Following on from my jaunt to Carnlough for Cherry Smyth’s creative writing class in May, which was part of the John Hewitt Spring Festival, I decided to apply for the bursary for the 2013 John Hewitt Summer School in July. Having perused the programme for the School the past few years, I had never yet managed to get down to experience it for myself, what with clashing schedules, dog-sitting arrangements to organise and the cost etc etc.
So, it was with much delight that I read an email from the John Hewitt Society yesterday which informed me that I had been granted one of the bursaries to attend this year’s Summer School! The bursary is one of two grants made available by the Coleraine Borough Arts Committee, which I was able to apply for via Flowerfield Arts Centre in Portstewart. In fact, this year they actually made two awards available, so I await news of the second recipient!
As part of the award myself and other bursary holders will stay in Armagh for the duration of the five-day Summer School, with access granted for all workshops, talks and events. The guidelines stipulate that we should attend at least 70% of these but I don’t think that will be much of a problem, as I fully intend to make the most of the opportunity and go to everything that I can! I will also write a report of my Summer School experience afterwards and will of course be blogging about it all and writing an article or two for The Chronicle.
It will be the best kind of busyness and I look firmly forward to July 22!