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Events

Huddersfield Authors’ Circle – Celebrating 90 Years

Huddersfield Authors’ Circle launches its latest book with readings and a Q&A. 

Huddersfield Authors’ Circle, a group for local writers formed to support each other, share their work and find new inspiration, is turning 90 this year. The Circle have put together a collection of short works to commemorate this occasion.

Over the years, HAC members have included playwrights, poets, novelists, journalists and both fiction and non-fiction writers. Many of these were well-known, such as HAC’s first president, James R Gregson, a writer and actor known for BBC Sunday-Night Theatre, Sing As We Go! and The Way of an Angel, and Hazel Wheeler, author of First of the Summer Wine, Half a Pound of Tuppenny Rice: Life in a Yorkshire Village Shop (Reminiscence) and others.

The latest generation of HAC writers—including Nick Stead (the Hybrid series), Vivien Teasdale (Struggle and Suffrage in Huddersfield) and Susie Field (A Moment in Time)—will be sharing this proud history, as well as prose and poetry from their latest book, 90: An Anniversary Compilation. A short Q&A will follow. You’re cordially invited to an evening of local literary celebration.

 

Date: Sunday 18 May 

Time: 2pm-4pm 

Location: Tipi, Courtyard, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield HD1 2SP 

Free (no booking required) 

Age guidance: All ages (U16s should be accompanied by an adult) 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/lawrence-batley-theatre 

Workshop: Writing Setting with Okechukwu Nzelu

THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT.

A chance to take part in a fiction workshop taught by award-winning novelist and creative writing tutor Okechukwu Nzelu.   

Setting can be one of the most crucial parts of fiction: it’s how your characters experience the world, and it can help make that world more convincing. But how can writers portray setting powerfully? Which aspects of it are most important? How do we convey the complexity of a whole world, without boring or alienating our readers?   

In this workshop, we’ll use discussions, writing prompts and extracts from published work to explore all these questions, and help you develop the portrayal of setting in your own writing.   

Dr Okechukwu Nzelu FRSL won a Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North in 2015. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (Dialogue Books, 2019), won a Betty Trask Award; it was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read and distributed to all staff and students at three universities. His second novel, Here Again Now (Dialogue Books, 2022) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award, the Polari Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Diverse Book Awards.  

He has made several appearances on national radio, and is a regular contributor to Kinfolk magazine. He is a non-executive director of ALCS and CLA, and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. In 2024 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. 

Access and Covid safety measures: if you have specific access needs or queries and/or prefer to be seated away from other audience members as a Covid safety measure, please contact our Admin at: [email protected] with your request.  

Date: Saturday 10 May 

Time: 2pm-4pm 

Location: TEN, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street HD1 2SP 

Tickets: £15 (£10 conc); Free for essential carers accompanying a paying ticket holder.

Early Bird Tickets have now ended.

For further information on concession and essential carer tickets please visit our FAQ’s page.

Age Guidance: 16+ 

Access Guide: https://www.accessable.co.uk/huddersfield-literature-festival/access-guides/lawrence-batley-theatre 

THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT

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