I’m getting ready for my next novel reading and this time, very conveniently, it’s in my home town of Lewes, UK, just down the road from my house at the building known as The Needlemakers. I shall be sharing the evening with two other East Sussex writers, the poets Sian Thomas and Liz Bahs. http://www.needlewriters.co.uk/
The building was once a candlemakers’ factory that, during World War I, became a surgical needle manufacturers. It now houses an eclectic collection of specialist shops and a splendid cafe where the Lewes Needlewriters’ meetings take place four times a year. The events are usually well attended because Lewes folk appear to like the mixture of readings, food and drink. The atmosphere is always benign and receptive so I am really looking forward to it. http://www.needlemakers.co.uk/
The Needlemakers Cafe doesn’t just russle up great meals, it makes an excellent performance space too in the middle of our arty and rather liberal town here in the South Downs National Park. So, you might like to come on down next Thursday and make a night of it with some wine, supper and, I hope you’ll agree, some interesting readings.
I am now thumbing through my novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love (publisher Ward Wood Publishing) trying to decide which passages to read – the bits that give the spirit of the novel without giving out too many spoilers.
I’m also trying to decide whether to read some of the Fibonacci poetry that I have recently put together in a collection called Brief Encounters about, yes, some of my brief encounters, or, maybe to include a chapter from my new novel, Blue Notes, Still Frames, also like Stephen D, set in Brighton and due to be published by Ward Wood in 2015. I may just go with the flow on the night. These Needlewriters events are always supported by Matt Birch who runs Skylark, one of the Needlemakers shops, a splendidly Lewesian emporium that stocks not only books but arts and crafts many with an ecological and ethnic bias. http://www.skylarkshop.com/
Matt is one of that great but endangered species, an independent bookseller, and I, for one, am impressed by his support for writers – and not just us local ones. He will be selling tickets for the event but he will also do a display of the books being read on the night so, if you haven’t done so already, this would be a great opportunity for you to buy yourself a copy of my and the other readers’ books – the authors’ signing will be free!