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All Children’s Events: PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Concessions: students, under 25s, those in receipt of benefits
Under 18s: FREE but tickets must be booked and under 12s must be accompanied by an adult
Any unsold tickets will be available on the door but booking online in advance is advisable to ensure admittance (including FREE TICKETS)
We open the festival, as always with an evening of poetry. This year our guest author is Martin Figura reading from his collection The Remaining Men.
Following Martin's performance both the bar and the mic will be open for our annual Open-Mic where the audience will be able to read their own poetry and share their spoken word and works in progress.
Martin Figura’s collection The Remaining Men was published in February - "not only Martin's finest book but one of the best you are likely to read this year" George Szirtes. The book and show Whistle were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show, an award his second show Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine was shortlisted for. He lives in Norwich with Helen Ivory and sciatica. His new Spoken-Word show Shed will be touring in 2025 after successful performances at Ink Festival and The Cockpit Theatre, London as part of the Poetry Plays Festival.
W: www.martinfigura.co.uk IG: @martinfigura1
Date & Time: Friday 11th October 2024 6.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: 12+
Tickets: Standard £8.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £6.00, Under 18s FREE Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Following Martin's performance both the bar and the mic will be open for our annual Open-Mic where the audience will be able to read their own poetry and share their spoken word and works in progress.
Martin Figura’s collection The Remaining Men was published in February - "not only Martin's finest book but one of the best you are likely to read this year" George Szirtes. The book and show Whistle were shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show, an award his second show Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine was shortlisted for. He lives in Norwich with Helen Ivory and sciatica. His new Spoken-Word show Shed will be touring in 2025 after successful performances at Ink Festival and The Cockpit Theatre, London as part of the Poetry Plays Festival.
W: www.martinfigura.co.uk IG: @martinfigura1
Date & Time: Friday 11th October 2024 6.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: 12+
Tickets: Standard £8.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £6.00, Under 18s FREE Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
This year's stellar programme for children kicks off with some picture book storytelling for little ones with local author Catherine Emmett.
Catherine will be reading and engaging young readers with her books The Rainbow Flamingo & Trick or Treat, two charming picture books told in rhyme that celebrate difference and ingenuity.
Catherine Emmett grew up in Newcastle Upon Tyne and spent all of her childhood reading books. Then she grew up and she spent 15 years making spreadsheets and not reading any books at all. After advising a group of young girls to find a career that they loved, she decided to take her own advice. She packed up her husband and her three young boys, moved to rural Essex and started to write picture books. She now spends her days surrounded by words, animals and noisy boys. Catherine’s books include The Pet, The King of The Swamp, Sammy The Striker And The Football Cup and The Dodo Who Dreamed She Could Fly. Her books have won awards, been on the BBC News and appeared on CBeebies Bedtime Stories.
W: catherineemmett.co.uk IG:@catherine_emmett_author X: @emmett_cath
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 10.30am
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: Children 2-8 years & their grown-ups.
Tickets: PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Catherine will be reading and engaging young readers with her books The Rainbow Flamingo & Trick or Treat, two charming picture books told in rhyme that celebrate difference and ingenuity.
Catherine Emmett grew up in Newcastle Upon Tyne and spent all of her childhood reading books. Then she grew up and she spent 15 years making spreadsheets and not reading any books at all. After advising a group of young girls to find a career that they loved, she decided to take her own advice. She packed up her husband and her three young boys, moved to rural Essex and started to write picture books. She now spends her days surrounded by words, animals and noisy boys. Catherine’s books include The Pet, The King of The Swamp, Sammy The Striker And The Football Cup and The Dodo Who Dreamed She Could Fly. Her books have won awards, been on the BBC News and appeared on CBeebies Bedtime Stories.
W: catherineemmett.co.uk IG:@catherine_emmett_author X: @emmett_cath
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 10.30am
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: Children 2-8 years & their grown-ups.
Tickets: PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Readers old and young will be delighted to hear that this year award winning husband and wife, author and illustrator team Kiran Millwood-Hargrave and Tom de Freston will be appearing at this year’s Bury Lit Fest!
