Fictions of Every Kind: Fierce
Wharf Chambers, Tuesday 30th April, 7.30pm Invited speakers: Cherie Taylor Battiste & Amanda Huggins
Fictions of Every Kind is a non-profit writers' social, which aims to support and encourage anybody engaged in the lonely act of writing. Our April event is themed FIERCE. Our invited speakers in April are: CHERIE TAYLOR BATTISTE was born in London in 1976. After graduating from SOAS University of London, she worked as a TV researcher before moving on to acting, winning the Norman Beaton Fellowship, joining the BBC Radio Drama Company and gaining various parts on stage and screen. Alongside this, she facilitated workshops in prisons and schools, going on to project manage the embedding of creative learning in schools with CapeUK. Finding herself a lone parent of two, as austerity hit, she returned to poetry, her first means of expression during her challenging childhood. She saw poetry as freedom, a rare opportunity to have an uncensored cultural voice, and a way of sharing her unique set of experiences. Her first collection, Lioness, will be published by Valley Press in spring 2019. AMANDA HUGGINS is the author of the short story collection, Separated From the Sea, and the flash fiction collection, Brightly Coloured Horses. She was a runner-up in the 2018 Costa Short Story Award, and has been shortlisted and placed in numerous other competitions, including the Colm Toibin International Short Story Award and the Bath, Bridport and Fish flash fiction prizes. She is also a published poet and award-winning travel writer, and is currently shortlisted for this year’s Bradt Guides New Travel Writer of the Year Award, the results of which will be announced on February 28th at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards event in London. Amanda grew up on the North Yorkshire coast, moved to London in the 1990s and now lives in West Yorkshire. She works full-time in engineering and is currently struggling with her debut novella. As ever, there will be our House Band and a writers' open mic, at which flash fiction, short fiction, true stories, and exceprts of larger works are invited. Please keep your contributions at 5 minutes or under. Don't make us ring our bell at you! Please note: much as we love music and singing, our open mic is not the place for them. Our open mic is for words and stories only, and please, if you do read at our open mic, make the opportunity to listen to our contributors too. Entry is £4. However, we also offer free entry for carers, and we won't turn anybody away who wants to come but can't afford £4. Please note: Wharf Chambers is a members' club, and you must be a member, or guest of a member, to attend an event here. Joining costs £1 and takes a minimum of 48 hours to take effect. To join, see www.wharfchambers.org/membership
