SUNSHINE IN PENRITH: CARNIVAL IN CARLISLE

Today's drizzle and gloom contrasts strongly with yesterday's brightness. In Penrith, all was peace and sunshine as we sat in the wonderful Wordsworth Bookshop beside the church.

We had to leave Penrith long before the torch was due to arrive; when we got to Carlisle we found crowds and capers, and a bookshop with most of its window taken over by The Boy.

Fantastic display in a super independent bookshop- Bookends

An air of excitement built up until the torch came through with its many vehicles and razzmataz, but the human joy still shone through.

Julia with Gwenda Matthews, owner of Bookends in Carlisle

NEW VENUE TO MEET THE AUTHOR

 New Olympic Book: Meet the Author

"You don't get to the Olympics unless you're the best"

On the days the Olympic torch comes to Penrith, Carlisle, Wigton and Cockermouth, local author Julia Newsome will be meeting the public and signing copies of her recently released novel, The Boy with Two Heads.

The timetable now looks like this, with a possible further signing in Bookends Keswick if the weather is fine:

Wednesday June 20th:

12.00 Wordsworth Bookshop, St Andrew's Churchyard, Penrith

4.30  Bookends, Castle Street, Carlisle

Thursday June 21st

10.00 Fountain Gallery, High Street, Wigton

2.00 Beatford's Tearoom, Lowther Went, Cockermouth

(?4.00 Bookends, Keswick?)

OLYMPIC BOOK SIGNINGS AND NEW REVIEWS

In this year of the London Olympics, young and old alike are excited by the romance and the endeavour, the sweat and the tears of the greatest sporting event ever devised. With its themes of striving for excellence, self knowledge, and the conflict between family duty and self realisation it will appeal not just to young adults but to everyone who remembers what it is to be young and ambitious.

Perfectly timed for this summer's Games, Julia Newsome takes us back 2,400 years to the early Olympics. We follow young Themis in his struggle to get to the Olympics and triumph there. What is remarkable is the way in which ancient Greece and the Games themselves are brought to life in riveting detail. Themis's story is cleverly intertwined with that of modern-day Suzanne in her parallel efforts to reach the 2012 Olympics. I learnt more about Greece and the Greeks from this book than I did in two years of living there. This is a great tribute to the author's research and makes the book a gripping read. The cover proclaims 'You Don't Get to the Olympics unless You're the Best.'. You don't write a book like this unless you also are!

From a recent Amazon review by Philip Prowse

Cumbrian Author Julia Newsome will be signing copies of The Boy with Two Heads in Penrith, Carlisle and Wigton next week as part of the Olympic Torch celebrations.

Wednesday 20th June

• The Wordsworth Bookshop, Penrith 12.00 noon
• Bookends, Carlisle 4.30 pm

Thursday 21st June

• The Fountain Gallery, Wigton 10.am