Acclaimed local author Mari Strachan will be guest speaker at Age Cymru’s Creative Writing Group when it meets in a new venue, the Library Aberaeron at 2pm on April 24.

Mari is the author of two novels. The first The Earth Hums in B Flat, was published in 2009 when Mari was 63, the second, Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers, in 2011. Her books have been published in Australia and in the USA and translated into 12 languages. She is currently working on her third book and the Group look forward to discussing her research and the creative process she uses in the months before publication.

Mari said: “ Creativity can be suppressed by the calls of everyday life, a job or career, raising a family, caring for older relatives, and it is important to provide people in later life with the opportunities to express this latent creativity; a creativity all the more valuable because it is grounded in a vast experience of life.”

An enthusiastic group of creative writers who are members of Age Cymru’s West Wales Befriending Links, have been meeting once a month since September 2013, to study different genres of literature, are already producing work in poetry and prose that reflect Mari’s philosophy. With the aim of attracting new members the Group won Age Cymru’s catch phrase competition with the lines “Why sit at home all alone? Don’t be shy give us a try!” T

he prize will be presented to the Group by Councillor Elizabeth Evans on April 24 at its new venue in Aberaeron Library.

Councillor Evans commenting on the decision of Ceredigion County Council to close the well-used and loved London House in the town said: “The closure of London House will have a detrimental effect on the whole community and cannot be adequately explained unless you have crossed its threshold and experienced the warm, caring community of people that exists there, which is proving so difficult to replicate. The Creative Writing Group is a wonderful example of what I have always believed insomuch there is no age barrier for creativity; talent can be found anywhere in people of any age.”

There are a few places available to join the Group and anyone interested should contact Carol Williams at Age Cymru on 01239 615777/0772036319 or Janet Lougee, during the day, on 01974 27295