Maggie Holman's Blog, page 2
May 15, 2023
People & Books #12: Kathy Hoyle
I'm so excited that Kathy Hoyle has agreed to be part of my People & Books blog. I've been following Kathy's writing activities online for some time. She likes to explore flash and short fiction, and her awards prove she has a talent for this genre, but what I also find interesting about Kathy's work is that she's involved in activities to encourage new and emerging writers. Kathy has a BA (hons) and an MA in Creative Writing, and has just started a PhD at the University of Leicester. She tells us here how she arrived at this point.
// Who/What inspired you to begin writing?
My nanna was the greatest storyteller. When I was very young, she would put me to bed and tell me stories until I fell asleep. My mam also introduced me to books at a very young age, and I could certainly read by the time I started school because of her. My favourite place as a child was the library bus! I never actually thought of becoming a writer until I was forty, when I saw an advertisement for the Open University. One of the courses was creative writing and I’d just had my youngest daughter. I wanted to fill some time while I was at home, so I signed up! The rest is history, as they say.
Which authors do you admire?
I love short stories and short fiction and admire writers such as Ali Smith, Owen Booth, Lisa Blower, Leone Ross, Sarah Hall, Mike Fox, Wendy Erskine, Saba Sams and Emily Devane. Lately, I’ve been reading lots of working-class short stories for my PhD and I’m enjoying discovering new and diverse writers. In the flash world, I really enjoy the work of Cathy Ulrich, Francine Witte, Nancy Stohlman, Gaynor Jones and of course Kathy Fish. I also think Kit de Waal is a wonderful writer and I've always loved Marian Keyes.
// Have you been influenced by any particular books you've read?
I’ve read hundreds of books so I couldn’t possibly choose just one! It would be like asking to choose my favourite child!
What do you enjoy most about writing?
Escapism, catharsis, philosophy, exploration, imagination! What’s not to love? Writing for me is a form of freedom. I can use it to travel, to meditate, to figure out problems, to find understanding, to have fun, to learn, to create! I always say writers are so lucky to have this incredibly special gift, one we can use on a daily basis. I found great joy and solace in reading when I was younger and now I hope I can create something that might have the same effect on others.
You fly the flag for short stories and flash fiction. What interests you about these formats?
I love the brevity of short fiction. When a flash is written well, it’s sublime. It’s a real skill to pack a full story into under 500 words without compromising plot or character development. It took me a long while to really get to grips with flash but I’ve loved the learning curve.
Similarly, short fiction can take the reader’s breath away when done well. The skill is knowing what to leave off the page – something I’m still trying to master. I love that short fiction can be read again and again and you will still find something new in the same story! Short stories always seem so full of energy. I think, as I've got older, I have less patience for novels. I prefer the urgency of short fiction.
//How would you describe your current body of work?
I’ve spent the last few years absorbed in flash and am only just starting to diversify into writing longer pieces, although certainly they all still fall under the umbrella of ‘short fiction’. I don’t really have a specific narrative voice in flash. You can explore all kinds of themes, points of view, characters and so on, so my stories are eclectic and yet somehow they do all tend to be a bit dark! My muse is a bit of a sour puss, maybe because in real life I’m always nauseatingly upbeat and jolly! My short fiction pieces are much more closely linked. They’re all set in the North East with a very distinctive setting and vernacular.
// Where has your work been published?
I’m lucky that my work has found homes in a variety of literary magazines such as Lunate, Ellipsiszine, The Forge, Emerge Literary Journal, Northern Gravy and The South Florida Poetry Journal. I also have flash published via the Reflex Fiction website, as part of their longlist selection.
I was the winner of the 2022 Bath Flash Fiction Award and you can read my winning story here, I also won the Retreat West Flash Fiction Award which you can read here. Other stories have appeared in anthologies such as MAINSTREAM, SNOW CROW and BEACHED.
// photo by Trust Tru Katsande @ Unsplash
Do you explore other formats e.g. poetry, graphic novels?
I’m in awe of poets. I think the technical skills required to write good poetry are beyond anything I could manage, but I do read some now and again. I like to listen to slam poetry – I think that’s a wonderfully vibrant scene.
What inspires you when planning new ideas?
Craggy coastlines, the sea, lighthouses – I love seascapes! Also, people. I people-watch all the time and I’m always curious about other people’s stories and experiences. I often take real life events, something I’ve seen on the news or an experience either I’ve had or someone I know has had and then fictionalize it. I’m a magpie writer. I steal bits and bobs of real life and use them as starting points.
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// photo by Paulius Dragunas @ Unsplash photo by Pierre Guerin @ Unsplash
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m studying for a PhD in Creative Writing and my research involves delving into the working-class voices of the North East (where I grew up) and it’s such a joy to be able to do this! I’m hoping to have a complete collection of short stories when I’m done – oh and a doctorate, of course!
What are your future writing plans?
At the moment, I’m not thinking beyond my short fiction collection, interspersed with writing and teaching flash. One day there may a novel, but it will be many moons from now!
Do you have any particular writing habits or routines?
I have to write when my youngest is at school as, in a rather diva-like way, I need complete silence. So, no coffee shops or playlists for me. I write in bed, in a very dark room, even though I have a desk. It’s stupidly bad for the back but I just seem to be able to get into the best writing headspace when I’m in my bed-den . Not very professional at all but works for me!
// Do you support other authors and encourage writing opportunities for them?
I’m lucky to work with Writers HQ which has a brilliant writing community. We have novelists, poets, short fiction writers, scriptwriters , academics etc., so it’s wonderful to be surrounded by so many creative people. I host the regular weekly Flash Face Off event where we encourage new writers to come and explore the world of flash fiction. Writers submit 500 words based on a different prompt each week and then, on Friday nights, we have live readings. It’s fun and free. I’m always encouraging our flashers to send out their work and often provide them with a list of opportunities. Many of them have gone on to have a whole list of publications and have won major competition prizes.
Do you have any tips for new writers?
It’s a cliché, but read widely. Read the genre you’re interested in and then read outside of that genre. Learn from others but try not mimic. Be your original self and don’t worry at all about if people will ‘like’ your work or not. Authentic writing, from the heart and gut, will ALWAYS be well received. Start slowly. Start with flash and short fiction. This teaches you how to edit carefully and get rid of extraneous words and sentences, then move on to novels. Find support – a writing group or community (like Writer’s HQ), and be resilient and determined. Learning how to take rejection is key to progression as a writer.
