An introduction to some of the members of Deal Writers.

[Photograph courtesy of the East Kent Mercury]

Bettine Walters

Bettine Walters writing under the name of Bettine Manktelow had her first success with plays when she wrote “They Call it Murder” which was presented by Thanet Dramatic Society in Ramsgate in 1976. This play was later performed by Folkestone Repertory Company and subsequently published by Samuel French, the London play publishers. In the wake of this success Bettine wrote three more plays which were all published, one of which, “Couples” won an award in the South East Regional Arts Council Play Competition. It was some years before Bettine wrote another play, however, during which time she wrote and had accepted several short stories and a novel called “No Time for Tears” which is set in the First World War and still available on Amazon. On moving to Deal in Kent she felt inspired to start writing plays again and “Curtain up on Murder” was performed in 1998 by the Guild Players and subsequently published. After this Bettine formed The New Deal Theatre Company with some friends and has presented many more plays which have been published and proved to be popular with amateurs. Her latest play, “School for Murder”, is being published by Jasper Publishing. Her next play “Spygame” will be performed at the Gulbenkian Theatre Canterbury on 16, 17 and 18 July 2008.

Click HERE to go to Bettine's web site, Click HERE to see an example of Bettine's work.

Bob Le Vaillant

Bob’s life changed dramatically six years ago after he and his wife adopted three children. Having stopped work, Bob found himself with some spare time while the children were at school, so decided to write about his experiences, first as a soldier and then as a community social worker. Bob joined the Army at 15 and travelled widely: Borneo & Singapore, Naples and to sea with the Royal Navy. He returned to the Far East, to South Korea and Hong Kong and he finished his service at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. He describes his Army experiences as ‘Kiplinesque’, and a clue to his writing style is that his favourite author is Leslie Thomas. In 1982, Bob founded Stepney Children’s Fund at Toynbee Hall, in Whitechapel and when he left the Forces in 1986, set up and ran Toynbee’s Children’s Department. His work over the next two decades brought him into direct contact with thousands of Britain’s most disaffected young people. Bob and his family moved to Deal in 2005. He has written three novels. The first two are semi-autobiographical and the third is about the Deal bombing. None are published and Bob feels that as all three are bound to upset or embarrass somebody, they are probably better used as a source for a series of short stories which he is currently producing and calling “Motley Childhoods”. The series start with his childhood leading up to entering a Children’s Home in 1960 and then joining an Army Boys Regiment.

Click HERE to see an example of Bob's work.

Harry Harris

Harry is the Hon. Treasurer of Deal Writers.

Jane Clarke

Jane has been an archaeologist, a teacher, and a library assistant, but is now a full time children’s writer, with around twenty published books, plus poems in many children’s anthologies, and reading scheme stories for Oxford Reading Tree and Collins Big Cats. She’s a member of the Society of Authors and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and she has an agent, Celia Catchpole. Jane loves to visit primary schools to share her books and talk about being an author, and to run poetry and/or creative writing workshops for children.

Jane didn’t set out to be a writer - the writing bug crept up and bit her when she was busy doing other things. She’s lived in Mexico, Brazil and the USA, and spent 17 years in the Netherlands. After her engineer husband Martin died suddenly, her old world fell apart, so Jane and her two sons came back to the UK in 2004. Writing’s given her a whole new life.

When not busy writing or visiting schools, Jane can be found walking two Labradors and admiring the view, picking up shells, interesting stones (especially ones with holes in), fossils, and bits of ancient broken pot. Her hobbies include washing her student sons’ smelly laundry, and Scottish dancing – and sometimes she manages to do both at the same time.

Click HERE to see an example of Jane's work or visist Jane's web site for more informations, www.jane-clarke.co.uk

Jane Findley

Jane Findley is married with three daughters and one granddaughter and lives in Deal. She admits to being closer to 60 than 50 and works as a specialist teacher in the Dover area providing support to schools for their pupils with behavioural and emotional problems.

Jane has been writing purely for enjoyment for many years. She enjoys writing both poetry and prose. Jane had a short story published in Best woman’s magazine some years ago, won a highly commended prize in the Deal Festival of Poetry a couple of years ago and has had some 60 word stories published in a local magazine. Jane admits to being very lazy about submitting work for competitions or publications. Jane finds it hard to write without the back up of some discussion with friends and she meets informally most weeks with a group of poetry writers in Deal who set themselves writing tasks and critique one another’s work. They call themselves the Bellyfuls due to the amount of laughing they do and the vast quantities of chocolate biscuits consumed - all of which is necessary to the creative process!

