Part Two: A Day at the Hay Festival

With 'Rose' at Hay

Bunting’s a bit thin on the ground in this part of west Wales (mind you, so are houses) but Diamond Jubilee carnivals, apparently, are not. We seem to join up with one in every other village on our journey to Hay, but anyone not on a float appears to have turned up either at the Hay festival or in the town.

My daughter Rose and I are delighted to have been invited to help Honno Press celebrate twenty-five years of publishing Welsh women’s writing at their anniversary party, but first we go for a wander round the festival site. There are queues for author events, book-signings, ice creams, but not, thankfully, the loos which are surprisingly civilised. A steward is bellowing that this is NOT the queue for Jeanette Winterson at one line, another column is supposed to lead to Stephen Fry, although Rose and I aren’t convinced it’s the back of his head we can see, and there’s Monty Don in the bookshop looking – I’ll be able to tell Ma – just like he does on the TV.

What a wonderful cake!

And so to the Moot and the Honno party where we link up with lovely Kath Eastman and meet new friend Juliet Greenwood, author of Eden’s Garden. There’s a real atmosphere of celebration and a quiet sense of pride and satisfaction in all that this independent co-operative press run by women has achieved. I even get a bit tearful during the speeches!

Co-founder Rosanne Reeves with Helena Earnshaw, Press Officer.

Honno was established with the aim of increasing opportunities for Welsh women in publishing and to bring Welsh women’s literature to a wider public. Rose and I both have reason to be grateful to them. I was a contributor to the Honno anthology on motherhood, Strange Days Indeed, and was the winner of their Coming of Age One Sentence competition. Both of these successes gave me the confidence to finish my novel and resulted in me being offered a contract by my wonderful publisher, Choc Lit. Rose was a Honno volunteer gaining hands-on experience into the day-to-day workings of a small publishing house, and now works as Research and Development Controller for a successful publisher of children’s books. 

Thank you, Honno. Happy anniversary and congratulations on twenty-five wonderful years!

'All Shall Be Well'  published to celebrate 25 years of Welsh  women's writing and a selection of Honno books.