Chipping Norton Literary Festival - 23-26 April 2015
Chipping Norton Literary Festival is delighted to announce the line-up of highly acclaimed authors for its 2015 programme. The festival, which takes place from 23rd-26th April will host a variety of distinguished writers from a wide range of genres including fiction, biography, politics and sport. Headline speakers will include Lee Child, Richard & Judy, Helen Lederer and Sheila Hancock.
During the four-day event, attendees will be invited to hear authors speak in a number of intimate venues in the Cotswolds market town, including the Theatre, Town Hall, Methodist Hall and 16th century pub, The Chequers.
Familiar faces being welcomed to the famous Chipping Norton Theatre will include British thriller writer, Lee Child in conversation with Matt Billingham and Julie Cohen who will be interviewing Richard and Judy about their book club and own novels. For crime lovers, visitors to the festival will be treated to talks by M.C Beaton and international bestselling author S.J Watson, who will discuss his new novel, SECOND LIFE and showcase a film version of his debut thriller, Before I Go To Sleep. Fans of political writing will have the opportunity to hear from John Crace and Polly Toynbee, as well as Baroness Trumpington who will talk about her Sunday-Times bestselling memoir, Coming Up Trumps.
The impressive line-up for the festival also includes The Times Chief Sports Correspondent Matt Dickinson, THE HUMANS author Matt Haig and award-winning children’s author, Peter Horacek. Tim Bentinck, actor in BBC Radio 4 series, The Archers will also be joined by producer Sean O’Connor to discuss Britain’s best-loved and longest running radio drama.
As well as talks from authors, visitors will be treated to a varied programme of events over the course of the festival, including creative writing workshops, performance poetry and a literary quiz. A free photography exhibition, Writers, Not Writing, commissioned from local photographer Jane Stillwell, will also offer a window into the lives of authors away from their desks. Children will also be well-catered for at the festival with talks by renowned children’s authors, including John Dougherty, Tamsyn Murray and Joe Craig, as well as creative workshops and film animation workshops. Festival Director, Clare Mackintosh comments, “We offer a diverse programme of events visitors can enjoy in a beautiful Cotswolds setting. We’re now in the fourth year of the festival, which is going from strength to strength, and I’m delighted with this year’s line-up. We bring big names into intimate, local venues, which means that audiences benefit from an up-close and personal atmosphere.”
To book tickets visit the festival website www.chiplitfest.com or call the box office on 01608 642350. Also on twitter @ChipLitFest and Facebook/ChipLitFest.
Special discount for LOVEREADING members on weekend tickets for THE COLONSAY BOOK FESTIVAL 2015 25-26 April 2015
Possibly the most remote literary festival in the UK, the fourth Colonsay Book Festival will take place on this enchanting Southern Hebridean island (pop. 130) over the weekend of 25 and 26 April. The tiny Isle of Colonsay is situated west of Jura and south of Mull, and is a two-hour sail from Oban, on Scotland’s west coast.
Conceived and produced entirely by island residents, the Colonsay Book Festival has carved its own niche in Scotland’s busy book festival calendar since launching in 2012. Many of Scotland’s best-loved writers and poets have now made the journey by ferry to experience Colonsay’s literary celebrations, with audiences coming from all over the world to join them.
The two-day event – dubbed a ‘literary lock-in’ – has hosted luminaries such as Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Liz Lochhead, Christopher Brookmyre, Jackie Kay, Candia McWilliam, James Robertson and Andrew Greig, among many others. This year’s programme features Lin Anderson, James Buchan, Mary Contini, Jim Crumley, William Letford and Sara Maitland. All events take place in the friendly and informal atmosphere of the village hall.
Tartan Noir crime writer, Lin Anderson is the acclaimed author of nine Rhona MacLeod novels. The latest in the series featuring the forensic pathologist is Paths of the Dead (2014). An award-winning screenwriter, Lin is also the co-founder – with Alex Gray – of Bloody Scotland, Scotland’s first annual crime-writing festival.
James Buchan, the grandson of Scottish writer and diplomat John Buchan, is a journalist, prize-winning novelist and historian. He has published eight novels and several works of non-fiction, including Capital of the Mind: How Edinburgh Changed the World (2003) and Days of God: the Revolution in Iran and its Consequences (2012). He will be talking about the 18th century Scots financier, John Law.
Mary Contini is a director of Valvona and Crolla, the renowned Edinburgh restaurant, delicatessen and cookery school. She is the best-selling author of several books about Italian life and cooking, including Dear Francesca and Dear Olivia (written for her daughters) and Valvona and Crolla: A Year at an Italian Table (2009). She has also written the Easy Peasy cookery books for children. Mary will be talking about her family’s journey from Italy to Scotland, and the importance of food in their lives.
Nature writer and poet, Jim Crumley, has over twenty books to his name, mostly on the landscape and wildlife of Scotland. He is also a presenter of radio programmes and a journalist. Jim will be reading from and discussing The Eagle’s Way (2014), which looks at the reintroduction of sea eagles into Scotland, and two monographs from his Encounters in the Wild series, Barn Owl and Fox (both 2014).
