Online Events 2024
Dirty New Town: Owen Hatherley and John Grindrod
Tuesday 13 February 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £Free (donations welcome)
New towns around the globe have been vast experiments in living. What do these places have in common, and what challenges do they face? Join two leading commentators on the built environment, Owen Hatherley and John Grindrod, as they discuss new towns in Scotland, Poland, and Japan – as well as Milton Keynes itself.
The Long and Short of It: Flash Fiction with Electra Rhodes
Monday 4 March 2024, Zoom, 7.30pm - 8.30pm; £Free (donations welcome)
The first event in a series sponsored by the Open University exploring fiction and form. Flash fiction is a complete story told in just a few hundred words. It has everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t. Acclaimed flash writer Electra Rhodes talks to Jupiter Jones about the creative freedom of keeping things small.
The Long and Short of It: Short Stories - Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Monday 11 March 2024, Zoom, 7.30pm - 8.30pm; £Free (donations welcome)
For this second event in the MK Lit Fest series, the acclaimed short story writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap talks to Alistair Daniel about the pleasures and challenges of one of the most demanding – but also rewarding – of literary forms.
The Long and Short of It: The Novella with Emily Bullock
Monday 18 March 2024, Zoom, 7.30pm - 8.30pm; £Free (donations welcome)
Exploded short story, compacted novel or something else entirely? What is a novella and what sets it apart from the long short story or the novel? Prize-winning author Emily Bullock talks to Sarah Bower about the joys and challenges of the form, and her own first novella, For Always Only.
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The Long and Short of It: The Novel with Amit Chaudhuri
Monday 25 March 2024, Zoom, 5.00pm - 6.00pm; £Free (donations welcome)
The novel is such a popular literary form that it’s easy to take it for granted. But do we really know what it is, or what it can be? Award-winning author and literary activist Amit Chaudhuri talks to Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone about how writers might approach and challenge this ubiquitous form.
Thinking and Writing Short and Long: Flash Fiction, Short Stories, Novellas and Novels
Saturday 6 April 2024, CMK Library, 11.00am - 12noon; £10/£7 Livestream: £PayWhatYouCan
The OU-sponsored discussion series on fictional forms culminates in an in-person panel event at MK Lit Fest Spring Festival 2024. Emma Claire Sweeney speaks with Edward Hogan, Catherine Menon, Irenosen Okojie and Naomi Wood – authors well known for their novels, novellas, flash fiction and short stories alike.
Around the War in Twenty Stories with Anna Shevchenko
Tuesday 25 June 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £6/£4 (all profits to Ukrainian charitable projects)
How do people get on with daily life when war is all around? What do they laugh about, and where do they find the strength to work, love and carry on? Profoundly moving, darkly funny or downright surreal, these true tales of Ukrainian life will leave no one indifferent. All profits to Ukrainian charitable projects.
Literary Magazines: A Masterclass with Brett Evans and Phil Robertson (Prole)
Thursday 11 July 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £10/£7
For this exclusive masterclass, we're joined by Brett Evans and Phil Robertson, poetry and prose editors respectively of Prole, to explain the work of literary magazine editors, offer advice to writers wanting to submit their work, and to answer your questions about writing and publishing.
Dreams for Lammas: a gala of new local writing
Thursday 1 August 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £3/£2
Some call it Lammas. Some call it Lughnasadh, Lughnasa or Lúnasa: our third gala of local writing celebrates the best poems and short stories by local writers that explore the theme of 'harvest'. During the event we'll also launch our 2025 MinK Creative Writing Competition and announce the year's theme.
Another England: Caroline Lucas in conversation with Adrian Spurrell
Tuesday 24 September 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £6/£4
Reflecting on the idea of Englishness, Caroline Lucas’s captivating book Another England examines the more uplifting aspects of the nation’s past, such as English people's progressive spirit, radical inclusivity and ancient commitment to nature, to envisage where we might go from here.
Sue Turbett: Eagle Sister
Wednesday 6 November 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £6/£4
Travel with us to Kyrgyzstan – not just in the 13th century where the adventures of young Gulzara unfold with an Eagle Sister for company, but in the present day as Sue Turbett shares ‘the story behind the story’ of her debut novel: how she researched and wrote a compelling novel set far away in time and geography.
Poets for Movember: A Chorus of Men's Voices
Tuesday 12 November 2024, Zoom, 7.00pm - 8.00pm; £6/£4
No fewer than twenty of the finest contemporary male poets - aged from 22 to 71, straight or gay, from diverse ethnic backgrounds - are raising their voices to explore the experience of being male in the 21st century. "It's complicated," as they say. All profits from this event will be donated to Movember UK.
Never Mind the Baubles: flash fiction for the festive season
Wednesday 18 December 2024, Zoom, 7.30pm - 8.30pm; £3/£2 (chosen writers enter free)
December is a time when, whatever their culture, many people gather and share company, gifts - and stories. Sacred or profane, joyous or jaded - send us your most imaginative flash fiction for 'the festive season' by 23 November and we'll select the best for a special online gathering to close another year of Lit Fest! Get writing!!