Friday, February 24, 2012

Luncheons, Soirees and a New Literary Society

I realise I should be ashamed. It is over a year since I posted my last blog and most people I know are blogging twice a week at least. I am sure I am not busier although there is so much going on in west Dorset. In Sherborne we are starting a Literary Society - 120 years after the Macready Literary Institute, that operated from the stables at Sherborne House, closed. I'm busy searching through the Minute Books to discover the sort of things they did. It seems they had various lectures including A lecture on the mode of taking the wild elephant in India and Books as a Means of Self Culture. We have quite a standard to maintain.

Through our new Sherborne Literary Society, for which we are holding a Membership Evening on World Book Day in April, we are running a variety of events to whet the appetite of everyone. This year we are holding a literary luncheon, various talks, soirees, author events, competitions and book-related days as well as a festival in October with some really interesting authors. More about this in due course.

Our wonderful bookshop, Booklore, closed at the end of January but a new one has opened in Cheap Street - Winstone's. The owner, Wayne Winstone, has been around in the book trade for many years and he has opened a very attractive shop with a neat little coffee area which is always busy. He is involved in our festival, too.

The other day I interviewed Joanne Harris about her latest book, Peaches for Monsieur le Cure, which is a sequel to Chocolat, and she is coming to Sherborne to talk about it in July. It should be fascinating and we have plans to make it a very special event. Watch this space.

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