Plymouth Literary Festival

I chaired a panel discussion with the Women Speak Volumes South West writers this weekend as part of the Plymouth Literature Festival. We had an audience of nearly 80 come to listen to us share work and talk on the theme of visibility/invisibility; the challenges that older women face in getting their work published (particularly as emerging writers); as well as exploring how age shapes what we write and the unexpected freedoms it can bring.

And what a gorgeous, engaged and nurturing audience (men and women) they were! Afterwards, in a flurry of messages, we all reflected on our pitch for the event - how simple it was, and yet how it really stuck a chord.  It was so clear in the responses to the readings and the questions asked at the end that there’s a huge hunger to write and read older women’s experiences, which is why it’s fantastic to see a whole festival celebrating the voices of women writers in Brighton and Crawley next month organised by Forthwrite. It bodes well for our pamphlet of poetry and short fiction: (in)visibilities too, which is currently at the typesetters.