a week that lasts for years

comments
on the 2008 school.
Below are direct quotes from the year's questionnaires on speakers, tutors, the school experience and more.

Speakers were

‘Fantastic’

‘Accomplished, varied, entertaining and a highlight each day’

‘A varied selection of excellent speakers’

‘Entertaining and relevant’

‘As always, a broad spectrum of interest’

‘Excellent. A very good balance – something for everyone and very high quality’

‘More people at the top of their field than ever (as I might expect in the Diamond Year!’

‘The best group of speakers since I started coming to Swanwick in 2003’

‘Excellent! This was my third year and I felt the speakers were the best yet’

‘All very entertaining, perfect for our Diamond Swanwick’

‘How do you rate or improve on the BEST?’

Simon Brett

'Brilliant - as always!'

'Fascinatingly delightful'

'A diamond!'

'Simon's performance was a tour de force'

'Highly entertaining'

Katie Fforde

'Definitely a 'champagne' start!'

''Entertaining, informative'

'Wicked and amusing'

'Superb'.

John Jarrold

'A wealth of information to pass on'

'Hidden knowledge and passion revealed!'

'Superb - more please!'

'Very informative and entertaining at the same time'

'Exceptionally helpful to writers generally'

'Please can we have John back as a course leader?'

Carole Matthews

'Ignited a spark in me and I've since been inspired to try a new genre'

Penny Junor

'Fascinating revelations'

'Insight into a different world'

'A lot unsaid and wanted more'

'Thoroughly enjoyable'

Liz Niven

''I was enchanted by Liz Niven who opened the treasure chest of language itself'

'It's good to have a subject which is linguistically orientated'

''Poets may be in the minority but are as deserving of having their interests aired as the rest of us'.

Courses were
'Well prepared, informative and entertaining too. Nothing was dry or dusty'.

'Excellent - so positive and helpful'

'Very informative and giving of their knowledge'

'Good balance between information and interaction'

'Loads of useful insights'

'Well organised, good rapport with audience/class; generous with advice and extremely positive approach'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Patricia Kitchin
(Patricia Burns)
Novel
'Inspiring'

'Excellent, I have learned so much'

'The best novel writing course I've been to at Swanwick. She was fun and made the whole process shift from daunting to fun and her practical tips/exercises were brilliant'.

Alison Chisholm
The Art and Craft of Poetry


'Absolutely excellent'

Frances Coombes
Writing and selling articles
'Great impact'

'Very helpful indeed'

'Very good and encouraging'

'Lots of useful handouts'

'Absolutely excellent'

Roy Devereux
Technology for writers

'Roy's course was most interesting for me'

'Very good'

Zana Lamont
creative genius

'Zana fantastic, as always'

'Excellent'

'Zana's handouts are great.'

Michael O'Byrne
crime

'Brilliant!'

'A wealth of knowledge that crime writers have been waiting for'

'Very useful for me as a potential writer of crime!'

'A fascinating authoritative course leader - excellent'

'Michael could have done with more than 4 sessions to cover all his material! Absolutely fascinating'

'Inspirational, most interesting, should be often invited back'.

Brendan Nolan
Professional Development

'First class and enjoyable'

'Excellent, I learned a lot'

'Very useful, has given me ideas to develop during the year'

'Very good plus good humour!'



Iain Pattison
short stories

'Inspiring'

'Excellent'

'Outstanding'

'The time flew!'

'Really excellent, freiendly and approachable'

'What a talented guy! And great on delivery'

Roger Stennet
Drama

'Excellent, well organised with constructive sessions'

'Well structured and professional. Useful and practical information delivered in an entertaining way'

======================================

Workshops were

'Little gems that were like sprinkles on the icing on fairy cakes - a bonus that was often unexpectedly good'.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Gwyneth Box
The Poet's Toolbox

'Very strong workshop leader'

'Excellent'

'Very well organised - more please!'

