Friday
Oct012010
Writers Forum workshop (New Series)
Friday 1 October, 2010 tagged London Events Saturday 9th October, 3.30pm
Focusing on experimental writing, these workshops offer a supportive, non-judgemental atmosphere for poets to share new work that pushes the boundaries of their art. These meetings aim to engage and encourage the broadest possible range of innovative practices and authors.
William IV, 7 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7QE
Attendance is free and open to anyone with an interest in writing or hearing experimental poetry.
Reader Comments (5)
I am very upset to note that a new series of Writers Forum Workshop has been announced by people who are in no position to do so.
Some ex-attendees and non-attendees of the Writers Forum workshop wrote to me after the series started and announced that they were worried about the future of the series, that they were taking over elsewhere and did I want to talk about it.
I wrote back at some length explaining why I had been available to discuss BEFORE they took action but saw no point in talking after they had decided to leave.
I object to being mugged
I chided them for spreading disinformation about the existing and persisting series having closed. I asked them not to fight for the title of WF.
I wished them all the best for the new workshop and suggested that they follow the principles which Writers Forum has followed and developed over many years. But would they please use a title of their own?
It would be a pity if they are unable to think of a new title of their own.
It is a shame if they are hoping to fool people into thinking that they are legitimate in using the title.
Openned does not help by giving them web space and not checking with WF
We are so few. As I believe Pete Brown wrote 40 something years ago - there must be more of us than that. Can we not avoid another poetry war? The last one was a shambles and failed because of, amongst other things, personal ambition.
I understand the desire to be known for what one has done; but to be known for what other people have done and pretend you did is more than sad. It is dishonest. But very zeitgeist.
It is a tribute to Writers Forum that my ex colleagues want to pretend to be it; but it will make the whole thing look foolish
Couldn't they, at the least, call themselves _Real Writers Forum_ or _Continuity Writers Forum_?
How about _We're more innovative than you are_?
Writers Forum is to be found at wfuk.org.uk/blog
Hi Lawrence,
I'm not going to address the arguments for or against the other Writers Forum group (or however you want to refer to them).
What I do take issue with is this:
'Openned does not help by giving them web space and not checking with WF'
So far as I'm aware I'm not beholden to anyone regarding what I can and cannot publish on Openned. As far as I was aware Writers Forum was not a registered trademark nor would anyone want it to be. I was fully aware of the context of posting about Writers Forum (New Series) and have already scheduled a couple of blog posts for the coming days regarding the Writers Forum event due to take place at the end of the month. I have no interest or affiliation with either side, I've never been to any Writers Forum events and so my choice to put the event on this blog was purely in the interest of being comprehensive so that others were aware of both events. The reason I am posting yours at a later date is because your event takes place at a later date, that is all.
I will continue to post about all Writers Forum events in the future.
Alex
I'd like to respond please. Not wishing to extend it much, but just to answer what you say. The reference to trade mark is apposite, I feel, in terms of a behaviour - not yours - which tends to competitve cut and thrust, trying to abolish what it sees as its competition.
That WF can't stop someone else using the name does not make it a positive thing for them to do: in this case we have a process of passing off. Others already use the name but their aims are different. Here we have someone proposing very similar aims and timing their meeting to coincide with the existing one. It may be legal; but it's not much else.
You are not beholden to me in what you publish; but I did not say you were. I said what you did was not helpful: and someone using you as a source for the long-standing Writers Forum would be misled. That's NOT being comprehensive. That's BBC balance.
I cannot see how you could be fully aware of the context of posting about Writers Forum without speaking to Writers Forum; and you did not. That you are not perhaps terribly interested is another matter. But, if you were fully aware, you sure weren't helping your readers to be fully aware.
Hi Lawrence,
I understand your point in regard to my 'trademark' comment, a misguided comparison in retrospect. However, I don't think that there was anything unhelpful at all about posting the new series on Openned. Of course I have an agenda when I post things, it would be impossible not to. But to put every event we post in its proper context for the Openned readership would be a real challenge - instead we provide a list of links to the websites from which we source the blog posts, the WF blog among them. I felt in this instance that I knew enough about the situation to make the decision to post about both events. If you feel differently then that's fair enough. This comment feels like a rather self-indulgent defence of what for me is a part of my life I'd prefer to enjoy. I hope you will take it in good faith that it was not my intention to offend or defend either side of this dispute.
Alex
I will take it in good faith