Booming Brighton Children's Lit

I had a great meeting today with John Davies from The South. This is a literature organisation based in Brighton. Here's how they describe themselves:

THE SOUTH is a leading creative writing organisation developing talent, audiences, readers and communities in Brighton & Hove, Sussex and the south of England.

We’re a friendly organisation that has fun with words. We offer a supportive creative network for all kinds of writers and poets.

We work in partnership with other bodies locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

We have a deep commitment to freedom of expression, diversity and equality of opportunity.

John is full of enthusiasm for literature stuff, and was excited about the idea of developing some children's literature-related events. So, we've agreed that I'll teach creative writing workshops at the Brighton Writer's Centre for six weeks, starting October 19th. We've also going to work towards a Brighton Children's Literature Festival some time in the spring. I'll update the blog with details as they come together.

If you are a Brighton-based or just generally south England children's literature writer or illustrator, do get in touch since this event will highlight children's literature of and from the south of England. We also hope to showcase illustration and have some sort of exhibition, so this should be a great event for all sorts of people. It'll be kid-friendly as well, maybe with poetry workshops. So feel free to write with any suggestions or ideas.

This feels like a good start towards developing more of a cohesive Brighton children's literature scene, since there are so many people in this area doing creative work. And since I love living down here, I'd like to find and become a part of what's happening in the area as well. This meeting feels like a very promising start.

I'm quite excited about the creative writing workshops. Have been reading from Writing Down the Bones by Nathalie Goldberg, which connects to my Berkeleyesque approach. I want these workshops to create a very safe, small community of people exploring their creativity, feeling open to write what and how they want. Spending three years as an editor, I got tired of having to be so mercenary in rejecting submissions. I'd rather work with people who want to try writing, not with the main goal of getting published (though that's great if it works), but just to develop their own writing, and find the honest place to tell the stories that they want to tell.