With books that are rich in storytelling, adventure and timeless themes this will be a session suitable for all ages - with a focus on their beautiful collaboration novels for middle-grade (8-12) Julia and the Shark (shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year) and Leila and the Blue Fox (Winner of The Wainwright Prize) books that inspire young people to engage with the natural world in the face of climate change. But undoubtedly Kiran will talk a bit about the two books in her new Geomancer trilogy - In the Shadow of The Wolf Queen and The Storm and The Sea Hawk and her novels for children and young people, including the award winning The Girl of Ink and Stars.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave was born in Surrey in 1990, and her earliest ambition was to be a cat, closely followed by a cat-owner or the first woman on Mars. She has achieved only one of these things, but discovered that being a writer lets you imagine whatever you want.
W:www.kiranmillwoodhargrave.com IG: @kiran_mh X: @Kiran_MH
Tom de Freston is an artist and writer based in Oxford.
IG: @tomdefrestonart
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 12pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: Children 5-13 years & their grown-ups.
Tickets: PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
With books that are rich in storytelling, adventure and timeless themes this will be a session suitable for all ages - with a focus on their beautiful collaboration novels for middle-grade (8-12) Julia and the Shark (shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year) and Leila and the Blue Fox (Winner of The Wainwright Prize) books that inspire young people to engage with the natural world in the face of climate change. But undoubtedly Kiran will talk a bit about the two books in her new Geomancer trilogy - In the Shadow of The Wolf Queen and The Storm and The Sea Hawk and her novels for children and young people, including the award winning The Girl of Ink and Stars.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave was born in Surrey in 1990, and her earliest ambition was to be a cat, closely followed by a cat-owner or the first woman on Mars. She has achieved only one of these things, but discovered that being a writer lets you imagine whatever you want.
W:www.kiranmillwoodhargrave.com IG: @kiran_mh X: @Kiran_MH
Tom de Freston is an artist and writer based in Oxford.
IG: @tomdefrestonart
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 12pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: Children 5-13 years & their grown-ups.
Tickets: PAY WHAT YOU CAN
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
In a pioneering history of children’s literature, from the ancient world to the present day, Sam Leith reveals the magic of our most cherished stories, and the ways in which they have shaped and consoled entire generations. Excavating the complex lives of beloved writers, Leith offers a humane portrait of a genre – one acutely sensitive to its authors’ distinct contexts.
Sam Leith is the literary editor of the Spectator and the author of several books including You Talkin' To Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump... and Beyond, and Write To The Point: How to Be Clear, Correct and Persusasive on the Page
X: @questingvole
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 1.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Though younger children are welcome. Some colouring will be provided for children and babes in arms are encouraged
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Sam Leith is the literary editor of the Spectator and the author of several books including You Talkin' To Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Trump... and Beyond, and Write To The Point: How to Be Clear, Correct and Persusasive on the Page
X: @questingvole
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 1.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Though younger children are welcome. Some colouring will be provided for children and babes in arms are encouraged
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
We are delighted to welcome the brilliant Patrick Barkham back to the festival. This time Patrick will be talking about his most recent book, The Swimmer, which accounts the wild life of Suffolk-based Roger Deakin.
Roger Deakin wrote the nature writing classics Waterlog and Wildwood. But before he painstakingly restored his ancient farmhouse on the edge of Mellis common in Suffolk, he was also a maverick ad-man and seller of stripped-pine furniture. Later he became an inspirational teacher, filmmaker, music promoter and eco-warrior. Today, he lives on as the patron saint of wild swimming. In this original, captivating biography, Patrick conjures up Roger's voice to tell the romantic and sometimes troubled story of his life.
Patrick Barkham is an award-winning author and natural history writer for the Guardian. He is the author of eight books including The Butterfly Isles, Badgerlands, Wild Child and The Swimmer, a biography of maverick swimmer Roger Deakin. He is President of Norfolk Wildlife Trust and lives in Norfolk with his family.
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 3pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Roger Deakin wrote the nature writing classics Waterlog and Wildwood. But before he painstakingly restored his ancient farmhouse on the edge of Mellis common in Suffolk, he was also a maverick ad-man and seller of stripped-pine furniture. Later he became an inspirational teacher, filmmaker, music promoter and eco-warrior. Today, he lives on as the patron saint of wild swimming. In this original, captivating biography, Patrick conjures up Roger's voice to tell the romantic and sometimes troubled story of his life.
