Persephone Reading Weekend: The Persephone Oscars

Persephone Reading Weekend is sadly over, but we still have our very own Persephone Oscars left to go.

But before I announce them, I would like to extend some thank yous in a couple of directions.

Firstly, to my wonderful co-host Claire, who has worked extremely hard on the event, and who managed to get round and comment on so many blogs while I was resting my fingers. Claire's enthusiasm makes this event such a pleasure to co-host :)

Secondly, to Nicola Beauman at Persephone books who was incredibly generous with supplying prizes for our competitions, and who continues to support our event.

And thirdly, to all of you - the wonderful readers and participators without whom the event would not have been so much fun. Thank you particularly to those who ran their own generous giveaways.

There have been two comments which particularly stood out among all of those which we have recieved over the past weekend and to which we would like to give honourable mention. This one from Bellezza, onClaire's blog, sums up so well the fantastic sense of community that this event seems to foster:

What I love most about the Persephone Reading Weekend which you cohost is the sense of community it affords as we visit one another and share our love of such outstanding literature. I had not heard of Persephone books until I connected with you, and I can't tell you the joy they have brought me from the Persephone Secret Santa, to adding to my own collection, to finding new books to order from this lovely shop I hope someday to visit in real life.

We were also in fits over Darlene's comment on Claire's Temporarily Missing Competition. In response to the first line:
‘I heard today that Cynthia died, last Friday afternoon at the Ipswich County Hospital, just after a cup of tea.’
Darlene said:
Dying after a cup of tea sounds just about perfect. Imagine the disappointment of dying just as the kettle came to a boil! I’ve given myself the giggles now….

Anyway, what you're all waiting for is the list of winners of our giveaways!

1. The copy of William, randomly drawn from everyone who left links on our blogs is:
2. The first copy of Family Roundabout, randomly drawn from everyone commenting on my welcome post is: Helen from She Reads Novels
3. The second copy of Family Roundabout, randomly drawn from everyone commenting on Claire's welcome post is: Simon T from Stuck in a book
4. The two copies of Still Missing for the winners of Claire's Temporarily Missing competition are: Heather (from library thing) and Cristina from Rochester Reader.
5. The copy of Mariana for the winner of my photo competition is: Clare Wiggins
6. The winner of The classic edition of Miss Pettigrew lives for a day drawn from anyone who as yet does not own a Persephone book is: Christine
7. The winner of the classic edition of Little Boy lost drawn from anyone who was reading their first Persephone book this weekend is: Jo from Jo's Book Journey.

And...the winner of the best post of the weekend, recieving copies of Winds of heaven and There were no windows is...Rebecca, from Rebecca Reads, for her incredibly thoughtful post about Round About A Pound A Week.

To claim your prizes, please make contact with the lovely Claire (claireDOTboyleATgmailDOTcom) as she has all of them at home and has kindly agreed to post them.