Here at Shevdon Manor, we were delighted to receive an invitation to participate in the fifth birthday bash for none other than The Write Fantastic. This is scheduled for Saturday 8th May at St Hilda’s College, Oxford
For those of you out of the loop, The Write Fantastic formed as a group of fantasy fiction authors with the common interest of promoting the genre, getting new readers involved and engaging in events and activities. It’s not a unique group but over the years it has been remarkably successful, not least due to the efforts of those involved.
I have been to a number of Write Fantastic events over the years and have enjoyed them all without exception. They are a great bunch of people and they’ve just extended their ranks to include Kari Sperring, Freda Warrington, Liz Williams and Ian Whates. Ian, of course, is a fellow Angry Roboteer and author of City of Dreams and Nightmare. I went to Kari Sperring’s reading of Living with Ghosts at FantasyCon last year, which was very atmospheric, and I came home from Eastercon with a copy of that and Liz Williams’ Snake Agent, signed, as my prizes from Eastercon.
The day is planned as a mini convention, there will be panels, opportunities to meet authors (bring books if you want them signed). There is a full programme planned. It starts at 10am and at 10:30 I am doing a panel called “Debut novels – the adventure starts here” with Ian Whates, Kari Sperring and David Moore.
Also attending (in no particular order) are Juliet McKenna, Jessica Rydill, Geoff Ryman, Ben Jeapes, Sarah Ash, Stephen Deas, Jenni Hill, Chaz Brenchley, Freda Warrington, Liz Williams, Geoff Ryman and the lovely Ian Watson.
The afternoon will culminate in the launch of The Write Fantastic “Anniversaries” Anthology, published by Newcon Press at around 4pm, with opportunities to mingle and chat.
The event will be held in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building at St Hilda’s College, so it’s a great venue. Overall, the event is highly recommended and should be a really fun day. Hope to see you there.