Reason #5359 to love Rome: Sports Day

Okay, Sports Day (Giornata dello sport, in Italian) is held every year in Rome and it’s just so much fun. If you’re passing through Italy’s capital in October – and especially if you have kids in tow – you must stop by to enjoy this event. It’s usually held the third Sunday of October in…

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Author interview: Catherine McNamara

If you read my blog posts, you know how much I’ve enjoyed attending the Matera Women’s Fiction Festival, held each September in southern Italy. But it’s not just for the great information and advice you receive about the publishing industry today, or even the one-on-one meetings with agents. The real plus to this conference is…

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Foreign Encounters: A New Anthology from Writers Abroad

The Online writing group Writers Abroad are proud to announce the publication on Wednesday 24th October of their new anthology, entitled Foreign Encounters. An encounter can be a chance meeting, a planned get-together or even a confrontation. This collection of stories, non-fiction articles and poems features a variety of foreign encounters: with family, friends, lovers,…

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A car-free stroll on New York’s High Line

Garden strolls and a chance to feel at one with nature are always in demand in big cities like New York. New York’s High Line is an unlikely place to find a car-free environment where you can stroll, observe the city and river views, admire the landscape architecture and relax on lounging chairs ideal for…

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What I learned at the Matera Women’s Fiction Festival – Part 2

I’ve already mentioned much of what I learned at this year’s Matera Women’s Fiction Festival in Part 1. In that post, I covered issues related to  electronic publishing, the newly-coined term   ‘dicoverability’, and the role of agents today in a quickly-shifting marketplace. But just to prove all my time wasn’t spent wandering the steep…

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Shopping at Nice’s outdoor market at Cours Saleya

Part of the pleasure – and there  are many – of travelling in France is a visit to the local outdoor markets. This colourful market square sits at the edge of Nice’s vieille ville (old town) and definitely merits a visit during your visit to this lovely city on the French Riviera. The market at the…

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What I learned at the Matera Women’s Fiction Festival

In September,  I went for the second time to the annual Matera Women’s Fiction Festival, in the beautiful southern Italian town of Matera. The festival brings together many women –and a few men –  writers of women’s fiction, including mainstream, romance, mystery, fantasy, thrillers, historical and young adult. There are so many changes going on…

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Lake Skadar – the Balkans’ largest lake

The Montenegrin Skadarsko jezero goes by many names: Skadar (from the Montenegrin), Shkodër (from the Albanian) and Scutari (from the time when it was an Italian protectorate). It’s the  largest lake in the Balkans – part of the lake is in Montenegro and part in neighboring Albania. The lake itself is well known for its…

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Author interview: Chantel Rhondeau

Okay, I have to be honest here from the start. I’m not a romance reader. Bare-chested men on book covers generally stop me from exploring the story within. And yet, here I am promoting a romance novel … complete with pectorals on display… and I really enjoyed this book. I became critique partners with Chantel…

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Spectacular views from Èze, France

Just a short distance from Nice, after a dramatic and spectacular drive along the Moyenne Corniche road that alone make the trip worthwhile, lies the charming medieval town of Èze. At 470 metres above sea level, Èze – frequently referred to as the eagle’s nest – is a picture-perfect village perché (perched village), with breathtaking…

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