Patrick Barkham is an award-winning author and natural history writer for the Guardian. He is the author of eight books including The Butterfly Isles, Badgerlands, Wild Child and The Swimmer, a biography of maverick swimmer Roger Deakin. He is President of Norfolk Wildlife Trust and lives in Norfolk with his family.
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 3pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
We are very excited to introduce debut author Sarah Marsh, author of the acclaimed novel A Sign of Her Own; a mesmerising tale of historical fiction that follows a deaf former student of Alexander Graham Bell as she learns to reclaim her own authentic voice.
Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell. Ellen knows immediately what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell's student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals. But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear - but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.
Sarah Marsh was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish prize in 2019 and selected for the London Library Emerging Writers programme in 2020. A Sign of Her Own is her first novel, inspired by her experiences of growing up deaf and her family’s history of deafness. She lives in London.
X: @SarahCMarsh IG: @SarahMarshWrites
Megan Reynard is a secondary school English teacher and lover of literature. She has recently started learning BSL to better support her deaf and hard of hearing students, so promoting deaf voices in literature is something she feels is important. Meg has enjoyed supporting the Literature Festival over the last few years because she has discovered so many new brilliant books and authors.
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 4.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Access: BSL interpreted and Captioned event
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell. Ellen knows immediately what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell's student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals. But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear - but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.
Sarah Marsh was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish prize in 2019 and selected for the London Library Emerging Writers programme in 2020. A Sign of Her Own is her first novel, inspired by her experiences of growing up deaf and her family’s history of deafness. She lives in London.
X: @SarahCMarsh IG: @SarahMarshWrites
Megan Reynard is a secondary school English teacher and lover of literature. She has recently started learning BSL to better support her deaf and hard of hearing students, so promoting deaf voices in literature is something she feels is important. Meg has enjoyed supporting the Literature Festival over the last few years because she has discovered so many new brilliant books and authors.
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 4.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Access: BSL interpreted and Captioned event
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Leo Tolstoy is often quoted for the famous line from Anna Karenina "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." But why do so many authors love to explore the difficult dynamics of families?
We are delighted to be ruminating on this conundrum with two of the most exciting voices writing family drama in the UK today. Best-selling authors Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls and Bobby Palmer, author of Small Hours and Isaac and The Egg will be in conversation with Kate Sawyer, author of This Family discussing family dynamics, sibling rivalry, parents who have quite simply had enough and why we can't seem to get enough of reading about the trials and tribulations of other people's families!
Bobby Palmer is an author and journalist. His critically acclaimed debut novel, Isaac and the Egg, was published in 2022 and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. He co-hosted the literary podcast Book Chat with Pandora Sykes, and his writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan and more. His second novel, Small Hours, is out now.
W: www.bobbypalmer.co.uk IG:@thebobpalmer X:@thebobpalmer
Georgina Moore is an award-winning book publicist who has worked in the publishing industry for twenty years. She has worked with a huge variety of authors across all genres and at all stages of their careers – from debuts to household names. Her most recent PR campaign for Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet has won the FutureBook and PPC awards for campaign of the year and is Nibbies nominated.The Garnett Girls is Georgina’s first novel and is set on the Isle of Wight where Georgina and her family have a holiday houseboat called Sturdy.
W:www.georginamoore.co.uk IG:@georginamooreauthor X: @PublicityBooks
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of This Family (Waterstones Book Of The Month) and The Stranding (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, winner East Anglian fiction prize, BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, BBC2 Between The Covers). Her third novel, Getting Away, will be published in July 2025. When Kate isn't writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works at the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.
W:www.mskatesawyer.com IG: @mskatesawyer X: @katesawyer
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 6pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
We are delighted to be ruminating on this conundrum with two of the most exciting voices writing family drama in the UK today. Best-selling authors Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls and Bobby Palmer, author of Small Hours and Isaac and The Egg will be in conversation with Kate Sawyer, author of This Family discussing family dynamics, sibling rivalry, parents who have quite simply had enough and why we can't seem to get enough of reading about the trials and tribulations of other people's families!
