The Writers' Party on 26 May 09 was packed, we had to get extra chairs to seat everyone who came to the Roland Levinsky Building for drinks and live performance. There were four-minute readings with excellent stories and works-in-progress by Tom Vowler, Abi Aloa, Paul Southwood and Hana Sklenkova. Tony Jones read a chapter of his autobiography set in Wales, Jack Gardner read some of his aphorisms from his bestselling book Words Are Not Things (published by Foulsham) and we had poetry performances from Shane Wolfland, Steve Spence, Jean Grimsey and Gordon Read.
Ann Gray read a moving and often funny sequence from her new book At the Gate which is published by Headland. There was quite a bit of trade at the book table and Jack Gardner's new range of cards and mugs with his provocative slogans and aphorisms caused quite a stir. There were a range of books by Shane Wolfland, Ann Gray, Anthony Caleshu, Gordon Read and others. I was really delighted with the turnout and the atmosphere, with all kinds of people attending and obviously enjoying the show. I've had lots of enthusiastic messages from people who were there and we'll try to make this a regular summer event for Plymouth writers.
This was a grand event, Tony. A really good spirit to the occasion and some lovely readings. I admired the strength, too, of your sitting by with the wine glass, ready to ping as the allotted minutes per reader came due, strong discipline that added a sense of drama to the occasion! Well done for organizing it all, and bringing so many old and new friends together.
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