Travels in Southern England – Reflections On The Bath Literature Festival

10 March 2015

The Literature Festival ended on Sunday 8 February. I was struck by the number of biographies that were on show. Almost all the talks I went to were about or concerned with real people. There were some sessions about writing and self publishing which was heartening and I visited the one about promoting your self published books. However, it seems that it is celebrities that draw the crowds. As a fiction writer myself, I would have preferred to hear more from novelists and short story writers. Still the festival was professionally run and the talks I attended were expertly presented. On the whole it was a very worthwhile experience.

Bath is a fascinating city to visit because of its Georgian architecture. Most of the city’s attractions, The Abby, The Roman Baths and the Pump Room, are in a few yards of each other and easily accessible on foot. Parking is a problem but there is an excellent “Park and Ride” service and train station. The Central Library is one of the best I have visited and is not far from the Guildhall and the Abby. I spent a of number hours working on my laptop there utilizing its excellent internet wifi connection. To show my appreciation I donated it a copy of the Peatmore Press novel, “Gifford’s Games” part of which is set in the city.

Keith Jahans
Editor, Peatmore Press

Bath Central Library not far from the Abby and next to Waitrose

Gifford’s Games published by Peatmore Press and available in paperback or as an ebook
from http://peatmore.com/giffordsgames.htm

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Travels in Southern England – The Bath Literature Festival

Day 5

5 March 2015

Books about real historical figures are very much in evidence at this year’s Festival. This afternoon I attended a talk by Matthew Plampin about the artist Turner. However the book he has written is a historical novel about one week in his early life when he competes for a commission against fellow artist Tom Girtin. The author showed slides of both artists’ paintings and compared their styles.

Girtin died at a much younger age than Turner (probably from asthma) and had he lived longer might have become the more famous but for some reason Girtin was not motivated to paint for posterity. The contrast between the two seems to be a fascinating idea for a story which I suspect is well worth a read.

Keith Jahans
Editor, Peatmore Press

Will & Tom by Matthew Plampin is published by The Borough Press
and is available in hardcover, paperback and as an ebook.

Travels in Southern England – The Bath Literature Festival

Day 4

4 March 2015

Having been a working microbiologist for almost 40 years I knew that Helen and William Bynum’s talk about their book, “Remarkable Plants That Shaped Our World” would be too good to miss and I was not disappointed.

They split the plants they discussed under different headings: Transformers, Taste, Healing & Medicines, Technology & Power, Cash Crops, Landscape, Revered & Adored and Wonders of Nature. While these categories had nothing to do with the accepted nomenclature of scientific biological classification they certainly worked as a way of looking at how plants have been utilized by humans over the centuries.

More than half of the talk concentrated on the ways they have been used in medicines and how new medicinal properties were being developed from them in the modern day. It was a commendable presentation as both speakers expertly conveyed how important plants have been in developing our world.

Keith Jahans
Editor, Peatmore Press

Remarkable Plants That Shaped Our World by Helen Bynum and William Bynum is published by Thames and Hudson Ltd and is available in hard cover and as an ebook.

Travels in Southern England – The Bath Literature Festival

Day 3

3 March 2015

I have never been very good at promoting my writing which is why I was delighted to see that the Festival was running a workshop on “How to Promote your Self Published Book” in Bath’s Central Library. It was led by the literary agent Flick (Felicity) Everett who edits the magazine, “Candis. She stressed the importance of understanding how the title and the cover should be made to appeal to prospective buyers.

The participants were a mixed group of mostly fiction writers encompassing a variety of genres plus a few who were writing non fiction and poetry. We were advised to check the title in our genres with others on Amazon to see how they ranked as best sellers as this might be a way to determine whether our endeavours could be successful. We were also shown the importance of creating an “elevator pitch”, blurb and press releases. Flick gave us examples of each and we were encouraged to write our own and utilize social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Most of this I already knew but I managed to pick up some tips of which I had been previously unaware. I met some enthusiastic novice writers with wonderful ideas for creating books and made some useful contacts. On the whole I found it an enjoyable and extremely worthwhile experience.

Keith Jahans
Editor, Peatmore Press

Travels in Southern England – The Bath Literature Festival

Day 2

2 March 2015

Today I visited Bath’s Guildhall to hear a talk by historian Marc Morris on his about to be published book on King John. There has always been a debate about John on whether he was good or bad. Eight hundred years ago he signed the Magna Carta which brought about the beginnings of democracy and there are currently celebrations marking the event. So he must have been good. But there is evidence that he treated his contemporaries appallingly so he has been thought of as bad.

I was reminded yesterday of Winston Churchill and the Suffragettes. Churchill died fifty years ago this year and there have also been occasions this year to mark the passing of a leader who led England in its finest hour of the Second World War. However, yesterday’s speaker told how as Home Secretary he encouraged the police to sexually molest the Suffragettes because there was not enough room in Britain’s then overcrowded prisons to lock them up.

A TV dramatization of Hillary Mantel’s novel “Wolf Hall” about Thomas Cromwell has just finished on television. Hither to regarded as a villain he was portrayed in the novel and TV series as a good guy. Today’s speaker described him as the new improved Thomas Cromwell.

What is certain is that how great figures of the past are portrayed will change in time and between different points of view. Their very greatness means that they are larger than life characters so the good and bad that they do is bound to be perceived differently from ordinary mortals. As far as King John is concerned, today’s speaker definitely considered him as bad.

Outside Bath’s Guidhall

Inside Bath’s Guildhall

Keith Jahans
Editor, Peatmore Press

Travels in Southern England – The Bath Literature Festival

Days 1 and 2

2 March 2015

I am in the city of Bath visiting the city’s Literature festival. Yesterday I went to a talk on Sophia: Princess, Suffragette given by BBC Radio 4 presenter Anita Anand at the Masonic Hall. It was a strange place to give such a talk. Ms Anand stood in front of the Masonic throne in a room surrounded by Masonic shields and other symbols. I suspect that the Suffragettes would have been horrified by the surroundings. However, it was a nice talk given by an expert who had done a great deal of research on the life of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs, exiled in the early 1900s to the Victorian court.

Keith Jahans
Editore, Peatmore Press

http://bathfestivals.org.uk/literature/event/sophia-princess-suffragette-revolutionary