Saturday 11th June, Tamworth, 2016, Staffordshire

Both Caroline and I will be attending Tamworth LitFest’s Romancing The Word event on Saturday 11th June and we are SO excited! Tamworth will be playing host to a bevy of Romance authors from around the West Midlands and further afield! The Tamworth Literary Festival has organised a whole day dedicated to the wonderful world of romance. There will be author talks, readings and a workshop in St Editha’s Church, with tickets  priced at £3 per author session (or £8 for the whole day) and a free Meet the Authors/Book Signings in the adjacent library.

If you live in the area or want to visit it would be lovely to see you there. ❤

Tickets available to purchase in person from Tamworth Information (TIC) or to reserve telephone the TIC on 01827 709581/709618. Alternatively reserve via email at tamlitfest@gmail.com

Scroll down to find out about more about the participating authors and details about the full programme for the day.

Authors appearing in St George’s Chapel, St Editha’s Church:

Helena Fairfax will be delivering a  Workshop – How to Write a Great Romance: The role of conflict in fiction, and at how to create that vital romantic tension in a romance novel to keep the reader glued to the page.

Helena is a contemporary romance author. Her first novel, The Silk Romance, was published after passing through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme, where her reader taught her the importance of romantic conflict – a lesson she’s never forgotten. Helena’s latest romance, A Way from Heart to Heart, is set on the Yorkshire moors. Helena walks the moors every day with her rescue dog, finding this romantic landscape – and strangely, even the rain and mud – the perfect place to dream up her heroes and heroines. You can find Helena on Facebook (where she’s the only Helena Fairfax), on Twitter @helenafairfax, or on her blog at www.helenafairfax.com.

There will also be a Meet the Author talk and signing with Julia Ibbotson, author of the Drumbeats trilogy and A Shape on the Air (a Dark Ages time slip romance).

Julia  lives in the heart of England in a renovated Victorian rectory. She read English and Sociology at Keele University after a gap year in Ghana. She was a school teacher, before gaining her PhD and becoming a university lecturer. Apart from academic research texts, Julia has written a memoir, The Old Rectory: escape to a Country Kitchen (with recipes), a children’s book S.C.A.R.S, and her Drumbeats trilogy. She is currently completing a new novel, A Shape on the Air, a historical/romance time-slip story. Apart from reading, she loves travel, singing, swimming, yoga, Pilates, and walking. http://juliaibbotsonauthor.com/

Bestselling author Rosie Goodwin will also be delivering a Meet the Author talk and signing.

Before becoming a writer Rosie was a Placement Support Worker and foster carer, and worked in the social services department after completing a teacher training course. Rosie lives in Nuneaton, where many of her books are set, with her husband, Trevor, and their beloved dogs. Rosie is one of the Top 100 most borrowed authors from UK libraries and loves meeting and hearing from her readers. http://www.rosiegoodwin.co.uk/

The sessions will close with an author reading and signing by Gareth J Wood, ‘The cold side of the pillow: Romance’s ugly face.‘

Gareth J Wood was born in Birmingham and, barring spells in Wales and the Far East, he’s lived there ever since. He went to university in Birmingham and Lampeter, completing a degree in literature, after which he went over to Taipei with his partner, Claire, and tried teaching. Sadly it didn’t work out. He and Claire now share their home with two angry terriers. Gareth used to perform live, forming a collective called The Blue City Project. He has written many short stories and completed two full-length novels, The Malignant Man and The Master’s Marionettes. He writes all the while and can often be seen riding on late-night buses grumbling into torn notepads.  http://www.kensingtongorepublishing.com/gj-wood/4590419807

FREE Meet the Author/Signing Event at Tamworth Library 11.00 am – 3.00 pm

Lucy Felthouse (Erotic Romance): Lucy Felthouse is the award-winning author of erotic romance novels Stately Pleasures (named in the top 5 of Cliterati.co.uk’s 100 Modern Erotic Classics That You’ve Never Heard Of, and an Amazon bestseller) and Eyes Wide Open (winner of the Love Romances Café’s Best Ménage Book 2015 award, and an Amazon bestseller). Including novels, short stories and novellas, she has over 140 publications to her name. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more about her writing at http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk, or on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe to her monthly newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

S.J Warner lives in the north of England with her husband and three children. An avid reader from an early age she knew she always wanted to write but life got in the way and she put all thoughts of writing to one side until one day in 2012 she was challenged to write a short story. That story led her on a journey into poetry, more short stories and finally to producing three collections of her poetry and her first full length novel. She enjoys reading many different genres her favourites being erotica and horror. http://www.amazon.co.uk/S-J-Warner/e/B00J4NPDXS/

http://m.facebook.com/sjpoetica/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7824986.S_J_Warner

