top of page
%20(3240%20x%203240%20px).png)
Bury St Edmunds
Literature Festival
Celebrating books and writing in the heart of East Anglia
Tickets for our 2024 festival are now on sale!
Continue reading below to find out more about our guest authors from previous festivals.
2023
Elizabeth Cook
Elizabeth Cook is a poet, novelist and librettist. She is the author of Achilles, a noveland theatre work, and Lux, which links the Scriptural story of David and Bathsheba with 16th century English poet, Thomas Wyatt. In 2013 she was St Edmundsbury Cathedral's first writer in residence. Her long poemEdmund in Edmundsbury; was initially published in a small hand-printed edition and is now available in the longer collection, When I Kiss the Sky. The title poem of her earlier collection, Bowl, was a Poem on the Underground. She was recently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Queen Mary University. While she writes in various genres, poetry is at the heart of it all and her work is grounded in a strong sense of bodily reality.
Hannah Gold
author of The Last Bear, The Lost Whale & Finding Bear
Hannah Gold worked in the film and magazine industries before taking time out to pursue her dream of writing. The Last Bear, is her middle-grade debut which became an instant classic and international bestseller on release in 2021. It has won the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Younger Readers and Overall Children's Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards Best Children's Book of the Year, nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as being The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week. The Lost Whale is Hannah’s second middle-grade novel which tells an incredible story about the connection between a boy and a whale and the bond that sets them both free. It won the Stanford Travel Writing Award for Children's Book of the Year in 2023 and Hannah has been appointed an official ambassador of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Hannah’s eagerly awaited new novel Finding Bear, the sequel to Hannah’s dazzling debut, will see April and Bear reunite in an unforgettable adventure publishing on the 28th of September 2023. All novels are illustrated by renowned artist Levi Pinfold.
Hannah Gold worked in the film and magazine industries before taking time out to pursue her dream of writing. The Last Bear, is her middle-grade debut which became an instant classic and international bestseller on release in 2021. It has won the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Younger Readers and Overall Children's Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards Best Children's Book of the Year, nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as being The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week. The Lost Whale is Hannah’s second middle-grade novel which tells an incredible story about the connection between a boy and a whale and the bond that sets them both free. It won the Stanford Travel Writing Award for Children's Book of the Year in 2023 and Hannah has been appointed an official ambassador of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Hannah’s eagerly awaited new novel Finding Bear, the sequel to Hannah’s dazzling debut, will see April and Bear reunite in an unforgettable adventure publishing on the 28th of September 2023. All novels are illustrated by renowned artist Levi Pinfold.
Marianne Levy
author of Don't Forget To Scream
Marianne Levy is the author of several children's books and her journalism has appeared in the Independent, the Guardian and the Financial Times. She writes features, book and television reviews for the i newspaper, where she is the lead children's book critic.
Marianne Levy is the author of several children's books and her journalism has appeared in the Independent, the Guardian and the Financial Times. She writes features, book and television reviews for the i newspaper, where she is the lead children's book critic.
Ashley Hickson-Lovence
author of The 392 & Your Show
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is a novelist and Lecturer of Creative Writing. While working as a secondary school English teacher, he completed his MA in Creative Writing and Publishing from City, University of London and has recently completed his PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia. His debut novel THE 392 was published in 2019. His second novel YOUR SHOW was released with Faber in 2022 and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards. His third book, a young adult novel-in-verse called WILD EAST, is to be released with Penguin in 2024. He is currently completing a new novel called ABOUT TO FALL APART.
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is a novelist and Lecturer of Creative Writing. While working as a secondary school English teacher, he completed his MA in Creative Writing and Publishing from City, University of London and has recently completed his PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia. His debut novel THE 392 was published in 2019. His second novel YOUR SHOW was released with Faber in 2022 and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards. His third book, a young adult novel-in-verse called WILD EAST, is to be released with Penguin in 2024. He is currently completing a new novel called ABOUT TO FALL APART.
Kate Sawyer
author of This Family & The Stranding
Kate Sawyer was born and grew up in Bury St Edmunds. She trained as an actor at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London and subsequently worked as an actor, producer and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. Her debut novel, THE STRANDING (Coronet, 2021), was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, won the East Anglian fiction prize, was adapted for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and is being developed for TV by Fremantle and Afua Hirsch's production company Born In Me. Her second novel THIS FAMILY (Coronet, 2023) was published in May this year to great critical acclaim. She is the host of Novel Experience, a weekly podcast where she talks to authors about their writing practices and the experiences that brought them to, through and beyond publication. After twenty years living in London, and briefly New York and LA, she recently returned to her native Bury St Edmunds, where, as a solo mother by choice, she lives with her young daughter.
