Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival
There are local writers here, too!
If any of you are in the UK and residing in or visiting the south east corner, I'm delighted to be taking part in the Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival this year. On Saturday the 10th I shall be in the Pop-In: Pop-Up (unit 24 on the fifth storey) of Royal Victoria Place shopping centre, signing and selling books from my Al Sharika series.
The event runs between 10:00 and 15:00. Unit 24 is next to Toulson Jones Jewellers and right in front of the Taste Wells Cafe.
I'll also be reading a short story at 13:50 - 'The Baked Beans Revenge'. There will be a small section cordoned off on the fourth floor close to the Food Hall entrance of M&S. Chairs will be set out so passers by can rest for a while and listen.
Do stop by and say hello - and buy some books! I look forward to seeing you all :-)
I started to try to gain admission to this event in late summer, 2024. I emailed lots of people and telephoned the council offices without result (often without even an answer-phone to talk to).
My anxiety mounted when, in October, the council began advertising the upcoming ‘exciting event’ to be held in May, 2025. Mention was made in their publicity of certain well-known actors and personalities, all of whom have penned ‘marvellous books’ spanning several genres. These folks would be delivered to Tunbridge Wells by limousine, then charge significant fees to people who book ahead to sit in the same room, breathing the rarified air.
I wrote again, pointing out that there are several traditionally-published writers in our town and lots of independent authors too. Please could we have a slot as well? I volunteered to give a talk; a reading, even to welcome sticky-fingered youngsters to encourage them to express themselves with the written word. Anything! I’m not proud…
Nothing. Nada. No response.
It was only when a fellow writer put me in touch with the former deputy leader of the council that the planets began to shift into alignment. Like great stones in some bureaucratic version of an Indiana Jones movie, there was grinding, creaking and sounds of rushing water before one of the named members of council staff wrote to me in response.
‘How nice to hear from you again’, she wrote in February - before handing me off to a subordinate. To be fair, the subordinate has done a lot of work to organise a space where we can gather, set up a table displaying our books and even read a short story to folks who have 20 minutes to kill. Was this their plan all along? If so, why not tell me at first enquiry?
I’ve been researching how to set up an effective stall - there are lots of YouTube videos on the topic, as you’d expect. I mean, you can teach yourself brain surgery from YouTube, so surely selling books will be a doddle..?
I’ll provide a full report next week.
Now it is getting dark. Time to find my Slug Hunting kit and venture out to capture some of the wee beasties before they gorge themselves on my sprouting seedlings. None have found the first early potatoes in tubs yet. I guess it’s only a matter of time.