A bit of news on 26 Places in Cornwall / 26 Tyller yn Kernow, plus a pic
After spending July surprising and delighting visitors to the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston. 26 Places in Cornwall / 26 Tyller yn Kernow, has moved on to the university library at Penryn Campus.
It’s the exhibition’s fourth venue since the project launched in February and a very fitting one, as the show features memorable poetry and stunning photography by several Falmouth University staff and students. Writers and photographers were asked to respond creatively to an A-Z of Cornish places, many of them well off the beaten track, and together their work reveals hidden aspects of Cornwall’s rich history, culture and language.
The spectacular 21st-century campus at Penryn is shared by Falmouth University and Exeter University in Cornwall, and since 2021 the campus library has been home to an archive of 26 publications.
The library is open 9am-8pm Monday to Friday, 10am-6pm on Saturdays and 12pm-6pm on Sundays. It has several copies of the beautifully designed book that accompanies the show, and if you’d like a copy of your own it’s available to buy either from the Falmouth Bookseller or from the project page on the 26 website.
– Tom Scott
Spring in September
The winter months have provided plenty of inspo for our New Zealand chapter. While exhibitions for Dear 26 and 26 Habitats, originally thwarted by Covid, have finally been added to the calendar for September, a couple of new projects have also been keeping 26NZ writers busy.
The first is a centenary project with Forest & Bird inviting 13 pairs of writers and artists to respond to its unique Reserves, from Northland to the Catlins. The centenas, essays and artworks will be released in F&B’s quarterly magazine, with the first batch in September’s Spring edition.
As the ink dries on F&B’s launch feature, final poems, essays and images will travel the airwaves for 26 Plants with five kiwi writers taking the opportunity to forage Aotearoa’s critical lists for a fitting subject and story to tell. Later in the month, there will be readings, Q&As and the clink of glasses and cups as 26 Habitats and Dear 26 shows open at the Whanganui Literary Festival.
– Jayne Workman
This month (and the last year or so) I have been prepping for a writing for wellbeing conference in September called Creative Bridges.
It’s a conference for anyone who is interested in using words to promote positive mental health, for professional/personal development, or for social action.
More information can be found on the conference website here.
– Richard Axtell
Here are the many many dates coming up for my live show, Doomscrolling:
7pm 1st Sept: EtCetera Theatre, London
7pm, 7th Sept: 2Northdown, London
5:30pm, 19th Sept: The Bill Murray, London
5pm, 30 Sept: The Bread & Roses, Clapham Fringe, London
– Suchandrika Chakrabarti
I got married!!!
And also launched the programme for Margate Bookie.
– Francesca Baker
August for me has been a bit like harvest time, preparing for what’s coming up in early autumn. I’ve been getting ready for the Dark Angels poetry event at the Bloomsbury Festival with Tim Rich, Therese Kieran and other Dark Angels, all on the festival theme of ‘Grow’ with new poems.
And at the other end of my writing activities I’m about to be interviewed for the Extraordinary Business Book podcast about ‘We, Me, Them & It’. But of course there is a link between the two, in the use of poetry in business writing.
– John Simmons
And Irene Lofthouse spotted that writers are wanted for the New Writing North Brand Strategy Team:
They’re piloting a new area of work in partnership with Gardiner Richardson, a leading brand communications agency based in Newcastle, and looking for talented and experienced writers who are interested in developing and diversifying their skills for application in brand strategy and narrative. Full details to follow soon, sign up here to receive email updates about the opportunity.