An evening with Julie Carter at George Fisher, Keswick, 24th August 2018 at 6pm
members’ publications
Running the Red Line – book launch
What an enormous privilege it was to be invited to capture some images of a vibrant and wonderfully ‘alive’ book launch for Julie Carter’s Running The Red Line on 21 April at The Skiddaw Hotel, Keswick. Broadband users, please click on the image above for a photobook (pdf) which will download in around 30 seconds. Best viewed full screen.
Simon M
Book this date: 21 April
Julie Carter is a hugely valued member of Mungrisdale Writers. Julie’s friends will be thrilled with the array of book recommendations to be found on the back cover of Running The Red Line, the front cover of which presents an outstandingly evocative painting by Vincent Alexander Booth. But the reflection that most rang bells with me is that from Professor Peter Wright, a psychologist from the University of Newcastle:
An extraordinary book in which the author takes you on a journey during which she offers you so much of herself that you feel at once privileged and grateful to be invited along.
This is the Julie Carter – doctor, psychologist and champion fell-runner – we know at Mungrisdale Writers, someone whose life and writing ‘offers you so much of herself …’
Saturday 21 April, 8pm, The Skiddaw Hotel in Keswick. This is a book I’ll be first in the queue for. I too feel ‘privileged and grateful to be invited along.’
I’ll hope to see you there!
Simon Marsh
Media & Publicity Secretary, MWG
Sunset/Sunrise
With Sunset
The cooling air is clear and still
The path now knows my feet
Leading, winding
To the beach.
Calm waters reflect my lamp
Encroaching dusk protects the boat
Departing the horizon.
Delivery complete;
The black air is clear and still.
With Sunrise
Another morning.
Track and beach
Protect their secrets
Free to enjoy the on-coming day.
The warming air is clear and still.
Michael Bohling
Not Too Late At 58
Annie Wear’s new book is now available here
Status: Food
Congratulations to JBB upon publication of her new poem
Status: Food
Food all ordered, we’re at the table,
Chance to talk, now that we’re able,
Phone in her hand, ‘What are you doing?’
‘Connecting Mum!’ – An argument’s brewing!
I’ll join her then, where’s my phone?
Chatting with Mum, she’s clearly outgrown!
Now I’m on Facebook – what status to post?
A picture of ‘good food’, not coffee and toast.
Food arrives and it looks so pleasing,
Photo opportunity I’m certainly seizing!
Wait! The angle, the colour, effects or not?
Drinks in the picture? The cocktails we got?
Picture taken, I’ll post it now,
If I can just remember how.
Caption? – I need words too?
This is too stressful a thing to do!
What’s the time? Do I call it lunch?
Or is it too early, is it more ‘brunch’?
She’s finished her meal, I feel old!
Status is posted – but my food’s gone cold!
Jessie B Benjamin
Poetry Rivals 2016 – The Finalists
Calendar pages
MARCH is here already – another turn of the calendar page – and hopefully you’ll have marked up yours with our March meetings – on the 9th and the 23rd. Proposed homework for the 9th is here.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we’ve been unearthing some of Mungrisdale Writers’ early work – some of which was published in now unavailable MW booklets years ago, and more of which was stored on the floppy disks of the time (1.44mb!).
The aquisition of a new floppy disk reader has enabled retrieval of the archived Voices of the Mountain – in which, among other fine work, the late Vi Taylor’s poem Blencathra was found.
Mungrisdale Writers will celebrate 20 years in 2019 and is still an inspirational bedrock for several original members, as well as a host of newer ones over the years. 7 or 8 new writers have joined the ranks in recent times.
All this is quite an achievement – and one which founder Angela Locke can rightly be proud of. We’ll seek to celebrate all this and more, in all sorts of ways – not least, I expect, in writing!
– M&P
Trevor West – The Bold Collegian
Mungrisdale Writer Charles Woodhouse is one of the distinguished essayists just published in Trevor West – The Bold Collegian (Lilliput Press) (also at Amazon sellers)
‘Trevor West was a remarkable man: a Trinity academic, mathematician, Senator, Junior Dean, sportsman and sports administrator, historian of the cooperative movement, peacemaker and governor of Midleton College, Cork … West was crucially involved in the administration and development of sport in Irish universities, as well as contributing in a significant way to the Northern Ireland peace process … The Bold Collegian is a collection of more than twenty-four essays by notable contributors including Mary Robinson, Sean D. Barrett, Charles Woodhouse, Ulick O’Connor, Professor John Kelly, Dean John McCarthy, Iggy McGovern and Michael West, a fitting tribute to a much-loved legend.’
– M&P
Dreams of the Blue Poppy
Our resident tutor Angela Locke’s Dreams of the Blue Poppy is here. Some of her other publications can be seen / purchased here.
‘Forbidden to walk because of his illness, Charles Fergusson is growing up a spoiled sickly child. He dreams of becoming a plant hunter, and of finding the fabled Blue Poppy which grew in his grandmother’s garden in Sikkim, but it seems that he will be trapped forever in the dark house in the Cumbrian fells …’
– M&P
Picking at the Knot
Mungrisdale Writer Sarah Hampton’s second novel Picking at the Knot will be released on the 7th November.
‘In Sarah Hampton’s first novel, Julia touched the hearts of many. Now she returns, older but still engaged with life and those around her …’
Further inspiration for all of us!
– M&P
Judith Wants to be Your Friend
Our own Annie Weir’s Judith Wants to be Your Friend is available now.
36-year-old Judith Dillon hasn’t found her place in society. She struggles to make and maintain relationships, especially with women …
– M&P
Learning to Tie a Bow
The events of 1939 change Julia’s life. Passions, loyalties and misunderstandings divert her down unexpected paths as she moves from childish innocence to adulthood against a backdrop of momentous political and social change.
Mungrisdale Writer Sarah Hampton’s Learning to Tie a Bow is her first novel.
Granny’s War
Ethel Hinemoa Shorrock’s Granny’s War is a collection of the War Time diaries of a Lancashire cotton mill owner’s wife from 1914-1945, edited by her granddaughter, MW writer Jill Faux
Mungrisdale Writers 