May Writing Events Around the Globe

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May Writing Events Around the Globe

May seems to be a popular month for anyone with a love of reading and writing. No matter what hemisphere you’re in, here are events you can get involved in by continent. This is not a complete list, to stay in the loop on what’s on and where, you can also follow Literary Festivals all year around on:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Literary-Festivals/220278624651569
Twitter:

Or my Writer’s Festivals list on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/cateartios/writer-s-festivals

Australian and New Zealand festivals are listed in detail at: http://www.literaryfestivals.com.au/

Online:

Story A Day: Write a story every day in May. StoryADay.org is home to an annual Extreme Writing Challenge. “Sick of starting and never finishing writing projects?…” This was started in 2010. “Some people decided to write on weekdays only, some declared they would sketch a story idea every day, some weren’t sure what they could manage anything, but just the idea of committing to this hare-brained scheme with a bunch of other writers had got them so excited they couldn’t resist.” Twitter hash tag #storyaday http://storyaday.org

Australia:

Sydney Writer’s Festival, May 14-20 http://www.swf.org.au/ Twitter: @SydWritersFest “Sydney Writers’ Festival is Australia’s largest annual celebration of literature and ideas. Each year, we present over 300 events (half of them for free) and attract attendances of around 80,000 in venues that stretch from the Festival hub at Walsh Bay to the Blue Mountains. For one week every May we bring together authors of the very best contemporary fiction and writers of cutting edge nonfiction, including some of the world’s leading public intellectuals, scientists and journalists. With the finest literary writing at our core, our programming is driven by the ideas and issues that animate all forms of writing.”

Melbourne: The Emerging Writer’s Festival, this one is for writers and isn’t just reader based. “The Emerging Writers’ Festival is an independent arts organisation based in Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas. We exist in order to promote the interests of emerging writers – to improve their opportunities for professional development as well as their engagement with the broader public. Each year the Emerging Writers’ Festival brings writers, editors, publishers and literary performers together with the reading public for a festival that is fast becoming an essential part of Australia’s literary calendar.” http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/about-ewf/ Twitter: @EmergingWriters

The Emerging Writer’s Festival is promoting if:book Australia, “if:book Australia promotes new forms of digital literature and explores ways to boost connections between writers and audiences. if:book Australia is led by author, editor and digital experimenter, Simon Groth. if:book Australia promotes new forms of digital literature and explores ways to boost connections between writers and audiences. if:book Australia is a small think-tank that is part of the Queensland Writers Centre.” Find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/futureofthebookau ” They also have a Twitter feed.

International:

if:book is linked with an International fellowship of organisations exploring book futures, including the Institute for the Future of the Book in New York, if:book London, and if:lire in Paris.

United States and Canada:

Book Expo America is on from June 4-7 (yes, I know this is a May post, but this one needs plenty of notice.) Held in New York City, this event hosts a conference, special events, Author events and autographing, BlogWorld and a New Media Expo NY. Details are on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/ It’s huge by the looks.

The Ontario Writer’s Conference is being held on May 5. They have a festival of Authors on the Friday night, workshops and you can find all the information here: http://www.thewritersconference.com/

Oregon are having a Writing Festival on May 5th at Portland State University. http://www.octe.org/events_oregonwritingfestival.html This is a great initiative for writing teachers which accents writing as a craft for grades 4-12; recognises students excellence and teacher excellence; plus has some great speakers such as Bart King. Looking at the site, he has authored “The Pocket Guide to Brilliance” and “The Big Book of Gross Stuff.” As a writing teacher, although I teach adults, I am encouraged to see events like this. There should be moer of them.

If Science Fiction and Fantasy is your genre, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America are hosting their Forty-Seventh Nebula Awards Weekend will be held Thursday through Sunday, May 17 to May 20, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. There are speakers, a banquet, workshops, discussion panels and autograph signings. Places are limited.

MorningStar Intensive Christian Writer’s Seminar, May 3 -5 http://www.morningstarministries.org/events/morningstar-conferences/may-writers-seminar

New Zealand:

Auckland Writer’s and Reader’s Festival, May 9-13 http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/ ”A festival of literature and ideas, bringing together acclaimed writers, readers and thinkers through innovative programming.” Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/AklWritersFest/ The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival is delighted to announce that former spy chief Dame Stella Rimington (UK), Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle (Ireland) and beloved Young Adult writer Emily Rodda (Australia) will attend the May 2012 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

United Kingdom:

Most U.K. festivals appear to be held in between April and July. For a comprehensive listing, please visit http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/index.html#.T2wod5ggt5g

Throughout the U.K. May 16 is National Flash Fiction Day. The Lancashire Writing Hub site says ”Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature or fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of how long Flash Fiction should be. The name is believed to have been first used in 1992 as the title to an anthology of very short stories. Some markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as six words and others can go up to as many as a thousand words. Hemmingway famously wrote a story in six words: ‘For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.’ Recently, with the growth of the internet, more people reading on e-Readers and mobile phones, and the sheer pace of life, the very short story has taken on a life of its own, a life that Nation Flash Fiction Day is celebrating.”

I have to admit my knowledge of British geography is non existent. If you are in Lancashire, the information for their day (great web site, they seem to have a lot of good things happening) is here: http://www.lancashirewritinghub.co.uk/2012/02/national-flash-fiction-day-16th-may-2012/ If you don’t live in that area, Google “National Flash Fiction Day” and see what is available close to where you are. Or, you could start something yourself, in a flash. Yes, that was a terrible pun wasn’t it.