Photos from the poetry reading

Here are some pictures from the poetry reading in Swiss Cottage library on 15 July. The event was part of the Friday Night Writers series:

Me in full flow.

A pause while I find the next poem to read.

Peter Daniels talking with a member of the audience. Unfortunately, this one is rather dark.

Here I am during the interval, chatting with a member of the audience at the `books for sale´ desk.

Adele Ward, organiser of the Friday Night Writers series, one of the partners of Ward Wood Publishing, and my intrepid editor, serving wine to members of the audience. Listening to poetry is thirsty work! You probably already knew that.

Part of the audience. It was a really good turnout. Peter Daniels is on the left in the front row.

It was a great evening, and now I´m looking forward to my next gig, or gigs I should say: two readings in Dublin with other Ward Wood writers on Friday 16 September at the Irish Writers´ Centre and on Saturday 17 September at The Twisted Pepper cafe. Full details are listed below and I´ll post confirmation of times and addresses closer to the day. If you´re in or near Dublin, I´d love to see you there.

Homecoming

I got back from my trip to London yesterday. The reading in Swiss Cottage library was a very enjoyable event. Many thanks to Adele Ward and Abul Kashim for organising the event and to all those who came along to listen and to read their work in the open mic part of the evening. It was certainly a lively event.

As one part of my reading, I read from the scene where Len visits the Finnish National Gallery and views several works by famous Finnish artists. As these painters are often not well known outside Finland, except to people with a special interest in visual arts, I showed slides of the paintings Len describes. For anyone who has read, or is reading, the novel and who doesn´t know the paintings, they can be found on the Ward Wood website at this address:

http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/mhp.htm

Actually, they will be interesting for people who haven´t read the novel, too. If you don´t know these artists, they´re well worth getting to know.

Since the titles and artists are not given on the website, I´ll give them here, in order, starting from the top:

Albert Edelfelt: Boys Playing on the Beach, 1884.

Hjalmar Munsterhjelm: Forest Pond by Moonlight, 1881.

Ellen Thesleff: The Echo, 1891.

Helene Schjerfbeck: A Wounded Soldier, 1880.

Eero Järnefelt: Children Playing, 1895.

Verne Thomé: Boys Playing on a Sandy Beach, 1904.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Parisian Street Scene.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Rotting Fish, 1884.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Wild Angelica, 1889.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Marjatta by the Waterside, 1896.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Lemminkainen´s Mother, 1897.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela: Ad Astra, 1907.

I arrived home early on Sunday evening, just in time to watch Finland win the ice hockey world championships. I refrained from dancing naked in the town square in celebration, though, and a lot of people are very glad that I did.....refrain, that is.

The Finn´s Tale comes to Finland

My copies of my new novel, The Finn´s Tale, arrived yesterday afternoon, just as I was about to leave home to meet Eevi in town for a meal. Good timing; dinner turned into a celebration. The production quality is extremely high, as I´ve come to expect from Ward Wood Publishing. The book is printed on good quality paper and the cover image is really striking, I think.

Bookshops in Tampere and Helsinki have got information about the publication but I´m still waiting for a response from them. And I will be doing a reading from The Finn´s Tale at Swiss Cottage library in London on Friday 13th May at 19.00. I´d love to meet any readers of my blog who are able to get there. Copies of the book will be on sale. It can also be purchased from the Ward Wood website:

http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-mh-tft.htm

or from The Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780956660275/The-Finns-Tale