After taking a bit of summer break from organising author events this year, we were back on track with a sell out audience for the fabulous Martin Walker this week.
These lunchtime crime writer sessions at Woodbridge Library are always well received, but this time we found ourselves hearing more about Burgundy than bodies as Martin delighted us with his descriptions of life at home in France. The food, the drink, the gardening, friendships, culture and way of life sounded wonderful, and of course it is all replicated in Martin's marvellous Death in the Dordogne series of books about Bruno the chief of police.
There was much laughter and everyone left telling me their spirits had been lifted.
So now we're looking ahead to another packed schedule of events. Next week we'll all be sitting up straight as we hear military historian Max Hastings bring us up to speed on his findings about the Dambusters, and a couple of days later we'll be pondering the extraordinary life of artist Stanley Spencer through the novel of Nicola Upson. It's a beautiful book and Nicola is such a warm and engaging speaker. If you're a fan of her Josephine Tey series of crime novels, you must come along to hear about 'Stanley and Elsie'.
And the dates for November are filling up. I've just released the tickets for Lindsay McCrae, the awardwinning BBC cameraman and his illustrated talk on 'My Penguin Year'. Having read an early proof of the book, I have to tell you it's fantastic! I can't wait to meet him to learn more, and I'm sure we'll get a large and attentive audience for that event in the library. Then the next day, cricket raconteur Henry Blofeld will be in the bookshop to sign copies of his latest book 'My A-Z of Cricket', a perfect Christmas present...
Yes, the summer's over, the children are back at school, and we're looking at the end of September already. Is it just me, or is time moving along too quickly? Important to get the dates in the diary straightaway then - don't want to miss hearing all these inspiring and fascinating authors!! Find out more by signing up to my mailing list here.