The close association between the Birmingham Literature Festival and WGGB continues for this annual event, which runs from 2-11 October 2014.
The Festival, organised by Writing West Midlands, has been a staple of the city’s autumn calendar for 15 years.
Highlights this year include Meera Syal giving a talk on her writing, Jackie Kay celebrating National Poetry Day, Roger McGough and Liz Berry bringing their poetry to life, an evening with South African director, actress and writer Janet Suzman, and a day of BBC Radio programme recordings including Poetry Please and With Great Pleasure.
WGGB has a members’-only event at the Festival, and there are also discounts for members at other talks.
Steven Knight: Writing Peaky Blinders
2pm, 6 October 2014
Peaky Blinders was a criminal gang based in Birmingham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest examples of modern street sub-culture, they got their name from sewing razor blades into the peaks of their caps, and have been brought to life by Oscar-nominated writer/director Steven Knight in his BBC historical drama series of the same name. This special media industry event is exclusively for Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, BBC Drama Village and Royal Television Society members. Steven Knight will talk to WGGB deputy chair Tim Stimpson about how he created compelling drama from a previously little-known period of Birmingham’s social history.
The event is free to WGGB members and booking is essential.
There is also another public talk at 6-7.30pm on the same day. WGGB members are entitled to a concessionary rate of £6. Further details and bookings here.
Writing from the Home Front
5.30-6.30pm, 8 October 2014
BBC Radio 4 is marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War with Home Front, a landmark drama series produced in Birmingham. It tells the stories of fictional characters who keep the home fires burning over the course of four years of war. Unprecedented in scale, the series includes 500, 12-minute episodes, broadcast until 2018 in ‘real time’, with each day’s episode set exactly a century earlier.
The series is being celebrated at the Birmingham Literature Festival with a panel event made up of Home Front editor Jessica Dromgoole, writers Shaun McKenna and Fiona Joseph, and actor Bella Hamblin. It will be chaired by historical adviser Professor Maggie Andrews.
WGGB members are entitled to a concessionary rate of £6. Further details and bookings here.
Soap City
6-7pm, 10 October 2014
Birmingham can rightfully lay claim to the title of ‘Soap City’, with The Archers, Doctors and Crossroads, among others, being produced, set or originally recorded here.
A panel of writers offer their insights on West Midlands’ connection with this genre, and share some of the particular challenges of writing for long-running series. Panellists include WGGB members Mary Cutler (The Archers, Crossroads) and Tim Stimpson (The Archers/Ambridge Extra), Gregory Leadbetter (Silver Street) and Claire Bennett (Doctors).
WGGB members are entitled to a concessionary rate of £6. Further details and bookings here.
See the full Birmingham Literature Festival event calendar here.