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
