Coming up....

MA PROFESSIONAL WRITING GUEST SPEAKERS:
GUEST SPEAKERS SPRING 2010

A rich and varied selection of speakers for you from January - and there are a couple more mystery guests still in the pipeline. Please note that not all of them can make it to Falmouth on a Thursday afternoon.
As always, please prepare for their visits by reading (or watching) as much of their work as you can.

Friday 22 January, 1.30pm PL Lecture 4
John Yorke – BBC drama supremo
As the BBC’s Controller of Continuing Drama Series and Co-Head of Independent Drama, John’s portfolio includes series, serials and events across all BBC channels, including EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, Life on Mars, The Street, Hustle, Robin Hood, Jekyll, Waterloo Road and New Tricks. In a previous role as Head of Drama at Channel 4, he was responsible for Sex Traffic, Omagh, Not Only But Always, The Deal and Shameless.
At the BBC, John has set up the Writer's Academy, which aims to train new, upcoming screenwriters, and the Director's Academy to help develop directors who can work on series such as EastEnders.
John initially joined the BBC in the mid eighties as a studio manager, going on to become a producer on Radio Five Live. In 1994 he moved to television to work as a script editor on EastEnders before becoming a storyline consultant on Casualty and then a drama producer.


Thursday 4, 11, 18 and 25 February, 10-11.30am, DM Seminar B
Brian Perman – publishing lecture series
In his series of lectures, Brian will be giving in-depth insights into the history of the publishing industry, its current condition and its future. In doing so, he’ll be drawing on experience gained over a long and successful career. After 15 years at Hutchinson, where he became director of trade publishing, Brian was appointed managing director of William Heinemann, where he worked during the eighties. In the nineties he worked as an executive consultant to the US publishing conglomerate Simon & Schuster and then as chief executive of Booktrust, an educational charity that promotes books and reading in the UK. He has also been a director of the Poetry Book Society and is Chairman and a trustee of the Cornish poetry press, Peterloo Poets.


Friday 5 February, 9.30-12.30, Kathmor G/H (Woodlane campus)
Sarah MacCartney – brand strategist, copywriter and author
Sarah is head of brand publications at Lush Cosmetics – a great example of a brand that owes much of its success to exceptionally strong copywriting. She is also author of The Fake Factor: Why we love brands but buy fakes (2005) and runs Little Max, an agency that helps organisations to put their words in order. Sarah recently started blogging at http://4160tuesdays.blogspot.com.

As well as talking about her work as a copywriter and brand strategist, Sarah will also be running a hands-on brand writing workshop. This may involve some preparation – watch this space.

Monday 8 February 6.00-7.30pm, TH Old Chapel
Tuesday 9 February 9.00–10.30am, TH Seminar Y
Paul Kingsnorth – non-fiction author, journalist and poet
Paul’s first book, One No, Many Yeses (2003), is a travelogue that explores the rise of the global resistance movement around the world, from Mexico to Papua New Guinea. Last year he published Real England: The Battle against the Bland, which looks at the impact of globalisation on this country – the homogenising of the landscape, the death of the small, the local and the individual, and the people fighting for a different kind of future. Reviewing the book in the Independent, Professor Nick Groom of Exeter University described it as “a watershed study, a crucially important book; the most significant account of today's England I have read”. Paul is also a former editor of The Ecologist magazine and a frequent contributor to many national newspapers and magazines, as well as to the current affairs website Open Democracy.

On Tuesday morning Paul will be talking about the interaction between narrative structure and on-the-ground research (this will be at the beginning of Susy's class, but all of you are invited). On Monday evening he will be delivering a college-wide lecture on the Dark Mountain Project, a new movement that aims “to bring together writers and artists, thinkers and doers, to assault the established citadels of literature and thought, and to begin to redraw the maps by which we navigate the places and times in which we find ourselves.”

