Felixstowe book festival 2014 confirmed

We are proud to announce that Felixstowe Book Festival will be returning in 2014!

The festival will take place on the weekend of 28th & 29th June, with some familiar and many new faces joining us. Watch this space for further information...

It's almost time....

So, the final preparations are being made... The authors, artists and performers are doing their final run through, so all we have to do is wait for tomorrow!

I hope that all of you enjoy the events this weekend and buy lots of lovely books from the stalls run by WH Smiths (at the Orwell hotel) Write the blurb (at the White Horse) and at Orwell High School, where the Trimley Station Community Trust will be hosting a second hand book sale.

There will be photos and reports appearing on this blog next week for anybody who didn't get to attend, and for those of you who did to re-live the fun.

Thank you in advance to all of the authors appearing, the venues for hosting the events and the volunteers who will be on hand to ensure that the weekend runs smoothly.

Happy festival everybody!

Someone for the young adults, Hayley Long!

Felixstowe book festival has something for everyone, including teenagers! On Sunday afternoon, young adult writer Hayley Long will be at the library chatting about books. Here's an interview with her...

Firstly, thanks for taking part in this interview.

Tell us a little bit about yourself...

I'm small, I've got a big brown freckle under my left eye and a little black scar on my right thumb where I once tried to fix a rusty hole in my car door.  Oh and I write books.  But I think you knew that.

You've written loads of books for Young Adults, is it fun writing about/ for teenagers?

Yes.  Well, sometimes, certainly.  I've always liked things that are visually nice on the page and writing for a younger audience leaves me a lot of room to do creative things with font and design and illustrations that I couldn't really do so much when I wrote for adults.  Sometimes, I use an illustration to get a message across and sometimes I just switch to

massive font.  Just because I can and because it pleases me.  

But then again, writing for Young Adults is just the same as writing anything else.  Very difficult sometimes.  So some days it's no fun at all and it feels like every word is being pulled out of my brain with a pair of rusty pliers.

Do you ever draw from your own teenage experiences for your novels?

Yes of course.  Although, I actually wasn't very good at being a teenager.  I looked about ten and found the whole teenage experience quite stressful.  But I remember those feelings and how intense everything seemed and I'm glad I've now finally found a use for it all.  But it's not just my teenage years which I draw on - I've plundered my entire life.  Especially for locations.  Luckily, after university, I moved around a lot so I've got a lot of material to use!  So far, I've set books in Cardiff and Northwest London and Felixstowe... and now I'm writing something set in Brussels where I lived for a while in my mid-20s.

What books did you read as a teenager?

Everything I could get my hands on.  By the time I was 12 or 13, I was reading meaty stuff like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights but I was also reading those girly American romances like Sweet Valley High.  I didn't really get much out of those - I think I was just reading them because all the other girls were.  But then when I was still about 12, I read The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole and I absolutely loved it!  To be honest, I read pretty much anything!  My dad had a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and a second world war story called, The wooden house.  I read both of them.  And he had a book called Everest, The Hard Way by a mountaineer called Dougal Haston.  I read that too.  And I also read the encyclopedia.  I was a very well read 13 year old! 

What advice would you give to a young person who wants to become a writer?

If you want to write, you will.  Years ago, when I first started teaching English in a secondary school in London and before I had anything published, I met a writer who came to work with my class for a day. One of the kids asked her how she got published and she said, 'It's practically impossible,' and left it at that.  I've never forgotten that.  It wasn't a helpful answer.  It's true that becoming 'a writer' is very very difficult.  But it's not 'practically impossible.'  There's no such thing.  Either something IS impossible or it can be done.  And I've done it.  So it's possible.  So my advice is to never give up.   

You grew up in Felixstowe, tell us your favourite things about Felixstowe for anybody who's never visited before.

Well, let me see.  It's nice living by the sea.  If you grow up by the sea, I think you always miss it a bit if you live inland.  Especially in the summer.  It can feel very claustrophobic on sunny days without that massive great hole of open space and fresh air.  What else?  I've got a weakness for those 2p coin drop machines - there are a lot of them in Felixstowe.  And Felixstowe also has two of the very best secondhand book shops I've ever seen ANYWHERE.  If you like poking around in old book shops, it's worth visiting for those alone.

Finally, are you a little bit scared that any of your old teachers are going to turn up to your event and embarrass you by sharing tales of your school days?

Ha.  No, not at all!  To be honest, I'd be amazed if any of them even remembered me.  I really wasn't very memorable.  Actually, it would be a good opportunity to say thank you.  When I left school aged 18, I'm afraid to say that it never entered my head to say thank you to my teachers.  I totally took their efforts for granted.  Now that I'm older and full of much wisdomness, I realise that my state education served me well.  I really have a lot to say thank you to those teachers for. 

Hayley will appear at Felixstowe Library at 3pm on Sunday 16th June.

Introducing Will Stone, poet

Will Stone is a Suffolk based poet and essayist who will be reading his work at Felixstowe Library on Saturday 15th June. Will has kindly answered some questions for the blog.

Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed for the blog.

First off, tell us a bit about yourself...

I am a poet and literary translator based in Suffolk, though I spend time abroad, usually in Belgium and France, because I translate poets and writers from those countries as well as to a lesser extent Germany and Austria. I also write essays, as I find this is the literary medium which best suits my work.

I am currently writing a series of essays about Belgium called ‘The Undisclosed Anatomy of Belgium’, in which I am seeking via a sort of travelogue / psycho geographic exploration, to reveal and unearth aspects of Belgian culture which are overlooked here in the UK. I feel Belgium is a blind spot, a black hole in our cultural awareness, but it was once and still is in some respects the crossroads of Europe culturally speaking, with German, French and Dutch influences. I publish essays with a number of journals and I also write reviews, mostly for the TLS but also the London Magazine and other publications. I am also a photographer and I tend to include my own b/w images in my books wherever possible and also for the covers. Both my Salt books and those with Hesperus Press all bear my own work.

You are the only poet appearing at the Felixstowe Book Festival this year, do you feel any pressure as the sole representative of poetry over the weekend?

Not really, I see all literary activity as of equal merit if it is good and no discipline has supremacy over another. I don’t subscribe to the elitism of poetry per se as the fabled ‘source’ of literature, or say novels over short stories and essays, everything is much more variegated now and chaotically diverse.

