The time has come and the end is nigh.
Before we all get stuck in to the last few weeks of furiously writing and polishing our dissertations, we just wanted to thank you all for keeping up with the Litmus 2016 blog. We hope that you enjoyed the time spent on this site, and that you will be back for more when it’s time for Litmus 2017. There is a fantastic group of writers coming through the ranks, so keep a keen eye out as they are bursting with talent and new stories.
Thank you to all of the 2016 guest speakers, tutors and students; we have had a wonderful time working with you and creating this blog, and of course, seeing our lovely anthology come to life.
Keep writing!
Abi, Lorna, Annie, Mel and Georgia – the Litmus 2016 Blog Team.
Georgia Benjamin: The Festival came at the end of a year packed with writing – I’m in the very last stages of an MA in Writing for Children at Winchester University, and the support and advice I gained from the writing community has been invaluable. Everyone was so friendly and willing to discuss their projects and hopes for their writing futures, I felt completely at home and have taken away a fresh sense of determination and inspiration.
Clio O’Sullivan: Whilst the festival has been an unparalleled opportunity to develop my writing, what particularly resonated with me is the question put by Meg Rosoff in her keynote speech: what has been a turning point in your life? In that moment I couldn’t answer with any certainty. But over the weekend, as her words reverberated throughout my mind and were joined by others which had varying levels of impacts on me, I came to the realisation that perhaps this was my turning point. Writers have a responsibility to give hope through their creations. When I reflect on the festival I can say that it was my turning point to have the courage to be creative.
Claire Kerry: This is my third time attending the Festival. The first, as a volunteer campus guide in 2014 felt like only a taste, and in 2015 with my mind on an MA dissertation I felt a little out of place. Thanks to the scholarship it felt like the first time I was able to experience the Writers Festival to the full. Attending the workshops and master classes certainly expanded my knowledge, but the real highlights were the one-to-one appointments with agents. Their constructive criticism was invaluable and I left every session feeling encouraged and raring to write. On top of that, to be able to network and socialise with other writers made the Festival something special. I hope we’ll all be sharing our writing with each other for years to come, and maybe see each other again at next year’s Festival!
Sarah Corrigan: The festival was an exciting, unique opportunity for me as it was a chance to meet people from all areas of the publishing industry – authors, agents, editors, booksellers, and more. It was great to find more like-minded writers who were also interested in the same genres, and to interact with other creative writing students from different universities. The agent one-to-ones were particularly exciting as I’ve never queried a manuscript before, but after several full manuscript requests from agents I met, I’ve been instilled with so much fresh confidence in my work!
Beth Neal: The highlight of my Saturday morning at the Festival was guiding latecomers into the back of Meg Rosoff’s inspirational keynote address. During the rest of the day, I helped support Barry Timms and Ruth Bennett from Little Tiger Press with the technical aspects of setting up their talks. They were both genuinely lovely to chat with, and their talks were packed with words of wisdom! The best part of Sunday was definitely being able to accompany author Andrew Weale to his workshop on the magic of picture books. The group had a fantastic positive atmosphere, and at the end of the session, there were some truly magical picture book ideas proposed.
Mel Elledge: For the Winchester Writers’ Festival, I hosted two lovely people – literary agents Sallyanne Sweeney and author/former lecturer of mine, Paul Bryers.
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Litmus 2016 