Bobby Palmer is an author and journalist. His critically acclaimed debut novel, Isaac and the Egg, was published in 2022 and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. He co-hosted the literary podcast Book Chat with Pandora Sykes, and his writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan and more. His second novel, Small Hours, is out now.
W: www.bobbypalmer.co.uk IG:@thebobpalmer X:@thebobpalmer
Georgina Moore is an award-winning book publicist who has worked in the publishing industry for twenty years. She has worked with a huge variety of authors across all genres and at all stages of their careers – from debuts to household names. Her most recent PR campaign for Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet has won the FutureBook and PPC awards for campaign of the year and is Nibbies nominated.The Garnett Girls is Georgina’s first novel and is set on the Isle of Wight where Georgina and her family have a holiday houseboat called Sturdy.
W:www.georginamoore.co.uk IG:@georginamooreauthor X: @PublicityBooks
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of This Family (Waterstones Book Of The Month) and The Stranding (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, winner East Anglian fiction prize, BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, BBC2 Between The Covers). Her third novel, Getting Away, will be published in July 2025. When Kate isn't writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works at the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.
W:www.mskatesawyer.com IG: @mskatesawyer X: @katesawyer
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 6pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
In 2020, artist Tom de Freston and his award-winning poet and novelist wife Kiran Millwood Hargrave (author of Sunday Times bestselling The Mercies and The Dance Tree) discovered they were expecting twins. But Kiran miscarried, and thus began a long journey to parenthood that saw the loss of six more pregnancies. Addressed directly to Kiran, Tom's latest book Strange Bodies is an intimate, authentic, and powerfully moving account of a loving relationship that is part memoir and part exploration of the work of artists from Titian and Francis Bacon to Braca Ettinger and Gerhard Richter. Kiran's most recent novel for adults, The Dance Tree, though exploring a real-life event - the Strasbourg dancing plague of 1518 - is too woven through with her response to their losses. And together, during those difficult years of trying to grow their family, they collaborated as author and illustrator on two hugely popular books for children.
Join us for an intimate discussion with two renowned artists as we explore their work, they open-up about how their relationship intersects with their writing and what it really means to be in a working relationship.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist. An author, playwright and poet, Kiran Millwood Hargrave is best known for her award-winning children’s fiction, including her bestselling debut, The Girl of Ink of Stars, (Waterstones Children’s Book Prize), Julia and the Shark (Waterstones Children’s Gift of The Year) and Leila and the Blue Fox (The Wainwright Prize for Children’s Fiction). Her historical adult fiction The Mercies (The Sunday Times Bestseller, Betty Trask Award 2021, Le Prix Rive Gauche à Paris Finalist for the Prix Femina. Shortlisted for the Prix des Lecteurs. Longlisted for Not the Booker Prize.) and The Dance Tree (HWA Gold Crown Award and picked for the BBC2 Between The Covers) have seen her have brought her vivid storytelling to older readers, bringing true historical events to life with women's experiences at the forefront.
W:www.kiranmillwoodhargrave.com IG: @kiran_mh X: @Kiran_MH
Tom de Freston is an artist and writer based in Oxford. He is the author of Wreck: Géricault’s Raft and the Art of Being Lost at Sea and Strange Bodies: A Story of Loss and Desire and the illustrator of Julia and the Shark (Waterstones Children’s Gift of The Year) and Leila and the Blue Fox (The Wainwright Prize for Children’s Fiction) and Skellig: the 25th Anniversary Illustrated Edition.
IG: @tomdefrestonart
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of This Family (Waterstones Book Of The Month) and The Stranding (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, winner East Anglian fiction prize, BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, BBC2 Between The Covers). Her third novel, Getting Away, will be published in July 2025. When Kate isn't writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works at the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.
