Follow links to events run by Arachne Press or featuring our writers.

Upcoming Events

30th October 2021, 14:00 – Arachne Press at Gloucester Poetry Festival

Join us for our showcase of many of the authors of poetry collections that we have published over the last 9 years. These poets will read from their work and there will be a brief Q&A afterwards. Readings from (in order of appearance):

The event is free, but ticketed. You can register here. If you can only use a voice line to dial in, please see the Gloucester Poetry Festival page for this event (scroll to the bottom of the page), here.

2nd January 2022 – Jeremy Dixon at Live From the Butchery

Details to follow, but Arachne poet Jeremy Dixon (A Voice Coming From Then) will appear as part of this monthly, award-winning series of readings.

You can learn more about the series and their current events here and follow it on Facebook here.

Past Events (with videos or audio):

Thursday 26th August 2021, 19:00 – Launch of A Voice Coming From Then by Jeremy Dixon

Join us for the launch of Jeremy Dixon’s (@HazardPressUK) first full poetry collection, A Voice Coming From Then.

Content warning: some of the poems deal with the themes and the language of physical and verbal bullying, swearing, queerphobia, queerphobic language, attempted suicide and suicide.

The collection starts with Jeremy’s teenage suicide attempt and expands to encompass themes of bullying, queerphobia, acceptance and support.

For the launch we are bringing together Jeremy with the collection’s audiobook narrator Nigel Pilkington. Nigel will read some of the poems and Jeremy will talk about the book, and the stories behind it, with Arachne Press editor, Cherry Potts, and the audience.

Tickets are free, or £11.37 with a copy of the book. You can book here

Saturday 14th August 2021, 14:30 – Laura Besley at Local Writers: Writing through the pandemic

Arachne author Laura Besley (@laurabesley) will be appearing at this brilliant event at Oadby Library, alongside fellow local authors Rebecca Burns and Jamie Mollart. Laura will share her experience of writing her wonderful collection of tiny fictions 100neHundred (Arachne Press) during Lockdown.

This event is being run in association with the brilliant Dahlia Books and will be chaired by publisher Farhana Shaikh.

Duration 1hr

The event is free, although you will need to register on Eventbrite to attend.

29th July 2021, 19:00 BST – Launch of Strange Waters by Jackie Taylor

Join author Jackie Taylor for the launch of Strange Waters, a collection of interconnected short stories, set in Cornwall. Jackie will be joined by Strange Waters audiobook narrator Sophie Aldred.

Tickets to the event are free, or £11.37 with a copy of the book. You can book tickets here.

25th July 2021 – Arachne Press at the Causley Festival (Online)

Do join us online at the Causley Festival on Sunday 25th July at 12:45pm, when Arachne authors Clare Owen (Zed and the Cormorants) and Jackie Taylor (Strange Waters) will be reading from their books and chatting to Cherry Potts, Director of Arachne Press about independent publishing, and Arachne’s approach to inclusivity, including supporting writers from geographically dispersed areas. Jackie and Clare are both Cornwall-based. Both Zed and the Cormorants, a Young Adult novel published earlier this year, and Strange Waters, a collection of linked short stories shortly forthcoming from Arachne Press, are also set in Cornwall.

Tickets for this event at the Causley Festival are free and can be booked here.

If you’d like to buy Clare or Jackie’s books, please visit our webshop.

24th June 2021 – Launch of Accidental Flowers by Lily Peters

Join author Lily Peters for readings and discussion of her debut novel-in-short-stories, Accidental Flowers, set mainly in Newcastle in the near future, when sea levels are rising and there is a choice: live safe in giant towers, or live gree on the city’s allotments.

The book is part of Arachne Press’ foray into audiobooks, and we hope some of the narrators will join us for the readings.

Tickets are free, or £10 with a copy of the book. Tickets available here.

