WRITING
My name's Bernie Hare. I'm originally from East End Park, but now I live in Burmantofts. I guess I'm in charge of the writing page because of the success of my memoir Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, which received critical acclaim. The book is about homeless children living rough on the streets of Leeds. Before becoming a writer, I worked as a social worker, mechanic, fleet manager and removal man. I've lived in east Leeds all my life, except for a stint in the big smoke in my twenties. I'm keen to foster writing at all levels - from literacy to literature.
My Book
REVIEW of Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, Toby Lichtig, Observer
"The true story of a terrifying joyride through Britain's hell-bound underclass" Christopher Cleave, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph
"A marvellous read" Alexander Masters, Daily Mail
"It has real raw power. Every politician and every voter should read it." Christina Patterson, Books of the Year, Independent
"Moving but never sanctimonious, it is another City of God, this time for Britain rather than Brazil." Toby Lichtig, Observer
ARTICLE: Alexander Masters (Stewart - A Life Backwards) meets Bernie and "Urban"
Noticeboard
Our first book Flatlands with attached music CD sold out almost overnight, because we could only afford to get a few hundred printed. People keep asking for copies, so we may well get a reprint. It'll cost money so we'll have to charge £1.99 or so for them to cover our costs.
The "Flatlands 2" book and CD is on the way. We have quite a few talented writers and musicians around Flatlands now and we will soon be publishing their collaborative efforts. In the first Flatlands book, we were interested in giving the community a voice. This second effort is more of an opportunity for the serious writers and musicians to display their wares. Still time to get contributions in.
We would like to get Basic Skills classes going for those whose reading and writing is not so good. Similarly, English as foreign language courses should prove popular in our very mixed community.
We plan to run a Creative Writing class for more advanced writers and there may be support for writers' and readers' groups.
Jerry Appleyard is keen to start a disabled theatre company, so we'll be needing some playwrites.