Most of all enjoy it, be playful and excited by your stories. Always bring the energy to the page.
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You can find out more about Kathy and her writing at these links:
Twitter - @Kathyhoyle1
Website - https://kathyhoyle.com
April 29, 2023
Hamelin: A Town Which Embraces Its Pied Piper Heritage
Although Hamelin is in Germany, the tale is well-known in English popular culture and is widely read in primary schools. Just like a lot of children, I read the Robert Browning poem and the Brothers' Grimm story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, how he saved the town from a plague of rats and then kidnapped the town's children when he wasn't paid for his work. When we decided to visit Hamelin, I didn't know what to expect. Had the town embraced its Pied Pier heritage? Or was it something that, locally, was of no real interest in spite of the international claim to fame? What we discovered was a fun few days steeped in images of - and references to - the piper, his rats and the final journey of the doomed Hamelin children.
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The Colourful Houses Of the Old Town
As we wandered into Hamelin's old town on our first evening, the first thing we noticed was all the colourful houses. I'd never seen this type of detail before anywhere, not in Germany or anywhere else. The ancient wooden frontages of many of the houses were covered in carved borders and panels, which had then been carefully painted in intricate patterns. It made each one look distinctive and individual, and added to the sense of them being from another time and place. People must really enjoy coming home to these interesting and cheerful-looking houses every day!
// Rats! Rats! Rats! They're Everywhere!
The other thing we noticed - immediately on arrival - is that there are rats everywhere. The light blue rat (below left) is waiting for you when you walk out of the train station. Hamelin doesn't shy away from its Pied Piper connection! There are the customary cuddly toy rats and other Pied Piper and rat souvenirs in the tourist shops, and it's also possible to follow a trail of 'rat cobblestones', but it's just as much fun to walk around the town and come across rats in some very unusual places. Here are some we found in a childrens' playground and on the bridge across the river Weser.
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Local 'Rat' Businesses
The theme is continued by Hamelin's local businesses. This 'ratsweinhandlung' was established in 1823. This may be a tenuous link because the English translation is 'council wine store', but why not join the Pied Piper connection as well?
The restaurant 'Im Rattenkrug' (English - 'In the Rat Jar') is the oldest restaurant in Hamelin and is over two hundred years old, but I think the Rats Coffee Shop is much more recent!
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// A Bit of Fun for the Kids
If you gather in the square next to the Wedding House at Osterstrasse 2, at 13:00, 15.30 or 17:30, any children you have with you are in for a treat. In a mechanical version of the story, the Pied Piper appears from behind two doors in the wall, accompanied by glockenspiel bells, and followed by the rats he takes away from the town. Unfortunately, a few minutes later, he reappears with the Hamelin children close behind as he takes them away as well.
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The Pied Piper Legend in the Nineteenth Century
I wondered if there was a connection between the establishment of businesses such as 'Im Rattenkrug' and the appearance of the Pied Piper story in literature? The brothers Grimm collected stories from all over Germany and included the story of the Pied Piper in their book German Legends (1816). Robert Browning was almost certainly familiar with the story as a child, as he was brought up in a literary, academic and book-loving home, which must have had an influence on him writing his poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin in the 1840s. The Grimm story and the Browning poem are both loved by children everywhere. Perhaps visitors came to Hamelin because of these publications and in doing so, inspired local entrepreneurs to get involved.
The Hamelin Museum
The town's museum houses an extensive collection and much information about Hamelin at the different times in its history, but it also has a dedicated section about the origins of the Pied Piper, and his place in Hamelin's history and community.
At the museum, we learnt that in 1284 there was an incident in which 130 children disappeared from Hamelin, and were never seen again. There have been many theories since about the reason for their disappearance, but one theory I found particularly interesting concerns a thirteenth-century plan which encouraged people to migrate to Eastern Europe. Men in bright clothing would visit places in the west to advertise this plan and take people back with them. The 130 children who disappeared may not have been young children at all, but actually older children and teenagers who were enticed away with the promise of work. There's also a possible explanation for their supposed disappearance into the mountain, as at the time, many people apparently knew of tunnel and cave networks which led through to the other side.
// Above is a contemporary painting of the Pied Piper from the museum collection, showing that even in modern times, the story is still an inspiration for creative ideas. The photos below show a sculpture and an installation of empty shoes which have been added to the museum in recent years. The shoes have a poignant resonance with belongings left behind by the victims of the Holocaust.
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// We had an enjoyable trip to Hamelin. It's a town which has maintained and developed its links with its very own literary legend. Whether or not the story has some basis in facts from long ago, it's still a fun place to visit and explore. If you get there, I wonder how many rats you'll be able to find?
March 13, 2023
People & Books #11: Chen Jhen @ Limestone Books, Maastricht
I discovered Limestone Books by accident when I walked past it in the Grote Gracht. I immediately went in to say hello and to introduce myself and our writing group, Maastricht Writers Workshop. Now that I've made a connection with the store, I'm really pleased to be able to interview Chen Jhen, one of Limestone's founding team. From the start, it's clear that Chen is supportive of the local community and is working hard to create links with creative people in the area. Here she explains the thinking behind Limestone's beginnings and how she sees the bookstore's place in Maastricht's cultural life.
// How would you describe Limestone Books?
Limestone Books is an art bookstore situated in Maastricht, the Netherlands. It's a collective project curated by five members with diverse backgrounds. Each month, these members come together to carefully select a range of books that focus on non-Western perspectives in topics such as film, visual arts, design, gender studies, urban planning, institutional critique, decolonization, anthropology, and archival studies. Limestone Books also serves as a project space, hosting exhibitions, lectures, and workshops related to publishing and book art, with the goal of re-imagining the possibilities of a bookstore through a critical lens.
Why did you decide to open Limestone Books?
I've worked as a book designer for years and I really wanted to do something more about books. While designing books was fulfilling in many ways, I felt like there was more that I could offer to the book community. I wanted to create a space where people could come together to share their love of art books, and engage with art books in a meaningful way.
// When did the store open?
We opened on December 1st, 2022.
Do you have a background in writing, publishing or book-selling?
