All the fun of the Mayfair Post 3

And to end the little run about the fab day we all had last Saturday (and wishing I could do it all again!) I will finish telling you about our special event.

After the Year 7 and 8 readers had taken their places in the spotlight, I invited one of the first round Years 9-11 judges to say a few words. Julie-Ann Corrigan is a great new writer. We have published her short stories at Bridge House and I have been working with her offering guidance on her novels. She is a prolific writer who has had competition successes and one to look out for with her novel writing.

As I explained Years 9-11 may have had the fewest entries, but those we did have were great. Julie-Ann talked about the way, as children, our writing has no bounds in terms of imagination and gave a little précis of the stories in the book from this group, giving special mention to all :)

We then invited RUNNER-UP, and the only child from this group in attendance, Susie Bradley who talked to us a little about her aspirations to be an agent or editor in the future. Then she read her story Breaking The Ice about melting ice caps; and polar bears very moving it was too.

After that we invited all the children to take part in a group photograph outside in the sunshine.

When we'd finished melting in the room as the heat rose with the afternoon sun, and raffle drawn, thank yous and goodbyes said, lots of hugs, some of us wended our way over to Hyde Park for a picnic. This meant it could all become a little more relaxed and I had the chance to talk to Mums, Dads, Aunts, Uncles, friends and best of all the young authors.

When we were finally on our way home, Mum, Dad, my brother and I supping Mocha Frappuccino in Starbucks at the station (well I was!) and looking back on the day, all I kept thinking was: I want to do it all again.

And we will.

The next competition opens on September 17th and if you haven't signed up for the newsletter you can here:

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Enjoy some more photos :)

Author (judge)  Julie-Ann Corrigan

RUNNER-UP Susie Bradley

How do we feel to be in this book?

GREAT!

If you don't have your copy of Wild n Free yet, find it on Amazon here: click on book cover

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All the fun of Mayfair Post 2

Well, I have to say my thoughts kept drifting back to Saturday as I worked yesterday and all the fab young writers I met. I felt part of something special and from the responses I've had I think others felt the same :) It's a real celebration of young talent and who knows where it might lead?

So as promised another instalment, this time our readers from Years 7 and 8, all kicked off by first round author judge, Gill James. She is my business partner at Bridge House, has had lots of shorts stories published but best known for her YA novels. She currently lectures at Salford University in Creative Writing and best of all is a great friend. Gill talked to us about the judging process and the quality of the writing, before she handed back to our young writers/readers ... here are some photos ...

Dr Gill James

 Laura Baliman (The ugly one with the book is Debz!)

 Luke Dalby

 Imogen Hartmann

 Marged Shakespear Huws (WINNER)

 Emily Wootton

If anyone else has photos do share!

More on Thursday ...

All the fun of Mayfair ... Post 1

All the Fun of the Mayfair

I am still smiling after finally meeting over half of the talented young authors in the Wild n Free Book! We met at Mayfair Library in London yesterday to celebrate our special book and what a great time we had. I will be posting this week as I get more photos hopefully, but I thought I would kick it off today while it's still buzzing happily in my head :)

Mayfair Library, London

The event took place in the fabulous library in the large events room upstairs -- a great venue! I roped in the whole family (as you do!) and we arrived about 10 and luckily the nice people there let us in early to set up.

The Events Room

We were set to start at 11 but it was nice so many arrived early so there was time to meet n greet! I set up a table as people came in, lots of hugs with these fab children! All the authors/artists were given a name badge and I got my book signed by them all and then encouraged everyone to get their books signed by their fellow authors too!

We had a raffle for Born Free and a few books for sale as well. Jen from Born Free was there to talk to people too and sign up children for the WildcreW Club! By the way the raffle made £25 for Born Free! Thank you all :)

It was a great time to mingle and get some free bickies and drink before we started the readings. Some of the artwork was on display and a message board about the 14 children that couldn't come along -- so their presence was felt, and missed :(

I gave a little talk about Born Free and Paws n Claws and how I am on a mission to get more and more children to enter the competition and raise awareness about wildlife and conservation.

Then in turn our fab authors came to the front where I asked them some questions and introduced them before they each gave a short reading (about a minute) from their stories. And they got a lollipop for their efforts (no expense spared!) We did it alphabetically per age group and we also had a few words from Gill James and Julie-Ann Corrigan our first round author judges who explained a little more about the judging process and how good all the stories were.

Everyone did so well as I know how scary it can be reading, but they were great-- made me feel very proud :)

When the readings were finished we went outside to the lovely secluded park next to the library and took a group photo -- see below.

Then we had more mingling and book signing before we drew the raffle, thanked everyone -- Jen from Born Free, judges, artists who helped us, my family and the biggest cheer had to be for the children! We hope this is the beginning not only of future writing careers but friendships as I know some exchanged emails. So I do hope this acts as a catalyst and I hope everyone stays in contact with me as well as I want to build on this.

I especially want to thank those that travelled from as far as Scotland, North Wales ... even France for the event.

If anyone wants to post their  experiences or add photos and tell us about your day at the event, email me and I'll invite you as a guest Blogger.

Here are some photos ... More to follow in the week .. these are years 5 and 6:

Charlotte Ash (Runner-up)  

Neelai Patel and Morgan Joy Ashby 

Thomas Bailey 

 Luke Julier

Miranda Lee (Winner)

Hannah Probyn-Duncan (author and cover artist)

 

 Thomas Sherlock

Molli Tyldesley

 

The rest of the authors will follow in the week ...

But I just want to say: Thanks everyone  for making my day so wonderful and I meant it when I said I hoped everyone would stay in touch.

Thanks to everyone in the Wild n Free Gang :)

Tune in tomorrow for more ...

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Coming soon, special low low price to get your copy of Wild n Free on Amazon Kindle ... in celebration of our special book party on London! Updates to follow!