Let's Get Villainous!

The Bournemouth Festival of Writing has released a whole load of photographs, courtesy of Solid Imagery, and so I have included a selection from my workshop, Let's Get Villainous, which was a huge success. But don't worry if you missed out. I hope to run this one again so watch this space.

The Bournemouth Festival of Writing

The Bournemouth Festival of Writing took place last weekend with a wide range of events, talks, workshops, an author’s marketplace, book launches, writing on the beach – not to mention the now infamous naked writing workshop hosted by the wonderfully named Jonny Fluffypunk. (I didn’t take part – too much of a coward). 

I was delighted to be part of this event, running a workshop called ‘Let’s Get Villainous’ which was a character workshop with a difference – the aim being for all the participants to take away with them a particularly nasty alter ego, to use in their writing however they liked. I ran the workshop with a series of character prompts followed by various role play activities so that everyone could really get into their character’s heads.

This was my first time at the Bournemouth Writing Festival and I’ve not run a workshop for several years, so naturally my biggest fear was the dreaded empty room. All week I had been seeing events selling out, but really I needn’t have worried – mine wasn’t far off capacity.

And the participants themselves were fantastic. They responded really well to the prompts and as soon as the interactive part began, everyone working together in small groups, the room filled with laughter and energy. There were some wonderful characters and scenarios being explored – I really hope that I will one day see some of them in print.

As for the festival overall, it was a huge success. Dominic (the organiser) is really putting Bournemouth on the map with this, and I look forward to being involved again next year, either as a speaker or a delegate.

Getting Literary in Yeovil

The Yeovil Literary Festival is in full swing, packed with all sorts of exciting authors and events. I was up there yesterday and today and I’ve come away buzzing – inspired to get on with some new writing. There are still two more days to go but I thought I would share with your some of the highlights so far.

Yesterday the festival kicked off with the Yeovil Prizewinners event. I was there in my capacity of short story winner 2016 but all the rest of this year’s winners were there as well – something of a first – I don’t think everyone has been able to make it before! The standard was excellent and diverse. The winning novel was superb and I can’t wait for it to be published and I can read the whole thing – and I’m pretty sure it will be – it was really good!

Some of the past winners were there as well, now published and with books to sell, and it was a lovely feeling to be amongst them with my own. Sue Yockney and Chip Tolson were launching their latest books. Sue’s new novel, Outside the Box, is a satirical romp, and Chip Tolson has just released a collection of his short stories, many of which are Yeovil Prize winners in their own right. 

Jackie Gingell, myself, Sue Yockney and Chip Tolson 

Chip and Sue on the bookstall - selling like hot cakes

Chip and Sue

And their books! This is my haul from the event! 

Today I headed back up for a crime writing workshop run by local crime writers Clare Donoghue and Chris Ewan – yes I’m thinking of dabbling in a bit of murder and mayhem – which was excellent but I do wish it had been longer. In fact they’ll be running a course in Taunton soon. Unfortunately a bit too far for me to get to.

But one of the best things was bumping into other authors. It was particularly nice to meet fellow Allsort Emma Carroll as well as Kiran Millwood Hargrave who I met at the Yeovil Prizewinners event a couple of years ago and has now had her first book published.

I only wish I could have stayed longer and spent more time talking all things writing. I hope to see you all again soon!

Yeovil Literary Festival II

I have just returned from a brilliant couple of days up in Yeovil, where I have been participating in the second Yeovil Literary Festival. The festival has been amazing and I had a really fantastic time, catching up with old friends and immersing myself in all things literary!

In all I was involved with three events. The first was the Past Winners of the Yeovil Prize panel event on the Friday morning. The list of success stories continues to grow and this year it was lovely to be joined by several of the poetry winners. Here we all are. As you can see several of our winning books have now been published.

Winners of the Yeovil Prize, past and present.

In the evening I was the host for an ‘In Conversation With” event, and the lovely gentleman I was asked to host was Jason Hewitt, debut author, whose novel, The Dynamite Room is simply superb.

In conversation with Jason Hewitt

And then, the next day it was off to the library, to run a writing workshop for a fabulous bunch of kids. Sadly my friend and fellow author Carol Hunt had flu and couldn’t be there, but they were such a great bunch of kids – so enthusiastic and imaginative, that even when the workshop had officially ended, they were all still sitting, scribbling away. I’m sure there were some budding authors in their midst!

Children's Writing Workshop at Yeovil Library

So congratulations to the organisers who made all this possible. Last year’s Yeovil Literary Festival was really good. This year’s was even better! I can’t wait until next year!

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

I have just returned from the Edinburgh International Book Festival and I am still buzzing – because I wasn’t there as part of the audience – I was there as an author.

Mine was a joint event with the lovely Sarah Crossan, author of dystopian duology Breathe and Resist as well as the Carnegie nominated The Weight of Water. Or event was called The End is Nigh and formed part of the Baillie Gifford Schools programme of events, hosted by Hannah Love of Faber, who was as lovely as her name suggests.

