FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND

We are happy for you to RSVP via Meet-up - BUT, you are also very welcome to come along to any event on the day.

Most events are FREE

Only workshops must be booked in advanced either email finchleyliteraryfestival@gmail.com or Tel 020 8346 9449 

Friday 24^th June:

Writers’ Workshop.   11.00-12.30pm North Finchley Library, N12 9HP

Memoir writing workshop led by Anna Meryt, author of A Hippopotamus at the Table. 
Booking required: RSVP here.

Harry Parker      and      A.L. Bird

Author Event.   2.00-300pm Church End Library, N3 1TR

Meet Harry Parker when he discusses his debut novel, The Anatomy of a Soldier, based on his army experiences which reached The Times top 5 bestseller list. No booking required. 

Author Event.   3.15-4.15pm Church End Library, N3 1TR

Local author, A.L. Bird, reads from and talks about her fourth novel The Good Mother, a psychological thriller. No booking required.

Writers’ Workshop.   6.30-8.30pm Trinity Church Centre, N12 7NN

Adaptation Workshop with Josie Pearse has been CANCELLED

Allen Ashley

Book Launch.  7.00-8.30pm Trinity Church Centre, N12 7NN

Allen Ashley, poet and author, welcomes you to the launch of his latest book The Planet Suite. Following an interview, Allen will take questions about science fiction and writing in general. No booking required.

Saturday 25^th June 

A Trio of Authors.  11.00-12.30pm   Trinity Church Centre, N12 7NN

Three exciting authors discuss their latest works and their writing process. Yvette Edwards, author of A Cupboard Full of Coats and The Mother, will be joined by Irenoson Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish and a short story collection, Speak Gigantular, and Catriona Ward, author of Rawblood. The session will end with a panel discussion with questions from the audience.

Free but please RSVP here.

Trio of Authors
Yvvette Edwards  and  Irenosen Okojie  and  Catriona Ward

Dragons’ Pen.  11.30-12.45pm Trinity Church Centre, N12 7NN

Pitch your novel or story in five minutes to literary dragons for instant feedback from award winning writers and editors. Plus small prizes for the top pitches. 
FULL

Dragon's Pen
Gillian Stern  and  Antonia Honeywell  and  Cari Rosen

Literary Delights.  1.30-5.30pm Trinity Church Centre, N12 7NN

Joanna Campbell, Antonia Honeywell, Sunny Singh, Vaseem Khan

Short Story Competition results.  1.30-2.30pm  

Joanna Campbell, judge of the FLF and Greenacre Writers short story competition, will announce the winners. Joanna will then read from her latest collection of short stories When Planets Slip Their Tracks and will also talk about her first novel Tying Down the Lion.

Orphans in Fiction.  2.30-3.30pm  

Antonia Honeywell, author of the highly regarded novel, The Ship, and Rosie Canning discuss the literary representations of orphans through the ages with readings from classic and contemporary texts.

Tea Break with book signings.  3.30-4.00pm

Author Interview.  4.00-4.45pm

Sunny Singh, author of three novels including her latest, Hotel Arcadia,

Will be interviewed by Lindsay Bamfield, talking about her extensive writing career and her influences. 

Meet the Author.  4.45-5.30pm

Vaseem Khan reads from his bestseller debut novel The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra.

Free but please RSVP here.

Katharine Norbury

Sunday 26^th June

Meet the Author.  11.00-12.00pm Waterstones, N12 9QR

Katharine Norbury presents her acclaimed book The Fish Ladder, a memoir, incorporating travelogue, mythology and nature writing.

Free but please RSVP here.

Finchley in Fiction  – Guided Walk. 12.00-4.30pm  
Meet Waterstones, N12 9QR

Mike Gee and Rosie Canning lead us on a literary walk with a lunch stop at Redwood Café (one of our sponsors) in Swan Lane Open Space, and a tea stop at Finchley Golf Club.
£3.00 pay on the day, please RSVP here.

Music and Poetry Palooza.  6.00-8.30pm Café Buzz, N12 8JY

Join Anna Meryt and guests for an evening of lively performance poetry and music. 

No booking required.

Stop Press: We are delighted to announce that The BIG GREEN BOOKSHOP will be the festival's book sellers at Trinity Church Centre on Saturday 25th June.

Allen Ashley in interview

Allen Ashley in interview: Friday 24th June. 7.00-8.30pm 

Trinity Church Centre, 15 Nether Street, N12 7NN

Allen Ashley, a Finchley author, is launching his updated book, The Planet Suite and will be interviewed by Sandra Underman about science fiction and writing in general.

