Hello booklovers,

Still feeling deflated post-festival weekend? How about a little reminder of the brilliant set of volunteers who make the whole event possible…

We pride ourselves in being a volunteer led festival. Everything – from being involved in the main committee, to taking tickets on the door or selling them to our visitors, to introducing the events and providing information for our guests, even to organising the volunteer schedules themselves – is made up almost entirely of volunteers whose help we are eternally grateful for. As with any highly successful event, the festival requires a vast amount of time and dedication (and sanity) but to extremely good effect! I hope everyone involved returned home on Sunday evening feeling thoroughly pleased with themselves and with each other for providing the solid foundation that is crucial to the success of any volunteer-led event.

In a world which is becoming increasingly individualistic, it was so heartening to spend time with a group of people working together as a community. You can’t fake the atmosphere created by a team and it certainly provided the back-bone to the wonderful festival feeling which left all who attended with an irremovable grin all over their faces.

Many congratulations to everyone involved!

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

Mark Twain

Bookish best,

Imogen

Hello booklovers,

So here it is, the first promised post taking you back to our wonderful festival weekend 2018. I don’t know about you, but when I wasn’t helping out at the fantastic array of children’s events at Felixstowe Library I was to be found skulking in a Golumn-like fashion around the book stall, unable to take my eyes off the gorgeous stock of books.

We were lucky enough to once again be supported by Stillwater Books this year – based in Hamilton Road, the shop provides a delightful selection of fiction, non fiction and children’s books alike and is an absolute jewel in the crown of Felixstowe High Street.

Will and the team from Stillwater Books (who earned a well deserved plug by Salley Vickers at her event, championing the cause of independent booksellers nationwide) did us an excellent service, providing a seemingly never ending supply of beautiful books, waiting to be purchased by our visitors and signed by our fab festival speakers. Without the support of our brilliant local bookshop, I don’t know where we would be! The provision of books is crucial to our festival – not only does it allow our visitors to have their precious new purchases signed by the author, but it also allows them to instantly pursue interests in the new topics and discussions they have discovered at the festival events. The image to the left illustrates but a small selection of the stash of literary delights that my family managed to gather up over the course of the weekend! Thank you very much to all at Stillwater Books for your help and support.

‘I have gone to this bookshop for years,

always finding the one book I wanted – and then three more I hadn’t known I wanted.’

Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Bookish best,

Imogen and the Festival Team

 

Hello booklovers!

I think it is safe to say that the Felixstowe Book Festival 2018 was a barn-storming success! Our multiple stages have been graced with fascinating members of the literary community and we are hugely grateful to them all. We are also so very lucky with our wonderful guests – a huge thank you to all who attended our many, many events, contributing so much to the fabulous festival atmosphere. We couldn’t have done it without you. Getting post-festival blues? Fear not, for over the next few days I will be providing you with little snippets and snapshots of our sensational sunny weekend, as a reminder of what fun we had and what fun we will continue to have over the coming year.

Keep your eyes peeled!

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

Jane Austen

All the very bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team

Unfortunately, Mr Shukla had to cancel his attendance to our festival for personal reasons.

Any tickets can be returned to the Wolsey (if bought from there) or to our box office at the venue, where you can either exchange them for a different event (subject to availability) or obtain a refund if applicable.

Why not come and hear Humphrey Hawksley and Iain Maitland instead? It promises to be a really interesting event.

We apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment.

Hello booklovers,

Only one sleep left until the Felixstowe Book Festival weekend 2018! After months of preparations, it is almost here – I hope you are all ready for a weekend packed out with literary delights.

It has been a pleasure over the past week being reunited with returning festival guests, including Mandy Morton, Liz Trenow, Oggy Boytchev and Imagine That publishing. We are also thrilled to welcome Damian le Bas back into the folds of our festival.

Damian first visited us in 2015, where his beautiful poetry proved to be very popular with our festival visitors. From a long line of Gypsy Travellers, Damian grew up listening to stories told to him by his great-grandmother in the language of Romany. A strong affection for his family history provides the foundation for his work, much of which underpins his debut book The Stopping Places. Damian joins us this year to chat about his latest creation, which depicts his year-long trip around the UK searching for Britain’s remaining ancient Gypsy sites.

A reflective and fascinating piece of prose detailing an often forgotten but crucial part of our heritage. For more information, click on the link below:

https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/events/17-2

If you fancy treating yourself to a little preview of Damian’s work, The Stopping Places has been serialised as part of Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Go on, give yourself an audible treat and have a listen via this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b4ztdd

Enjoy!

Bookish best,

Imogen and the festival team

 

Unfortunately, Mr Arditti had to cancel his attendance to our festival for personal reasons.

Any tickets can be returned to the Wolsey (if bought from there) or to our box office at the venue, where you can either exchange them for a different event (subject to availability) or obtain a refund if applicable.

We apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment.

Hello booklovers!

Would I be terribly British in saying that I am just a little bit too hot and am praying for some rain soon? Probably, but with good reason! As glorious as the weather has been recently, it is not so fun when you are crammed into the office and stuck in traffic all the way home…

Anyway, onto brighter things and jollier climes – the festival has kicked off to a smashing start thanks to our opening events and not long ’til we return to the fun on Friday evening.

