Event Post: Colin Mulhern at Foyles + UK Giveaway

On Tuesday 28th August I was invited to a gathering at one of my favourite bookshops in London (Foyles; where book bloggers go to swoon and drool) to a chat and Q & A with Colin Mulhern about his latest book Arabesque and his previous book (also his debut) Clash.  The event was hosted by the cool cat that is Non Pratt from Catnip Publishing who I was just as excited to meet as Colin.  It was a small but lovely bunch of people present and I got to catch up with some familiar faces once again before Colin appeared and was seemed just as excited to meet me and I was to meet him.  I think he even said (rather loudly) 'OH SISTERSPOOKY! SOMEONE I KNOW FROM THE INTERNET' and his agent then appeared to say something similar and how she liked my blog.

*I only say all that because it led to much blushing and humble thanks from me and awkwardness when I tried to bat away "being a known blogger" comments as it relates to chat later. If you know me you know I'm not one to gloat at all*

So we took our seats and then Colin and Non had the floor really to discuss Arabesque and Colin's choice to remove the swearing from it at the last minute in order to make the other impact of hints of violence and threats more heightened.  Colin is so wonderful to listen to just talking about other books he loves and elements he takes from others and puts into his own work.  He even admitted that he never really intended to write YA or even having been drawn to that genre.  He'd just written what he wanted to write and rather than books like Harry Potter pulling him into YA it was Philip Pullman's work that was almost cross over from adult and children's fiction that made him rethink writing for YA as a way to go.

What was wonderful about this event that Non kept Colin on track with questions and avoiding running off too far on a tangent but also let Colin ask us as bloggers things.  He seemed to completely love the UK blogging scene and was really interested to hear from us if we felt valued as bloggers and that our opinion is heard.  I may even write what I said in a post later on because the question was really interesting to think about.  Plus it added value to my first meeting of Colin and his agent (the bit above) because he clearly takes on board bloggers as a huge assets to publishing and authors work and in a way that made me feel valued having that reaction.  Mainly because I wasn't the only one that got it too and all the bloggers were greeted by Colin like mini rock stars.  

Me meeting Colin (I nabbed this from Colin's blog post as I forgot my own camera)

Colin then moved on to sign books and such for the bloggers and I treated myself to copy of his first book Clash as I had yet to read it.  Thanks so much to Colin for being so wonderful and chatty, Non and the other Catnippers for the invite and event itself and of course Neil at Foyles for being a cool cat too!

GIVEAWAY

Win a Signed fold out Poster/Book Sample for Arabesque by Colin Mulhern

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