Newsletter: May 2026
Hello Writers!
We hope you have had a fabulous May doing writerly things, and maybe enjoying the Brighton Festival and Fringe and everything else going on in town for those of you based around Brighton.
At our next event on Tuesday 30 June we will be exploring what as novelists, storytellers and memoirists we can learn about voice, structure, narrative arcs and themes from a Ghostwriter, an expert in channeling someone else’s words onto the page. Circle member and seasoned ghostwriter Helen Croydon will be unpacking her craft, sharing industry insights, and talking about her latest project, Forbidden Love: a true story of adoption, reunion and longing, which has just hit the shelves.
To give you a taster of the topic, this is the blurb:
When Sophia, adopted as a baby, set out to find her birth parents, she hoped it would give answers about where she came from and why she was given away. But nothing prepared her for the tumultuous events this reunion sparked. What began as a quest for truth gave rise to a secret that went on to change the course of her life and challenge all that she knew about love. This heart-breaking and brave true story explores love and loss, belonging and identity, and the lifelong consequences of a mother-baby bond broken too soon.
We’ll be meeting for this session on Ghostwriting on Tuesday 30 June,6-8pm, in the Birdcage Room at The Mesmerist, 1-3 Prince Albert Street, BN1 1HE. Book your spot here.
Before then, author of the Woolf & Bell historical crime novels and Circle member Ciar Byrne is giving a two-part workshop on How to Write the Perfect Murder Mystery. Taking place on the mornings of Wednesday 10 and 17 June in the garden of Monk’s House in Rodmell near Lewes, Virginia Woolf’s country home, it’s not one to miss if you’re writing a whodunnit. Find further info here.
Also in June, New Writing South is running a series of events focused on Wellbeing for Writers, including Make Time Mondays writing sessions at Yellowave Brighton that begin on 1 June. Explore the diverse programme of workshops and experiences here.
As you know, we’ve been asking Circle friends and members about their writing as part of our series delving into where we are on our writing journeys and what writing means to us. You can read the latest pieces from Circle member, author and Substacker Lisa Fransson here, and from RWC co-founder, novelist and memoirist, Cindy Etherton, here.
These reflections on writing are inspiring and thought provoking. If you’d like to contribute, please get in touch.
And finally, our Arts Council England funding application is in and we hope to share news of that soon. However, our funding quest continues. Our network is broad and experienced in arts funding and we are always interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions. Please send them over.
We can’t wait to see you in June. It’ll be our last event before the summer break, so we hope to catch up with as many of you as possible.
Until then, Happy Writing,
Victoria and Cindy