You can experience more poetry listening to the acerbic delivery of a mournfully inspired presenter such as Charlie Brooker, or listening to certain lyrics in music than reading many of the poems regularly published today, many of which are not poems at all but merely changelings, that look like poems but actually on closer inspection are found to not be the real thing

I have always admired the poet writer or the poet painter over just the painter or the writer, someone like the currently posthumously idolized WG Sebald for example, is essentially a poet writing prose, as was Robert Walser whom he admired, as was Thomas Bernhard whom he also admired. These men were writing prose and pushing its limits, because they could express themselves more completely in it than in the medium of poetry, which had been their starting point. They had quickly exhausted poetry as a channel.

Having now removed the splinters from my flesh caused by the sudden
collapse of my soapbox, I must confess I have a responsibility of a kind I must confess I have a responsibility of a kind as the sole flag bearer for poetry at Felixstowe’s important opening festival and I hope that I can acquit myself well and that my work is appreciated by whoever has the resolve to attend my reading.

You've appeared at numerous literature festivals previously, what do you enjoy most about reading your poetry in public?

Not all poets like to read their poems, and like drivers there are those who are naturals and take to the road without thinking, as if the car were an extension of their body, and those who drive but don’t really enjoy it and remain a nervous passenger despite being at the wheel.
I do enjoy the chance to read, since it’s like revisiting your poems through a back door, taking the tradesman’s entrance and thereby surprising them. You come upon them anew when you hear your own voice reading them, and they tend to breathe in a way they do not when you write them originally and they are set heavily on the page connecting with eyes only.

Reading is an art and takes practice but also sensitivity, and a certain timing. It can be very satisfying to feel an audience waiting on your next line, or even applauding after a poem, but an unknown audience is like a wayward fish which must be landed, you have to judge the tautness of the line so it does not break…every audience is different and the place you are in makes an enormous difference too, as does the way you are introduced.

A reading is above all a performance but however good the performance, it is in the end the content that matters. No amount of peripheral tinkering can hide the fact that the poetry itself must stand up.

What inspires you to write poetry?

I cannot really adequately answer this question, its like asking, what inspires you to breathe…or what inspires you to put the empty milk bottles out. It is something that has to be done, there is no conscious decision to pick up a pen and a notebook.

There is a certain tension which happens to afflict the mind and the logical alleviating mechanism is to express through words a fragmented image of this inwardness in an attempt to make it more bearable, the existential motor if you like is forever functioning in the poet, always threatening to overheat, while in most people it is simply shut off through a system of diversion so they can get on with their lives. They have it rather easier I would say, but people always imagine poets are exotic mysterious creatures whose lives are exciting and unconventional when in fact they are often alienated, depressed and suffering greatly, because they simply have a skin too few…and cannot protect themselves from their own lethal idealism. One thinks of one of our greatest modern poets who was in fact a songwriter and musician, Nick Drake, in this respect, a textbook case.

As a (sometime) Suffolk based poet, what do you think that this new literature festival can bring to Felixstowe and Suffolk?

I was really pleased when I heard about this literary festival starting in Felixstowe, as I am fond of this town which I visit regularly, and which I think is a very underrated place with an authenticity and ambiance of a certain Englishness more common to a past era. Felixstowe now appeals to me more than the other more well known heavily visited towns along the coast further north such as Southwold and Aldeburgh in the area where I live, which have become gentrified seaside retreats shorn of atmosphere, especially Southold, which has recently lost all its bookshops and in the last two years been invaded by chain retailers and up market London clothes boutiques.
Felixstowe on the other hand still has two of the best second hand bookshops in the east of England. The cultural health of a town used to be delineated by its bookshops.

I think the festival will draw in some people to Felixstowe who may be surprised, and will be good for the town to have some sort of writerly infusion for a couple of days. However my great fear is that once the wave of gentrification has sated itself on other more obvious places it may turn its sights on this unexploited town. The last thing the nicely mixed population of Felixstowe needs is an influx of four by fours and Mercedes estates. For then it will just end up like everywhere else, a façade equating to suburban expectations but with nothing behind it…looking the part but mourning its squandered soul. But the festival can only enhance the life of the town and serve to sweep out any remaining dusty corners for a few days…

Please could you share your favorite poem (of your own) to feature on the blog?

I don’t have a favourite poem, but here is a small airborne one people seem to favour…and another with a Suffolk bias.

STRAGGLERS

The sunflowers still face east in death.
No-one has told them
their bleached fronds are hanging broken.
Perhaps a bird’s weight will help draw them
gradually to the ground.
No-one shall come and admire them,
or spontaneously decide to steal them,
rushing back to the car with their looted flame.
Only a few drab pheasant hens and partridges
bark feebly around their husks.
The whole field has discovered perfection
in giving up.
All will fall by December, scythed by frost.
Massed grey limbs will litter the patch,
empty seed heads upturned who stare
at that milky socket where a beleaguered sun
fumes uselessly in the traps.
Even as they go down and before the final
humiliation of the plough,
a few last seeds might creep away,
heroic stragglers who somehow brave
the ebony machinery of rooks.


THE SWIFTS

Powered by screams
and the black bat twist of their wings,
they slice through the insect cloud.
Heavenly dogfight, no quarter given,
the plunder ravished unseen.
Round they come again,
cyclists on a bend
clinging to their manic carousel.
The air cannot hold them.
The sun slips from their sleek
gunmetal backs.
They are gods.

Will Stone will appear on Saturday 15th June at Felixstowe library between 2.45 - 3.30pm.

