The Monday Mini-Fest events that have taken place so far are…
#1 Monday 2nd February 2026: the moderators from the 25 Jan 2026 Festival returned to talk about themselves and their writing ~ BB Elsin, David Wake, Denise Beddows, Donna Morfett, Lee Benson with Morgen Bailey moderating. Below is the recording… enjoy!
#2 Monday 16th February 2026: was Morgen and Jack Chandler talking about ideas…
#3a Monday 23rd February 2026: plotting vs pantsing ~ Denise Beddows, Jack Chandler, John Lynch. Poet and novelist Lee Benson joined us as sadly Alan Meredith and David Wake couldn’t be with us for that session.
I therefore decided to repeat it at 9pm the same day. So…
#3b Monday 23rd February 2026: plotting vs pantsing ~ AA Abbott, Alan Meredith, David Wake, Donna Morfett, Ryan Stark.
#4 Monday 2nd March 2026: characters ~ Andrea D Woolhead ~ BB Elsin ~ Denise Beddows ~ Graeme Cumming.
#5 Monday 9th March: settings ~ BB Elsin ~ Graeme Cumming
#6 Monday 16th March: plots ~ Cristina Loggia ~ David Wake ~ Denise Beddows
#7 Monday 23rd March: description vs dialogue ~ David Wake ~ Jill Todd ~ Nikki Copleston ~ Phil Oddy
#8 Monday 30th March: mixing genres and forms ~ Andrea D Woolhead ~ David Wake ~ Jack Chandler ~ Janet Pywell ~ Martin Tracey ~ SJ Banham.
#9 Monday 6th April: beginnings ~ with BB Elsin ~ Denise Beddows, Esther Chilton
#10 Monday 13th April: the saggy middle of a novel ~ BB Elsin ~ David Wake ~ Jill Todd ~ Karl W Newton ~ Meriet Duncan.
#11 Monday 20th April endings ~ Andrea D Woolhead~ Damiano Polcaro ~ HJ Furl ~ Jill Todd ~ Phil Oddy talked about endings with Morgen hosting.
#12 Monday 27th April: editing ~ David Wake with Morgen hosting.
#13 Monday 4th May: cover design, illustration and formatting ~ Andrea D Woolhead ~ David Wake ~ Ella Hamilton ~ Jack Chandler, hosted by Self-Pub Fest founder Morgen.
#14 Monday 25th May: writing groups ~ AA Abbott ~ David Wake ~ John Moore ~ Ryan Stark ~ with Morgen hosting
These are free events but we’re raising money for local book-related charities and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.