Well the West Kent Book Fair came and went on Sunday; fair weather leading up to it, beautiful fresh sunny weather so far this week. The day of the fair? Blizzard! Bloody arctic conditions of course; the only day that snow has actually settled in Tonbridge in the whole of the winter season. This meant that one of the authors was unable to get there, it meant that visitor numbers were well down on usual, and it meant a few unhappy booksellers at the end of the day. Some of them had only just about covered their costs for the day after table fees, petrol and cost of stock were taken into account. Who'd be a book dealer eh? To be honest I was quite surprised that as many as did braved the weather. It just goes to show that if you're a real book worm or collector there isn't alot that will stop you. I really was very close to getting our own Dame Kelly Holmes along to sign her new children's book, Katy the Shooting Star, but alas she had some Olympic torch carrying duties to attend to on Sunday. (A lame excuse, or should that be Dame excuse!) I wonder if half the town would have turned out despite the weather if our local celebrity had been able to make it? We'll never know. I felt sorry for Katherine Reynolds, prize winning author of a children's book called Born to Dance; she and her husband had travelled all the way from Somerset to promote her book. I hope that their stay in Tonbridge's finest hotel, the Rose and Crown at least made the trip a pleasant one. The next fair will be on October 26th when a record turn out is expected, fair weather permitting....
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