Slightly better news since first draft of this post. The disheartening message was that we’d paid to book the Council House all day for 16th July 2022 over two years ago but Birmingham City Council unilaterally cancelled our contract in favour of some unrevealed use of the building on that date. The City Council’s apparent willingness to abandon contractual commitments when it suits them was pretty upsetting. Quite apart from all the wasted work Lee Benson, Dawn Torrens, Martin Tracey and Andrew Sparke have put into the event BCC’s actions stood to frustrate around 80 authors booked to attend, two charities we were fund-raising for (Cure Leukaemia and Dementia UK), potential sponsors, evening venues and entertainment providers and service supply companies, not to mention all the people who’ve bought tickets online from eventbrite.

Anyway the better news is that negotiations have resulted in a replacement event in the Council House Banqueting Suite on a Saturday 15th July 2023.

We’re very proud of the city with whom we have a long association and with New Street Authors we’ve tried hard to raise its profile. There’s even an anthology of Birmingham short stories in preparation to be published contemporaneously with the event.