Red Anemone Books set up shop in the middle of the Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest for this wonderful annual event. Live music played in the street’s small park. The restaurants were fired up for brisk trade. Despite blazing heat, the crowds showed up ready to check out books, authors, publishers, and bookstores. Fans and strangers alike stopped by our table to say hello to Jean and me, have their copies of Pins signed, buy books for themselves, or add extras as gifts. Our thanks to everyone who stopped by. We hope to see you again this time next year!

We’ll be launching Pins this Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Lit Fest. Held outdoors on Dearborn between Congress and Polk in the near south Loop, the Printers Row book fair attracts well over 100,000 book lovers along with numerous publishers and authors every year. We hope our Chicago friends stop by the Red Anemone Books table, in front of the park, next to Sandmeyer’s Bookstore. While supplies last, we’re giving away a free miniature voodoo doll with every book purchase. Fingers crossed on the weather, which is supposed to be warm and dry.  Hope to see you there!

Pins is making great headway in the UK, and also in the US, Canada, and Australia. My thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy.

My novel Pins is now published and can be ordered through online bookstores, high street bookstores, or direct from: redanemone.com. Pins was quietly launched online from Red Anemone Books yesterday (March 6th). We were surprised and delighted to sell eleven copies before the end of the day.  It’s a hopeful start.  Check out Red Anemone Books and Pins at redanemone.com.  Signed copies are available.

We just returned home from a wonderful week in the magnificent Lake District, with a detour back to London via Yorkshire. This was a first for my American husband, Jean. Thanks to him we now have more photos of sheep than we know what to do with, all of them cute.  As writers, we felt awed by our visit to Dove Cottage in Grasmere.  We stroked the chair William Wordsworth used while he wrote his poetry.  We sat in his back garden and admired the mountain views that so inspired him.  In Haworth, West Yorkshire, we visited the amazing Brontë Parsonage Museum. Since Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a huge favorite of mine this was a goosebump-raising experience.  Charlotte’s clothes and personal items are preserved, along with the table she and her siblings wrote around.  The tragic Brontë  family history is presented in touching detail. I doubt anyone  visiting this marvelous museum could not end up admiring the talented, stoic Brontës.  We loved every place we visited.

Salt Publishing is an admired independent publisher of poetry and short story collections.  Thanks to the credit crunch, they are 80% down in sales. A few days ago, they put out the following request:

“Please buy just one book, right now. We don’t mind from where, you can buy it from us or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you’ll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. We need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to our online store and help us keep going.

UK and International
http://www.saltpublishing.com/shop/index.php

USA
http://www.saltpublishing.com/shop-us/index.php”

Members of the writers forum I belong to have risen to the challenge. We know that without small presses, the majority of us might never see our work in print, no matter its quality.  For the price of “just one book” we can each help ensure that Salt Publishing will continue to publish stories and poems that need to be read. Help keep Salt in business. Buy “just one book” to keep their presses running.