Tuesday 28 February 2012

WORLD BOOK NIGHT 2012

I've been chosen as a World Book Night giver and got my first choice book: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.WBN is a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift books in their communities to share their love of reading. 25 titles are specially chosen and printed in their thousands in World Book Night editions. Givers apply to give away a particular book (you get a first, second and third choice) which they must commit to give away to those who don't regularly read to share and spread their love of reading. Each Giver receives 24 copies which they pick up from their local bookshops and libraries - the very heart of our reading communities - in the week before April 23.  I will be giving my books to homeless peeps at my local church that is used as a shelter for the homeless during the winter months and NHS staff a the North Mid, in particular those staff that don't often read.

In 2012 World Book Night will be celebrated in the UK, Ireland, Germany and USA on April 23.

The World Book Night 2012 Books

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Player of Games by Iain M Banks
Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Take by Martina Cole
Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell
Someone Like You by Roald Dahl
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Room by Emma Donoghue
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Misery by Stephen King
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
The Damned Utd by David Peace
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


Saturday 25 February 2012

Get Yourself a Reputation

Greenacre Writers invite you to a Creative Writer’s Afternoon:
Saturday 24th March 2012 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Chislehurst Avenue, Finchley, London N12  Get Yourself A Reputation.
The workshop will introduce you to some ideas of how to raise your writing profile and get your writing published - suitable for beginners. This workshop is not how to get your book published. The workshop starts way before sending manuscripts to publishers and looks at ways to get a writing reputation.
* Writing exercises
* Ideas for flash fiction and websites
* Online writing forums
* Promoting your writing profile
* Self-publishing
* Talk/Feedback from a self-published author
The aim of the afternoon is to meet fellow creative writers, to work on creative writing exercises, and share your work to receive supportive feedback and ideas in a friendly and stimulating environment.
There will be a small charge to include refreshments:
Members £5; Non-members £10
(Cheques payable to: Greenacre Writers - cancellation available up until 7 days before the event)
For further information or to reserve a place contact:   greenacrewriters@gmail.com

Greenacre Writers Mini Lit Fest - Saturday May 26th

We are holding a Greenacre Mini Lit Festival on the afternoon of Saturday May 26th as part of the 'Trinity in May' Arts Festival in North Finchley. We envisiage including an 'open mike' session with local writers reading their flash fiction or passages from longer work and poems, and one or two authors to speak about their current books, with some readings, for around a 20 minute slot.

Please let us know if you are interested in attending.
Email: Greenacrewriters@gmail.com

Saturday 18 February 2012

Cat Tales from Faraway by Maisie Gee

As well as working in a medical library, running Greenacre Writers Workshops and writing groups, re-working a novel, re-writing an autobiography, occasionally doing hand-stands, I'm also working on a collection of children's stories: Cat Tales from Faraway under pseudonym, Maisie Gee.

This is the opening chapter to Pushkin: The Egg Keepers Downfall

In a suburb of North London, at the top of a very long lane in a wooded garden, there lived seven cats:

Bosch, Bograt, Marmalade, Toscanini, Snowball, Pushkin, and Freddy.

This is a story about one of them.


Pushkin wasn't always called Pushkin, he was originally Corporal Woo of the Chinese Emperors Royal Dragon Guards....