The festival season will soon be upon us and May throws up some cultural gems to take part in, one of which is the second annual Greenacre Writers Literary Festival in Friern Barnet and Finchley, on May 17 and 18.

Friday evening is a warm-up of creative writing and open mic literature, while Saturday is a packed day of new writing, old writing and one or two poems thrown in for good measure.

Author Miriam Halahmy leads the first workshop of the fest with So You Want to Write for Kids!, which offers insights into writing and publishing fiction for young readers and teenagers.

Members of the public are invited to showcase their writing alongside the two published novelists Miriam Halahmy and C J Flood as well as poet-in-residence for the Pre-Raphaelite Society, Sarah Doyle.

Saturday starts off with another workshop, Life Writing and the Writing Life, which analyses the function of writing as a way of preserving memories and experiences and is hosted by creative writing expert Dr Josie O Pearse, who also writes sexual romances under the pseudonym Angel Strand.

The afternoon is chock-a-block with book readings and public speaking from guest novelists, including the prolific Sarah Harrison who has written 25 books to date and the crime writer Leigh Russell, whose first novel Cut Short was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award. There will also be a panel discussion from 4.30pm on the nature of truth and fiction, attended by the above writers and including the award-winning novelist Alex Wheatle, who was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to literature.

The festival concludes with authors and poets signing copies of their books.

Other writers who will be in attendance include Allen Ashley, who has written nine books and is well-known in the science fiction and fantasy arena, and Gina Blaxill from Highgate who has mastered the e-book market with her best-seller Pretty Twisted.

Greenacre Writers was set up in 2009 by a group of people living in Finchley who were all working on novels at the time, and who have developed into biographers, short story writers and flash fiction pros.

Any aspiring writers with a desire to read their prose or poetry at the festival should email: greenacrewriters@gmail.com

  • Greenacre Writers Literary Festival, Friern Barnet People’s Library, Friern Barnet Road on Friday, May 17 from 4.30pm to 10pm, and at Trinity Church Centre, Nether Street, North Finchley on Saturday, May 18 from 11am to 5.30pm. www.greenacrewriters.blogspot.co.uk