Short Story called A Diwali Tale by Barbara Pearman 

Diwali is a five day festival of lights and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs.

Barbara was one of our winners in Hi2020 new writer's opportunity to shine.

Here are a few words from Barbara

Is it really that long!  A lot has happened since then.  You may remember I sent you a chapter of a novel I was writing. Well lockdown provided me with the perfect opportunity to really get stuck in in a big way and in February this year my novel Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz was published by Troubador Publishing. It was an enormous amount of work (well not work actually as I loved every minute of it!) and the book is now on sale with Troubador and online at WHSmith, Foyles, Waterstones, Amazon and many others too numerous to mention. I was recently interviewed on Wycombe Sound Radio and I’m hoping to promote the book in Poland. It was inspired by a visit to Krakow a few years ago but the idea had lain fermenting on my bookshelf since then. Some of the short pieces I wrote with my writing class were the catalyst for the story in the end and gradually the characters and a theme were born out of not very much. In fact it was a copy of a restaurant menu that started it all.I must say that winning the short story competition’s romance section was a real boost to my confidence and no doubt I wouldn’t have attempted to write longer if it hadn’t been for that.

Barbara began her story-telling adventure four years ago when she joined a creative writing class.  She is a practising artist with a degree in Fine Art Practice, but having become somewhat 'hooked' on the writing bug, swapped her brush for a pen and began to paint with words. After becoming a winner with Happy London Press she was enthused to write bigger and in February this year her first novel, Once Upon a Time in Kazimierz was published. Painting has taken a bit of a back seat but her artwork can be viewed on her colourful website at www.barbarapearmanart.co.uk

Come and read our blog

https://happylondonpress.blogspot.com/

The Hit - Short story read by the author JOHN LUGO-TREBBLE

John writes the most exquisite romantic stories - each has a bit of an unnerving twist.

Here we are priveldge to podcast one of john's beuatiful stories called The Hit

Let us know in the comments your thoughts and if you would like to hear more or John's stories.

Here's a little about John

My mother used to say that from the moment I learned to walk, I was walking the other way. This statement did not just end up applying to my life, but also my writing.

http://www.johnlugotrebble.com

https://www.facebook.com/JohnLugoTrebble

https://www.instagram.com/jlugotrebblewriter

https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Lugo-Trebble/e/B07DT2ZKB9/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/18133346.John_Lugo_Trebble

London Book Fair 2022 Talks to three illustrators about "Getting your Illustrations Published"

Donna Payne, Katie Knutton, and Juliette Rechatin will join the AOI’s Rachel Hill to talk about getting illustration published. The panellists will discuss how they find great new talent as well as nurturing relationships with artists.  The session will look at working processes, and touch on contracts and negotiation as well as trends in the industry. Practical examples and honest straight talking will make this an invaluable session for illustrators at every stage of their career.

Rachel Hill is the CEO at The Association of Illustrators, a not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to champion and celebrate the illustration industry. Through the AOI, Rachel support illustrators through events, awards, business resources and industry wide campaigning. With a previous background as a practising illustrator and illustration.

Donna Payne is Creative Director at Faber & Faber, the UK's leading independent publisher. She heads up a small but brilliantly formed team that thrives on delivering consistently excellent work across a diverse range of genres, often taking inspiration from Faber's extensive design archive. Donna has art directed many leading illustrators and photographers, and regularly gives talks on Book Design at schools, universities and literary events. She is a passionate advocate for design mentoring, and a more inclusive design industry, discovering and nurturing new talent from all sectors of the creative community.

Katie Knutton is the Design Manager of Bloomsbury's award-winning Children's Non-fiction list. She works with acclaimed illustrators including Jenni Desmond, Catherine Rayner, and Joe Todd-Stanton as well as on Kate Pankhurst's bestselling Fantastically Great Women Series. She has 15 years' experience working in children's books for publishers including DK and Bonnier, joining the Bloomsbury Children's team in 2019.

#LondonBookFair2022 @LondonBookFair @Bllomsbury 

London Book Fair 2022 Talks to 3 independent women : The Tale of Three Start-ups

Rachel Williams, Publisher and Joint MD, Magic Cat Publishing

Rachel Williams studied literature before becoming an editor and publisher of children's books. She is also the creator of best-selling natural history and adventure books, including The Atlas of Adventure series and Illuminature, and more recently, Slow Down.

Jennifer Broom, Co-Managing Director, Magic Cat Publishing.

Jenny studied at the Slade before moving into children’s publishing. Early in her career she met Rachel Williams at Templar Publishing, helping her to launch Big Picture Press in 2013.

Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning children’s/YA author from London. She's an advocate for diversity in books for young people and is the author of the award-winning fantasy series EMILY KNIGHT (EMILY KNIGHT I AM, EMILY KNIGHT I AM…AWAKENED and EMILY KNIGHT I AM BECOMING). EMILY KNIGHT I AM…AWAKENED was nominated for the CILIP’s Carnegie Award, won London’s BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People’s Book Prize Best Children’s Book. 

