Hello booklovers,

Welcome to December 1st, and to the first entry to our 2019 Felixstowe Book Festival Advent Calendar. It seems fitting to begin with one of the most well known and well loved stories of Christmas, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A moral tale of such brilliance, emphasised by its many adaptations and retellings (most memorably by The Muppets…), A Christmas Carol has been bringing home the message of generosity over greed, kindness over prejudice and community over isolation to readers for 176 years.

I always find it totally thrilling that Charles Dickens manages to convey such vibrant characters and potent messages in such a short work – in my own copy of the text the transformation of Scrooge from a ‘squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner’ to ‘as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew’ occurs over the course of a mere 104 pages. And yet what a glorious tale! Full of ghosts and humour and undertones of darkness, in particular a memorable scene when Scrooge comes face to face with two children who emerge from the robes of the ghost of Christmas Present, named Want and Ignorance. Not only does Dickens introduce these ‘meagre, ragged, scowling’ creatures to warn Scrooge of the dangers of both traits, but to warn mankind in its entirety. Food for thought in our own troubling times, where so many of the terrible things that we see and hear about are a modern manifestation of these two children.

And yet… what unfolds is a timelessly uplifting tale of redemption. Scrooge sees the error of his miserly, hoarding ways. Warped by isolation and a lack of love that stems from his deep past, he cannot see the purpose of generosity, merriment or kindness. The encounters with the three ghosts of Christmases past, present and future lead Scrooge to some serious introspection and also exposure to the lives of others. He is given the gift of empathy which transforms his outlook and his life entirely. Our small but powerful tale concludes with the image of a contented man, surrounded by friends who will last a lifetime. Mind you, if I was Mrs Cratchit and my husband’s boss, in a bid to ‘change their ways’, turned up in my kitchen ON CHRISTMAS DAY with an enormous turkey and, oh yes, the whole of London, I would be a bit miffed…

Wishing you all a very merry Advent!

Imogen and the festival team x

 

Hello booklovers,

I can’t believe it is November already. 2019 has whizzed by… and speaking of whizzing (and fizzing!) of the firework variety…

Remember, remember the fifth of November…

Whilst personally I find the tale of the gunpowder plot quite gruesome, at least it gives us the excuse for a chilly evening spent with friends and family, perhaps over a glass of something tasty and mulled and all in the name of being historical. However, if you prefer your Autumn evening pursuits to be of the indoor variety, the Felixstowe Book Festival has your back – we’re here to provide you with some lovely bonfire night inspired poetry, which may at least help you create the illusion of being at a fabulous fireworks display without having to leave the comfort of your own home. For those who need that toasty feeling, do read on…

November 5th by Anonymous

Fires are flaming,

Flickering, flashing,

Full of fury,

Full of fancy.

Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!

November Night, by Adelaide Crapsey

Listen…

With faint dry sound,

Like steps of passing ghosts,

The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees

And fall.

Bookish best (until next time!),

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

P.S. You may like to know that our lovely selection of poetry comes from the marvelous I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree: A nature poem for every day of the year. 

Hello booklovers,

A very happy half term to you all, especially to those budding readers who might be looking for something new to get their teeth into over the school holidays and the next half of term. Look no further for a few recommendations of some brilliant new books for children and young people…

The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay

A new novel from the author of The Skylarks’ War, this mesmerising book introduces us to eleven year old Abi and her family – dad Theo, step-mum Polly and step-brothers Max and Louis. At first Abi considers her new family to be a pain in the neck and solely responsible for the move from her beloved childhood home and her grandmother’s return to Jamaica. Max and Theo have their own troubles to bear, and all three children escape their troubles through reading – only it turns out that the ivy covered house that the family has moved to holds a mysterious power which transports the children as they read with both wonderful and terrifying consequences. A fabulous story about family, magic and intrigue, this is well worth a read.

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

For those who love a supernatural tale, why not give this intriguing story a try? Cass goes on holiday to Paris with her parents, anticipating some time away soaking up the culture and chomping on some tasty French cuisine. Little does she know that she will be responsible for the escape of a terrible spirit which sets about trying to destroy the whole of the city. It is up to Cass and her ghost hunting knowledge to take to the catacombs of Paris and solve the problem. Perfect for those who love solving mysteries and don’t mind a ghost or two…

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

With the Fire on High  tells the story of Emoni, a teenager coping with motherhood and finishing high school, whilst nourishing her passion for cooking. Suitable for older readers,  this brilliant books deals with important issues, such as race and gender, whilst also realistically portraying close family bonds and the importance of overcoming challenges, with a few tasty recipes thrown in on the side.

