Join Katie Hale & M W Craven for an in-depth chat about place, inspiration and the craft of writing.

How can we transport a reader to somwhere they might never have visited before? Does a rural setting make a difference to a novel, as opposed to an urban one? Why does it matter where we set our stories - and how can we use a place to shape them?

Both writers are based in Cumbria - a county that has inspired more than its fair share of renowned writers, from William Wordsworth to Beatrix Potter, from Arthurian Legends to Postman Pat. The range of work to come out of Cumbria is staggering, and in keeping with this, Katie Hale and M W Craven will talk about the very different ways in which they each translate Cumbria to the page, and about why they choose to write about Cumbria and the rural north.

Whether you're a writer, a reader, or someone with a general interest in the creative process, we'd love to have you there. Don't forget to bring your own tipple of choice (coffee or cocktails - either works for us)!

M. W. Craven: Multi-award winning author M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle. He joined the army at sixteen, leaving ten years later to complete a social work degree. Seventeen years after taking up a probation officer role in Cumbria, at the rank of assistant chief officer, he became a full-time author. The Puppet Show, the first book in his Cumbria-set Washington Poe series, was published by Little, Brown in 2018 and went on to win the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2019. Black Summer, the second in the series, was longlisted for the 2020 Gold Dagger and book three, The Curator, was released this June.

Katie Hale is a poet & novelist, based in Cumbria. Her debut novel, My Name is Monster, was shortlisted for the Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award, and has been translated into multiple languages, and she is the author of two poetry pamphlets: Breaking the Surface and Assembly Instructions, which won the Munster Chapbook Prize. She is a former MacDowell Fellow and has completed a number of international residencies. She has also featured on national television and radio, including programmes such as Radio 4’s Open Book and Front Row, and has created commissioned work for the National Trust, the Barbican Centre, and the BBC Contains Strong Language poetry festival.

Cost: £5

(For each talk, there are 3 free places available for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. Drop me a message if you'd like one of these places.)

The Write Chat is a series of monthly conversations with a series of writers, running online throughout 2021.