We read extracts and answered questions about our books, both about the writing process and our inspirations as well as the environmental issues our books address and the emerging genre of Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction).

Afterwards we had the opportunity to meet some of the kids and sign books for them in the festival bookshop. A couple of school groups had come across from Glasgow and they’ve given the event a lovely write up here.

 The Book Festival was held in the beautiful Charlotte Gardens, event venues and bookshops set up around the edge with lawns and seating in the middle where people gathered to drink coffee or eat their lunch. The authors had a separate area, the Author’s Yurt, where we could chat and relax both before and after our events

Of course no visit to Edinburgh during festival time would be complete without checking out The Fringe and we spent some time sampling all that the city has to offer at this time of year. Some of the street acts we saw were quite superb and the whole city was vibrant and alive.

Participating in The Edinburgh International Book Festival was a wonderful experience and has to be one of the highlights of my year so far.

Cli-Fi at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The brochure for the Edinburgh International Book Festival is now live and within a few days the tickets will be on sale, and I am thrilled to say that I’m going to be taking part! I’ve taken part in Literary Festivals before, but nothing quite as high profile as this one.

My event will be on Monday 18th August and forms part of the Baillie Gifford Schools programme. I’ve been teamed up with the very lovely Sarah Crossan, author of the superb YA dystopian novels BREATHE and RESIST and our event is called The End Is Nigh. We’re going to be talking about our books and in particular the environmental aspects – the melting ice caps in Red Rock and the loss of the forests in Breathe.

You can download the full brochure here and find out more about the wide and varied programme of events here.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Sarah again, and I’m really looking forward to talking about Cli-Fi with the kids.

But there’s another reason I’m so excited about heading up to Edinburgh - it’s the city where I was born and whenever I go back there I have the feeling that I’m coming home. I can’t wait.

Christmas Wishes

Christmas is just round the corner – the mince pies are in the oven and a large slice of stollen is beckoning me.

I’ve had a lovely early Christmas present – an invitation to participate in the Edinburgh International Book festival in August next year. I’ll know more in the New Year.

So wishing all my blog readers a very merry Christmas. I hope you all gets lots of lovely books!

See you all in 2014.

Yeovil Literary Festival

Last weekend was the Yeovil Literary Festival, and I was part of it, in my capacity as a newly published author.

I participated in one panel event – past winners of the Yeovil Literary Prize. There have been quite a few success stories now from this internationally renowned competition, and Red Rock is one of them, an earlier version having been Highly Commended back in 2010.

I also gave a workshop to a fabulous bunch of kids – we went on a journey to Mars, smashing into asteroids and battling aliens.

But for me the real highlight of the festival was going with the family to see Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful the Concert. It was absolutely superb - a blend of reading and music, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that there wasn’t a dry eye in the theatre.

So all in all I think the organisers deserve a big round of applause for such a successful event! Roll on Yeovil Literary Festival 2014!

And look what I spotted in the window of Yeovil Waterstones….

Festivals and Story Slams

There are a couple of exciting events coming up this autumn, both of which I’m delighted to say I’ll be participating in.

The first of these is the Yeovil Literary Festival which will be taking place from the 19th – 22nd September this year. The brochure has just been made available and there are some very exciting events in the line-up. I’ve already booked my tickets to see Michael Morpurgo and if you are a budding writer yourself I can strongly recommend Margaret Graham’s writing workshops.

I’ve been booked up for three events. The first is on Friday 20th at 11am where I will be on a panel of past Yeovil Prize winners. We will be reading from our books and talking about how the Yeovil Prize has helped us on our journey to publication. This is particularly timely for me since Red Rock won the Western Gazette Award in 2010 and at the time of the festival will be in its first week as a published book!

The second and third events both take place on Sunday 22nd and will both be events for children. The first will be an interactive workshop at 11am – The First Manned Mission to Mars, when I will be taking the audience on an adventure to the Red Planet, and in the afternoon at 2pm I will be giving a talk on Cli-Fi – (Climate Change in kids fiction) and how my own experiences in the Arctic inspired the world I created in Red Rock.

You can find the brochure online here: http://app.southsomerset.gov.uk/pageflip/YLF/

I’m really excited by this – it will be my first Literary Festival as a published author. I can’t wait.

The second event is the Bridport Story Slam, taking place on Wednesday 16th October as part of the Bridport Open Book Festival. I’ve been invited to be one of the judges and I’m really looking forward to meeting other local authors and listening to the contenders stories. It sounds like it’s going to be a great evening of literature. More details and information on how to book a slot are available here: http://dorsetwritersnetwork.co.uk/events.htm

And in other nail biting news advance copies of Red Rock are now being sent out to reviewers. Danni, Gracie and Isaac are no longer just mine – they belong to everyone. And that is quite an overwhelming thought!