Working with Words

CRAIG CORSE caught up with some of the writers and organisers involved in the first ever North Isles Writing Weekend in Kirkwall earlier this month

The first workshop took place on Saturday morning in the St Magnus Centre, led by native Orcadian novelist, Alison Miller. Alison, whose first book, ‘Demo’, was released to great acclaim last November, was delighted to be asked to come back to Orkney from Glasgow to participate in the weekend.

Although she had taken part in workshops in bigger city areas such as Aberdeen and Glasgow, as well as in the West Coast of Scotland, this was her first time leading a workshop in Orkney.

“Orkney is fantastic as it attracts people who like engaging in creative activities, such as writing and painting as it’s so beautiful,” she explained. “The workshop itself went really well. Everyone there had had different experiences in writing. Some people claimed to only ever have done scribblings, although I’m sure that they’ve had more experience than they liked to admit!

“They all tackled the morning really well and I was pleased that they left with lots of material to carry on their own writing with. I think I actually had too much material for the three hours, but I wanted folk to go away with as much as possible. We could have gone on for many more hours.”

The organisers of the Writing Weekend were overwhelmed by the success of the event

Alison herself has set a great example for budding local writers, having achieved considerable success as a professional writer in just a few short years.

“I’ve always written, but only ever bits and pieces of poems and unfinished stories,” she explained. “My family all have a love of reading, literature and language but I never really concentrated on writing until quite recently. I studied a postgraduate creative writing course at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow for two years from 2001 to 2003.
 

“Although we were only in classes a couple of nights a week, the amount of work expected was quite intensive and I suppose that was the first time that I’ve ever taken writing seriously. I’ve never looked back.

“I definitely think that these sorts of events should continue to happen as there is such interest out there. If I was asked, I’d definitely come back again.”

The second workshop, held on Saturday afternoon, was led by poet, Jen Hadfield, writer in residence with the Shetland Arts Trust and winner of the 2003 Eric Gregory Award. After publishing her first collection, ‘Almanacs’, she suffered from a two-year span of what she could only describe as “severe writers’ block”.

In 2005, she was finally able to return to writing, thanks to the help and encouragement from Alex Cluness, writing and development officer with the Shetland Arts Trust and one of the organisers of the weekend.

“It was definitely down to him that I went back to writing,” she said, “not that I wanted to stop in the first place. I visited Shetland’s Book Festival in September, 2005, and ran several workshops and as a follow-up I was contracted as writer in residence for the first two months of this year.

“I’ve done projects with nursery schools and published two books of poetry postcards amongst other things. I’ve been kept very, very busy although I love every minute of it. I wish I could do it for the rest of my life.

“I was very lucky when I was starting out as my parents were always very supportive and keen for me to do this. I was lucky because, with poetry it’s a very scary world. I think there’s a wee bit of stability with writing fiction but not poetry - it’s just mad!”

It was writers such as Kathleen Jamie, Tom Leonard, Norman McCaig and Edwin Morgan that inspired her to pursue poetry and writing as a career.

“I love leading workshops,” she added. “When I do one I have a vague plan, as every time in the past where I planned out the session, it went off in a completely different direction. I don’t mind this at all, though, as I want folk to write in their own direction, which is actually quite difficult to do in a group situation.

“I think, though, that the adrenaline rush of hearing pens scribbling encourages people in groups. The folk that came along were amazing and there were artists of all disciplines and previous experience.”