A Wonderful Time at Boston Book Fest 2022

Posted September 25, 2022 in Events / 🗨0 Comments

Boston Book Festival logo

I had an amazing time last weekend at Boston Book Festival 2022. This was the second book fest in my home town of Boston, Lincolnshire. I had such a good time last year that I signed up for this year’s event straight away.

Many authors from a variety of genres hosted talks and workshops, including Sam McAlister, Hannah Gold, Rosemary Noble, Richard Macken, Tracy Borman, Elly Griffiths and Reverend Richard Coles.

My “What If?” Writing Workshop

My sister signed me up to deliver a creative writing workshop this year. I was very nervous, but it turned out to be a very enjoyable event. I had an hour and a half slot on Saturday morning in an upstairs room at the historic Fydell House, which was a lovely setting.

A few students from the school I work at turned up to support me and I was really impressed with all of the young people involved. They were very polite, engaged enthusiastically with the session and showed wonderful creativity in coming up with story ideas.

I gave them a pack of story planning resources to take away, which also included some of my bookmarks and pin badges. I was delighted with the feedback from the BBF team, who said that the teens who attended my workshop were inspired to write their own stories and “still buzzing about it the next day”. Those comments made me so happy, as one of my main goals is to inspire young writers and readers.

Author Anstice Brown smiles while holding her Fairytale Dragons anthollogy. She is wearing a blue book print dress and standing in front of a sign which reads "This event is sponsored by YellowBelly SUP"
Photo credit: Phil from Yellowbelly SUP School
Anstice Brown delivering her "What If?" writing workshop at Fydell House, Boston for Boston Book Fest 2022. She is showing a PowerPoint to a group of teens who are listening and taking notes.
Photo credit: David Dawson of Lincolnshire World.
Author Anstice Brown standing behind her book stall. She is wearing a blue book print dress and smiling.
A young boy and his mum attending Anstice Brown's writing workshop
Author Anstice Brown delivering her writing workshop at Fydell HGouse, Boston with her sister Shana-Lee.
Author Anstice Brown with a young writer at her writing workshop. They are both smiling and Anstice has her arm around him.
Anstice Brown's book stalll with a galazy print tablecloth and copies of her anthologies in front of a PowerPoint for her What If writing workshop
Writing packs for Anstice Brown's What If workshop, filled with story planning resources, pin badges and bookmarks

There was a short piece about the event in Lincolnshire World.

Author Meet and Greet

On Sunday, I had a stall at the free “meet and greet” event at Boston Guildhall. Although it was a little quieter than last year (possibly due to it being the weekend of the Queen’s funeral), my sister and I sold about 14 books, which I was really pleased with.

We set the stall up similarly to last year, but my sister added some fairy lights for effect. We gave out lots of bookmarks and some of my brand new pin badges to promote my website and blog.

Author Anstice Brown wearing a potions and spell book print dress. She is smiling and standing behind her book stall displaying her anthologies. The stall is covered with a galaxy print tablecloth and decorated with fairy lights and props such as masquerade masks and dragon figurines.
Anstice's anthologies on display at Boston Book Fest 2022 with an orange dragon mask and fairy lights on a galaxy print table cloth .
Fairytale Dragons anthology on display at Boston Book Fest 2022 with an orange dragon mask and fairy lights on a galaxy print table cloth
Masquerade: Oddly Suitedanthology on display at Boston Book Fest 2022 with an orangemermaid mask and fairy lights on a galaxy print table cloth

More importantly, I met some wonderful people who were kind enough to sign up to my newsletter. It was also a fantastic networking opportunity as I exchanged contact details with several other authors and wrote down several recommendations for books on writing craft, writing events and local groups. I couldn’t resist buying some of their fantasy and sci-fi books too and getting them signed!

Books I purchased from Boston Book Festival, including Firestone, Human Beings Issue 2, Tell Tales and The Emerald Stone.

Special shout-outs to:

  • My good friend Warwick Eede, who was selling the second issue of his fantasy-Western comic, Human Beings.
  • Sav Sav, author of the Mor-al-Lee Island Presents books (illustrated by Warwick Eede).
  • E A Purle, who had an eye-catching Steampunk stall right next to mine and was so friendly.
  • The lovely Sharon Ihama, author of fantasy book The Emerald Stone.
  • My dear friend Richard Anderson who was selling his geography quiz book, Quiz of the World!
  • Matthew Barnes, author of the delightfully creepy novel The Maelstrom.
  • Young author Edvin Zuckovs, who is already on his second self-published Novel!
  • Helen Claire Gould, a fellow spec fic author whop also runs writing workshops.
  • Galerie Guillain, a husband and wife team who produce beautiful poetry and photography.
  • Short story author Terry Martin who was launching his new anthology, Tell Tales.

There are too many wonderful authors to mention, but I was very pleased to meet them all.

Thank You!

A big thank you to the Boston Book Fest team who were so organised, helpful and friendly. They ensured everything was set up perfectly before my arrival and even gave me a little goody bag containing some baked treats. I am also very grateful to Yellowbelly SUP School for sponsoring my workshop.

Thank you to the wonderful young people who attended my workshop and to all the lovely people I met at the author meet and greet. I really appreciate that so many other authors took the time to offer me advice and support, too.

And I can’t forget my right-hand woman, Shana-Lee. My sister is my biggest cheerleader, my “marketing manager” and my best friend. She booked time off work to spend both Saturday and Sunday helping me set up my stall and sell my books. She even had a T-shirt made to support me! She really is the best.

Author Anstice Brown and her sister Shana-Lee. Anstice is wearing a blue book print dress and Shana-Lee is wearing a T-shirt with Anstice's logo printed on it. Both have blonde hair and glasses and similar smiles.
Shana-Lee's T-shirt which she printed with Anstice Brown's official logo on especially for the Boston Book Festival.

Don’t Miss Boston Book Fest 2023!

Boston Book Festival 2023 is already booked for the weekend of 22nd-24th September 2023. Please follow Boston Book Fest on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to find out more about this amazing event.

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