Next month sees the return of Salisbury Literary Festival which is now in its third year of running, it's great having a festival featuring something I love 📚 in my home city that I can support. I've already bought tickets for a couple of events on the Saturday and have a few other events that I still need to buy tickets for. Last year festival director Tom Bromley wrote a post talking about how the festival came to fruition, which you can read here, so today I have decided to shine the spotlight on a few of the events that are taking place this year (full schedule of events can be downloaded here).
The festival kicks off on Friday 18th October with three events; a Walking Book Group tour of Avebury with local archeologist and author Nicola Ford talking about the inspiration of her novel The Hidden Bones, a 'Salisbury Greats' talk at the library about Michael Gilbert, founder of the Crime Writers' Association, and the headliner event, and one my friend wants me to go to with her, is Jung Chang at Salisbury Cathedral.
Jung Chang is the author of the award-winning bestseller Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China which has sold over 13 million copies to date. Jung Chang’s latest book, published in October, is Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, telling the story of the influential Soong sisters, three women who in their different ways shaped the course of modern Chinese history.
Saturday 19th October is the main day of the festival which sees a full schedule of events throughout the day so there's bound to be something for everyone. Whether it's a guided tour led by Tom Bromley of some of the city's literary landmarks that have inspired authors over the years, or perhaps one of the events for Children that are being hosted throughout the day in the library starting at 11am. These include a storytime session with Julia Woolf, creative writing workshop with authors Julie Pike and Kirsty Applebaum, story and drawing tips from author Nathan Bryon and illustrator Dapo Adelo, as well as a special musical and animal making mask event with author, poet, singer-songwriter and Voice-over artist Nadine Wild-Palmer
The final children's event of the day, and the main event that my friend's daughter wants to go to, is with Salisbury based cartoonist and illustrator Neil Smith where kids will get the chance to draw along with Neil as he doodles cartoons of his favourite literary Halloween ghouls! I can't wait to see what pictures she creates on the day 👻
One of the events I'm looking forward to is the lunchtime event in the Guildhall with bestselling author, TV writer, actress and presenter Emma Kennedy. I was recently sent a copy of her latest novel, The Things We Left Unsaid, which I already had a copy of so I will get this spare copy signed and will be offering it as part of my blogiversary celebrations next month
Due to the success of the previous festivals there are more events on offer than in previous years which sadly for me has meant a couple of scheduling clashes meaning I won't be able to go to the Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and Barney Norris or Ayisha Malik events that I probably would have bought tickets for. Other authors featuring at this year's festival include Keith Stuart and Richard Roper, Keggie Carew, Michelle Paver, Laura Purcell and Alex Reeve. Rounding off a packed day of events is a short story evening with Irenosen Okojie, Susmita Bhattacharya and Paul McVeigh - settle back with a glass of wine (included in the ticket price) for an evening of fabulous short stories.
The festival is ending with a charity event that both celebrates writing in Salisbury and looks forward to the year ahead.
The Next Chapter pulls together the leading lights of the Salisbury literary scene, helping to raise money for Salisbury Foodbank by offering readers a sneak peek of their next publications. All artists at this event are performing for free, with all proceeds, including a raffle of some special literary prizes, going to support Salisbury Food Bank. The authors joining us are – Barney Norris, Kristina Stephenson, Keggie Carew, Clare Empson, Tarn Richardson, Richard Parker, Mandy Baggot, Andy Maslen, Julia North and Tariq Goddard.
All book titles in bold are Amazon UK Affiliate links which will earn me a few pence if anyone clicks through and makes a purchase - any money earned will go towards buying books or gifts for giveaways.
No comments:
Post a Comment