Author Archives: suehealy

About suehealy

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.

Podcasted!

Thanks to Danny Ridealgh for interviewing me for this podcast

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My Book Launch

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.

Link to book on Routledge site.


INTERVIEW

My interview with WLRfm, talking about my new book ‘The Literary Manager’s Toolkit’.

Scroll down to Deise Today 11.00-12.00, 44 mins in.


On the Shelves

TFW your book is on sale in your hometown’s iconic book store. The Literary Manager’s Toolkit available from Waterford’s

@TheBookcentres.

Essential for anyone who works in the arts – brimming with advice and info on jobs, access, funding, residencies. Hope it goes down well in my hometown.


My Book is Here & I’m busy arranging the book launch!

My own copy of my book “The Literary Manager’s Toolkit” (Routledge), has arrived. I’m busy sending out invites to the book launch at a house of strong theatre import, in Hammersmith in March. All very exciting!


Write Up

Thank you to the Munster Express and Matt Keane for this piece on my upcoming guidebook, published by Routledge:


Countdown to Publication!

My Routledge book is out next month and is available on pre-order on December 5th (also with this 20% discount code). It’s a practical guide to theatre literary management and a necessary addition to your theatre library. And, as a key responsibility of the literary manager is to foster, nurture and encourage the early career writer, this book is brimming with direction, advice and resources for all writers, from every discipline. There is a wealth of interviews with key industry figures, and lists of funding opportunities, residencies, payment advice, employment tips and direction on getting your play commissioned and thoughts on how a writer can improve their work and make it more appealing to theatres, and other gatekeepers of the wider writing world and as such is a useful tool for playwrights, screenwriters, novelists and non-fiction writers. So now you all know what you really want for Christmas!

The Literary Manager’s Toolkit


Getting your Play Commissioned

Excited to be invited again to deliver a workshop for Proud Haddock Theatre. An informative, fun and very useful event for all playwrights. Do sign up:

Here


ETPEP winner selected

It has been a joy to be on the panel for this year’s super strong ETPEP Award. National playwriting competitions such as these provide insight into what’s eating us, even a sense of what is to come. Congrats to significant emerging talent Saana Sze, a name I’m sure you’ll hear frequently from now on.


Online Workshop!!

I’m giving an online workshop for Proud Haddock Theatre. Roll up, roll up!

For more info

https://www.proudhaddockworkshops.com/book-a-workshop/p/getting-your-play-commissioned-workshop-with-finborough-theatre-literary-managersuehealy-mon-22-aug-2022-6pm-730pm-bst