Two of Jane’s short stories and a poem can be read in our anthology “View from the Pier” available from local bookshops.

Click here to see an example of Jane's work.

 

Jen Kahawatte

Jen Kahawatte started a writers group at the age of 10 with her 9 year old friend Ruth and their pet dogs, Lily and Mickey. Together they wrote poetry mainly influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson and Edward Lear.

Born in North Kent, she moved to Dorset aged 4 where she received her schooling, then studied Philosophy at King’s College, London. She has had careers as a computer programmer / systems analyst and primary school teacher but is now retired.

Jen collaborated, with Liz Barwick, in the writing of numerous pantomimes for Nonington Drama Group and had great fun performing in all of them. She also choreographed the dance numbers, as dance is her main hobby.

Having just completed a part-time creative writing course at the University of Kent, she is wondering what to do next with no deadlines or feedback to concentrate the mind. Apart from the school magazine, she has not submitted any work to be published, so that could be the next move if she can overcome her fear of rejection.

 

Lorraine Lloyd

Lorraine has lived in Deal for 19 years, but was born and raised in Pembrokeshire. She loves Deal, but returns home often with her husband, to see family and reconnect with the landscape, which she finds inspiring.

When not working, she enjoys reading (widely), writing, photography, movie-making and travel. To maintain the writing habit, she has kept a comprehensive diary for 20 years, and has written short stories (children’s, thrillers, adventure) and many poems, articles (travel etc.), movie commentaries and letters.

Recently, she began writing a novel with a close friend, Sian, from Pembrokeshire. Lorraine maintains editorial control and guides the plot, as she conceived and started the book several years ago. Sian adds extra creativity and credibility to the story, which concerns a farming community in Wales, and her enthusiasm and questions keep Lorraine on her toes!

Lorraine is also writing a screenplay for Deal Camcorder Club.

Lorraine’s biggest challenge with writing fiction, along with lack of time, has been settling on the right genre and voice. As she has worked in Customs Law Enforcement for 21 years, she has useful experiences of the murkier side of life, which she has used to write some ‘pulp’ fiction for fun. However, she also has foreign language and primary teaching qualifications, and would like to write better quality fiction or educational material for children and/or adults.

While in school and university, she had poems and newspaper articles published in magazines. Since then she has not found the time and energy to seek publication or to research markets to find a niche for herself. She hopes that when the novel is finished, this will change.

Paul Curd

Paul Curd is the current Chair of Deal Writers. He moved to East Kent in 2003 and recently studied creative writing part-time at the University of Kent. Paul has an interest in most forms of writing but especially enjoys modern novels and the short story. He is a voracious reader of most genres and is a member of the Royal Society of Literature.

Paul's first published fiction was a short story which appeared in the May 2005 issue of Writers’ Forum magazine. The following month he came second in a local poetry competition with his poem Viking Bay. He has subsequently had poems published in the East Kent Poetry Review, in the anthology Statement for the Prosecution and on The Guardian Unlimited books website. Several of Paul’s short stories have been published in the small press, and he has recently established himself as a regular contributor to Woman’s Weekly, with a dozen stories published in the past year. He had three short stories included in the 2006 anthology Footprints. His short story Second Chance was recently read on BBC local radio. Paul’s novel The Belfast Boy was short listed for the Crime Writers’ Association 2006 Debut Dagger Award and is currently with a publisher. His subsequent novel, An Honourable Man, was one of the 100 winners of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2007 novel writing competition.

When he’s not writing he is usually reading, and when he’s not doing either he’s probably running with the Canterbury Harriers Running Club.

Click HERE to see an example of Paul's work or here to visit Paul's web site www.paulcurd.com

Ros Beresford

Most developed and refined talent: Panic.

I worked in three State Schools for over fifteen years, as a teacher and Head of a Biology department.  I also created various courses for pupils up to eighteen years of age, before becoming self employed. 
Currently I also work creatively with Applied Relational Technology on community projects such as www.artconnexions.com and also with Jane Clarke a published children’s author, on inspiring workshops in schools.
As an original part of the Deal writers group at its conception, it is lovely to be part of this talented community as it grows, and great to know that our first book View from the Pier has been short listed for a National prize!
This Summer I have my own original art work displayed locally at 9 Kings Street in the HesiTate window Gallery, and also at Reed’s in the High street, The Contemporary Florists (also a point of call for Belgian chocolate!)
 I do have some work on a link for viewing here. I have also created original illustrations for a children’s book called ‘Jam’ which has proven to be very popular, so much so that Jane and I are planning another  edition to be ready by October 08! 

Click HERE to see an example of Ros's writing, and HERE to see a gallery of her artwork.