One last shout out for the Telltales: Hidden Secrets set at Port Eliot Festival this weekend.

Our six talented writers will be taking to the stage on Friday at 2pm in the Walled Garden, with an engaging, evocative and downright beautifully crafted series of stories all based around the Hidden Secrets theme, chosen by Katherine St Germans herself.

If you are coming up to the Festival please come along, support Telltales and hear for yourself the talent that Cornwall’s writing scene has to offer. Look forward to seeing you there!

Not long to go!

Yesterday Telltales readers had their first read through before Port Eliot Festival, working out the running order, planning the links and generally getting to know each other a bit before next Friday when we’ll take to the Walled Garden stage to wow Port Eliot Festival goers just what the Cornwall writing scene has to offer.

Our readers are , Felicity Notley, Emma Timpany, Alan Robinson, Rupert Wallis and Fi Read,  with the brilliant Mac Dunlop pulling the whole set together.  The theme, chosen by Katherine St Germans herself, is Hidden Secrets and each writer has really drawn on the theme with their piece, creating a varied, engaging, pacey and cohesive set. It’s going to be swell.

If you are heading up, we’re on the Walled Garden Stage from 2.00pm, (check the programme for more details).

Day tickets for Port Eliot Festival are £30 so if you have some spare time on Friday and fancy coming along to check us out please do, we’d love to see you there. Oh and of course there’s lots of other great stuff to enjoy too.

Writers Biographies

Felicity Notley

Writing has been an important part of my life since I was seven years old.  At that time my cupboard was stuffed with shoeboxes filled with stories, ideas for novels and the odd attempt at a playscript.

I studied French and German literature at university and found myself stunned (in two senses) by the rich and unending possibilities of literature, with the result that I went underground for about 10 years.

In 2004 I took up my pencil and started writing again.  It was like being a fish in water after a long exile on dry land.

I write articles, short stories, poems and am currently writing my first novel.  A poem of mine will be published at the end of the month in an anthology called “Inspired Minds”.

Emma Timpany

Emma Timpany was born in the far south of New Zealand and finds wild and remote scenery of her birthplace inspires much of her writing. She recently completed her first novel Under The Wave, about the resonance of loss over time and is currently writing her second. One of Emma’s stories was a runner-up in a competition and is published on-line. Another story was highly commended in this year’s Frome Festival Short Story competition and Under The Wave was long-listed for the Cinnamon Press Novel Award 2009. Emma’s love of writing was born out of a life long love of reading. She enjoys writing about what it is to be alive through the eyes of her characters here and now, and in other places and other times.

Alan Robinson

Following an English degree and an early novel I more or less shunned literature for some years to become a trade union activist and Blues musician. I then started writing for cabaret, which led to drama scripts. I took an MA in Writing for Film and Television at the Northern Film School in Leeds. My short film, “Follow On” was shown on TV and some international film festivals. I won a BBC Writersroom initiative for new writing and had a couple of scripts short listed by BBC Drama. A stint of community writing led to a verse drama and a commissioned radio play, “Reuben’s Rainbow”. I am currently working on a full length screenplay about the near future under an austerity government, and a memoir novel, “The Studio Couch”, about a family crisis set in 1960.

Personally I’ve come full circle, with writing being a daily compulsion, a form of bearing witness which, when you get it right, produces an unbeatable satisfaction.

Rupert Wallis

Rupert lives and works in Cornwall.  His poetry has previously been shortlisted for an Eric Gregory award and his work has recently been accepted onto the ‘free-reads’ scheme run by the Arts Council in the UK.  Currently, he holds a place on a mentorship scheme for authors in the South West, also run by the Arts Council, and is writing a novel for children.

Fi Read

An ex-pat Aussie who struggles to find the time to write (as life keeps getting in the way) according to her tax return, Fi is a bona fide self-employed freelancer.  A regular contributor to Cornwall Today magazine for the past 2 ½ years, she also writes a weekly column for The Cornishman newspaper, has been both a script mentor and media/press person for AWEN productions, and is currently working on a year-long digital archive film extravaganza called the Tre Project.

