Small Is Beautiful: the Oxford Writer's Group

You might be forgiven for thinking that with all our 'big' events we've been doing of late, we might have got a bit too big for our boots (or at least the shop) when it comes to events, but (hopefully) that's not the case. In fact, it was a real treat - now that the miriad of cardboard boxes containing event books have largely disappeared - to shift the old tables around, crack open a few bottles of wine, and host a nice, intimate event in the shop again.

On Thursday night, we held a Mostly Booklovers event with the Oxford Writers' Group, a remarkable group of novelists, poets, performers and writers - both published and unpublished - who are the driving force behind two very successful anthologies of short stories: The Sixpenny Debt, and The Lost College.

We've wanted to do a writers evening for a long time, and - with OWG member Mary Cavanagh a good friend of the shop, and a member of the Mostly Booklovers herself, we asked her to arrange the evening - which she duly did, inviting fellow members down to the shop and helping us structure the evening.

We took the opportunity to invite members of other writing groups along as well, and were delighted to welcome members of the White Horse Scribblers, as well as Robin and Birte of the Turl Street Writers (who have together recently published their own very successful anthology Turl Street Tales).

With so many other writers, would-be authors and book-lovers together in such a small venue, there was plenty of networking going on - with one very important outcome (more on that below).

The evening format was ostensibly a roundtable discussion on the challenges and opportunities of writing in and around Oxford. We'd dubbed the event "In the Footsteps of Pullman and Tolkien" but once questions started coming in from the audience, the discussion went off in a number of fascinating directions, ranging from the importance of writers' groups generally, essential editing tips, the Oxford Literary Festival and top tips on staging events.

It was standing room only - literally. I'd miscalculated on the number of chairs, forgetting that we had nine writers to seat for starters, so even pressing the counter stools into service we were still several short. Apologies to the late arrivers, and thanks to those who nobly gave up their seats when we played musical chairs after half an hour...

The OWG are - from left to right: Mary Cavanagh (author of The Crowded Bed and A Man Like Any Other), the redoubtable Radmila May (the editing supremo behind The Sixpenny Debt), Ekaterinburg author Helen Rappaport (who we did a wonderful garden event with almost exactly a year ago), journalist and writer Sylvia Vetta, Proper Family Christmas author Jane Gordon-Cumming, Angela Cecil-Reid, Margaret Pelling, Laura King (aka The Poet Laura-eate) and finally Gina Claye, author of Don't Let Them Tell You How To Grieve (and for a wonderful review of that book, read Dovegreyreader's thoughts here).

A very diverse group of writers, but the support they provide each other, and the obvious fun they have in their various endeavours was a massive advert for joining a writers group - or starting one yourself.

And several of the audience did just that. As a result of the event on Thursday, I'm proud to be the first person to announce the creation of the (as yet working-titled) Abingdon Writers' Group. Anyone reading this who lives in or around Abingdon, and would like to join - please get in touch and I will pass your name on to the founding members.

It's all jolly exciting - and for anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time, you'll know that this is the kind of thing that we love getting involved in - and makes all the incredibly hard work of running our little shop worthwhile. We have a number of extremely talented writers and authors who live in Abingdon, who it's been a privilege to have gotten to know since opening the shop, and this is the first step on a very exciting journey to something big.

Thanks to Mary - and the members of the OWG - for an energising and buzzy evening, and as the lady said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

P.S. This coming Monday (July 13, 7.30pm) we will be welcoming well-known local food writer and enthusiast of all things country pub + dog, Helen Peacocke, as she talks about her book Paws Under The Table, a collection of 40 dog-friendly pub walks around Oxfordshire...

Event videos

We had a fab new writers event last night with the Oxford Writers' Group - so whilst I busily write up that event (and there's a lot to cram in) I thought you might enjoy some videos from some of our events in June (what a long time ago that now seems...).

Firstly, Chris Bradford has released an 'official' launch video from the Amazing Books for Boys launch event for Way of the Warrior. Splendid stuff:



And whilst you are recovering from that, here's some (slightly) more sedate few videos from the Children's Food Festival.

Firt up is Alex Mackay, one of the undoubted stars of the weekend - he is an incredibly passionate, larger-than-life New Zealander who has made his home in Oxfordshire, and who has this amazing rapport with kids. He set up the Raymond Blanc Cookery School, but that's only the start of his talents - find out more here. Here he is getting the kids all fired up about dough - and it's a shame I didn't get any footage of the huge queue of children holding the world's longest piece of pasta...