W: www.mskatesawyer.com IG: @mskatesawyer X: @katesawyer
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 7.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £12.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £10.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Join us for an intimate discussion with two renowned artists as we explore their work, they open-up about how their relationship intersects with their writing and what it really means to be in a working relationship.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist. An author, playwright and poet, Kiran Millwood Hargrave is best known for her award-winning children’s fiction, including her bestselling debut, The Girl of Ink of Stars, (Waterstones Children’s Book Prize), Julia and the Shark (Waterstones Children’s Gift of The Year) and Leila and the Blue Fox (The Wainwright Prize for Children’s Fiction). Her historical adult fiction The Mercies (The Sunday Times Bestseller, Betty Trask Award 2021, Le Prix Rive Gauche à Paris Finalist for the Prix Femina. Shortlisted for the Prix des Lecteurs. Longlisted for Not the Booker Prize.) and The Dance Tree (HWA Gold Crown Award and picked for the BBC2 Between The Covers) have seen her have brought her vivid storytelling to older readers, bringing true historical events to life with women's experiences at the forefront.
W:www.kiranmillwoodhargrave.com IG: @kiran_mh X: @Kiran_MH
Tom de Freston is an artist and writer based in Oxford. He is the author of Wreck: Géricault’s Raft and the Art of Being Lost at Sea and Strange Bodies: A Story of Loss and Desire and the illustrator of Julia and the Shark (Waterstones Children’s Gift of The Year) and Leila and the Blue Fox (The Wainwright Prize for Children’s Fiction) and Skellig: the 25th Anniversary Illustrated Edition.
IG: @tomdefrestonart
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of This Family (Waterstones Book Of The Month) and The Stranding (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, winner East Anglian fiction prize, BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, BBC2 Between The Covers). Her third novel, Getting Away, will be published in July 2025. When Kate isn't writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works at the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.
W: www.mskatesawyer.com IG: @mskatesawyer X: @katesawyer
Date & Time: Saturday 12th October 2024 7.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £12.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £10.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Join Dominique Valente, Suffolk-based author of the magical Starfell series in this fun and completely interactive event to inspire budding writers to create their own fantasy worlds.
Step into the magical Isles of Britain, an alternative pre-Victorian Britain where bathing huts move, hats are enchanted, and some houses are alive! Hear how fun it was to imagine an alternative historical magical Britain and how the fashion, technology and curious practices of the times were given a magical tilt for Dominique’s new series, Witchspark.
Inspired partially by the real one-armed Admiral Nelson, Witchspark features a main character with a limb difference like Dominique. Dominique will explain how being born with one hand is a kind of unexpected superpower before inviting children to create their own magical power with a built-in challenge to make for a more interesting story. Dominque will then help children create a portal into a fantasy world of their own imagination. For a fantastic finale, children will vote for their favourite magical power, portal and world!
Dominique Valente is the author of the bestselling Starfell series. She was born in South Africa, and has one hand. Her disability has inspired her latest magical series Witchspark which is set in Suffolk where she lives.
W: dominiquevalente.com IG: @dominiquevalente X: @domrosevalente
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 10.30am
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: Children 8-12 years & their grown-ups.
Tickets: PAY WHAT YOU CAN.
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge, in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Step into the magical Isles of Britain, an alternative pre-Victorian Britain where bathing huts move, hats are enchanted, and some houses are alive! Hear how fun it was to imagine an alternative historical magical Britain and how the fashion, technology and curious practices of the times were given a magical tilt for Dominique’s new series, Witchspark.
Inspired partially by the real one-armed Admiral Nelson, Witchspark features a main character with a limb difference like Dominique. Dominique will explain how being born with one hand is a kind of unexpected superpower before inviting children to create their own magical power with a built-in challenge to make for a more interesting story. Dominque will then help children create a portal into a fantasy world of their own imagination. For a fantastic finale, children will vote for their favourite magical power, portal and world!
Dominique Valente is the author of the bestselling Starfell series. She was born in South Africa, and has one hand. Her disability has inspired her latest magical series Witchspark which is set in Suffolk where she lives.
W: dominiquevalente.com IG: @dominiquevalente X: @domrosevalente
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 10.30am
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability: Children 8-12 years & their grown-ups.
Tickets: PAY WHAT YOU CAN.
Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge, in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
We are delighted to welcome back local author Matt Gaw, to talk about his new book In All Weathers, in which Matt embarks on a series of walks across Britain – through rain, fog, wind, ice and snow – to look again at our most widely accessed experience of the natural world, exploring where our weather comes from, the ways it is changing, and how we can embrace it as a positive presence in our lives.
