Dragon’s Pen UPDATE!

Hey lads and lassies,

Last week, me and eight other aspiring writers took part in one of the most scary (yet fun!) events of the Edinburgh Book Festival, namely DRAGON’S PEN. We poorly wee writers were sent onstage to face the fierce, fire-breathing Dragons: Charlotte Higgins, Guardian journalist; Francis Bickmore, Senior Editor of Canongate Books; and Lucy Luck, Literary Agent.

The premise of the event involved us pitching our novel-idea to the Dragons, and hoping we’d make it out alive in one piece. Fair play to everyone who got up there and pitched; it was a packed Spielgeltent (with a great crowd!) and the Dragons were for the most part unflinching, so it was quite the scary experience.

At the end of the night, it was Anna Stewart who was slayer of the dragons, with a pitch that was a perfect blend of humour, substance and interest. She was definitely the deserving winner!

I really enjoyed the experience, enjoyed arguing with Charlotte and will take heed of the invaluable advice given by Francis and Lucy.

A big pat on the back for the other eight contestants who all did a fantastic job of promoting themselves and their work (in order of appearance): George Anderson, Alison Summers, Elaine Reid, Amy Burns, Anna Stewart, John Fagan, Jonathan Whiteside and Josephine Jules Andrews.

And finally, a big thanks to Anna Burkey and Ali Bowden of City of Literature for the opportunity, and of course, for always promoting and thinking of new writers.

If you would like to watch me pitching to the Dragons, here it is:

And to see the Dragons’ response to my pitch, here it is:

To view photos of everyone performing on the night, click the photo below!

To hear what Dragon Francis Bickmore thought of the event, click HERE

And to read what Dragon Charlotte Higgins thought, click HERE

On a personal note, it was grand to see my pal and former tutor Trevor Byrne in the crowd. He’s a brilliant writer from Dublin, and if you haven’t read his roaring book, Ghosts and Lightning, what are you waiting for?

So that’s me for now. The writing journey continues! Enjoy what summer days are left, people…and remember what Shane MacGowan said: If ya can’t be good, be careful!

Website updated 5 September 2010.