Top speakers for Big 31st Winchester Writers' Conference

JK Rowling and Me and Special Guest Geoff Holt, International Yachtsman and Author

23 March 2011

Aspiring and published  writers are in for a double treat at the Plenary Session of the Big 31st Winchester Writers’ Conference! Not only do we welcome Harry Potter Man, Barry Cunningham OBE, ‘discoverer’ of JK Rowling, but also intrepid sailor, Geoff Holt MBE, who will describe his  ‘Personal Atlantic’  challenge, sailing his 60 foot, wheelchair-accessible catamaran, The Impossible Dream. on a 2,700 mile journey across the Atlantic that took 27 days to complete.

Barry Cunningham is a legend in the publishing world. His services to the publishing world were recognised with the award of OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. He is famous for his discovery of the young J K Rowling and was her first editor and publisher. 

Barry spent his early years at Penguin Books and could be seen roaming bookfairs and bookshops costumed as the Fat Puffin. His talents were soon recognised  and he became Marketing Manager of Penguin where he launched books by such magnificent authors as Hilary Mantel and Martin Amis and later became closely associated with the success of Roald Dahl. 

It was when he was asked to create Bloomsbury Children’s Books that he started to pioneer new writers for children, most famously JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series. Moving on at the height of this success, he launched his own publishing house in Somerset, The Chicken House, which has become a  top international industry success story with imprints from such leading authors as Corneila Funke, whose five international bet sellers have sold six million copies in the US alone and  bestseller Tunnels, written by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, now the object of a huge international demand with rights sold in forty countries. 

Geoff Holt’s name is on everyone’s lips, highly regarded internationally as a courageous, talented yachtsman who was paralysed from the chest down after a swimming accident, who uses  a wheelchair yet managed to complete his Personal Everest challenge to sail 1,445 miles solo around Great Britain in a fragile 15 foot dinghy. It was an incredible feat of endurance  to be the  first quadriplegic yachtsman to sail single handed around Great Britain. 

Recognition of Geoff’s achievements came swiftly. In 2007 he was voted BBC South Sports Personality of the Year.  In 2008 he was shortlisted for the prestigious Yachtsman of the Year and received the British Airways Great Briton Award and the RYA Francis Elkin Award and in June 2010 was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to disabled sailing. 

We salute Geoff’s hugely entertaining book Walking on Water, his personal story describing how he learned to live with disability, achieved these amazing sailing  successes and his work to promote of sailing opportunities  for disabled people.

This conference is bursting with talent. Writers will have the opportunity to listen to Rebecca Shaw, famous for her village life series of novels, meet  London Literary agent, Teresa Chris, and the five published authors she ‘discovered’ at the Winchester Writers’ Conference, attend a workshop with Judith Allnatt, whose acclaimed debut novel, A Mile of River, was shortlisted for the Portico Prize for Literature, learn how to craft short films with Craig Batty, or attend Jack Sheffield’s mini course to support new writers, just as he was supported six years ago when he ‘pitched’ his first novel to Transworld Publishers so successfully. 

At this conference writers can choose their specific programme which will inform their level of writing by choosing from 43 workshops, 60 lectures and 500 one to one appointments. Writers are encouraged to discuss the best techniques for writing for children,  how to harness ideas for poems, how to polish and pitch manuscripts to literary agents and commissioning editors who are searching for sparkling new talent. 

Writers are urged to participate by entering the 18 writing competitions even if they can’t attend. Five trophies, 110 certificates and prizes amounting to  £6,000. will be presented at the Writers’ Awards Reception, 18:30- 19:45 on Saturday, 2 July in the Stripe Theatre. Everyone is welcome to attend.  Each entry is adjudicated by specialists and publishers who will write an adjudication to guide your revision, a valuable part of our teaching and learning ethos. The first place winning entries will be published in the conference anthology, The Best of 2011, a stepping stone to publication. 

More than 100 writers have reported major publishing successes as a direct result of their attendances at past conferences. 

To apply or for more information, visit our website, print and complete the application form and post to Barbara Large, RKE University of Winchester Winchester, Hampshire S022 4NR, tel 01962 827238 or 826367. Email Barbara.Large@winchester.ac.uk