New Site

For up-to-date information please visit our new site  http://bscribblers.blogspot.co.uk

March Scribblers Event

It is with delight, that we announce the next Birkbeck Scribblers event, which will take place on the 6^th of March 2013 in the Green Man (36 Riding House Street, London, W1W 7EP) @7.45pm

Our guest reader will be Jonathan Kemp (we are so excited!). He will be reading from his new novel:

"All There Is + All There Is Not"

Submission deadline is: Monday the 18^th of February 2013

We will be accepting (guidelines below):

-         Short  Fiction (or extracts from longer pieces)

-         10-Minute Plays (it would be splendid)

-         Poetry

Please read our submission guidelines below and send your submissions to:

bbkscribblers@gmail.com

SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: 18^th of February

Selected work
Selected work will be read at the next event. If your work is selected, you will be advised at least one week before the event, and asked to provide a brief biography (up to 100) words, to be included in a handout.

SUBMISSIONS POLICY

·  Any Birkbeck Creative Writing, English or Theatre Studies BA or Certificate of Higher Education student can submit work for consideration.

·  There is no restriction on the type of work. You can submit a complete short story or an extract, a novel extract, poetry, life writing, adapted screenplay, creative non-fiction piece etc.

·  Submissions should be unpublished. However, previously published work will be considered in some circumstances.

·  Length: Prose: up to 1500 words 

·  Poetry: up to 150 lines ( may be more than one poem)

·  Play: up to 10 minutes

·  The Birkbeck Scribblers team will decide which submissions to select and the running order of the night.

·  No editorial input will be provided. Work will be selected as it stands.

·  No significant changes can be made once the work has been selected.

·  You should make one submission per event. However, you can submit to as many Scribblers' events as you wish, whether or not your previous submissions have been selected.

·  Please make sure you are happy with your work before you submit it. The team reserves the right not to accept an updated, replacement version, even if it arrives before the deadline.

·  Submissions should be sent as a *.doc or *.pdf  attachment to bbkscribblers@gmail.com

·  You will usually be advised whether your submission has been selected at least one week before the event.

·  You must be available to attend from the beginning of the event.

·  If selected you must supply a biography of up to 100 words written in the third person.

* "The Committee is not responsible for finding readers for any of the play extracts they select."

The Scribblers CommitteeBlog:

 http://thebirkbeckscribblers.blogspot.com

Birkbeck Scribblers Event 28.11.12

Our first event for the year was held at The Plough on Museum Street.  We had the superb Narayani L. Guibarra compering for the evening.  We also had Committee members Ines Almedia and Chris Simpson co-running the event and taking photos.

The lure of alcohol and an evening of strong writing from a long-list of great submissions meant that we were full to capacity.  We had a strong response to the feedback forms.  If you filled them out then thank you for doing so.  These have been passed on to the writers.

 

Our readers for the evening Rob Stevens, Federica Lugaresi, Tarquin Landseer, Alex Bailey-Dumetz, Kirsten McLaughlin, Narayani L. Guibarra and Rebecca Rouillard all come from the BA Creative Writing Course at Birkbeck.  They gave readings of fiction and poetry that ranged from humorous speculative fiction to dark lyrical poetry.  All the work was well recieved from the audience of friends, fellow students and supportive tutors.

Our guest of the evening, writer, tutor and Costa Book Award nominee Benjamin Wood gave a funny and intimate reading from his novel "The Bellwether Revivals".

The evening ended with a prize draw with winners being determined from the feedback forms.  You see, it makes sense to fill them out!

The Committee would like to thank all those who attended and read at the evening for making it work so well.  We would also like to remind you that Narayani L. Guibarra and Ines Almeida are stepping down to focus on their third year studies.  They have been absolutely pivotal to making this and past events a success.  We would therefore like to take this opportunity to remind you that if you would like to take part in organising future Birkbeck Scribblers events then please contact us at:
thebirkbeckscribblers@mail.com

And remember you can follow us now on Twitter:
@BScribblers

November Scribblers Event Guest Reader

For our upcoming event on 28th November at The Plough, Bloomsbury we have special guest reader, author, Benjamin Wood.

Copyright by Mark Pringle

Benjamin’s first novel, The Bellwether Revivals, was published by Simon & Schuster (UK) and Viking Penguin (USA) in 2012. It has since been selected for Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writers Program and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards. He is currently working on his next novel, to be published by Simon & Schuster in 2014.

He is a tutor and first-year convenor for the BA Creative Writing, and also co-ordinates Birkbeck’s Certificate of Higher Education in Creative Writing.

A former Commonwealth Scholar, he holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, Canada. During his tenure as fiction editor of Canadian literary journal, PRISM international, the publication was awarded the Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize.

Along with Benjamin we hope to see you there too.  (See post below for further details.)

Scribblers Committee

November Scribblers Event

The Birkbeck Scribblers invite you to their next event at 8pm on 28^th November to hear readings by special guest author,

Benjamin Wood 

plus selected creative writing BA students: Rob Stevens, Fedarica Luraresi, Tarquin Landseer, Kirsten McLaughlin, Alex Bailey-Dumtetz, Rebecca Rouillard and Narayani L Guibarra.

Free entry includes participation in book swap.  Provide feedback and assist our student readers.  The more feedback you provide the greater the chance of winning our prize draw.

Bring your cheers, beer money and a new or used book for the Book Swap which will take place at the end of the evening.  Buy the latest offering from our special guest author.

Donations to assist running of events welcome in suggested sum of £2.

Venue: The Plough upstairs function room, 27 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LH (less than 10 minutes from Birkbeck main building), nearest tubes, Tottenham Court Road and Holborn.

Event runs from 8.00 to 10pm.  Arrive early to get a good seat and avoid the rush.

Stay on to chat and network with fellow writers.

2nd May Scribblings

Our third event was held for the second time at the Hoop & Grapes and we were all up for a fun and sociable evening. 

 

The room gradually filled pretty much to capacity and the audience geared up by chatting to one another and, when the readings began, by arming themselves with pens poised over feedback forms.  The lure of the prize draw and the desire to help fellow writers could not be resisted.

Our readers, Nydia Hetherington, Narayani L Guibarra, Steven Sobolewski, Eleonora Fusco, Alisa Grafton, Bryony Cooper were from the Higher Certificate and Creative Writing BA courses years 1 and 2.  They gave readings of poetry and fiction ranging from the short story to a novel extract.  The audience were appreciative and supportive and ranged from reader’s friends to fellow students to enthusiastic tutors.

Narayani was back on duty as compere and introduced the readers and encouraged the audience with apparent ease.  

Sian Shaw wore the photographer’s hat and captured the ambience of the room with accomplished ease.

The collection bag was practically fit to bursting with over 50 feedback forms.  So thank you to all who participated. 

Our main guest, poet and tutor Liane Strauss gave a confident and animated reading from her latest collective publication, the Art of Wiring as well as her sole collections of Leaving Eden and Frankie, Alfredo.  

Following the prize draw and thanks all round, the mingling, aided by a drink or two, continued in the quiet luxury of the private upstairs room.

The Committee would like to thank all those who read and attended and hope to see you at future events.