Three things happened yesterday

Number one: my book was published in the USA and Canada, although the Kindle version had already been available there for a while. Let’s hope that I get a few more reviews from the US now. So far (on Amazon) I have 33 ratings of which nine are actual written reviews…but only one is from anyone in North America…so far!

Frome Festival

As I live in Frome, I was lucky enough to be involved in not one…but three different events. First of all was Frome Small Publishers’ Fair, where I had a stand. It’s an annual event that took place at the Silk Mill on Saturday 8th July this year and is part of the Frome Festival and run by the Frome Writers Collective.

The Day Has Come!

It was the big day – Monday 3rd of July – UK publication day. The evening before, I’d driven up to Manchester to be in place for a 09.05am interview with BBC Breakfast at Salford Quays. Who knew that so much BBC material is recorded at their studio in Manchester?

Felixstowe Book Festival

Harvest House is a former hotel that opened in 1903 – the year of my grandmother’s birth. Since then it’s been used for all sorts of things, including the setting for the book festival that launched in 2013.

My first newspaper

Today I appeared in the Frome Times, my local paper. I’m wondering whether I might be a question in my local pub quiz at the Griffin! My piece is just beneath one about our disgraced MP…

Sturminster Newton Literary Festival

June 5th was my second book event, the Sturminster Newton Literary Festival. I’d never been to the small Dorset town before, and appropriately it is the centre of Hardy country (the more famous one). The venue was 1855, a former NatWest bank building that has been restored and revamped to accommodate – initially – 30 traders.

Burnham-on-Sea Book Festival

Saturday May 20th, 2023 was my first ever book festival. Lewis, the festival organiser, asked me to run a Travel Writing Workshop (together with Peter) in the morning and a book talk in the afternoon. There wasn’t a lot of time between events.

Vienna in springtime!

This week was my first time in Vienna since November 2015 when I came up with the idea of researching – and then writing – a book about my family. The city was just as lovely as I remember it and two days weren’t nearly long enough!

Ad Lib has bagged The Tennis Champion Who Escaped the Nazis, a "meticulously-researched" family history by Felice Hardy.

Editorial director Duncan Proudfoot acquired world all language rights from Neil Hennessy-Vass at Xavicus Media. The book will be published on 3rd July 2023.