Kate Sawyer was born and grew up in Bury St Edmunds. She trained as an actor at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London and subsequently worked as an actor, producer and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. Her debut novel, THE STRANDING (Coronet, 2021), was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, won the East Anglian fiction prize, was adapted for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and is being developed for TV by Fremantle and Afua Hirsch's production company Born In Me. Her second novel THIS FAMILY (Coronet, 2023) was published in May this year to great critical acclaim. She is the host of Novel Experience, a weekly podcast where she talks to authors about their writing practices and the experiences that brought them to, through and beyond publication. After twenty years living in London, and briefly New York and LA, she recently returned to her native Bury St Edmunds, where, as a solo mother by choice, she lives with her young daughter.
Annie Garthwaite
author of Cecily
Annie Garthwaite grew up in a working-class community in the northeast of England. She studied English at the University of Wales before embarking on a thirty-year international business career working with multi-national companies and eventually establishing her own communications consultancy. In 2017 she studied for an MA in Creative Writing at Warwick University and, during two years of study, wrote her debut novel CECILY which was published by Penguin in 2021. Cecily was named a ‘top pick’ by The Times and Sunday Times and a ‘Best Book of 2021’ by independent bookshops and Waterstones. Annie’s second novel, THE KING’S MOTHER, will be published by Penguin in July 2024.
Annie Garthwaite grew up in a working-class community in the northeast of England. She studied English at the University of Wales before embarking on a thirty-year international business career working with multi-national companies and eventually establishing her own communications consultancy. In 2017 she studied for an MA in Creative Writing at Warwick University and, during two years of study, wrote her debut novel CECILY which was published by Penguin in 2021. Cecily was named a ‘top pick’ by The Times and Sunday Times and a ‘Best Book of 2021’ by independent bookshops and Waterstones. Annie’s second novel, THE KING’S MOTHER, will be published by Penguin in July 2024.
Elly Griffiths
Elly Griffiths is the author of the bestselling DR RUTH GALLOWAY SERIES, THE BRIGHTON MYSTERIES and three stand-alone crime novels. She also writes the JUSTICE JONES MYSTERY SERIES for children. She won the 2020 Edgar Award for THE STRANGER DIARIES and, in 2016 was awarded the prestigious CWA Dagger in the Library Award for her work in the genre.
Maggie Humm
author of A Radical Woman: Gwen John & Rodin
Professor Maggie Humm’s novel RADICAL WOMAN: GWEN JOHN & RODIN (EER 2023) is a fictional autobiography of Gwen and her tumultuous affair with Auguste Rodin the sculptor and was short-listed for the Page Turner Award 2022. Her debut novel TALLAND HOUSE (SWP 2020), was shortlisted for the Impress Prize, Fresher Fiction Prize, Retreat West Prize and Eyelands Prize and longlisted by the Historical Writers’ Association. Talland House was one of the Washington Independent Review of Books ‘51 Favorite Books of 2020′, 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Historical Fiction and 2021 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Shortlist. She is also the author of fourteen academic books including the best-selling MODERN FEMINISMS, and several books on Virginia Woolf.
Professor Maggie Humm’s novel RADICAL WOMAN: GWEN JOHN & RODIN (EER 2023) is a fictional autobiography of Gwen and her tumultuous affair with Auguste Rodin the sculptor and was short-listed for the Page Turner Award 2022. Her debut novel TALLAND HOUSE (SWP 2020), was shortlisted for the Impress Prize, Fresher Fiction Prize, Retreat West Prize and Eyelands Prize and longlisted by the Historical Writers’ Association. Talland House was one of the Washington Independent Review of Books ‘51 Favorite Books of 2020′, 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Historical Fiction and 2021 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Shortlist. She is also the author of fourteen academic books including the best-selling MODERN FEMINISMS, and several books on Virginia Woolf.
Rajasree Variyar
author of The Daughters of Madurai
Rajasree Variyar grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in London, where she juggles writing while working in digital insurance product development. She holds a MA in Creative Writing from UEA. Her novel THE DAUGHTERS OF MADURAI was shortlisted for Hachette UK's 2019 Mo Siewcharran prize. Her short stories have won second prize in the Shooter Literary Magazine short story competition and been longlisted for the Brick Lane Bookshop short story competition.