#Londonbookfaor2022 @LondonBookFair #entrepreneurs

London Book Fair 2022 ; Talk with 3 authors about How to make a living from writing

The Society of Authors presents three authors about their experiences in writing and tell us about their journeys to getting published.

Writing is hard – and making it pay is even harder. An expert team from the Society of Authors will guide you on how to earn pennies and make them add up to pounds. What opportunities are great, and what are best avoided? How can you negotiate a better deal? From pursuing a portfolio career, the lowdown on competitions to tips on publishing deals, and where to get grants and funding. This is the talk for you if you don’t want to starve in a garret.

Abie Longstaff is the author of nearly 50 books for children (picture book to middle grade) including The Fairytale Hairdresser, The Magic Potions Shop, The Trapdoor Mysteries and How to Catch a Witch and a wide range of educational titles. Abie regularly appears at literary festivals and in schools.

Thank you to Society of authors for bringing these interesting authors to the fair.

#Londonbookfair2022 #societyofauthors 

London Book Fair 2022 : Talk with Dutch poet Arnold Jansen op de Haar

We are delighted to bring you a little tast from the famous London Book Fair 2022. After 2 years pawing the ground in the hope that covide restrictions would come to an end. We had the priveldge of covering some of the many events. 

I’m the Refrain of Other People’s Lives. Join Arnold Jansen op de Haar for an eclectic reading from his translated poems about his life and society. He will also take you on a tour of highlights in a thousand years of Dutch poetry based on poets featured in 100 Dutch-Language Poems – From the Medieval Period to the Present Day, winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. A whirlwind performance (1000 years in 30 Minutes) of Dutch poetry in translation.

"Arnold was born in 1962 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

In 2021, his much anticipated, new novel Schurft will be published in Dutch.

His poetry collection, Het refrein van andermans leven, was published in Dutch in 2016, and the English translation in 2017.

Arnold’s poems have been widely published in literary magazines including De Gids, Het Liegend Konijn, Extaze , Maarstaf, Zoetermeer, Passionate and de Poëziekrant.

His poems have been featured in anthologies such as De 100 beste gedichten van 2002, published by De Arbeiderspers and edited by Gilles Dorleijn and in landmark Dutch anthology De Nederlandse poëzie van de 19de en 20ste eeuw in 1000 en enige gedichten, edited by Gerrit Komrij, published by Bert Bakker; and in 10 voor 10, Ten Extaze poets for the 2010s, 2019, Extaze

Martin Ros gave Jansen op de Haar his first break by publishing one of his poems in literary magazine Maatstaf.

His debut novel De koning van Tuzla, a fictional account of his experiences during the Bosnian conflict, was published in 1999 by De Arbeiderspers."

Holland Park Press.

#LondonBookFair2022 @londonbookfair

London Book Fair 2022: Talks about Cover Design -the highs and lows of working with authors

Jack Smyth and Nico Taylor will be curating a new book cover themed event at the London Book Fair.

Amatullah Padghawala is an Indian literary junkie with a head in the clouds imagination. She enjoys penning supernatural stories but doesn't hesitate to try her hands on contemporary fiction. She has composed mystery fiction stories as well, since the genre deeply interests her. Overall, she is fascinated by the world of fiction and can't wait to explore the remaining types- science fiction and historical fiction. Currently, she is penning her very own book with a unique concept called- The Incarnated Angel wherein an angel incarnates as a human to impart divine wisdom. Sounds incredibly imaginative, doesn't it? In short, she is a passionate writer, soon to be an author, who loves to think out of the box without adhering to the conventional style of writing. Let us hope that the uniqueness of her content strikes an emotional chord with us!

......................

We have just released a Killer... story

Checkout: I'm a Contract Killer by Andrew Segal

Sarah Em is a twenty-nine year old teacher and writer. By day she juggles 9-10 year olds and classroom management and by night (or evening at least, she's not much of a night owl) she writes crime-fiction or non-fic think pieces on mental health and current affairs and is an advocate for tackling difficult topics and breaking down outdated taboos. When she's not writing, Sarah is a keen runner, reader and researcher (predominately of pirates, she once wrote 12,000 words all about them - ask her if you have a free four hours). 

You can find her over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahemwrites/ appearing on online sites such as Cordelia magazine and Unnamed magazine or on her own blog: https://sarahemwrites.blogspot.com/

STOP PRESS

If you enjoy chilling thriller short stories 

For just 3 weeks only, we are offering our latest collection of outrageous crime chilling stories by Andrew Segal for 99p.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contract-Killer-Murderous-Explosive-Aberration-ebook/dp/B09TWXKSQS

The First from a disturbing set of short stories in this second book in the Aberration series by author, Andrew Segal. Combining the macabre with the mysterious, the outrageous with the unbelievable, these dark tales will force readers to reassess their views of human nature whilst demonstrating wholly unpredictable patterns of individual behaviour.