Amanda Garrie | Life Is Amazing

The Reunion – my story for Holmes Fest 2017

The Reunion

My story is a blend of fact and fiction, based on incidents that occurred within my own family. After meeting a helpful Conan Doyle, Bertie writes a letter detailing how he’s put newly acquired skills to good use. But what will the recipient make of it? There’s only one way to find out.

About Amanda Garrie

Reality is a foggy island to this author, having grown up in a place where the elderly still whispered of witches and skeletons lay on the road for weeks after a road widening scheme. It all makes for interesting writing, though, that promises something a little unexpected.

Amanda gained an MA, with Distinction, in Creative Writing in 2015 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the same discipline. Her MA novel, ‘Fluvial’, currently awaits placement, and ‘The Eldritch Girls’, being written as part of the Ph.D., is in its first draft and due for completion in 2019.

Get your tickets for Holmes Fest 2017 here

Wednesday 28th June, 6.30pm, The Square Tower, Portsmouth

Price: £7.50

Details of previously published work can be found on her blog page: https://shardsfromalongcrackedmirror.com/about/

Recently placed writing has seen her widen her repertoire:

The Rheum, an Elizabethan script written as part of the Much Ado about Shakespeare, festival (2016) was published in pamphlet form for Wymering Manor, where it is set. Extracts from the text also being printed on mirrors, as part of an art installation at the manor.
A monologue, Something Fishy and a prose poem, No Reason, nor no Rhyme – in artist Jon Everitt’s fabulous book, Octomorphosis (2016);
a poem, Counting Games, in the Edward King folder – Portsmouth City Museum (2016);
two poems, Beyond and Looking Back, in the Arts Council funded Ferry Tales anthology (2017) and on their website.
A further Ferry Tales’ poem The Wight-Link Whale was performed at the launch of the anthology, at The Square Tower, in May this year. She has also appeared as a guest author on Talk Solent TV, discussing news stories of local interest (2016).

Conan Doyle revisiting the site of his surgery, No 1 Bush Villas, Elm Grove, in 1911 – by then a corset shop! (courtesy of the Conan Doyle Encyclopedia https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/)

10 brilliantly talented storytellers will be joined by musicians, a projectionist and a duellist on Wednesday 28th June at the Square Tower to celebrate Arthur Conan Doyle’s life in Portsmouth.

The writers who will be regaling us with their stories include internationally published authors of Victorian crime fiction, local authors with a knack for spinning the perfect yarn and song writers, too.

The story tellers are:

William George Sutton – creator of the Campbell Lawless series of crime novels
Diana Bretherick – doctor of criminology and author of City of Devils and The Devil’s Daughters
Tony Noon – experienced storyteller well-known for his appearances at the Square Tower’s Day of the Dead event
Justin MacCormack – prolific author across genres, with a wicked sense of humour and a sense of the creepy
Christine Lawrence – author of Caught In The Web, with a unique brand of story-telling
Alan Morris – joyous performer who loves to dress up in Victorian gear and regale us with something unexpected
Zella Compton – playwright, short story writer, News columnist and children’s novelist
Charlotte Comley – organiser of Lovedean Writers’ Group and one of the funniest, wryest and most brilliant tale tellers in the south.
Amanda Garrie – smooth deliverer of intriguing tales.

Find out more about the musicians and the duellists, soon.