I'm a book designer. I've been working in book design for 10 years in the Netherlands and Taiwan and was selected for one of Stimuleringsfonds’ talent development programs. I was also a participant of the Jan van Eyck Academie from 2018 to 2019, where I spent most of my time working in the Print and Publishing Lab. My book design has won awards such as the 'Best Book Design in the Netherlands' and the 'Golden Butterfly Award' (Best Book Design in Taiwan). My projects have been exhibited in various places, including the KF Gallery Seoul (KR), Jinren's Paperlogue Beijing (CN), the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL), the Haus der Kunst (DE), the National Human Rights Museum (TW) and the Taiwan Design Museum.
// How many people are in the Limestone team?
We have five contributors from different art disciplines. As well as myself, the team also includes:
Liang-Kai YU, responsible for book selection management, who is a Taiwanese art researcher, writer, and curator based in the Netherlands. His research at Maastricht University focuses on contemporary LGBT+ curatorial and artistic interventions into the Dutch and other international art museums.
HSIEH I Hsuan, based in Amsterdam and Taipei, coordinates events and programmes. She is a chief editor for Taiwan Documentary E-Paper and guest editor at Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF). As one of the members of the Taiwan Film Critics Society, her writings range from interviews and reviews, to essays on films, moving images and film festivals with a focus on Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Emily Shin-Jie Lee, who coordinates events and programmes and communicates cross-institutes internationally, is a coordinator of residencies, social practice and academic collaborations at Framer Framed. Her recent projects include: Declaring Distance (2022), an annual residency with Indonesian artist Theo Frids Hutabarat in collaboration with Atelier KITLV; Struggle and Solidarity (2022), a workshop organized together with Indonesian collective Taring Padi; Drawing Stories (2020) and Shaping Feelings (2021).
Chang Yu-Hsin, who is responsible for space and exhibition design/consultancy, studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, has collaborated with various design and exhibition firms and is also the founder of Studio Fab.
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Why have you based the bookstore in Maastricht?
After completing a residency at the Jan van Eyck Academy, I grew to like the city of Maastricht and I’ve stayed since then. Despite its modest size, Maastricht has a rich cultural scene, including art schools, museums, galleries, art festivals and numerous underground art spaces, as well as thriving local art communities - many of which are easily accessible in the city. Strangely, despite this level of artistic activity, Maastricht lacked an art bookstore. As a graphic designer, I wanted to do something focused on books so I decided to open my own store. We’ve received quite a few comments from people who are surprised that we’ve opened an art bookstore in Maastricht, but the same people are often saying they’re glad we’re here. It feels like Maastricht needed an art bookstore.
What can people expect when they visit the bookstore?
Limestone Books is actually a collective of five Taiwanese who work together to curate the book selection that we show in our store. Each of these people has their own area of expertise, such as gender studies, curation, film and spaces, and they select books that appeal to them. Curating books this way lets us focus on our strengths. Don’t be too surprised when you enter the shop, because the books aren’t organized according to categories and our display is always changing. For us it is a field of experiment; can we make a conversation between old and new books? What will happen if you put a western feminist theory book next to a piece of Bengali literature with depictions of hardcore sexuality? Can the display of books be used as a radical provocation?
We also want to keep the selection process fluid, and we invite artists, writers, designers and activists to take over the space and organize thematic exhibitions, talks and workshops. At the same time, they will also add a few titles to the collection. Limestone Books is a collective and a democratic project, and we will try to make it even more so in the future.
Who is your target audience?
We are aimed at the general art book enthusiast. We also hope that people with no art training will come in and explore genres they are unfamiliar with.
// Do you offer books in various languages?
Yes, we think having multiple languages is important. The only English bookstore (previously in Frankenstraat) temporarily closed last year and we’ve become a bookstore which has mostly non-Dutch books. As a group of Taiwanese who have relatively easy access to the art book scene, we have seen so many amazing art publications which are rarely seen in Europe. Since Europe has a very strong art book distribution system, it’s easy to see European art books, but the same can’t be said for non-Western books. Therefore, we are focusing on getting more non-Western and multi-language books in the shop.
Somehow it’s a bit of a statement, to show people that we exist, even if maybe nobody will come to buy anything, but in reality, people have found those books and they actually sell. I got a picture book made by a Taiwanese artist and the language is in Taiwanese. The Taiwanese written system was developed only recently. It is very rare to use it in picture books, even in Taiwan, but this book was sold to a Dutch customer who simply liked the concept and wanted to know more about the book. Another example is a Chinese student from Shanghai who bought two books in Arabic, since he is learning Arabic and books in Arabic are hard to find anywhere else in Maastricht. We’re highlighting examples like this. There are many people from a multicultural background in this city. They are looking for books and we are glad to fill the void.
On the other hand, we also encountered a few customers who’ve come and questioned us about why we don’t have Dutch language books. I find that interesting because I can’t imagine anyone walking into an art bookstore in Taiwan and questioning why they don’t have Chinese language books. I’m still processing what could cause such a question.
How do you see Limestone’s place and role in the local community?
Personally, I think of the bookstore not just as a place to buy books, but as a space for the community. Recently, our team has been talking about what a community is, and that reminds me of a story that happened in the shop. At the end of January, the store received a letter from an independent publishing house that we usually collaborate with. It contained an anonymously produced booklet of poems and dialogues. The booklet was printed on A4 paper using an inkjet printer, and was a long, narrow booklet folded along the short edge. The booklet was about the poet Ali Asadollahi who had been imprisoned for at least 45 days on November 21, 2022, because of his participation in Iran's Woman Life Freedom Movement. The note inside the envelope stated that the publishing house produced the booklet in the hopes that any institution or individual who received it could become Ali Asadollahi's voice. Specifically, they requested that people take a photo and post it on social media to spread the message further. In this digital age, it was striking to receive a physical booklet in the mail, to hold it in one's hands and read it word by word. It reminded me of what Iris de Leeuw, who participated in the Provo Movement in Maastricht 50 years ago, once said to me: the artistic value of printed materials only comes out through interaction with people during a movement, and if it is sent to a museum, the art disappears...
