The Charity Book Day on Saturday 9 March at Harting Primary School was a fun literary outing for the whole family. The activities included:
- readings, workshops and book signings by local authors including children’s authors, adult crime writers, poets and storytellers
- interactive story telling for the under 5s
- Tiny Tales competition results
- story workshops for older children
- book swaps for both children and adults.
In addition to being a great outing, the event raised over £600 for the Trust.
Who were the authors?
The Book Day featured readings by a vibrant team of local authors. Following performances in the Portsmouth Book Festival, they were collected in Writers to Watch. More:portsmouthwriters.tumblr.com/20×12
A moment of madness threatens to ruin everything in Off the Post by James Schillemore. jamesschillemore.tumblr.com
Diana Bretherick’s The City of Devils won the Good Housekeeping Novel Writing competition. She worked as a criminal barrister for ten years and lectures in criminology and forensic studies at the University of Portsmouth. dianabretherick.wordpress.com.
William Sutton unearths the mysteries beneath London streets in Victorian mystery, Lawless & the Devil of Euston Square. william-sutton.co.uk
Gareth Toms has been seriously writing poetry for over half his life. He enjoys reciting, whether in a crypt off Leicester Square, at a friend’s wedding in their garden at Nutbourne, or at a local open-mic slot.
Zella Compton’s dark fiction The Ten Rules of Skimming is an irresistible, mind bending thriller for young adults. zellacompton.co.uk
The Amber Room by Tom Harris is a children’s middle grade novel, a fairy tale fantasy adventure laced with humour, horror and suspense. tomdharris.wordpress.com/
Charlotte Comley has stories published in magazines and scripts performed on stage and radio. Charlotte’s writers group The Writers@Lovedean publishes annual anthologies.charlottecomleystoryteller.co.uk
Matt Wingett has written episodes of ITV’s The Bill and articles for national newspapers. He once won a national poetry award while helping a friend to cheat at her GCSE in English. His collaboration with The Three Belles was recently staged at Portsmouth’s Theatre Royal. lifeisamazing.co.uk
Dee Kirkby, author of Without Alice, My Dream of You, My Mini Midwife, and The Portal Series for children was 2012 Writer in Residence for Portsmouth Libraries. A midwifery lecturer with Asperger syndrome living in a home filled with males – husband, boys and pets – Dee writes to escape the testosterone. djkirkby.co.uk
Christine Lawrence takes you on a chilling journey of life in a mid-twentieth century mental hospital in Caught in the Web, inspired by her work as a psychiatric nurse at Knowle Hospital and St. James, Portsmouth. southwickwriterwoman@blogspot.com
Emily Rackstraw is a speech therapist with wide experience of story-telling and working with young children.
Tiny Tales Competition
The winner of a Family Ticket with London Duck Tours was 8 year-old Max Paravicini with his Tiny Tale “My Imaginary Friend”.
“My imaginary friend is called Steve, Steve and I travelled everywhere, from the back of the shed to under the bed. To up the mountain trees. To everywhere! One day me and Steve were at school, chatting and somebody said “are you talking to me?””
Thanks to…
Johnny Culley and Harting Primary School, the authors, Will and Caroline Sutton, the extended Prosser family, Emily Rackstraw, London Duck Tours and everyone who helped on the day.