Tickets cost £3 and can be purchased online here 

Events by genre

Several people have said that with so many events it hard to chose between them. Meg has produced this handy list so that you can decide on the best events for you:

Non fiction
Guy Fraser Sampson - Sat 15th 1.30 The Mess We're In-a look at our financial crisis
Helen Rappaport Sun 16th 11.30 - The murder of Russia's last imperial family and the resurgence of Russian Orthodoxy in the present day
Thomas De Wesselow Sun 16th. 3.30 The Turin Shroud-truth or fiction?
The Changing Face of Childhood 5pm Sun 16th
Dementia and Mum Michael Fassio 4pm Sat 15th

A Sense of Place-Our festival theme
Boris Starling 9.30 Sat 15th- our opening event!
Rosy Thornton- Writer's workshop on settings in novels and short stories Sun 9.30 am
Rosy and Linda Gillard on the subject 12 noon Sun 16th  at the White Horse Barn

Short stories and Poetry
Will Stone 2.45 Sat 15th Library reading from his collections including poems from his new collection to be published early next year.
John Saul 7pn Sat 15th
Bedtime story for grown ups- our closing event - 8pm Sun eve

East Anglian murders
Mark Mower Murder in Suffolk 12 noon Sat 15th
Jim Kelly "Murder in East Anglia" 3pm Sun 16th

Food connections
2 Vintage tea party sittings
Supper with Barbara Erskine Sat eve
Breakfast with Stephen May on Sun morning
Fantastic food for a fitter future- cookery demo 2.30 Sun
Bedtime story for grown ups- with hot chocolate and biscuits Sun eve

Writing related
Julie Hearn 10 am Sat
4 writing workshops
A writer's life 3.30 Sat
Blooging and Books 3pm Sat
Jake Wallis Simons- How to Look for the Story in everyday Life 11.30 Sat

Set in or soon after 2nd world war
Jake Wallis Simons The English German Girl 3pm Sat
Sara Sheridan's 2 vintage tea parties- based on Brighton Belle and London Calling set in post war Brighton and London
Love Loss and Parachute Silk - Liz Trenow 4.30 Sun 16th

Set in the period between the wars
Nicola Upson 1930's England novels featuring real life author Josephine Tey (and Hitchcock in the latest)
Guy Fraser Sampson who has continued writing the Mapp and Lucia books

Free events ( but get your ticket online or at Abbeygate lighting)
Journalling workshop for adults Sun 10-12 at Write the Blurb
John Saul 7pm
Fantastic food demo Sun 2.30
Dementia and Mum Sat 4pm

People I haven't fitted in above!
Barbara Nadel- 2 events 11 am Sat ( Cetin Ikman and Agatha Christie and 1.30 Sun talking about her new crime seriesset in East London and perceptions of East End crime and current reality.
Deadlier than the Male- 2pm Sun 16th - panel on why murder is so satisfying to women writers and readers.

Children's events are listed in the programme and on the website.

You also have Alison Stockmarr's art on dislpay at the library and the White Horse
and if you are feeling creative check out Alison's " Make a Home for your Book which has been listed under children's events but is open to adults with or without children and will be relaxing and fun. Alison will make you very welcome!

In the news (again!)

As mentioned earlier on the blog, we were featured in the East Anglian Daily Times & Evening star this week. Follow this link and you will see the article featuring a lovely snap of yesterday's interviewee, Ruth Dudgall.

We're also featured in this months 'Suffolk' magazine which will appear in shops today.

Happy Reading!

Felixstowe's Queen of Crime, Ruth Dugdall

Ruth Dugdall is a local crime writer and will be appearing at the Felixstowe Book Festival on Sunday 16^th June.

Thanks for agreeing to take part in this interview.

Firstly, please could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m Ruth Dugdall, a Felixstowe based crime novelist. I have three published novels, all of them set in Suffolk. 'The James Version' is a historical fiction based on the murder of Maria Marten in the Red Barn, Polstead.

'The woman before me' and 'The sacrificial man' are modern psychological thrillers, and the central character is a probation officer, drawing on my own previous career.

As I have spent most of my working life with criminals, it is natural that my novels are `crime` though I am far more interested in motivation and the psychology of crime than simply uncovering `who dunnit`. This is why all of my novels start after the crime has been committed and the criminal caught; they are concerned with why the crime happened and the frailty of humanity.

Have you ever feel that your subject is too dark or worrying to write about?

I am drawn to the darker side of humanity, and always have been.

Several years ago I came across the story of Armin Meiwes, a German who had advertised on the Internet for a willing victim whom he could kill. This story fascinated me, and I wanted to know more about why Meiwes had placed such an advert but also about the `willing victim`, Bend Jurgen Brundes.

My research led me to other cases where people have met on the Internet and then chosen to die together, in suicide pacts.

Why would someone choose to die with a practical stranger?

The Sacrificial Man is about a man named Smith who advertises on the Internet for a woman to help him to die. It is also about Alice, who responds to the advert and assists Smith.

My work as a probation officer taught me that every action, even the most heinous or bizarre, has a story behind it which can place the act in some sort of context.

I decided to write a novel that could explore some of the questions cases like Meiwes and other Internet suicide pacts can raise.

I think that answers your question about `is there any subject that would be too dark for me to write about`. The answer is no.

How did you go from being a Probation Officer to being a published author?

It took me a long time to find a publisher, and it came about because I entered a competition.

The Woman Before Me won the 'Debut Dagger' in 2005, which was a watershed moment for me. Until then I’d thought of writing as a hobby – I’d self-published my first novel (The James Version) but was still working as a Probation Officer. The Dagger gave me the confidence to resign and dedicate myself to writing full-time.

The day after the Dagger awards I signed with a top agent and the novel was going to be submitted to six major publishing houses. I thought I had made it…

But that would have been just too easy. 'The Woman Before Me' didn’t get picked up by the major publishers. They worried that it was “not commercial enough”, and that it didn’t fit neatly enough into the “crime novel” box. It went into the bottom drawer and I started to write my third novel, 'The Sacrificial Man'. I have to tell you, this was all pretty soul-destroying and I was really beginning to wonder if I was just kidding myself and I should just go back to work.

Then, in the summer of 2009, I saw the Luke Bitmead bursary advertised in Writer’s News. It seemed perfect for 'The Woman Before Me'. The bursary aims to promote and publish a new writer each year, and was set up in memory of Luke Bitmead, a talented writer who sadly committed suicide.

When I won the award in October 2009 I cried through much of the ceremony, knowing that I would finally see my novel in print. So, after waiting nearly five years, I finally achieved my goal!

As a Felixstowe based writer, you must have been very excited to hear about the first Felixstowe Book Festival taking place! What impact do you think that the book festival will have on the town?

I am hugely excited about the Book Festival! I think Felixstowe has something of an image problem, and it wouldn’t be the obvious place for a Literary Festival, but it’s time the town stepped into the light. There are many people who love books here, and I’ve been both surprised and thrilled at the turnout to the author events held by the local library.

