Writers visit Liverpool Libraries
Anne Bennett and Annie Groves
Liverpool Libraries in partnership with Harper Collins Publishers held a combined event on 11th February, featuring Anne Bennett and Annie Groves, authors covering family sagas but from different backgrounds.
Anne was born in a back-to back house in the Horsefair district of Birmingham. The daughter of Irish Roman Catholic immigrants, the community she grew up in was tight-knit and proud of its heritage. She has always thought of herself as an Irish Brummie, with a foot in both cultures. Anne was confined to a wheelchair for sixteen years before one year finding herself able to dance on St Patrick's night. This sight was witnessed by her doctor who re-diagnosed her legs as Irish and her larynx as Brummie!
Annie, on the other hand, grew up in the North West and has lived here all her life. She has drawn upon her own family history, absorbed whilst listening to her grandmother's stories as a child, to write a series on novels. She told the audience of her affinity to Liverpool and her novels about the city, due to gathering recollections from members of her family who come from Liverpool. Annie's other self is as Penny Jordan, the Mills and Boon writer of over 170 novels, with sales of at least 84,000,000 copies.
We had a well-attended and lively session, with the similarities and contrasts in style of the two authors coming across well.
The audience were eager to hear the way their books are based on this experience and observation; their painstaking dedication to research and the lengths they both go to in pursuit of accuracy and authenticity.
After the main talk had ended, a new departure took place with the fledgling Kensington Fields inner-city reading group participating in a private question and answer session with Anne and Annie over refreshments. Focusing on both the similarity and contrast of reminiscences and life experiences of the Catholic / Protestant Liverpool communities, a forthright and spirited debate was ensured.
Bernardine Evaristo
It was great to welcome Bernardine back to Liverpool, after her previous visit to Sefton Park Library in autumn 2008 to celebrate NYR and the launch of her highly-acclaimed ' slavery with a twist ' book Blonde Roots, in which the slaves are white people and the oppressors black.
Her visit this time was to mark World Book Day on 4th March and to launch her contribution to the Quick Reads series, entitled Hello Mum. This is an entirely new departure for Bernardine who is a self-confessed aficionado and writer of the historical novel. Her latest novella, on the other hand, is about teenage knife crime, specifically in south-east London where she grew up.
Members of reading groups, emergent readers young and old, as well as Merseytravel community outreach workers gave their support to this fascinating event. Bernardine made mention of her strict upbringing as a mixed race child in Woolwich and her father's protection of all the family, always happiest when they were confined to their home.
Bernardine spoke of her previous books, which as mentioned are chiefly historical and complex in content and structure. She moved on to describe the inspiration for Hello Mum, gained after speaking to both male and female adolescent gangs. In this way, she was able to gain a meaningful insight into their perception of the world, bringing a true sense of realism to her work.
Afterwards, an animated discussion then took place, concentrating on the nationwide prevalence of crime in both urban and rural areas and the negative influence of celebrity role models. Drugs, industrial decline, youth unemployment and the threats posed to society were discussed at length by an audience diverse in age. Very positive feedback was received; Bernardine herself admitted afterwards that she had learned a lot from the debate.
Samantha Harvey
Liverpool was extremely fortunate to win a visit ( and champagne and chocolates! ) from the 2009 Orange Prize shortlisted author Samantha Harvey. The staff here entered a photographic competition run by TRA for the best photo featuring a local Orange celebration event. Our very successful party held at Childwall Community Library thankfully did the trick!
Sam gave a fascinating account of the events that brought her to writing a first book on such a topical and life-shattering subject. Now living in Bath, she recounted having taught English in Japan before setting up a small environmental charity, Our Future Planet. She is a lifelong fan of libraries and has vivid memories of once picking up a leaflet about the Orange Prize, not then knowing what is was but thinking ' one day '...
For those of us with a friend or relative affected by Alzheimer's, what Samantha told us from her research was all too familiar; the cruel tricks nature plays, the struggle to hold on to identity, not knowing the sufferer's level of understanding, the baffling lapses in and out of lucidity. The effects on self and relationships are complex and only partially understood.
It was encouraging to see members of the public, readers' groups and even the Activities Manager from a nearby Home for the Elderly Mentally Infirm. Such a cross-section ensured a lively Q and A session; everyone was impressed with Sam's painstaking, sophisticated approach to her craft and the warmth, understanding and humility she conveyed.
For more information please contact: Greg Neild - Lifelong Learning Services Manager
Tel: 0151 233 4495
Librarians in the North West have pioneered partnership working to encourage new readers into libraries. Time To Read is a partnership of librarians engaged in reader development activity in public library authorities in the North West Region. All 23 public library authorities in the region currently support Time To Read.