*** Note that the date for this meeting has changed ***

Our competition Rosemary Hayes is an author and creative writing tutor. She came to writing from a background in advertising, marketing and publishing. Working intermittently for Cambridge University Press from 1986-2001, one of her jobs was to run a national children’s writing competition, The Cambridge Young Writers’ Award, which attracted thousands of entries. In 1989 she launched her own publishing company, Anglia Young Books, producing curriculum-related historical fiction for primary schools.

Note that the AGM will be held in April this year and not March as usual.

The meeting will be held via zoom. Details to follow
 

Competitors bring a printed copy of their anonymous entry to the meeting, word limit 250

Because the date for ending anti-Covid measures has been set back to 19th July, we thought it wise to set a later date for our social.

We now plan to hold this on Saturday 4th September, from late afternoon onwards. The venue will be Deerfield Stud Farm, Dullingham. There will be a charge of £5 a head, and you are asked to bring a dish to share and something to drink.

As we did in 2019, there will be a cabaret. You may sing a song, recite a poem or tell a joke. We know that your own writing is amazingly good, but ask you to save that for one of our working Groups.

Usually members are welcome to bring guests, and we hope that will be the case t his year. However , I am sure you will appreciate that this depends on what rules about social mixing are in force at the time.

Rosie Sykes is a food writer and chef, living in London and Cambridge who was, at one time, Head Chef at Fitzbillies. She has has cooked in the kitchens of some of Britain's most celebrated chefs, including Joyce Molyneux, Shaun Hill and Alastair Little. Her critically acclaimed gastropub, The Sutton Arms in Smithfields, London, established her as one of the most exciting cooks working in the UK, and from 2001 to 2003 Rosie wrote for the Guardian's Weekend magazine as The Kitchen Doctor.

Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in forty-nine languages and fifty-one territories. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. In 2014, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, Sophie published a new Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders, which was a bestseller in more than fifteen countries. She has since published two more Poirot novels, Closed Casket and The Mystery of Three Quarters, both of which were instant Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers.

Note: The meeting takes place at the Lord Byron Inn, not the Hartington Grove Friends' Meeting House.

Giles Yeo is a geneticist with over 20 years’ experience dedicated to researching obesity and the brain control of food intake. He took part in pioneering research that uncovered key pathways in how the brain controls food intake. His current research focuses on understanding how these pathways differ from person to person, and the influence of genetics in our relationship with food and eating habits.

Giles will present his book, Gene Eating: The Science of Obesity and the Truth About Diets, which is hailed as an 'anti diet' book, and gets more in-depth into the science of weight, obesity and diet.