Maree Giles, the last author but not the least!

We kick started the development of the Literary Festival with not a penny to our name but a bright idea, lots of enthusiasm, and a very supportive village mayor.   We didn’t have any experience but were full of confidence that we could put together a lively and interesting programme.   Since we couldn’t afford to pay for flights and long train journeys we kept our focus on authors who live in SW France.   We spent months researching and contacting French and English writers and by late spring were very happy with the programme we had developed.   Everything seemed to have fallen into place.    Out of the blue in late July I had an email from Maree Giles, an author originally from Australia who had just moved to somewhere half an hour’s drive from Parisot.    Could she participate in our ‘wonderful’ festival?   

We were at that point immersed in publicity material, logo design, and the stark reality of printing costs.   Delighted to meet another writer we arranged for Maree to come to the library.   By the time she had finished telling me her story and talking about her career as a writer I was hooked.    We squeezed and reshaped our programme timetable and found a good slot for Maree on Saturday morning.    Don’t miss her talk.    She has an astonishing story to tell and is a wonderful writer.

Gina Connolly

Maree Giles, an award-winning author, journalist, Royal Literary Fund Fellow and creative writing tutor, moved to South West France in 2013. She will be discussing her poignant and powerful debut novel Invisible Thread which drew on her own astonishing story.    In 1970 Australia the State considered 14 year old Ellen Russell to be uncontrollable. By living with her boyfriend Robbie they deemed her to be in ‘moral danger’.   Arrested and sentenced to nine months at the Gunyah Training School for Girls, Ellen was terrified. For in the holding room at the court, the graffiti says it all: Gunyah is hell on earth. Keep quiet.   Don’t talk out of turn. Work hard. Even though Ellen discovers she is pregnant, there is no respite from the staff. They tell her she’s not capable of bringing up her child, twisting the truth to get her cooperation. But however hard they try, they can’t destroy the life-force between mother and child … 

www.mareegiles.com/about