On the Sunday, it was a great privilege to finally meet "the teenage chef" Sam Stern - we have been huge fans of Sam in the shop since we opened, we've recommended his books to loads of kids - and some of them came on Sunday, bringing their sauce-flecked copies for signing. Although (now 18) he'll lose his 'teenage' moniker shortly, it was a real pleasure to meet Sam and have him signing in the tent. Here - with a willing assistant - he prepares some homemade burgers:



And finally, I didn't manage to get any footage of Sophie Grigson whilst demonstrating on either of the two days, but she's an fantastic performer and like Alex she really gets children excited about cooking (it's perhaps no coincidence that both these chefs are heavily involved with the Kids' Cookery School in Acton). Here she is giving some sage advice on the importance of children learning to cook with - and respect - sharp knives in the kitchen (under close supervision of course):



Signed copies from Sam, Sophie and Alex in the shop...

This Monday (July 13) we welcome Helen Peacocke in the shop, talking about her new book "Paws Under the Table", a guide to dog-friendly pup walks in Oxfordshire. Helen is a well-known local writer, and she is passionate about dogs, walking - but also about 'using or losing' our wonderful country pubs...tickets available in the shop or email us to reserve a place...

Now We Are Three

It's our third birthday tomorrow. We haven't got anything special planned, but Nicki and I will be in the shop together (now a regular Wednesday event) and our Wednesday evening bookgroup meets, well, in the evening. We started our first bookgroup almost as soon as we opened, and for me it's still one of the highlights.

To be honest, we're pretty shattered, coming down off a rather ambitious events programme over the past few weeks, so a nice quiet Wednesday doing some admin and talking about books with customers will be very enjoyable.

Whilst the economic climate couldn't be more different, the actual weather tomorrow will be pretty similar to when we opened. And I do love selling books in my shorts...

I think it's worth saying that Nicki and I continue to love running the shop, we are so grateful for the continued support of everyone in the town, and we've lots of plans for events and activities in the coming months and years. A heartfelt and sincere thank you to everyone who supports us, and allows us to continue doing what we do.

So - have a slice of birthday cake on us wherever you are, and in the meantime, please enjoy some pictures from our Alice in Wonderland party held in the shop today. Alison was very hot in those ears, and apparently that's a Mutant Ninja (Mock) Turtle. Thanks to Esther for the pics...and for the use of her children!

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

(With thank to Roy H Williams and his timely memo...)

Food, fun and sun

Boy, was it hot today. The forecast thunderstorms failed to materialise (although we did see an impressive one in the distance late in the day) but the crowds did. I spent the day either sweltering under the tent, or wandering around meeting and greeting in the hot sun, and consequently look this evening as if I've just returned from a week in Ibiza...I am completely exhausted, and should be getting some sleep rather than writing this of course.

We have great fun today - the venue (The Northmoor Trust) works better than Abingdon Airfield two years ago, there are some great tents, activities and healthy eating all over the site, and everyone I spoke to was having a blast making pancakes, tasting chocolate, getting cooking and having fun - congrats to the organisers because this is a very special event now esconced in the calendar.

We did a few signings throughout the day:

Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, signing copies of the Good Granny Cookbook...

The brilliant and lovely Sophie Grigson, patron of the festival, who worked like a trojan all day compering the event as well as demonstrating herself...

Raymond of course - who followed his star turn two years ago with another performance that had kids crowding around the stage and getting terrifically excited about cooking...

There was a big egg running around, pursued by an angry-looking chef and lots of excited kids...

In the pink corner, kids cooking supremo Annabel Karmel, and in the green corner...

...Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett - authors of Baby-led Weaning (we had them and Annabel signing at the same time, which some Mums out there might consider a bit mischievous)...

And finally the utterly brilliant Stefan Gates, with a strong claim to be star of the show - and a nice guy to boot. His Gastronuts performance had kids clamouring to eat insects, jellyfish, locusts and sheeps testicles. Broccoli should be a doddle after all that...

Stefan performs tomorrow (Sunday) and we're welcoming Sam Stern as well as Alex Mackay amongst others. It'll be another hot day, in all senses of the word...