When Meg (the festival) organiser first told me her plan I thought it was ambitious, and when I look at the programme I see that her ambition has been realised. Such a rich feast of events, with something for everyone. I applaud her tenacity and vision and strongly home that Felixstowe folk get behind this event so it can become a yearly one in the town. The success of Art on the Prom shows what we can achieve, so come on people, buy a ticket and get blown away by everything the festival weekend has to offer!

Has Felixstowe made many appearances in your writing?

'The Woman Before Me' is set in Felixstowe, with many recognisable places described – including the Palace Cinema, and The Grosvenor, haunts of mine. Also, Rose gets a job in a local hotel. Did I mention that my parents own a guesthouse in the town…?

To say my work draws on what I know is an understatement. Probably more accurate is that it reveals a part of my soul.

Many of the authors have never been to Felixstowe before, could you recommend a few things to do or places to visit while they're in town?

We have a great beach – much better than other Suffolk coastal towns! You can actually swim and build sandcastles. We even have donkeys. The Spa Gardens are lovely, and nearby is the brand new Fludyer ArmsHotel, where you could sit and enjoy the view from the terrace.

Visitors will be very much involved with all of the events, but if there is time to take a walk to the Ferry, running alongside the Links golfcourse and passing the Martello Towers. The café down there does a mean breakfast and if you’re lucky, you may spot a seal.

Ruth will be appearing on the 'Deadlier than the male', panel which features herself, Sophie Hannah and Michelle Spring discussing women and crime writing. The event will take place at The Orwell hotel on Sunday 16^th June between 2 – 3pm.

Tickets can be purchased here.

News update from Meg, festival director

Event tickets are selling out fast!

There are only 2 tickets left for the supper with Barbara Erskine on Sat 16th June. If you'd like to attend this event please email Meg@magreid.co.uk. Further details can be found here

Nicola Upson, the panel event "Deadlier Than the Male", the cookery demo, Vintage tea parties, Liz Trennow and John Saul are all selling quickly too.

Don't forget to get your children involved - events at the library for little ones up to teenagers (library coffee bar event with Hayley Long)


Recommended events

Two events I would personally recommend are Boris Starling 9.30am Sat 15th June - our opening event - and Breakfast with Stephen May on Sunday 16th at 10am.

I'm currently reading and very much enjoying and appreciating Boris'novel "Visibility"- a very atmospheric, thought provoking thriller set in the London smog of 1952.

One of the events I most enjoy at the Edinburgh Book Festival is the breakfast event each day and I have been known to book in even when the speaker was a poet reading part of his work in Icelandic! What better way to start the day than having coffee (or tea) and a breakfast pastry while listening to an author?

In the news

There is a feature in the glossy EADT Suffolk Magazine coming out this week as well as a feature  today in the EADT and the Star. I'm also being interviewed later on BBC Radio Suffolk so get in quickly if you want to buy your tickets!

I turned on the Radio today and heard Liz Trenow talking on "Start the Week". The programme repeats this evening on Radio 4, or you can listen to it on demand by following this link  Liz is appearing at the Festival 4.30 on Sunday at the Orwell Hotel.

Sara Sheridan bootcamp update

Finally, if you have booked for the Sara Sheridan boot camp, please note that this event to Sunday 11.30 - 1pm. If you have any questions about this event or anything else please email meg@megreid.co.uk

Tickets for all events can be purchased here or in person at Abbeygate Lighting in Felixstowe.

Introducing Adele Geras

Adele Geras is a writer of books for children, young adults and adults and has published over 90 books. Adele will be appearing at the festival on Saturday 15^th June with crime writer Geraldine Evants to talk about the highs and lows of being a writer.

Thank you for giving  up your time for this interview Adele. 

Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself…

I've been writing books since 1976 and have published 95 or so....mostly for children though four adult novels as well. These are going to be reissued by Quercus (publishing house) as ebooks when they publish my fifth adult novel next year. That's called 'Cover you eyes'. I live in Cambridge now but for 43 years we lived in Manchester.

At the festival you will be discussing what it's like to be a writer, what are the most common questions you get asked about being an author?

Children ask things like: “Are you rich?” and “How long does it take to write a book?'”

Before I published books for adults, they would always ask:  “Will you write a real book when you've had the practice?'” ALL children's writers get asked that question which makes us want to scream! The others are: “Will you be the next JK Rowling?" or else "Should I have heard of you?"

You’ve written books for children, young adults and adults, do you prefer writing for one particular audience? What are the different challenges of writing for different age groups?

I love writing for young adults and adults best. I don't differentiate much between those two groups except for the fact that the protagonists are younger in the YA books. And adult books are generally longer.

I recently discovered that Sophie Hannah, crime writer, is your daughter and will also be attending the book festival. Are you happy that Sophie became a writer like yourself?

I am thrilled skinny that she's  a writer and more than that, she's an extremely successful one and I love her books! What would have happened if she'd written books I found hard to read, I don't know but as it is, I look forward to every new one from her and she's also amazingly prolific and hardworking. She is an example to her mother, really which is just as it should be!

This year’s festival is ‘a sense of place’, have you read anything recently that really captures the sense of a place and made you want to visit?

Well, it didn't make me want to visit but you get a very good idea of Alaska from 'The Snow Child' by Eown Ivey. And I'm enjoying 'In Zodiac Light' by Robert Edric which is set in a lunatic asylum as they used to be called. I can visualize that exactly from the novel, which is about Ivor Gurney, the poet and composer.

How did you get involved with the Felixstowe Book Festival? 

Elaine Simpson-Long, whose blog I have been reading for years, and who's always reviewed my books most kindly, invited me to get involved. I had no idea Sophie was also on the programme till much later...shame we're not on the same day or she could have given me a lift! I recently met Elaine when we moved to Cambridge.  We share a love for baking cakes and the 'Mapp and Lucia' books!

When you’re in Felixstowe, aside from appearing at the festival, what else are you looking forward to doing or seeing when you're in town?

I will try and come early in the day and look about a bit and maybe go to an event which is earlier than my own! I love going to new places. I wish I could stay overnight but alas I have to get back...

Adele's talk will take place on Saturday 15th June between 3.30 and 4.30 pm at The Orwell Hotel.

Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased here.