Rajasree Variyar grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in London, where she juggles writing while working in digital insurance product development. She holds a MA in Creative Writing from UEA. Her novel THE DAUGHTERS OF MADURAI was shortlisted for Hachette UK's 2019 Mo Siewcharran prize. Her short stories have won second prize in the Shooter Literary Magazine short story competition and been longlisted for the Brick Lane Bookshop short story competition.
Karen Angelico
author of Everything We Are
Karen Angelico was born in Coventry and grew up in the West Midlands. She now lives in Suffolk with her four sons and works as a marketing content writer. She has a degree in Literature & Art History and an MA in Creative Writing from UEA. EVERYTHING WE ARE is her first novel.
Karen Angelico was born in Coventry and grew up in the West Midlands. She now lives in Suffolk with her four sons and works as a marketing content writer. She has a degree in Literature & Art History and an MA in Creative Writing from UEA. EVERYTHING WE ARE is her first novel.
Sussie Anie
author of To Fill A Yellow House
Sussie Anie is a British-Ghanaian writer, born in London in 1994. Her writing has been published in Lolwe magazine and was shortlisted for the 2020 White Review Short Story Prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the UEA, where she was the recipient of the 2018-19 Kowitz Scholarship. Her debut novel TO FILL A YELLOW HOUSE was longlisted for the 2023 Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.
Sussie Anie is a British-Ghanaian writer, born in London in 1994. Her writing has been published in Lolwe magazine and was shortlisted for the 2020 White Review Short Story Prize. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the UEA, where she was the recipient of the 2018-19 Kowitz Scholarship. Her debut novel TO FILL A YELLOW HOUSE was longlisted for the 2023 Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.
Eva Verde
author of Lives Like Mine and In Bloom
Eva Verde is a writer from East London. Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work. Her debut novel LIVES LIKE MINE, is published by Simon and Schuster. Eva's love song to libraries, I AM NOT YOUR TITUBA forms part of Kit De Waal’s COMMON PEOPLE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF WORKING-CLASS WRITERS. She has written for Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle and The Big Issue, and penned the new foreword for the international bestselling author Jackie Collins Goddess of Vengeance. Eva lives in Essex with her husband, children and dog. Her second novel IN BLOOM will be published in August 2023.
Eva Verde is a writer from East London. Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work. Her debut novel LIVES LIKE MINE, is published by Simon and Schuster. Eva's love song to libraries, I AM NOT YOUR TITUBA forms part of Kit De Waal’s COMMON PEOPLE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF WORKING-CLASS WRITERS. She has written for Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle and The Big Issue, and penned the new foreword for the international bestselling author Jackie Collins Goddess of Vengeance. Eva lives in Essex with her husband, children and dog. Her second novel IN BLOOM will be published in August 2023.
S A Harris
author of Haverscroft & Seahurst
Sally Harris writes supernatural fiction as S.A. Harris, and her first novel, Haverscroft, was published by Salt Publishing in May 2019. Haverscroft was a semi-finalist for The Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award 2020, a Den of Geek Top Ten Read 2019 and Halloween 2020 in Prima Magazine. Sally’s second novel, Seahurst, was published in May 2023 and is set on the Suffolk coast, where she spent much of her time growing up. She now lives in Norwich with her husband and three children and works as a prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service. Sally was runner-up in the Brixton Bookjam Debut Novelist Competition and won the Retreat West Crime Writer Competition 2018. She was shortlisted for The Fresher Prize First 500 Words of a Novel Competition and published in their anthology, Monsters in November 2018. Twitter @salharris1 Instagram @sallyharrisauthor Website saharrisauthor.com
