Stories at The Mosh Pit a huge success!

At the quirkiest cafe in downtown Cardiff, a group of writers gathered to read their work…

On Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to MC a brilliant writers event in Newcastle, NSW. The day was informal yet structured, serious yet fun. The Mosh Pit Record Shop and Coffee Bar was the venue and about 30 people squeezed into the bright and eclectic space.

Margaret Jackson opens the event; records of all kind cover the walls

Most of the writers were from our writing group, and there were two guest writers and one young writer. Margaret Jackson, the founding member of our writing group, opened the event.

The MC Jessie Ansons introduces the writers; the audience chats during the break

The line-up on the day was:

1. Margaret Jackson read a spine-tingling chapter from her 20,000 word novella called ‘The Prophecy’. You can follow Margaret’s blog here.
2. Maree Gallop was the next reader on the line-up and read ‘The Clothes Heist’, a deeply metaphorical piece that deals with grieving before death. This story came equal-first in the 2013 Hunter Writers Centre Grieve competition. A copy of the book can be downloaded here and you can follow Maree’s blog here.
   

   Maree Gallop (left) and Karen Whitelaw (right) read their pieces; records hang from the ceiling above the counter

3. Karen Whitelaw (guest writer) spoke about our recently-published eBook called Mirrors. She then read her piece ‘The Flood’, a laugh-out-loud story about two stubborn women escaping the floods in a boat, which was published in the Newcastle Herald as part of the 2012 Summer Herald Short Story competition. The story can be read here and you can follow her blog here.
4. Anthony Scully (guest writer) spoke about the ABC Open 500 Words project, and read his own 500 word story that was published online for the topic of ‘Caught out’, revealing his criminal past. The story can be read here and you can find out about the current ABC Open project here.
   

   Sally Egan (left) and Anthony Scully (right) read their pieces; clocks and bags made from records hang from the walls

5. Lucy Egan (young writer) read her piece called ‘Viva Bloom’, stunning the audience with her maturity and insight into the world at just 15 years of age. ‘Viva Bloom’ was recently published in hard-copy in the school students anthology called ‘Write as rain’.
6. Diana Threlfo read the intriguing first chapter of her novel-in-progress, about a woman who falls pregnant unexpectedly in 1959. You can read Di’s blog here.
   

   Lucy Egan reads her piece ‘Viva Bloom’

7. Sally Egan read a heart-wrenching short story called ‘It wasn’t meant to be like this’ about a young girl living on the streets of Melbourne. You can read other stories by Sally Egan here on the ABC Open website.

The Mosh Pit was a great venue for this type of event. During the breaks, the shop provided the audience with a thousand things to explore around the shop, as well as the necessary coffee and cakes.

Diana Threlfo (bottom) reads her piece; a member of the audience browses records; a toy car proudly displays the shop’s name

Being the MC gave me (Jessie Ansons) the opportunity to share my collection of 100-word stories. Each week, I write a story inspired by a photo posted on the Friday Fictioneers blog by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Before introducing each of the readers at the event, I read a Friday Fictioneers piece. You can see my collection of 100-word stories here.

Jessie Ansons reads a 100 word story; the audience browses records and orders coffee during the break

This was our very first event of this kind and it was certainly a success.

So the only question remaining is: will there be more of these in the future?

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