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IN AN ERA of e-books and library closures, readers were thanked for supporting ‘real books’ at yesterday’s Examiner’s Literary Luncheon.

The line-up of speakers included three from Yorkshire – including two from Huddersfield – and one who made the journey from London.

Joanne Harris and Annabel Pitcher live in Huddersfield, Mike Pannett is based in North Yorkshire and Chris Morgan Jones made the trip up from London for yesterday’s event at the Galpharm Stadium.

Joanne said: “It’s lovely to see people coming out for a real book event."

Joanne’s latest book, blueyedboy, focuses on the very digital world that threatens the printed word and examines the dark possibilities of the internet.

It is a “marmite novel,” she said. “People either like it or they don’t.”

Explaining how her novel Chocolat set into motion a chain of events that led to her supporting the charity Medicins Sans Frontieres and making an epic journey to the Congo, former teacher Joanne said: “There is something uniquely magical about writing stories, stories have taken me a long way.”

Chris Morgan-Jones, who travelled from London, became a full-time writer after working in the fast-paced world of corporate espionage.

It was a world populated by Russian oligarchs, financiers and corrupt politicians – all material for his first novel, An Agent of Deceit.

The audience learned that the original oligarchs were seven businessmen, who bought up most of Russia in a series of privatisations and became immensely powerful – and that Chris had worked among them.

Making her first appearance at a literary luncheon was Holme Valley writer Annabel Pitcher whose debut novel, My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece, sparked a bidding war.

Still in her 20s and also a former teacher, Annabel recounted how she found inspiration for her book, which tells the story of a family devastated by a terrorist attack, after viewing a film about 9/11.

The story is told in the first person by a boy whose sister was one of the victims.

She said: “His is a fresher, naive voice, that allowed me to inject humour into a serious subject.

“I was told it was the reason why the publishers wanted the book.”

The audience also heard from Mike Pannett, a former Metropolitan Police officer who now lives in North Yorkshire. He has earned the title of the James Herriot of policing.

He said working in London left him exhausted and traumatised. His first week there coincided with the Marchioness boat disaster in which 51 people died, but by the time he left he had become one of the most highly commended officers.

He returned to his native Yorkshire to a 600 square-mile beat and a life rich in material for his popular novels.

His latest is Not On My Patch Lad.