Monday 31 March 2014

ShellShock: WoW Fest 2014

Full festival line up announced!
36 events in Liverpool throughout the whole of May! 


Join Writing on the Wall for a month of Flash Fiction, writing competitions, poetry, new work from local writers, and readings and rants on international issues and local art and culture.

Writing on the Wall bring some of our best writers, artists and commentators – Irvine Welsh, Owen Jones, Liz Carr, Seumas Milne, Helen Walsh, Phill Jupitus, Luke Harding, Marai Larasi, Levi Tafari and Niall Griffiths – to explore old soldiers and campaigners, modern day conflicts, war abroad and, thirty years on from The Miners Strike, The Enemy Within.

Read through the listings here...
Please share and spread the word!

Thursday 27 March 2014

Phill Jupitus aka Porky the Poet and Tim Wells: Proletariat Poetry From Two Stout Lads

Phill Jupitus & Tim Wells 

Never Mind the Buzzcocks star Phill Jupitus aka, Porky the Poet will be joining Tim Wells, ‘hard-giggling’ poet of ‘wit and brilliance’ (The Guardian) for a comedy filled poetry evening. Expect wild anarchy and utter hilarity.
Preshow discounts on meals for ticket holders.


What time? 7:30pm 
How can I get tickets? Get your tickets here

Friday 21 March 2014

Next Headline Act Announced


LIZ CARR 

Writing on the Wall are delighted to announce one of our headline acts for our 2014 Festival  - British actor (Silent Witness), stand-up comedian, broadcaster and international disability rights activist – Liz Carr. Liz’s brand of comedy can be unexpected and shocking - she ‘tells it like it is.’ Breaking down stereotypes with sharp observations and comedy that will crack you up; this is one you will not want to miss. Liz will be joined on stage by a host of local funny girls. 
Tickets on sale now!


'Funny Girls'
Saturday 14th May
8PM
£8/£4 concessions
Leaf on Bold Street 
65-67 Bold St, Liverpool L1 4EZ

Get your tickets here 


Monday 17 March 2014

Pulp Idol 2014 Competition

Writing on the Wall's Pulp Idol Competition 2014 is now open for applicants!

Apply here


Pulp Idol is a unique writing competition for novelists. With great success from previous finalists, it’s an inspiring opportunity for writers. Pulp Idol focuses on supporting new original voices and getting them heard. We strive to provide a platform for up-and-coming writers, helping with exposure to new audiences and providing contacts with key publishers and agents.

If you want to be in with a chance of getting your first chapter published and getting to read in front of a major publisher or agent, then you need to enter this year’s Pulp Idol. Prizes include: Getting your work read by an agent/publisher, and publication in a collection of first chapters by Writing on the Wall. The winner will have the chance to meet personally with a publisher/agent.

Apply here or find out about the competition rules here.


Friday 14 March 2014

Owen Jones: A Rebel Rant

Owen Jones is back, standing up and speaking out on issues that have been swept under the carpet for too long. He wants YOU to join him. Are you up for it? Owen Jones has been at the centre of the big benefits row this year – bedroom tax, austerity and welfare cuts. We know what we’re fighting for but just who are we against?

A Rebel Rant with journalist and author, Owen Jones (Chavs – The Demonisation of the Working Class). Owen Jones, an inspirational speaker, is a columnist for The Guardian and appears regularly on TV discussing politics and social issues. Owen will be ranting about the ongoing fight against those in power with a chance for the audience to get their opinions heard.


Owen Jones
A Rebel Rant

Thursday 15th May 
At the Black-E
7.30pm 
Get your ticket here 


Thursday 13 March 2014

George Garrett Archive Project.

It’s been an important part of the project keeping the family involved and updated about the development of the archive and our activities. So on Saturday 8th March we held our third Garrett Family Update day at the fabulous Central Library. We were made up to see them again and spend the afternoon discussing the archive and our plans for the celebration events in May. We were particularly pleased that George’s two remaining sons, Derek and Roy, were able to join us.



