For those aged 14 – 24
Saturday 25 March 2023
12.30pm – 4.30pm (one-to-ones from 10am-12.30pm)
Birmingham and Midland Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham
Tickets: £15 to £20 with bursaries available
You love writing, and have done since you knew how to write. You would like to have a career as a writer, but don’t know how to, or whether it’s a viable option.
We’re here to help.
Join us for the first in-person Young Writers’ Toolkit for those aged 14-24, and their parents and carers.
With plenty of opportunities to ask questions and meet other writers your age, the Young Writers’ Toolkit will help you find out:
- How to go from writing for fun, to writing and getting paid
- What happens on a creative writing university course
- How to find sources of inspiration and motivation when you get stuck
- Do you need to study Creative Writing at University to be a writer? (Clue: no!)
- What other jobs you could do which still use your writing skills and passion
- More about working in the publishing industry
One-to-ones are also available in the morning – these need to be booked separately and are available on a first come, first served basis. These one-to-one sessions are for you to discuss directly with one of the speakers anything you’d like to know about in more depth.
Our speakers include:
- Novelist and Creative Writing Lecturer Charley Barnes
- Former Birmingham Young Poet Laureate and writer Nyanda Foday
- TV producer and scriptwriter David Chikwe
- YouTuber, book reviewer and former book publicist Leena Normington
- Former Birmingham Poet Laureate, performer and workshop leader Casey Bailey
The Young Writers’ Toolkit is essential for any young writers looking to go to University to study creative writing; who would like to forge a career as a writer; or who simply want to find out more about how that might be possible.
Tickets to attend are £15 to £20 and bursaries are available. You can view our Bursary Policy here.
Timetable:
| Time | Session content |
| 10am – 12.30pm | Individual advice sessions |
| 12.30pm – 1.30pm | Registration and Young Writer meet up |
| 1.30 – 2.15pm | Becoming a Writer with Charley Barnes and Nyanda Foday |
| Comfort break/signing | |
| 2.30 -3.15pm | Working as a writer with David Chikwe and Leena Normington |
| Comfort break/signing | |
| 3.15-3.45pm | Break for networking/fact finding |
| 3.45 – 4.30pm | Author interview: “Keeping it real” with Casey Bailey |
The Young Writers’ Toolkit 2023 is presented as part of Spark Young Writers, a project of Writing West Midlands in association with ALCS. Writing West Midlands is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers’ work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity; ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. It represents over 117,000 members, and since 1977 has paid over £600million to writers.
For more information visit alcs.co.uk