Oompah. Oompah. This is the place where clever 26ers get to talk about the interesting stuff they’re doing. This month, it’s all happening in Hackney and Stoke Newington, and bookselling gets competitive in Edinburgh.
16FF
I have published a short anthology of 16 flash fiction stories on Kindle for National Flash Fiction Day (16 May). It’s called ’16FF’. I’ll be reading at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival on Sunday 3 June at 3pm at the Baby Bathhouse on Stoke Newington Church Street as part of The New Libertines. David Sewell
Baroque in Hackney
My blog, Baroque in Hackney, was shortlisted for the George Orwell prize for political writing – not bad for a poetry blog! Meanwhile, my poem ‘Austerity Party’ will appear in Magma magazine, imminently. Katy Evans-Bush
The Literary Cabaret
Helen Smith is hosting The Literary Cabaret at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival on Sunday 3 June at 8pm. A fabulously entertaining mix of words and music featuring Kate Arneil, Leo Benedictus, Rebecca Chance and Nat Segnit.
Strictly Come Bookselling
As part of Independent Booksellers Week, Ian Rankin, Viv French, Jonathan Meres and I are taking to the floor of The Edinburgh Bookshop on Sat 30 June. We will endeavour to sell books to unsuspecting customers. We get scored out of 10 on every sale we make… so there will be competition. I’m in the fiction section. My knives are sharpened…. Sara Sheridan
Allotment
Coming to a venue near you… Nutshell Theatre’s award-winning ‘Allotment’ is about to start a UK summer tour, taking in over 40 garden venues from Inverness to Cornwall, with a return to the Edinburgh Fringe in August. If you’ve ever fancied writing a site-specific play, here’s how it happened. Jules Horne