All Booked Up

I'm still buzzing from being at the recent Children's Literature Conference at the Seamus Heaney centre in Belfast. It was great to hear so many speakers and panels talking about a range of issues impacting being creative and also sharing their very varied experience. 

Events like these are great for making connections and re-connecting with other creatives and professionals in the children's literature world. It was great to be there to support and encourage local creators, catch up with writing pals and meet others I'd previously connected with online in person at last.

It was a packed programme, but I managed to squeeze in a very quick tour of Oliver Jeffers' exhibition at the Naughton Gallery at Queen's.

It's amazing to reflect how the local kidlit community is thriving, spurred on by the success of so many local creators producing work of such a high quality. Below are just some books from my collection of signed copies of books for children and young people created by local writers and illustrators. 

What's most encouraging is that this pile keeps growing as more and more local writers and illustrators for children are getting their books published. This can only be good for young readers and writers from here.

Re-energising Writing

There's no doubt the appearance of the sun these last few days has put everyone in better form.  Longer, brighter days bring a new creative energy I'm trying to harness - torn between enjoying working in the garden and writing.

There's been so many local writing events on lately, that I've had diary clashes and been unable to attend everything I'd like to. Yesterday was a case in point when the launch of a new local picture book publisher coincided with our writing group meet up.

I would have loved to have gone to the launch event, but I'm glad I made the decision to stick with my original plans and attend our writing group meeting. Sunshine on a sparkling sea, coupled with a fresh breeze helped blow away any remaining winter cobwebs.

Over coffee and chocanana muffins we caught up on news and exercised our writing muscles. A good writing workout ensued, stretching those muscles and keeping them in good shape. Now to keep going....

Literary City

This weekend I've taken part in a couple of great events in the Look North festival. Yesterday morning I participated in a fantastic short story workshop led by local writer Jan Carson. There were lots of new tips as well as some fun writing exercises.

This afternoon saw the launch of Issue 5 from New Isles Press. I was thrilled to pick up a copy of this anthology at the launch event and read one of my poems in UlsterScots included in it at the event. 

As well as readers showcasing a wide variety of work, there was also a good panel discussion.

Earlier in the week I'd called into the Linenhall library in the final days of their Fragments of Scotch Poetry Exhibition. It was good to read all the poems from this Poetry Jukebox curation, including my poem, 'Ballooning' now displayed before tge exhibition finished.

After a weekend of literary indulgences in our wee city, the sign I noticed in the car park today seemed very fitting.