First Chapters Event Series at Brunswick Bound

 Last month we started an event series called First Chapters at Brunswick Bound.
We wanted to create opportunities for discovery and ways to connect more readers with some of our local authors.
The idea was for authors to read from their books, either a piece or chapter, and to engage with the audience in a Q&A.  One author might bring their following, and another might draw a different crowd altogether.  And perhaps there would be an author with no existing audience yet to speak of.
Together, four separate - and even very different - authors could find new readers from not only the bookshop's community, but that of their fellow authors.  Lovers of great writing could indeed discover authors they may otherwise never have heard of or even thought they might be interested in.
This was our hope.
So far, the event schedule is filled until October with talented and passionate authors who contacted us about participating.
I must say, I take my hat off to them.
An author is not necessarily an orator, nor should they be.  But, by golly, there is something special about hearing a piece read by it's writer.  To be able to experience the work and know that every high and low point, inflection in the voice (of the characters) and nuance in the text is truly understood.
That an author can draw us in better than any actor is a given - afterall, in a way, they are the embodiment (perhaps not of the narrative itself) of the words on the page.
Perhaps I wax lyrical and too long on this point afterall there are drinks to be had and mingling to be done.  Not only do the authors read, but they also partake in a Q&A lead by Brunswick Bound.  And if the reader is too shy to pose a question during this time, they can always do so during the intermission.  We wanted to give the author and event goers as many opportunities as possible to talk and to discover each other.
So how did our first event go?
We think it went very well.  As we hoped, the authors (crime writers Sue Williams and Andrew Nette, travel memoirist Ali MC and contemporary fiction writer Jeremy Stanford) each brought something different to the evening.  Altogether, there were laughs, gasps and moments of hushed awe and the questions threw up some interesting lines of discussion that went well into the evening (at the local pub... afterall we do close at 9pm).
It was brilliant!
And so we can't wait to do it again.

Our next event is Friday 1 June.  This time we will be hearing from historical biographer Michelle Scott Tucker, translator Paul Filev and contemporary fiction writers Robert Lukins and Roger Averill.
We will be featuring a Q&A with each of the authors on the blog during the week, so check those out to get better acquainted with these talented writers before the event.
And please, come along.
Your next favourite book is waiting for you - take this chance to discover it.