Showing posts with label Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Show all posts

Friday, March 14, 2014

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and Connections

You would be forgiven for thinking I had fallen off the edge of the earth…the last post was just before Christmas and it's now almost St Patrick's Day…and well I have sort of fallen off of the edge.
I had a book to finish and edit and a family to remind I hadn't forgotten them either…

So I have delivered A Cornish Stranger and am just waiting to review the final proofs…gulp…I can't believe that my third book will be out at the end of May.

Thankfully I finished the copy edits in time to enjoy the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature last week. It was fabulous but then I expect nothing less than fabulous from it. This year it was a bit like old home week in someways catching up with writers who had come before and connecting with people that I had links to even if they didn't know about them. For example Pru Leith was one of this year's authors…I introduced myself…'Hi Pru, you don't know me but you have slept in my bed and cooked in my kitchen.' It certainly got her attention. The full story is a mutual friend used to rent our house in Cornwall. There were other connections with Sir Tim Rice and Andrew Motion but one I hadn't expected at all…

Sitting in the back of a 4x4 on the way to the desert with Justin Cronin the world became very small indeed…we were the same age, both born in Boston and summered on the Cape. It became smaller still when he mentioned where he had a home on the Cape…the same place my parents had. And the it became even smaller the more we chatted..we knew some of the same people, queued for ice-cream at Four Seas…at a certain point we decided to let the past remain still foggy.
Liz Fenwick and Justin Cronin with Philip Reeve in the background

So you can imagine the smile that crossed my face upon returning home from the Orion party on Wednesday evening and looking through the brochure that was in the goodie bag to find Justin's book and mine side by side. Had I not met him in the desert I wouldn't have had a clue how two kids from Massachusetts could end up writers and be published by the same publisher and -  diving into the foggy bits, maybe had danced together some place along the way….



Thursday, April 18, 2013

London Book Fair 2013...an author's point of view

The Emirates Airline Literary Festival Team
This morning I am relaxing, just a little. The past two days I have been enjoying the madness that is London Book Fair. On Monday I was there just to soak up the atmosphere...but of course I immediately bumped into friends.
Immogen Howsen and Lynne Connolly at the Samhain stand

I wandered around bumping into friends and I was lucky enough to catch Patrick Brown of Goodreads talking in the AuthorLounge his presentation is here. There is so much to learn. While in the author lounge I bumped into Sue Fortin and Linn B Halton.
Carole Blake ready for the second day of London Book Fair to begin

Day two had a plan. I was meeting spending the morning meeting my editors from Germany, Holland, Portugal and Norway. I was given a table just behind my agent Carole Blake to share with Peter James (yes, esteemed company except that Pater ending up holding his meeting in the The Ivy Club!)
Pater James and Carole Blake
It was fabulous to met my editors and find out how the sales are going and if there was anything I could do to help sales. It's very frustrating to not be able to help...However the good news was that The Cornish House aka Sterne Uber Cornwall, A Casa Dos Sonhos, Sterren Boven Cornwall and Stjerner over Cornwall is doing very well!

Meetings over I set out into the fair and bumped into two agents...Jane Judd and Broo Doherty then caught up with Julia Williams and her twin sister Virginia and a relaxed lunch before braving the fair again.

Saying farewell to them I found the Choc Lit stand and shared a chocolate with Sue Moorcroft and Pia Christina Courtenay. Then the amazing Victoria Lamb appeared...she had left her coat in The Ivy Club so while collecting it with her we had a glass of champagne...


While exploring the Orion stand I bumped into Kate Mosse and the Emirates Airlines Literary Festival Team plus Rose Prince...just love name dropping...then fortunately I saw Annabel Kantaria from Dubai who won the Montegrappa First Fiction competition at the Emirates Airlines Literary Festival. I tagged along and found myself in The Ivy Club again...

Isobel Abulhoul, Luigi Bonomi, Annabel Kantaria and Yvette Judge
And who did we find in The Ivy Club...
Luigi Bonomi, Peter James, Isobel Abulhoul and Liz Fenwick
After catching up it was a mad dash to attend the launch of the campaign to save bookstores BOOKS ARE MY BAG. Lord Saatchi opened the launch...
Lord Saatchi
The simplicity of the campaign was explained...Everyone can carry the poster BOOKS ARE MY BAG...the campaign officially begins on September 14th but the bags were the most coveted item of the London Book Fair...

I have mine but I also have a spare...so leave a comment here by May 2nd and I'll send you the BOOKS ARE MY BAG bag and a signed copy of The Cornish House to go into it.... Do any of my writer friends want to add there book to the bag for the winner?

NOTE: The bag now contains more books... A Clash of Innocents by Sue Guinney and Home for Christmas by Cally Taylor

Finally here's the link to my radio chat about books on Sunday the 15th of April with Geordie Bird on Dubai 92 here. The book discussion begins about four minutes in...I discuss the charts and what in my to be read pile...

