Joys of Surrey International Writers' Conference
Sheraton Guildford is the SIWC conference hotel
Right: Jack Whyte carries on a conference tradition that is rather hard to explain to the uninitiated: he sings an old music hall song of mud and hippopotami.
Along with Victorian mystery writer Anne Perry and the original and wildly popular time travel storyteller Diana Gabaldon, Whyte is a veteran of the SIWC who admits that "you may see the occasional ravage of time" on his face. In fact, he's been writing so long that he began his career not with a keyboard, but "using a cold chisel on stone."
Left: Susanna Kearsley (centre)
converses with Michael Slade (of the infamous Shock Theatre) and the celebrated puppeteer and author Mary Robinette Kowal.
Right: Chuck Wendig inspires the crowd with reports of characters who behave "like chimpanzees loose in a shopping mall," and recounts a hilarious memory of his first fan: "Oh my stars and garters!"
To add to the annual work and fun fest for writers, we have the inimitable MC Carol Monaghan, wearing her unforgettable dealy boppers, not to mention her alter ego Madame Zamboni.