READERS 17 OCT 2024

June read three pieces from her memoir about being an artist living aboard a sailing yacht. Two described idyllic scenes, one witnessing the green flash at sunset, the other early morning in a Greek island harbour. Her third story was an amusing anecdote when a rat tried to sneak aboard and caused much embarrassment
She was born and raised in South Africa but has since lived the expat life in Asia, Europe and North America.
June is a visual artist, poet, writer sculptor and speaker. She trained at Chelsea Art School, Massacusetts College of Art and Boston Museum School. She currently runs a monthly workshop on painting and drawing plants.
She formed a writing group with fellow artists while living in the Boston, USA area, and together they have had published a book Five Artist Writers. She is currently working on a book of her sailing memoirs.

Veronica read a piece of new work. It is a mid-grade fantasy story about a girl who slips back and forth in time and on one occasion brings a Neanderthal boy back with her to the present day.
She started sending out her writing for publication at an early age, notching up her first rejection slip at age eleven. She then wrote a Trojan War epic that took longer to write than the war.
Veronica studied at City Lit in London, and recently took the course Write Here, Right Now, which has re-inspired her.
Veronica has had three novels published by Chicken House Books, The Extincts, The Halloweeds, and an adaption of The Marvellous Land of Snergs, which according to Tolkien, was the original inspiration for his hobbits. Veronica’s books have been translated into fourteen languages.
Her writing has been described by Barry Cunningham (the man who said yes to Harry Potter) as completely bonkers – an accolade Veronica would like inscribed on her gravestone.

Andy read an extract from his new book The Seventh Girl. He began with a creepy part of the prolog in which a young woman is going for a walk in a wood with her boyfriend, and then a piece from the first chapter where a woman police detective is investigating a murder similar to ones that had happened many years earlier.
Before settling into full-time writing, Andy tried his hand at a variety of jobs before becoming a successful advertising and marketing copywriter (he wrote the book (several) on the subject).
Andy had his first novel published in 2015, and has written a further 34 since, and sold over a million books. These are all crime stories, some in series, some stand-alone thrillers. He also writes award-winning short stories and poems. Find out more from his website andymaslen.com
When he isn’t writing, Andy plays guitar at blues jams and in the band Centerpiece.

Grace read four poems from her published collection Hinterland, setting a beautiful, lyrical and occasionally nostalgic tone. The four were: Return to St Salvador Street, Rough Bark, The Toy Soldier and Palimpsest.
Grace grew up in Scotland and draws much of her inspiration from there. She has performed her work widely including at the Edinburgh Fringe and numerous arts events, poetry festivals and bookshops across the UK.
She was co-facilitator of Salisbury Poetry Cafe and is Writer in Residence and workshop leader at Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury College and Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre as well as a workshop leader at the Salisbury Arts Centre.
Grace’s work has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. Although much of her poetry is grounded in the landscape and people of Dundee, she finds inspiration in art, human interaction and the normal everyday of life.
The poet Selima Hill called Grace’s poetry ‘both honest and fearless … a natural, dedicated effective and unnerving writer.’

Linda read her recounting of the story of the nineteenth century warrior queen Lakshmibai Newalkar, the Rani of Jhansi who took up arms against the British Raj because of its refusal to acknowledge her son as ruler of a princely state on the death of her husband. The story is included in the book Fearsome Females to be published on 29th Nov – for more details see this website.
She was accompanied during her reading by her husband, the renown sitar player Baluji Shrivastav.
Linda studied anthropology, researching and working in Mexico.
Linda is also a singer-songwriter and has several albums out with Jazz Orient/Re-Orient and on ARC International, winning critical praise for her vocal performance. She has performed extensively in the UK, Europe and in Oman. Find out more about Linda’s work on her website.
She is a founder of the Baluji Music Foundation and is manager of the Inner Vision Orchestra which gives opportunities for blind musicians to perform together. Her husband, Baluji Shrivastav was blinded as a baby and is now a leading composer and sitar player, having worked with a wide variety of artists including Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Massive Attack, Madness, Shakira, Malu, Boy George, and Doves.