Top author waives copyright to treat town's listeners
Volunteers at the Fakenham Talking Times organise articles to be recorded PICTURE: Fakenham Talking Times - Credit: Fakenham Talking Times
A top author gave people with poor sight an aural treat by allowing one of her short stories to be recorded for their talking newspaper.
Susan Riddle from Fakenham worked to get permission to record Elly Griffiths’ short story, The Man in Black, a piece she wrote for Jarrold's 250th anniversary, for Fakenham and District Talking Times.
Elly Griffiths is the pen name of Domenica de Rosa who is well known for her crime novels set in North Norfolk, which follows forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, who lives in a remote seaside cottage near King's Lynn.
Mrs Riddle, who has been volunteering at Talking Times since the first lockdown, was pleased to get permission to record the story but was not surprised by the generosity of the author.
“I got this little short story set in the Ruth Galloway crime novels world, from a book launch, which has characters from the series and I thought this would be really nice to share with our listeners because it is a real treat,” she said.
“I contacted Jarrold and Elly Griffiths and they said, 'yes of course', and were very willing for us to read it.
“I recorded it and is going out very soon to our 60+ subscribers.
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“I was delighted, but I was not surprised as I know she is a generous person and very popular around our area.”
Elly Griffiths was also delighted to share the story, saying: “I’m so happy that this story, set in an iconic Norwich store, is being recorded for everyone to enjoy.”
She was one of seven professional authors who supported Jarrold Stories by contributing to an online anthology for the anniversary.
Holly Ainley, book buyer for Jarrold, said: “The generosity of well-known authors in supporting the competition made it really special and having this original story from Elly Griffiths, set in Jarrold, featuring characters from her bestselling Norfolk-set series was the icing on the cake.
“With Elly’s publisher we printed the story to give away for free so it’s wonderful it will reach even more people now via the Talking Times.”