The real journey is the return: Panel discussion week 1

Join us at The Exchange for the first of our weekly panel discussions in October with authors contributing to the True Voyage is Return project.

This October, True Voyage Is Return will transform The Exchange into a meeting place for new writers, encouraging and celebrating the creativity of people across the region. Writers of all levels from Birmingham and the Black Country will be encouraged to contribute to an anthology of brand new work – and nine professional writers will be on site, producing their work in full view and in real time. Project leader Philip Holyman has set himself the challenge of writing a 90,000-word novel in just one month.

Every Saturday, Philip will speak to the two authors who have just finished their week in the on-site writers’ room. You’ll have the chance to hear all three authors’ different responses to the True Voyage Is Return brief, and hear how they tackled the unique creative challenges that come with producing a new work in such a short space of time. You’ll have the chance to ask questions about the authors’ works and careers – and they might even share some exclusive extracts from what they’ve just written! His October author Philip Holyman will turn the Exchange into a meeting place for new writing from Birmingham and the Black Country, with authors of all levels of experience invited to contribute to an anthology of brand new work.

Authors of the week 1

Catherine O’Flynn is a novelist whose works have won various awards, including a British Book Award and the Costa First Novel Award. Fay Weldon described O’Flynn as “the JG Ballard of Birmingham… finding poetry and meaning where others see only boredom and neglect.”

Thomas Glave is the author of four books (fiction and creative nonfiction) and has edited an anthology of Caribbean queer literature. He lives in Birmingham most of the year and teaches at SUNY Binghamton in the USA each fall.

Philip Holyman’s plays have often been presented by Little Earthquake, the company he runs with his husband Gareth Nicholls. He began writing prose in 2019 with the short story collection To Infinity And Beyond. He wrote his first full-length novel in 2022 and is now set to produce his second novel, True Voyage Is Return.

For more information about the project and how to get involved, visit philipholyman.com/true-voyage-is-return

This event is presented as part of True Voyage is Return at The Exchange. This project will run throughout October 2024 and transform The Exchange into a meeting place for new literature, encouraging and celebrating the creativity of people across the region.