Hello again, and welcome to new supporters of News from the Home Front. Thank you so much for pledging to my book – I appreciate each and every one of you!
I’ve been busy promoting the book - offline and in person! - since my last shed update. This has been an unexpected joy of the Unbound crowdfunding experience. It’s been lovely to share new readings from the book, meet supporters, and get to know some of the other Unbound authors along the way.
On 18th April I went to Brighton to read in the Nightingale Room of the imposing Grand Central Hotel. The room was all velvet banquettes and dark corners, and it made me want to learn burlesque. You’ll be pleased to hear that I resisted dancing, but read alongside fellow Unbound authors Erinna Mettler, Stephen McGowan, Pierre Hollins, and James Ellis. The evening was hosted by Suzie Quattro look-a-like Lonny Pop, who did a fabulous job with the Q&A sessions.
On 23rd April I went to a brilliant literature festival in the village of Hawkesbury Upton, South Gloucestershire. I was invited to sit on the non-fiction panel hosted by Caroline Sanderson of The Bookseller, and read an excerpt of News from Home Front alongside six other authors reading from a wonderfully eclectic array of books. One of my fellow panellists was Jean Burnett, who claims to be the world’s oldest backpacker. I won’t guess her age, but the memoir of her travels, Vagabond Shoes, was marvellous and hilarious.
You may have seen these pieces about me in the press and online over the last couple of weeks:
I’m giving a talk on entrepreneurship to the Heropreneurs at the RAF Club in Mayfair on May 11th, and I’ll be interviewed at the Growth Hub in Gloucester at a special entrepreneurial academics event on May 25th.
If you’re in or near Oxford on Saturday June 4th, do come along to the Albion Beatnik bookshop at 7pm to for a special event with me and three amazing Unbound authors: Virginia Moffatt, Emma Southon and Alice Jolly. Check out their books on unbound.co.uk too!
Finally, I was delighted to be commissioned by the great John Mitchinson to write a short story for a new Unbound book due out in November, Still Barred. You can read all about it here!