For our final event of the Fringe, we welcome four local published writers to Barnaby’s Lounge to talk about their work. Della Reynolds will interview each of them. Our guest writers are:

______________________________________________________

Evie King

(her pen name) is a local council funeral officer and writer. A former stand up comedian, she has always written short form pieces in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment is Free, BBC Comedy and Viz Comic. Her memoir ‘Ashes to Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer’ has sold over 10,000 copies. It brims with sad, funny and moving anecdotes from her day job, and describes what happens when people die without family or money. Evie is currently working on a follow-up book of advice around the same topic.

______________________________________________________

Melanie Atkinson

is a horror writer living in Hastings. Her first novel The Last Night in Amsterdam was self-published in 2023. Her short stories have been published in various horror anthologies in the UK, USA and Australia. She currently runs Hastings Literary Lounge.

______________________________________________________

Paul Coomey

is a writer from Ireland who creates books for children that are packed with action and stories for grown-ups where very little happens at all. He has twenty years’ experience of working in the publishing industry, both in traditional publishing and in start-up publishers. He lives by the sea in Hastings with three of the greatest rogues the world has ever known, only two of whom are cats.

_______________________________________________________

Cathryn Kemp

is a Sunday Times/ Amazon #1 Bestselling author and ghostwriter. A Poisoner’s Tale is her first foray into historical fiction. When not writing, Cathryn can be found rennovating her glorious wreck of a house with her son and familiar, a ginger cat. 

_______________________________________________________

Your host: Della Reynolds

Della Reynolds is a well-known local poet and writer. She performs and publishes books as The Poet in Pyjamas, and runs Hastings’ Poetry for the People monthly workshop and discussion group.

She is also the founder of PHSOtheFACTS, a campaign group dedicated to reform of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.  She wrote and edited a collection of blog posts telling the story of this grassroots campaign for justice; What’s the Point of the Ombudsman? is available in paperback and e-book at Amazon.  Della is giving a talk on this topic at 6pm on Sunday 22nd September. More information available at: www.phsothetruestory.com 

___________________________________________________________________________

Penny Pepper

was due to speak, but unfortunately she has contracted Covid a few days before the event and sadly is not able to attend.

Penny is an award-winning author, poet & disabled activist. A genre-defying writer, her work focuses on identity, difference and what makes us human. She writes stories we haven’t heard, making others see life differently, with provocation, humour and wisdom. She is passionate that disabled women are heard. Groundbreaking publications include her memoir, First in The World Somewhere (Unbound) and poetry collection, Come Home Alive (Burning Eye Books) and Desires Reborn.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Venue: Barnaby’s Lounge, 46 Robertson Street, Hastings, England TN34 1HL.