Hello booklovers,

One more sleep until the 2019 Felixstowe Book festival – tomorrow sees our first festival event hit the stage at the Orwell Hotel. We are unbelievably excited here at festival HQ and we can’t wait to see you all again over the festival weekend. Over the past week we have been treating you to our ‘Don’t miss…’ blog series, alerting you to some hidden gems in our festival programme. Today we give you our penultimate installment, perfect for our younger festival visitors. So hold onto your hats everyone – we’re going into space…

We present to you: Calling Mission Control! Join fantastic festival favourite, Rapscallion Theatre Company, as they take you on a journey into the ether to celebrate 50 years of the first moon landing. Perfect for children aged 7-12, our magnificent band of actors will provide our smaller festival guests with a fun-filled morning of crafts, drama and storytelling, celebrating one of mankind’s most extraordinary feats! Book your tickets now for an extraordinary lunar experience.

Bookish best, until tomorrow,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

Not long until our first festival event! Have you got all your tickets booked yet? We have such a variety of events on offer, from workshops to chats about fiction and poetry, to discussions of non fiction, and much, much more. I hope today’s ‘Don’t miss…’ blog post will inspire you further.

On Saturday 29th of June, we are pleased to welcome award winning war photographer Lalage Snow. Lalage will be discussing her remarkable book War Gardens, a photographic documentation of the residents of war zones who garden their way to peace. Lalage will give us an glimpse into the lives of normal people who are affected by the most distressing and brutal circumstances and how they escape such circumstances through the joy and simplicity of creating a garden. We look forward to welcoming Lalage to our stage, for what promises to be a sobering insight into the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of gardening.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

I hope you all had a brilliant weekend. Less than a week to go now until our fabulous festival weekend, how time flies. So much to look forward to!

We have a treat in stall for our younger readers today. Who likes buried treasure? Who is interested in our local history? Anyone have a passion for the Saxons or a hankering after Second World War facts? Look no further than marvelous author Ally Sherrick and Operation Buried Treasure! Based on her fantastic Suffolk set book The Buried Crown, Ally will take you on an adventure through the past to discover the real-life locations that inspired her brilliant book. By the end of this fantastic session you will be able to kick off your own exciting buried treasure story.

The Buried Crown is a thrilling story all about George, an evacuee who is living in a small town in Suffolk whilst his big brother is training to be a fighter pilot. Despite being sent to the countryside to keep safe from the air-raids in London, George and his new friend Kitty, a refugee from Germany, must make sure that the discoveries from a local archaeological dig don’t fall into the hands of the enemy. He must find the infamous buried crown and protect it from the Nazis before it is too late…

I hope this all sounds suitably exciting, I personally am on the edge of my seat just thinking about it!

Check out more information about festival events for children and young people here: https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/events/categories/young-people

Look out for further festival news this week!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

Hello booklovers,

It’s Friday… which means this time in one week our 2019 Felixstowe Book Festival will be on the BRINK of beginning! There is so much to look forward to, we can’t wait to get cracking.

In the meantime, to control our excitement, we bring you the second installment of our ‘Don’t miss…’ series, where we alert you to some literary treasures secreted away in our programme. We are pleased to present crime writers Guy Fraser-Sampson and John Nightingale who will be joining us for an evening of crime…

Festival favourite Guy is a hugely popular festival guest who has visited us many times. His wonderful Hampstead Murders continues the legacy of novels from the golden age of crime, capturing the essence of times gone by. We look forward to welcoming Guy back to our festival.

We are delighted to be hosting John Nightingale at the festival this year. John’s David Knight detective novels tease the conventions of classic crime, resulting in some deeply entertaining pieces of fiction. Chaired by Nicola Upson, this fascinating event is perfect for fans of crime fiction!

We hope you are suitably excited booklovers! We can’t wait for next week, see you then.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

One week until our first event of the Felixstowe Book Festival weekend, as we kick off with the fabulous Prue Leith on Thursday 27th June. We can’t believe it’s nearly here!

Over the next few days we will be releasing our ‘Don’t miss…’ blog posts, alerting our wonderful book festival visitors to some little gems in our 2019 festival programme. Starting off our new series, we are delighted to be welcoming Allison Pearson and Caroline Slocock, who will be discussing the power, and pain of womanhood, and what makes women successful in the workplace, alongside a chat about their own published work.

Allison’s brilliant novel, How Hard Can It Be?, depicts the life of a woman returning to a job in the city as she deals with the trials and tribulations of the grumpy teenagers and difficult elderly relatives who surround her, a scenario that I am sure many of you would relate to!

