CELEBRATED authors will be reading some of their old and new work to the public.

Vanguard Readings, which promotes writers and poets, is using the Deck Bar at the British Airways i360 in Lower Kings Road, Brighton, as the setting for a literary salon, for the Brighton Fringe. The show will take place on June 18.

There will be six readers, including the award-winning Steve "SJ" Watson and John McCullough, who won the Polari Prize.

SJ won the Crime Writers' Association award and the Galaxy National Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year for his international bestseller Before I go to Sleep.

It will be his first outing to read from his brand new novel. He said: "My recent move to Brighton has been hugely inspiring for me.

"The atmosphere of the city, and the nearness of the sea, has unlocked a whole new seam of creativity."

John McCullough lives in Hove and recently won the 2020 Hawthorden Prize for literature for his latest book of poems, Reckless Paper Birds. Some of his books have been named books of the year by multiple newspapers.

The other four readers will be Hannah Tovey, Richard Skinner, Susannah Wise and Helen Trevorrow. Helen is a Hove-based novelist who will be hosting the event. She made her debut with the crime thriller In the Wake in 2018.

The Argus: Helen TrevorrowHelen Trevorrow

She said: "The deck is such a fabulous setting to hear some very exciting writers in the flesh.

"We've got two of this summer's most anticipated debut novelists, one of the UK's most established thriller writers, and two fabulous award-winning poets.

"I can't think of a better way to be inspired while watching the sun go down."

Helen's new novel, New Brighton, will be published in March 2022. The book will be a disturbing, dystopian tale set in an alternative Brighton.