William Letford is a new voice on the poetry scene. He took an MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, and new writer’s and travel awards enabled him to spend three months in the mountains of Northern Italy, helping to restore a medieval village. A roofer from the age of 15, his work gives a particular perspective of life at ground level. A brilliant performer of his own pieces, his first collection, Bevel, was published by Carcanet Press in 2012.
In her long and varied writing career, Sara Maitland has written works of fiction and non-fiction, her favourite genre being short stories. Her work includes Very Heaven: women’s lives in the 1960s (1988), Gardens of Illusion (2000), A Book of Silence (2009) and Gossip from the Forest (2012) which explores the idea that fairy stories come out of forests. Sara will be discussing her latest collection, Moss Witch and other stories (2013), hybrid tales that fuse elements of scientific theory with ancient myth, folklore and contemporary storytelling.
Saturday night entertainment will be provided by acclaimed composer and musician Mike Vass, and friends, who will perform his suite In the Wake of Neil Gunn, a musical celebration of Scotland’s coastal communities, the inspirational joy of sailing and Neil Gunn’s outstanding contribution to Scottish literature. Tickets are £10.
For information about tickets, accommodation and how to get to Colonsay, visit www.colonsaybookfestival.org.uk - quoting LOVEREADING for a special £5 discount off the £50 weekend ticket - and the website of the ferry operator https://www.calmac.co.uk.
The book festival is followed immediately, on 27 April, by Colonsay’s three-week long Festival of Spring (see www.colonsayevents.co.uk). Why not spend a week (or more) on the island and enjoy both festivals?
Stratford Literary Festival Announces its Best-ever Line up for 2015 25 April-3 May
There is nothing like a Dame, and for 2015 the Stratford Literary Festival will be featuring no less than four, with events including actress Dame Harriet Walter, multi-million best- selling author Dame Jacqueline Wilson, historical biographer Dame Antonia Fraser and web supremo Dame Wendy Hall.
These four women lead a programme that includes comedian Paul Merton, political spin doctor Alastair Campbell, actor Simon Russell Beale, best-selling novelists Alexander McCall Smith and Adele Parks, Waterstones Book of the Year winner Jessie Burton, and Sunday Times correspondent Christina Lamb.
With the General Election only a few days later, the Festival gets political with events including The Guardian's John Crace, journalist Sam Delaney on political adverts and former Observer editor Will Hutton. Tory grandees Lord Waldegrave and Lord Hurd will talk about the lure of politics and there will also be a timely panel discussion about political satire including The Times' Hugo Rifkind and The Thick of It writer, Ian Martin.
Historian Tracy Borman will be giving her expert angle on the current passion for all things Tudor with her highly-acclaimed book on Thomas Cromwell, Charlotte Green will be looking back on her career (and giggles) in Radio 4 continuity and a panel including The Archer's Jill Archer, will be discussing the impact of the Women's Institute, celebrating its centenary this year. There will also be insights into comedy with Helen Lederer and the award-winning Francesca Martinez.
For the first time the Festival is also combining music and words with two magical events - Dame Harriet Walter will be reading The Waste Land with a musical accompaniment, to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of TS Eliot, and acclaimed pianist Lucy Parham partners with RSC actor Simon Russell Beale performing and reading from Debussy's work and diaries.
Those who love to sing can also join in with BBC1's The Voice coach Juliet Russell to rehearse and perform in one day the winning lyrics in the Festival's Song for Stratford Competition. The Festival's annual Big Issue Lecture will be delivered by Dame Wendy Hall, who'll be exploring the future of the internet on communication and creativity.
For 2015, the Festival has partnered with The Guardian Masterclasses to offer writers a series of workshops tutored by leading names in fiction and non-fiction including Mavis Cheek, Dreda Say Mitchell and memoir writer, Sally Cline. Regarded as one of the leading UK Festivals for writers, the programme will also include free 'New Voices' events for debut writers to showcase their work.
'We are really excited by this year's line up,' says programme director, Annie Ashworth. 'And it's packed with great themes and events. We're touching on subjects as diverse as surviving teenagers and research for crime writing, the power of poetry to heal and the life of Maynard Keynes! I'm especially thrilled that this year we are in residence at Stratford Artshouse which will have a Baillie Gifford Festival Hub Cafe, exhibitions and activities for pre-school children every morning.'
The Festival finishes with its annual Children's Day on Sunday 3rd May, once again sponsored by Lodders Solicitors, and this will feature a stellar line up of authors and illustrators, including Percy The Park Keeper creator, Nick Butterworth, illustrator Chris Riddell, writing partners Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve as well as a superb puppet show written by Michael Rosen, and workshop activities including comic bookmaking and storytelling.
The Stratford upon Avon Literary Festival runs from 25 April to 3 May 2015, and is in media partnership with The Week. For full information go to www.stratlitfest.co.uk.
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