Book Launch with a Brazilian Beat

If you suspect that your dad, who was reported dead twenty-five years ago might still be alive, would you still want to find him? That's the question Joel in Ed Siegle's debut novel Invisibles has to face. Well, he's pretty sure himself, but when Joel travels from Brighton to Rio de Janeiro to search for his dad he meets local boy Nelson who makes him question his decision ...

I admire the way Ed Siegle managed to pull this story off, with four different narratives (Joel, Nelson, Joel's mum Jackie and Joel's girlfriend Debbie), spanning over nearly forty years, covering the ground and the backstory in both Brighton and Rio.

Invisibles (published by Myriad Editions) is a book filled with a samba beat and a passion for finding the truth.

Being part of the Events Team at Hove Library I'm delighted to host at Brighton Book Launch for Invisibles next week. Please come along!

When? Wednesday 1 June, 6.30pm
Where? Hove Library
How? FREE, Just turn up! Special Wine & Book Deal
Music by the Brighton School of Samba

Ed Siegle's Blog

Glasshopper: Growing up in Fiction

On Thursday Isabel Ashdown guested Hove Library to talk about her debut novel Glasshopper at an event called "Growing Up in Fiction". I first heard Isabel speak at the Chichester Writing Festival and was intrigued by how her novel came to be a novel. It all started with a short story competition for the Mail on Sunday. Isabel submitted her story, and forgot all about it. A year later she gets a phone call and is told that she's the winner of the competition! It's the kind of phone call all writers are waiting for ...

Isabel, who discussed her writing process with literary agent Adrian Weston, told the audience that Glasshopper in fact contains several chapters that were orginally written as short stories. Perhaps that's why the novel is so good, because when you write short stories you have to be more precise in your writing. The novel follows Jake who grows up in Portsmouth in the 80s, and parallell to his story the novel follow his mum Mary growing up in Hove in the 60s. Interestingly enough Jake first started off as a girl and Mary started off as a dad instead of a mum ...

What I love best about Glasshopper are the family secrets bubbling under the suface, and the ending is brilliant. To me it's the perfect twist, both believable and shocking. Isabel revealed that she didn't have much of a plan when she started off, the ending came as a surprise to herself about half-way into the writing.

Tom Connolly, author of The Spider Truces, was also supposed to be at the event, but sadly had to cancel at the last minute. Instead Adrian Weston read an extract from The Spider Truces, another novel that deals with growing up in the 80s. Both Tom Connolly and Isabel Ashdown are published by Myriad Editions, and Isabel has a second novel secured with them, to be published this summer. It's called Hurry up and Wait. I can't wait!

National Poetry Week

Next week is National Poetry Day (Thursday 7 Oct), but the celebrations are lasting for over a week.

I've been invited to both Jubilee Library in Brighton and Hove Library to perform some poems at the Study Support sessions "We Love Mondays" and "We Love Thursdays". I'll also inspire Young People (9-19 year-olds) to write their own poems and enter a competition on the theme "Home".

MORE INFO HERE

The week after, Wed 13 Oct, I'm co-hosting (with Brian Marley) a FREE POETRY OPEN MIC night, "Every Day is Poetry Day" at Hove Library. Everybody welcome! Doors 6.30pm for 7pm start. Sign up early at the door if you want to read. Special guests: Yvo Luna, Rosy Carrick and Ben Graham.

Sports, Prostitution & Other Aspects of History in Fiction - Free Author Event at Hove Library This Thursday

Debut authors Ed Hillyer and Jonathan Kemp, both published by Myriad Editions of Hove will read from their novels followed by a Q&A, curated by literary agent Adrian Weston.


Where? Hove Library, Children's Area
When? Thursday 23 September, doors 6.30pm for 7pm start
How? Free! No need to book, but turn up early to avoid disappointment, refreshments (wine, juice) available


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Ed Hillyer and Jonathan Kemp's very different novels both explore the untold stories of the past, from Aboriginal cricketers touring Kent and the capital in the 1860s, to rent boys on the fringes of high society in Victorian London.

Ed Hillyer was selected as one of Waterstone's New Voices for 2010, and his novel THE CLAY DREAMING is an epic adventure with a mystery at its heart, brimming with memorable characters and historical intrigue, and etched with documentary detail that brings both Regency and Victorian London vividly to life.

Jonathan Kemp's first novel, LONDON TRIPTYCH, explores the lives of three gay men in three historical periods - the 1890s, 1950s and 1980s - in a dark, startling and unsettling narrative of sex, exploitation and dependence set against London’s strangely constant gay underworld. Jake Arnott described the book as 'vivid and visceral... cuts deep to reveal the hidden layers of a secret history.'

How to create suspense in novel - free event at Hove Library this Thursday

Three authors from Myriad Editions of Hove will read from their debut novels followed by a Q&A. The focus is on how they create suspense in their novels, and the importance of setting.

Where? Hove Library, Childrens Area
When? Thursday 17 June, doors 6.30pm for 7pm start
How? Free! But turn up early to avoid disappointment

What do teenagers do in their spare time?

Yesterday I ran a creative writing workshop for Young Adults at Hove Library called "It's raining words". Only one teenager turned up, so in the end we opened it up to all ages and got two more participants: one 56-year old and and one 29-year old. The girls from the study support team joined in as well so in the end I had five people in the my workshop.

Despite the low number we all had great fun. Matt - the teenager wrote about a woman who lost her watering can in the library due to library staff knocking on her door telling her that her books were late ... He's 13 and it was the longest story he'd ever written and he seemed very pleased with it. He also wrote a brilliant two-line poem inspired by the old saying "It's raining cat's and dogs." The adults were equally productive and I was pleased that my exercises sparked their imagination.

Now my question is: Why did the teenagers not turn up to a free creative writing workshop?

*Not the right marketing?
A couple of months ago a leaflet went out to school children about different activities during the Aqua Festival (which my workshop was part of.) Bookings had to be made by phoning or emailing a third party (not me, not the library, but the person organising the festival) Posters and flyers went up in the library, but again pre-bookings had to be made by contacting a third party. It was also advertised on the council website and the library website.

A flyer can be seen by clicking here.

The theory me and my colleagues have is that teenagers don't want to book things in advance, they prefer to drop in on the day, so at the last minute we put a "drop in"-banner on the posters in the library.

*Not the right age group?
Teenagers is a tricky age group. Before I was sixteen I was too shy to do anything. And if you don't have any friends who want to come along it can be very difficult to go to something on your own. At that age writing could also be something that feels very private and they might be afraid they have to read out what they've written. (I wanted to do a creative writing project as my final exam work when I was 19, but decided not to do it when my teacher said I might have to show it to other people ...)

*Not the right time and place?
I can understand that if you have spent all Monday at school you might not want to come to the library, sit down and do something that almost feels like school. Not that many teenagers go to Hove Library anyway, but when the library ran a drawing manga workshop a while ago about ten teenagers turned up, so that was obviously more cool ... (on that occasion you could sign up directly in the library)

To make me feel better, any other ideas about why teenagers didn't turn up are most welcome! :) :) :)

As I've put in quite a bit of time in preparing this workshop the library managers suggested that I do it again, but that we ask a specific class to come in during school time. A break from ordinary lessons is often welcome. The talks I've done in classes during school time in Sweden have been very popular and successful.

I'm also open for doing the workshop at other venues, so please contact me if you know anyone who's interested.