Some Came By The Sea

September 3rd 2015 saw the launch and celebration of a brand new book called What’s your Granby Story? The directors and staff at ‘Writing on the Wall’ arranged the launch event following a six-week writing project involving the local community. The publication is a collection of monologues, poems and stories.

Granby, or if you prefer, L8, seems to have shaken off the darkened image of the infamous Toxteth Riots; an unrest that branded Granby as a predominant ‘No go area’, a place to avoid at all costs.  The repercussions of those riots led to years of national ignorance and neglect.

The launch night however did not reflect any of its notorious history and instead revealed a mixed community that still exists and continues to make everyone feel welcome. The books sentiment shows the resilience and tolerance that the people of Granby have endured over the years. It is a collection of written works that highlights real grit, determination and character.  This can be found in poems such as Martha Said and Liverpool 8 and a monologue entitled Abdi’s Story, that gives a brief emotionally charged account of settlers who came to Liverpool to avoid conflict in their homeland.

 

Another theme that underlines this book is the strength of women.  Mothers and daughters alike are the very backbone of both past and present times; each generation standing firm in order to claim and shape family identities. They are active and continue to reinvent the Granby area. There is a strong presence of the seafarer and stories are told and worn like a time-honoured badge. Settlers of Granby came from as far and wide as Trinidad, Jamaica and Somalia to name but a few places. Granby came from the sea, so a badge comes with the territory.

Ultimately, the real impact of reading What’s your Granby Story is a sense of the warmth and nostalgia that we find within these memories, displaying a human instinct for survival that makes past struggles and sorrows become bearable for those families who affectionately call Granby their home.

Miriam O’Carroll

The book is available on Kindle and in News From Nowhere Book Shop. 

Professor Green to Appear in Liverpool on World Mental Health Day!

COMPETITION CLOSING DATE: 5pm, Monday, 14th September 2015

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT AND CELEBRATORY EVENT: Thursday 8th October 2015

VENUE: Liverpool Central Library, The Discovery Room

TIME: 6pm – 8pm

Rapper, Singer-Songwriter, Stephen Manderson Aka Professor Green will be making an exclusive appearance in Liverpool on Thursday 8th October at Liverpool’s Central Library to announce the winners of the Mental Health and Me competition on 8th October 2015 as part of the World Mental Health Day celebrations running through the week. Professor Green is a proud patron of male prevention suicide charity, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). With the death of his father in 2010 as well as his own personal battles with depression and anxiety, preventing male suicide and encouraging young men to open up about their mental health issues is a cause close to his heart. Professor Green has talked about his own demons and his father’s suicide in several of his songs including Lullaby, Goodnight and Read All About It.

“I’m delighted to have Professor Green’s support for this year’s Mental Health and Me competition. He’s someone who’s been through some very difficult personal experiences and written about them honestly and movingly and I know he’ll connect with what our competition entrants have written about and experienced. Likewise, they’ll be encouraged by his support for their creativity and his willingness to stand up and address mental health issues head-on. Like Professor Green, the Mental Health and Me writers and spoken word performers are doing powerful things to challenge stigma around mental distress and to get people talking about how they feel. Not only is that a positive thing for the individual writers and performers but it’s a positive thing for all of us! Thanks to Professor Green and thanks to all our competition entrants – you’re all inspirational!”

Claire Stevens, Liverpool Mental Health Consortium  

The Competition

Liverpool’s Mental Health Consortium & Writing on the Wall are delighted to announce that the ‘Mental Health & Me’ writing competition is back for its second year!

To celebrate World Mental Health Day on Saturday, 10th October, the Liverpool Mental Health Consortium have created an action packed week of activities. As part of these celebrations, we are inviting you to send us an original response to the expression ‘Mental Health & Me.’ Last year’s competition was one of the highlights of the World Mental Health Day programme & attracted a wide selection of creative work across 6 categories – poetry, short stories, diary pieces or blog posts, letters, a piece of journalism, or even a tweet. This year, we’re adding a brand new category - Spoken Word - which we hope will appeal to the creative flair of even more people.

Competition entries should be sent via email to: competition@liverpoolmentalhealth.org

Postal entries should be sent to: Writing on the Wall c/o Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, 4 Princes Road , Liverpool , L8 1TH

We encourage entries from anyone with an interest in Mental Health & wellbeing. If mental distress has affected you or someone close to you; if you have experience as a carer or a professional; or if you have a particular interest in the subject of mental health for any reason, we want to hear from you. Critical voices are also welcome!

This year’s competition is open to anyone living within Merseyside (Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens) & to all age groups.

Find out more here

Superheroes of Slam 2015

We are on the quest for the Ultimate Slam Poet in partnership with Commonword...

Liverpool Heat: 7th October at Leaf Tea Shop. 7pm, £4/£3.