Hopefully we have sparked your appetite for some fantastic new reads – enjoy!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers…”

Hello booklovers,

I’ve got to say I’m completely with Anne of Green Gables on this one – I LOVE October. I love the nights drawing in. I love the trees turning copper and late sun and finding autumnal treasures like conkers and bright red leaves as I walk to work. I am not ashamed to admit that I have been on tenterhooks for a good month in anticipation of cracking out my beloved duffel coat and wearing in my new boots.  Just this weekend I was utterly thrilled to be totally justified in cosying up in doors with a cup of tea and a brilliant book as the rain lashed down, without that I should be enjoying the great outdoors and the beautiful sunshine guilt hanging over me. It is a time to take stock and enjoy the changing of the seasons before winter descends. Here at the Felixstowe Book Festival we thought we would take this opportunity to share a selection of our favourite Autumnal poems and verse…

The Morns Are Meeker Than They Were by Emily Dickinson

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry’s cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old fashioned,

I’ll put a trinket on.

An extract from As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Under the greenwood tree

Who loves to lie with me,

And turn his merry note

Unto the sweet bird’s throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither!

here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

The Leaves Are Green by Anonymous

The leaves are green

The nuts are brown,

They hang so high

They will not come down.

 

Leave them alone

Till frosty weather,

Then they will all

Come down together.

 

I hope you have enjoyed these sweet examples of the inspiration that Autumn can bring. Keep reading booklovers!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers!

We cannot thank you all enough for your support and encouragement of our hugely successful 2019 festival. As you can see we have had a hiatus over the lovely long summer to recover from that busy weekend!

We return to your screens with some exciting news about a Felixstowe Book Festival event happening this week.

We are delighted to welcome author Kerry Hudson to Felixstowe Library on Friday 13th September. Kerry, author of the brilliant memoir Lowborn, will be leading an interactive writing workshop, offering advice and practice for the art of writing memoir. This fascinating workshop is taking place at 3pm at Felixstowe Library and is free – but sign up quick at the Library as places are limited!

Look forward to seeing you there.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team

Hello booklovers,

We are so lucky to have such a varied programme here at the Felixstowe Book Festival and we are equally lucky to have a book stall that caters for our diverse events. Once again, we bid an enormous THANK YOU to the wonderful Stillwater Books, our local independent bookstall on Hamilton Road, who have supported the Felixstowe Book Festival for another year.

Will and his team worked hard to provide us all with a wonderful array of delicious books, ripe for author signings thereby making them even more treasured. There is no sight more satisfying than a table heaving with books ready to be read and enjoyed by our festival visitors and guests – being able to take something home in the form of a book provides a lovely memento to a brilliant weekend, particularly if it has been adorned with a personal inscription from the author. Many thanks to Will and the team for all of your support!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather of this post-festival week! As part of our festival round up posts, we would like to wish an enormous thank you to the brilliant team behind all of the technical support over the festival weekend, Breeze Events.

This fab duo, made up of the lovely Andy and Ed, worked incredibly hard over the course of the festival weekend, including the events preceding it and could be found constantly buzzing round the Orwell Hotel catering for all our behind-the-scenes needs. They provided us with all of our sound systems, microphones, computers and presentations and much, much more. We can’t thank you enough for your professionalism, patience and your excellent service, ensuring the smooth running of our festival for another year.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

I don’t know about you, but I am still completely over the moon about our brilliant festival weekend. In order to get you through this difficult post festival week, where it is dawning slowly on us all that we have to wait one whole year before our next bout of festival fun, we are going to remind you of some of the most brilliant aspects of our festival. It seems pertinent to start with a thank you to some crucial people who are essential to the smooth running of our festival each year…

Throughout the weekend you will have seen various lanyard-clad folk stationed around the festival – behold, our brilliant volunteers! We are so lucky to have such a dedicated team of people who are the backbone to our festival, dealing with all from ticket selling, to manning the information desk, to stewarding events, being members of our committee and much much more… we thank you – we couldn’t do it without you! As you can all guess booklovers, there are many complexities to our festival which have been expertly handled by our volunteers and we are so very grateful.

Here’s to more festival fun in 2020!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

WOW. What a magnificent weekend! I am sad to say that the 2019 Felixstowe Book Festival has come to a close – but what a brilliant weekend. We are all on an absolute book-filled high here at Festival HQ!

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to you all, our wonderful festival visitors. Your enthusiasm and passion for our festival is fundamental to our success and we cannot thank you enough for your time, your support and your appreciation.

If post-festival blues have already set in, fear not! Keep your eye on our blog over the coming week for some FBF 2019 round up blog posts to remind you all of a simply smashing weekend.

A very happy Monday to you all, the Felixstowe Book Festival team are now collectively lying down in a darkened room…

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x