Charlbury's self-effacing authors

Sat 5 Oct 2013, 01:09

On the younger end of the spectrum, a local teenager is publishing Kindle books under the name of Ellie Firestone, aimed at roughly 6-9 year olds. Basketball-playing superhero horses who fight aliens and other baddies. What's not to love? 6 titles and more on their way! www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ellie%20firestone

Fri 4 Oct 2013, 12:27

It's a pity that there are so many literary and creative people here but there doesn't seem to be a way to keep a bookshop running. Only around 15 people turned up to Jon's meeting a week ago, and nobody was able to come up with a plan, although the shop's landlord seems very warmly disposed to keeping a bookshop or something similar there. Could the premises be large enough to have a small gallery for Charlbury writers and artists to show their work, and still offering bookshop services? But how would it make enough money even to cover overheads, notably staffing? Back to square one... I've heard numerous people imagining an arts centre or something similar - with a decent café - in the Corner House, but that would presumably have to be when the new community centre opens, and requires various kinds of joined-up thinking. (Which brings us to the 'Charlbury's lost assets' thread on this forum at the moment.)

Fri 4 Oct 2013, 11:54

I'm always amazed at the number of writers, poets and artists who live here. We could probably hold our own literary and arts festival just with local residents! It's just one of the many things that makes Charlbury so pleasant to live in.

Catherine Merridale will be speaking about the Kremlin in Russian History at the Charlbury Society on December 13th if anyone is interested. More details can be found on her website: www.catherinemerridale.com.

Thu 3 Oct 2013, 22:28

Another Charlbury resident, Jackie Pavlenko, published the Kindle edition of her novel 'The Final Report of Arlen Pickett' just a few days ago.

Thu 3 Oct 2013, 12:18 (last edited on Thu 3 Oct 2013, 12:29)

By complete fluke, I've just found out that (at least) two of our neighbours have really interesting-sounding books due for publication today.

Catherine Merridale's 'Red Fortress' is THE definitive history of the Kremlin. Helen Small's 'The Value of the Humanities' is a refreshingly un-strident defence of humanistic study.

It's not surprising two of our neighbours have worthwhile books out at the same time, right after Juliet Heslewood's 'Child' - a terrific collection of portraits of artists' children. No doubt there might be other shrinking violets round here whose new books we'd like to put on our Xmas present "want" list. There might even be a bloke among them.

Who else might we bump into on the footpaths, in the chip van queue or on the station platform with an interesting book out this autumn?