This is Hunton Park in Hertfordshire, venue for the new Festival of Romance which takes place on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd October. It looks like a beautiful place to hold an event giving readers the chance to meet authors of romantic fiction. I believe this will be the first time such an event has taken place in this country although there are similar conventions in the USA which attract massive audiences. Only yesterday I went to hear author Janet Gover talk about the Romance Writers of America event she has just been to in New York. There, they had readers queueing out of the door and up the street to meet their favourite authors and the conference programme was like a small booklet it was so full. There are all sorts of ways to connect with readers, Facebook, Twitter, blogging but few opportunities to meet people face to face. And yet readers are the people who keep us all going with their loyalty, enthusiasm and addiction to romantic fiction.
The Festival of Romance is a brave new venture with its own easy to use website which encourages discussion and interraction. There will be awards for the Best Romantic Read and the Best Historical Read and the Have a Heart Ball on the Saturday which, as with all these things, will be a fantastic opportunity to wear a posh frock. I wish Kate Allan the organiser much luck with what looks to be an exciting new venture for all our diaries. Here's a link so you can look for yourself.
http://festivalofromanceonline.ning.com/forum/topics/faq-how-does-the-festival-work
5 comments:
This looks a lovely lace, I am sure you will have a great time. Lots of luck with all your ventures. I love this website, Cara.
Good description of the Conference too, wish I had been there, ah well maybe next time.
Thank you Margaret. Hope our paths do cross again some time soon. I think I shall have to move to Florida!
Thanks for the heads up, and as a fellow Pocket Novel author great to see yours in the sidebar - some nice covers!
Thanks Kate and good luck with the Festival.
Hi Cara
Just found you from the Festival Site. Hope to be there in October and maybe we'll meet up!
You're so right, we rely on readers to read out books, but don't get too many opportunities to meet them in person. Hopefully the Festival will help writers and readers to interact.
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