Residency: Sian Norris at Spike Island from 2 Jan to 30 April 2017
Residency: Sian Norris will be at Spike Island in Bristol from Monday 2 January to Sunday 30 April 2017.
Novelist, short story writer, journalist and poet Sian Norris is writer-in-residence at Spike Island, developing a new novel and running a series of workshops and literary events.
Throughout her residency, Norris is developing her novel The Red Deeps. The novel tells the story of Leonie Lennox, a young woman moving to Paris in 1922 hoping to lead an independent and self-determined life. It explores issues around class, women’s representation, reproductive rights and bisexuality. Narrated in Leonie’s witty and confident voice, it features a vibrant cast of real life characters including Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Beach, Janet Flanner and Kiki de Montparnasse. It evokes the sights, smells and sounds of the period. Every page fizzes and buzzes with the creativity, excitement and noise of the 1920s Parisian Left Bank.
To support the work, Sian is running a series of literature showcase events loosely based on Gertrude Stein’s salons and featuring emerging and established talent from Bristol and around the UK. She is working with local schools, using Parisian modernist texts to help students develop their creative writing. During the four months she is running three public workshops for adults and children.
With the Bristol Women’s Literature Festival website as a portal, Sian is also running a modernist women’s reading group; encouraging engagement with some of the lesser known authors working in 1920s Paris. Through this programme of events, Sian is using the residency to bring to life the themes she explores in her novel.
Literary Salons:
Thursday 16 February 2017 Book here
Thursday 16 March 2017 Book here
Creative Writing Workshops:
Saturday 11 February (Children's Storytelling Spiderweb) Book here
Saturday 11 March (Creative writing workshop for adults) Book here
Sian Norris' residency is supported by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts.
Sian Norris
Sian Norris is a novelist, short story writer and poet. Her first book, Greta and Boris: A daring rescue was published in 2013 by Our Street. She is currently working on a novel based around Gertrude Stein's circle, which in 2016 was long-listed for the Lucy Cavendish prize. Sian's the co-editor of the Read Women project and the founder and director of the Bristol Women's Literature Festival. Her non-fiction has been published in The Guardian, The Independent, The New Statesman, 3am Magazine and Open Democracy.