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“Indulge yourselves in the very first edition of The Col-umn, The Confessions of The KCL Creative Writing Society. Find out who we are, what we love and where we feast, night and day... For the world is our Kingdom and this is its epic story:”

‘The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves…Are portions of eternity, too great for the eyes of man.’––– William Blake, ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’

Hearken you all to Hermes’ gracious ode!Through this unworthy hand in sacred code,He heralds now a myth of pow’r untold:

Behold therefore that Arcady divine,A paradise of God’s august design,A world within our world, but truer than dreams,Known as ‘Leonium’ – modest yet supreme.

Therein each week with fervent zeal convergeSeventy seven daring Lions in searchOf freedom from the reins of life mundane,Emancipated by a force arcane–The heavenly Muses under Phoebus’ leadWho vest in them a mission and a creed:As Literary Lions wise and awesome,By fate ordained they reign in Leonium.

O who would dare defy their bold agendum!

Each time the sacred Lions gather firstAt that same spot between the figs and firs,Before they wander through the maze accursed,

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The Leonium

by Mathias Cheung

‘my candle burns at both endsit will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -

it gives a lovely light.’ - edna St. Vincent millay

The Confessions of The KCL Creative Writing Society

We are Literary Lions - hear us roar!

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“We dream of wild shores with rocky cliffs and set our dreams in everlasting memory. The KCL Creative Writing Society proudly presents its new project – an anthology with the theme of Dreams. Are you up for the challenge?”

While we are a relatively new society, the King’s Col-lege London Creative Writing Society has always had

a collaborative group project to be published near the end of the year. Deviating from what we did in the past two years, which was writing a collaborative novel, this year we will be

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The CoLumnWhich shatters all except the lion-hearted.Behind all that however is Leonium,Where Lions hold their roundtable symposium.

They wield their pens like sceptres but with ink,And wear their gifted minds like crowns of kings.By genius endowed the Lions dare,A world beset with woes to grace with flair;With words they cast in vellum and in stone(To let the light of joy and hope be shone)All novel notions… mystical creations,When inspirations turn into inventions.

O man has ne’er conceived such urbane Lions!

And though the gallant Lions act as one,Each member is unique – bright as the sun:There are the ones with elegance and style,Unrivalled minds like Wordsworth, Woolf and Wilde;And some who just revere the Roaring Twenties,As much about the Roar as Tin Pan Alley!That these and others seem unlikely heroes,Makes all of them creative virtuosos.

Thus far Leonium rises to its prime,Despite the storms, it stands the test of time.Do heed through printed words the Lions’ roarAs when to daring heights they do oft soar.

So let the Muses now perform their rite:O write, blest Lions – write with all your might!Recast the world, for God is on your side!

The miSSion

by Wei Yun, The Orange Tangerine or El Presidente

“We ignite our literary passion with ghosts in crypts and verse and music. Join us in a feast to remember! “

Ghost Stories in the Crypt: The Legacy of the Corpse Bride

KCL Creative Writing Society are a young but ambitious group of writers and more!

We’ve had some events in the past, but this year we are really exploring our social side with events celebrating literature throughout the ages.

We started with a Bloomsbury High Tea event with 1930s music and homemade goodies to eat, and are following up our success with a Victorian ghost story and murder mystery event on 17th November. And get yourselves ready for our E-book commission of short ghost stories from a Singaporean publisher! This will contain ghost stories in all formats, including illustra-tions, prose and poetry from our members and will be available to download from the iTunes store by 2011.

We are also delighted to welcome Inua Ellams to the Strand campus on 24th November for a poetry performance and Q&A session. Known for his work with Apples&Snakes, Inua has just finished his second successful play run at the Soho Theatre, after his first play, The Fourteenth Tale, won the First Fringe Award at the Edinburgh festival and enjoyed a month-long run at the National Theatre, Southbank.

