The CWA North Symposium at Ilkley

This weekend saw the revival of a great tradition - the CWA Northern Chapter Symposium. In my early days in the CWA, these weekends were a highlight in the calendar, usually organised by either Peter Walker or Reginald Hill, though I organised one weekend at Knutsford and a number of other people, such as Meg Elizabeth Atkins, were also involved. The number of other events in the calendar meant there was less demand for these events, but the recent demise of the CWA annual conference (I don't know the reasons for this) prompted Jason Monaghan, with the highly efficient support of Dea Parkin, to arrange a symposium at Ilkley. The venue, the Craiglands Hotel, was also the venue for a memorable annual conference way back in 2008; a highlight of that weekend was Bob Barnard giving us a guided tour of Haworth Parsonage.

Jason's plan cleverly solved the problem of rising hospitality costs. All the talks were given on Saturday, so one realistic option was just to attend for the day and not incur hotel charges, which have risen so much in recent times. I think this was a good way of addressing a real challenge. It's always a good plan for such an event to be held in an attractive venue, and Ilkley is certainly that. And the company was just as pleasant and enjoyable as ever it was.

As it happens, I'll be back in Ilkley in a couple of months for a book fair, and so on arrival in the town (after a pleasant journey, and a canal trip in the sunshine in Skipton) I met up with local book dealer Louise Harrison and Mike from the Grove Bookshop to discuss the plans. Then it was on to the hotel and a chance to meet up with old friends and make one or two new ones before a convivial dinner in a local bistro (photo taken by Martine Bailey; it was great to see her and husband Martin again).

The talks on Saturday were on a pleasingly diverse range of topics, from a leading editor (Katherine Armstrong of Simon & Schuster) and agent on the current market, from an ex-cop (Roger A. Price) on undercover police work, a CSI officer turned coroner's officer on her work, a marketing expert on book promotion, and a self-published writer on the business of indie publishing. All the speakers were very good. Then a pleasant stroll in the town followed by another good meal in good company. Some of us visited the Manor House in Ilkley on Sunday morning before returning home. All in all, this was as successful a venture as could have been hoped for. Congratulations to Jason and Dea for all their hard work.