It's been a lovely weekend enjoying events at this year's Belfast Book festival. With another great line up this year, I was lucky to secure tickets to some of the more popular events.
Yesterday it was inspiring to hear Ronan Hession and Louise Nealon talk about their writing processes and their most recent novels.
This afternoon at the YA showcase event, Jenny Ireland and Kelly McCaughrain launched their new novels. Chaired by Shirley McMillan, the panel also featured Sue Divin and Stephen Daly. All four local writers have new novels out this year, which is a huge inspiration for other local kidlit writers.
And of course, like any good book festival, I came away with a bundle of new books, leaflets and goody bags.
Along with this haul, what made this weekend special were all the bookish conversations that took place. Whether it was writing friends who I bumped into unexpectedly in the cafe, writing friends who were volunteering at the festival, chats with friendly bibliophile strangers, or the supportive encouragement from writing pals who I'd arranged to meet there, they all contributed to a lovely book-filled weekend.