Writing workshops: Setting the scene, Literary Bootcamp and Self-publishing

Sunday 16th June at Felixstowe library is all about your writing!

Come along to these great workshops to help improve your craft:

9.30 - 11am Author Rosy Thornton facilitates a workshop exploring the challenges of establishing a setting in the mind of the reader. *More details about this workshop can be found below.

11 - 1pm Author Sara Sheridan will hold a 'literary bootcamp' for writers who are struggling to write. Planning techniques, discipline, PR strategy and securing an agent will be covered so by the end of the bootcamp you should have a plan that works for you.

2.30 - 3.30pm Queen of self publishing, writer Linda Gillard will talk about self publishing, from writing and editing to marketing, design and getting those all important reviews.

*Additional information for Rosy Thornton's workshop*

“The impression produced by a landscape, a street or a house should always, to the novelist, be an event in the history of a soul, and the use of the ‘descriptive passage’, and its style should be determined by the fact that it must depict only what the intelligence concerned would have noticed, and always in terms within the register of that intelligence.” (Edith Wharton, The Writing of Fiction).

This workshop will explore in a practical context the challenges of establishing setting in the mind of the reader.


What is the relationship of setting to character and viewpoint? How can landscape be used to reflect mood, heighten emotion or enhance dramatic tension? What specific methods may be employed to conjure setting in the reader’s imagination without resort to excessively long description?


Other particular issues may be addressed, according to participants’ preferences. For example:

          Writing a story with a foreign setting
          Conveying historical settings
          World-building for fantasy, sci fi or futuristic stories

Participants will be invited to submit in advance (anonymised if desired) a sample of their writing in which setting or landscape are described; these will be used as a basis for feedback and discussion.Writing exercises will also be undertaken during the workshop.

Submissions should be 1000 words and sent by 1st June to info@felixstowebookfestival.co.uk and she will give feedback on as many as possible in the workshop. 

Introducing Helen Rappaport

Helen Rappaport, author, historian and former actress, will be discussing her novel 'Ekaterinburg', at the book festival on Sunday 16th June. 

'Ekaterinburg' tells the story of the final days of the Romanovs, the last Imperial family to rule over Russia.

Helen kindly agreed to be interviewed for the blog.

Thank you ever so much for agreeing to be interviewed.

You've written a number of books about Russian history, tell us a little bit about yourself and where your interest in Russia came from.

I came to writing quite late and by a rather long and circuitous route, but thankfully this is one profession where you can begin at any age.  My interest in Russian goes back to my teens when I first read the short stories of Anton Chekhov and fell in love with all things Russian. I remember struggling with Dr Zhivago at the age of 15, and with it the enigma that was Russia – I was hooked and have remained so ever since. I read Russian Special Studies at Leeds University, but during my time there became heavily involved in student theatre. An on-off career in acting followed, during which I also  worked as a literal translator of Russian plays for the theatre, as well as taking on small writing commissions for historical reference books.  Later, I took up copy editing and proof reading and after I moved to Oxfordshire I became an academic editor for Blackwell and OUP before finally moving into full time writing.

Your talk will be around the 1918 murder of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and his four daughters, and your next work will be about the four girls in particular, is this a favourite period of history for you and what makes it so intriguing to you and so many historians?

I was relatively late coming to the Romanovs, at my agent's suggestion. They are indeed a fascinating and tragic family – there are so many what ifs in the story that it is of course a minefield for conspiracy theorists.  I have never believed that anyone escaped the bloodbath in Ekaterinburg but the rumours still persist, making the story endlessly intriguing.
My preferred historical period is from the reign on Queen Victoria, 1837, to the end of the Russian Civil War in 1920. I find late imperial Russia particularly interesting though my interest originally was in the revolutionary movement.

This year’s festival is ‘a sense of place’, is there anything or anywhere in particular you’ve visited in Russia which feels unmistakably 'Russian', and if so, why? 

All of Russia used to be unmistakably Russian from the minute you stepped off the plane, but now, sadly the big cities are becoming very westernised and commercial and I absolutely hate that. I sigh when walking down the Nevsky Prospekt and seeing Next and Gap and all the British and US stores. I want Russia to stay Russian – and it is, quintessentially so, once you go out of the cities.
St Petersburg, for all the westernisation, still has a magical quality all its own. I adore it – it's my favourite city in the world. I have loved everywhere I have been in Russia – it has such a powerful spirit of place that it sucks you in and you are beguiled by it. I always feel very spiritually at home there.

You were an actress before becoming a full time writer, what made you change career?

Being broke, unemployed and depressed. It's a horrible profession for women as they get older, so cruel and unforgiving, and so much rejection unless you are at the top of the tree. The insecurity was terrible, although having had a period of reasonable financial security as a freelance editor I then took on another insecure life – that of the writer. And it is a very solitary life too, for much of the time.

How did you get involved with the Felixstowe book festival?

Book blogger Elaine Simpson-Long, who is friends with the organizers, asked me if I would give it my support in this, its inaugural year, and I was only too happy to do so as I am a champion of the smaller, more intimate literary festivals.

Aside from appearing at the festival, what are you looking forward to seeing and doing in Felixstowe when you’re here?  

I don't know the area at all, so I look forward to discovering it!

Helen Rappaport will be speaking at The Orwell hotel at 11.30 on Sunday 16th June.

Tickets cost £5. Click here to book your tickets.

Barbara Erskine event (very nearly) SOLD OUT

We're happy to announce that supper with Barbara Erskine on June 15th is nearly Sold Out!

Other events are filling up too, so head over to our booking page to buy your tickets before they disappear. Click here to be redirected to the ticket sales page 

If you would like to buy your tickets in person you can do so at the 'Abbeygate lighting' shop in the center of Felixstowe town (opposite the triangle near Tesco).  

Tickets for the children's events can also be purchased from Felixstowe library.

News flash! Writing Competition, Programmes, Sara Sheridan

Good afternoon all,

We have a few exciting bits of news to share with you today...

Writing competition

We are now able to offer a £50 cash prize to the competition winner, AND they will have their entry featured in 'Suffolk' magazine. Pop over to the competition page for further details.

Programme

The festival programmes have arrived and Meg and our kind volunteers have been distributing them around over Suffolk this week.

Here's a snap of the front cover:

(It's a bit small as it was taken on a phone, but it still looks pretty doesn't it?) 