I put two copies of the booklet in the store for people to check, and then people began to ask if they could buy them. The people who asked turned out to be activists from the Iranian community. I told them that we weren’t selling them, that we just wanted to put them in the store for more people to read. Later, I thought about it carefully and realized that the booklet was lightweight and easily printed, so why not print it ourselves in the store and let others have it for free, to allow more people to feel the power of this publication. After obtaining the file from the original maker, we began printing it ourselves using the printer in the store, at a rate of about 5 booklets per day. Later, more and more people came to the store to get the booklet, and activists from the Iranian community wanted to take some to use in their university event. We used an ordinary office printer, and producing one booklet at a time was too slow, so we suggested giving them the file and allowing them to find a faster copy shop to produce it with their own funding. Later, the artist community in Aachen also requested the file, and continued to produce it there and provide it to the local community. Customers have told me that a lot of people didn't know where Maastricht was, but since the Ali Asadollahi publication incident grew on social media, many of their friends in Iran learned about our bookstore.
When the bookstore first opened, we immediately and spontaneously made connections with activist groups in Maastricht, which I didn't really expect. We started to organize events with them and I also got to know the strong energy of activism in the town. From there, I’ve also got to know what people care about and that can be very helpful for book selection.
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Do you have plans to support local authors?
After working as a freelance designer in the Netherlands (which I still do), I wanted to create something more tangible, a space for collaboration. As a young book maker, I found it difficult to find a platform to show my works. This experience played a crucial role in how the bookstore operates today. We initially accepted books made by individual artists without a rigorous selection process, as we believed it should function in a more democratic way. This approach gave everyone an equal opportunity to exhibit their works, and the readers would find them on their own.
// Do you have plans for events at the store?
While artists should focus on creating books, I see telling stories about books as my artistic practice. That's why we aim to promote books in a more creative and experimental way through events such as the Midnight Bookstore and Artist Takeover Bookstore. On the first Thursday of every month, we have an event in the shop till 6:00 in the morning. Sometimes we screen movies or films related to the books in the shop. We also take artists’ proposals for whatever they’d like to experiment with at midnight.
// This month we just finished the event 'Night Shift', organized by artists Sumugan Sivanesan and Rose Nordin. They had this crazy idea of having a live podcast 'Audio Fanzine' for 6 hours, while at the same time, designing and printing a zine which is transcripted from the audience, with a very old Gestetner 360 Stencil Duplicator. The sound production was very organic and many artists participated. Maud van den Beuken had the audience entranced with her audio descriptions of the movements in the space, as Kim David Bots improvised musical interludes. Chang Chih Chung read the story of propaganda in Kimen in Taiwanese, Mandarin and English. The audience also produced their poetry and music and were present in the radio show. So many artists contributed from many countries and in multiple languages. People were inspired by one another and produced new content. It was very beautiful. In the morning we collectively produced a zine 'Transcription from the night waves', which was given to the participants for free. The event really inspired me, since the production itself is a valuable part of the process. Also the midnight event opens up a portal to other time zones on the other side of the world.
Artist Takeovers are another form of planned event. We invited artists to take over the storefront. They get a budget to select the books, change the display or the lights in the shop, (even the name of the shop), and the artist can organize events and propose any kind of connection to the community as the bookstore. At the end of March we will have our first Takeover. We hope to share with you how it goes soon. Observing these events really inspired me to think more about production and distribution as part of book making, and made me rethink how I define the concept of a 'publication'.
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// Do you have plans to work with local schools?
We're planning to work with schools in the future. We currently work with the Female Empowerment Maastricht University (FEM) team and the Diversity & Inclusivity Office(D&I) of Maastricht University. FEM's and D&I's Corner is a collection of books curated by Limestone Books in honor of Women's Day. Within the pages of these thought-provoking works, readers are invited to explore the ways in which artists, designers, and activists reimagine and redefine societal norms surrounding gender empowerment. Drawing on historical research, personal experience, biology, photography, performing arts, graphic design and more, this collection offers a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the complex issues surrounding gender equality and diversity. Join us on this enlightening journey as we celebrate the resilience and creativity of women and the crucial role they play in shaping our world.
What is the long term vision for Limestone?
This is a very hard question for me since I am not very good at planning out the future. I’d like to work on upcoming events in an organic way, and just see how it all unfolds.
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Limestone Books is at Grote Gracht 63, 6211 ST Maastricht. The store is open every day from 11:00-18:00, including Sundays.
Contact: limestone.maas@gmail.com
Follow Limestone Books on social media:
Facebook: Limestone Books
Instagram: limestone_books_maas
February 27, 2023
Comedy Drama: How Do Easter Eggs Create Resourceful Children?
// Photo by Frank Zhang on Unsplash
As parents and teachers, we all want children to learn and display appropriate social skills and responses. This is how they learn about the world and grow up into adults who apply behaviour which benefits both themselves and those around them, such as kindness, sharing, empathy and being helpful. In fiction, it's OK to do things differently! Who doesn't love characters such as Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, Pippi Longstocking, Horrid Henry and, of course, the many and varied characters in the stories of Roald Dahl. Reading about the antics of naughty characters not only makes children laugh, but it also introduces them to decision-making about the things you should and shouldn't do, safe in the knowledge that the situations and actions aren't real.
// The Power of Drama as a Social Learning Tool
In this regard, drama creates a fictional extension of what children experience as readers. Instead of reading about the lives and actions of other people, they are able to step into their shoes to act out and explore those lives and actions in a more involved way. By thinking and behaving as someone else, they examine situations and issues from points of view other than their own. Drama is a powerful tool which gives children the opportunity to develop and practice their social skills inside a safe and secure framework, because it's not real.
Comedy Drama: Laughter Supports Learning
Is there a fine line between naughty characters and resourceful characters? After all, we want children to learn to be confident and speak up for themselves; the modern world is a tough place. When children take on the roles of characters who are being enterprising, working as a team and being confident in decision-making, we feel happy as teachers that they are developing these skills. Add some comedy - often by taking things too far and having characters descend into something naughty rather than resourceful - and there's a great opportunity to have some fun. The discussion of what the fictional characters did, what the consequences were and what lessons have been learned, can all be discussed afterwards.
Here are two comedy plays which give childen a chance to have some fun, while learning some valuable social skills. What's more - they're both about chocolate Easter eggs!
Robot Rabbit & the Easter Egg Trick
Jimmy, Susie and Jack can't be bothered to take part in the Easter Egg hunt in the park. Instead, they build a robot rabbit and use it to try to persuade other children to hand over their Easter eggs. Jimmy puts on a funny 'robot voice' to pretend the rabbit can speak. It's all going well until the park attendant discovers their trick and makes the children give all the eggs back.