At this year’s festival we are seeing plenty of returning faces of our wonderful guests from previous festival weekends, including the likes of the lovely Liz Trenow. Author of a fabulous list of novels, including The Last Telegram and The Poppy Factory, Liz has been a very popular speaker at several of our festivals in the past few years and we are very glad that she has decided to visit us again. In an interview with our festival team a few years ago, Liz said she had a particular soft spot for Felixstowe, having visited Felixstowe Ferry many times as a child. Her family are also inextricably linked to our sleepy home county of Suffolk – Liz’s family-tree details a family of silk-weavers dating back almost 300 years!

This year Liz will be chatting to us about her latest creation, In Love and War. Marking 100 years since the end of the First World War, the novel follows the lives of three women as they travel to the battlefields of The Somme and Flanders, seeking both reconciliation of the events that had befallen them and any news of their loved ones involved in the conflict. A timely and emotional story, not to be missed. If you would like to attend Liz’s event (and I strongly advise that you do!!) then have a look at the link below for ticketing information:  https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/events/30-2

Be quick as nearly all the tickets have sold out. See you tomorrow for more news of festival favourites!

All the very bookish best,

Imogen

 

Hello booklovers,

Tuesday is almost behind us, we’re almost half way through the week. Only one more sleep until our first festival event – how the time has flown!

As part of our Returning guests and festival favourites series, I am delighted to be featuring guests who are returning to the Felixstowe Book Festival in the days building up to the festival weekend. This merry band of festival-returners includes the fabulous Imagine That publishing company and their friend Arty Mouse. We are sending many congratulations their way, as Imagine That have recently been selected as finalists for the Suffolk Business Awards as part of the large business category. Well done, everyone here at the Felixstowe Book Festival are over the moon for you! For those of you who would like to know more, read all about it here: http://www.imaginethat.com/imagine-announced-finalist-suffolk-business-awards-2018/

Arty Mouse has proved very popular with young (and old!!) local residents in the past and we simply cannot wait to welcome our furry friend back to Felixstowe Library. Head along on June the 30th at 10am for this lovely free drop in event for plenty of Arty Mouse themed craft activities for your little ones. If you would like to know more, follow the link below for extra information:

https://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/events/52-2

We hope to see lots of little crafty folk enjoying themselves over the weekend, thanks to plenty of wonderful activities provided by Imagine That publishing. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back!

Until tomorrow, all the very bookish best!

Imogen and the Festival Team

The chance to discover new writers and new windows on the world is why I love book festivals – there’s so much on offer. With many of our more famous writers now sold out, this is the perfect time to branch out. Here are some explosive thriller and crime writers you won’t want to miss – they’ll send you away buzzing with excitement.

(Click on the red type to get straight to buying tickets for each of these events.)

Alongside Sir Vince Cable (Click here for tickets: Open Arms, 30 June 11.30-12.30 – very few tickets left for this event as I write!) we have a leading lights of the crime world, Mark Billingham. Mark takes us through the dark world of his intriguing detective, Tom Thorne, and is a fantastic speaker who leaves audiences as hooked in person as he does on the page – he is a world-wide bestseller and The Killing Habit (Sunday 1 July 1.30-2.30pm, Elizabeth Suite, The Orwell Hotel £9 (£7) ) is the 15th in the Tom Thorne series.

Events in Alaska that could trigger World War III (Man on Ice) and a father trying to reach his son (Sweet William), are the diverse settings for ex-BBC Correspondent Humphrey Hawksley and Aldeburgh-based author, Iain Maitland (Sunday 1 July 12.15-1.15pm, His Lordship’s Library, The Orwell Hotel £9 (£7) )

Humphrey Hawksley left school and joined the Merchant Navy, then the BBC in the 1980s. It is his direct experience of tense situations around the world that has provided the inspiration for his hugely entertaining political thrillers. Suffolk-based Iain Maitland brings the drama home to a father desperate to evade capture and find his young son. Two very different reads, each one dramatic and thought-provoking.

This will be the second time Oggy Boytchev has been to the Felixstowe Book Festival – he was a big hit the first time around, and Festival Director, Meg Reid, was delighted when he approached her about his new book The Unbeliever (Sunday 1 July 10.30-11.30am, Elizabeth Suite, The Orwell Hotel £9 (£7) The Unbeliever is a stunning debut novel which drops us deep into the paranoia of the Cold War. Based on true events, this spy novel carries you through four decades of intrigue and drama during the time of the Iron Curtain.

Iceland, Turkey and East London, are the settings for two of Britain’s most popular crime writers, Quentin Bates and Barbara Nadel – Crime Writing as a Window on the World (Sunday 1 July 3.15-4.15pm, His Lordship’s Library, The Orwell Hotel £9 (£7) ). Together these two authors explain how international settings create mystery and drama in their hit crime novels. This joint event is hosted by radio presenter, Rachel Sloane.

We hope you have a thrilling time!

Several events are already fully booked so if you are thinking of buying tickets – don’t wait!

Online ticket sales will stop at midnight the day before each event.  After this time you can buy tickets at our cash and cheque only ticket desk at the Orwell Hotel from 8.30 am to 8 pm.

Children event tickets can be bought at the library from 9 am on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday during the event weekend.

All tickets are subject to availability.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!