A Coventry Win, And A Guardian Article – Happy Weekend!

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If you’ve read my Author Bio, or my About page, you’ll know that I grew up in Coventry, England. My family have deep ties to the City and most of them still live there, so I visit often. When I returned to the UK in 2012, I spent my first six months back in the country living there again, only moving away due to my husband’s work. It’s a place that holds a lot of happy memories for me.

Coventry is also the real-world setting for my Ambeth books. Alma lives on my old street, and the Gate of Oak is in the Memorial Park, a place that has always held magic for me. It is telling that, when I sat down to write my first book, Coventry was the inspiration and starting point. It is a city I still hold close to my heart.

So, when Coventry was named 2021 UK City of Culture this past week, I was thrilled! I tweeted out my congratulations, adding that I thought it a well-deserved win. Less than an hour later, through the strange workings of Twitter, The Guardian newspaper had contacted me. Would I like to write a piece about the city and why I love it, they asked. Would I? I jumped at the chance, even though they needed it done that afternoon and I was at work – there was no way I was missing this opportunity.

I was given 700 words and a short brief – truly, I could have written double that amount – and feel I only touched on the many layers of history and culture the city holds. The article was approved, and is now live on the Guardian site, less than 24 hours after my original tweet. (If you’d like to read it, click here)

And that’s it! A wonderful, and quite unexpected, start to my weekend 🙂 Wishing you all a great weekend wherever you are and, #happywriting.

xx

37 thoughts on “A Coventry Win, And A Guardian Article – Happy Weekend!”

  4. Great piece, Helen, I learned things there I had no idea about, and it made me smile as I happen to be reading an old book just now (King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett) that features Godiva 😀

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    • Thanks, Deb 🙂 It was a pleasure to write, so I’m really pleased you enjoyed it. I could have written double, easily – so many stories in that city. I think it’s going to be an interesting four years 🙂

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  5. Wow, that is so cool, from Tweet to published in 24 hours! Great piece – I know only a little about Coventry, but it will certainly be on my itinerary the next time I visit the UK.

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  9. Nice piece Helen…the power of the Net from reading it ….to Ambeth….The Gate of Oak in the War Memorial Park..small world we walk our dogs through it many times with know anything about Ambeth….but I am know ordering the books to start the journey to Ambeth…👍👍

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    • Hi Robert! Thank you so much 🙂 It is a small world sometimes, isn’t it? Thanks so much for ordering my books – I hope you enjoy them and I think you might recognise quite a few places in the pages. Happy weekend to you 🙂

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  17. I suppose the question would be, “why wouldn’t they chose a person who has such a love for the place and who excels in writing”, well done Helen.

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  19. I was happy at that news too. I spent 4 years at University in Coventry – back in the ‘90s, I think winning city of Culture will be very good for everyone there.

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