THE Examiner’s 26th annual literary luncheon yesterday had a strong local flavour.
All four speakers – television chef and cookery writer Rosemary Shrager; journalist and historical novelist Jane Sanderson; teen horror fiction author James Dawson and former teacher Andy Seed – have Yorkshire connections.
Rosemary, who runs a cookery school at the Swinton Park Hotel in North Yorkshire, hails originally from the South of England but has moved around the UK to work for some of the biggest names in haute cuisine. She was, perhaps, the literary luncheon guest that staff at the John Smith’s Stadium, where the event took place, most wanted to impress.
Although self taught, Rosemary established a career in fine dining and even cooked for members of the Royal Family. She is the author of a number of cookery books but says her new Absolutely Foolproof series is her best yet.
“My greatest passion is to pass on what I have learned and what I hadn’t been given when I was younger,” she told the audience.
Andy Seed travelled from his home near Malton in North Yorkshire to tell the luncheon about his days as a primary school teacher in a village school in the Dales.
His experiences inspired him to produce a series of humorous books in the same genre as James Herriot and Gervase Phinn. “I met some fascinating characters and I used to love listening to the stories the farmers told,” said Andy. His books are peppered with anecdotes about the children, fellow teachers and community in which he worked – capturing the feel of village life in the 1980s. “Although it was more like the 1950s,” he added.
Jane Sanderson, born and raised in the South Yorkshire mining town of Hoyland, near Barnsley, explained that her period novel Netherwood, which has sold 30,000 copies, was influenced by her late grandmother.
Her own family history helped to flesh out the story, which is set in 1903 and covers a turbulent period in the lives of Yorkshire miners.
Both Jane’s grandfather and father were miners – her grandfather sadly lost his life in an underground accident, leaving her grandmother to raise three children.
Jane has based one of the central characters in her book on her grandmother, who was a formidable traditional cook.
“It was fascinating and exhilarating to be writing about my own past and talking to my parents and getting them to dig out old photographs,” she said.
James Dawson, who is originally from Bingley but now lives in South London, is also a former teacher.
He is also one of the fortunate few authors who managed to find a buyer for his first-ever completed novel.
James spoke about drawing on his background in teaching and experiences of being bullied at school to produce a work, which he describes as “Mean Girls with witches”, of supernatural fiction aimed at the teenage and cross-over market.
It is, he says, one of the few remaining publishing niches still enjoying a boom.
“I had six publishers interested in Hollow Pike, I was incredibly jammy,” he said.
