JOBS: Literature Development Manager

Plymouth International Book Festival is seeking a highly motivated Literature Development Manager with strong experience of delivering projects in the literature sector, along with a successful track-record of event delivery, organisation and financial management and the ability to manage people.

The Literature Development Manager will deliver the collaborative strategy for literature development in the City of Plymouth, guided by the cultural policies of Cyprus Well, Plymouth University and Plymouth City Council (the stakeholders). The post-holder will fulfil the role of Festival Manager for the keynote event of the literature calendar, the Plymouth International Book Festival (inaugural festival to be held 14th – 23rd September 2012) under the Direction of the 2012 Festival Director, Tracey Guiry.

The role is advertised and available as a full-time post - though there is flexibility to negotiate a part-time role of three days per week for the right candidate. We are aware that many creative managers and producers in the literature sector will work with a portfolio of clients and we are therefore able to offer this role at a minimum of three days per week if the candidate can demonstrate that they have the experience to deliver the full ambitions of the role in that time. This is also on the basis that they will be available full-time during the delivery dates of the Book Festival itself, and additional payment will be made pro-rata to cover this.

Salary Scale £24,000 to £28,000 (pro rata) for fixed-term contract and depending on experience. The future of this role is thereafter dependent on sufficient funds being raised by Cyprus Well and the Plymouth International Book Festival partnership group to sustain the role in future years, a target to which they are committed.

The above post is available for 8 months as a fixed-term contract in the first instance, from June/July 2012 to March 2013.

The role is based in Cyprus Well offices in Peninsula Arts, Roland Levinsky Building of Plymouth University.

The role is employed and managed by Cyprus Well in response to a management agreement between Cyprus Well, Plymouth University, Arts Unit of Plymouth City Council (the stakeholder partner group).

Applicants must complete an application form and provide a covering letter. To download an application form and person specification, please visit: http://www.cypruswell.org/about-us.php or call 01392 495102 to arrange for a paper copy to be sent to you.

The deadline for applications is 12 Noon on Friday 1st June and interviews will be held on Friday 8th June.

Completed applications should be sent before the deadline to tguiry@cypruswell.org or addressed as follows:

Tracey Guiry,
Cyprus Well,
Exeter Central Library,
Castle Street
EX4 6LL

Have Fun Extreme Reading This Summer!

Reading hits the streets of Plymouth this April as Plymouth City Council’s library service launch a city-wide photography competition to promote literacy skills, develop personal exploration, and to encourage families to read together for fun in extraordinary places.

The competition opens online on World Book Night 23rd April until September 2012. During the competition photographs no larger than 2MB can be emailed with your library membership number to library@plymouth.gov.uk, along with a sentence “Tell us what you thought of the book”. The age categories for entries are: Under 8s, 8-12s, 12-19, 19+, Over 60s and Intergenerational (more than one generation). There will be two prizes per category, a winner and a highly commended. A tie will be decided by the entrant’s “Tell us what you thought of the book”. Prizes include 1 family admission to Dartmoor Zoological Park, 2 tickets for The Cresta Run at Plymouth Ski Centre, 2 tickets for a Plymouth Argyle home match, family sharing books from Waterstone’s, Drake Circus and subscriptions to a popular photography magazine, sponsored by the Europe Direct Information Service.

The winner and highly commended per category will be invited to a presentation event at Plymouth Central Library later in the year. Entries will be judged by author’s visiting for the Plymouth International Book Festival.

You and your family have to be in it to win it, logon to http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/extremereading for full details and our terms of entry statement. Extreme Reading events and photo opportunities will be held throughout the competition. All photographs entered will be posted on our library Flickrpage.

The Etherington Brothers

The Etherington Brothers present a comic-making workshop based around their critically acclaimed book, "Baggage!". Robin and Lorenzo will be sharing the SIX secret steps to making your own incredible adventures in words and pictures, with ingenious ideas guaranteed to get young imaginations soaring! They will also provide a free copy of the Etherington Brothers "Go Nuts" activity book to every child who attends the show. This is twelve page masterclass in comics and story creation and is packed with exercises for all abilities.

The Etherington Brothers are the creators of Monkey Nuts, Baggage, Yore! and Long Gone Don. They have produced comics for Transformers, The Dandy, Star Wars, Wallace and Gromit, Dreamworks' Monsters Vs Aliens, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar. They've worked with Lucasarts, Random House, The Guardian, The Times, DreamWorks, and the BBC.

Peter F Hamilton To Appear At Festival.

We are pleased to announce that the UK's best selling science fiction author, Peter F Hamilton will be appearing at the Plymouth International Book Festival this September.

Peter was born in Rutland in 1960. He began writing in 1987, and sold his first short story to Fearmagazine in 1988. He has also been published in Interzone and the In Dreams and New Worlds anthologies, and several small press publications. His first novel was Mindstar Rising, published in 1993, and he has been steadily productive since then.

Peter joins us to chat about his new book Great North Road, released later this year. 

Making Great Illustration Touring Exhibition

Monday 10th September - Saturday 20th October 2012
Peninsula Arts Gallery

The exhibition features artwork by some of the world’s best
illustrators, including; Quentin Blake, Kitty Crowther, Ralph

Steadman, Robert Ryan and Ronald Searle. Taking
inspiration from their ground breaking book Making Great
Illustration launched in Autumn 2011, the curators of the
exhibition Jo Davies and Derek Brazell reveal the working
processes of illustration from brief to publication.

Touring Exhibition available from November 2012 – March 2014