Caroline, former Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher, is the author of People Like Us: Margaret Thatcher and Me, a fascinating book depicting a feminist’s account of working for the first female Prime Minister and the events which led her to resign.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming Allison and Caroline to our event. Tickets are selling out first, so don’t miss it!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

 

Hello booklovers,

We hope you enjoyed our preview of our fiction events at this year’s festival. The fun doesn’t stop there, as we are pleased to present to you some highlights of our historical fiction events.

On Saturday 29th June James Runcie, author of the Grantchester novels, will be joining us to discuss his prequel to the popular series, The Road to Grantchester. Detailing the life of a young Sidney Chambers living in post-war London, this event is perfect for fans of mid-20th century drama.

We are thrilled to be welcoming authors Rupert Thomson and Madeleine Bunting who will be joining us to discuss their respective novels, Never Anyone But You and Island Song, both revolving around the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands. Rupert’s novel depicts the beautiful love affair of two female artists who are determined to overthrow Hitler’s forces in Jersey, whilst Island Song is a bewitching tale of a daughter’s search to discover more about her mother’s history in occupied Guernsey.

Pairing well with Rupert and Madeleine, author Jane Thynne will be joining us to share her fascinating novels about British agent and Anglo-German actress, Clara Vine. Married to a senior Nazi officer, Clara takes a risky journey through the private life of the Third Reich. I don’t know about you, but I’m on the edge of my seat just thinking about this fantastic series of novels, we can’t wait to see Jane in a few weeks time.

We bid a hearty welcome back to festival favourite Liz Trenow – Liz, a fantastic supporter of the festival, is returning to our stage to chat about her latest novel The Dressmaker of Draper’s Lane. Set in 18th century Spitalfields, where Liz’s own family lived and worked as silkweavers, this fascinating historical tome will make for a wonderful event!

Last but not least, we are delighted to welcome back to the festival author Alison Weir. Alison will be discussing her latest historical novel about the wives of Henry VIII, Anna of Kleve: Queen of Secrets. In this enthralling book we enter the world of a woman who was loved for her portrait and very little else, with the possibility of dangerous consequences when her reality does not match up to the imagination….

I think you’ll agree that there’s plenty of food for thought here – what a fascinating array of events! Get booking now to avoid disappointment!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

 

 

Hello booklovers,

As if our blog earlier this week wasn’t exciting enough, as promised we bring you the further lowdown on our excellent fiction events for the 2019 Felixstowe Book festival.

To begin our programme on Sunday 30th of June, we are pleased to welcome Barbara Erskine to the floor. Barbara, author of many fantastic novels and short story collections, will be chatting with Mandy Morton about her latest novel, The Ghost Tree. A tale full of family secrets and undiscovered pasts, this is an event not to be missed.

If your appetite is thoroughly whetted for authorly-chat, then look no further than festival guests Georgina Harding and Lucy Hughes-Hallett. Georgina and Lucy, both prizewinning novelists, will be discussing their work. Lucy’s latest novel, Peculiar Ground, examines how much control we have over our own history; Georgina’s most recent work Land of the Living explores the effect of war on society and individuals. We look forward to seeing you at the fascinating event.

We are delighted be hosting author Emma Healey at this year’s festival. Bestselling author of Elizabeth is Missing, Emma will be chatting with Rachel Sloane about her new novel Whistle in the Dark. The story of a mother and daughter recovering from a traumatic event, and the unraveling of its secrets and mysteries, we can’t wait to find out more.

To finish off this post with a little extra festival excitement, did you know that Prue Leith will be a guest at our festival this year? Prue will be joining us just before the festival weekend on Thursday 27th June in the Elizabeth Suite from 7-8pm, and will be discussing the final installment of The Angelotti Chronicles series, The Lost Son. Lots to look forward to at the end of June in Felixstowe!

Look out for further chat about our historical fiction events later on in the week!

Until then, all the very bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

Hello booklovers,

This year is truly whizzing past, with only 3 weeks to go until the 2019 Felixstowe book festival. We are so pleased to be able to present to you a wonderful selection of fiction events for your delight and delectation. Look out for snippets of information about our fabulous fiction programme over the coming week.

On Saturday 29th of June we are delighted to be welcoming a fantastic array of female authors to our festival, including the wonderful Polly Clark. Polly will be chatting to chair Catherine Larner about her novel Tiger. A bewitching tale depicting the co-existence of three people and tiger in a snowy wilderness, Tiger examines fascinating relationships not often depicted in literature, all under the spell of a mesmerising narrative.

