Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Knighton Festival of Arts, Books, and Music.

I read from ‘things found on the mountain’ and talked about setting, with regard to myself, as writer, and for its importance to the characters in the book. Knighton is situated at the base of Offa’s Dyke, and if you follow the path along the Dyke south for around forty miles, you will come to the Hatteral ridge, which is just above Capel-y-Ffin, and looks across at the Ffwddog ridge – two key locations in the novel. So setting seemed an appropriate subject.

One of the particularly lovely things about Knighton was the friendliness of the people. The Festival volunteers were so welcoming, helpful and kind. I also had the opportunity to catch up with a couple of writing friends, Ness Owen and Sam Rhydderch. It was great to hear them read from their respective poetry collections and speak about how they compose their work.

And a further ‘special’ moment was to learn that one of the audience members had come to my event because he had visited the David Jones exhibition in Y Gaer, Brecon, and knew my novel also featured the poet-painter. 

Here I am, signing a copy for him. I hope he enjoys it!

So, thank you all, at Knighton. I hope to visit again, some time.