Sally Harris writes supernatural fiction as S.A. Harris, and her first novel, Haverscroft, was published by Salt Publishing in May 2019. Haverscroft was a semi-finalist for The Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award 2020, a Den of Geek Top Ten Read 2019 and Halloween 2020 in Prima Magazine. Sally’s second novel, Seahurst, was published in May 2023 and is set on the Suffolk coast, where she spent much of her time growing up. She now lives in Norwich with her husband and three children and works as a prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service. Sally was runner-up in the Brixton Bookjam Debut Novelist Competition and won the Retreat West Crime Writer Competition 2018. She was shortlisted for The Fresher Prize First 500 Words of a Novel Competition and published in their anthology, Monsters in November 2018. Twitter @salharris1 Instagram @sallyharrisauthor Website saharrisauthor.com
Polly Crosby
Polly Crosby grew up on the Suffolk coast, and now lives with her husband and son in the heart of Norfolk. Polly’s third novel, Vita & the Birds, came out in May this year. Her first novel for young adults, This Tale is Forbidden - a dystopian fractured fairytale with hints of the Brother’s Grimm and The Handmaid’s Tale - is out in January next year with Scholastic. In 2018, Polly won Curtis Brown Creative’s Yesterday Scholarship, which enabled her to finish her debut novel, The Illustrated Child. Later the same year, she was awarded runner-up in the Bridport Prize’s Peggy Chapman Andrews Award for a First Novel. Polly received the Annabel Abbs Creative Writing Scholarship at the University of East Anglia. Polly can be found on Twitter, Instagram & Tiktok as @WriterPolly Website: pollycrosby.com
Rosie Andrews
author of The Leviathan
Rosie Andrews was born and grew up in Liverpool, as the third of twelve children. She studied History at Cambridge before becoming an English teacher. Her first novel The Leviathan became a Sunday Times bestseller in 2022 and was shortlisted for the Historical Writers Association Debut Crown. She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and daughter.
Rosie Andrews was born and grew up in Liverpool, as the third of twelve children. She studied History at Cambridge before becoming an English teacher. Her first novel The Leviathan became a Sunday Times bestseller in 2022 and was shortlisted for the Historical Writers Association Debut Crown. She lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and daughter.
Margaret Meyer
author of The Witching Tide
Margaret Meyer has an MA in prose fiction from the University of East
Anglia and her work has appeared in a variety of literary publications. Her
first novel, THE WITCHING TIDE, was inspired by England’s deadliest witch
hunt, which swept across East Anglia in 1644-6 and claimed the lives of many innocent women. Margaret was born in New Zealand and now lives in Norwich with her family.
Margaret Meyer has an MA in prose fiction from the University of East
Anglia and her work has appeared in a variety of literary publications. Her
first novel, THE WITCHING TIDE, was inspired by England’s deadliest witch
hunt, which swept across East Anglia in 1644-6 and claimed the lives of many innocent women. Margaret was born in New Zealand and now lives in Norwich with her family.
Marion Gibson
author of Witchcraft : A History in 13 Trials
Marion Gibson is Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Exeter, UK. She’s been thinking about witches in history since she read her first account of a witch trial in a book lent to her on a dark, rainy afternoon in November 1991. She was so excited by the story that she forgot to give the book back.Thirty years on, she is the author of seven books on witches in history and literature: READING WITCHCRAFT (Routledge, 1999), Possession, Puritanism and Print (Pickering and Chatto, 2006), WITCHCRAFT MYTHS IN AMERICAN CULTURE (Routledge, 2007), IMAGINING THE PAGAN PAST (Routledge, 2013), REDISCOVERING RENAISSANCE WITCHCRAFT (Routledge, 2017), WITCHCRAFT: THE BASICS (London: Routledge, 2017) and with Jo Esra SHAKESPEARE’S DEMONOLOGY (Bloomsbury, 2014). She’s currently writing THE WITCHES OF ST OSYTH for Cambridge University Press.
Marion Gibson is Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Exeter, UK. She’s been thinking about witches in history since she read her first account of a witch trial in a book lent to her on a dark, rainy afternoon in November 1991. She was so excited by the story that she forgot to give the book back.Thirty years on, she is the author of seven books on witches in history and literature: READING WITCHCRAFT (Routledge, 1999), Possession, Puritanism and Print (Pickering and Chatto, 2006), WITCHCRAFT MYTHS IN AMERICAN CULTURE (Routledge, 2007), IMAGINING THE PAGAN PAST (Routledge, 2013), REDISCOVERING RENAISSANCE WITCHCRAFT (Routledge, 2017), WITCHCRAFT: THE BASICS (London: Routledge, 2017) and with Jo Esra SHAKESPEARE’S DEMONOLOGY (Bloomsbury, 2014). She’s currently writing THE WITCHES OF ST OSYTH for Cambridge University Press.