May 30th, 31st and June 1st, 2nd and 3rd 2021 – Brockley Max Online

This year we are running THREE events at this brilliant community arts festival, as well as hosting an evening of readings by Writers of our Age (WooA). All events can be booked through Eventbrite (see individual links below).

June 3rd, 19:30 – WooA – Back in the Water

Join Writers of our Age (WOOA), a well established, published mix of local writers, for readings of specially written stories under the heading ‘Back in the Water’.

You can get tickets here, free.

June 2nd, 19:00 BST – Imagined Spaces – A Writer’s Approach to Place

Join authors and ex-Brockley residents, Lily Peters and Jackie Taylor for readings and discussion around the use of ‘place’ in their forthcoming titles with Arachne, Accidental Flowers (Lily) and Strange Waters (Jackie).

You can get tickets here, free; or for £9.99 to include a copy of ONE of the books.

May 31st, 19:00 BST – Short, Flash, Poem?

Join Arachne authors Laura Besley (100neHundred), David Hartley (Incorcisms) and poet Rob Walton (This Poem Here) for an evening of readings and discussions dealing with issues around their chosen literary forms and touching on questions such as, do authors know what a piece will be when they start writing it? When is flash a prose poem? Do poems sometimes change into stories? How dark does fantasy have to be to qualify as horror, and is it allowed to be funny?

You can get tickets here, free; or for £8.99 to include a copy of ONE of the books.

May 30th, 16:00 BST – Keeping Up With a Paper and Pencil

Catch Clare Owen, author of our recent YA novel, Zed and the Cormorants, in conversation with Sally Atkins, who did the beautiful illustrations for Clare’s book. Entitled Keeping Up With a Paper and Pencil, Clare and Sally will discuss creating vivid characters through words and images – so one for both writers and artists. They’ll share their notebooks, sketches, extracts from the novel and new ways to get characters up on their feet and ready to sprint off the page.

You can get tickets here, free; or for £10 to include a copy of the book.

May 27th 2021 – Launch of Incorcisms by David Hartley, and 100neHundred by Laura Besley.

You can get tickets here, free; or for £8.99 to include a copy of ONE of the books; or for £17.98 to include a copy of BOTH books. Books will be sent post free.

The evening will include readings by, and chats with, Laura and David, and they will also be joined by the narrators of their respective audiobooks. Also, THERE WILL BE CAKE (BYO): we’d like you to join us in celebrating the launch by baking (or buying) cake to eat during the event, and drinking lemonade (the reason behind lemonade drinking will be made clear on the night!).

There will be Q&A opportunities throughout the event, and even a chance to write your own 100 word story. So put your thinking caps on, and start making a note of all those burning questions about flash/short story/micro fiction or anything else you may wish to know about these writers and their work. And dust off those notebooks and pens.

You can also (pre-)order the books now from our Webshop.

May 9th 2021, 11:00 BST – Local Author Virtual Premier for Zed and the Cormorants

If you missed our virtual launch last month, Cornwall Libraries will be hosting this premier, featuring author Clare Owen answering customer questions, and reading from the novel.

If you can’t catch it on Sunday, you can re-watch it on the Arachne Press YouTube channel .

April 29th 2021

Launch of Zed and the Cormorants.

After having to delay publication last year, Zed and the Cormorants was published last month, and was launched with a fantastic, sold-out event online. The evening included readings by Clare herself, hosted by the lovely Shrew Books in Fowey, Cornwall, as well as by actress Sophie Aldred, who has narrated the audiobook; discussion with Sally Atkins, who did the wonderful illustrations for the book; and questions from the audience.

April 24th 2021

Launch of blog tour for Zed and the Cormorants @a_never_ending_story.

The week of the launch saw an exciting blog tour, including book blogger reviews of Zed, guest posts by Clare, extracts from the book and audiobook, and a Zed-themed #bookishbake. Check out all the coverage here .

For more blog tour dates and details, see below.

April 24th – May 2nd 2021

Blog tour for Zed and the Cormorants