WRITERS AND READERS

16th March 2004

WRITERS AND READERS AT EDGE HILL

The fifth Writers & Readers day takes place at Edge Hill's Ormskirk Campus on Wednesday 24 March, when novelist and teacher Jenny Newman is special guest.

Jenny Newman is Reader in Creative Writing at Liverpool John Moores University. She is the acclaimed author of two novels, Going In and Life Class (both published by Penguin). Many writers will know her for The Writers' Workbook, a text that has become a valuable learning tool for creative writing students. Booker Prize-winning novelist Barry Unsworth said of The Writer's Workbook, "I wish I'd had it at my elbow when I started out."

Jenny has also recently co-edited British and Irish Novelists: An Introduction through Interviews, to be published by Arnold this month. Copies of that, The Writer's Workbook and Jenny's fiction will be on sale at the evening reading.

Jenny Newman will lead a popular writer's workshop on characterisation, that has already sold out, in the afternoon. At 7.30pm, in the Rose Theatre, she will read from her work before taking questions from the floor.

Robert Graham, who organises Writers & Readers events at Edge Hill, said: "It's particularly pleasing that Jenny Newman is coming back to Edge Hill as a guest speaker. Back in the early 1990s, Jenny initiated undergraduate Creative Writing at Edge Hill and for many years she was Course Leader of our MA in Writing Studies."

Robert recommends the evening reading and question and answer session. "Jenny Newman is not only an exciting contemporary novelist, but also a very experienced teacher of creative writing in higher education. She is terribly generous with learning writers, so this promises to be a rich and fulfilling evening for anyone interested in reading or writing fiction.'

The reading event costs £3 (£2 concessions) and booking can be made by contacting Debbie Chadford in the English Office on 01695 584217

Tickets for the reading are also available from the Rose Theatre Box Office on 01695 584480 or email rose@edgehill.ac.uk

EDITOR?S NOTES: For further information please contact: Roisin Rowley-Smith PR Manager Tel: 01695 584509 Fax: 01695 584355 E mail: rowlesr@edgehill.ac.uk or pressoffice@edgehill.ac.uk