2022
Andre Mangeot
author of Blood Rain
André Mangeot’s poetry has appeared in the Spectator, New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement and has won many competitions, including the 2019 Robert Graves Prize. His latest collection, Blood Rain (Seren, 2020) combines the personal and the public to touch on some of the major challenges now facing the planet & has been described as as “a thought-provoking book for turbulent times”. As a member of poetry ensemble The Joy of Six he has performed at festivals across the UK and in New York. He also writes fiction and has published two books of short stories: A Little Javanese and True North (Salt) and recently completed a novel. He lives in Cambridge.
André Mangeot’s poetry has appeared in the Spectator, New Statesman, Times Literary Supplement and has won many competitions, including the 2019 Robert Graves Prize. His latest collection, Blood Rain (Seren, 2020) combines the personal and the public to touch on some of the major challenges now facing the planet & has been described as as “a thought-provoking book for turbulent times”. As a member of poetry ensemble The Joy of Six he has performed at festivals across the UK and in New York. He also writes fiction and has published two books of short stories: A Little Javanese and True North (Salt) and recently completed a novel. He lives in Cambridge.
John Henry Philips
author of The Search
Bury St Edmunds born John Henry Philips is an author, archaeologist and filmmaker. A chance meeting with a D Day veteran led him to search for a shipwreck and to his latest book The Search, a moving true story of a devastating time in history, an unlikely, life-changing friendship and a quest to honour a wartime home and family lost over seventy-five years ago.
Bury St Edmunds born John Henry Philips is an author, archaeologist and filmmaker. A chance meeting with a D Day veteran led him to search for a shipwreck and to his latest book The Search, a moving true story of a devastating time in history, an unlikely, life-changing friendship and a quest to honour a wartime home and family lost over seventy-five years ago.
Linda Regan
author of The Burning Question
Linda Regan is an actor best known for her roles in Hi-De-Hi!, the Carry On films, The Bill and Birds of a Feather. She is also a prolific and best selling author of gritty crime novels all set in South London where Linda grew up and where, in her words, crime is pretty tough. Her most recent book, The Burning Question, is the eighth in the DCI Banham series and reunites readers with detective duo DCI Paul Banham and DI Alison Grainger as they search for the link between a chain of suspicious arson attacks fatally targeting young women.
Linda meticulously researches her books but recently this got her into an unexpected brush with the Law. She had been shadowing a Met Dog training team and as a result there was cocaine on her shoes which a police dog smelt at Canary Wharf Tube Station.
Linda Regan is an actor best known for her roles in Hi-De-Hi!, the Carry On films, The Bill and Birds of a Feather. She is also a prolific and best selling author of gritty crime novels all set in South London where Linda grew up and where, in her words, crime is pretty tough. Her most recent book, The Burning Question, is the eighth in the DCI Banham series and reunites readers with detective duo DCI Paul Banham and DI Alison Grainger as they search for the link between a chain of suspicious arson attacks fatally targeting young women.
Linda meticulously researches her books but recently this got her into an unexpected brush with the Law. She had been shadowing a Met Dog training team and as a result there was cocaine on her shoes which a police dog smelt at Canary Wharf Tube Station.
Jenny Uglow
author of Cybil & Cyril Cutting Through Time
Jenny Uglow OBE FRSL is a distinguished biographer, historian, critic and publisher who has written biographies of George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick, and Edward Lear amongst others. She has been awarded the Hawthornden Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize and many of her books have been short listed for the Whitbread Prize, the Baillie Gifford Prize (formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize) and the Duff Cooper Prize for Non-fiction. She also compiled the first edition of The Macmillan Dictionary of Women’s Biography about which she said: “I embarked on the Macmillan Biographical Dictionary of Women in a fit of pique because all reference books were full of men: it was a mad undertaking, born of a time when feminists wanted heroines and didn’t have Google.”
Jenny’s biographies have been particularly praised for their vivid, detailed recreation of the time and place in which their subjects lived and nowhere more so than in her latest book, the beautifully illustrated Sybil and Cyril – Cutting through Time, the story of Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power. Sybil Andrews was an outstanding artist best known for her ground breaking stylised linocuts portraying daily rural and urban life. She was born in Bury St Edmunds in 1898 where her family had an ironmongers (Andrews & Plumpton) in Guildhall Street and she often used the town as her subject. A rare tapestry made by her is in the Cathedral and Moyses Hall holds a number of her linocuts and paintings. The Sybil Andrews Academy on Moreton Hall is named after her.
This event was generously supported by the Bury Society.