Tony Wailey, in a Herculaneum effort, managed to condense our sixteen week course down to twenty minutes, in a superb presentation, ably assisted by his glamorous assistant (Me!) on the slide show. We wanted to make sure the family had a wider understanding of the context of George’s work, and they seemed suitably satisfied at the end of the discussion.

It was very generous of David Stoker, Service Manager for the Central Library & Archive, to give up his time on a Saturday to join us for the full session. David spoke with the family about the archive and how George’s artefacts would be treated and stored if they are stored at the Library.

David then took them on a tour of the archive rooms, demonstrating to them the up to date technology that exists there. This is an ongoing discussion and the family now have copies of the agreements to consider for the future.


We then discussed the celebration month and our proposals, and we were delighted the family granted WoW permission for us to republish copies of two of George’s writings in a small booklet myself and Tony have written as an introduction to his work and the archive. This will be published for the May celebration events. All done, we took some pics and headed off to Dr Duncan’s for some welcome lubrication.

The George Garrett Volunteer group met again on Monday to continue cataloguing the archive, and have now begun inputting all the information into templates. These will accompany the archive and provide a guide to the material available, as well as providing information for tagging the material on the website. The group worked like clockwork, and it’s always a surprise when 8pm comes round. Time flies when…

We’ll be continuing this work next Monday, and expect to have everything logged by that point, so we can move on to the other thousand and one things we are working on to prepare for May!


The George Garrett Archive project workshops are free and open to all. We meet every Monday, 6-8pm. For our next session on Monday 17th March, we will be meeting at LJMU’s Aldham Robarts Library, MaryLand Street. L1 9DE (off HopeStreet).

Monday 10 March 2014

Welcome to the WoW Team!

Writing on the Wall would like to officially welcome Chanel Scott-Jeffers to the WoW team as our Festival Assistant. After two months of work experience Chanel has been thrown into helping organising the WoW Festival running up to May. We're lucky to have an extra pair of hands in the office at such a hectic time. Chanel is from Belfast and recently graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in English Literature and Language. We'd like to thank the Creative Employment programme and the DWP for helping to make this employment possible.



Friday 7 March 2014

IRVINE WELSH AT WOWFEST



CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS


We are delighted to announce that we have the author of one of the most iconic novels of the 20th Century, Trainspotting, at our festival this May.
Irvine Welsh is coming to Liverpool as part of his latest book launch tour of 'The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins'. The night will be hosted by novelist, Kevin Sampson with a DJ set from lead singer of The Farm, Peter Hooton.

IRVINE WELSH was born in Edinburgh, and first came to public attention with his debut novel Trainspotting (1993), which was quickly adapted for stage and screen, with great success. His other novels include Filth (1998), Glue (2001), and, most recently, Skagboys (2012), and he has written many short stories and screenplays.
The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins. 
When Lucy Brennan, a Miami Beach personal-fitness trainer, disarms a gunman chasing two frightened homeless men, the police and the breaking-news cameras are not far behind and, within hours, Lucy is a media hero. 

Irvine Welsh has created two of his most memorable female protagonists. The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins taps into two great obsessions of our time – how we look and where we live – and tells a story so subversive and dark it blacks out the Florida sun.

6th May
7.30pm

Venue: 'Oh Me Oh My'
West Africa House
L2 0RG

Tickets: £10/5 concessions

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS


Tuesday 4 March 2014

Luke Harding announced for Writing on the Wall Festival

Luke Harding, will read from his book, ‘The Snowden Files’, the incredible story of the intelligence breach of the biggest spying programme ever designed. Luke will be in conversation with award-winning journalist and writer, Brian Reade.

Luke Harding is a journalist, writer and award-winning correspondent with the Guardian. He has reported from Delhi, Berlin and Moscow and covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Between 2007 and 2011 he was the Guardian's Moscow bureau chief. The Kremlin expelled him from the country in the first case of its kind since the Cold War. His recent article in the Guardian, Writing The Snowden Files: 'The paragraph began to self-delete' has had a huge response. 




13th May at L1 Waterstones 
Tickets: £3 (£2 for Loyalty Card Holders) available in store or over the phone 0151 709 9820
Start Time: 7pm