A great evening on Sunday at the Gloucestershire Writers Network event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The town is always alive with activity over the ten days of the Festival and the venues - largely in the Town Hall or in marquees in the Montpelier and Imperial Gardens - have a terrific atmosphere.
The Gloucestershire Writers Network event was held in the Drawing Room of the Town Hall and was sold out almost as soon as the public booking opened. The winners of the annual poetry and prose competitions and the runners up are entertained in the Writers Room before the event - where it's all too easy to get delusions of grandeur when you find yourself in the company of nationally, if not internationally, acclaimed authors! But it's the event itself which is really special - having the opportunity to read your work at such a prestigious Festival.
As last year's poetry winner it was my privilege to present the "Poet's Hare" to Sheila Spence, this year's winner (though I must say I was sorry to part company with him - he's been sitting on my desk, a real inspiration, for the last twelve months!). My ex-colleague in Somewhere Else, Iris Lewis, was unable to be there for the evening so I read her winning prose piece, "No Small Thing", on her behalf, before reading my own short story, "The Drop". It was fascinating to hear the variety of pieces that had been inspired by the theme of this year's Festival - "Brave New World". David Clarke, a local poet who was himself a winner at the event two years ago and who had judged this year's poetry section, then rounded off the evening with readings of some of his own work.
Many thanks indeed to Rona Laycock who once again organised both the competition and such a successful, enjoyable event as its culmination!
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| Presenting Sheila with the Poets's Hare |
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