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| Christoph Fischer and Me |
I attended my first book fair on
Saturday. I have been to Christmas Fairs before and I attend Raglan Castle’s
annual Tudor Weekend in the summer where I sell lots of books and meet readers and re-enactors
but this was my first proper venture into the world of Book Fairs.
I am a very shy person. I thought
I might feel like an amateur. I thought it might be ‘clicky’ or my elaborate
Tudor style table layout wouldn’t be appropriate for this type of event.
Happily, I was wrong. It was a lovely day.
I had only met two of the other authors
previously, and a handful were as yet unseen Facebook contacts; the rest were
strangers. I don’t usually like strangers. But now, after Saturday’s book fair, they are
friends. More than one confessed to also being nervous and uncertain of what was
expected, and this sharing of confidence made me realise that other authors are
nothing to be afraid of. They are just ordinary people with stories to share.
We were all brought together by
the tireless efforts of Christoph Fischer, a prolific author himself, who
provides unflagging support of his fellows. The moment we arrived and began to
set up our tables a sort of camaraderie emerged. We helped carry boxes, borrowed tablecloths,
admired one another’s posters, peeped between the covers of each other’s books. With so much in common, I knew right away it was going to be a good day.
There were talks. I kicked off
with a talk about Tudor portraits. After having made comprehensive prompt notes
to help me along, I then forgot my reading glasses and couldn’t read a word. I
need not have worried. I realised I would
just have to ‘wing it’ and the audience was patient and brilliantly supportive.
They offered up intelligent, interesting questions for me to answer about the
Tudors. In fact, in the end we ran over the allotted time and some of them joined me at my book table
afterwards to continue the discussion.
There were workshops from Judith
Barrow (author of the Patterns Trilogy) and Sharon Tregenza who writes children’s
fiction. Wendy Steele, author of what she describes as 'fantasy with a dollop
of magic,' gave a talk on Fantasy and Magical Realism. Carol Lovekin read from
her new release Ghostbird, and Julie McGowan read from Don’t Pass Me By. I was
delighted to meet Thorne Moore, whose atmospheric books I really enjoy. At the
table near mine was Rebecca Bryn. The evening before I’d started reading her
book, The Silence of the Stones, although I’d no idea she would be attending.
There were many, many more
authors present, too many to mention in detail but the fair provided something
for everyone, all literary tastes catered for.
A steady stream of visitors kept
the day interesting. I had many stimulating conversations, gained some news
readers and met readers who have been following me since my early days. For me,
the most thrilling person to come to my stall and buy my books was a young
girl. I don’t know her name but she was no more than twelve, and she reminded
me of myself at that age. When her mother handed her the books she purchased, she
clutched them to her chest and spoke shyly but with great passion of her love of history. It is always nice to meet a kindred spirit. I told her I’d begun
writing when I was her age and hope she went away encouraged to begin to write
her own.
To boost our flagging energy
local food outlet Iechyd da kept us topped up with tea and coffee and some
rather delicious cake. We could not have done without them.
This morning I learned that the Llandeilo Book Fair was so successful, another has been booked for 10th
December 2016 – hope to see you there.
