Schools Competition 2024 Anthology Launch - 19 November at 5pm

Earlier this year, Kelso Writers, using a grant awarded by Scottish Borders Council’s Neighbourhood Support Fund,  ran a short story competition for pupils in Kelso area schools and aimed to produce an anthology featuring prizewinners’ stories. 

The stories, written by 9 prizewinners and 7 runners-up from P4 to S6, appear in the 100-page paperback anthology, which also includes stories by other local writers. 

The anthology will be launched on Tuesday, 19th November at 5pm in Room 2, Abbey Row Community Centre, Abbey Row, Kelso, TD5 7BJ. 

There will be some readings, and prizes will be presented. Light refreshments will be available. 

Adults and accompanied children are welcome to attend.  

Writing thrillers: whose point of view?

Our next workshop is on Tuesday, 19th November at 2.30pm at Abbey Row Community Centre, Abbey Row, Kelso, TD5 7BJ. As usual, we'll be in the Coffee Bar, the first room you come to, after the front door. This workshop is about Crime thriller writing. This workshop will be led by Rick Lee, a local writer who has written a lot of crime thrillers. Bring pen and paper because there will be a collaborative exercise. The workshop will be followed by the launch of the Schools Competition Anthology at 5pm and I hope you'll stay on for that.

Nature Writing Workshop - 5 November

Our next workshop is on Tuesday, 5th November at 2.30pm at Abbey Row Community Centre, Abbey Row, Kelso, TD5 7BJ. As usual, we'll be in the Coffee Bar, the first room you come to, after the front door. This workshop is about Nature writing. The session will be led by Alistair Ferguson, who was a gamekeeper for fifty years. During that time he saw nature at its best and at its worst. As usual, when you come on to the Coffee Bar put your donation in the box on the nearest table. The suggested donation for the workshop is £5 (£4 for members), which includes light refreshments. If you haven’t attended one of our workshops before, we don't expect a donation. There will also be an attendance sheet on this table. Please write your first name and surname, so that in the event of a fire, we can check that you're out of the building. If you would like to attend online, please contact us before 6pm on Monday.

Schools Competition 2024 Anthology Pre-Publishing Invitation

This A5 100 page anthology with card covers will contain 26 stories.
16 stories are from prize-winning pupils and runners-up in the Kelso Area Schools Competition 2024. 10 stories have been contributed by adult authors, mostly in the Kelso area.
You can order copies of this anthology for yourself or as gifts at the cover price of £10 plus postage.
This is a strictly limited edition of 132 copies. Send us a message, if you would like to order.
Proceeds from sales will be used to fund future competitions for school pupils.
(The cover picture is meant to depict writers (represented by fountain-pens) and their stories in a competition. We’re aware that few people use such pens, these days, but they are recognisable.)
Please note: The cover shown below is a draft. Printing requirements might require slight changes.

Writing Memoirs Workshop - 8th October 2024

Our next workshop is on Tuesday, 8th October at 2.30pm at Abbey Row Community Centre, Abbey Row, Kelso, TD5 7BJ.
As usual, we'll be in the Coffee Bar, the first room you come to, after the front door.
This workshop is about writing memoirs.
Everyone can write from life or write their memoirs but what should you include and what should you leave out? What’s the best format?
Join us to discuss and learn what to do at our next workshop led by Peter Munro.
There will be 3 writing exercises.
The suggested donation for the workshop is £5 (£4 for members), which includes light refreshments. If you haven’t attended one of our workshops before, we don't expect a donation.
There will also be an attendance sheet on this table. Please write your first name and surname, so that in the event of a fire, we can check that you're out of the building.