The Starting Point – a roundtable discussion with new and emerging writers

Thursday 6th June, 2pm to 3pm, The Hypatia Trust, Chapel Street

Featuring two local writers: Nancy Thompson will discuss her debut narrative non fiction work Child of the Commune and Sheelagh Barton will talk about working with near future dystopia in her novel Chip. Hosted by writer and festival director Linda Cleary with Q&A open to the floor.

Nancy Thompson

Nancy had an unconventional upbringing in rural Norfolk. Born into a hippy commune in 1975 she attended various state schools before being home educated, during which time she hitched around Morocco with her mother and younger sister. Her childhood summers were spent travelling in a horse drawn wagon to the Albion fairs. She has a degree in French and Linguistics and lives in Cornwall with her husband and their three sons. Child of the Commune is Nancy’s first narrative work of non-fiction in which she juxtaposes her lived experience as a commune kid with narrative from a conversation with her late mother. You can hear a podcast interview with Nancy here: https://sohoradiolondon.com/profile/bureau-of-lost-culture/

Sheelagh Barton

Sheelagh is a Cornwall resident who has been writing for eight years. She recently discovered an unexpected interested in sci-fi and dystopian worlds and is in the process of completing her debut novel. Chip is a near future dystopia set in post-democratic UK. Committed to colonising space, the government partners with Infinterra, a world-dominating neurotech company, and begins to roll out neural chips throughout the population.

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