I enjoyed reading last Sunday as part of the ‘Pub Shorts’ event at the historic Black Swan pub for the last day of the York Literature Festival.

The Black Swan, Peasholme Green, York

After a few days of angst about what story to read, I opted for ‘The Rings of Saturn’ – a story about a reporter who goes to interview a couple for their golden wedding anniversary. The piece also features astronomy, a recurring theme of mine but one which I enjoy exporing and is pretty close to my heart, so I hope people in the audience enjoyed it. Others reading at the event included Steve Toase, Tony Dew, host Helen Cadbury and James Wall, whose story ‘Longer than Lunch’ will soon be published in respected literary magazine Tears in the Fence. (Please take out a subscription for yourself or a friend – the magazine is currently struggling financially and is in desperate need of support.) It was really nice to be asked along to take part in the festival and to hear a great selection of new stories from my fellow readers – writers who are definitely worth keeping an eye on for the future.

* I’ve just been interviewed by writer Adnan Mahmutovic, who was shortlisted with me in last year’s Willesden Herald short story competition. If you want to see me trying to answer some fairly tough questions then click here.