Fi is also an occasional short-story writer and poet, who for the past two years has organised and hosted Tongue Pie, Golowan Festival’s annual spoken word event, and prior to that, ran regular monthly storytelling nights at Yam Parlour Cafe in Penzance. And having been accepted onto Exeter University’s South West Writers Mentor Scheme, this year she’s meant to be writing ‘that book’!

When she’s not writing (which, let’s face it, is most of the time) Fi’s pulling pints at the Acorn Arts Centre, busting moves at Life Drawing classes, singing with legendary 10-piece ska band Pondlife, and doing the whole single-mum of four bit. And she’s a granny! Twice voted Mock Mayor of Penzance, in her spare time (ha) she’s put together a 1930’s inspired synchronised swimming team, likes to go surfing (really badly) tramping along the coast path, and rides her trusty Raleigh Maverick everywhere.

A hot, muggy June evening in the Falmouth Townhouse was the setting for our Exodus from every day life on Tuesday, as six writers took us on a journey from mediaeval Wessex to a mercury-infused future, with plenty of stops along the way. And what fun it was too.

Telltales XVIII: Exodus saw a great turnout and another eclectic mix of readers perform their work, from the acerbic rantings of Kimberley Stone and the much loved musings of Mac Dunlop, to the chilling latest from Liam Crowse’s novel in progress and the elegant turn of phrase that Jane Tozer offers up with her medieval translations.

So, onwards. In July, Falmouth Townhouse will have a break from us,  for one month only, as we take to the stage at Port Eliot Festival. H owever, we will be back in Falmouth, filling out the Townhouse dining room on the 24 August with Telltales XIX.

The theme for August’s Telltales will be Snapshot – a brief glance into someone’s life, capturing a scene, a sudden thought or movement; whatever it conjures up for you.  If you’ve got something that works for the theme, or even that doesn’t but you’re desperate to read out, submit through the website – www.wordslikepictures.com/telltales and we’ll have a read then get in touch to let you know if you’ve been programmed.

Look forward to reading your work!

Well, what a macabre lot the Telltale readers are. This May’s event saw a great night at the Falmouth Townhouse unfold, with suicide attempts, injured birds, uncomfortable parental relationships, terrorist attacks and much more read out.

Despite the lovely sunny weather the venue was packed and the inspiring programme, with work from across the writing spectrum, brought new faces to the Telltales lineup and audience. A real success.

The next Telltales: XVIII is on the 29 June from 7pm at the Falmouth Townhouse and the theme is Exodus.

So get your thinking caps on and get submitting…

Over the last 18 months, Telltales has heard a wealth of talented writers share their work with an enthralled audience. From funny poetry to inventive prose, intriguing novel extracts to thought-provoking scripts, every month we’ve programmed writers who have entertained, excited and motivated the local writing community.

Whether it’s new writers sharing their words in public for the first time, or accomplished authors eager to reach a new audience, Telltales represents talent from across the writing spectrum, programming everyone on an equal footing with the aim of building aspiration, achievement and enthusiasm for words in contemporary community culture.

But often, hearing work from the talented array of writers based in our region isn’t enough. We would like to continue Telltales’ good work in print and online:  showcasing the talent of Cornwall’s writing scene in a beautiful, evocative and collectable publication; The Parabola Project.

Based on the principle of an ever aspirational upwards curve, The Parabola Project will be a collection of work which represents the full writing spectrum in Cornwall, profiling first time writers, up and coming talent and established wordsmiths alongside each other.

Scheduled for publication at the end of October 2010, we’re now ready to accept submissions from writers keen to have their work published as part of The Parabola Project – both in print and online.

The theme for the first issue of The Parabola Project is Origins. Origins can be a starting point, or an end point, a blessing or a curse, a home or a destiny, an explanation or a cause. Writers are asked to submit work of no longer than 2000 words which plays with this theme in some way.