The play is suitable for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade (UK Key Stage 2) and lasts approximately ten minutes. Although the cast is small, other children can be involved with helping to create the rabbit and other props.
This is a comedy play with a message about being honest. After watching/taking part in the performance, there can be a class discussion about honesty and about making the right cboices.
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Chocolate Power! Fight for Your Right to Eat Easter Eggs
Miss Blake thinks too much chocolate is bad for children and she bans her class from the school Easter Egg hunt, but she has no idea how far the children will go to make her change her mind. The class work together, using the art lesson, the math lesson and their spelling test to make their point, and Miss Blake finally gives in.
The play is suitable for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade (UK Key Stage 2) and lasts about twenty minutes. Afterwards, there can be discussion and debate about, for example, whether the children were being naughty or resourceful, or whether Miss Blake had a point about eating too much chocolate.
Comedy drama can be a great fun way for children to learn how to work together as a team to produce a creative outcome. It can also be a valuable way to explore and discuss important social skills and choices. I hope these two comedy plays will do this, while having fun with an Easter egg theme!
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'Robot Rabbit and the Easter Egg Trick' and 'Chocolate Power! Fight for Your Right to Eat Chocolate' can both be found at the following links:
Teachers Pay Teachers: bit.ly/2X6qba6 & bit.ly/3MT8W7c
TES: bit.ly/2Kv6FTp & bit.ly/3tUTwGK
There are also free extracts at mywebsite's read for free page.
Happy Easter!!
February 17, 2023
People & Books #10: Stephanie Carty
// I'm super excited that Stephanie Carty has agreed to an interview for my series 'People & Books'. I've been following Stephanie's writing for a while, and as well as the content and genre she explores, I've always been interested in how she's found a way to combine her creative writing activities with her work as a clinical psychologist. In her interview, Stephanie explains how she came to write fiction, how she makes this particular combination work and how she helps other authors to look at their writing in this way.
Who/What inspired you to begin writing?
I came to writing by accident as I was approaching forty. I wrote a piece for other psychologists and thought I’d try a piece of fiction instead of an essay. I was surprised to find it enjoyable to write. Without knowing it, I’d written my first piece of flash fiction and caught the bug of writing and submitting short fiction for the next few years. The writing community and many friends I made kept me going.
// Which authors do you admire?
Recent fiction I’ve adored tends to be character-focused with some darkness. I love Liz Nugent’s Skin Deep, Sarah Hilary’s Fragile and Catriona Ward’s Sundial.
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Were you influenced by any particular books/authors you read?
I think the non-fiction bestseller Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker was one influence, as it got us all talking about the science behind sleep. I was influenced by a couple of films for my novel Shattered but I can’t share, else it may spoil what unravels as you read the book!
How many books have you written? What inspired you to write these books)?
I've written four. My first, very short book is a novella-in-flash called Three Sisters of Stone. This was published by Ellipsis in my previous surname of Hutton. I had been writing flash fiction (under 1000 word stories) for a few years and felt ready for the challenge of creating a novella with linked stories, revisiting the same three siblings across two decades. It was a fascinating way to explore the different coping styles and outcomes for siblings, while constrained by the challenge that each story must work both as a stand-alone piece and part of the bigger arc. I was thrilled that it won a Saboteur Award, which is voted for by readers.
// 
// My writers’ guide Inside Fictional Minds was commissioned by Ad Hoc Fiction. I’d been teaching writers about the psychology of their characters for a couple of years and had day-dreamed about creating a workbook, so this offer to publish kicked me into gear to get it written. It’s an easy read rather than academic text with a strong focus on practical application – there are over 100 written tasks to choose from in order to create psychologically informed characters. I’ve loved hearing how it has influenced the work of writers.
I am working on my second non-fiction book which is another book for writers. This time, I’m exploring what writers can learn about themselves by looking at what and how they write. It’s an exciting project that I hope to share in the next year.
My short fiction collection The Peculiarities of Yearning from Reflex Press is a collection of my weirdest and favourite flash fiction and short stories from the previous five years. It’s lovely to have the chance to put them together, as they are hidden in various anthologies and online journals. I found that the common theme of yearning for something (and sometimes denying or sabotaging it) linked very different pieces of work.
// 
// My novel Shattered is a commercial psychological thriller published by Bloodhound Books. I wrote the first draft really quickly, as the whole idea came into my head in one go! I started to write a summary of the plot but that ended up being 6000 words long and I knew I could fly through it, then go back and edit. I really wanted to write a book with little clues along the way, that may make a reader want to re-read when they get to the end (in the vein of ‘I see dead people’ from Sixth Sense). I think most people find therapy sessions fascinating so I was sure I wanted to include those with the point of view of the therapist. I had the ending of the book clearly in mind, which helped guide me to write the rest and I hoped that it would make readers think about themselves in a slightly different way afterwards.
What do you enjoy most about writing?
I think that when it flows, writing creates an escape from real world roles and stresses. It’s a chance to roll around in a new world, inhabit different lives, communicate different aspects that may hide themselves in daily life. I love reaching a state of flow where it feels like my fingers are typing without any need for me to decide what comes next, as if I’m reading the words of somebody else.
Do you have any particular writing habits or routines?
No. I have had to be pragmatic and squeeze writing in where I can. Starting with very short fiction made this more doable. I’m the breadwinner in the family as well as having children with additional needs, so I learnt to snatch moments of time. I now have every Wednesday as a writing day but do try to make notes on my phone at random times when ideas strike. I sometimes take a day off work to write but there’s a fifty-fifty chance this ends up with me lounging around to rest instead!
What are you working on at the moment?
Last year I wrote an accessible literary novel about an enmeshed relationship between a mother and daughter. It explores repeating patterns in families. I really enjoyed writing it as half the novel is written from a naïve teen’s point of view.
I’ve recently started another accessible literary / upmarket novel that explores sibling rivalry in an unusual context – one of the sisters appears to have died and come back to life. I’m being playful with this one and not worrying about genre or market.
You also work as a psychologist and offer services to other authors about the psychology of character. How did this connection come about?
