True Voyage is Return: Week 1 Panel Talk

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

This October, True Voyage Is Return will transform The Exchange into a hub for new writing which nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people across the region. Writers of all levels of experience across Birmingham and the Black Country are encouraged to create pieces for an anthology of brand-new work — and nine professional writers will be based on site, producing work in full view and in real time. Project leader Philip Holyman has challenged himself to write a 90,000-word novel over the course of just one month.

Each Saturday, Philip will be joined in conversation by the two writers who have just completed their week in the on-site writing room. You’ll have the opportunity to hear about all three writers’ different responses to the True Voyage Is Return brief and how they’ve tackled the unique creative challenges of producing new work within such a short timeframe. There’ll be opportunities for you to ask questions about the writers’ work and careers — and they might even share some exclusive extracts of what they’ve just written!his October writer Philip Holyman will transform the Exchange into a hub for new writing from Birmingham and the Black Country, with writers of all levels of experience invited to contribute to an anthology of brand new work.

Week 1 Writers

Catherine O’Flynn is a novelist whose writing has received various awards including a British Book Award & the Costa First Novel Award. Fay Weldon described O’Flynn as “the JG Ballard of Birmingham…finding poetry and meaning where others see merely boredom and dereliction.”

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

Philip Holyman’s theatre writing has often been presented through Little Earthquake, the company he runs with his husband Gareth Nicholls. In 2019, he branched out into prose with the short story collection To Infinity And Beyond. In 2022, he wrote his first full-length novel, and now, for True Voyage Is Return, he’ll produce his second.

For more information on 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. Running throughout October 2024, this project will transform The Exchange into a hub for new writing which nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people across the region.