Over the last few weeks I’ve been introducing the authors who will be at the Tenby Book Fair, http://bit.ly/27XORTh, the first event of the Tenby Arts Festival http://bit.ly/24eOVtl 

 I’m almost finished interviewing them all now.

In the next week or two I’ll be showcasing the three publishers who will be with us: http://honno.co.uk/, http://www.fireflypress.co.uk/ and http://www.cambriapublishing.org.uk/

And I’ll be sharing a post from the brilliant http://showboat.tv/ Who always video and share our Tenby Book Fair.

So far here are the wonderful authors. Please feel free to check them and their great books out: Rebecca Bryn: http://bit.ly/1XYWbtF, Thorne Moore: http://bit.ly/1P6zDQh , Matt Johnson: http://bit.ly/1RUqJFg , Christoph Fischer: http://bit.ly/1svniAr , Sally Spedding: http://bit.ly/1VNRQci, Wendy Steele: http://bit.ly/1PMoF8i ,Kathy MIles: http://bit.ly/1twN3Bg , Carol Lovekin:http://bit.ly/1Y2z6HT, Colin R Parsons:http://bit.ly/1tvBc5G , Lisa Shambrook: http://bit.ly/28NMI5v:  ,Alex Martin: http://bit.ly/28VLsQG ,  Judith Arnopp:  http://bit.ly/290cJMl , Sharon Tregenza:http://bit.ly/29frGPq    Juliet Greenwood:http://bit.ly/29jylrM , Nigel Williams:http://bit.ly/29racfO , Julie McGowan:http://bit.ly/29CHNa9 , John Nicholl:http://bit.ly/29NtdtX  ,Tony Riches:  http://bit.ly/29y3a8k:  ,Wendy White: http://bit.ly/29TMCpY  ,Angela Fish:http://bit.ly/2a5qY2U  David Thorpe:http://bit.ly/2a9uG0V  and Eloise William: http://bit.ly/2aoZk1k And thanks to Thorne Moore for interviewing me: http://bit.ly/1VTvqGq 

 

Today, at last, I’m here with Phil Carradice, whose interview is a little different.

 

Hi Phil, take it away!!

 Cheers, Judith. here goes…

I began to write at school; I suppose I was around eight or nine. My father taught me to appreciate words, and also the writers I was reading at the time. And I continued to write at college.

But my real writing career began when I went to work as a teacher at a young offenders’ centre in Essex – stories and poems about them. These were published in magazines like Social Work Today and Community Care. Then a publisher asked if he could put them together in a book – unbelievable.

I moved on from there and began to write on other themes. Pembrokeshire, its topography and history, were always important to me so it was natural that I should write about them. What came out were lots of poems about the county but also a lot of history about my home town of Pembroke Dock.

 I write in my living room, in a book with a pen or pencil. Lots of noise going on around me – radio, TV etc. I transfer things to the computer later.

I’ve just been commissioned to write a series of books on Sense of Place – how writers are affected by the landscape and the places they live in. I’m also putting the finishing touches to a children’s book.

My most recent book is Napoleon in Defeat and Captivity – the story of Napoleon on St Helena.         ( http://fonthillmedia.com/Napoleon-in-Defeat-and-Captivity) published by Fonthill.

 I’ve also got a short monograph on the poet Ivor Gurney coming out later this month.

I always wanted to write books – or play rugby for Wales. That one’s looking a bit unlikely at my age!

I used to be a teacher but  gave that up to become a full-time writer – which I’ve been doing since 2000.

I do a lot of broadcasting on radio and go into lots of schools as a creative writing teacher – that’s what you have to do if you want to live as a writer.

 I have five or six different publishers, have never self-published but I think things were different when I started writing. It’s hard to get a start these days.

Thank you, Phil. A nice easy reminder of you and your books (all fifty of them …. bet there’ll be more by the time of the Book Fair!)

Links to Phil Carradice:

http://www.philcarradice.co.uk/

https://www.accentpress.co.uk/phil-carradice

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/phil_carradice

http://www.gwales.com/search_basic/

http://www.literaturewales.org/writers-of-wales/i/129551/desc/carradice-phil/

http://www.gomer.co.uk/index.php/authors/philcarradice.html