17th October 2024 – Wylye Valley Writers

The readers at our 17th October 2024 meeting:

June read three extracts from her memoire of life aboard her and her husband’s sailing yacht on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean: witnessing the ‘green flash’ at sunset, morning in a Greek island harbour, and chasing a rat off their boat with hilarious consequences.
June grew up in South Africa where she trained as a fine artist, majoring in Sculpture. She has completed post graduate level Critical Studies in Art and Design at Chelsea Art School; Ceramic Sculpture and Metal Casting at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and Painting at the Boston Museum School.
She is a writer, poet, memoirist, painter and sculptor. June shows her visual art locally and has exhibited, sold and been commissioned internationally. Find out more about June’s art from her website.
She has lived all over the world, including long spells in the USA and Singapore, as well as ten years spent aboard their sailing yacht, about which she gives talks.
With her American Writing Group she published Five Artist Writers, which was launched at the Vanner Gallery in Salisbury in 2023.
June is one of the founders of Wylye Valley Writers and is a keen attendee of Salisbury Writers Circle.

Veronica read an extract from a children’s story she is currently working on. It concerned a girl who slips back and forth in time and who brings a Neanderthal boy into the present. He encounters a dog and enjoys a dog biscuit.
She notched up her first rejection slip aged 11, for a tragic tale written as a distraction from being painfully homesick at boarding school. She then embarked on an epic novel set during the Trojan War, which took longer to wrap up than the war did.
Reading to her own son, while working in a primary school, Veronica was drawn into the world of children’s literature. A course at City Lit in London and a meeting with Barry Cunningham, famous for being the man who said “Yes” to Harry Potter, led to a contract with Chicken House Books. The Extincts and The Halloweeds were followed by a commission to adapt The Marvellous Land of Snergs, originally published in 1927 and, according to Tolkien, the source of inspiration for his hobbits.
Veronica’s books have been translated into fourteen languages, but her proudest moment is having her writing described by Barry Cunningham as “completely bonkers”, an accolade she would like on her gravestone.

Andy read an extract from his new book: The Seventh Girl, a police procedural about trying to stop a serial killer.
Andy published his first novel in 2015. Since then, he has written thirty-four novels, and to date has sold over a million books. He has also written award-winning short stories and poems. Find out about his books at https://andymaslen.com/ .
Whatever the type of thriller you enjoy, Andy Maslen has a book (or two) that’ll be right up your street, and you’ll be surprised to find how many serial killers are roaming Salisbury’s streets, where he lives.
Before turning to fiction, Andy was a successful advertising and marketing copywriter; and he has written a couple of textbooks on the subject.
When he isn’t writing, Andy plays guitar at blues jams and in a jazz band called Centrepiece.

Grace read four poems from her collection Hinterland. These were:
- Returning to St Salvador Street about revisiting a room in Dundee which invokes strong memories.
- Rough Bark which links surface texture to the passage of time.
- The Toy Soldier about a gardener’s reaction to the discovery of an old toy.
- Palimpsest about recalling the past with a set of images, objects, stories and smells.
Grace draws much of her poetic inspiration from Scotland where she grew up, particularly by the place, landscape and people of Dundee. She finds material in art, human interaction, and the normal of every-day.
Her poetry was described by Dawn Gorman as being a mixture of the real and the imagined. Rose Flint stated: ‘In Hinterland, Grace Gauld writes with a precise balance of thoughtfulness and observation, describing an emotional connection to the natural world which beguiles, drawing the reader into her vision. Sometimes pensive or elegiac, sometimes celebratory, this is poetry that reaches across boundaries to touch the heart.’
Her poetry has been published widely in magazines and anthologies, and Grace has performed at numerous events, including the Edinburgh Fringe, poetry festivals, and bookshops across the country. She is an experienced workshop leader and was co-facilitator of Salisbury Poetry Café.

Linda read her story about Rani Lakshmibai, a nineteenth century Indian warrior queen.
She is a published author, recently winning first prize in the Elmbridge short story competition. Her book Journey with the Gods was published by Mantra Publishers and some of her poems published in MacDonalds Young Readers ‘A Tickle in Your Tummy’.
As a singer/songwriter she has several albums with Jazz Orient/ Re-Orient on ARC Int. Ltd. and has performed extensively in the UK, Europe and Oman. She composes and sings in various musical styles including Indian vocals, and she plays tabla. She has studied and performed Indian classical dance.
Linda is an artist/producer and a founder of Baluji Music Foundation and manager of the Inner Vision Orchestra. She has a BSc Hons in Anthropology and has researched and worked in Mexico.
Linda’s reading was accompanied on the sitar by her husband, Baluji Shrivastav.
Baluji is a multi-instrumentalist who was blinded at eight-months-old and has become one of the world’s leading composers and sitar players. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Massive Attack, Madness, Shakira, Malu, Boy George & Doves, and has now crowned his illustrious career by playing Langford Parish Hall.

Photographs on this page by John Bruce, lightanddarker.com