Two things to flag before the draft: the festival is Hertford (Hertfordshire), not Hartford. More substantively, the page makes clear this is a free, non-commercial community event with no speaker fee, though travel and accommodation can be agreed in advance. Stourbridge to Hertford is a 3-hour journey via London — so worth deciding upfront whether you want to do it for exposure value, and whether you’d want to push for travel costs as a condition.
The timing is genuinely good though: 3-4 July 2026 is roughly two weeks after Lisa Doyle publishes on 18 June, which makes Hertford a useful launch-tour stop if you can stomach the trip.
The form needs less than the previous two: bio, talk title, photo, and presumably a description. I’ve kept the tone warmer and lighter than Cheltenham given this is a community audience rather than a literary one.
TALK TITLE
Are You Absolutely Fine? An Hour with Mo Fanning
BIO
Mo Fanning is a West Midlands-based author of five novels of warm, sharp commercial fiction. His novel ‘Husbands’ won the 2025 IndieReader Discovery Award for LGBTQ+ Fiction, and he has been a Page Turner Awards finalist in both 2024 and 2025. His work has been translated into Italian and Spanish. His new novel, ‘Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine’ (Spring Street Books, 18 June 2026), is a contemporary romcom for readers of Beth O’Leary, Marian Keyes and Mhairi McFarlane. Mo writes about love, identity and the messy business of being human.
TALK DESCRIPTION / EVENT IDEA (≈190 words)
Mo Fanning’s new novel, ‘Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine’ (Spring Street Books, June 2026), is a contemporary romcom about a thirty-something Manchester woman who, four glasses into a bottle of wine, invents a fiancé to keep up with friends getting married. What follows is a funny, sharp, big-hearted story about the small lies we tell to stay afloat, the pressure to seem sorted by a certain age, and the strange relief of finally being seen.
This relaxed, 45-minute event pairs a short reading from the novel with a warm, funny conversation. Expect honest talk about why “absolutely fine” is the most common lie we tell, the white lies and quiet grief at the centre of the book, what it means to live life as a gay man with your family held at arm’s length, and the joy of writing romcom that is funny without losing emotional credibility.
Audience questions, laughs and a signing to close. Suitable for fans of contemporary fiction, anyone who’s ever said “I’m fine” when they weren’t, and readers who like their comedy with a bit of heart.
PHOTO
Attach one of your existing professional author headshots (the one used in the ABC press release is fine).
TRAVEL / ACCOMMODATION
If the form has a free-text box for this, or if you mention it in a notes field: “Travelling from Stourbridge in the West Midlands. A contribution towards rail travel and one night’s accommodation would be welcome if available within the festival’s terms; happy to discuss.”
SOCIAL / WEB (if asked)
Website: mofanning.co.uk Instagram: @authormofanning Facebook: @mofanningbooks
Two practical questions for you:
- Are you doing it for exposure or only with travel covered? Worth deciding before you apply. If exposure-only is fine, send as drafted. If you want travel covered as a condition, the language above flags that politely without making it a demand.
- You’ve now got Wolverhampton, Cheltenham and Hertford all clustered around June/July 2026 plus Queer the Shelves in Nottingham. That’s a busy stretch right after launch, which is good. But it’s also worth keeping a simple list of who you’ve pitched, when, deadlines, and outcomes, so nothing gets lost. Want me to start one as we go?