L A Cotton (Contemporary Romance), L.A is author of contemporary romance novels ranging from sweet with just a hint of steam, to suspenseful reads full of angst, tension, twists and turns. Home is a small town in the middle of England where she currently juggles being a full-time mum to two little people with writing. In her spare time (and when she’s not camped out in front of the laptop) you’ll most likely find L. A immersed in a book, escaping the chaos that is life. www.lacotton.com www.facebook.com/authorlacotton  www.twitter.com/authorlacotton

Pat Spence (Contemporary, Young Adult and Paranormal Romance), Pat Spence is a freelance writer and ex- magazine editor. She has worked as a copywriter in advertising agencies, a freelance trainer teaching personal development and a massage therapist/aromatherapist. She is married with a daughter, has a degree in English Literature, and spends her spare time practicing yoga, learning banjo, reading and gardening.Books:

‘Abigail’s Affair’ is a quirky love story about a woman coming to terms with having an affair. Set against a colourful Australian backdrop, with flashbacks to the UK, and a host of emotionally dysfunctional characters, the story reveals how the experience of travel becomes a voyage of self-discovery, with surprising results, for 30-year old Abigail Aske.

‘The Blue Crystal Trilogy’, (comprising ‘Blue Moon’, ‘True Blue’ and ‘Into The Blue’) a supernatural love story about a strange family, with an ancient secret, that arrives in a Midlands village to renovate an old manor house. When local girl, 17-year old Emily Morgan, falls for glamorous and mysterious 19-year old Theo de Lucis, she must change every perception she has had about live, love, ageing and death.

J A Heron (Romance, Erotic Romance, Thriller) in her own words: I live in a small town called Burton on Trent, Staffordshire in the middle of England. This lovely little town is famous for making beer, and I have called it home since I was born. I have a daughter called Shelby and although I was a young mother, I couldn’t be more proud of the beautiful young lady I have raised, I was eighteen years old when she came into my life, and I love her more than anything in the world. I am quite a positive person, and with some of the hardships I have encountered over the years has made me a stronger person. I lost my mum to cancer over ten years ago, and although I lost my best friend that day I believe in my heart that she would be proud of me.

I started writing because of my love for books, but also, because of my disability. I was a bit of a medical miracle you see, I survived, when I really shouldn’t have. And whilst my illness left me with some lasting effects, it also left me with a new outlook, determination and confidence that I could do it, so I did! I have loved reading for a number of years now, and my only regret is that I wish I had read more as a youngster. I believe it is very important to teach children the love of books from an early age, the earlier the better in my opinion. I am in a relationship with a wonderful man called Ian. He is very supportive of my writing and calls me ‘his clever girl’, for some reason this always makes me blush. Ian and my daughter know when to give me some space to write, they know that I can become quite tetchy when in the zone. But they also know that I need an endless supply of coffee, and maybe some chocolate thrown into the mix. I believe in my work, I believe in my stories, and I hope you do too…trust me, there’s a lot more to come!

http://janeheron1.wix.com/jaheronauthor

https://www.facebook.com/JAHeronAuthor

Katharine Swartz is the USA Today-bestselling author of 35 romances with Harlequin Presents, hundreds of short stories, and several historical novels and anthologies now available on Kindle. Her first women’s fiction with Penguin/NAL, Rainy Day Sisters, will be out in August 2015. She likes to read romance, mystery, the occasional straight historical and angsty women’s fiction; she particularly enjoys reading about well-drawn characters and avoids high-concept plots. Having lived in New York City, she now makes her home in a tiny village on the windswept northwest coast of England, with her husband, five children, and an overly affectionate Golden Retriever. You can read about her life at http://www.acumbrianlife.blogspot.co.uk.

AA Abbott is an English writer. “Mostly, I write thrillers set in the world of big business,” Abbott says. “Men enjoy my books just as much as women do, and I guess that’s why I chose a gender-neutral pen name. After all, if JK Rowling can pretend to be a guy – twice – then why shouldn’t I?” Abbott is better known in her day job as Helen Blenkinsop. “I work in interim roles in large companies, and then take time off to write,” she says. “I’ve always loved entertaining others with a story, and my work gives me loads of inspiration. Demanding bosses, frauds, affairs – I’ve seen it all!”

