Inkerman Writers - a new voice
If you wish to talk about this site contact John Dean (01325) 463813 email deangriss@btinternet.com
Inkerman Writers are delighted to announce that we are award-winners.
The group secured one of the group awards at the Adult Learners’ Week ceremony held in Darlington on May 12, 2008.
The awards, backed by local colleges, Darlington Borough Council, Darlington
Arts Centre and other organisations in the town, were staged to recognise
individuals and groups who have taken their adult learning to a wider audience.
We were given our award for our work in creating this website, making films,
giving recitals and engaging in other projects.
We are delighted and would like to thank all those who supported our nomination.
Meet the Writers
• Maria
Maria’s Father introduced her to writing as a child. She tries to write something
every day, often it’s only a shopping list. She likes to write in solitude, in warm coffee shops,
and busy railway stations. Ideas that spring to mind are inclined to spend some
time incubating whilst doing gardening, watercolour painting and other stuff,
many of these ideas never reach maturity, but its fun engendering and
developing them.
Maria admits to being a closet bohemian, she draws inspiration from walking by
the sea, daydreaming in woodland, and from fellow Inkerman writers. When not
writing she can be found…procrastinating, reading, listening to music, surfing – online, or talking to trees. She thinks sleep is a waste of precious time,
fears being found without the requisite company of a note book and pen at all
times, and believes there are fairies at the bottom of her…
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• Bill Akers
Bill Akers lives near Bishop Auckland. He was introduced to short story writing
by a valued friend and fellow writer, and is now well and truly hooked. He is
also writing an adult novel
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• Bud Craig
Bud Craig lives near Darlington and his writing includes prose and script work.
He was recently shortlisted in a Radio 4 scheme to find writers whose work
would be broadcast.
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• John Dean
John is an award-winning writer and journalist of 25 years standing, whose main
areas of expertise are public relations, campaign creatives and literature
design, specialising in newsletters and marketing material.
John's work has appeared in more than 30 publications including The Sunday
Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Times Educational Supplement, The Guardian, The
Northern Echo, Reader's Digest, Police Review, Special Beat and The Dalesman.
He is also a Crime novelist.
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• Barbara Gordon
A Darlington writer, Barbara Gordon’s short stories take a gentle look at the vagaries of modern life. She also
writes historical fiction.
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• Sheila Harris
Sheila was born and brought up in Hartlepool, but has lived in Darlington since
1980. She began writing in 2000 and mainly writes short stories. She also
writes poetry and enjoys the discipline of 'flash fiction' (very short
stories). She won a prize in the Sid Chaplin Competition in 2001 with her first
short story and was also shortlisted in 2004. She works for a local charity in
Spennymoor which helps people with learning disabilities.
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• Richard McElheran
Richard is a Civil Servant, who would love to be counted as a full-time
Darlington-based writer. Both his children having autistic spectrum disorders
and some learning difficulties, his eventual ambition is to write-age
appropriate fiction for them and others like them. In the meantime, he is
really enjoying writing for grown-ups.
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• Hilary Midgley
Hilary Midgley joined the writing group after she retired nine years ago. She has come to the conclusion that writing is a perfect combination of hard
work and hard play and is in complete agreement with the American author,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, who said that "Easy reading is damned hard writing"
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• Lynn Miller
Primary School supply teacher, Lynn has been writing stories ever since she can
remember. It all started when her father brought home an old typewriter from
work and gave it to her. Her mum reckons she’s been telling stories ever since (Lynn is also a storyteller). She has had
poetry and articles of general interest publishedand two of her scripts
performed by local drama groups.
It means a great deal to Lynn to reach children through her writing; While Dad
Was Away, was the result of teaching in a barracks school and seeing how the
children - and their mothers - struggled with their fathers going away for a
tour of duty. Seeing this, Lynn wanted to let children in a similar situation
know that there were others like them - but it also had to be fun reading.