-------------------------------------
Della Galton
Twist In The Tales

'Inspiring'

'Hit the spot'

'So competent and helpful'

'Great! I got two 60-word stories from Della's workshop'

'Brilliant, enjoyed it, very useful information generously given'

----------------------------------------------------------------

Mal Leicester
Writing For Children

'Excellent'

'An information package well put together'

'Plenty of information and interaction'

'Extremely informative'

----------------------------------------------------------------
Ann Palmer
Right Brain Creativity

'I got a lot from Ann's workshop - the quality of presentation was excellent'

---------------------------------------------------------------

Benjamin Scott
How To Write How-to Books

'Very strong workshop leader'

'Great information, wish we'd had more time'

'Good ideas - could be a great marketing course leader'

---------------------------------------------------------------

Roz Southey
Historical Fiction

'So interesting. Roz gave me priceless personal time, thank you'.

'Very focused and therefore very practically useful'

---------------------------------------------------------------

Xanthe Wells
Images Through Words

'Excellent'

'A good follow up to last year's course'

'Outstanding'

'Very good and particularly helpful to those who haven't approached this style before'

'Thought provoking and gave a new perspective on writing description'

'Very intellectually engaging, well structured and managed'

---------------------------------------------------------------

Eileen West
Funny Muscle

'A fantastic time!'

'Brilliant!'

'A very funny person'

---------------------------------------------------------------

Stella Whitelaw
Blocks, Clocks & Glitches

'Inspiring'

'Well organised, as always'

'Very motivational'

'Excellent - makes it easy to comprehend'

'Brilliant as usual, well prepared'.

'Very helpful and full of life'

'Stella is brilliant. Her workshops are well-planned, entertaining and with the right amount of audience participation. Superb'.

======================================

Themed workshops
In your own write

'Excellent'

'Extraordinarily effective 'doodle' approach by Ann Palmer'




======================================

One-Hour talks

'Little gems that were like sprinkles on the icing on fairy cakes - a bonus that was often unexpectedly good'.

'Clear speaking sessions, ended wanting more, more, more!'

------------------------------------------------------------

Confessions Of A Restaurant Reviewer
(Della Galton)

'I managed to get placed as a runner-up in a little comp to write a food review on a Hayes lunch. It's got me hooked on Restaurant Reviewing now!'

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Collective Writing
(Jeeve Publishing)

'I especially appreciated the encouragement of Jeeve'

'On top of their offerings'

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyrical Challenge Workshop
(Maria Hennings Hunt)

'Absolutely great!'

'Very good - inspired good ideas'

'A refreshing and thought provoking addition to the programme'

'I enjoyed it, anyway, the songs were great.'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Character Authenticity
Elizabeth Lord

''Informative and very interesting'

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beginners, Tactics & Tips
Chriss McCallum

'Chriss was brilliant. No nonsense, shoot from the hip tips and advice.'

'So knowledgeable and clear. I can now take home lots of ideas to my writers' group'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you talking to me?
Jill Swallow

'Excellent communicator'

'Very helpful'

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Writing radio plays
Stella Whitelaw

'First class offerings'

'Excellent'

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamond Moments
(Mike Brewer)

'Mike inspired a lot of good reminiscences - perhaps again next year?'

======================================

General comments

pic Fiona McFadzean 2007

'Loved Rosemary Robb (Ghost Stories) - great accent!! Send her special thanks because it must have been very hard to do so soon after her fall.'

'William Murtha's talk - 'Dying to Write' - took my breath away'.

'Bill's talk was inspiring'

'BUZZING!' Salsa evening superb; Ceilidh great fun - thanks to Fiona, John and Zana! 60s/70s Disco - Eileen and Angela terrific. Diamond Night Dance - Maria superb.'

'Room 101 - great fun!'

'The highlight of an impromptu 'event' was the guitar and singing jam session with John Lamont. Please get him and his other friends to perform next year!

‘