Tuesday 15 December 2020

Pune International Literary Festival and online events

Despite the cancellation of so many literary events this year, there has been no lack of enterprise on the part of organisers all around the world. Online events may lack - to an extent - the personal touch but they represent a very welcome way of keeping in touch with fellow writers and readers. Last week, for instance, I enjoyed being interviewed by Bonnie MacBird (and briefly by Les Klinger) for a CWA London chapter event. 

This week I'm involved in a series of lectures and discussions for Adventures Online - the online version of Road Scholar, who run the Queen Mary trips with which I was involved last year, and much else besides. These courses are aimed primarily at American crime fans, and if you are interested in taking part, do take a look at the Road Scholar/Adventures Online website. 

On Saturday I had the great pleasure of being a special guest of the Pune International Literary Festival. Manjiri Prabhu, the crime writer who leads the Festival, is someone I've known for a number of years, and there have been various plans for me to get out to India to take part. These didn't come to fruition for various reasons and this year, of course, there was no chance. But undaunted, Manjiri was kind enough to invite me to take part in a very well-organised online version of the Festival.

Sarah Ward, a writer of high calibre, kindly agreed to interview me and I really enjoyed the event. If you'd like to take a look at it, I believe that a recording will be posted on Youtube shortly. Of course, it's not the same as going to India and meeting everyone face to face, but an online event is far better than any alternative and my thanks go to the organisers for all their hard work in difficult circumstances.

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