Helen has lived and worked in several English cities. “I aim to convey a strong sense of place in my writing,” she says. “Three cities I know particularly well are London, Bristol and Birmingham. London is awash with foreign money and frenzied work patterns. It’s hectic and exciting. By contrast, you can lose a lot of time in Bristol sipping cider and watching the world go by. Birmingham is where my heart lies – it’s busy, friendly and simply fun to be there. Often, I write about the tensions between different places and people. My characters explore themes of change, darkness and redemption, just as we all do in our journeys through life.” Any last words? “Yes,” Helen says. “I write great short stories too. There are loads free on my website, and when you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll send you a free e-book packed with terrific tales. What are you waiting for?”

http://aaabbott.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/AAAbbottStories   https://www.facebook.com/AAAbbottStories

Laura Morgan (Dark Paranormal Romance),  describes herself as “a hopeless romantic with a dark side.

I have worked in many administrative roles over the years thanks to a life on the move, and am a self-confessed computer and gadget geek. I’ve always had a wild imagination and a sense of creativity that often runs away with me, engrossing me for days in many a story that haunts my thoughts until it eventually makes it to the page. An avid rock music fan, I spend much of my free time listening to music at home or going to concerts with my friends, and this love of music often makes its way into my creative writing. I love edgy, gritty books that strip your heart and soul bare, and leave you with an epic book hangover at the end. That’s what I aimed to do with mine, and I think my readers agree! At times they’re dark and controversial, but that’s also what makes them unique.

Like many authors, my dream of writing was pushed aside for a long time. I was too busy, too tired, enough—so I kept my stories to myself. Then, one day in the summer of 2013 I began thinking up a new story. It haunted me, and eventually I felt compelled to write it down. I’m so glad I did, because that story quickly turned into my first novel, Embracing the Darkness. Since then I’ve written seven more full-length novels, numerous short stories, and I have a handful of works in progress on the go. I love edgy, gritty books that strip your heart and soul bare, and leave you with an epic book hangover at the end. That’s what I aimed to do with mine, and I think my readers agree! At times they’re dark and controversial, but that’s also what makes them unique.

I also have a YA science fiction series written under my pen name L.C Morgan, of which the first novel is out with a second to follow in June 2016. It’s a story set a thousand years in the future, in which humans have used and abused the planet beyond repair to both the earth itself and to society. Close to cataclysm, an alien race called the Thrakorian’s step in to save our planet, and us, but at a price. The human race is enslaved to their new masters, albeit willingly, and this is the story of a young girl and her journey into adulthood beneath their reign.

www.facebook.com/lauramorganauthor/  www.twitter.com/lauram241

http://author.to/LauraMorgan   http://author.to/LCMorgan

Christina Smee (Historical): Originally from Birmingham, I have lived in Tamworth for 35 years.  I am a self- employed historical interpreter working mainly at Bosworth Battlefield Centre.  I also give talks on Medieval Herbal Medicine to local groups.  My son, Dominic was involved in a Channel Four Documentary, Richard 111: The New Evidence in 2013/2014.  Dominic has the same medical condition as King Richard and participated in scientific and historical research for the program.

The Rose of Middleham is my first published novel about life at Middleham castle in Yorkshire where Richard 111 lived, as a child and as owner upon his marriage to Anne Neville, daughter of The Earl of Warwick.  I have planned to write a sequel when time permits.  Both Dominic and I are members of a Living History group based at Bosworth Battlefield Centre where I have the role of Wise Woman.  Since the documentary we have travelled the country with the armour commissioned by Channel Four where Dominic gives a presentation on his experience making the program.

Carol E Wyer (Humour, Romantic Comedy): Carol is an ex-teacher and linguist who lives in rural Staffordshire. Having written a series of educational yet amusing books for children, she turned her attention to the adult market in 2010 when her son flew from the nest.

Her first two novels attracted much attention from the media. Since then, she has appeared on over fifty BBC radio stations, several international radio stations, NBC television and BBC Breakfast discussing age-related subjects such as ‘Irritable Male Syndrome’. Her writing style has been described frequently by the media as ‘witty’ or ‘humorous’ and has even been compared to the acerbic wit of Jeremy Clarkson and the humour of Robin Williams.

Last year she won the People’s Book Prize Award for Grumpy Old Menopause which also was featured on BBC Breakfast television

Carol has written articles for and featured in several national women’s magazines including Take A Break, Choice, Woman’s Weekly and Woman’s Own who also wrote about her journey to becoming a best-selling author.

Recently, she signed a two-book deal with publishing house Bookouture. Currently writing a series of novels and articles aimed at the ‘older’ woman, Carol is also engaged in writing by-line articles and posts for magazines and websites including the Huffington Post and is a regular Loud Mouth on BBC Radio Derby. When not writing, you might find her performing her stand-up routine “Smile While You Still Have Teeth”.

Winner of the People’s Book Prize Award for non-fiction

www.carolewyer.co.uk  www.facing50withhumour.com  www.grumpyoldmenopause.com

PLUS Tamworth Writers Group and more…

The Full Programme

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