The first Llandeilo Book Fair happened on Sat 30th April and I have to say it was everything I hoped it would be, and more. 13116117_10154111069195890_3030147215879274381_o 13119740_1091090187580860_3565965637614321087_o
From the first day of organising it people have been supportive: friends, local residents, businesses, schools, the libraries, the press, authors and readers. It’s been a dream to organise. 13118978_10153346314352132_7476212192213809584_n
I need to thank Helen, Robin and Luke from Caffi  lechyd Da for doing such a great job with the catering, Tracey and her team from Heavenly Chocolate for donating the cake and all their advise and support, Naomi Edwards from the local school and Janet Lewis from the library.

Also thanks to the best event day team ever: Hugh Roberts, Ryan and Meryl – Thanks for running everything so smoothly and professional.13119896_10154111069815890_7673435550460422218_o

We had a busy hall all day long and huge interest in the workshops, readings, talks and the discussion panel. The footfall was more than I had expected, thanks to the publicity material designed by Thorne Moore and the press team, Sally Spedding and13124519_10153346314407132_8013638219986472241_n Graham Watkins.

We collected £ 92 through a raffle of books for the Air Ambulance Wales.

We had a lot of excellent entries for the Youth Short Story Competition:

Winner of the age group 6 – 12 was Shivani Cook for  “The Colourful Ostrich”
Winner of the age group 13 – 17 was Reuben Netherwood for “The Reunion”.
Second prize overall went to Frances Nolan for “Routine Exterminator”.
First prize went to  Polly Manning for “The Steeple”

There were many other strong contenders in the competition, showing that there is also a future generation to carry on the tradition of great story telling in Wales.

The authors on display were well received. Llandeilo has shown itself a supportive community when it comes to local talent and a place where art and culture can thrive.

13112842_1091089894247556_4258916291128302947_o 13131374_1091089790914233_8987182526097320169_oThere were many calls for more book fairs like these, and not just one a year. I have along list of authors who would like to participate at the next event as well as huge interest from those who participated this time.

For now, I can refer you to the Rhondda Book Fair on September 3rd
and the Tenby Book Fair on September 24th.

Plans for further events in LLandeilo are in the offing once I had sufficient time to recover from organising this one.

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