All the Fun of the Fair?

I am going to The London Book Fair for the first time tomorrow.

I'm not quite sure what to expect - I've heard both good and bad reports from people in the know - but this year they are offering an interesting program of seminars on various aspects of writing, publishing and marketing children's books, not to mention a shiny new Author Lounge to hang out in, so it seems to be as good a time as any to dip my toe in the water!

I shall let you know how I get on...

Happy Easter!

There is a Green Hill Far Away
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by His precious blood.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.

O dearly, dearly has He loved!
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.

HAPPY EASTER!

The Oxford Literary Festival

I spent the weekend at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival and, once again, had a fantastic time. The weather was gorgeous, the location (Christ Church college) both beautiful and convenient, and attendance at nine events, shoe-horned into a little less than forty-eight hours, saw the setting of a new personal record!

The highlights included an extremely entertaining debate between children’s writers Helena Pielichaty and Penny Dolan (Penny arguing in favour of fantasy in children’s books, whilst Helena championed reality), a wonderful talk by former Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo, and a moving presentation by ex-Royal Marine, Pen Farthing, who not only managed to rescue a large number of mistreated dogs while serving in Afghanistan, but has also now set up the charity Nowzad Dogs to continue the good work. You can read more about Pen's experiences (and help the dogs by doing so) in his brilliant book, One Dog at a Time: Saving the Strays of Helmand.

I also very much enjoyed Martin Brasier and Emma Darwin's fascinating joint event, which was ostensibly concerned with Charles Darwin and the Cambrian explosion, but turned out to be incredibly wide-ranging, covering everything from fossils to metaphors, by way of the Wars of the Roses! I was delighted to get my copy of Emma's latest book, A Secret Alchemy, signed afterwards and greatly look forward to reading it - the first paragraph has me hooked!

The train home to Paddington was sweltering, though thankfully not as crowded as the one up to Oxford two days beforehand had been, and we arrived back in London to discover that the Hammersmith and City Line was closed for 'engineering works' - grrr! Despite these hitches, however, nothing was able to dampen my spirits after such a great weekend - nor to dissuade me from going again next year!