A Literary Salon

I’m intending to hold this at the Time for Tea Café in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. I don’t have a date yet, but it will be early evening, probably 6.30-8.30. It will include afternoon tea style snacks: sandwiches, quiche, cake and tea or coffee.  And a glass of wine. Afternoon tea just isn’t what it used to be! If it is successful, I’ll organise more and I’ll also post a description here and on the web site so that other writers / café owners can adopt it for their local Creative Cafés.    

Who is invited

I shall be inviting writers and people who love reading and listening to words. It has to be by invite only – there is limited space at Time for Tea and anyway, a “salon” needs an intimate atmosphere.  THE FIRST ONE WILL BE FREE. Thereafter, cost will be £10 to include “afternoon tea”, a glass of wine, excellent company and a book to take home.  It won’t be the same people every time but there will be some overlap.

What will happen

You’ll enjoy a great “afternoon tea”. Two or three of the writers will read out some of their work. I intend to move people around three times so that you mix with different people. You are also invited to bring one book to give away. It can simply be one you’ve read and enjoyed.  It doesn’t have to be brand new. Hopefully everyone can do this, so everyone will go home with a new book. Writers may also bring up to three books to sell and they can bring flyers to give out. They are also invited to consider donating a book to Time for Tea. And we can chat all the time about books and writing.

What you can do now

Let me know that you would like an invite.

Tell me what you think of the timing – is 6.30 too early / too late? What about using a Saturday?

Is the price reasonable?

What about the idea of swapping books? What would be the fairest way to distribute these?

Does the book sale system work for writers? I’ve limited it to three as we don’t want to spend all evening swapping money. Maybe the flyer could offer a small discount? Should I restrict sales to the writers who read their work? But let everyone bring flyers?  

The Creative Café is all about serving creative practitioners, their audiences and the cafés.  Does this do that