Whatever happens, Georgina will post a new WhatsApp prompt for the 100 word stories on Monday and I'll do best to do the same on Wednesday for the Weblog.
Meantime Jim has sent in a link to a free competition for the - shall we say - more senior members of the group. Jim says:
Kingslear is a free competition for writers over 70. There is one category for youngsters over 60!
This is a new creative arts competition for older people stuck at home because of Coronavirus. Please look at their website kinglearprizes.org.uk
From Meg Reid comes the following message about the Book FGestival.
We were very sad to have to cancel our live festival because of Covit-19.
We have though been working on a digital offering over the same weekend- 26-28 June - and would very much appreciate it if you could pass on details to any networks to which you have access.
Details are shown below.
Thank you so much,
Meg
A ‘virtual’ Felixstowe Book Festival for 2020
Felixstowe Book Festival is going ‘virtual’ with live streamed Facebook interviews, author videos and a JustGiving page.
The Festival Book Group kick off with a birthday party to celebrate Anne Bronte's 200th birthday on Friday June 26th, at 7.30pm, on ZOOM (ID: 858 5444 7275) Nick Holland, a leading authority on the Brontës, will join in to talk about his latest book ‘Crave the Rose: Anne Bronte at 200’.
On Saturday and Sunday 27th and 28th June there are live streamed Facebook interviews, with George Alagiah, newsreader and author of ‘Burning Land’, Nick Cottam ( a virtual illustrated tour of the River Deben), Liz Trenow ( ‘Under A Wartime Sky’, set at Bawdsey Manor), Harriet Tyce (‘Blood Orange’), Paul French (‘City of Devils’) and writer and actress, Carol Drinkwater (‘The House on the Edge of the Cliff.’)
Audiences can tune in to listen and to ask questions on the Festival's Facebook page www.facebook.com/FelixstoweBookFest/ and on the website, https://www.felixstowebookfestival.co.uk.
The Festival also has videos from Iain Dale talking politics and Paul French for an author Q&A about China. Other writers will let us take a peep into the places where they write and tell us what inspired their latest books.
Interviews: A Castaway Library
We have all spent the past few months engaging in some form of isolation away from family, friends and from normal life. But imagine if our isolation was imposed not by a pandemic but by geography? In true Desert Island Discs style we will be asking several Felixstowe Book Festival guests how they would cope with life alone on a desert island, with only three books for company.
Children's Events
We will have a few fun and interactive treats in store for your little ones over the festival weekend, with plenty to keep young minds entertained and inspired.
Full details of the new programme and JustGiving is on the Felixstowe Book Festival website www.felixstowebookfestival.co.uk, but the streamed authors will be broadcast live at the following times:
Saturday 27th June
Harriet Tyce 11 am, Paul French City of Devils 2pm and Carol Drinkwater 4.30
Sunday 28th June
Liz Trenow 11.30, George Alagiah 2pm and Nick Cottam Sunday 4pm
Other videos will be shown between the above times.
Meg Reid
Director Felixstowe Book Festival
www.felixstowebookfestival.co.uk
Let's hope the current lockdown situation keeps being eased without causing a further spike in the terrible virus that is all around. Let's enjoy the sun while we can, gather some inspiration to write again and hopefully submit to our two outlets for your stories.
In due course we may have some good news for you all...
Keep smiling,
Stay safe
Dave.
