Short but sweet

Well, I don't wish to depress anyone, but tomorrow is May. How the devil did that happen? Ho hum, let's think less about how closer we are to pureed food and non-stop TV and rather focus on the fact that the days are getting longer and the nights shorter... as is our fiction, apparently. The Huffington Post today features a piece on International Short Story Month, which kicks off in the morning; the UK's very own National Flash-Fiction Day, meanwhile, is chalked up for 22 June, kind of but not quite the longest day (and therefore shortest night - geddit?).

So I thought I'd take the opportunity to do some blatant self-promotion, cos what would be the point of running a blog if you couldn't say what the hell you wanted on it? First off, the FlashTag writing collective spent yesterday evening eating pizza and drinking lager and, because I'm a lady, white wine, and arguing about the 70 entries we received for our latest competition. The shortlist will be announced very soon then the winners will be revealed live at the Nook & Cranny on Wednesday 22 May, 7pm, as part of Chorlton Arts Festival. The shortlisted writers will all read their pieces, the FlashTag gang will read some of their own stuff, and we'll have a special guest appearance from "grandmaster of flash" David Gaffney. In June, FlashTag will be holding an event as part of Didsbury Arts Festival, on Friday 28 at 8pm in the Albert Club.

Also for DAF, myself and David will be reading (sans keyboard!) and chatting about the micro fiction form. That will be at Pizza Express on Lapwing Lane, on Tuesday 25 June at 7.30pm. Mmm, pizza. Next Wedneday evening (7.30pm), David and I will be performing as Les Malheureux at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool as part of the Writing On The Wall festival, which runs throughout May (see the second issue of the north west edition of The Skinny, out tomorrow, for my feature on the literary shindig, and Creative Tourist later this week for a piece on the In Other Words festival and reopening of Liverpool's Central Library). Then on Thursday, it's the pre-launch of David's latest collection of short-short stories, More Sawn-Off Tales, when he'll be reading at The Bakerie Tasting Store alongside Rodge Glass and Anneliese Mackintosh. The book is out on Salt Publishing on Wednesday 15 May, and the official launch takes place on Thursday 13 June at Takk cafe in the Northern Quarter (doors 6pm), also featuring Gregory Norminton and his new book Thumbnails; a unique spoken word DJ set from the Simms-Luddingtons of Monkeys In Love, and me doing the intros. All these events are free, so you'd be a fool not to join us at something! David is doing stacks more readings over the next couple of months - see his website for all the dates.

Cast aspersions

On the bus this morning, two young lasses were talking about acting and their inability to do method. I should have told them about this event on Sunday, when a number of workshop and audition sessions will be taking place at RNCM to recruit company members to join the next site-specific production by Library Theatre. It'll be their third site-specific show and, following the successes of 2011's Hard Times and last year's Manchester Lines, it promises to be pretty exciting.

Manchester Sound: The Massacre is going to take place at a secret venue (how MIF!) between Saturday 8 June and Saturday 6 July and, written by Polly Wiseman and directed by Paul Jepson, it draws on very varied, yet significant aspects of the city's history: the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 and the explosion of rave culture in 1989.

The Library Theatre Company is looking for volunteers aged 16 and over with energy and commitment to work alongside the professional cast and crew from Tuesday 7 May, when rehearsals start, so book onto Sunday's event by calling Cornerhouse box office on 0161 200 1500 quick sharp.