Tag Archives: libraries

SUNDAY SCENE: KATIE GINGER ON HER FAVOURITE SETTING FROM THE LITTLE LIBRARY ON CHERRY LANE

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I don’t think there’s a writer out there who doesn’t love libraries. Honestly, we just do! And it’s not just because we write books.

In an age when books are constantly pirated and stolen, borrowing books from your local library helps an author financially as we get a small payment for every book of ours loaned out (it’s currently about 10p, I think). But we also love them because we know the power of stories in bringing people together.

Books help us to feel less alone whether its diving into another world for some escapism when our own lives get rough or reading about an experience that we too have been through before, books give us a sense of connection and hope. But there’s also a lot more to them that sometimes goes unnoticed. Whatever your reading tastes or reason for visiting, libraries are crucial to our communities and my latest novel The Little Library on Cherry Lane is basically a love letter to these fabulous institutions, illustrating all the things they do aside from lending books.

Not only do stories connect with us on a personal level, but libraries bring people together. They help alleviate loneliness and give us an opportunity to connect with others. You only have to see the rise in parent and child groups, or community groups like ‘Knit and Natter’ to see how much people need to forge communities and friendship groups at a time when so much of our lives are lived online. For many older people, they are a lifeline and the only time they speak to people during the day.

In my novel, the local library in the tiny village of Meadowbank is under threat when a developer wants to buy the land and turn it into a housing development. Of course, there’s romance because that’s what I write but the setting simply had to be a library and Meadowbank library, like many others is at the heart of the village’s community.

My favourite scene comes quite early on when the new housing development is revealed to the local community, and we see the reaction of the village. There’s complete outrage from all those who love the library and even Elsie, the shy, quiet librarian can’t stop herself from speaking out (much to the chagrin of our handsome hero). She sees the value of the place for more than just the books it lends. The village is shocked by her visceral reaction but for the most part agrees wholeheartedly with her. There are of course a few people who disagree because otherwise there wouldn’t be any tension in the story!

I absolutely loved writing the back and forth between the two main characters where they’re batting away each other’s arguments. She’s surprised at herself and our handsome hero can’t help but find her attractive even though she’s trying to scupper all his plans.

If you haven’t taken a trip to your local library in a while, please do as soon as you have the chance. They’re wonderfully welcoming and I’m sure you’ll see for yourself just how many people use them to connect with others. Books are important, but so are the places that house them, and we must do everything we can to ensure that future generations get to visit these amazing places too!

 

 

If you’d like to know more about me or my books, you can find me here: www.keginger.com!

 

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: INTRODUCING JAN BAYNHAM AND HER WRITING

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I was born and brought up in the tiny mid-Wales village of Newbridge-on-Wye and moved to nearby Llandrindod Wells when I was fourteen. Fortunate to have had a very free and happy childhood, growing up in such beautiful rural surroundings has always stayed with me. Although I have now spent more years living in the south of Wales, first in Swansea and then for the most part in Cardiff, I still call Llandrindod ‘home’. For as long as I can remember, apart from a very brief spell of wanting to be a glamourous model or an airhostess, I always wanted to become a teacher, my two main loves being English and Art. Having studied in Cardiff, I have taught in a wide range of settings – from opening and running my own nursery, teaching all year groups in primary school, secondary school English and Art and Pottery up to A level, and teaching art, crafts and pottery in adult evening classes when my three children were small. For the last six years of my career in education, I became a Teacher Adviser for English.

You will notice that I have not yet mentioned writing. I was extremely late to the party and it wasn’t until I joined a writing group at a local library when I retired that I wrote my first piece of fiction. In my job, I was passionate about children’s writing but this was for me, for my enjoyment… and I loved it. I was hooked! Soon, I went on to take a writing class at Cardiff university and began to submit short stories for publication. In October 2019, my first collection of shorts was published.  My pieces started getting longer and longer so that, following a novel writing course, I wrote my first full-length novel. My debut novel, Her Mother’s Secret was published in April 2020, followed by Her Sister’s Secret, a few months later, by Ruby Fiction. The third novel in the three-book deal is due out in the summer.

So, what do I write about? My dual-narrative novels are about families and their secrets. The strapline for my publisher is ‘Stories that Inspire Emotions!” and I hope that my books do just that. They are character driven. I have always been fascinated by long-held family secrets and skeletons lurking in cupboards and these form the germs of ideas to develop into a novel.

Fascinated by the ever-present link between past and present, I try to explore how actions and decisions made in one era have an impact on subsequent generations. In all my novels, I want to tell two stories showing a special bond between mothers and daughters. The daughters’ stories are written in first person and I’ve tried to get inside their heads, feel their emotions and show the reader why they act in the way they do.   In each novel, setting plays an important role, too. There is always a journey to a contrasting setting vastly different from the area in mid-Wales where my characters are from. I hope I manage to transport the reader not only to the heart of Wales but also to Greece, Sicily or France. I’ve also tried to capture the different times during which my characters lived.