The posters are on their way and should be popping up in Felixstowe town and around in the near future.

Sara Sheridan

And finally, our lovely author Sara Sheridan is featured in the Huffington Post today. You can read the feature here .

Sara will be hosting a vintage tea party and discussing her novel 'Brighton Belle' at 'Delicious Nutricious' in Felixstowe on Saturday 15th June at 3pm & 5pm. That's a lot of cake eating!

Book your tickets here 

Meet Guy Fraser Sampson

Guy Fraser Sampson is a London based an author and lecturer, and has published work on so many different subjects that he will be appearing twice during the Book Festival.

Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for the Felixstowe Book Festival.

First off, please could you introduce yourself to the audience in your own words…

I sometimes think that I am several different people inhabiting the same body. I am a writer, novelist, lecturer, public speaker, investment manager. I have also been a commercial lawyer and an investment banker. I am a Londoner born and bred, though I have also lived in other parts of the world such as Abu Dhabi and Paris, as well as spending a lot of time in San Francisco. For other Londoners out there, I live in Belsize Park and my nearest tube station is Swiss Cottage. I teach at Cass Business School in the City of London but am also Chief Investment Officer with a family office in Mayfair. I have two grown-up sons, one of whom recently did a tour in Afghanistan as a platoon commander with the Welsh Guards.

How do you find time for all of your work from economics to lecturing, history, novel and detective fiction writing? What do you do to relax?

I think it helps that I am a chronic insomniac, which explains why much of my email correspondence is timed at about 0400 local time. Seriously, though, it's actually a very boring matter of planning one's time in advance and then being very disciplined about working to deadlines. Like most writers, I read a huge amount, helped by the fact that I do not have television. I also enjoy listening to music. There comes a time in every man's life when he buys a Mercedes. I haven't got there yet, but I do find myself listening increasingly to Schubert lieder and string quartets, which is probably the musical equivalent. I also retain an enormous enthusiasm for Wagner, if only to annoy the hell out of the neighbours.

The first event you do will be about the sequels you wrote to the ‘Mapp and Lucia’ books written by EF Benson in the 1920’s.
Where did you get the idea of writing these titles?

I have always been a huge fan of the originals, which I discovered when Radio 4 did "Queen Lucia" as a Book at Bedtime when I was ten. As I grew up in a house without television I haunted the local library and soon found and went through the lot. I later discovered, albeit by accident, Tom Holt's books which are of course excellent. Incidentally, Tom has been hugely supportive of my own efforts and I would like to thank him publicly for that, as well as Gyles Brandreth and Alexander McCall-Smith.

It was always my dream to continue the series, but I was realistic enough to know that it would be very difficult to find anyone willing to publish them, even after the television series. The names of all the publishers and agents who rejected "Major Benjy" would make a very long list (almost as long as those who have rejected my narrative history of the Plantagenets!). Again, I would like to thank first Jeremy Thompson at Troubador and later Lorne Forsythe and Olivia Bayes at Elliott & Thompson for having the vision and the courage to support me in my endeavours.

Your second talk will be around your recent book ‘The mess we’re in: why politicians can’t get us out of this mess’. Tell us a bit about this book and what the audience can expect from your talk.

Everyone knows instinctively that things are falling apart around us, no matter how vehemently politicians may deny this, but do not really understand how or why. "The Mess We're In" aims at two objectives. First, to offer an alternative, non-etsablishment view of what has gone wrong. Second, to make this both intelligible and interesting for the general reader. Gratifyingly, the unsolicited feedback which I have received suggests that hopefully I have succeeded. I think it will resonate particularly with those "of a certain age" (45+) who are starting to realise with horror that the whole concept of a financially comfortable retirement can be consigned to the rubbish bin.

How different is writing fiction and detective fiction to writing about the economy and politics?

Very different, which helps actually, as I usually have at least two books on the go at any one time. I find it relatively easy to switch from fiction to non-fiction, even within the course of the same day.

Non-fiction is actually easier in the sense that you should know what is going into each chapter before you write it, which also means that you do not have to start at the beginning and work your way through if you don't want to, but can build the book up in modular fashion. Of course, there is the question of all the research which has to come first, but I do think that the actual writing process is much easier, at least for me (all writers are different).

With fiction you have a rough idea of how you want the plot to work out but really no more than that. For me it works best when the characters take over inside your head and start almost writing the book themselves. This can take you to some very surprising places but is enormous fun. With "Major Benjy" I started with the first scene but nothing else, and the story (and the ending) changed at least twice as I was writing it. With "Lucia on Holiday" I really had nothing more than the idea of moving the characters away from Tilling, and the location was inspired by a real life hotel in which I was lucky enough to stay. Again, various plot elements changed or vanished altogether. With "Au Reservoir", my current venture, I have the ending and an idea for the beginning, but nothing in the middle.

You write detective fiction under a pseudonym, why do you keep this identity a secret? Can we have a clue?

I now realise that writing in lots of different genres confuses people, many of whom want to put things and individuals into nice neat pigeon holes. For example, I write about history, economic history, hard core finance (for professionals), soft core finance (for the general reader), and cricket. I also write the Mapp and Lucia books, and have recently published a book on cricket ("Cricket at the Crossroads") albeit this is about class and colour prejudice as much as it is about cricket. Detective fiction would almost certainly be at least one genre too far! In fact, in hindsight I wish I had written the Mapp and Lucia books under a pseudonym - perhaps Rudolf da Vinci ...?
The detective book is not yet finished, but will be published by Elliott & Thompson in 2014. It is intended to be the first of a series based in and around Hampstead - (so that's your clue!).

What attracted you to the Felixstowe book festival?

I was introduced to Meg by my good friend Elaine of Random Jottings fame. She knew that I had spoken at quite a few festivals. I was really attracted by the idea of being part of getting something new off the ground.

What are you looking forward to doing in Felixstowe aside from appearing at the festival?

I have never been to Felixstowe before and so am really looking forward to exploring. It is also always a great opportunity to meet and talk with other authors. I am particularly looking forward to the book bloggers' session, since both Elaine and Simon are good friends.

Guy will be discussing his 'Mapp and Lucia' books between 11 - 12pm, and 'The mess we're in' between 1.30 - 2.30pm on Saturday 15th June. Both events will take place at The Orwell hotel.