We’ll accept any form of creative writing from poetry, prose or short stories to novel extracts, scripts or travel journals. The only rule is that it has to be an original piece of work that has not been published in print elsewhere.

To submit your work use the form on the right of this screen, clearly marking your upload THE PARABOLA PROJECT, along with your name.

Submissions should be in Microsoft Word or compatible software (Open Office applications are acceptable) and should be double spaced to make life easier on our readers.

Submissions close on the 27 July 2010.

The Telltales reading team will pour over all the submissions in August and successful writers will be contacted in early September.

Any questions or further information contact Clare Howdle, clare@wordslikepictures.com

After the success of the Telltales and Profwriting.com tent at last year’s Port Eliot Festival we have been invited back to the country’s most eccentric garden party and this time we have been given a slot on one of the main stages!

To tie in with the stage’s location – The Walled Garden – the theme for our Port Eliot Telltales will be Hidden Secrets and the slot will consist of three or four readers from across the Telltales spectrum; a selection of writers who best represent the quality and range of work that Cornwall’s writing scene has to offer. Each reader will have a maximum of 8 minutes for their work and the whole slot will be drawn together by a Telltales compere who’ll keep the pace, flow and audience interest levels high.

We are really excited about this opportunity and the chance it offers to first time writers and experienced writers alike to platform their work on a main stage at a major UK literary festival.

The submissions process for Telltales @ Port Eliot 2010 is the same as normal: submit short stories, poetry, prose, travel journals, novel extracts or any other creative writing on theme (have to be strict about it with this one – it must allude to Hidden Secrets in some way) using the form on the right. Make sure you clearly label it Hidden Secrets and please don’t submit anything more than 1500 words long – there just won’t be time for you to read it.

We’ll have a read and a good think, then pull together a programme that really works and will promote Telltales as well as the individual writers selected to read. Submissions deadline for Telltales @Port Eliot – Hidden Secrets is Friday 17 June after which date we will let the successfully programmed readers know they have been scheduled then have at least one get together before the festival to rehearse the slot. Yep, we really are taking this seriously.

We’ll let you know more details about the Festival, what day we’re peforming on and even who else we’ll be performing alongside as we get them, but in the meantime get your thinking caps on – can’t wait to read your best Hidden Secrets work.

For more information about Telltales, get in touch.

Over the last 18 months Telltales has been running we’ve heard some fantastic, innovative and impressive stories, novel extracts, poetry and more. But sometimes hearing things once just isn’t enough, so we’re looking to produce a publication which celebrates and showcases our Telltales’ writers work, from the first time writers to the established authors that share their stuff at our monthly reading nights.

Plans are very loose at the moment, but over April we’ll be nailing down exactly how the publication will work, when submissions will open and just how we’ll make the most of the fabulous work for the wide range of writers that read out at Telltales.

Instead of a reading night we’ll be holding a Parabola Project editorial meeting on the last Tuesday of the month, 27 April at 7.30pm at the Falmouth Townhouse. Anyone interested in finding out more about the publication, getting involved or sharing their ideas is welcome to come along – we really want to make this something that showcases and platforms the talent in Cornwall’s writing community.

For more information get in touch with Clare. Hope to see you there on the 27 April.

Well Telltales this week was an absolute blast  – a real journey through creative writing, with wiley lepers, floating bodies, dramatic wedding proposals, convict ships setting sail, hair-raising short haul flights and treks across wintry Tibet on offer. The Falmouth Townhouse was packed out once again with a laughing, gasping and generally inspired audience listening to six writers sharing their work. A real treat.

Thanks to Liam Crouse, Fiona Egglestone, Jane Tozer, Chris Osbaldeston, Gareth May and Chris Brown for reading out, we look forward to hearing more from all of you in the future.

Due to work on an exciting Telltales publishing project (more news soon) the next Telltales, Volume XVII will be on Tuesday 25 May. The theme is Human Nature and submissions are open, so upload your best stuff now.

Can’t wait to read your work…