Build-up to BOOKMARK

So many things are coming together, winding up, being proofed one last time, dotted and crossed, formatted and fonted and finalised.  I've given my last workshop, up the Glens at Kirkmichael with a lovely group of writers - I've been through the entries (just under 60) for the Place Settings anthology, selected and started the layout - Her Lines, My Lines, my book of poems with outstanding art work by Kyla Tomlinson, has gone to the printers - and those are just my bits!  Everyone involved in the Festival is going about the place with slightly wild-eyed expressions and the thought "What have I forgotten?" lurking just below the surface of their brains ... 

But never fear.  It will all be all right on the 10th, 11th and 12th October.  Come and see for yourself!  (Tickets can be booked here!)

National Museum of Ireland (Dublin) and its curves

Leif Frond and the Inside Scoop

Who is this slightly strange-eyed woman and who is she waiting for?

It's me, in the signing tent at the Edinburgh International Book Festival's Schools Gala Day, just after my Leif Frond event and just before I got the chance to sign books and chat to members of the audience.  Some of the schools had to rush off to their buses, which was sad, but some didn't, and I really enjoyed meeting pupils and teachers!  One of them was a drama teacher and said she was going to make a play for her class from the books - if you're reading this, dear drama teacher, please remember to send me some photos! 

To find out more about the Leif Frond books, you can visit the Young Writers' website where there's an interview with me here - and there are a bunch of activity sheets as well that look like fun -

Strange Skies over Dundee