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Wow What A Festival...but it's over

I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms from the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and facing the overflowing inbox and piles of laundry....

But I will hold onto the magic of the festival for a long time or at least until next next year...and I made the front page of the Gulf News...well I'm pictured there with HH Sheikh Mohammed. The evening of poetry under the stars was magic enough, but then to have HH arrive well, that made it sparkle a bit more. I have been close royalty before. I have tread in divots at Smith's Lawn with HH Queen Elizabeth II but somehow listening to poetry in the desert with a sheikh is far more interesting...here's the link to the picture here.

So of course the best thing to help with my withdrawal symptoms is...another festival...Chipping Norton Festival Literary Festival is in April. I'll be able to listen to many great author tell their stories and share their skills and I'll be able to share what I've learned this week.

Throughout the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, I chatted to so many authors and one thing became clear...many are either scared of or don't see the point in Social Media....My session with Dubai Abulhoul on Thursday evening was about how Social Media is vital in today's book publishing world.
Liz Fenwick and Dubai Abulhoul at the book signing at Emirates Festival of Literature

So many interesting things came out of that session...one of the most important was how different regions use Social Media. I'll be sharing these insights and plenty more that I have learned on my journey from unpublished writer to published one at the Chipping Norton Literary Festival on Saturday the  20th of April 2013....for more details go here.

So I need to bide my time, begin another book and plan my workshop until I can live in a literary world again...

Friday, March 08, 2013

Day Three at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

Yesterday was amazing and because today is so full on I don't have time to say much but I'll post a few pictures....

Liz Fenwick and Dubai Abulhoul
My session with the most amazing sixteen year old I have ever met, Dubai Abulhoul was fabulous...and not because of me...it was the electric atmosphere in the room filled with Dubai's friends. The room was packed and our moderator Hisham Wyne was superb as always. I can't recall ever having quite so much fun while being in the spot light. A huge thank you to all who bought The Cornish House and came for a chat after the session!

Sitting next to me at the signing table was the delicious (for there is no other word except maybe wonderful) for Antonio Carluccio...and we chatted about how glorious Cornwall is...the picture below is me with him in a total fan girl moment!
Antonio Carluccio and Liz Fenwick
There are more pictures on Facebook here

Thursday, March 07, 2013

A Desert Evening Filled with Poetry and camels...Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Day Two

Last night was simply amazing...listening to poetry from around the world under the stars in the desert....and a bit of camel riding before hand while we watched the sun set. We also hand a royal visitor too...
Sharing a camel with Philip Ardagh is something I'll never forget!

Luigi Bonomi and me

Mark Billingham, Philip Ardagh, John Connolly and Ian Rankin

Philip Ardagh with the welcome committee 

Giles Andreae, Anthony Horowitz, Philip Ardagh and mark Billingham

Wasn't sure with the height difference that Philip and I would appear in the photo!

Poets before they left for the desert- Richard Armitage, Jeet Thayil, me, Roger McGough and Sjon


leading camel has Clare and Mark Billingham, the next hold Kate Mosse, and final Anthony Beevor and Atemis Cooper

Gregg Mosse, Anthony Horowitz and Ian Rankin
There are more pictures up on my Facebook page here

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Some Photos from Last Night at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

Just before the opening ceremony of the festival we have the pleasure and privilege to watch these beautiful girl dance for us...my photos don't do them justice.








And now for something completely different...this morning I spoke at the Old Library. They were a wonderful group of women with brilliant questions....


Then I raced back to the Intercontinental Hotel for the author photos...
Rosie Goldsmith chatting with Ian Rankin

Tonight we are off to the desert to hear poetry under the stars...but before that I'll be spending the afternoon driving through the dunes and might meet a camel or two....

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

It's Here...The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

I can't believe this is the festival's fifth year and I have been lucky enough to be at everyone of them and as an attendee, a volunteer and as an author!


Back at the first festival I took in so much information I nearly popped. I fed my soul with words and advice.

The second year I was on hand to help out with Education Day and saw the important work of bringing the joy of reading to children of the area.

The third year I manned the Green Room and met authors I never dreamt I would ever come in contact with....

The fourth year and I was suddenly on the stage as an author...what a thrill.

The fifth year ... again I will be on the stage  as an author and in the audience listening and learning. The whole time making sure I relish every moment of this fabulous event.

Today the Irish cookery writer, Rachel Allen, asked for my advice on what to see and do...and I said be daring and go to a session that your not sure about for that is when the magic happens....a whole new world opens up.

The other big joy of today was that I held in my hand for the first time the mass market (small) paperback of The Cornish House. It will be on sale here at the festival a full month before it is officially released!

Finally my pictures from today are here