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Join the new OCA Book Group! - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

Join the new OCA Book Group! thumb

Join the new OCA Book Group!

Do you like books? Do you like tea? Then join the OCA’s new online Book Group, hosted by Creative Writing tutors Vicky MacKenzie and Garry MacKenzie (bring your own cuppa!).

The Book Group is a fun and relaxed way to discover new writers and chat about them in a friendly environment. We’ll explore the work of novelists and short stories writers, thinking about what makes for effective writing, how we respond as readers, and what we can learn from them as writers.
We are running pilot sessions in June and July. These are open to all students registered for a Creative Writing unit or studying/intending to study writing on another degree. If you are not from this area of study but would be interested in joining please do still register your interest.
For each session there will be a choice of an evening or daytime discussion – the same texts will be covered in the evening and daytime.
The first session will run on Tuesday 18 June from 7.30 to 9.00pm, and again on Wednesday 19 June from 10.00 to 11.30am. We want to explore what times of day will work best. Another pilot session will be scheduled towards the end of July, with the chosen book to be announced very soon.
There will be reading to do before each Book Group session, but don’t worry, you won’t have to speed-read huge tomes (though War and Peace is brilliant). For the first session we’re going to start small, with three contemporary short stories that can be found online:
‘Peanuts Aren’t Nuts’ by Courtney Zoffness: https://www.shortstoryaward.co.uk/awards/2018/winner/
(Winner of the 2018 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award)
‘The Agony of Leaves’ by Mahesh Rao
https://thebaffler.com/stories/the-agony-of-leaves
‘Loving Enid’ by Rebecca Burns
https://halfwaydownthestairs.net/2011/06/01/loving-enid-by-rebecca-burns/
For the Book Group sessions we will be using Zoom (similar to Google Hangouts but better!) and to begin with each session is open to a maximum of 10 participants. Please sign up using the link below (for one session only; we are running the same session twice). For those who are new to Zoom, instructions will be given in advance.
We hope this will become a monthly meeting, so sign up, put the kettle on, log in, and discover your new favourite author!
Sign up here https://forms.gle/8Yng6Xyog9usjUey5

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Posted by author: Vicky MacKenzie

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