Warminster Book Festival

Outside St Lawrence Chapel, Warminster. Photo: © Felice Hardy

Another Local Festival

My most recent talk was at Warminster Book Festival, twenty minutes down the road from me, and what fun that was! The organisers planned a whole weekend of it. On the Friday night there was a party in organisers Paula and Mark Thorpe’s lovely garden for the authors to get to know each other.

Saturday featured an amazing programme of talks in venues around the town, of which I went to four others apart from my own. I had the best venue – at least, in my opinion – St Lawrence Chapel on the high street. This was my third talk in a church (the others were Appledore and Hawkesbury Upton), and the acoustics are always great, as is the seating since a lot of people can fit inside the space. Saturday was a typically English rainy day, so I was worried that no one would turn up…but on the contrary, I had a full house. My interviewer, Maggie Dee, is a presenter on Warminster FM radio and she certainly asked some searching questions.

The surprise for me is I no longer find interviews and talks daunting. In fact I love them, especially when the audience is fully engaged and asks lots of questions. On my very first talk in 2023, at a seaside town in North Somerset, I had an audience of just seven. That included two friends, the photographer, and an octogenarian man who snored throughout. I’ve come a long way since then and have attracted audiences of up to ninety, which is really amazing.

My friend, Bridget Beattie, was in the Warminster audience – it’s always lovely to spot a familiar face in the crowd, which means I have someone to focus on.

On Sunday, there was a book fair in the Civic Centre, which drew a good crowd and I sold quite a few books.

Photo: © Inside St Lawrence Chapel before my talk

By the way, I’ve won another award! It’s the International Impact Book Awards (first prize in the History section). So I now have a third lovely sticker for the back of my book.

Sunday at Warminster Book Fair