Blists Hill and the RNA Conference 2014 by Juliet Greenwood

Fellow Novelistas Cheryl Lang,
Valerie-Anne Baglietto and
Johanna Grassick

This year was my third RNA Conference. My first was many years ago in Durham as a new writer, wide-eyed and bewildered, and astonished that everyone was so friendly and writers weren’t all impossibly rich and glamorous and Hollywood and looking down their nose at me! I never thought then that in my next Conference (two years ago in Penrith) I would be giving a talk myself as a published author. This year, I enjoyed meet up again with all my lovely friends in the RNA, meeting all the new ones made online, and learning more about the changes taking place in the publishing world.

Juliet Greenwood and
Annie Burrows
in costume at Blists Hill

With fellow Novelistas Annie Burrows and Freda Lightfoot, I also had the chance to go to the author’s event at Blists Hill, the reconstructed Victorian village in Ironbridge. We all had a great time with plenty of interesting chats with visitors passing by on their way into the village. In my costume as a suffragette, I found myself part of the exhibits when I went to look around. The policeman on his bike looked slightly confused and pedalled away quickly, but I had some interesting conversations about brick throwing and universal suffrage with the visitors. It was a glorious summer’s day, and I definitely felt myself entering the world of ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’. My glorious hat with the ostrich feathers is now safely packed away – all ready for its next appearance!

The hat!