Narberth Book Fair 2017

Tenby Book Fair had already become a permanent date in my diary and each year it grew in size and success. Because of that, its organisers, authors, Judith Barrow and Thorne Moore, moved the venue this year to bigger premises. It was held at the Queen's Hall in Narberth, a market town in Pembrokeshire, eleven and a half miles north of Tenby. Appropriately for writers and readers, perhaps, the town plays a high-profile role in Welsh mythology, where it is the chief palace of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, and a key setting in both the first and third branches of the Mabinogi.

Judith, Thorne and Honno crime writer, Jan Newton

The day was jam packed with events from the time the fair opened at 10 a.m. until it closed at 4 p.m. These included talks, readings, workshops, a raffle, competitions and a children's corner. Forty authors attended, a number of those offering recently published novels, and each stall had an array of attractively displayed books.

Wendy with her children's books
 alongside 'Not Thomas'

Checking my prompt cards before we begin!

I was very pleased to lead one of the events to interview Wendy White about her fantasic debut adult novel, 'Not Thomas', written under her pseudonym, Sara Gethin. You may read her guest interview on my blog back in July HERE. Since then, 'Not Thomas' has been nominated and shortlisted with the largest number of public votes for the Guardian's 'Not the Booker' prize. I was very nervous but once we started, it seemed to be like an informal chat about the book. After the initial questions about the inspiration for 'Not Thomas' and its road to publication, the conversation turned to being part of the 'Not the Booker' experience.

Sally Spedding

In the afternoon, my writing friend, Helen, and I attended two excellent workshops. The first was a crime writing one, entitled 'Fear is the Key - Creating the darkest places for the darkest hearts' with Sally Spedding. The second was 'Building a Short Story' with Judith Barrow. Both sessions inspired us to come back and get writing. 

It was so good to chat to authors throughout the day and talk about their books. The whole event ran like clockwork and was a testament to the amount of hard work and preparation put in beforehand by Judith and Thorne. Congratulations to both of them!

Roll on 2018!
Thank you for reading. Have you been inspired by a book event lately? Do you have a literary festival you'd recommend? I'd love it if you'd leave a comment. Thank you. 
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