Friday 12 February, 10am–1pm, TH Boardroom (in basement of Tremough House)
Oliver Bennett – features journalist
Oliver is a prolific features journalist whose work appears regularly in national magazines and newspapers including the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph (search their websites to find some). His writing spans many different areas, but he has a particular interest in travel, arts and design, and one of the things his workshop will be focusing on is developing specialisms as a journalist. He will also be talking about the art of pitching ideas to editors – in which he has a great deal of experience, both as a freelancer and as a former desk editor on several different newspapers.


Thursday 18 February, 4.30pm, TH Old Chapel
Luke Richards and Mark Edmonson – web/search writing specialists
Luke (a former Professional Writing student) works with Mark at Guava, one of the UK’s leading digital marketing agencies. Guava specialises in search engine marketing, web development and social media, with clients including Confused.com and The Royal Mail. Luke and Mark will be looking at how an understanding of these areas is vital not just for copywriters working on Web projects, but for any kind of writer who wishes to become visible online.

Thursday 25 February 4.30pm, TH Old Chapel
James Henry – scriptwriter
Since winning Channel Four’s sitcom writing competition in 1998, James has written regularly on Bob the Builder, Smack the Pony and most recently Green Wing, the award-winning Channel 4 hospital comedy series. He is currently writing a fantasy novel for teenagers and working on a teenage soap with the BBC. He has a writing blog here.

Thursday 4 March 4.30 pm, TH Old Chapel
Hannah Sim- Freeance Writer and Producer
Hannah is an experienced Executive Producer with extensive experience of commissioning and making documentaries and docudramas for TV.
This session is going to be about developing pitching skills - you be given two minutes to pitch an idea to Hannah, who will then give you feedback.

Thursday 18 March 4.30pm, TH Old Chapel
Richard Benson - Non-fiction author and journalist
Richard is a former editor of style magazine The Face who now writes about music and style for The Guardian, The Times and The Teegraph as well as being a branding consultant. His book about growing upon a farm in Yorkshire The Farm was a best seller and he is currently working on his second book about the mining communities of Yorkshire.
Richard will be talking about managing as a freelance working in a number of forms.

Thursday 25 March 4.30pm, TH Old Chapel
Joe Weir – Writing in a Branding Agency

After graduating from Falmouth, Joe went straight to work at The Writer (thanks to an apprenticeship he won through the course). He spent two years there, writing all sorts for all sorts of brands like O2, Twinings, Nike, and 3. He also spent a lot of his time running training courses to help people write more effectively at work. Lots of this involved arguing with people to try and stop them writing the word 'ensure'.

He now works at a branding agency called venturethree. They've helped reinvent brands like hmv, Sky, The Times, and soon, Comet. Joe works with designers to make sure that brands come to life through words as well as pictures. He'll be talking about how good writers are highly sought after in brand land. Because although people may think it's just logos and colour palettes, the ideas behind everything live in words.


GUEST SPEAKERS FROM AUTUMN 2009

15 October - Ben Brown - Playwright
Ben Brown is a playwright and screenwriter who has written film dramas including Rebus - The Hanging Garden (for Scottish Television, adapted from the Ian Rankin novel) and What We Did On Our Holiday (for Granada, starring Shane Richie and Pauline Collins). He also advises the leading literary agency Curtis Brown on the screen potential of novels and non-fiction. His play, Larkin With Women was commissioned by Alan Ayckbourn and won the TMA award for Best New Play, while All Things Considered, originally written for the Hampstead Theatre, has been produced all over the world. Ben will be drawing on his experience to talk about the process of how scripts are written, sold and produced.

21 October (Wed) Woodlane 2pm (TBC) MA Design Guest Speaker Military Strategist
This mystery man will be speaking to students about the importance of planning and strategic thinking (we would tell you his name, but he'd have to kill us). Opportunity for some lateral thinking, and an interesting feature write-up.

22 October Hannah Sim - Executive Television Producer
Hannah is an executive producer for Merton Media and is in charge of Channel 4 Factual Entertainment slate. Her television work includes the commissioning of factual entertainment and dram-documentaries for a wide range of production companies, and she has also worked as a producer for ENDEMOL and as Head of Development for Carlton Television.

Hannah will be providing an over-view of the current situation in TV production, and discussing work opportunities in the industry.