Tickets can be purchased from the booking website.

Introducing Simon Thomas, writer of 'Stuck in a book' blog

Simon Thomas writes the book blog Stuck in a book and will be talking about blogging with fellow veteran blogger Elanine Simpson-Long of Random Jottings on Saturday afternoon at the White Horse pub.

Thanks to Simon for taking part in this mini interview for the blog!

Tell us a bit about yourself for the readers who haven’t come across you before…

I always describe myself as the only Christian vegetarian twin I know - that covers three pretty important bases for me! I live in Oxford, where I'm finishing off a DPhil in 20th-century English literature - which brings us, of course, to books and my blog Stuck-in-a-Book. Although I read quite a range of things, the focus is definitely on pre-1960s fiction, with an especial fondness for anything about spinsters, for some reason!

What made you start writing your blog?

I started in April 2007 when I should have been revising for the undergraduate finals. It was basically a revision-avoidance technique! I knew a few other bloggers (including Elaine of Random Jottings) who were part of an online book group I'd been in for three years at that point - and I thought, if other people are enjoying it so much, then I'd join in too.

Which book blogs do you regularly read?

At least half the time I spend on the internet is spent reading book blogs, so it's difficult to answer this question comprehensively!  So instead, I'll just pick three - Claire, The Captive Reader at thecaptivereader.wordpress.com, Rachel, Book Snob at bookssnob.wordpress.com, and Harriet, Harriet Devine's Blog at harrietdevine.typepad.com. Although I read blogs from around the world, I have to admit that the bloggers I read tend to be anglophiles.

Do you attend a lot of literature festivals, and if so do you have a favourite?

No, is the short answer to this! Living in Oxford, I have been to various events over the years, but that's the only experience I've had of literature festivals. A highlight of that would be seeing P.D. James and Jill Paton-Walsh discussing 'Agatha Christie vs. Dorothy L. Sayers'. (In case you're wondering, I'd choose Agatha every single time.)

The festival’s theme is ‘a sense of place’ – have you read any novels which have given you a real feeling of a place? Have you felt the urge to visit somewhere after reading about it?

I often struggle to get a sense of place from novels, which makes the exceptions even more resonant in my mind.  It's seemingly only cold locations which come across strongly to me, so I'd have to choose the snow-filled landscape of Stef Penney's 'The Tenderness of Wolves', and the icy lake of Marilynne Robinson's 'Housekeeping'. Neither has made me desperate to visit the places they're set, though - I'm much more drawn to the Swedish and Finnish settings of the wonderful novels and short stories Tove Jansson (best known for the Moomins) wrote for adults. 'The Summer Book', especially, makes me keen to hop on a boat and enjoy the Scandinavian islands. One day!

Where is your favourite place?

I love the countryside, and I love interesting houses, so I think my favourite place in the world is Blackwell House, overlooking Lake Windermere in the Lake District. It's a stunningly beautiful arts & crafts house, mostly panelled in dark wood, except one room - the one which overlooks the lake - which is entirely white. I've been three times, always on incredibly sunny days, and the impact of that room after the darkness of the other rooms is quite stupendous. 

Aside from attending the book festival, what are you looking forward to seeing and doing when you’re in town?

I have been to Felixstowe before, because my grandparents lived in Suffolk, and I remember there being a brilliant secondhand bookshop. My fingers are crossed that it is still there, and I'll be leaving room in my suitcase on the offchance!  Aside from that, I rarely get to see the sea, so that will be lovely.

Finally, what book are you stuck into at the moment?

I always have a few books on the go at once, so prepare yourself for a list! I'm reading 'A Woman of My Age' by Nina Bawden, 'Oxford' by Edward Thomas, 'A Reader on Reading' by Alberto Manguel, 'The Egg and I' by Betty Macdonald, 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett, and 'That Secret City: Visions of Oxford' by John Elinger and Katherine Shock.  That's actually quite restrained for me, believe it or not!

Simon and Elanie will be speaking at the White Horse pub between 3 and 4 pm on Saturday 15th June.

Tickets for the event cost £5 and can be purchased here

Simon's blog can be found at stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com

Breakfast with Stephen May

Stephen May will be appearing at the Felixstowe book festival on Sunday 16th June to discuss his  second novel 'Life! Death! Prizes!'.

Stephen kindly answered a few questions so that the audience can get to know him in advance of the festival.

As you ask interviewees on your own blog, please give us a biography of yourself in 50 words...

Reader. Writer. Daydreamer. Innocent bystander. Sceptical. Curious. Radical but suspicious of change. Father. Husband. Son. Brother. Resident of West Yorkshire by way of Bedford, Colchester and Ipswich. But half-Scottish. And, like Flaubert, I attempt to be a bourgoise in my life so I can be an anarchist in my art.

You’ll be discussing your 'Costa prize' nominated novel ‘Life, death, prizes’ at the book festival, tell us a bit about that book for the reader’s who’ve not yet read it.

A single mother is killed in a botched street robbery - leaving behind two boys aged 19 and 6. The older boy, Billy, narrates the book as he struggles to become a kind of mum, dad and everything else for his little brother. He hopes that love and wit will be enough. And they're not quite. It's based partly on my experiences of being a very young and ill-equipped dad (I became a father while still at college), partly on my over-long acquaintance with menial jobs and the trigger was being involved in a failed mugging a few years back. With any luck it makes people laugh, makes people think...

How did you get involved with the Book Festival?

I love Felixstowe. My in-laws live here, so any excuse to come down basically...

You are a person of many talents – teaching, writing for TV, script writing as well as having published two novels – what are you working on at the moment?

You are very kind. I have just completed the screenplay for Life! Death! Prizes! and finished editing my next novel Wake Up Happy Every Day which is due out in Feb 2014. And I'm working on my fourth novel Stronger Than Skin. I'm busy because I've just begun to realise how short life is.

The theme of this year's festival is ‘a sense of place’, how do you capture a sense of place in your writing?

As economically as possible. I don't go in for a lot of scene-setting or long descriptive passages... I don't like these as a reader either. My books tend to be set in or around small towns because that is where the essence of Britain lies I think. I'm interested in ordinary people trying to show grace under pressure. I'm much more interested in people than places, though of course people are shaped by where they find themselves.

