July | 2014 | Liz Harris

Yes, it’s the RNA Conference, July 2014

Harper Adams in Edgmond, Shropshire, was the venue for this year’s excellent RNA conference, and the perfect ambiance it proved to be.

Before the conference proper began, RNA members gave talks and held workshops in the Wellington Library on the Thursday, and on the Friday morning, there was a highly successful ‘Love of the Past’, meet-the-author and book fair event at Blists Hill in the Victorian Town. To give you a flavour of the occasion, I’ve captured some of the magnificent costumes worn by the historical authors who participated in the event.

Freda Lightfoot

Me, preparing for the Blists Hill extravaganza

Christina Courtenay

Kate Johnson

Liesel Schwarz

Kate Johnson, Liesel Schwarz

Louise Allen

Nicola Cornick

Romy Gemmell, Louise Allen

Jenny Barden

Anne Stenhouse

Juliet Greenwood

Lynne Connolly

Jenny Harper

Jacqueline Farrell

Jean Fullerton

Denise Barnes

Alison Morton, Jacqueline Farrell

And finally from Blists Hill, no photographic record of an RNA event is complete without at least one photograph of a pair of shoes …

My boots

Moving on to the first day of the conference …

Getting together after the panel

Christina Courtenay, Chair of the RNA, and Jan Jones, Conference Organiser, welcome the delegates

Lizzie Lane, Judy Astley, Sue Moorcroft, Janey Fraser, Charlotte Foreman. Panel for the topic: ‘Reviews Revealed’

Christina Courtenay, Liesel Schwarz

Elizabeth Cooper, Anita Chapman

Carol McGrath, Charlotte Betts

Jen Gilroy

Alison Knight

Lynne Connolly, Liam Livings, Jan Jones

What better thing to do on a hot summer evening than gather together on the grass outside one of the houses in which we were staying. After dinner on the Friday evening, we did just that.

Alison May, Janet Gover, Lyn Vernham (MD, Choc Lit), Kate Johnson, Sue Moorcroft, Margaret Kaine

Melanie Hudson, Jane Lovering, Sarah Callejo, Rhoda Baxter, Laura E. James,
Alison May, Janet Gover

Val Williamson, Rachel Brimble, Alison Knight, Christina Courtenay

Henriette Gyland, Alison Morton, Val Williamson, Rachel Brimble

Erica Hayes, Melanie Hudson, Jane Lovering

Liesel Schwarz, Jane Lovering, Robert Fanshaw

Celia Anderson, Vanessa Savage, Lucie Wheeler, Catherine Miller, Simon Whaley

Now on to some of the talks I attended.

Eileen Dickson, Jen Gilroy, Julie Roberts

Checking the locations for the various talks and workshops

Nikki Logan, President of the RWA, discusses how the body reacts when reading

Matt Bates, Fiction Buyer for WH Smith Travel, and Richard Lee, Founder of the HNS, talk about getting books into retail outlets

Katie Fforde, Christina Courtenay, Jenny Barden (who organised the conference programme), Richard Lee, Nikki Logan discuss the Future for Romantic Fiction