Thursday 4 December 2008

Speaking of Which - A Bit About Sam Millar & The CWN


Did you know that Glen Patterson judged the Brian Moore Short Story Award last year? Well, he did. And Sam Millar won it ten years ago, and believes it was a turning point in his writing career. He even told the folks at BBC Radio Ulster's Artsextra programme all about it. You can listen to it on the Artsextra website for the next five days. Better hurry.

Interviewed alongside him is Mark Madden from the Creative Writers Network. They run the Brian Moore competition every year. Although I've never won the award, I have benefited greatly from my membership there. They introduced me to Ian McDonald two years ago on their mentoring course, told me of an Ian Sansom workshop before I discovered The Mobile Library Series, and tipped me off on a Colin Bateman reading where he signed my copy of Divorcing Jack. I even attended a writing for radio course hosted by Annie McCartney last year. Ah, good times. So, thanks CWN. Keep on truckin'.

Oh, by the way, Tammy Moore did a lot of work for the CWN in her time. Nowadays she can be found writing for Morrigan Books, a new publishing house going from strength to strength in genre fiction. Best of luck to the lot of them.

Tammy's first publication, The Even, can be purchased from the publisher, Amazon or Waterstones. Take your pick.

11 comments:

adrian mckinty said...

Brian Moore,

You need to do a wee retrospective I think.

Just a thought.

col2910 said...

top notch football commentator in my opinion....much better than that twat in the sheepskin.....Motson

Gerard Brennan said...

Adrian - Not a bad thought, either. I think I have The Statement at home... I'll put it on the to-do list.

col2910 - You sound a bit like Colman Keane... have I uncovered your secret identity?

gb

col2910 said...

guilty as charged mate

Gerard Brennan said...

Colman - Damn I'm good. I should write crime fiction or something.

Cheers

gb

John McFetridge said...

"The Luck of Ginger Coffee," is one of the best books set in my hometown of Montreal and "The Revolution Script," is terrific as well.

We always think of Brian Moore as Canadian, you know.

Gerard Brennan said...

Canadian? Pfft. And I suppose McKinty's an Aussie?

Catch yourself on, McFetridge.

gb

John McFetridge said...

Th Aussie's may not be as desperate as we are... ;)

Gerard Brennan said...

Hahahahaha!

Nice.

gb

adrian mckinty said...

It's a bit like CS Lewis. Yes he talked with an accent that would have shamed the Queen into thinking she was from the Isle of Dogs, but he's still a Belfast boy.

I was reading in an Iris Murdoch biography that Irish claimed to speak with an Irish accent until her dying day, but in the movie Iris neither Kate Winslet nor Judy Dench went that route.

Gerard Brennan said...

Adrian - Yup, aul CS. Still boasted about over here on programmes like Artsextra with monotonous regularity. And well he should be.

RE Iris; I read The Sea, The Sea at school, and though I was probably too young to have much love for all the cooking descriptions and the singing scenes, the concept of the novel still lingers. I never bothered with the movie, but if either Winslet or Lady Dench had tried the Irish accent I'd have gone to the premier.

gb