Judged by audience response & guest judges

Open to all poets, MCs & rappers performing acapella, bring your entourage!

To enter please email info@writingonthewall.org.uk

The grand final champion will receive £250 and an Arvon week of their choice in 2016 (subject to availability).Find out more here

What's Your Granby Story? Book Launch

5th September 2015 at Granby Street Summer Market

Free, No booking required

Granby Four Street Community Land Trust & Writing on the Wall are proud to present What’s Your Granby Story? 

 

This collection of stories, memoirs, poems and conversations is the first publication to focus exclusively on the Granby area. These new and original pieces were created over a two month period as part of a creative writing and storytelling project. The ultimate intention of What’s Your Granby Story? is to demonstrate the exceptionality of Granby, its rich and important heritage and why, through its highs and lows, it has always been regarded as the heart of Liverpool 8. We feel that this very special book has really achieved that aim and that the outstanding quality of the work reflects the creativity of this community. 

Curtis Watt, poet and workshop leader has said of the book,  

‘These memories of Granby Street chronicle the passion and importance of Liverpool's diverse cultural heritage. From stories of poverty, hardship, displacement and isolation, to those of entrepreneurialism, settlement and community, the overall tone is not one of complaint but of tenacity and aspiration. This collection of stories and poems takes you through an emotional theme park. This is an insightful, funny and magical, recalling of what people can achieve through integration. It was a pleasure to be involved in the creation of this book. I'd like to personally thank all who so generously shared their feelings and memories.’

Pulp Idol finalist John Donoghue

A few weeks back we had a visit from author John Donoghue, who brought us a copy of his debut novel 'The Death's Head Chess Club'.

John came along to also say thanks to WoW, as it was as a direct result of him being published in Pulp idol Firsts 2010 that he got an agent, which led to his novel being published by Atlantic Books.

John says, 'I really do feel that, to a great extent, I owe this to Pulp Idol. My agent (Carolyn Whitaker from London Independent Books) contacted me after seeing the anthology of the finalists' first chapters. It was she who managed to get me in front of a highly respected editor, Ravi Mirchandani, leading to the subsequent book deal.'

The Book has just sold to America and is being translated for Norway, Poland, Italy, Greece, China and Brazil. It's an incredible tribute to the success of our Pulp Idol novel writing competition.

From the 2010 Pulp Idol final alone, three writers have had their debut novel published by mainstream publishers; the other two are Deborah Morgan (disappearing home) and James Rice (Alice and the Fly). We'll be holding a launch and celebration for John's novel when it comes out in paperback later this year.

Well done and good luck to John, a great achievement and a brilliant success story.

What's Your Story? Manchester Young Carers

Over three months, writer Zoe Lambert ran What's Your Story? workshops with young carers aged 14-20 from Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Together they produced startling writing and poems which WoW produced into a publication. To launch the book we had a brilliant event at Contact Theatre in Manchester with fantastic readings and performances. We were also treated to performances from Michelle Green and Mike Garry, who were guest tutors during the course. A huge thank you to Family Action and Carers Trust 4 All,  Zoe Lambert and of course our newly published writers for all their hard work and dedication. 

The What's Your Story? book is now available on Kindle, and hard copies can be purchased from Writing on the Wall - info@writingonthewall.org.uk 

Mental Health and Me Competition is BACK!

Writing on the Wall and Liverpool’s Mental Health Consortium are delighted to announce that the ‘Mental Health and Me’ writing competition is back for its second year!

As part of Liverpool’s World Mental Health Day celebrations on Saturday 10th October 2015, we are inviting you to send us an original response to the expression ‘Mental Health and Me’. Last year’s competition was one of the highlights of the World Mental Health Day programme and attracted a wide selection of creative work across 6 categories - poem, short story, diary piece or blog post, letter, piece of journalism, tweet. This year, we’re adding a brand new category - SPOKEN WORD - which we hope will appeal to the creative flair of even more people. 

We would encourage entries from anyone with an interest in mental health & wellbeing - If mental distress has affected you or someone close to you; if you have experience as a carer or a professional; or if you have a particular interest in the subject of mental health for any reason, we want to hear from you. Critical voices are also welcome! 

This year’s competition is open to anyone living within Merseyside (Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens) and to all age groups.

'I am incredibly lucky to be at a stage in my recovery where I can use my experience to help others, and my entry for ‘Mental Health and Me’ was an honest insight into depression and its side effects. It was an eye opening experience to read other peoples work and see how mental illness has such a wide spread effect and how many lives it effects. My entry led to an article in the Liverpool Echo, but more importantly it gave me the chance to talk about something that had previously been kept quiet.' - Gemma Rogers, Winner of 2014's Mental Health and Me 

Find out how you can enter this years competition here 

(DEADLINE: 14th September)