Once I started to discuss characters with other writers, I realised how much I took for granted that my psychology knowledge informed my reading and writing. I ran some one-day workshops around the country which turned into my online course Psychology of Character once the pandemic hit. Many authors have a great natural skill in noticing and understanding people but need that little extra help to think about certain elements, such as realistic change or how to differentiate characters from one another. It helps me to reflect and more consciously apply my knowledge to my own writing, too.
// Do you offer any other services to authors?
I do manuscript reviews that focus on the psychology and development of characters and also get invited to teach on various topics related to psychology or short fiction.
Do you have any tips for new writers?
I’d say that creative endeavors are a form of play, let them remain that way. If you start to feel pressure, judgement, or that what you are doing feels like homework, then step back. Children learn and grow through play. You can free yourself to be playful with your writing. Keep it just for yourself at first. Nothing is wasted; we learn from each draft whether it’s ever published or not, whether it’s a 100 word micro or a 100,000 word fantasy novel. You can find yourself and your voice through the writing. Focus on the moment not the ‘product’ and you may find that this is a way to create gems of sentences, phrases, characters and arcs that you develop later. Your unconscious mind is working for you all the time! Don’t force anything. Write a title, a character idea, a lovely phrase or a premise in a notebook or on your phone then LEAVE IT ALONE! You will be amazed at what your mind gifts you next time you look at it one day, one week, one month, one year later, as if from nowhere.
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Find out more about Stephanie's writing and author services @ www.stephaniecarty.com
Find Stephanie online at:
Twitter: @tiredpsych
Instagram: stephaniecartyauthor
Facebook: Stephanie Carty
February 14, 2023
My 5 Romantic Reads for Valentine's Day
I'm not really a reader of 'romantic fiction' as a genre, but I do love to read stories that explore the high levels of emotion and passion in relationships - even better if they also have a paranormal angle too! Here's my top 5 choices of (what I see as) romantic fiction:
// 1. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
The moment when Cathy's ghostly hand reaches through the broken window during the night is a delicious piece of paranormal writing. In my opinion, Wuthering Heights is the greatest love story ever written. I first read it as a teenager and have read it again and again. Who hasn't heard of Heathcliff and Cathy, the couple who meet as children, when Cathy's father brings ragamuffin street child Heathcliff home to join the family. As they grow up together on the Yorkshire moors they both love so much, their friendship turns into a love that is marred by expectations, people and events around them, so that they cannot be together. Heathcliff runs away and returns a wealthy man, with a plan for revenge that's emotionally charged right to the end. Emily Bronte wrote only one novel in her lifetime. Considering her isolated life spent on the same Yorkshire moors, she knew how to write about emotions and put every ounce of emotional tension and conflict into this ghostly love story.
2. The End of the Affair (Graham Greene)
I'd never read a Graham Greene book and was advised to try The End of the Affair. Unexpectedly, I was totally drawn into the story of Henry, Sarah and Bendrix, told in flashback after the affair has ended. I discovered that Greene is a master storyteller and knew his craft. The story is set in London during WW2, and it was only at the end that I fully grasped how all the pieces fit together to understand the deal Sarah had made, at the moment when she thought a German bomb had torn her world apart.
3. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
This is another classic tale of doomed love, set in the world of the Long Island rich between the two world wars. The mysterious, wealthy Jay Gatsby arrives and quickly establishes himself and his home on the 'party scene', but what he really wants to do is rekindle his relationship with old flame Daisy Buchanan and persuade her to leave her husband, Tom. This beautiful love triangle is told through the eyes of Daisy's cousin Nick, who can only watch as the situation falls apart.
4. Noughts and Crosses (Malorie Blackman)
In Noughts and Crosses, Blackman takes two different barriers to love - skin colour and social class - and puts them together to tell the love story between Callum and Sephy. In a reversal of the norm, Callum is white and from a lower social class (the Noughts), while Sephy is black and is also a member of the powerful ruling class (the Crosses). Social convention and family pressures conspire to keep the couple apart, but their determination triumphs in the end, even though they cannot completely fight against the people in power who surround them, with tragic consequences.
5. The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton)
This massive 800-page saga meanders through a family search, opium addiction and a mysterious death, all set against the backdrop of New Zealand's nineteenth-century gold rush. Emery Staines and Anna Wetherell are somehow connected to all these events, but by the end of the story, they realise they also have a connection with each other, a spiritual bond that is written in the stars.
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January 15, 2023
People & Books #9: Christine Karren
American-born Christine made her home in the Netherlands with her author husband and fellow American, Val Karren. Together they created Fly-By-Night Press, a publisher of European travel books and also of Val's fiction. Christine is a member of the Maastricht Writers' Workshop and recently wrote her first piece of fiction for their Christmas story share. I'm really pleased to chat with Christine about how Fly-By-Night Press came about, and about its place in European small press publishing.
// Do you have a background in publishing or book-selling?
Haha, yes! My first real job that I took when I was 16 was actually with a publishing house called Sage Publications. In those days I was typing on a typewriter and filing in a filing cabinet, but now Sage is the largest textbook publisher in the field of social/behavioral sciences. I didn't realize in those days that I'd eventually own my own publishing business, but here I am!
Where did the idea for Fly-By-Night Press come from?
It's a funny story, actually. My husband Val, who is a writer, came up with the name. When we set up the company together to market his books, he thought it would be fun to use his old nickname, 'the Fly-By-Night.' He's a big traveller--always looking over the next horizon--so his mother's friends started calling him 'the Fly-By-Night.' They always thought he should settle down, marry a nice girl and stay in one place; but that would be a real shame, since it would have prevented him from writing about his travel adventures and the cultures he has discovered. Our company, Fly-By-Night Press, aims to help people travel Europe through our books, so of course we need good European stories.
//When did you set up Fly-By-Night Press?
Val wrote his first book, The Deceit of Riches, in 2017, and then we had the task of publishing and promoting it. We looked into the option of traditional publishing at that time, and discovered that with all the new changes in technology -- print on demand publishing, social media, and book blogging -- publishers were having to shift their methods to keep up with all the new competition. We did our research, and decided to go with independent publishing, establishing Fly-By-Night Press in October 2017. My training as a graphic designer came in very handy.
// Where are you based?
These days when you're selling books, it doesn't matter too much where you are based because of all the online options for sales and distribution. We live in the Netherlands where it's relatively easy to set up a small business, so of course we established one here. However, our books are all in English, so we market them mainly in the US and the UK. Occasionally we organize author events here locally, to reach English readers and the expat population in the Netherlands.