Jenny Uglow OBE FRSL is a distinguished biographer, historian, critic and publisher who has written biographies of George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick, and Edward Lear amongst others. She has been awarded the Hawthornden Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize and many of her books have been short listed for the Whitbread Prize, the Baillie Gifford Prize (formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize) and the Duff Cooper Prize for Non-fiction. She also compiled the first edition of The Macmillan Dictionary of Women’s Biography about which she said: “I embarked on the Macmillan Biographical Dictionary of Women in a fit of pique because all reference books were full of men: it was a mad undertaking, born of a time when feminists wanted heroines and didn’t have Google.”
Jenny’s biographies have been particularly praised for their vivid, detailed recreation of the time and place in which their subjects lived and nowhere more so than in her latest book, the beautifully illustrated Sybil and Cyril – Cutting through Time, the story of Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power. Sybil Andrews was an outstanding artist best known for her ground breaking stylised linocuts portraying daily rural and urban life. She was born in Bury St Edmunds in 1898 where her family had an ironmongers (Andrews & Plumpton) in Guildhall Street and she often used the town as her subject. A rare tapestry made by her is in the Cathedral and Moyses Hall holds a number of her linocuts and paintings. The Sybil Andrews Academy on Moreton Hall is named after her.
This event was generously supported by the Bury Society.
Nicola Upson & Mandy Morton
authors of Dear Little Corpses & The Cat And The Pendulum
Real life partners Nicola and Mandy both write crime novels but of very different genres. Nicola writes historical crime fiction featuring Josephine Tey, a real-life crime novelist. Her latest novel Dear Little Corpses is set in Suffolk at the beginning of the Second World War when many children were evacuated from the cities.
“The obvious subject matter at the time that it was written, which was in the early days of lockdown, was separation. It was difficult to write about, but very easy to imagine. All the fear and uncertainty of a world on the brink of a war and also the pain of separation. That was very real to us,” said Nicola.
Mandy Morton writes crime novels to make you smile. Her No. 2 Feline Detective Agency series is set in an alternative cat world, which is much like our human one, with the exception that there aren’t any police in the picture. They feature Hettie Bagshot, a long-haired tabby cat whose whiskers twitch at the first sign of a mystery, and her best friend Tilly Jenkins. They are brimming with puns, food, and fun but also solid mysteries, many of which are by no means as cosy as you might expect. In Mandy’s latest book, The Cat and the Pendulum, Hettie and Tilly are called in to investigate Agatha Crispy’s stolen manuscript.
Nicola was born in Bury St Edmunds and is a Patron of the Festival. She started as an arts journalist and writer and she originally planned to write a biography of Josephine Tey, a complex and multi-talented woman who had fascinated Nicola for many years. However, in the end, Nicola decided to tell Tey’s life through a series of fictional murder mysteries, which is the genre she is best known for these days. Nicola’s novels draw on all the much-loved conventions of the Golden Age writers and are underpinned by sound historic research, though she gives her stories a very contemporary twist.
Nicola has been long and short listed for the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger.
Mandy Morton began her professional life as a musician with Cambridge folk rock band, Spriguns. Her songwriting formed the basis of six albums during the 1970s and early 1980s, when she toured extensively with the band and then as a solo artist both here and in Scandinavia. More recently, she has worked as a freelance arts journalist for national and local radio, specialising in making music and theatre documentary. She is the co-author of a non-fiction theatre book, In Good Company. It was after retiring from her broadcasting career that she started writing her novels, spurred on by Nicola. PD James called them ‘Original and intriguing… a world without people which cat lovers will enter and enjoy.’
Real life partners Nicola and Mandy both write crime novels but of very different genres. Nicola writes historical crime fiction featuring Josephine Tey, a real-life crime novelist. Her latest novel Dear Little Corpses is set in Suffolk at the beginning of the Second World War when many children were evacuated from the cities.
“The obvious subject matter at the time that it was written, which was in the early days of lockdown, was separation. It was difficult to write about, but very easy to imagine. All the fear and uncertainty of a world on the brink of a war and also the pain of separation. That was very real to us,” said Nicola.
Mandy Morton writes crime novels to make you smile. Her No. 2 Feline Detective Agency series is set in an alternative cat world, which is much like our human one, with the exception that there aren’t any police in the picture. They feature Hettie Bagshot, a long-haired tabby cat whose whiskers twitch at the first sign of a mystery, and her best friend Tilly Jenkins. They are brimming with puns, food, and fun but also solid mysteries, many of which are by no means as cosy as you might expect. In Mandy’s latest book, The Cat and the Pendulum, Hettie and Tilly are called in to investigate Agatha Crispy’s stolen manuscript.
