Sherry Ashworth discusses her time in Dubai, smashing stereotypes, creative writing and camels...

By George Norris

The Manchester Children’s Book Festival is back and better than ever. 

The festival, brainchild of Poet Laureate Carol Anne Duffy, has a rich history of involving some of the best authors in children’s literature. This year is no different, with David Almond, Michael Morpugo and Cathy Cassidy, to name but a few, all taking part. 

Ahead of this summer’s activities, Manchester Writing School’s visiting fellow Sherry Ashworth has spent a week in Dubai as part of the collaboration between Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature. I caught up with Sherry to discuss, among other things, her time in Dubai, lazy Western stereotypes, the use of creative writing as a tool to cross cultures and break boundaries and yes, camels. 

You have been representing MMU and Manchester Children’s Book Festival out in Dubai, how was your experience? 

Sherry: Well, let’s get the facts straight. I was at the festival prologue, not the festival itself. I can tell you that the festival, even though we were only at the beginning of it, was awesome! And we did have lots of conversations with the festival organisers, swapping stories about organising festivals. It was very interesting to converse with colleagues who were doing similar things. 

What was the highlight of your time over in Dubai? 

Sherry: Well it’s difficult because there was two sides to it really, the professional side and the personal side. The whole trip in general was a highlight. I visited Dubai Gem Private School out there and it was interesting to visit a secondary school in Dubai. I didn’t know what it would be like. I found that most of the teachers were Indian because Dubai has a very high Indian population. The kids were all different races from all over the world. Dubai is such a crossing place for different sorts of people, you’d be amazed. It is an Arab state but it is such a rich melting pot at the same time. For example, the writing workshops I did with aspiring writers was brilliant, they were such fantastic writers. Again, they were all nationalities. The highlight, from a personal point of view was riding into the desert on the back of a camel!

You mentioned your work at the Dubai Gem Private School. Could you explain what you have been doing at the school? 

Sherry: I went there to give a creative writing workshop to Year 9 and 10 students. They did some fantastic writing. They were great; it was a lovely visit. 

You have been in India over the last year too, does this mark a wider international collaboration being undertaken by the Manchester Children’s Book Festival? 

Sherry: I certainly hope so, I’m the foot solider not the boss. I think MMU linking up with other countries is one of the most exciting things to happen because traditionally MMU has a history of giving opportunities to non-standard students. To extend that brief now to other countries is exciting. The world is changing isn’t it? The writing school now does online teaching so we’re talking to the world already, which is brilliant. The future of this planet has to be international otherwise there is no future. MMU is doing some important work. 

Has your visit been a success? 

Sherry: Absolutely, in every single way it’s possible to be successful. 

This trip has been a trailblazer for this summer’s Manchester Children’s Book festival. Are you looking forward to the festival? 

Sherry: Very much so, we have some fantastic big-name authors. It’s shaping up to be every bit as good as or even better than previous years. There is a great deal going on. I am also looking forward to the launch of Crimelines, the new anthology of short crime stories for teenagers of which one of them is mine. 

Is there anything you would like to add about your experience in Dubai? 

Sherry: I would just like to say Dubai is a very exciting and energetic place. The stereotypes we have of it in England simply do not hold water. It’s very international, the people there are very open-minded, much more than you might think, and the possibilities of collaboration the Emirates Airlines Literature Festival and the work we do at MMU are really exciting. Creative Writing is a worldwide language; it is an agent for change. 

Manchester Children’s Book Festival runs from 26th June to the 6th July. To find out more visit http://www.mcbf.org.uk/

Sherry Ashworth is a visiting fellow at Manchester Writing School. She is an author writing both Adult and Children’s fiction. Sherry also runs her own publishing company, The Hidden Gem Press. Visit www.sherryashworth.com

Take One – Part 2. Scriptwriting with Anjum Malik

Words by Monita Mohan

Having walked away with a renewed sense of purpose, we regrouped at UAS on Saturday morning raring to go and armed with a greater knowledge of our stories and characters. 

Ready to help us develop further with our writing, Anjum Malik returned as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s prologue, in association with the Manchester Children’s Book Festival.

We had hardly sunk into our seats before Anjum delivered a googly – we were to pair up with one of the other classes and read out our written work at the end of the day. It was a shock! Okay, it was a shock for me, because when it comes to public speaking I usually closely resemble a rabbit caught in the headlights.

But, considering the enthusiasm of the rest of the group, I felt I could hardly reject the offer. And seriously, where else are you going to get a captive audience to sit down and listen to your work? I was up for it.

