Manchester Central Library

Second seminar



At Manchester Central Library, starting at 10am. I decide to get the
train in for this session as parking will be silly during the day. I
try to read on the way in but am constantly disturbed by two elderly
ladies who decide to join me. They sit opposite me which I found very
odd as the carriage was virtually empty. I decide to try and write
about them later and take pictures of them on my mobile phone. I learn
that rail travellers into Manchester can sometimes use the trams for
free too, so I make use of that facility as it's cold. We are given a
talk by Libby Tempest and Jane Mattheson on how writers 'fit in' in the
libraries system [world book day, talks/lectures, poetry day etc.] We
hear of previous events, the booking process, who books writers and why
within libraries/local authorities. The agenda for the rest of the day
is covers : writing poetry for children, using our own writing as a
resource, Q & A as a way of interacting with students, using our own
work as a model or framework for exercises in schools, research and
using the internet for creating a bank of exercises. We also write a
couple of writers CV's, one short and one long. Again the question of
credibility is raised by a few of us and Mandy goes through 'how to seek
publication': essentially, start with anthologies. We discuss the use of
artefacts in our sessions with children. Previous publications, my
mobile phone and notepads for example. I'm aware again that the day is
quite poetry heavy, which is what I expected to be honest, working with
Mandy. After all, she is a published poet. I think my only concern is
how to turn around what she does so that it aligns itself with
prose/novel writing. I think this concern must have shown on my face or
in something I said as I am asked about it later in the day.