developed their own momentum.
I knew of you as a short-story writer but realise you do much more.
I play the guitar, I am a singer-songwriter and a poet. I love being creative.
Writing a novel though was the first thing I ever wanted to do. The idea of creating worlds for other people was an enchanting possibility. It is an amazing thing to be able to do. For me it was always singing and writing novels. I really feel blessed doing what I want to do.
When did you decide to write a full novel?
I met the writer Courttia Newland who is now a really good friend. He had published one of his early books and introduced me to his agent. I don’t want to say how long ago it was because it is embarrassing, but they really liked it. I guess I wasn’t really ready then though so I went to university and stuff like that. I did write little bits from time to time but it wasn’t till about 2005 that I started to take it seriously.
Once I started I wrote till I was beyond broke. I put everything else on hold. And I must admit when the book was done I did find it kind of unnerving. You can spend 30 weeks or a lifetime on a novel. But doing it really depends on how much you really need to write.
Are you one of those regimented, writers, rolling up to your computer every morning?
Do I write every day? Well I certainly do something creative every day. I feel annoyed with myself if I don’t. Writing is tough though. I have a young boy and I guess it is hard having children whatever you do. But I also think they give you a deeper motivation. You know you have to make use of your life.
What do you want to do next?
Be Prime Minister.
Well after Obama it could work…
Only joking. I want to write till I die. And make music and of course. And raise my boy.
Love Me is published by Chatto & Windus

Killer Tune by Dreda Say Mitchell

2009-03-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Killer Tune is the much-anticipated second novel from the award-winning author of Running Hot, and is a book that proves that writer Dreda Say Mitchell is steadfastly carving out a niche for herself in British crime-writing.
This is fast-paced, multi-layered and, just as importantly, crammed with quality writing. Refreshingly it is set in an urban environment that many of us will recognise. Lord Tribulation (LT for short), the rap-sensation of the moment is about to sign a major recording contract. That is until a young boy firebombs a house while listening to his music.
What follows is a far reaching attack on the music that LT champions; from politicians to members of the public, questions are being raised. Do characters like LT glamorise a criminal lifestyle through their music? Should such artists be celebrated or condemned?
With the loss of a lucrative recording contract and the suspicious death of his reggae legend father, LT’s life seems to be going into freefall. This descent is halted by the reappearance of his childhood sweetheart Bernie who after walking out on him 15 years before, still manages to motivate him enough to investigate the death of his father.
What follows is an intriguing retro trip to the time of the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival – a period of racial and political turmoil. Through a series of cleverly hidden tapes the secret past of LT’s father is revealed.
As much as the carefully crafted plot draws you into this story, so will the vivid imagery and lyrical descriptions of the people that inhabit its streets. Then there is the musical backdrop that Mitchell has ingeniously woven into the novel. From Vivaldi to Natalie Cole, T-Rex to Bob Marley, the soundtrack of this story is integral to the narrative.
Engaging, suspense-filled and intriguing, Killer Tune has Mitchell shining a light on a particular time and place in the most innovative of ways.

Writing through the Credit Crunch

2009-03-27T04:54:00.001-07:00

No matter where you turn it’s impossible to escape. Talk of recession that is. Every newspaper we read, every news broadcast we listen to it’s there. Then there is, of course, how the downturn affects us all, personally and financially. In one way or another, there are few who haven’t been touched.
So how is the current climate affecting the literary community? Has it spurred on writers and inspired them to new levels of creativity? Or has it helped develop some kind of collective writers’ block in the UK?
For a while I feared the latter. As someone who works with new and emerging writers all the time I even began to consider counselling as a new career. Writers who felt they couldn’t afford the cost of creative writing classes or mentoring anymore. Writers frustrated to the point of tears at having their funding applications for help to finish their novels turned down. On the phone or in person I noticed a marked increase in the amount of writers who wanted to just talk about it. I can’t pretend I was any different. I must have bored friends’ silly with tales of how the recession was affecting me.
Now I have decided I’m not playing anymore - the ‘recession is killing my creativity’ game, that is. After losing jobs and struggling financially I played along for a while. How can I write creatively when there is so much else to think about? I reasoned. Now I am looking at it in a different way. How can I not write creatively when we live in such interesting times?
One of the first pieces of drama to really ever move me was Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff. It was a BBC drama that captured the public mood of the early 1980s, a time of economic recession and anxiety about unemployment. I can’t have been more than 13-years-old at the time, but that series made me want to be a writer. I saw the way Bleasdale realistically portrayed the lives of ordinary people, how he captured their sheer despair in a moving and yet humorous way and I thought - I want to do that too.
The other night at a creative writing class I attend we all read out some recent work. I have to say I was truly inspired by the quality of what was being read out. In terms of subject matter and sheer craft it was inspiring. No collective writers’ block there.
I’ve talked to writers who because of the economic situation have more time on their hands just recently. Many have used that time to feed their creativity. Blogging for example is a very specific way of stimulating and showcasing your work. Some are just reading more and through that are learning their craft. Others, turning a negative into a positive, are making the most of having more time to write.
One thing I find I need to warn some writers against though is rushing their work. ‘I need this out quick because I need to make some money,’ one aspiring author said to me recently. Let’s not let the recession affect the quality of our work. Let’s take the time to make our writing the best ever.
A fuller version of this article appear on the words of colour web-site: http://www.wordsofcolour.co.uk/