PRESS INFORMATION

For release: Immediate

Ready for Take-off!

Usk, Wales, November 2007: The countdown has begun for the launch of Julie McGowan’s Blaenavon/Abergavenny novel, “The Mountains Between”.

Hot on the heels of the BBC’s “Coal House” series which covers a similar period in the same area, the book is due for release on 27 November, with a special themed launch party to be held that night at the Sessions House in Usk.

Various prominent figures in the community, such as Lord Raglan, are expected to attend, as well as other government, theatrical and media personalities. Julie has played a significant role in the Usk community, in the theatre, Town Council, schools, and even the print media and medical sector. She is well loved not only for her nature but also for the contributions she has made, on many fronts, to other people’s lives – from teenagers to the elderly – and many of these look forward to honouring her achievement as she moves onto a new stage: that of a bona fide author.

Will this mean that her considerable role in dramaturgy and other arenas will be set aside?

“Definitely not,” says Julie. “I love my life, and wouldn’t contemplate changing it. The young people I work with are very important to me, as is the rest of my community work. I see my novel writing as an extension of who I am, not as a sea-change. But,” she adds, “I am loving it!”

Playwright and director Julie writes and produces pantomimes and variety shows, as well as co-running a theatrical youth education programme (Is It?) that visits schools all over the country to deal with the health and social issues our young people confront every day. She runs theatre workshops for teens and adults, writes a newspaper column, is a First Responder volunteer for the Welsh Ambulance Service (she is a trained Nursing Sister), and still finds time to write her books – and, of course, to walk the family’s beloved dogs every evening!

During a recent radio interview Julie revealed that “The Mountains Between” was loosely based on the lives of her parents and other family and friends, from the 1920’s till after the Second World War. A novel, it traces the loves and lives of two communities – one in Blaenavon, one in Abergavenny.

Produced by Sunpenny Publishing, “The Mountains Between” is to be followed up by Julie’s second novel, “Just One More Summer”, in the spring of 2008.

Catch Julie at one of her upcoming book signings, such as Mandalay Books in Usk on 1^st December from 1.30pm, or Brownings Books in Blaenavon on 8^th December from 2pm.

- "Intensely moving."
- "Funny, tender, utterly fascinating."
- "Wales gleams brilliantly through the dust of farmland and coalfield, mountain and valley, heartache and delight. You can almost taste it!"

For high resolution photographs and cover images, or for more information about “The Mountains Between”, “Just One More Summer”, Julie McGowan herself, and/or Sunpenny Publishing, please email info@sunpenny.com or visit www.sunpenny.com, or telephone Julie on 01291 672701.