Lynn likes to make up stories all the time and she used to take her toddler son
out walking, making up stories with him while they walked. Now, aged 14, he
just puts her right when her writing isn't up to scratch.
Still teaching regularly in North Yorkshire, Lynn also runs drama groups and
writing workshops locally and performs her storytelling within schools and at
special events.
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• Mary Osborn
Mary Osborn is a retired secretary who marked the millenium by migrating happily
from London to the North-East.
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• Richard Nicholson
Richard had his first story published by Collins magazine when he was about
eleven years old. He remembers his parents laughing at the phrase ‘the smell of death’ but despite suffering deep psychological trauma he carried on writing both
prose and poetry and having some of it published. He has worked in teaching and healthcare and does voluntary work in prisons. He lives on Teesside.
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• Kath Radford
In addition to holding an MSc in Psychology, Kath Radford worked, for over
twenty-five years, as a nurse in Critical Care Units. Since taking early
retirement from her Senior Nurse position, Kath has taken up creative writing
and completed her first novel ‘Care to Die’. Kath shares her home with two cats, a dog and her new acquisition, a wormery.
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• Millie Scaife
Writes pantomimes, scripts and shows for use in the village community in which
she lives, plus various contributions to the local newsletter, short stories
and endless lists. Now retired from teaching and community education is busier than ever with
school governor, church and Parish Council work. ‘Having time to sit and write is still a luxury, but wonderful!’
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• David Sowels
David Sowels is a short story writer from Teesside who has a fascination with
the American way of life, something reflected in his writings. Hock’s Little Devil was short listed in the 2006 Orange New Voices competition.
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• Jenny Teale
Jenny Teale is a Darlington writer who specialises in short stories and science
fiction. She has recently completed a science fiction novel.
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• Libby Thompson
Libby Thompson is 40 years old and lives in Darlington. She has been married to Graeme for 18
years and has two lovely daughters aged 13 and 10. She has been writing for
about 5 years, mostly poems to start with and prose more recently
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• Mike Watson
Mike has been writing for many years. His articles have been published in
fishing, gardening and wine magazines. One of his short stories was broadcast
on local radio and he has had poems published in anthologies.
In September 2006 he was a prize winner in the Orange Short Story competition
and shortlisted in the Stories For Children category. His winning short story, “Putting Down Roots”, was published in an anthology called “Flights Of Fancy”.
Durham County Life magazine published a feature about the River Tees, written by
Mike, in their Spring 2007 edition. At the moment, Mike is working for an information website, writing articles
about angling for beginners.
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• Masha Woollard
Masha Woollard is a Darlington writer whose work includes short stories and
children’s fiction. She is working on an adult novel.
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Welcome to the Inkerman Writers Showcase
We are a group that meets weekly at Darlington Arts Centre, in Darlington,
County Durham.
We came together five years ago and have developed our writing since then. A
number of us are enjoying success in short story competitions and several of us
have been published.
We felt that the time had come to showcase our work to the wider public, which
is why this site has been established.
Darlington Borough Council, which runs the Arts Centre, in Vane Terrace, has
supported the development of this site as part of its remit to encourage
exciting new writing.
Our tutor John Dean, a published crime novelist, shares the centre’s enthusiasm for the quality of work being produced.
What do Inkerman Writers get out of this site?
The intention is not to sell our work, purely to draw attention to it in the
hope that we can further our writing careers. No one will be paid for their
work’s inclusion on this site but who knows who might be out there reading us?
However, should the interest be there, we will be exploring commercial
opportunities to further develop the site in future and bring in revenue for
ourselves and, in time, for other writers.
What do you get out of it?
The chance to read some impressive new fiction and poetry and be inspired by the
quality of what you are reading.
Want to join the Inkerman Writers Showcase?
Contact John Dean (01325) 463813
Email deangriss@btinternet.com
Should you wish to showcase your own work, or that of your writing group, on the
site, this can be arranged for a small fee.