Another quirky tale comes from Catrina Davies. Catrina will be discussing her book Homesick: Why I Live in a Shed with chair Madeleine Smithers, a story of home, homelessness, belonging and the natural world, amongst numerous other themes. Catrina’s timely book examines our current attitude to home: its pressures, constraints and releases. A thought provoking and unusual subject which will prove to create a fascinating event.

We are so pleased to be concluding Saturday’s literary festivities with ‘Fizz, Fiction and Facts’. We bid a heart welcome to authors Olivia Beirne, Daisy Buchanan and Beth O’Leary, who will be chatting to chair Hannah Welton about their work, their lives and much much more. A glass of fizz (or a delicious non-alcoholic alternative!) is included in the ticket price and should round off Saturday with a suitable amount of pizazz and bubbles.

We can’t wait to welcome Polly, Catrina, Olivia, Daisy and Beth to the festival weekend. That’s all for today dear booklovers, but do keep your eyes peeled for further fiction news throughout the coming week!

All the very bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team x

 

 

Hello booklovers,

Less than a month until the 2019 Felixstowe Book Festival! The excitement is palpable, we can’t wait to get started. On Sunday we were delighted to welcome Maggi Hambling and Nicola Upson to the Orwell Hotel – a lovely snippet of further things to come.

We are thrilled to have such a thriving selection of poetry events to offer you all at this year’s festival. Kicking off the festival weekend on Friday the 28th June, we are pleased to welcome back festival favourites, Martin Newell and the Hosepipe Band. Fast becoming a regular feature of the festival, Martin and the band will be treating us to their ‘Greatest Hits’.

On Saturday the 29th June, the poetry magic continues. Festival patron Esther Freud and her half-sister Annie Freud will be discussing Annie’s wonderful poetry collections, alongside family tales and memories of childhood. Anita Jones Debska will also be joining us to present The Language Land, a celebration of the Polish countryside depicted in poetry and prose. This remarkable session will be accompanied by Polish music, a display of Polish artwork and some rather delicious Polish gingerbread!

We are delighted to also be joined by Lucy Popescu and Hassan Abdulrazzack. Lucy, a writer and editor with a background in human rights, has published her second anthology of writings, A Country to Call Home, following the vast success of her first anthology, A Country of Refuge. A Country to Call Home focuses on the experiences of children and young adults in matters of asylum seeking, migration and refuge. Lucy will be joined by Hassan Abdulrazzack, a playwright with a history of fascinating works tackling these same issues, who is one of the many contributers to this anthology.

If these fascinating sessions whet your poetic appetite, and you fancy giving writing poetry a go yourself, look out for more information about poetry workshops over the festival weekend here: https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/events/categories/poetry

Not long to go now!

All the very bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team x

Hello booklovers,

We’re back, with further news of our fantastic festival programme for children and young people!

Rounding off our Saturday events, we have two sessions perfect for young history enthusiasts. We are lucky enough to be joined by the Sutton Hoo Roadshow, following their highly successful visit to Felixstowe Library earlier this year. Come along to dress up as Anglo Saxons, handle historical treasures and learn about our amazing local history. Following the roadshow, we are delighted to welcome author Ally Sherrick who will be hosting ‘Operation Buried Treasure’, a session all about her book ‘The Buried Crown’. Inspired by real life events that occurred in Suffolk around the Second World War, Ally will guide you through your own exciting story of buried treasure.

Sound good? Well if you can bear any further excitement, look no further than Calling Mission Control. Festival favourites Rapscallion Theatre company will be taking us back 50 years, to when man first landed on the moon. A jam packed sessions, crammed full of drama, craft and general lunar fun, not to be missed!

On your return to earth you will be met with a giggle-filled array of events, namely ‘Let’s write funny’ with Ruth Fitzgerald and ‘The Funny Life of James Campbell‘. Ruth, the author of the crackingly comical ‘Emily Sparkes’ series, will be chatting all about funny stories and how to have a go at writing them yourself! If that leaves you with further comedy questions, then stick around and meet author James Campbell. James, author of the ‘The Funny Life of Pets’ and ‘The Funny Life of Teachers’, will be answering all of life’s big questions surrounding topics such as exploding fish, non-stop pooping hamsters and what teachers do when they get home from school (i.e. resume their real life as an undercover detective).

Well, I don’t know about you, but this all sounds quite exhaustingly wonderful! Keep your eyes peeled for even more festival fun over the rest of the week.

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team