My book launch for “The Literary Manager’s Toolkit” took place on 13th of March, at 9 Lower Mall, Hammersmith – a house deeply woven into the tapestry of contemporary London theatre. It is here that the Royal Court Theatre was launched as a concept in 1955, and the address has been home to great theatre figures such as George Devine, Peter Gill, Donald Howarth, Nicholas Wright, David Lan, to name but a few. My book is dedicated to the late Donald Howarth, its most recent owner.
Industry figures travelled from France, York and beyond for the event and I was very touched by the support received. A taste of the event is in the pictures below.
I was very touched by playwright Simon Farquhar’s summary: Many congratulations to my dear friend Sue Healy on the launch of her book, The Literary Manager’s Toolkit. It’s a vital and long overdue guide to one of the key posts in a theatre, but Sue makes the book so much more, by making it part of the legacy of our dear friend, the late Donald Howarth, and a celebration and a testament to all that Donald, the Royal Court and all similar theatres strive for. I gave a rather candid interview for it which I am grateful for the chance of, and which I hope proves constructive, both for writers and for those who have such a powerful role in our journey. It’s a book years overdue which I am sure will immediately become a bible. A lovely celebration to launch this valuable work in the most apt of locations.
From Ireland, Sue Healy is Literary Manager at the Finborough Theatre, London, a full-time Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln. Her book on theatre literary management is published by Routledge, December 2022.
Sue is an award-winning writer for stage, TV, and prose writer.
TV
Her current project, a 6x60minute TV series, is under option. She is under commission with Lone Wolf Media, producers behind PBS’ “Mercy Street”, to co-write the pilot and treatment for a six-part TV series.
Stage
Her most recent stage-play, Imaginationship (2018), enjoyed a sold out, extended run at the Finborough and later showed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Her previous stage productions include Cow (Etcetera Theatre, 2017) and Brazen (King’s Head Theatre, 2016), funded by Arts Council England. Sue’s short plays have been performed at the Criterion (Criterion New Writing Showcase), Arcola (The Miniaturists) and Hackney Attic (Fizzy Sherbet Shorts).
Radio
Her radio work includes nine plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Opening Lines winner), WLRfm and KCLR96fm.
Prose
Sue has won The Molly Keane Award, HISSAC Prize, Escalator Award, Meridian Prize and has been published in nine literary journals and anthologies including: The Moth, Flight, Tainted Innocence, New Writer, Duality, HISSAC, New European Writers. She has been writer-in-residence on Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, and at the Heinrich Boll Cottage on Achill Island. She has also benefitted from annual artist residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and at Ginestrelle, Assisi in Italy.
An academic with a PhD in modern theatre history, specifically the Royal Court Theatre, Sue has presented her research internationally. She spent eleven years in Budapest, editing Hungary A.M. She has a PhD in modern theatre history (Royal Court Theatre) and is a UEA Creative Writing MA alumnus.
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