Nicola was born in Bury St Edmunds and is a Patron of the Festival. She started as an arts journalist and writer and she originally planned to write a biography of Josephine Tey, a complex and multi-talented woman who had fascinated Nicola for many years. However, in the end, Nicola decided to tell Tey’s life through a series of fictional murder mysteries, which is the genre she is best known for these days. Nicola’s novels draw on all the much-loved conventions of the Golden Age writers and are underpinned by sound historic research, though she gives her stories a very contemporary twist.
Nicola has been long and short listed for the CWA Gold Dagger Award and the CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger.
Mandy Morton began her professional life as a musician with Cambridge folk rock band, Spriguns. Her songwriting formed the basis of six albums during the 1970s and early 1980s, when she toured extensively with the band and then as a solo artist both here and in Scandinavia. More recently, she has worked as a freelance arts journalist for national and local radio, specialising in making music and theatre documentary. She is the co-author of a non-fiction theatre book, In Good Company. It was after retiring from her broadcasting career that she started writing her novels, spurred on by Nicola. PD James called them ‘Original and intriguing… a world without people which cat lovers will enter and enjoy.’
2021
John Row & The East Coast Poets
John Row is a well known & much loved poet and storyteller. He is also the first storyteller to be 'in residence' in a British prison, and worked at HMP Highpoint, HMP Wayland and HMP Blundeston as Writer in Residence. He has been a visiting writer in over 30 prisons as well as working in schools and in the community both here and abroad.
East Coast Poets are a loose collective of poets from Norfolk and Suffolk that grew out of a long running series of workshops led by John. Their styles vary from the humerous verse of Emma Brookes 'The Norfolk Dumpling' reinventing traditional tales and putting them in a modern setting, through the dry and incisive words of Andrew Underwood, through Clare Smith's individual take on the world and life to 'The Skinny Poet' Jody Lee's epic performance [pieces cutting to the very heart of the human condition.
East Coast Poets are a loose collective of poets from Norfolk and Suffolk that grew out of a long running series of workshops led by John. Their styles vary from the humerous verse of Emma Brookes 'The Norfolk Dumpling' reinventing traditional tales and putting them in a modern setting, through the dry and incisive words of Andrew Underwood, through Clare Smith's individual take on the world and life to 'The Skinny Poet' Jody Lee's epic performance [pieces cutting to the very heart of the human condition.
Simon Edge
author of Anyone For Edmund
Comic writer Simon Edge talked about his latest book ANYONE FOR EDMUND, which Francis Young calls "Gripping, funny and richly entertaining. Not only a compelling read, but also grounded in real history and the genuine questions of national identity that are still thrown up by the legacies of medieval patron saints."
ANYONE FOR EDMUND takes aim at politicians who never miss an opportunity to promote themselves. He talks about the genesis of his novel, the benefits of telling historical stories in a modern setting, the ups and downs of publishing his tale in the year everything was cancelled.
Simon is a former journalist and gossip columnist so is familiar with the world he satirises in ANYONE FOR EDMUND. His books mix with historical facts and figures with warm hearted comedy and satire. He is also a publisher, editor and enthusiastic yoga practitioner.
Comic writer Simon Edge talked about his latest book ANYONE FOR EDMUND, which Francis Young calls "Gripping, funny and richly entertaining. Not only a compelling read, but also grounded in real history and the genuine questions of national identity that are still thrown up by the legacies of medieval patron saints."
ANYONE FOR EDMUND takes aim at politicians who never miss an opportunity to promote themselves. He talks about the genesis of his novel, the benefits of telling historical stories in a modern setting, the ups and downs of publishing his tale in the year everything was cancelled.
Simon is a former journalist and gossip columnist so is familiar with the world he satirises in ANYONE FOR EDMUND. His books mix with historical facts and figures with warm hearted comedy and satire. He is also a publisher, editor and enthusiastic yoga practitioner.
Matt Gaw
author of Under The Stars: A Journey Into Light
Matt Gaw is a writer, journalist and naturalist who lives in Bury St Edmunds. He has been called 'One of the most inspiring of our young nature writers.' by Stephen Moss, naturalist and author of THE ROBIN : A BIOGRAPHY.
