Gracias España! Gracias Madrid! Gracias IPA and Antonio Montanjano!

Posted on behalf of our Chair David Lewis and Vice-Chair Ann Cumberland: Gracias España! Gracias Madrid! Gracias IPA and Antonio Montanjano! A great leap forward for The Global Writers Forum took place in Madrid from 23rd to 27th February 2023. Section UK Chair, David Lewis and Vice-Chair, Ann Cumberland were invited to attend Spain's inaugural 'IPA Art 2023!' event in Madrid as the guests of Section Spain. They attended with the intention of inviting the Spanish writers group to become part of the international network of police writers that is us, ' The Global Writers Forum'.

Image 1 - Presentations with Antonio Montaljano (centre), Ann (left) and David (right)

The weekend was an unbounded success for everyone involved and your intrepid duo came away glowing with the wonderful warmth of generosity, friendliness and great experiences that are Spanish hallmarks. Antonio Montanjano, the head of the Municipal Police in Madrid and a prolific writer himself was the perfect host. The Spanish writers were thrilled to join together in this way to share all things writing.

Image 2 - David presents Antonio with a UK IPA plaque

David says ' Everyone involved was an absolute joy and threw down the red carpet for us; we were very impressed indeed with all the Spanish arrangements; the whole weekend was a great experience as always with international IPA events and whilst this event focused largely on writing it also included a wealth of art, photography, theatre, puppeteers and even an impressive hand made model police car collection.

Image 3 - The Welcome Dinner in Madrid

Gracias to everyone involved and to 3 Region of Section UK, Bill Lloyd and to Yvonne McGregor, the UK Cultural lead, who helped to make it possible for us to attend and represent the UK. It was brilliant to meet with all the writers and share their literary experiences, expertise and knowledge; the shared journey was inspiring and should prove really helpful to everyone involved going forward.'

Image 4 - At the UK IPA Writers' Stand

At the event all the participants had a table as did the Section UK writers who were attending under the banner of The Global Writers Forum. Twelve of our writer's works were featured and the Spanish writers included crime novels, non-fiction self-help books, memoirs, history, historical thrillers, police procedurals and even a canine anthology. After the display side of the event, all the writers had to give a ten-minute presentation on their work in the main theatre. David delivered from the UK side and coped well under pressure as the talk had to be delivered in Spanish! (Thank you Google) . All was well and a much appreciated gesture until raucous laughter broke out. David, wanting to say 'Come and join us in the Forum' in Spanish mistakenly and unwittingly said, 'Come and join us in bed!' An unfortunate but highly amusing mistake, thankfully with no unforeseen consequences.

Image 5 - The UK Presentation delivered by David Lewis - in Spanish!

Surrounding the IPA ART 2023! event was a very well-attended IPA Madrid welcome dinner, a guided tour of central Madri and attendance as VIPs at the Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid local football derby with an experience of being in the subtly, but effectively controlled 'Fan Zone' before the match, an amazing moment providing a chance to speak with a variety of municipal and federal police officers. A visit to the famous Prado Museum was provided, again as VIPs, and the experience of a variety of Spanish customs, food and dancing as well as experiencing a vibrant and colourful Bolivian carnival. Spain and Madrid left a lasting impression of good order, peace and prosperity but also of respect as the one year mark of the war in Ukraine was marked by a few words and a donation to a Ukrainian vigil in the city.

Image 6 - At the Real Madrid V Atletico Madrid local football derby

Several of the Spanish writers have been welcomed into the WhatsApp group formed from the visit and we look forward to future collaborations and welcoming them to the UK in due course. We are hoping that some of the Spanish writers will join the next Gimborn seminar in October and an invitation is being given to cultural leads from all European countries to consider sending a representative to this event to expand The Global Writers Forum concept.

The IPA ART 2023! event was captured on camera of course and here are a few more of the images.'

Image 7 - Waiting for the Theatre Event

Image 8 - Olga Maeso book signing

Image 9 - Some of the Spanish Writers

Image 10 - David and Antonio at The Forum stand

Image 11 - With the Local Police

Image 12 - Discussing the event with the organiser, another Antonio

Image 13 - Ann and Lucia at the dinner

Image 14 - The one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine was marked with a vigil in Madrid

Image 15 - The one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine was marked with a vigil in Madrid

Addendum:

Talk about 'Hold the Front Page'! Only a few days after this wonderful trip, it was featured in the March 2023 edition of IPA Spain's quarterly magazine.

The full magazine can be downloaded by clicking here (15mb PDF file),

Here's a few screenshots of their magazine - published by kind permission of IPA Section Spain:

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and did a huge amount to progress working relations between both groups. Here's to the future!