How many people are in the Fly-By-Night team?
For a while Val and I did it together, but last Fall, at our 5-year mark, we decided to move ownership of the publishing business over to me so Val could focus more on writing. It's working out well. He's producing more great books and I'm selling more of them!
// Who is your target readership?
Good question. Obviously we target those who are interested in literature focused on Europe, but we are finding readers in a wide range of demographics. We have two series: one is made up of historical thrillers set in eastern Europe, which attracts the same readers who like writers such as Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, and Ben Macintyre; but then the Armchair Travel series attracts a more diverse group of old and young, itching to travel (especially after a global pandemic). Our readers generally tend to be American, well-educated and well-travelled.
Do you offer books in various languages?
Not yet, but we have looked into it. We have drafts of The Deceit of Riches in Dutch and Russian, but it would take a good deal of work by an experienced translator to have them ready to publish. Germany is the largest reading language in the world after English, so perhaps German would be the best choice to begin with. We once found a pirate copy of The Deceit of Riches (in Russian) on a Russian website and had to laugh at their ingenuity! Right now we're putting our whole focus into the English versions, but translation may be a good idea at a later time.
Do you offer any author services?
Yes. I am trained as a graphic designer as well as a marketer, so I sometimes design covers and promotional content for other authors.
Do you also write? If so, in what forms/genres?
Currently my favorite literary form is blogging, because I excel in expository or journalistic writing over creative writing. I do have an idea for a novel I want to write, though, so I figure that if I'm disciplined about it, maybe I can improve my creative writing skills with an attempt at fiction.
// 
// Image 1: Blog post 'Hygge Me: Design & Wellbeing in Denmark'
Image 2: Blog post 'Hungary for Freedom'
Does Fly-By-Night Press have a role in the local community?
We are somewhat limited by the fact that we live in a Dutch-speaking country, but we are finding ways to connect with those who want to read in English. Just this past year we set up a writers' group with other local English-speaking authors, called the Maastricht Writers' Workshop, and we are having more success with connecting to the local community through them. We've done events at fairs and with non-profit groups, and have plans for combined author events at a local bookstore. There's still a lot of room for growth here.
//
What is the long term vision for Fly-By-Night Press?
Ideally we would raise our book sales to the point that both Val and I could support ourselves entirely through Fly-By-Night Press. We're not at that point yet, but we are growing! We love using this business to connect with so many other creative people, and with readers from around the world.
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Further information:
Fly-By-Night Press @ www.flybynightpress.com.
All Fly-By-Night Press books are available online.
Social media:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@flybynightpress
Instagram & Facebook: flybynightpress
Maastricht Writers' Workshop is open to anyone in the Maastricht/Zuid Limburg area who is interested in connecting with other writers working in English. Further information can be found at https://maastrichtwriters.wordpress.com
January 2, 2023
My Writing Round-Up of 2022
Introduction
The beginning of 2022 marked a year of stability after a number of moves during 2020 and 2021. We managed to move three times, including from one country to another and back again, while everyone else was feeling trapped by Covid, and it was a big relief to be able to sit down and say "Right. Now what have I got time for?"
The year began with my excitement about the imminent arrival of Tangle & Fen, a new anthology from Crone Girls Press, which will include my ghost story Watch Out for the Master. This story is told from the point of view of the ghost of a young servant girl who lived over a hundred years ago, and is inspired by my grandmother's stories of her life in service at the start of the twentieth century.
In 2022, Crone Girls Press put everything aside to create another anthology, A Woman Unbecoming. The sales of this charity anthology will help to support reproductive health care rights.
Tangle & Fen will be released in 2023.
//
// In April, the English Bookstore Maastricht organised their first Open Mic event. The audience was entertained by a mixture of performances, including poetry reading, a trombone recital and a singer songwriter accompanied by guitar. I read an extract from In My Garden, the first story from my speculative stories-within-a story collection The Things We've Seen, in which elderly Covid-trapped Daisy meets a tiny man who lives in her garden - but be warned, he's not a gnome!
// 
// 
// Above: discussing the Forest of Dean & reading various extracts from my forest-inspired fiction
Summer arrived and it was time for another event at the English Bookstore Maastricht. This time the event was completely my own, and I gave a presentation about the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire - where I lived for fifteen years - and how its history and landscape had inspired four of my books. I explained how the Great Flood of 1607 had inspired my ghost story novella The Knocking, how the legendary wild panther and the white stag inspired a children's series and how the atmosphere and landscape helped me to create the introspective stories in The Wishing Sisters. The audience were full of questions which allowed me to explain and discuss how important this beautiful forest remains for me, long after I've left it behind.
//
// 
An Exciting End to the Year
I wrote the short story Water Baby during 2022. It's based on a Korean myth about a girl who sacrifices herself to the sea, and is part of a new short story collection. When I found out that Canterbury-based Save As Writers were holding a myth-themed writing contest, I decided to send Water Baby. Imagine my excitement when I reached the longlist, then the shortlist, and was invited to the online awards evening in December. The shortlisted authors and poets read extracts from their work and I really enjoyed the evening. Water Baby wasn't placed on this occasion, but it's available at the Save As Writers website, and this was a great experience with which to end the year.
//And finally...
my round-up wouldn't be complete without mentioning the Maastricht Writers Workshop. We are a group of local authors and poets who write in English. We began to meet every month at the start of 2022, to support each other with feedback of writing-in-progress and with promotion of our work. We also want to have a presence in the community. In 2022 we organised two events for Ukrainian children and we also had a stall at the IWC Christmas Fair, to sell the books of our members who are published. A group like MWW is invaluable to encourage writing and I'm really pleased to be part of it.
// All in all, I always think I will achieve more than I actually have time for. I had so many plans for 2022 which can now roll over into 2023, but when I see the different things that did happen in 2022, I'm very pleased. Happy New Year!
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More information about Crone Girl's Press, Save As Writers & the Maastricht Writers Workshop can be found at these links:
https://maastrichtwriters.wordpress.com
To read Water Baby at the Save As Writers website, follow this link bit.ly/3GKtMV0, then scroll down the page to its place in the shortlist and click on it.
The Things We've Seen, The Knocking, Footprints in the Snow, Save the White Stag and The Wishing Sisters are all available at Amazon. More information can be found at https://www.maggieholman.com/books/ and read-for-free extracts are at https://www.maggieholman.com/read-for-free/.
