If the Libertà hive ever needs a household god, we may well plump for the Roman Janus, god of beginnings and transitions. Janus usually appears with two heads. That means he not only tells you where you are, he can tell you where you’ve been, too.

Janus is also the god of gates, doorways, passages and endings, the sort of god who is useful for showing you, and us, the way.

So here we have a god of beginnings, middles, endings. Readers like all of those, and they’re pretty useful for writers as well. At Libertà, we’ve come to think that Janus is probably our guy. Even though, in some incarnations, like those golden heads, he can look a little menacing.

We reckon this silver version looks a bit friendlier.

Janus. looking backwards to 2015 : where have we been?

Libertà was conceived, nurtured and launched in 2015, propelled out into the bright, scary world by hive founders Sophie and Joanna who were holding their breath all the way (and desperately trying to ignore the labour pains). Thanks to huge support from fellow authors and RNA members, the run-up to the launch on 7th December went amazingly well and Libertà has been gathering strength and support ever since.

Thank you to everyone who blogged, and commented, and tweeted, and liked us on Facebook and elsewhere. You know who you are. And the hive will not forget your help.

Above all, Libertà is a place for people who love reading to come together. For the hive, it is also very much a learning experience. We know we won’t get things right first time – or even second time –  but with help from readers and writers, we can keep improving. We rewrote the Love Letters to a Favourite Novel page because you told us that it wasn’t clear enough. We hope it’s improved, and clearer, but if it’s not, we hope you’ll let us know that we need to have another go.

Nose to the Libertà grindstone in 2016? Why not? Above all, Libertà is intended to be fun, for all of us, readers and writers alike.

Janus, looking forwards into 2016 : where to now?

More of the old. And some new, too.

In 2016, we plan to run our first workshop. There will be new books from Sophie and Joanna. And, here on the website, we’ll start publishing Love Letters to A Favourite Novel from readers.

But many readers prefer to focus on favourite authors, rather than on just one beloved book.

And why not? We have favourite authors, too.

So the first of our new features for 2016 is Favourite and Forgotten Authors, where we aim to create a cosy nook where you can leave comments about authors you love, and discover authors you may have forgotten or who may be totally new to you.

It’s very much a work in progress so far. Please do take a look at the new page (which is now live). We’d love it if you’d help us to get it right.

Janus,  gateways to 2016

We can’t tell what we’ll find when we open the window on to a new landscape. We think it could be exciting. There are so many stories out there to be told.

And, in the meantime, we wish all Libertà readers and friends a very happy New Year

from Joanna and Sophie

PS from Joanna on 5th January 2016:
I’ve now updated the text above for the fact that the new page, Favourite & Forgotten Authors, is live. We hope you enjoy it.