Children's Food Festival

This Saturday and Sunday we'll be running all the celebrity signings at the Children's Food Festival. We did the inaugural one two years ago - and this time it will be at the Northmoor Trust next to the Wittenham Clumps. Described (by me at least) as the "Glastonbury of Food" it should be an inspiring and entertaining two days.

This year there's some great new things happening - including an under 5s area - so if you are coming to the festival this year, pop over and say 'hello' as we'll be running around like mad things, and will welcome a familiar face...

Carnegie and Greenaway winners

My predictive powers on Tuesday fell short again - and of course it is not possible to wish Siobhan Dowd congratulations after her untimely death in 2007, but "Bog Child" is a very worthy winner.

Big congratulations must also go to Catherine Rayner who won this year's Greenaway with the fabulous Harris Find His Feet. We did an event with Catherine back in May, and both her and her work are vibrant and infectiously wonderful, and again - a very worthy winner.

Random thoughts: Abingdon Carnegie Forum 2009

Last year, I was very honoured to be invited to be a judge at the Abingdon Schools' Carnegie Forum. It was a fantastic day, I enjoyed myself immensely, and was delighted to be invited back for this year's event. Last year the event was hosted by Abingdon School, this year - under the auspices of the hosts Our Lady's - the event took place in the Guildhall.

The big difference this year was the format of the presentations. Last year, the shadowing groups - made up of a mix of students from each of the six secondary schools participating - made presentations at the end of the day which were felt to be a bit stilted. This year, the focus was on a more dramatic 4 minute presentation, with a choice of formats. Most groups chose to dramatise scenes from the book, or deliver a "reduced shakespeare" type delivery of the whole book. It was a lot of fun - and there was some great performances for the seven books on the shortlist.

Upon arriving at the Guildhall, we were greeted by the following fabulous Carnegie cake, made locally by Sue Russell.

As you know, I have strong views on books + cake, so the sight of this hugely impressive confection bucked me tremendously. I wasn't the only one:

Anyway - there was serious business at hand - namely, for us (the judges) to read through a whole series of book reviews from the shadowing schools, whilst the students themselves decided what they were going to do for the presentations.

We were welcomed by Mrs Renwick, Headmistress of Our Lady's (left) who then passed over proceedings to Our Lady's librarian Barbara Hickford (incidentally, I learned that Barbara set up a wiki for her shadowing group at the school, to enable pupils in the group to update reviews and feedback from the books).

Mrs Renwick gave us an overview of the Carnegie Medal itself, its history and just how many students (an estimated 90,000) are involved in the shadowing scheme. This is, BTW, the 10th annual Abingdon Carnegie Forum.

The students got into groups, spread out through the Guildhall:

As judges, we had a wander around to observe the presentations coming together, before retiring to our smoke-filled room for plenty of heated debate over the reviews (actually, it wasn't that heated, and the place is smoke-free, but you get the idea).

As last year, I took a sneaky photo of the assembled schools and facilitators towards the end:

...before prizes were given for the winners of the reviews for each book.

A couple of observations struck me about the reviews this year:

• the use of the word 'random'. I guess when you are 'down with the kids', random is a compliment. Several uses cropped up in the reviews, typically "this book was good, but a bit random". I'm guessing that this means the book was unexpected, didn't conform to expectations. I'd suggest, if you're a children's author, you'd want that kind of response from you readers.
• several of the reviewers found it 'weird' when the book was in the third person. In fact, one of the reviewers went as far as to say that they found it so weird they had to re-read several passages. Now, in my opinion, I still find first-person books a bit weird. Not so long ago, writing in the first-person was something that was incredibly difficult to pull off. I guess styles in literature have completely changed - I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or a bad thing - but 3rd person doesn't seem to be very in at the moment. Perhaps it's that celebrity culture thing creeping in again?

Anyway - here's a good article to read if you want to know more about the background to Carnegie Shadowing:

If your eyesight isn't very good, the article can be found online here.

I appreciate that I have only been involved in this event for two years, but I am so impressed by the high level of commitment, organisation and excitement from all involved. As a bookshop, we are dead chuffed to be involved in the Forum. As a change from selling books, I found the whole day energising in terms of re-discovering people who just get excited about books.

The Knife of Never Letting Go was voted the favourite book at the end of the Forum. Last year my predictions of the eventual winner were a bit off. For what it's worth, I reckon the Forum will get it spot on this year when the winner of the Carnegie Award 2009 is announced this Thursday.