It was so exciting last night to see two huge characters from my childhood on stage together: Kathleen Turner, who I will always think of first as romance novelist Joan Wilder from Romancing the Stone, and Ian McDiarmid, the dreaded evil emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars movies. The play was Bakersfield Mist. Joan Wilder plays a boozy trailer … [Read more...]
Reading and workshop at the London Short Story Festival, 21 June 2014
I'll be reading at an event called 'The weird and wonderful world of short stories' alongside fellow reality-benders Dan Powell and Robert Shearman at The London Short Story Festival on 21 June 2014, 11am–12pm. We'll be chaired by Tania Hershman. The event is at Waterstones Piccadilly. Tickets are £8. Full event details and booking here. An hour … [Read more...]
Reading at the Literary Kitchen Festival, London, 20 June 2014
I'll be reading alongside Stuart Evers, Naomi Wood and Douglas Cowie at the Literary Kitchen Festival on Friday 20 June. The event runs 7–11 at The Peckham Pelican. Tickets are £5/£3 concessions. Full event details and booking here. The festival is on 16–22 June 2014, and includes open-studio workshops; readings from folk such as Evie Wyld, Adam … [Read more...]
Stories and Supper event
On Wednesday 5 March 2014 I'm doing an event in Berkhamsted - Stories and Supper - where I'll be chatting with writer Julie Mayhew about my work. An actor will read one of my stories, and I'll read one, too. Tickets are £20 if you come for supper and wine, or £10 just for the stories. This is the first of a new format event from the guys that run … [Read more...]
A cemetery reading and a weekend workshop with WordFactory
Next month I'll be doing two gigs for the awesome WordFactory: On Friday 8 November at 7pm, I will be reading at Hauntings: Ghost Stories at Earlsfield Cemetery, alongside Stella Duffy, Tania Hershman and Alex Preston. Can't wait. It's going to be spooktacular. Tickets are £10 if booked before 31st October, £12 in advance, and £15 on the … [Read more...]
Daleks at the BBC National Short Story Awards
Until last week, I'd never been to BBC Broadcasting House, but it was somewhere I'd always wanted to go. So I was excited when the invite to the BBC National Short Story Award prizegiving dropped through my letterbox and I saw that the event had moved from its traditional home at the Freeword Centre to the BBC Radio Theatre. And the Beeb didn't … [Read more...]
Five things I learned at Small Wonder yesterday
At dawn on Sunday morning I drove down to Charleston, near Lewes in East Sussex, for the final day of the Small Wonder short story festival. The events were - as always - fascinating and diverse. Here are five things I learned there: 1 William Trevor used to be a serious sculptor. In a recorded interview with Small Wonder Artistic Director Diana … [Read more...]
Why can’t real life be like the Cork Short Story Festival?
I've just got back from the Cork International Short Story Festival and I have Post Literary Festival Separation Anxiety (PLFSA). It's so hard to leave a festival sometimes. Especially one as spectacularly warm and generous as this. Of course I missed Naomi and the boys like crazy while I was away, but when you spend more than a night or two … [Read more...]