The Society of Authors in London is a soundly established invaluable organisation for all published writers. There is a branch in Paris but for those of us living in the south it is just too far to pop up for a chat and exchange of information with our peer group. Solution: to form our own branch, which we have recently done.

We meet for lunch either in a beach restaurant or in a covered establishment depending on the time of year, on the Promenade at Nice. The purpose of these get-togethers is not merely a social occasion although as every writer knows it is a lonely pursuit and it is certainly stimulating to meet and talk. Our objectives are basically to find new outlets for our work.

The publishing scene in the UK is pretty dismal with well-established writers having to knock on a couple of dozen doors before being taken on by a publisher. Of course that pre-supposes there is an agent to do the knocking, and therein lies another problem. Agents, like publishers, can be horses for courses. They may say they do not specialise in certain fictional themes or non-fiction areas but they generally do unless we are talking Penguin. Any writer thinking of going to a publisher directly would be well advised to read the current Writers’ Handbook first where all is revealed.

We British writers here in France would like two things. An outlet for our work through the spoken word on radio , where short stories could be read, novels and non fiction reviewed and even extracts read, interviews to publicise. This problem may be partly addressed in the not too distant future and we are keeping fingers crossed! The second need is to find Anglo French Literary Agents who would be prepared to look at a work of fiction or non fiction and if they liked it get a translation of the first maybe 30 pages and send it to the appropriate publisher. This would be of enormous benefit if the work concerned related to France and Europe rather than the UK, and the longer writers remain ex-pats the more likely it is that their work will be based outside the Sceptred Isle. I know of fiction that was turned down in the UK because there was no leading Brit character.

So anyone who has Literary Agency contacts in the Hexagon so long as they are open to submitted work in English, please let us know.

Contact details:
Liz Morgan
Email