Jan Baynham

Guest Post with Anni Rose

Today I'm delighted to welcome author, Anni Rose, back to the blog. Recipe for Mr Banksy, Anni's fifth novel in her Recipe for Love series, was published on September 19th by Choc Lit Publishing, an imprint of JOFFE BOOKS and I've invited her to tell us more about the story behind her book.

Over to you, Anni!

Thank you, Jan, for inviting me on to your blog today to talk about Recipe for Mr Banksy. I know that you’re a Welsh cake lady, but I’ve brought Toffee Crisps, they’re Robbie’s favourites, although I’m quite partial to them too. Toffee, marshmallow, and rice crispies - what’s not to like - my grandmother’s recipe. Robbie is an important part of Recipe for Mr Banksy, he was partly inspired by this image in Penge. He’s as fascinated by graffiti as I am, which is why this book has been so much fun for me to write.

So, Recipe for Mr Banksy is beauty therapist meets a graffiti artist, or in the words of my elevator pitch – beauty therapist with apostrophe issues meets disaffected doctor over a stolen can of paint. No, that wasn’t something the publishers used on the blurb! This book felt like a real labour of love. My tribute to graffiti artists all round the world and maybe one in particular!

One of my favourite graffiti for ages had to be the PEAS on the M25 bridge near Uxbridge/Watford. I can’t remember not seeing PEAS on journeys round the M25, but then one December I was driving up to see some friends in Suffolk for the New Year and it had been amended to read, Give Peas a Chance, which made me smile all the way to Suffolk and every time I saw it afterwards.

My favourite images are those with humour in them.

Often, you have to keep your eyes open to spot some works, like this one, a miniature wheat paste, by Pablo Delgado, which when you realise the bricks in the wall behind it are probably what - two to three inches high at the most? You can see why his works are not always easy to spot.

But if you have difficulty spotting them, then you’re probably going to miss the chewing gum artist completely. Someone who brings his art to discarded chewing gum, usually underfoot.

On the other scale, the lovely Dan Kitchener does very colourful, complete walls, his wetlook images are among my favourites.

Thankfully, nowadays graffiti is becoming much more accepted with many towns having regular street art festivals, while other towns produce walking tours to celebrate their graffiti, which I think is fabulous.

And of course, there is Banksy. My sister and I spent my birthday weekend driving up and back to Glasgow recently to see his Cut and Run exhibition where he showed a lot of his old stencils. He said about the exhibition, ‘These are the stencils I use to paint graffiti. I’ve kept them hidden away for years mindful they could be used as evidence in a charge of criminal damage. However, that moment seems to have passed, so now I’m exhibiting them in a gallery as works of art. I’m not sure which is the greater crime.’

We posed for a Polaroid photo while we were there next to the picture of the wall at the Bridge Street Primary School. It was well worth the journey; a fabulous exhibition and I hope he’ll go on producing work for years to come.

Sorry, I’ve gone on a bit, haven’t I, but thank you for having me on your blog today, it’s been really fun.

Not at all, Anni. I'm sure readers will have been as interested as I have been to read about your fascination with graffiti. I shall be looking more closely now when I see examples of this art form on our streets.

Blurb

Daisy’s love life needs a makeover . . .

Beauty therapist Daisy is having one of those days.

She’s just ended things with her boyfriend. Coming home to a huge ‘Sold’ sign planted in their front lawn and hearing him planning to move them into a caravan is the last straw.

To top it off, her greedy landlord, who also happens to be her ex’s best friend, is threatening to ruin her business.

So it’s no surprise a spelling mistake in the butcher’s window is enough to push her over the edge. And fixing it with a can of spray paint from a passing graffiti artist only makes things worse.

The graffiti artist is actually trainee doctor Jackson. Street art helps him to relax when he’s not at his stressful job.

Jackson doesn’t know what to make of the impulsive Daisy, but he can’t get her out of his head.

As Daisy fights to save her business, fate seems to delight in throwing her and Jackson together.

And boy do they make a good team . . . But can a passionate beauty therapist and a sensible doctor really have a future?

Anni Rose Biography

Anni was born and raised in Berkshire, she emigrated to Wiltshire eight years ago, where she now lives with her husband, sister and two dogs.

As a child, she loved writing fiction, producing reams of stories, most thankfully lost over the years.

On leaving school, the need to earn a living sort of got in the way of any creative ambitions and she became an accountant where her only published work apart from regular financial reports was the employees’ handbook.

A local writing course and an encouraging group of writing friends re-ignited the fiction flame many years later and she went on to win or be shortlisted in a number of writing competitions and had short stories published in Writers Forum, My Weekly and Sophie King’s ‘How to Write your Life Story’.

These days she would describe her writing as contemporary romances with a healthy dollop of humour thrown in. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and was delighted to have been signed by Choc Lit. in 2020.

Away from writing, she can usually be found either walking the dogs, on horseback, behind a camera, or enjoying one of her husband’s curries or sister’s bakery treats.

Social Media

Twitter: @AnniRoseAuthor

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnniRoseAuthor

Website: https://anniroseauthor.co.uk

Instagram: anniroseauthor

Buying links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Recipe-Mr-Banksy-gorgeously-uplifting-ebook/dp/B0CF62GY4F/

Thank you for reading. Have you spotted an example of street art that's made you stop and smile or think about the meaning behind it?

You may also follow me on:

Twitter: @JanBaynham

Facebook: Jan Baynham Writer

Blog: Jan's Journey into Writing