Greetings, friends! I thought you might like a little update on the continuing journey of First Light. Just this past weekend I was at the wondrous Beyond the Border International Storytelling festival in Wales, one of my very favourite places to be in all the wide world. If you've never been, you should go -- in 2018, when the next festival will run. In the meantime, of course, you can follow @BTBStorytelling on Twitter and look out for the events the festival runs throughout the year.
At Beyond the Border this year I was privileged to share a stage with our wonderful contributors, storytellers Ben Haggarty, Hugh Lupton, Nick Hennessey and novelist Elizabeth Garner to talk about First Light: truly this was a wonderful event. It offered further proof (if such were needed) of the way in which Alan's work goes out in the world and connects past to present, work to word... to the story in all of us. It was a vibrant discussion, enlived by some really excellent audience questions about landscape, "children's" literature, the power of fantasy -- and what Alan's work can bring us all in our post-Brexit world. The message? Well -- onwards. Copies of First Light flew of the festival bookshop's shelves, too, which is never displeasing.
If you couldn't be there, I'm sorry -- BUT you've got another chance to come to a very different, but I am sure equally wonderful, First Light event... at Jodrell Bank, no less! The Bluedot Festival will take place in its grounds 22 - 24 July, and I'll be speaking there with Dr Teresa Anderson, our contributor and the Director of the Discovery Centre at Jodrell. Oh -- and I've heard a rumour that Alan will be there to sign books... since Jodrell's just in the next field from his house.
I hope to see you there! In the meantime, here's a snap of our panel at Beyond the Border (many thanks to Emily Hennessey). I've still got an awfully warm glow from that lovely talk...
xErica
