Margate Bookie, Kent Poetry Slam and What's On for writers
It's Autumn and Margate is almost into hibernation – there's just time for the epic nine-day Margate Bookie festival including Write-Up Weekend and First Friday in collaboration with Marine Studios.
On The Same Page: First Friday with Margate Bookie and the Kent Poetry Championship Slam
First Friday on October 4th is hitting the town in a special all-day partnership with Margate Bookie! Join old friends and make new ones at The Margate School, where Marine Studios is co-hosting an afternoon of book loving activities. Book yourself onto a bookbinding workshop with our friend Hope Fitzgerald from Bindfulness and bring along a book you loved or loathed to swap at Bee's Bookshare.
Afterwards, get yourself to the Dreamland Ballroom for an evening hosted by the Kent Poetry Championship Slam with headliner Raymond Antrobus. An absolute legend in contemporary British poetry, Raymond Antrobus is the winner of the 2019 Ted Hughes award, the 2019 Rathbones Folio Prize, author of the beautiful poetry collections To Sweeten Bitter, The Perseverance and All the Names Given, and the children’s picture book Can Bears Ski?.
Friday 4th October, 2–6pm at The Margate School, CT9 1DX; doors from 6.30pm at Dreamland, CT9 1XJ. To find out about upcoming events visit our website; and if you have any questions about accessibility for these events please email info@marinestudios.co.uk.
What’s Margate Bookie got to do with Marine Studios?
The brilliant Margate Bookie literary festival has grown up right here at Marine Studios, the year-round home to team Bookie. Marine Studios is proud to be a CIC (Community Interest Company) committed to developing projects which extend cultural participation in Margate… and Bookie is back for its tenth glorious year!
2024’s nine-day extravaganza, from 28th September to 6th October, includes a weekend of creative writing workshops at Marine Studios; showcases for local writers and big names during Margate Week and at the Turner Contemporary’s Big Bookie Weekend; the Poetry Slam headlined by Raymond Antrobus; a Children’s Festival and so much more!
‘Margate Bookie continues to be a fantastic mix of outstanding local talent and inspiring names from further afield,’ says the Bookie founder Andreas Loizou. ‘I love how so many people in east Kent work together to make Bookie such a success.’
See the full programme (and download a brochure) on the Margate Bookie website.
Looking back: EMPIRE
A lovely crowd turned out at Marine Studios at the start of this month for a highly engaged exhibition of work examining the wide reach of colonialism, curated and hosted by Kent-based Phoetrystra (Photo Poet) Michi Masumi of The Black Art Hub. We really got to grips with how different systems of oppression are intertwined, and the modern day impact of these systems – with some really interesting angles on how we can make the world more equitable.
Join us next month for our First Friday event on 4th October at The Margate School: On The Same Page.
Writing Opportunities
Spread the Word
Spread the Word has partnered with the commercial fiction editors at Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group, to offer feedback on fiction pitches to underrepresented writers. For more details and eligibility requirements see online here.
Flash 500
Flash 500 is seeking submissions to their Flash Fiction Competition. Flash fiction is often treated as the poor relation in writing competitions. This, however, is a flash fiction competition that truly reflects the skill required to encapsulate an entire story in just 500 words. Entrants must submit work by 30th September 2024. For more information and submission rules, check out their website.
The Write To End Violence Against Women Awards
The WEVAW awards are for you if you’re a journalist, writer or content creator in the UK who raises awareness of gender inequality and Violence Against Women and Girls. Submit your piece by 30th September 2024 and see all the details on zerotolerance.org.uk.
What’s On?
For details of all the monthly Marine Studios Writers’ Room groups (Margate Fiction Writers; Margate Stanza; Where to Start Writing…) please see the website here and for information about accessibility at any of our Marine Studios events see here.
Margate Bookshop Bookclub
Wednesday 25th September, 6.30pm / Fort Road Hotel
Join Margate Bookshop Bookclub for this month’s discussion on Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova.
Free to attend
Writer’s Block
Friday 27th September, 9.30am-12.30pm / Marine Studios
Writer’s Block is BACK! If you need a quiet space to write (no matter what the project), come to Marine Studios for a free 3-hours on Friday morning.
Free to attend / RSVP on Instagram
Write-Up Weekend
Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th September, from 11am / Marine Studios
Two days of creative writing workshops delivered by a host of inspirational authors, playrights and journalists as part of the full Margate Bookie line-up. Enjoy a single session or flow through the whole weekend.
Get your tickets here
(You’re the) Light of my Life
Monday 30th October (weekly until 11th November), 1-2pm / Marine Studios
With gratitude for funding from Social Enterprise Kent the new series from Undertow welcomes ALL Margate residents for this free series of drop in sessions of writing exercises around love, belonging and places that most feel like home.
Free, drop-in
Kent Poetry Championship Slam
Friday 4th October, doors 6.30pm / Dreamland
Fresh off the road in Dover, the Kent Poetry Championship Slam returns to its homeland, the Margate Bookie: bigger, badder and better than ever. Free your calendars for October 4th and run to the Dreamland Ballroom, where the battle for the title of Kent Poetry Champion continues!
Get your tickets here
First Friday: ON THE SAME PAGE
Friday 4th October, 2–6pm & 7–10.30pm / The Margate School & Dreamland
Our next instalment of First Friday is a very special double event in collaboration with Margate Bookie. Take part in a bookbinding workshop (tickets required) and Bee’s Bookshare (free to attend) in the daytime, and head to the Ballroom at Dreamland for The Poetry Slam that evening (tickets required).
Get your tickets here
Poetry Night at the Maidstone Literary Festival
Saturday 12th October, 6–7.30pm / Waterstones, Maidstone
Enjoy an evening listening as award-winning poets share their work in the tranquility of Waterstones after hours. With Christopher Horton, Maggie Harris, Dorothy Lehane and Jessica Mookherjee.
Get your tickets here
Mindful Mondays
Monday 28th October (and ongoing monthly), 6.30–8pm / Marine Studios
Set up by Ed @queerwellbeingthanet, sessions will be a mix of mindfulness exercises, breathing and meditation exercises as well as group chats about common topics such as anxiety, work stress, and struggling with being ourselves. Expect kindness, empathy, snacks and tea & coffee!
Sessions will be a suggested donation of £7, but are very much pay what you can afford. Sessions are open to LGBTQ+ folk as well as allies.
Email hello@edgarveylong.com or RSVP on Instagram