Stopping off at Peony Moon

Many thanks to Michelle McGrane for hosting me on her Peony Moon blog today. If you want to find out a little bit more about my book, and the inspiration behind it, head over there by clicking here.

First festival

The organisers of York Literature Festival have just announced the 2012 programme and I'm very pleased to be part of the line-up. Among those appearing are former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan and politician Tony Benn, who's topping the bill. The festival is set to run from March 29th to April 1st so take a look at the programme to find out more.

My event, 'Pub Shorts', will be hosted by Helen Cadbury and will feature fellow writers Tony Dew, Steve Toase and James Wall. It will be held on Sunday, April 1st from 4pm to 5.45pm and will include readings from the four of us plus a discussion on the future of the e-book versus print in short story publishing.

* 'Pub Shorts', Wolfe Room, Black Swan Pub, Peasholme Green, York. Tickets cost £4 and are available from York Theatre Royal's Box Office (01904 623568).

Looking ahead

Well, the new year has brought two nice things to look forward to. Firstly, Jen Campbell is going to interview me for her blog so I can't wait to have a chat with her about the book. Go and have a wander over to Jen's site now if you haven't already - there's a great list of previous interviews on there including ones with Neil Gaiman, Joanne Harris, Joe Dunthorne, Jon McGregor and many others. Also, while you're there please buy one of the few remaining copies of Jen's poetry pamphlet '100 Poem Challenge', the proceeds of which go towards EEC International which funds research centres using stem cell research and gene therapy to find a cure for degenerative eyesight problems. Jen is a great writer so you'll not only get some nice, new reading matter but you'll be supporting charity too.

Secondly, I have been asked to read as part of a short story event for York Literature Festival on April 1st so that should be good. I will pass on the details as soon as I have them, as well as info on the other writers who will be reading as part of the event.

Book voucher beauties

For those who were lucky enough to get book vouchers for Christmas, I thought it would be a good idea to offer some suggestions on what to spend them on. So, here are a few new/forthcoming books I'd like to recommend. I either have/want/have read/want to read them so I hope that you'll want them too.

A book of the year...

I got a bit of a shock yesterday - a lovely shock - after finding out that my collection had been named by British writer Maggie Gee as one of her favourite books of 2011. Maggie's chosen books appeared in The Guardian (Nigeria) alongside selections from other writers, editors and publishing professionals from around the world. The article, written by Nigerian writer A. Igoni Barrett, can be seen here. But, as the text is a bit small to see on the photo, here's what it says:

Maggie Gee, author of My Animal Life: I re-read Bernardine Evaristo’s fascinating fictionalised family history, the new, expanded Lara (Bloodaxe, New ed., 2009), tracing the roots of this mixed race British writer back through the centuries to Nigeria, Brazil, Germany, Ireland—comedy and tragedy, all in light-footed, dancing verse. In Selma Dabbagh’s new Out of It (Bloomsbury, 2011), the lives of young Palestinians in Gaza are brought vividly to life—gripping, angry, funny, political. Somewhere Else, or Even Here (Salt, 2011) by A.J. Ashworth is a stunningly original first collection of short stories.

So, as you can imagine, it was a shock indeed. I look forward to getting hold of copies of books by the other writers Maggie mentions, as well as those mentioned by some of the other contributors. A surprise for sure but a great end to the year.

Win a signed copy!

It's National Short Story Day this Thursday, December 22 (the shortest day of the year) so, to mark this special day, I thought I'd offer one person the chance to win a signed copy of my book.

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is to find my profile on Twitter (@AJAshworth) and retweet (RT) one of the messages about the competition. You have until 7pm on Thursday, December 22 to enter. One name will be drawn and a signed copy of the book will be sent to that person - or to someone else of their choosing. The competition is open to anyone, no matter where they are in the world. So get RTing! (And don't forget to visit the National Short Story Day website too.)


UPDATE: 9pm on Thursday 22nd - congrats to @jessicapatient who wins a copy of my book. Thanks to all 42 who entered.

Launching

The book launch went really well last Wednesday at Blackwell's in Sheffield. I'd been invited to hold the event as part of Sheffield Hallam's MA Writing Masterclass* series - Hallam being the university where I studied for my MA.

My former tutor Felicity Skelton - herself an excellent short story writer - gave a lovely introduction, which was actually very touching. I then read the first story from the collection - 'Sometimes Gulls Kill Other Gulls'. Afterwards I got a nice selection of questions from different people including if I was finding it difficult to motivate myself to write after the MA (Yes, a bit) and whether writing was like acting (Yes, because you have to immerse yourself in the lives of the characters). And by this point it was time to wrap up.

Family and friends were in the audience as well as a few people from the MA. My good friend Gill Blow was also there, as were work colleagues and online writing pal Valerie O'Riordan. Writer Rachel Connor, who I know from her connections to Arvon, had also sent me a lovely bunch of sunflowers as she couldn't make the event, so that added to what was a nice, intimate and friendly evening.

Here are a few pictures from the night to give you a flavour of what it was like:

* The Masterclasses at Hallam are evening events which run throughout the term and usually feature visits from writers, agents and other publishing professionals.