All too often our weather is simply deemed as good (sunny) or bad (anything else), and our likelihood of venturing outside is governed by that simplistic judgement. But inclement weather can be beautiful, sublime, even fun. It transforms the light, textures and colours of a landscape and influences our mood and behaviour. It has inspired poets and artists, seeped into our language and folklore, and fundamentally shaped our way of life on these isles. It allows new worlds to emerge, shrouded in fog, splintered by ice and refreshed by rain.
Matt Gaw is a writer, journalist and secondary school English teacher, who lives in Suffolk, and is the author of the acclaimed The Pull of the River; A Journey into the Wild and Watery Heart of Britain and Under the Stars; A Journey into Light. His journalism has been published in the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Times and Countryfile magazine.
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 12pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
All too often our weather is simply deemed as good (sunny) or bad (anything else), and our likelihood of venturing outside is governed by that simplistic judgement. But inclement weather can be beautiful, sublime, even fun. It transforms the light, textures and colours of a landscape and influences our mood and behaviour. It has inspired poets and artists, seeped into our language and folklore, and fundamentally shaped our way of life on these isles. It allows new worlds to emerge, shrouded in fog, splintered by ice and refreshed by rain.
Matt Gaw is a writer, journalist and secondary school English teacher, who lives in Suffolk, and is the author of the acclaimed The Pull of the River; A Journey into the Wild and Watery Heart of Britain and Under the Stars; A Journey into Light. His journalism has been published in the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Times and Countryfile magazine.
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 12pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Join Suffolk authors Phoebe Morgan and JM Hewitt as they talk about their most recent novels, The Trip & The Perfect Village, why they write in the genre they do and what it takes to ramp up the ordinary to the extraordinary (and often bloody!) with a series of twists and turns that keep readers on the edge of their seat.
Phoebe Morgan is a bestselling author and award-winning editor. Her five thrillers The Doll House, The Girl Next Door, The Babysitter, The Wild Girls and The Trip can be read in any order, and one of her short stories is currently being adapted into a short film. Her books have sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 10 languages. They are also published in the US, Canada and Australia. She is also the Commercial Fiction Publishing Director at Hodder & Stoughton, part of Hachette UK. She has worked with a range of Sunday Times and Kindle bestsellers including Sophie Hannah, Abigail Dean, Cara Hunter, Stephanie Garber, Lucy Score, CL Taylor, Alan Titchmarsh, Catherine Cooper and more, and is passionate about finding new voices. In 2022 she was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the British Book Awards; in 2021 she was awarded the Bookseller Shooting Star award; and in 2018 she won a Trailblazer Award in association with the London Book Fair.
W:phoebemorganauthor.com X: @Phoebe_A_Morgan IG @phoebeannmorgan FB @PhoebeMorganAuthor
J.M. Hewitt is a crime and psychological thriller author. Her work has also been published in three short story anthologies. Her writing combines the complexity of human behaviour with often enchanting settings. In contrast to the sometimes dark content of her books, she lives a very nice life in a seaside town in Suffolk with her dog, Marley.
IG: @j.mhewitt X: @jmhewitt
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 1.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Phoebe Morgan is a bestselling author and award-winning editor. Her five thrillers The Doll House, The Girl Next Door, The Babysitter, The Wild Girls and The Trip can be read in any order, and one of her short stories is currently being adapted into a short film. Her books have sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 10 languages. They are also published in the US, Canada and Australia. She is also the Commercial Fiction Publishing Director at Hodder & Stoughton, part of Hachette UK. She has worked with a range of Sunday Times and Kindle bestsellers including Sophie Hannah, Abigail Dean, Cara Hunter, Stephanie Garber, Lucy Score, CL Taylor, Alan Titchmarsh, Catherine Cooper and more, and is passionate about finding new voices. In 2022 she was shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the British Book Awards; in 2021 she was awarded the Bookseller Shooting Star award; and in 2018 she won a Trailblazer Award in association with the London Book Fair.
