The Short Story Conference...

... went very well.

I managed to deliver my first conference paper without making a total eejit of myself.

I read clearly and it fit snugly into the 20 minutes allotted meaning the umpteen rehearsals were worth it.

I got to catch up with James Friel who came to do a workshop when I was an undergraduate (which I enjoyed immensely), and Jenny Newman who writes a wonderful series on novel writing in Mslexia and is always most pleasant and lovely to catch up with. It was a busy day with lots of wonderful speakers, not least Sarah Salway who read out a wonderfully funny and poignant story at the end of the conference. Also reading at the end were Alan Wall and David Evans, oh... and Nicholas Royle too!

So it was a lovely blend of the academic and the artistic, of theory and of practice, not to mention lunch and lots of tea breaks.

The full programme can be found here. I can't wait until the next one, and have been bitten by the 'giving a paper' bug too! Hmmm. Looking out for calls for papers methinks!