Author diaries

White Band Day

I am wearing a white t-shirt, a wristband and have written my white band message for the G8 leaders - yes, it's White Band Day!
Tomorrow I am off to Edinburgh to take part in the Make Poverty History event, prior to the G8 meeting at Gleneagles. I have been emailing friends, mainly in Scotland, in the hope that we will meet up in the expected crowd of 100,000 people. I have the advantage in that I am going up there with work (Traidcraft) and we should have our giant, inflatable Traidcraft globe marking our meeting point.
I am especially hoping to meet up with my friend and fellow poet, Sue Vickerman, who is travelling down from her home in a lighthouse just south of Aberdeen. We are going to be reading together in September, in Montrose and Aberdeen - more in future blogs.
If you are one of the few who have not heard about Live8 (younger son off to Hyde Park today) or Make Poverty History, I'd recommend a visit to the Traidcraft website, where you can do all sorts of exciting things, like register your views and find out what's going on. You will easily find my entries as I have gone for the very ordinary ID of Fiona!
On the writing front, I had my book launch on Monday night at the Lit and Phil, when I was reading with Kate Fox. I enjoyed it, and feedback seems to indicate that others did too. Then I was back at the Lit and Phil on Tuesday with the pupils from Bill Quay Primary School, Gateshead. I did some workshops with them recently, organised by the lLit and Phil. Some of them read their work and were able to see their poems and riddles displayed in the library, which they then looked round. Going up the spiral staircase was a must! They worked very hard and were really enthusiastic, so it was a good project to be involved in.
This has been my Lit and Phil week, as I was back on Wednesday for the launch of Ellipsis 2 a three-author book of short story sequences. Sean O'Brien read two of his stories and as always, read brilliantly. There is something so special about being read to, and in such a literary setting. A really lovely evening.

Posted by Fiona on 1 July 2005 at 02:56 PM GMT [Link]