W:phoebemorganauthor.com X: @Phoebe_A_Morgan IG @phoebeannmorgan FB @PhoebeMorganAuthor
J.M. Hewitt is a crime and psychological thriller author. Her work has also been published in three short story anthologies. Her writing combines the complexity of human behaviour with often enchanting settings. In contrast to the sometimes dark content of her books, she lives a very nice life in a seaside town in Suffolk with her dog, Marley.
IG: @j.mhewitt X: @jmhewitt
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 1.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
We are so excited to welcome best-selling author Janice Hallett to Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival. Janice will be in conversation with BLF Patron, Nicola Upson, about her most recent novel, The Examiner, writing crime and mystery and the journey to achieving four best-sellers, multiple award wins and a world-wide fandom in only five short years!
Janice Hallett is the author of four best-selling novels. Her debut, The Appeal, was awarded the CWA Debut Dagger of 2021 and was a Sunday Times’ Bestseller, Waterstones’ Thriller of the Month and Sunday Times’ Crime Book of the Month. Her second novel The Twyford Code was named Crime & Thriller Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2023. It was also a Sunday Times’ Bestseller and a Financial Times book of the year. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was an instant Times and Sunday Times bestseller on its launch in January 2023, as was her novella The Christmas Appeal published in October 2023. Her latest novel The Examiner was published in August.
IG: @janice.hallett X: @janicehallett
Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist, and is the author of two non-fiction works and the recipient of an Escalator Award from the Arts Council England. Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels whose main character is Josephine Tey, who – along with Agatha Christie – was one of the masters of Britain’s golden age of crime writing. Nicola was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2018 for Nine Lessons, and was longlisted in 2021 for The Dead of Winter. She is the Curator of Cambridge University Library’s exhibition Murder by the Book (February–August 2024).
IG: @nicolaupson X: @nicolaupsonbook
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 3pm
Venue: The Guildhall, Guildhall St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1PR
Age suitability:12+ Younger children welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £12.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £10.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Janice Hallett is the author of four best-selling novels. Her debut, The Appeal, was awarded the CWA Debut Dagger of 2021 and was a Sunday Times’ Bestseller, Waterstones’ Thriller of the Month and Sunday Times’ Crime Book of the Month. Her second novel The Twyford Code was named Crime & Thriller Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2023. It was also a Sunday Times’ Bestseller and a Financial Times book of the year. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels was an instant Times and Sunday Times bestseller on its launch in January 2023, as was her novella The Christmas Appeal published in October 2023. Her latest novel The Examiner was published in August.
IG: @janice.hallett X: @janicehallett
Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. She has worked in theatre and as a freelance journalist, and is the author of two non-fiction works and the recipient of an Escalator Award from the Arts Council England. Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels whose main character is Josephine Tey, who – along with Agatha Christie – was one of the masters of Britain’s golden age of crime writing. Nicola was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2018 for Nine Lessons, and was longlisted in 2021 for The Dead of Winter. She is the Curator of Cambridge University Library’s exhibition Murder by the Book (February–August 2024).
IG: @nicolaupson X: @nicolaupsonbook
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 3pm
Venue: The Guildhall, Guildhall St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1PR
Age suitability:12+ Younger children welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £12.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £10.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
We are delighted to welcome local author Jill Dawson to Bury St Edmunds Festival. Jill is the author of eleven novels, one poetry collection and the editor of six anthologies of poetry and stories. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a Costa Judge, and taught creative writing in many different settings. Join us as we talk to Jill about the scope of her career, her work and her most recent novel The Bewitching tells the 16th century true story of a nine year old girl who playfully accuses a neighbour in her fenland village of being a witch and sets in motion a shocking train of events.
Jill Dawson is the award-winning author of eleven novels, all published by Sceptre. They include The Bewitching, Fred and Edie (shortlisted for the Costa and Orange Prize) and The Great Lover, which was a best-seller and Richard and Judy pick. Her novel The Crime Writer, about the novelist Patricia Highsmith, won the East Anglian Book of the Year in 2016 and is in development as a mini series. Jill founded and runs Gold Dust, a mentoring scheme for writers. Her new novel, Pixie, about a psychic and tarot artist of the early twentieth century, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025.
