The Inkerman Writers salute member Millie Scaife, who was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to Sadberge village. Well done, Millie.

Click the link here to find a review of To Honour the Dead by John Dean (Hale), which came out on November 30

http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/book_reviews_view.aspx?BOOK_REVIEW_ID=668

Organisers of the monthly Open Mic nights for authors, which are supported by Darlington for Culture, have announced that they will continue into 2013.

The nights, which offer a forum for writers to read their material and audiences to enjoy it, run at Voodoo Café/Cantina, 84 Skinnergate, on the last Thursday of the month.

The final event of 2012 was staged on Thursday November 29 and now the organisers have confirmed that the events will run in…

Another of the Inkerman Writers has gone into print. You can find out more about the ebook Hide and Seek by P S Brown (and read the opening chapters free) through Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A9HAQJY

Worth checking out this to find out about a book written by Inkerman Writer Tom Benson. Click here to out the free online sample of "Ten Days" on Smashwords and select either "Javascript Reader" or "HTML Reader" to view the sample.

Quick links:

Ten Days's…

Creative writing tutor John Dean has announced the Spring term 2013 dates for his popular courses at the Friends’ Meeting House in Skinnergate, Darlington.

The adult learning courses, previously staged at Darlington Arts Centre, deal with all aspects of creative writing, focusing primarily on prose, including short stories, novels and other forms of writing as well as occasional forays into the world of stage, theatre and radio.

Each course is different and deals with…

The Open Mic Nights for authors, which are held monthly, offer a forum for writers to read their material and audiences to enjoy everything from prose and poetry to theatre and film scripts. They are held at Voodoo Café/Cantina, 84 Skinnergate, Darlington (01325 467555). The next Autumn Open Mic night takes place on:

• Thursday November 29, open theme.

Each session will start at 7pm and the cost of entry will be £3 paid on the door. More information…

Inkerman Writers are working on our latest, and most ambitious, project, an anthology linked by the thoughts inspired by a single image. We hope to launch the short story anthology during the Darlington Arts Festival in May 2013.

Darlington for Culture’s monthly Open Mic nights, which offer a forum for writers to read their material and audiences to enjoy it, have restarted at Voodoo Café/Cantina, 84 Skinnergate. The next night is Thursday October 25 with an open theme. Each session starts at 7pm and the cost of entry will be £3 paid on the door. More information is available in Upcoming Events in the programme section at …

To commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the year which saw the death of two of the most iconic figures from western culture, Charlie Chaplin and Elvis Presley, North East arts organisation Ek Zuban Press is running a competition to find poems for an anthology inspired by their work. The winner will receive £50 and four free copies of the book and two runners up will receive £25 and two free copies each. The deadline is 30^th September and more information can be found at…

One of the events backed by Darlington for Culture (DfC) will launch its Autumn programme at its new home in September.

Having been staged at Darlington Arts Centre, which the borough council closed in July, the Open Mic Nights for authors will move to Voodoo Café/Cantina in Skinnergate.

The Open Mic nights, which are held monthly, offer a forum for writers to read their material and audiences to enjoy it. Prose, poetry, drama, film scripts all feature. Eight minute slots are…

The annual Durham Book Festival has unveiled its 2012 programme, including PD James, Nick Robinson, Ian Rankin, Jack Straw, Kate Mosse, and a new version of Rapunzel by balletLORENT, written by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. This year’s festival takes place from 13-30 October, in venues across Durham city and county.

Among its varied programme of prose writers, politicians, poets and philosophers, Durham Book Festival is proud to be hosting the world premiere of Rapunzel, written by…

Looking forward to the resumption of the writing courses at the Friends’ Meeting House in Skinnergate, Darlington (plenty of writers have booked on and a few new faces as well, which is excellent).

 …

I have had occasion in recent weeks to experience, either in those final classes at the Arts Centre, at Open Mic or in competition entries, some pieces of writing that have stirred deep emotions within me. Emotion is something of which some writers are wary, preferring to produce work without revealing too much of themselves or their views. However, for many other writers, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves. For some authors, there is always part of them peering through,…

Darlington-based Inkerman Writers will be giving away free copies of their double-CD of short stories, titled The Last Waltz, on the Darlington for Culture stalls at Darlington Carnival in Stanhope Park on Saturday (June 30) and during the Farewell to the Arts Centre day on Thursday (July 5).

The group's second anthology of short stories, Christophe's Farewell and Other Stories, can be obtained, cost £4.95 plus postage and packing, available from http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/2173759/4a79a32f5cf205f6bfd37b6f1df30e33900a5ab0?

Certys, the company from North East England which runs the successful Global Short Story Competition, has entered the world of e-books on Amazon with the publication of four titles for Kindle, one of which has been penned by Inkerman Writer Roger Barnes. White Gold, a thriller by first-time author Roger, takes the reader into a world of intrigue and danger set amid the poachers of Africa and those trying to thwart their criminals efforts.…

I taught a class on humour the other night and thought it might be of interest if I shared some of my thoughts. There is a school of thought that says ‘if you aint funny, don’t try to write comedy’ and there is much to be said for that. Nevertheless, there are things you can do to increase your chances of making people laugh and humour can break up even the most serious of stories. Here are a few of my handy hints.

* Be observant and concentrate on situations. All good comedy comes out…

We're in our final days at Darlington Arts Centre now but the group is already planning for life after closure. The team is working on all sorts of projects and our creative writing tutor John Dean has announced that he will be running his popular courses at the Friends’ Meeting House in Skinnergate, Darlington. The adult learning courses, previously staged at Darlington Arts Centre, deal with all aspects of creative writing, focusing primarily on prose, including short stories, novels and…

Darlington for Culture (DfC) is about to stage the last in its open mic nights for authors and audiences at Darlington Arts Centre before they switch to their new home. The events, the next one of which is on Monday June 25, form part of the programme run at the centre by DfC, which is a Community Benefit Society, a type of co-operative.

Open mic nights are events where authors can take to the floor and read their material, anything from prose and poetry to screenwriting and theatre.…