THREE local novelists will be in conversation about their bestselling and critically acclaimed books on 19th September, as part of the ongoing Accidental Book Festival hosted by Winstone’s Hunting Raven Books.
Winnie M Li, Frances Liardet and Libby Page will share their experiences of getting published and turning writing into a career. All three are members of The Write Place, a creative workspace and community for writers located in Black Swan Arts.
“It sounds amazing to be a novelist but there’s actually a lot of uncertainty: will you ever get another book deal? Will anyone like your book? How do you juggle your writing life with your family life?” says Winnie, “writing can be a very lonely craft and we wanted to have this conversation for writers at any stage and for readers to get a glimpse of the process behind book writing.”
Together, the three women have published nine novels, ranging across literary suspense, historical fiction and women’s fiction.
Winnie’s latest novel Complicit was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award for outstanding second novel. Her debut Dark Chapter won The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize and was translated into ten languages.
Frances’ historical novels are Think of Me and We Must Be Brave, which was a New York Times bestseller. But she won the Betty Trask Award 25 years ago for her suspense novel and her next novel is contemporary. Libby’s debut novel The Lido was a Sunday Times bestseller and translated into 25 languages. She has since published three more novels including her latest The Vintage Shop, which is set in Frome.
Prior to becoming novelists, they worked in a range of other fields like journalism, film producing, social justice advocacy, language teaching and archaeology. They will talk about their writing lives, open up the conversation to the audience and, of course, sign copies of their books, which will be available for sale.
The event will take place in Black Swan Arts at 7pm on Tuesday 19th September. Tickets cost £6, £3 for The Write Place members, or can be booked as part of the Accidental Book Festival pass. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/our-writing-lives-with-libby-page-winnie-m-li-frances-liardet-tickets-692433556407
This event takes place in association with The Write Place which is open for any writers to join.
For more information: https://www.writeplace.org.uk/