With this daunting, yet inviting prospect looming ahead of us, Anjum gave us the freedom to finish off as much writing as we could. Leaving us to our own devices proved a surprisingly useful exercise, as we all set down to the work with great gusto. 

We were assigned three tasks to complete before show time:

1. Write the premise of the script.

2. Complete the step outline (also called scene-by-scene).

3. Write out 2-3 scenes.

The premise was a slightly tougher task than expected, as it required answering a few questions – who was the protagonist, what’s happening, what’s the problem. It required a hook. 

Setting the scenes out was a fascinating process and a very rewarding one as well. Anjum had mentioned to us that scripts often follow a pattern of up scenes and down scenes, which tied in with an important point she had made the previous day about figuring out the main scenes, and then writing up the fillers.

Since most of us were working on short pieces, dividing scenes up and charting the character arcs was a priority. It felt oddly satisfying to map out a beginning, middle and end. It required a lot of thought, and strange little details slipped in while writing. It almost felt like the job had been done.

The scenes themselves were hard. I struggled with mine, even though I knew most of what would happen from my writings the previous day. One thing Anjum emphasised was that getting the story down was much more important than laying out the format. That was a relief, as struggling with the story was hard enough without having to worry about getting the terminology right. 

A deadline often gets the best and the most out of people, and it wasn’t long before we were ready with our work and rehearsing. Despite being very familiar with the audience members, I still ended up panicking when it was my turn, but considering the raucous applause that greeted every reading, we couldn’t help but feel like we had achieved a great deal.

Anjum’s parting words were to keep going at it. She herself writes for 4-6 hours a day, especially when working to a deadline. For a course that had seemed quite daunting to us novices at the start, it ended up being one of the most rewarding. Anjum’s an unrelenting and hard task master, but she was able to whip us all into shape in an extraordinarily short space of time.

Anjum Malik is a poet and scriptwriter who also exhibits and performs her work. She is a fellow of Manchester Metropolitan University and lectures to the new writers at the Manchester Writing School. Find out more about Anjum at www.anjummalik.com.

Take One – Part 1. Scriptwriting with Anjum Malik

Words by Monita Mohan

Of the many forms of writing that I have dallied in, script-writing is one that has always eluded me. The form itself has always been a mystery to me. So, to unmask this hidden beast, I decided to attend Anjum Malik’s Scriptwriting Course held at the Universal American School, Dubai Festival City as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s Festival Prologue. 

The prospect was daunting, to say the least, but Anjum quickly put us at ease with her easy manner and penchant for both humour and relating many anecdotes from her life. It also helped that we were a small but diverse group, interested in a variety of script-writing; radio, film and television.

Anjum has been a poet for around fifteen years, and actually entered the world of poetry due to the ministrations of her mentor, and 2014 Festival Author Lemn Sissay. He heard her poetry and insisted she take up the position of resident poet.

A few years later, she began her Master’s degree in Scriptwriting. This is why, Anjum tells us, poetry and scripts have a lot in common – compact, concise writing and optimum use of white space. This is news to me, but I understand what she means over the course of the day.

She starts us off by giving us a free writing exercise based on an idea (ours or hers), which will become the theme of our scripts. It was the ideal exercise to, in the words of Hercule Poirot, get the little grey cells working.

Our next exercise was writing a character bio – always a particularly difficult exercise, but one that ended up being well received by all.

It was during lunch that the majority of us revealed how anxious, and, well, downright scared we all were when attending the course. Anni had already admitted to being afraid, and well, so did I. Frank, also a poet, eloquently explained the upside of these workshops.

“Working with a practitioner [of the arts] makes all the difference. It’s authentic and real, and comes from experience. You learn so much from them.

“The best part is you take away the things that will take you to the next big step.”

Without a doubt, a non-lecture style workshop is more engaging. Marie, a photographic artist and winner of the Short + Sweet Theatre Competition, mentioned that despite her initial apprehensions, she’d already come away with new ideas and new methodologies for acquiring new ideas.

The afternoon session began with a viewing of Casablanca, with an emphasis on the introduction of protagonist Rick. Using the film as a pointer, we continued with the introduction of our own protagonists with a fun exercise. I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise and it must have shown, as I evoked a fair bit of laughter from my colleagues. 

With our stories already shaping up, Anjum left us with some homework and a great deal of thinking to take away with us – we were to write a premise for our stories, but we were also to begin answering some important questions, i.e., Who, What, When, Where and How.

To find out more, tune in tomorrow, same time, same channel.

Anjum Malik is a poet and scriptwriter who also exhibits and performs her work. She is a fellow of Manchester Metropolitan University and lectures to the new writers at the Manchester Writing School. Find out more about Anjum at www.anjummalik.com.