Celebrating Books by Allison Symes

Image Credits:-

Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. AI images avoided. One photo from my book event at Salisbury URC was taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Gemma Owen-Kendall for taking the image of me at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick. 

There is never a time when books shouldn’t be celebrated but, as authors, we have even more motive to do so. But the challenge is to get across to those who don’t read for pleasure the joys of books and stories and there is something out there for them. There is far more of a range for the reluctant reader now than there was when I was growing up. There is more awareness of need here, I think, and that can only be a good thing. 

I admit it is my great hope for flash fiction and short story collections, such as mine, that these could be used to draw in the reluctant reader. I’m not asking someone to commit to too much in one go. 

 The hope is, of course, having picked up the reading bug, people would then go on to read longer works, novellas say, then novels, but there has to be a way in and I do believe the short fiction realm could do a great deal of good here. I hope so anyway.

One thing which encouraged me at a recent event I was involved in was to see books are still loved and appreciated by the younger generation. You hear so much about youngsters not reading so much for pleasure. Well, I think the jury’s out on that. 

I saw enough to say this isn’t the case for all and those who do value books read and read well. It’s getting that initial love for reading going at all which is the biggest issue for authors (of all age ranges because those who write for older ages know we get our audiences thanks to the children’s author; that life long love of reading pays off for us later on). There’s still plenty of life in the good old paperback too.

We all celebrate books whenever we pick one up to read though I think most of us would wish for more time in which to do that. It is perhaps ironic whenever I’m at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick or day writing events where I’m surrounded by books, those who write them and love them, I have less time to read than when I do at home but that’s the nature of the beast. 

I celebrate books here by giving some new ones from these events a good home and make up for the reading on my return. It is a great pleasure to me to have a shelf or two with books written by author friends and their inscriptions to me are meaningful too. 

Another way to celebrate how special books are is to get their authors to sign them! I know it was one of those stand out moments when I was asked to sign one of mine for the first time. Many writers, including me, feel having books out is a moment of validation. Signing them for others is another one.