As for next term, we’re already planning ahead. We have an event in the pipeline to chase away the post-Christmas let-down called Celebration of Sound. Working with poetry and rhythms, we’ll be hearing a wide range of poetry from language across both time and space, from Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Latin to modern French and Malaysian poetry. We’ll be work-ing in conjunction with other societies too, such as KCL POD Radio, to record some of the po-

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getting together to compile an anthology with the theme of Dreams. This title allows for a wide scope of exploration, giving writers the opportunity to talk about dreams in ever form imagina-ble: wishes, hopes, wants, nightmares, you name it. Members of the society will be allowed to submit any form of literature possible, as long as it is at a reasonable length. Submissions from poets, lyricists, and short-story writers are highly welcomed, and novelists too, though the lat-ter will have to keep their submissions to shorter excerpts as space in the anthology is limited.We will be beginning work on this project in the second half of the year, starting in January. This is a great opportunity to get your work published. However, due to limited space, this project is open to only members of the Creative Writing Society, so sign up as a member if you are interested! Membership costs only £5 and will entitle you to a year of benefits and privileges, including heavily discounted tickets to our events such as trips to the Kew Gardens and inviting published authors in, some of which will even be free to members.

FeaST hour - KCL CreaTiVe WriTing SoCieTy eVenTS

by Gina Lawrence, Mrs. Divine

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Our ambitious project that every Literary Lion proudly speaks about – the Novel! Oh, dare you surrender yourself to its charms?

The lure of creative writing is manifold as, indeed, are those it lures. This breadth is one of the key strengths

of the KCL Creative Writing Society and it was with this in mind that we decided to embark on a most ambitious project- the society novel.

The idea of the novel from the outset was to draw on everybody’s strengths and produce mas-terful cross-discipline collaboration. The foundations of the novel, the seeds necessary for any novel to survive & flourish, were planted in several successive planning sessions in the opening few weeks. Aware that a novel set in Victorian London with a spaceship flying across midway through and a caveman protagonist battling against the villainous robot would not have much in the way of consistency, we collectively laid down literary markers to ensure certain con-straints.

These plot-centred constraints did not, we were careful to ensure, suffocate any creativity and every individual’s idiosyncratic style beams through their respective chapter. The chapters were written over a period of a few months, during which time we regularly discussed the novel and fed back on each other’s work. When a first draft was complete, the more complicated and sig-nificant editing took place; sites of cross-chapter collaboration and interaction were identified and a process of feeding into each other’s work began. There were also certain threads that we meticulously ensured wove through the backbone of the novel seamlessly. Each individual found their chapter was brilliant to write and to amalgamate the entire piece into a unified, co-herent novel was hugely rewarding. The novel centres on a reunion held at a rebuilt orphanage that had burnt down some decades earlier. Like the characters in the novel, the writers were able to examine certain events and experiences and reconcile them with a grander narrative. The end piece was an individualised yet impressed coalition of style and content that is as enjoyable to read as it was to write. Most importantly, it allowed writers to dwell on the

etry the society has produced which will be made available as a CD along with our end-of-year anthology, this year themed “Dreams.” As February is LGBT History Month, we will be working with the King’s LGBT to host two big events; one entitled the Gray Parade, celebrating the work of none other than Oscar Wilde, and the second a Gay Love Soiree a few days past Valentine’s day celebrating the poetry, prose and copious letters of writers throughout the ages who iden-tify as gay or lesbian – including Aphra Behn, Shakespeare, Bosie and Walt Whitman to name just a few.

All our events are designed to relate to what the society is exploring as a whole, such as the ghost stories to fit with the E-book publication and the Celebration of Sound to prepare some ideas for the poetry recording to go with the anthology. But they’re also just a great excuse for passionate people to get together and celebrate some of the great literature they really love.

The LegaCyby Hesham Yafai,

The Unforgettable

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importance of the personalised narrative voice and how each voice is unique in its own way. This - finding contentment and liberation - is at the heart of everything the KCL Creative Writing Society does.

‘Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing’ - Ben Franklin

Why don’t you do both?! Sign up here for all the membership benefits: http://www.fixtureslive.com/kcl/signup.aspx?clubID=35681

And check out our delightful website for updates on events: http://kclcreativewriting.wordpress.com

And of course, follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91411185323&ref=ts

The Editor ~ SIMONA CORCOZ, The Quill Pen

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