THE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS PRESENT A SUPERB LINE-UP ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16 AT BRUNEL UNIVERSITY

 https://www.facebook.com/741142869/videos/738460440824644/

COME AND JOIN US? 

Organised in Partnership with Brunel University's Arts and Humanities Department, this exciting conference is packed with help, advice and thought provoking sessions. Full details at www.swwj.co.uk

We have an awe inspiring line up, including the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who recently appeared in the international TV hit series 'Peaky Blinders'; Christina Lamb OBE, top foreign correspondent and winner of Europe’s top war reporting prize - the Prix Bayeux; Liza DeBlock, Agent at Mushens having worked with multiple Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling authors; Darren Hardy, Amazon's Head of UK Author and Editorial programmes; Mike Denham, Ex treasury and Deutsche Bank, who will be running a session on non fiction books and using a blog to promote your writing and encourage publication, Rebecca Harding, Chair of the SWWJ, business author, journalist and international marketing consultant.

With a mixture of workshops and keynote sessions there will be masses to enjoy and to learn from.

The full agenda and timings are currently being finalised. The agenda will be released very soon.

The conference is open to members and non-members and is aimed at anyone with an amateur or professional interest in writing or publishing, including both authors and journalists.

The conference will run from 9.30 am to 7.30 pm. Ticket prices include lunch and refreshments during the day. Finally, the day will be rounded off with an evening drinks reception, the perfect chance to enjoy a glass of something sparkling and network with your fellow writing professionals.

Special Guest Speakers include:

Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin is Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Musician, Actor, Television and Radio presenter.

He cannot remember a time when he was not creating poetry but this had nothing to do with school where poetry meant very little to him, in fact he had finished full time education at the age of 13. His poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he calls ‘street politics’.

In the early Eighties when Punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about SUS Laws, high unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Zephaniah’s poetry could be heard on the demonstrations, at youth gatherings, outside police stations, and on the dance floor. It was once said of him that he was Britain’s most filmed, photographed, and identifiable poet, this was because of his ability to perform on stage, but most of all on television, bringing Dub Poetry straight into British living rooms. The mission was to take poetry everywhere, he hated the dead image that academia and the establishment had given poetry and proclaimed that he was out to popularise poetry by reaching people who did not read books, those that were keen on books could now witness a book coming to life on the stage. This poetry was political, musical, radical, relevant and on TV.

Young writers have said that the accessibility of his work has inspired them to take up writing, many record sleeves bear witness to the fact that he has inspired many of the new generation of rappers, and of all the performance poets that emerged in the late seventies and early eighties he is one of the few that is still going strong. He has sixteen honorary doctorates and the Ealing Hospital in west London has named a wing after him in recognition of his work. Zephaniah believes that working with human rights groups, animal rights groups and other political organisations means that he will never lack subject matter. He now spends much of his time in China, but he continues working throughout Asia, South America and Africa, and is as passionate about politics and poetry now as he has ever been.

With a career spanning four decades, he has been listed in The Times’ list of 50 greatest postwar writers and been voted the nations third favorite poet of all times in a BBC poll.

Source: https://benjaminzephaniah.com/