I am delighted to be chatting with Nikki Vallance of Lost Books of Lockdown Facebook Group on Wednesday 22nd September at 1.30 pm about A Very Important Teapot, Bored to Death in the Baltics and possibly Lucy & Dawson #3, which will at least spur me to get on with writing that. What a brilliant idea Lost Books of Lockdown is. How many of us poor, little-known authors, having waited so long to get our literary babies out into the world, immediately saw the dreaded C-word put paid to all the events where we hoped to sell a few meagre copies. Teapot and Bored to Death rather neatly bookended (see what I did there?) the worst of the pandemic but even so, I still have rather more copies of the former sitting in a cupboard than I would have hoped by now. So, if you’re not doing anything on Wednesday lunchtime, pull up your lunch, join the group and tune in. Heckle if you like. Audience participation is great, after all.
I shall also be trying to persuade random strangers to buy both books when I talk to the Friends of Kennington Library (that’s Kennington, Oxford, not south London although – spoiler alert – The Oval in Kennington, London does make a brief appearance in Bored to Death in the Baltics) at 11 o’clock on Wednesday 6th October. And the following day, since it is after all Libraries Week that week, I shall be discussing both books and my journey to publication, fame and fortune (well, the first part anyway) at Carterton Library (Oxfordshire again) at 6.30 pm. I may well need a drink after two talks in two days.
And then, after fully eighteen months and three (? I think) postponements, the hugely anticipated Oxford Indie Book Fair will be taking place all day on Saturday 6th November at the Wesley Memorial Hall, Oxford. That will be huge fun with about 80 exhibitors (is that the right word for a clutch of authors fighting for your attention?) taking part, talks going on all day and who knows what else? I’ll be there and I hope you’ll pop along for a chat (at least).