A 'Great York Literature Quiz' is to be held in memory of local writer Helen Cadbury, who died last year. STEPHEN LEWIS reports

LAST autumn, thousands of copies of York writer Helen Cadbury's debut thriller To Catch A Rabbit were given away free from city libraries as part of Big City Read.

A gripping thriller first published in 2013, the novel features a young Police Community Support Officer, Sean Denton, who finds himself in over his head when a prostitute turns up dead on his patch.

The decision to choose Rabbit as the book to be given away during Big City Read - which aims to get everyone in the city reading and talking about the same book - deservedly brought Helen's work to a wider audience.

Sadly, the author wasn't around herself to see it. She died of breast cancer last summer at the tragically early age of 52.

She had known that her book was to be chosen, though - and had been hugely excited at the prospect. "Helen was absolutely delighted and brimming with enthusiasm," Fiona Williams, the chief executive of York Explore libraries, told The Press.

Helen's third Sean Denton novel, Race to the Kill, was published by Allison & Busby last September, just a few weeks after the author's death. And in December a posthumous volume of poetry - Forever, Now - was published by Scarborough-based Valley Press.

Helen had returned to her first love, poetry, after being told her cancer was terminal. The poems in Forever, Now, charted the extraordinary lives of ordinary people - among them the poet herself - as they came to terms with love and loss, grief and new beginnings.

York poet Carole Bromley, who tutored Helen on an adult creative writing course, said her poetry had always been wonderful - but just got better and better. "Some of her later poems, written in the last months of her life,are very powerful indeed," Carole said, when Forever, Now was published.

Helen's death left a huge hole in York literary circles. We'll never know, now, what she might have written next.

The books she published in her too-brief life stand as her legacy. But a group of local writers - among them Tom Harper, co-author with Wilbur Smith of the bestseller Tiger's Prey, and The Nightingale Girls author Donna Douglas - are determined that there will be a more physical memorial to her life, too.

They want to install a 'poetry bench' in her honour in Glen Gardens, Heworth - one of Helen's favourite places.

To help raise money towards that, they are putting on a literary quiz night in Helen's memory at The Basement, City Screen, on February 20.

The Great York Literature Quiz, as they've called it, will be hosted by top crime writer Mark Billingham, an old friend of Helen's. There will be live music from Whitby-based musician Phil Martin, who shared a flat with Helen during their university days, and a tombola, with the prizes up for grabs including a whole array of signed books by the likes of Donna herself, Tom, and Booker-nominated York author Fiona Mozley.

Books groups - and anyone else interested in books and reading - are being invited to put together teams of up to six people to take part in the quiz. Tickets are £10 per person, with proceeds going to both the charity Accessible Arts & Media, which was close to Helen's heart, and that poetry bench in Glen Gardens.

"Helen was a very dear friend to many of us, and a passionate supporter of local writers," says Donna. "She was always willing to offer help and advice, and I personally really valued her insight.

"We miss her very much, and we're hoping that this will be a great event in her honour. It's also a chance for people to get to know more about the local authors in their area, of which I think Helen would have thoroughly approved!"

The Great York Literature Quiz, The Basement, City Screen, Tuesday February 20, 7pm. Tickets are available, priced £10 per person, from thebasementyork.co.uk/