W: jilldawson.co.uk IG: @jilldawsonauthor X: @jdawsonwriter
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 4.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Jill Dawson is the award-winning author of eleven novels, all published by Sceptre. They include The Bewitching, Fred and Edie (shortlisted for the Costa and Orange Prize) and The Great Lover, which was a best-seller and Richard and Judy pick. Her novel The Crime Writer, about the novelist Patricia Highsmith, won the East Anglian Book of the Year in 2016 and is in development as a mini series. Jill founded and runs Gold Dust, a mentoring scheme for writers. Her new novel, Pixie, about a psychic and tarot artist of the early twentieth century, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025.
W: jilldawson.co.uk IG: @jilldawsonauthor X: @jdawsonwriter
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 4.30pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:12+ Younger children are welcome if accompanied.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE. Children under the age of 12 years must be accompanied by a paying adult.
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
As well as celebrating well-known names, it is one of the Bury Lit Fest's aims to introduce our audiences to new authors. Last year we gave the stage to four authors with East Anglia connections at the very start of their careers. This year we are excited to profile two authors, Kirsty Capes and Jessica Moor, who have recently released their third novels - Girls and Hold Back The Night - which are being hailed as 'breakthrough novels' and look set to make both authors names that have a bright future on the literary stage. This event is a great opportunity to see two authors on the brink of stardom, hear about their craft, publication journey and, of course, as we delve into the meat of their new novels, discovering two really good reads!
Kirsty Capes works in marketing and lives in Slough with her golden retriever, Doug. She holds a PhD from Brunel University London; her thesis investigates representations of the care experience in contemporary British fiction. Her first novel, Careless, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize 2022. Girls is her third novel.
IG: @kirstycapes.author X: @kirstycapes
Jessica Moor studied English at Cambridge before completing a Creative Writing MA at Manchester University. She was selected as one of the Observer's debut novelists of 2020, and her debut, Keeper was chosen by the Sunday Times, Independent and Cosmopolitan as one of their top debuts of the year. Keeper was nominated for the Desmond Elliott Prize and an Edgar Award. Young Women was her acclaimed second novel, her third novel Hold Back The Night was published in May 2024. Jessica is based in Brixton, South London.
W: https://www.jessicamoor.com/ IG: @ms_jessica_moor X: @jessicamoor
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of This Family (Waterstones Book Of The Month) and The Stranding (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, winner East Anglian fiction prize, BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, BBC2 Between The Covers). Her third novel, Getting Away, will be published in July 2025. When Kate isn't writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works at the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.
W: https://www.mskatesawyer.com/ IG: @mskatesawyer X: @katesawyer
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 6pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
Kirsty Capes works in marketing and lives in Slough with her golden retriever, Doug. She holds a PhD from Brunel University London; her thesis investigates representations of the care experience in contemporary British fiction. Her first novel, Careless, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize 2022. Girls is her third novel.
IG: @kirstycapes.author X: @kirstycapes
Jessica Moor studied English at Cambridge before completing a Creative Writing MA at Manchester University. She was selected as one of the Observer's debut novelists of 2020, and her debut, Keeper was chosen by the Sunday Times, Independent and Cosmopolitan as one of their top debuts of the year. Keeper was nominated for the Desmond Elliott Prize and an Edgar Award. Young Women was her acclaimed second novel, her third novel Hold Back The Night was published in May 2024. Jessica is based in Brixton, South London.
W: https://www.jessicamoor.com/ IG: @ms_jessica_moor X: @jessicamoor
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of This Family (Waterstones Book Of The Month) and The Stranding (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, winner East Anglian fiction prize, BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, BBC2 Between The Covers). Her third novel, Getting Away, will be published in July 2025. When Kate isn't writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works at the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.
W: https://www.mskatesawyer.com/ IG: @mskatesawyer X: @katesawyer
Date & Time: Sunday 13th October 2024 6pm
Venue: Unitarian Meeting House, Churchgate St, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1RH
Age suitability:16+ Some content might be sensitive for younger audience members.
Tickets: Standard £10.00, Concessions (Student, Benefits) £8.00, Under 18s FREE
We advise booking all tickets, including those free of charge in advance. Tickets may be available to purchase on the door for some events, according to availability and returns but is not guaranteed.
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT
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