True Voyage is Return: Writers' Surgeries

Book onto a writers' surgery session for True Voyage Is Return, a month-long project led by writer Philip Holyman in partnership with University of Birmingham that will transform The Exchange into a hub for new writing which nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people across the region.

Nine professional writers — from poets and playwrights to essayists and graphic novelists — will be based on site across October 2024, producing brand-new work in full view and in real time. Each weekday, one-to-one appointments are available with the on-site writers, offering some friendly peer support along your own writing journey. Each writer has identified their specific areas of expertise to help you decide who’s the best fit for your current literary needs. 

Whether you’re battling with writer’s block, experimenting with new forms and styles, or figuring out how to approach agents and publishers, the team is on hand to encourage and empower you!

In order to extend this opportunity to as many people as possible, you can only book one Working Lunch session with one of the nine writers, so please choose very carefully when deciding which writer you want to meet.

To find out more about each writer or to book your free "Working Lunch" session, follow the individual links below:

Weeks 1 - 4 (7 October - 1 November)

Philip Holyman 

Philip'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.

Week 1 (7 - 11 October)

Catherine O'Flynn 

Catherine 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 

Thomas 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.

Week 2 (14 - 18 October)

Charlotte Bailey 

Charlotte is a visual storyteller, writer, facilitator and host exploring how we can reimagine our relationships to home, heritage and collective futures through comics, film, essays and workshops. She has published, edited and contributed to a number of graphic essays, anthologies and journals.

Stephen Aryan 

Stephen is an award-winning fantasy author. His first novel Battlemage was published in 2015 by Orbit. Since then, he’s published nine additional fantasy novels. The most recent, The Blood Dimmed Tide, is the second instalment in a Persian-inspired historical fantasy trilogy, The Nightingale and the Falcon.

Week 3 (21 - 25 October)

Shaun Hill 

Shaun is a poet and movement artist mapping post-capitalist ways of being. He is the author of warm blooded things (Nine Arches Press, 2021) and recently completed an Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice project exploring what improvised movement with living systems can teach us about the ongoing climate crisis.

Romalyn Ante 

Romalyn is a multi-award-winning Filipino-British poet. She was 16 years old when her mother – a nurse in the NHS – brought the family from Lipa to the UK. Her debut collection Antiemetic for Homesickness was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her second collection AGIMAT is forthcoming in September.

Week 4 (28 October - 1 November)

Lorna French 

Lorna is a two-time Alfred Fagon winner, and has written for theatre and radio. Theatre has been produced by Pentabus, Theatre by the Lake, Jermyn Street Theatre, Octagon Bolton, Eclipse Theatre Company and Birmingham REP. Radio plays for BBC Radio 4 include Rise (Naked Productions) and the co-authored The Last Flag (with Eclipse Theatre).

Wren James 

Wren is the Carnegie-longlisted British author of many Young Adult novels as ‘Lauren James’, including Last Seen Online, Green Rising, The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. They are a RLF Royal Fellow and the story consultant on Netflix’s Heartstopper (Seasons 2 and 3).

For more information on the project and how to get involved visit philipholyman.com