The wonderful book shop Dulwich Books is acting as host for three local authors on 27 October. They are all self-published and have worked together for quite some time under the guiding hand of Maggie Smith, now 90 plus yet very active – and a much respected teacher of creative writing.
The three are Susan Gillie, Tony Emerson and Pia Helena Ormerod. Sue will read an excerpt of her novel Not my Child, a tense family drama in which lies and betrayal threaten a marriage. Tony has written a futuristic saga, Unlikely Alliances, about a community coming together to combat climate change in a new way. Pia’s is a reprint of her novel Junk Male, which deals with a woman learning to cope after her 20-year old marriage falls apart.
Asking Sue why after a long successful career she turned to writing, the answer is “after I had sold my business, I started writing short stories. At one of my creative writing courses I wrote about a family confrontation and the novel grew from that. I was then encouraged to join Maggie Smith’s group. We learn from each other but we are also free to criticise. This helps us to refine our writing and develop our own style.” Her novel is a clever insight into a relationship threatening to fall apart and how different members of that family deal with this crisis.
Tony agrees that looking at each other’s work has many advantages. “You can become slightly blind to your own writing.” His novel is set in 2029, which will be a break point for the climate change. “I do hope people will respond to this story. Because of the many alterations we need to make at every level to combat the climate crisis I do see that these changes can be beneficial to us all”. This is an uplifting story but it is also a human tale of love, friendship and romance as a community comes together.
Pia’s novel is a reprint of her successful novel Junk Male. Her story deals with a woman who after a long marriage has to deal with an empty nest as both her children and her husband leave home. She has to kiss a few frogs in the hope of finding a prince but in the end her self-confidence returns. Pia was a late-comer to Maggie’s writing group and is now nearing the final draft of her second novel about a successful career woman who finds the further up she climbs the harder the resistance from the men around her. Sue is also working on her second novel, this time with a serious ecological theme but it also touches on family tensions. Tony is writing a follow-up to his Memoirs with his usual Irish wit and humour.
Dulwich Books is very happy to support local authors. Invitations have already gone out but there might be places left. Please contact [email protected].
Trio of local authors present their work
At Dulwich Books, 7 Croxted Road, SE21
27 October, 6.30pm finishing at approximately 7.30pm
Wine will be served.
If you cannot attend you can order any of the three novels directly from the authors:
Not my Child from [email protected]
Unlikely Alliances from [email protected]
Junk Male from [email protected]