Allen Ashley is an award-winning editor and a prize-winning poet. He works as a creative writing tutor with five groups running across north London, including Novel Focus Group for Greenacre Writers. He is the sole judge for the annual British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition. He is the co-host of Rhyme & Rhythm Jazz-Poetry Club at the Dugdale Theatre, Enfield. His most recent books are Dreaming Spheres: Poems of the Solar System (with Sarah Doyle (PS Publishing, 2014); Sensorama (as editor) (Eibonvale Press, 2015) and Creeping Crawlers (as editor) (Shadow Publishing, 2015). He will be launching the revised version of his novel The Planet Suite (Eibonvale Press) at Finchley Literary Festival.

Read more about Allen here.

You can follow Allen on Twitter: @AllenAshleyUK

The event is free but please book.

RSVP

Finchley in Fiction Literary Walk

Meet outside Waterstones, Finchley 12.15-4.30pm

782 High Street, North Finchley, London, N12 9QR, London

Finchley is becoming something of a celebrity! See here for the latest Finchley in Fiction news. We'll be reading excerpts from some of the books on the walk. Led by Mike Gee and Rosie Canning with a lunch stop at Redwood Cafe (one of our sponsors,) in Swan Lane Open Space, and a tea stop at Finchley Golf Club. 

This is an informal session taking you on a gentle walk with stops to write inspired by nature or a chance to just breathe and listen to the wind. Short readings will also be given from novels that feature Finchley - after all who can pass the site of Spike Milligan's former home without a recitation?

There is a small charge for this event of £3.00 but please book.
RSVP

FLF/GW Competition Shortlist

The Finchley Literary Festival & Greenacre Writers Short Story Competition: 

The shortlist is announced!

Congratulations to all those who made it through to our short-list.

If long-listing is a serious business, then short-listing is even more so. We had to select the top third and ensure that the chosen stories fulfilled all the criteria that a good short story should have. We chose stories that were well written; original and, perhaps most of all, memorable. We aimed to pick ten, but in the end we had to pick two extra because - we just had to! Let Joanna Campbell, our judge, have the really tricky task of selecting the top three. Good reading, Joanna.

The stories she will be reading - several times - are:

The Sender of Second Chances 

The Sovereign 

Three Words and a Chocolate Bar 

So Many Questions 

A Man of Means by No Means 

The Wondwossi Hotel Bar 
The Lonely Path 

The Prize 

Now I'm a Fish 

Tilly's Account 

Costume 
Swan 

Meet the Author: Harry Parker at Church End Library

Meet the Author: Harry Parker. 
Friday 24^th June 2.00– 3.00pm 

Church End Library, 24 Hendon Lane, London N3 1TR

We are very pleased to welcome Harry Parker to the festival this year. Harry will be talking about his debut novel Anatomy of a Soldier which reached No.5 in the Times bestseller list. Written from the point of view of 45 different objects it provides a unique insight of war.

Harry was educated at University College London and joined the British army when he was 23, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Harry’s creativity as a child mainly took the form of painting but after attending an army-funded Arvon creative writing course, he drew on his personal experiences and wrote Anatomy of a Soldier. Harry lives in London, attends art school and is playing with some ideas for a future novel.

Come and meet Harry and hear about his inspiration for the novel. There is no need to book for this event but you can let us know if you would like to attend by RSVP.

For more information see Harry Parker.
Follow on Twitter @harrybparker

FLF/GW Competition Longlist

The Finchley Literary Festival & Greenacre Writers Short Story Competition Longlist is out.

Congratulations to all those long-listed.

We've heard it said that many writers consider producing a short story in 1,000 words or fewer is a difficult task but judging by our entries, dozens of writers disagree. The entries comprised a wonderful variety of themes, ideas and writing styles - and the standard was high. 

A good story, we think, reads so smoothly it seems as if it was as effortless to write but, as writers ourselves, we understand the work that goes in to crafting a good short story and are very appreciative of what our entrants achieved. 

Selecting stories for the long list is never an easy task and so we enrolled a number of readers to ensure we were choosing the very best. If your story hasn't made our list, please do not be discouraged; we had a high number of entries and the fact that we intended long-listing only 20, but have actually chosen 30 demonstrates how impressed we were. Keep writing!

Once again, congratulations to those we list here in no particular order:

Wrecks 
The Sender of Second Chances 
Three Words and a Chocolate Bar 
The Wondwossi Hotel Bar
The Magic Lantern 
A Necessary Occupation 
257 Cracks 
The Last Morning
The Tin Flute
Lessons Without Instructions 
The Lonely Path 
The Prize 
Now I'm a Fish 
Grandma's Needles
Costume 
Allotments 
Reflections 
The Woman on the Corner
When Luck Runs Out 
A Piece of Cake
Like Trees in The Forest 
Tilly's Account 
Happy Birthday
The Most Delicious Biryani
Project Claire
Swan
A Man of Means By No Means
So Many Questions
The Sovereign
29 Days