YCAA Events Page

The Yeovil Literary Prize in conjunction with the Yeovil Community Arts Association, The Octagon Theatre and Waterstone's are organising events throughout the year, please peruse our latest events here.

♦ 'Brilliant evening.' ♦ 'What a great idea, so relaxed and friendly. Let's have more.' ♦ 'Sarah Challis was a wonderful speaker, and then to sit and chat over a glass of wine at the table was just so stimulating.'
These are just some of the comments made at the Prose Café on 18th January by members of an audience which included reading groups, writing circles and those interested in the written word. It was an evening of relaxed conversation, a glass or two of wine and a wonderful talk by bestselling Dorset author Sarah Challis, who amused and informed the Prose Café audience. After the talk, she and fellow authors, including June Wyndham Davies, Penny Deacon, Margaret Graham and Jim Mitchell circulated, joining the audience at their café tables and talking about writing, life and the universe.
During the evening art work by the Yeovil Art Group was on display and created great interest. View images here.

Sorry you missed it? There are others on the horizon! - see below. In addition, further Cafés will be announced shortly.
So, come along and meet us all!

Views of the art work displayed by the Yeovil Art Group

At another hugely successful Prose Café evening, Penny Deacon described the triumphs and pitfalls of becoming a writer for Mills & Boon and how and why, after having six romantic novels published, she changed to dark crime fiction. She described her two crime novels, A Kind of Puritan and A Thankless Child, as 'future crime' and admits she defied all sane advice to set her crime novels in the near-future. As she said, 'Conventional wisdom says crime readers don't read sci-fi, and sci-fi readers don't go to the crime shelves. I'm lucky even to have what my publisher politely calls a cult following.' She's also just embarking on a contemporary murder: 'With a twist', of course.
During the evening art work by Muriel Parkinson from Village Artists was on display and created great interest.
Sorry you missed it? There are others on the horizon! - see below. In addition, further Cafés will be announced shortly. So, come along and meet us all!

At our first and very successful Poetry Café evening, John Stuart, Chair of the Fire River Poets enlightened the Poetry Café with his thoughts on poetry, and poets, in particular Seamus Heaney, Rilke and Robert Frost all of whom have influenced his own work. This influence was clear as John read from his own work and we were both moved and amused. The Poetry Café was then thrown open for readings from the audience after a suitable break for wine. The talent that emerged was extraordinary, and greatly added to the enjoyment of the evening. We must do it again!

Sorry you missed it? There are others on the horizon! - see below. In addition, further Cafés will be announced shortly. So, come along and meet us all!

At another very successful Prose Café evening, Malcolm Welshman enthralled the audience with his stories of life as an animal loving child and mutli faceted vet, who has worked with zoo animals and the more mundane. Not that anything sounded mundane about Malcolm’s work, either during the evening, or in his novel Pets in Prospect.
Jean Hutchins, Pat Pritchard, Deb Walker and Jo Brown of the Art Group of Yeovil provided a most stimulating art exhibition to complement the event. Animals and birds of all kinds.

All in all, a great evening.

Sorry you missed it? There are others on the horizon! - see below. In addition, further Cafés will be announced shortly. So, come along and meet us all!

At another hugely successful evening, Julia Hailes MBE, international environmental consultant, introduced us to The New Green Consumer Guide. Julia spoke passionately on green issues, emphasizing that we CAN make a difference and told of 20 years as a campaigner and her more recent attempts to improve the not so green lifestyles of various celebrities! It was an amusing but thoughtful evening. Books for signing were provided by Waterstones.

The Green theme was supported by the nature photographs of Langport photographer Keith Padden. The Green challenge for the YCAA committee meant borrowed green tablecloths, fairtrade wine, local Devon crisps, flowers cut from the garden and a colourful display of reusable bags. All much appreciated by the speaker!

Sorry you missed it? There are others on the horizon! - see below. In addition, further Cafés will be announced shortly. So, come along and meet us all!

The Theatre Café was a huge success.

The team managed to surprise the speaker, Grant Sellen, Artistic Manager of The Octagon who was to talk on Panto. Not only did they borrow the theatre’s costumes, but wrote and performed their own version of Jack and the Beanstalk – look behind you!!

As the audience chomped mince pies, pulled crackers and sipped their wine, Grant amused and informed his way through the evening. It was a grand finale to a sparkling season of Café Events at the Johnson Studio. Oh yes it was!!

Sorry you missed it? There are others on the horizon! - see below. In addition, further Cafés will be announced shortly. So, come along and meet us all!