On Saturday 8th March, another local author, June Hampson, came to Central Library to talk about her writing.

June comes from Gosport and her novels are all set in the Gosport area. June talked about her popular ‘Daisy Lane’ series, a gritty series of novels about Daisy - a character who lives above a café in Gosport and who becomes involved in the world of gangsters. June told the audience that she herself used to live above the café she has based the books around when she was sixteen years old during the 1960s and saw first hand the characters that used to meet there. June read from one of the novels in the series a passage that certainly set the scene for a thriller and the audience was delighted to reminisce with June about the Gosport of the 1960s.

June talked about how she writes her novels and told the audience that she writes all of her novels on holiday and has developed a superstition that if she doesn’t, her next novel will be a failure! June began writing in creative writing lessons where she was taught by Maurice Callard- the teacher who also taught Betty Burton.

She advised the audience that you need to develop a thick skin as a writer and not to take rejections too much to heart. She said that rejections do not always mean your writing is not good. She advised aspiring writers to find themselves an agent and not to send a manuscript straight to a publisher. Tell the agent where your novel is set, what it’s about and how long it is. June said that she wrote her first novel in hand and typed up the first 100 pages for an agent to see. June also advised writers to research their market, especially if they were looking to make a real profit from their writing.

June herself now runs creative writing classes in Gosport. There are more exciting plans in store for the National Year of Reading at the Library Service including themed book promotions and a Murder Mystery Evening!