Where is your favourite place?

Possibly the hot pool at Grettirslaug in North-western Iceland. Possibly the view at Lumb Bank in Heptonstall in West Yorks where I lived for six years. Possibly Edinburgh in the first week of September just after the festival. Possibly here now. (I'm sitting at home in my silent kitchen. just me, no one else. Bliss)

Aside from appearing at the Felixstowe book festival, what are you looking forward to doing when you’re in town?

I'm going to see some old friends. I'm going to drink some Adnams ale. Possibly both at the same time.

What will your talk be like on Sunday June 16?

With any luck it'll be like a convivial brunch with some of your most interesting friends. It should be more of a free-flowing conversation than a talk. We'll have a laugh...

Stephen will be appearing on Sunday 16th June between 10 - 11 am at the Orwell hotel. Tickets are £5 + booking fee and include coffee and a danish.

To buy your ticket go to the booking website

You can find out more about Stephen and his work on his website www.sdmay.com .

Young people's writing competition

No one gets left out at the Felixstowe Book Festival - we have a writing competition for the younger folk too!

The theme for this competition is 'Imaginary lands' and prizes will be supplied by WH Smiths (Thank you WH Smiths!).

The age categories are as follows:

7 - 9 yr yrs
10 - 13 yrs
14 - 16 yrs
17 - 19 yrs

Please state which age category you fit into on your entry so that it can be judged accordingly.

All entries will be judged by professional writers.

Entries should be submitted by email to info@felixstowebookfestival.co.uk by 7th June. Any inquiries can be emailed to this address too.

Happy writing!

Writing Competition

Are you a keen writer? Would you like to hear your work read at the Felixstowe Books Festival?

If the answer is 'Yes', then this is the place for you!

Felixstowe Book Festival is hosting a writing competition for adults over 18, which will be judged by Book Festival authors Ruth Dugall and Mark Mower. (There will also be a competition for younger people, details to follow)

The theme for the competition is 'A sense of place' and we're inviting any form of entry whether that's a short story, an essay or poem.

The word limit is 1500 words, and the deadline for entry is 27th May.

We ask that you send or hand deliver two copies of your entry to:

Felixstowe Library, Crescent Road, Felixstowe, IP11 7BY.

There is a £5 entry fee, cheques can be made out to 'Felixstowe Books Festival' and attached to your entry.

If you would like further information regarding the competition, please contact Meg Reid on

meg@megreid.co.uk or 01394 279783 or 07720 049668. 

Good luck and happy writing!

Almost May...

Which means that the festival is nearly NEXT MONTH!

As you can imagine, things have gone into overdrive at Book fest HQ, and we are now in the middle of a Suffolk-wide campaign to get people talking about the Felixstowe Book Festival.

If you know anyone who likes books, the seaside, cakes and meeting lovely literary folk, let them know about the Felixstowe book festival - for those of you with your diaries to hand, it's 15 & 16th June.

From this week, printed programmes will be available from all Suffolk libraries, and there will be flyers galore all over the county too.

Meg will also be featured in the East Anglian Daily Telegraph soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that feature.

If you're interested in volunteering for the festival at all, just drop us a line at the email on the right hand side and we'll get in touch.

Happy reading!

Meet Meg, Festival Director

If you wondered who's behind this wonderful literature festival, do so no more! 

Here's a quick Q&A Meg kindly made time for in among all of the festival preparations.

Hi Meg,

Tell us a bit about yourself and your love of books

I am never happier than when my head is in a book. I used to borrow my parents’ library tickets so that I could borrow 12 books at a time and I saved up all my pocket money to buy Famous Five books.

I’m currently waiting impatiently for Alexander McCall Smiths next book in the Sunday Philosophy series and re reading a Somerset Maughan, Have just finished a Jim Kelly.

Something lovely about organising the Festival has been discovering authors I hadn’t read-Rosy Thornton and Linda Gillard in particular have become favourites.

I would read on a Kindle to make sure I had enough books on holiday- when in Italy last year I’d read all the books I’d taken by the fourth day.

What motivated you to start the first ever Felixstowe Book Festival?

I took my daughter in law to the Cambridge Word Fest and she said “why don’t we have one in Felixstowe?” which I thought was a very good questions, so I started this festival.

You must be a big book fan yourself, do you attend many literary events? 

I've been going to the Edinburgh Book Festival for many years and Cambridge Word Fest usually though I’ve missed it this spring - too much to do for our festival! But I will be going to Edinburgh.

How did you go about recruiting the festival speakers?

They're mostly people I or my friends knew. My greatest excitement was when Barbara Nadel emailed to say that her friend Nicola Upson would be willing to appear at the festival. I had heard Nicola talking at the Cambridge Word Fest and had read all her books. Her heroine is a fictionalised version of Josephine Tey, a favourite author of mine. One of Nicola’s books is set in the Penrose Estate  near Porthleven in Cornwall a very special place in my life.

What kind of reception has the festival had from people in Felixstowe so far?

Very enthusiastic!

What effect do you think the Book Festival will have on Felixstowe?

I hope that it will bring people into the town who will see how much it has to offer and keep coming back.

What has been the biggest challenge so far?

There are so many different things to organise at the same time as each other!

Has anything surprised you along the way? 

Generosity of the authors who have been willing to come even if we didn’t get funding to pay them. They have also been enthusiastic and supportive.

What’s the biggest task on your ‘to do’ list at the moment? 

Every thing!!!!

And on that note, I left Meg to get on with her work!

If you have any burning questions you'd like to ask Meg or the team, drop us a line at Felixstowebooksfest@gmail.com

Hello!

Hi,

This is the Felixstowe Book Festival blog, and here is where you will find all the latest news and updates about the book festival.

A couple of exciting things have happened over the weekend which I will share with you...

The festival ticket booking system went live yesterday. Check out the festival programme here and follow the links to the ticket site from there. Or if you already know what you want to see, click  here to book your tickets.

The Book festival was featured in the Ipswich Star this weekend, and you can read there article by following this link.

There is a lot of excitement going on over at Book Fest HQ, so to keep up with news and behind the scenes info, check back here regularly. To make sure that you don't miss anything, pop your email into the box to the right and you'll receive an email to let you know when we've updated the blog. You can even follow us on Twitter too, so there really is no excuse not to know what's going on!