Ali Bacon's Blog, page 11

Forth Road Bridge to re-open, but for how long?

Today a large part of Scotland will be giving a collective sigh of relief as the Forth Road Bridge re-opens to traffic. But for how much longer? When I crossed last September I never imagined it might be for the last time. All of which made me think about how the bridges dominated our livesgrowing up in Fife and prompted this post on Authors Electric last week. As a result I made contact with Dennis Penny of the Queensferry Passage site whose father was master of one of the old ferry boats wh...

H is for Hawkesbury – a new anthology

Rather a neat title!

Not long to go until my stop on the Scottish blog hop this Sunday, but after that I’m out and about closer to home, firstof all to the not-so-sleepy Cotswold Village of Hawkesbury Upton now well and truly on the literary map since the inaugural literature festival last spring.To celebrate that event and give a boost go the next one, the founder Debbie Young (or T.I.D.Y, the Indefatigable Debbie Young, as I think of her!) has put together a taster of the writers who attend...

A fictional trip around Scotland, starting with A Kettle of Fish

Reading and holidays go together like … well you can fill in your own favourite pairing, but how often does a book make a holiday or a holiday location add something to a book?And before settng off, how often do we look for something set in the country or area we’re visiting? Not long after A Kettle of Fish was published, I heard of a site called Tripfictionthat helps readers match books and destinations. Such a great idea I registered Kettle on there straight away.

I’m delighted to say that...

Looking for Laurie Lee (2): Slad and Stroud

So this time it was my turn to go in search of Laurie Lee, on foot, in the company of ourlocal U3A walking group, who welcomed me warmly on my first outing with them and provided excellentcompany along the way. Of course not all of these seasoned ramblers were interested in the literary connections of the Slad Valley, so three cheers for our leader Lynne whodecided that poetry would be part of the day and invited us all to take a turn reading the poems on the trail.

Poetry in the landscape

I...

Looking for Laurie Lee

We’ve all read Cider with Rosie, haven’t we? Well I certainly remember bits of it featuring in OLevel English circa 1968 and watching at least two episodes of a TV adaptation. I also remember picking up a copy of I Walked Out some years later, probably on account of its poetic title but not progressing very far with it. Since moving south I’ve also been aware of the comparative closeness of Slad (although it turns out I was wrong about exactly how close or even in what direction!)

So my knowl...

Jane Davis introduces Women Writing Women (don’t miss a bargain!)

I first came across Jane Davis when someone in the local Historical Novel Society tipped me off about her I Stopped Time, a fascinating account of life and photography in Brighton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but Jane is also a contemporary novelist. Her first novel, Half-truths and White Lies, won the Daily Mail First Novel Award and afterwards she was featured her in the Bookseller’s ‘One to Watch’ section. She has since published five further novels. I’ve recently read An Unc...

Not writing, still breathing

I’m sure I saw someone say over on Facebook that writing is like breathing, i.e. necessary to life.And up to a few months ago I would have agreed. Regardless of the intrusion of life events (and often because of just that!) writing was the ‘go to’ place, and thinking about writing was the default state of mind.
However back in January a funny thing happened.I just couldn’t write any more. At first I thought it was just the novel I was writing, from which my brain surely needed a break, but ev...

Local Litfest: it can be done!

Debbie Young with Katie Fforde

Havingdetached myself from the writing process and even the writing world for a month or two, I had no hesitation in dipping my toe back in the waters by helping atHawkesbury Upton Litfest, organised by the Indefatigable (that’s a Homeric epithet by the way) Debbie Young in the Fox Inn.And I wasn’t in the least suprised that the whole event went swimmingly. So here’s my report from the sidelines.

Because Debbie wanted to let as many writers as possible take the...

Hay or Hawkesbury? Small is beautiful – and free!

I don’t really have a problem with big literature festivals and have heard some fine and famous writers hold forth in Bath, Cheltenham and elsewhere. Two years ago I even made the pilgrimage to Hay on Wye, some would say the Daddy of them all.It took two hours , it rained a lot, I had a nice lunch with friends then walked to a big tent where I sat withmany other people while it rained some more. I decided not to get a book signed or to buy anything else from the the book or gift shops. I spot...

Stroud Short Stories – submissions open

submissions open for April

It seems no time since I was up in Stroud at the Short Story event last October and telling you all how great it was. The good news is that submissions are open for thenextevent on April 19th, with a deadline of March 21st.

All the rules and regulations areon the Stroud Short Stories website. As an October ‘winner’ I’m not allowed to enter this time and even if that’s a bit of a disappointment I do think it’s a really good policy to avoid the same people hogging the l...