April 2018 saw our
BUMPER Morning of Writing Workshops
​at Whitstable Community College​

PROGRAMME

As always we had our very popular Mystery Book Swap! People brought a novel they were happy to give away (tucking a note inside if they wished to say why it was being donated -loved it/hated it) we wrapped it up  -then in the last break we had a lucky dip!
We nearly doubled our attendance with these sessions:

So You Want to Start Blogging? - with Gemma Pettman


Finding Your Writer's Voice: What is it? How to cultivate it - with Peggy Riley

Perseverance to Publication - with Anstey Harris

Following the Pen - with Marnie Summerfield Smith
Guest author Kate Mayfield and her editor at Point Blank Jenny Parrott.
​
Kate Mayfield is a novelist and memoirist. Her debut novel The Parentations is a work of speculative historical fiction published by Point Blank, an imprint of Oneworld. 

Peggy Riley talked to Kate and Jenny, her editor at Point Blank, about her journey to publication, the relationship between writer and editor, and the process from a publisher's offer to the finished book.


​Please see our terms and conditions                                                          
Location: Whitstable Community College
​Bellevue Road, Whitstable, CT5 1PX
​Free on-site parking

SPEAKERS

​Gemma Pettman
​
Gemma began her career in local radio news before 'swapping sides' and joining a busy police press office. For seven years she worked for a charity in Yorkshire where she developed and led a new PR and fundraising team.

​Since then, Gemma has worked with charities, membership organisations and small businesses to help them tell their stories better and generate income. Gemma is an Accredited PR Practitioner and one of the team behind the Margate Bookie literary festival. 
Peggy Riley
​
Peggy is a writer, playwright, and creative writing instructor.  Her plays have been commissioned and produced off-West End, on tour, and for radio.  Her short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies, and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Costa Short Story Award.  Her first novel is Amity & Sorrow.  Currently a sessional lecturer for the Creative and Professional Writing programme at Canterbury Christ Church, she regularly runs writing workshops in schools, libraries, arts centres and prisons.  peggyriley.com ​
Anstey Harris

Anstey's novel The Truths and Tribulations of Grace Atherton is to be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2019, by Touchstone in the US in 2018 and in six further international territories.
​
She teaches creative writing in Kent where she lives with her violin maker husband and two dogs. Her previous novel, under the pseudonym Ruth Ahmed, was published by Dalia in 2015.
Marnie Summerfield Smith
​
Ghost writer, editor, memoir writer and professional interviewer, Marnie is the director of Your Memoir and has worked on over 60 projects in 10 years with authors all over the world aged 22 to 96. Marnie's authors have written about everything from their darkest moments to their greatest joys. She encourages everyone, even those who might consider their lives to be ordinary, to record their unique stories. 

Marnie says, "I am passionate about memoir and I love my work. I feel privileged to be entrusted with my authors stories and am proud to provide a warm, nurturing but professional service." She leads workshops and memoir writing retreats. Details can be found on her website www.yourmemoir.co.uk
Kate Mayfield
​
Kate Mayfield is a novelist and memoirist. Her debut novel The Parentations is a work of speculative historical fiction published by Point Blank, an imprint of Oneworld. The Undertaker’s Daughter is a memoir about her childhood in the American South, published by Simon & Schuster UK and Gallery USA. Her father was an undertaker in a small segregated town where her family resided in his funeral home for thirteen years.

​Kate is the co-author of two non-fiction books: Ten Steps to Fashion Freedom and Ellie Hart Goes to Work, which was also published in Japan, Indonesia, and France. After attending Western Kentucky University, Kate moved to Manhattan where she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She now makes London her home.
Jenny Parrott

​After a career in journalism, Jenny Parrott has worked in publishing for over thirty years, and has acquired for Bloomsbury, Virgin, Little,Brown and HarperCollins.

​Currently she is publishing director of Point Blank, the literary crime and speculative imprint at Man Booker-winning independent Oneworld. She writes fiction under pseudonyms for Orion and HarperCollins.