December 17, 2022
A Forest Story from Ten Years Ago Inspires A Magical Book Series
Ten years ago, in the autumn of 2012, I wrote a draft of a children's story and provisionally called it A Cat for Christmas. The inspiration for the idea came from an image I had of a young girl who was bravely facing up to a black panther. The panther I envisaged is actually a local legend in the Forest of Dean, a beautiful area of Gloucestershire where I lived for fifteen years. Over time, many people have said they've seen the panther or at least evidence of it. As I began to write, a Christmas adventure unfolded for Jamie, a ten-year-old boy from London who goes to stay with his Forest of Dean grandfather - his Grancher Pete. As well as discovering that his Grancher is searching for the panther, Jamie also meets three traveller children, Caro, Finn and Molly, and is intrigued that their outlook and way of life is so different from his own. When Jamie becomes lost in the snow and puts himself in danger, his new friends and their ways are needed to help him get home.
//
// 
// The Story Gets A Test Read & A Launch
While I was writing, I was also teaching at an international school in Amsterdam. When the draft story was complete, I asked a colleague if she would read it, to see if it worked for my target audience, children aged 8-11. She came back to me full of enthusiastic feedback and asked if she could read the story to her class in the run-up to the Christmas break. I had such a lovely response from the children, including some fun letters and art work, that I decided to go ahead and publish, with the new title Footprints in the Snow. I was interviewed for a class magazine and we had a book launch in the school library, which was all a lot of fun!
// One of my favourite pieces of art work!
The Story Begins to Grow
Several people wanted to know more about the secondary characters in the story, such as the other family members of the four children, and also asked whether there were going to be more stories involving Caro, Finn, Molly and Jamie. At the time, I felt that Footprints in the Snow was a stand-alone story and I didn't have any plans for any further adventures.
It took nine years to realise I was wrong! In 2021, when I wrote Save the White Stag, it became a sequel to Footprints in the Snow, taking place in springtime of the year following the Christmas adventure. The story is about another famous Forest of Dean animal, the white stag. This time, Caro - aided by her grandmother and her little sister - rescue the white stag when they discover that it's in danger. It was at this point that I realised there was now potential for a set of four stories, in which each of the children could have a chance to be the main character; Jamie is the focus of Footprints in the Snow, Caro takes the initiative in Save the White Stag, and Finn and Molly will have their moment in the upcoming Trapped in the Tree and Molly's Friends.
Cover Design
The cover of Footprints in the Snow was designed by Nik at Book Beaver. In consultation with Nik while writing Save the White Stag, we decided to create this cover using the same book template. The colour scheme was changed to reflect springtime colours, and for the remaining two books, the same template will be used with their own individual colour schemes.
// 
// Time for Illustrations
When I relocated to Maastricht in 2021, I met artist Kirsty Boar. At the time of writing, we are in consultation about illustrations for this set of stories. Kirsty's black line drawings are perfect for adding the visual element to the text. (Can you see the tiny boy who is sleeping on the stag's antler? It's a clever reference to Jamie's dream in Footprints in the Snow).
// 
// It's been a lot of fun and an interesting journey, to see how far these Forest of Dean characters have come since that initial image of Caro and the panther. I'm looking forward to the completion of the series in 2023.
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Footprints in the Snow amzn.to/2zOwAww is in a Kindle Countdown until 24th December, along with The Wishing Sisters amzn.to/2JrOAof and The Things We've Seen amzn.to/2NxMx56
You can find out more about Footprints in the Snow, Save the White Stag and other stories at Books , and read extracts for free at Read For Free. All stories are available as ebooks and paperbacks at Amazon and at the Dean Heritage Centre in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. They are also available for loan at Gloucestershire Library Service, via Coleford Library.
November 7, 2022
People & Books #8: Caroline Muntjewerf
I first met Caroline earlier this year, when we were introduced through a mutual friend. She currently lives in Maastricht, where she is a member of the Maastricht Writers Workshop, but she has also travelled extensively and worked abroad for many years. These experiences have helped to shape Caroline's writing, and she not only writes in her native Dutch, but also in English and German. I'm pleased to be able to chat to Caroline about her books and her writing plans.
// Who/What inspired you to begin writing?
I’ve always liked writing but didn’t start writing creatively until the late 1990s. While working as a careworker in nursing homes, I realized I didn’t really agree with the nursing home system, so I wrote the fictional story Avondstond, in which I incorporated experiences from the years I worked in the care profession.
Which authors do you admire?
Several, but mainly the classics.
// Have you been influenced by any particular books you’ve read?
Not really. When I get an idea for a story, I start jotting down scenes and then the story evolves in my head and I start writing it. I don’t tend to write about things that are trending or ‘popular’ at the time.
How many books have you written?
Five, but two translations as well. Of Dutch Descent is available in three languages.
// What inspired you to write these books?
Of Dutch Descent was a title I had in my head, and the story developed from it. When I began Bel Amour, the scenes appeared and the story came about that way. Return To Les Jonquières could be called a continuation of the popular 1960’s television series Belle and Sebastian, and The Stories consists of several short stories that I’ve written through the years.
Do you explore other formats e.g. poetry, short stories, graphic novels?
I do write short stories as well, and I've also written screenplays based on Of Dutch Descent and Return To Les Jonquières.
Why did you decide to self-publish?
Before self-publishing made things possible, you’d have to send your manuscripts to several publishers in order to try to get a publishing deal. Let’s say, in the end I became disillusioned with the rejections, even though my first English novel was initially published in the traditional way. Self-publishing is more work, but it's much more satisfying to be an independent author.
What are you working on at the moment?
A new novel, called April Fools.
What are your future writing plans?
I still have several stories in my head that need to be written down!
What do you enjoy most about writing?
The creative process and 'inventing' characters who decide where the story goes.
Do you have any particular writing habits or routines?
An inspiring environment helps, and it is basically a discipline. Sit yourself down behind the laptop and start writing.
// Do you have any tips for new writers?
If you can write a good story, go for it. Don’t imitate others.
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All Caroline's books are available at online stores. You can find more about Caroline at her website www.cmuntjewerf.com and follow her at social media:
Facebook: Caroline Muntjewerf - Author
Instagram: carolinemuntjewerf
Twitter: @CaroMu