Having a lot of catching up to do, I take every opportunity I can to learn more about the craft of writing by attending workshops, talks and conferences. Joining that small writing group in Whitchurch library was the best decision I could have made to start me on my writing journey.

 

You can link up with Jan on Twitter – @JanBaynham https://twitter.com/JanBaynham or Facebook – Jan Baynham Writer https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit or you can follow her blog – Jan’s Journey into Writing https://janbaynham.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FIRST, LAST, EVERYTHING – LIBRARIAN AND BOOK BLOGGER LARA MARSHALL

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What was the first piece of book business related advice you were given?

When I first started in libraries I was told to “shout about what I was passionate about” (maybe not literally, but close enough!). I took this advice to heart and made sure that I told anyone who would listen about books that I enjoyed, books that connected with me and books that changed my view of the world. Whether this was through displays, reviews, blogs, or good old word of mouth.

Book blogging has become a natural extension of that, as I try to reach people from all over the world, to talk to them about the books that meant a lot to me. I feel strongly about talking about what resonates with you, and if something doesn’t that’s fine.

What was the most recent piece of bookish advice you gave or received?

Be careful what you say on Twitter! The book industry is a very, very small world, including publishing, libraries, authors and bloggers, and everyone is on Twitter. News has a terrifying way of travelling fast! Of course, if this is positive all the better, but if you are difficult or accidentally slight one person be prepared for everyone to know about it!

What piece of advice would you most like to pass on?

If you’re not enjoying a book, don’t struggle through it and make the whole process horrible. There are so many amazing books out their for a variety of tastes, passions and interests – find something that sparks a light in you and devour it! There will be a book out there for you, I can guarantee it!

Then once you’re on a roll, no one will be able to stop you.

 

Lara is a library manager and book blogger from North-West London. She has worked in libraries for twelve years and blogging for 2. She began to suspect she was slightly different to other children when, at seven years old, her most prized possession was the ‘A’ volume of the children’s Encyclopaedia Britannica (her family couldn’t afford the rest).

When she isn’t working, blogging or reading, chances are she’s doing something “vaguely bookish”.

You can find Lara’s blog here: https://bookishlara.com/

 

THE BUSINESS OF BOOKS: ONLY TAKE IT ON IF YOU CAN SEE IT THROUGH

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Jane Cable considers what it takes to organise a successful event

Never one to ask others to do what I won’t myself, I thought that this year I would focus my own articles on advice given and received as well. Except as I have the privilege of writing my own column once a month I’m planning to focus each article on something relevant to my writing life.

So let’s start with writers’ events. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m willing, or I’m bossy, or I forget to duck below the parapet, but very often it seems to be me doing the organising. Last week I was at a library in Cardiff with two other Welsh authors, talking about routes to publication. It was a bitterly cold evening and it had snowed during the day. We’d already cancelled the afternoon event due to low bookings but were determined this one should go ahead. Perhaps, between us, we did know a significant number of people in the audience, but that was probably because they were writers yet to get a book out there and wanted to pick our brains. That said, we all enjoyed the evening and the library reported enthusiastic feedback from our guests.

So, what did I learn? And what advice would I give other writers looking to try their hand at connecting with their audience in this way?

  1. Only take it on if you can see it through If you initiate an event it is down to you to finish it. You may have a helpful venue (as we did in Cardiff last week), but if you promise something you have to deliver or your reputation will be at stake. This can mean finding other writers willing to take part, pulling together publicity material, sorting out IT and refreshments. If you can’t give it the time and the energy, don’t go there.
  2. Know your audience Think about who you would like to attend and find a venue, time and topic to suit them. Sometimes at least one of these will be fixed (eg a library or a festival) but there will always be something you can control to entice people in. Last week in Cardiff we over-estimated the appeal of an afternoon discussion about favourite books aimed at readers of romance. We were targeting retired people, thinking they would enjoy the interaction and not want to be talked at. What we didn’t factor in was the weather – the same event in the summer might well have been popular.
  3. Know when to quit We had six people signed up to that afternoon event and there were four presenters so it was a no brainer that it had to go. We, and the library, tried everything to up the numbers but to no avail so we pulled the plug and made sure everyone knew about it. But quitting isn’t always the right answer. A couple of years ago Chindi Authors organised a mini litfest to raise funds for Words for the Wounded. Tickets sold slowly for the main lunchtime event and I was ready to pull the plug, but the wonderful children’s author Christopher Joyce refused to let me and as it happened we would have struggled to fit another person in – and the weekend as a whole raised almost £1,000 for the charity.
  4. Only do it if you’re going to enjoy it There is no point putting all this effort in if, on the day, you’re going to be a gibbering wreck. If you hate public speaking then find another way to raise your profile. Nothing is compulsory. Play to your strengths.