29 October Michael Bird - Author and Broadcaster
Michael Bird is a freelance author, journalist and broadcaster with a particular interest in the visual arts. His most recent book is The St Ives Artists: A Biography of Place and Time (2008), part of which he recently adapted for broadcast on BBC Radio. He also works as a writer/consultant with museums and heritage agencies. Michael will be discussing the kind of biographical and historical research that goes into his projects.

5 & 6 November Simon Van Booy award-winning short story writer

5 November talk; 6 November (Friday) workshop (10am start)
Simon Van Booys highly acclaimed debut short-story collection, The Secret Lives of People in Love (2007), has been translated into several languages, while Love Begins in Winter (2009) has recently won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize - ‚¬35,000!. His eagerly awaited first novel is scheduled for publication by Harper Collins in 2010. Simon grew up in the UK and has lived in Paris, Athens and New York. His journalism has appeared in magazines and newspapers including the New York Times and the New York Post. Hell be giving a talk on his work on Thursday 5 November and running a hands-on short story workshop on Friday 6 November (details to follow). His website is at http://www.simonvanbooy.com.

12 November Helen Gilchrist Director of The Stranger Collective
After successfully editing the magazine for three and a half years liaising with and commissioning freelance writers, illustrators, photographers and designers all over the UK and further afield, managing marketing, distribution, advertising and sponsorship strategies and organising Strangers music events and parties (like the Stranger Speakeasy and four Stranger snowboarding trips) she now heads up Stranger Collective. In her spare time, she helps out with publicity and marketing for The Surf Screen and loves surfing, cycling, photography, attempting to throw clay pots and dancing to funk and Charleston (has to be seen to be believed).

Previously a freelance journalist living in London and working for the likes of Time Out, Adrenalin magazine, The Observer, The Guardian, and The Independent, Helen came up with the idea for Stranger in August 2003 and moved back down to Cornwall in May 2004, working throughout that summer to secure start-up funding (loans from Objective One and The Princes Trust), advertising, and editorial content for issue one, which finally launched in September 2004.

19 November Pippa Best Script Consultant
Pippa has worked as a Script Consultant since 1999, editing regularly for Parallax, including features Blind Flight and Yasmin. Other clients have included Martin Pope, Makar Productions, Greenlight Films, the UK Film Council, and Sgrin.

Pippa was Project Director of Cornwall Film from 2005 to 2008. She devised and delivered this successful £1.9million EU funded project to develop Cornwalls film, TV and digital media sector. Amongst other activities, she originated the Uprising low budget screenplay development/training scheme for new talent and Executive Produced 3 micro budget features (Midnight Drives, Dressing Granite, Alive Day) and many shorts.

In 2003, Pippa was Festival Director of the Cornwall Film Festival and began her work as Development Executive for the Cornwall Film Fund, providing development support to over 50 feature film and TV screenplays.

Pippa was Head of Development at Zephyr Films from 1997 to 2002, developing a slate of feature projects with emerging talent. European co-productions at Zephyr included Mathilde and Secret Passage. Pippa joined Zephyr in 1995 working in development and production on Esther Kahn, My Son the Fanatic, and A Further Gesture.

3 December - Chris Lynd writing for interactive media/TV tie-ins
Chris has worked on the production of digital tie-ins for websites such as Skins Online, and is involved in producing interactive material for a new detective series, currently in development. He’ll be explaining the growth and integration of multi-platform content for television programmes, and the opportunities for writers in this new field.

10 December - Patrick Gale Author
In a review of his 12th novel, Rough Music, the Independent described Patrick Gale as 'among the great, unsung English novelists'. That was in 2000, and since then his extraordinary talents have, happily, been sung from the rooftops. Notes from an Exhibition (2008) was a Richard and Judy Bookclub choice and shortlisted for their Best Reads of the Year, while his latest novel, The Whole Day Through, was described by the Guardian as a wry, clever, faultlessly crafted mini-soap threaded with sadness. Please read at least one of Patrick's novels before the session, and have a look at his website.