St Austell's Readers Day

The St Austell's Readers Day went well. In the morning there had been a display of photographs by Phil Cope, another Seren author, on the Holy Wells of Cornwall. This was followed by a 'home' section featuring some very good writers that happened to live locally in Cornwall. The admirably prolific writer of romantic sagas, E.V. Thompson was then interviewed by Liz Hurley (the owner of a local bookshop rather than the actress). He gave a very interesting insight into his career, and also the way in which the publishing industry has changed.


After lunch there was a discussion with the panel of authors. Then readers had to choose one of four talks from the programme as follows:

• Fran Sandham - who completed a remarkable solo walk across Africa and wrote a book about his adventure - “Traversa”
• John Tagholm - this crime writer will discuss his walk across France in relation to No Identifiable Remains and the influence a trip to Italy had on the writing of Bad Marriage.
• Clare Dudman - her book “A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees” is a lyrical and insightful evocation of the trials of the first Welsh Patagonian colonists.
• Natasha Solomons - whose debut novel Mr Rosenblum’s List is already stirring up much excitement having been sold in 10 languages and the film rights sold. The book is a rather lovely celebration of all things English.

Although my group was small - I had about ten people including one of the librarians, a librarian's mother and her friend and another author - the people that were there seemed to enjoy my talk so I felt my journey was worthwhile.

Another great benefit was that I met the other 'away' authors, and having bought and started all their books in advance wished I had been able to go to their talks instead of mine (because I knew exactly what I was about to say).