After three incredibly enjoyable years at Kardomah 94, which saw us grow and develop into an integral part of Hull’s literary scene, we are moving into a new home.
L to R: Michelle Dee, Cassandra Parkin, Louise Beech, Lynda Harrison
Women of Words are delighted to announce that as of Wednesday 4th September our new home will be Hull Central Library. We are proud to announce a partnership with Hull Library and we will take up residence in the historic and beautiful James Reckitt Reading Room: its towering giant mahogany bookcases, cannot fail to inspire. Situated on the first floor the space is wheelchair accessible via the lift on the ground floor.
We continue to invite you to join us the first Wednesday of every month from 2pm – 4pm. We offer open-mic slots, a special guest author – and our ever popular free-write sharing session.
Since Hull poet Vicky Foster founded Women of Words in 2016 we have gone on to attract the attention of local and national media and worked with leading arts organisations. In 2017 we were commissioned to write with Dr. Kate Fox on a new work called Queens of the North, celebrating forgotten northern women throughout history to the present day. In 2018 we undertook a mentorship by Louise Wallwein MBE for HomeTown Story: both were programmed for BBC Contains Strong Language. Further commissions have seen us team up with The Big Malarkey Festival 2018/19 Hull’s Children’s Literature Festival and Words and Pictures series working and performing in venues in N.E. Lincolnshire. We have written and performed at Heads Up Festival and partnered with First Story to raise the profile of National Writing Day in 2018/19.
Meet the Women
Michelle Dee is a tireless ambassador for the arts, known for her words charting cultural change in Hull. Since graduating with a first class honours degree in Interactive Media/Digital Media Journalism from Hull School of Art and Design, she’s worked with many acclaimed, local and national projects and programmes. She wrote and performed the text for Gary Clarke’s Into the Light (Yorkshire Dance) for LGBT50, learned to box for Fighting 4 Queerz project for Pride 2018. Michelle collaborated with visual artist Anna Bean to write and perform her first one woman show at East Riding Theatre for She Fest 2019 – together they created a stylised poetry history of surrealist Leonora Carrington.
Cassandra Parkin is a Hull-born writer with a passion for fairy-tales. Her short story collection New World Fairy Tales won the 2011 Scott Prize, and her debut novel The Summer We All Ran Away (Legend Press) was shortlisted for the Amazon Rising Stars award. She has since published The Beach Hut, Lily’s House, The Winter’s Child and Underwater Breathing. She was also accidentally funny for a while, when her blog post “Fifty Things That Annoy Me about Fifty Shades of Grey” went viral in 2012.
Louise Beech has been writing since she could hold a pen. It’s where she escapes, finds adventure and therapy. But it took eight years, four novels, thousands of rejections, and a few tears to get a book deal. Orenda Books published How to be Brave in 2015. That was the beginning. Since then she has written and had published The Mountain in my Shoe, Maria in the Moon, The Lion Tamer Who Lost and Call me Star Girl. Her next book Dust, a mystery crime novel will be published this year 2019.
Lynda Harrison is an award-winning actor and commissioned writer whose performance career began in 1965, when she became a singer in one of the first national all-female bands. Her work is both funny and thought-provoking, tackling challenging subjects with humour, insight and a delicate touch. She has a University degree in Psychology with Criminology. Also a Diploma in Life-coaching (distinction)! “Which proves, if nothing else” she says. That she could if she wanted to commit the perfect murder.
Join us Wednesday 4th in the James Reckitt Reading Rooms, first floor, Hull Central Library on Albion Street, when we welcome back Scarborough’s Wendy Pratt. Follow Wendy on Twitter: @wondykitten
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