Meet The Agent Event for a Helen Cadbury Poetry Bench

I’ve been asked by a friend of Helen Cadbury’s if I can help to spread to word about this final fundraising effort for Helen’s poetry bench. So, here I am. I still miss Helen and letting you know about this great opportunity is an easy task.

Many of you knew Helen personally, but for those of you who didn’t, below is Helen, taken and adapted from her website.

Helen Cadbury was a British crime writer, author of the Sean Denton series. She was born in the Midlands and grew up in Saddleworth, near Oldham. Helen worked as an actor, a drama teacher and in prison education. She also wrote poetry and plays.

To Catch a Rabbit was published by Allison and Busby in January 2015 and the second in the series, Bones in the Nest, followed in July 2015. Race to the Kill was published in 2017.

A book of poetry Forever, Now was also released in 2017.

To Catch a Rabbit, was joint winner of the inaugural Northern Crime Award and chosen as an Amazon Rising Star in January 2015. WHSmith readers voted To Catch a Rabbit no.12 in top crime books which they’d like to see on screen. In October 2015, To Catch a Rabbit was selected as one of the Yorkshire Post’s ‘13 books that define Yorkshire best’.

In 2016 Bones in the Nest was selected as a Read Regional title, by New Writing North.

The TV rights to both titles have been acquired by Red Planet Pictures, producers of Death in Paradise.

Helen was represented by Laura Longrigg (fiction) and Diana Tyler (playwriting) at MBA Literary and Script Agents.

Helen lost her fight with cancer in June 2017.

 

What her friends are now trying to do is raise funds for a poetry bench. 

From the Just Giving Page.

When Helen Cadbury died last month, scores of friends, writers, neighbours and colleagues wanted to create a permanent memorial to the inspirational author, poet and activist.

We have now formed a Friends Of Helen Cadbury group and joined forces with the Friends of Glen Gardens, who look after the public park a few yards from Helen’s home in Heworth, York.

Our aim is to raise a substantial sum for a ‘poetry bench’. The ‘bench’ will be much more than a standard park seat. It will stand in a landscaped area surrounded by flowers and shrubs. The plan is to inscribe some of Helen’s words in the stone-paved area where the bench will stand. A canopy or pergola will be added later to provide shade and shelter in what we hope will become a meeting place for friends, neighbours, writers and readers, perhaps even an outdoor performance place too.

Our initial fundraising target is £5,000. But that target will be ‘stretched’ significantly when we know the likely cost of the substantial works being planned.

A small group (including a sculptor, woodcarver and architectural metalworker) are already working on design ideas to be presented to Helen’s family and our friends at Glen Gardens, before the plans are shared for approval by the city council officials responsible for parks and open spaces.

Any surplus monies raised will be donated to Accessible Arts & Media, a York charity which Helen chaired for several years. Please share this page with writers and friends and donate to this worthwhile effort which we hope will result in a treasured community asset for the people of Heworth, and a lasting memorial to our much-missed indefatigable friend, Helen Cadbury.
For more information and updates, visit the Facebook group: Friends Of Helen Cadbury at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1962289124050441/ and ask to become a group member.

David got in touch to say they are hosting a MEET THE AGENT EVENT

CALLING all authors and aspiring authors! Here’s your chance to win a mentoring session with one of the UK’s top literary agents.

The Friends of Helen Cadbury group have teamed up with Helen’s agent, Laura Longrigg, to give EIGHT selected writers the chance to meet for a 30-minute, one-to-one session to discuss their work and writing career.

This amazing opportunity is Laura’s gift to The Friends of Helen Cadbury, who are fundraising to establish a unique poetry bench and poetry corner performance space in Glen Gardens, near Helen’s home in Heworth, York.

Laura made her name editing popular fiction for HarperCollins, Heinemann and Penguin, before becoming a literary agent. Her success alongside celebrated agent Jennifer Kavanagh led to a move to MBA Literary and Script Agency in 1999. She remains a director at that agency, with a roster of more than 50 writers. 

To be in with a chance of meeting Laura, writers are asked to submit a synopsis of their book, together with an opening chapter or sample chapter or extracts from their work [details below].

The entry fee at this stage is £10.

[The eight writers selected for the mentoring session will each, later, be asked for a further donation of £20.]

Laura will read all synopses submitted, and will be assisted in her selection by a reading panel of writers, tutors and reviewers. All synopses, sample chapters and extracts will be read by at least two members of the reading panel.

A shortlist will be drawn up, in consultation with Laura, from which she will select the eight writers she believes would benefit most from her professional advice.

The mentoring sessions will take place in York (venue to be announced) on the afternoon of Thursday, May 17 or the morning of Friday May 18.

IMPORTANT: It is a condition of entry that selected writers will be available to attend a mentoring session in person on either of these two dates.

An early evening public ‘meet and greet’ event with Laura is also planned for May 17, when Laura will be interviewed by Rob O’Connor, chair of York Literature Festival, followed by a Q & A session, taking questions from the audience. Venue to be announced.

Entry details can be found HERE.

 

 

This sounds like a great opportunity if you are searching for an agent. And for such a great cause. Please share this post as much as you can.