I hope it’s not to late to remind everybody of the amazing opportunity provided by anyone within striking distance of the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, everybody that is who is turned on by reading, writing or getting published in any genre or format.
Throw in a cafe with home-made cakes and snacks and really what’s not to like? And did I mention every discussion, workshop and reading event is free? 
My only complaint is having ‘volunteered’ (organiser Debbie Young is very persuasive!) for three sessions, I’m going to miss out on a few things I would like to have heard for myself!
So, here are the things I am in:
11 am – The importance of a sense of place in fiction
A discussion chaired by Lisa White of the National Trust
1 pm – Short Stories
Complete stories – none longer than 3 minutes – read by star performers: AA Abbot, Rod Griffiths, John Holland, Rosalind Minett, Mark Rutterfod, Jenefer Heap, Jacquie Gooding and moi. I have heard the others, they are all good!
4 pm – Contemporary Fiction
Readings with JJ Franklin, Kate (Under the Apple Blossom) Frost, author and writing coach Sue Johnson, Lynne Pardoe, Thomas Shepherd, Katharine Smith Josephine Lay and Ellie Stevenson
Since I’m also having a new author mugshot taken at 12.30 by writer/photographer Angela Fitch, the chance of getting to much else – or even find lunch! – seems desperately small. But I’ll try to pop in to the Short Story Workshop at 2 pm with Sue Johnson – or the discussion on creative thinking led by Orna Ross. Difficult decisions! And I’m very disappointed to miss the 1 pm talk on the History of Print and Publishing.
You can decide on what you’d like to do by downloading the full programme here or just see what takes your fancy on the day.
One highlight I will not miss is the launch of Debbie Young’s debut crime novel Best Murder in Show set in a village rather like, you guessed, Hawkesbury Upton. Sounds like a blast.
Free tomorrow? See you there!
Ali Bacon / Books and Other Things 