In his first book, THE PULL OF THE RIVER, Matt chronicles his exploration, by canoe, of Britain's rivers.
In his second book, UNDER THE STARS: A JOURNEY INTO LIGHT, Matt explores the power of walking by the light of the moon in Suffolk and under the scattered buckshot of starlight in Scotland; braving the darkest depths of Dartmoor; investigating the glare of 24/7 London and the suburban sprawl of Bury St Edmunds; and, finally, rediscovering a sense of the sublime on the Isle of Coll. he calls us to reconnect with the natural world, showing how we only need to step outside to find that, in darkness, the world lights up.
Matt has had work published in the Telegraph, the Guardian and the Times. He works with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, edits Suffolk Wildlife and writes a monthly country diary for the Suffolk Magazine.
Matt Gaw is a writer, journalist and naturalist who lives in Bury St Edmunds. He has been called 'One of the most inspiring of our young nature writers.' by Stephen Moss, naturalist and author of THE ROBIN : A BIOGRAPHY.
In his first book, THE PULL OF THE RIVER, Matt chronicles his exploration, by canoe, of Britain's rivers.
In his second book, UNDER THE STARS: A JOURNEY INTO LIGHT, Matt explores the power of walking by the light of the moon in Suffolk and under the scattered buckshot of starlight in Scotland; braving the darkest depths of Dartmoor; investigating the glare of 24/7 London and the suburban sprawl of Bury St Edmunds; and, finally, rediscovering a sense of the sublime on the Isle of Coll. he calls us to reconnect with the natural world, showing how we only need to step outside to find that, in darkness, the world lights up.
Matt has had work published in the Telegraph, the Guardian and the Times. He works with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, edits Suffolk Wildlife and writes a monthly country diary for the Suffolk Magazine.
Francis Young
author of Edmund: In Search of England's Lost King
Dr Francis Young is a well known historian with a particular interest in Counter-Reformation culture and popular religion (including magic and the supernatural) in England. He is also an expert on St Edmund and his Abbey in Bury St Edmunds, the ruins of which are the glorious Abbey Gardens. Edmund was the martyred monarch of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and England's first patron saint. Francis firmly beleives that St Edmund's body will be found somewhere beneath the Abbey Gardens, possibly under the site of the old tennis courts and has set out his theories in EDMUND: IN SEARCH OF ENGLAND'S LOST KING.
Dr Francis Young is a well known historian with a particular interest in Counter-Reformation culture and popular religion (including magic and the supernatural) in England. He is also an expert on St Edmund and his Abbey in Bury St Edmunds, the ruins of which are the glorious Abbey Gardens. Edmund was the martyred monarch of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and England's first patron saint. Francis firmly beleives that St Edmund's body will be found somewhere beneath the Abbey Gardens, possibly under the site of the old tennis courts and has set out his theories in EDMUND: IN SEARCH OF ENGLAND'S LOST KING.
Julia Blackburn
author of Time Song
Julia is the author of 16 books, including two novels both of which were shortlisted for the Orange Prize, poetry and several biographies and memoirs. THREADS: THE DELICATE LIFE OF JOHN CRASKE was the 2015 East Anglian Book of the Year and won the New Angle Prize and she has been shortlisted for many other prestigious prizes and awards.
Julia Blackburn has always collected things that hold stories about the very distant past, as she trawls the Suffolk coastline near her home: mammoth bones, two million years old shells, a flint sharpened into a weapon. Her latest book TIME SONG brings many of these stories together as it tells of the creation, the existence and the loss of a country now called Doggerland, a huge and fertile area that once connected the entire east coast of England with mainland Europe, until it was finally submerged by rising sea levels around 5000BC.
Fragments from Julia's own life feature alongside a series of eighteen 'songs' and stories about the places and people she meets in her quest to get closer to an understanding of Doggerland.
Julia is the author of 16 books, including two novels both of which were shortlisted for the Orange Prize, poetry and several biographies and memoirs. THREADS: THE DELICATE LIFE OF JOHN CRASKE was the 2015 East Anglian Book of the Year and won the New Angle Prize and she has been shortlisted for many other prestigious prizes and awards.
Julia Blackburn has always collected things that hold stories about the very distant past, as she trawls the Suffolk coastline near her home: mammoth bones, two million years old shells, a flint sharpened into a weapon. Her latest book TIME SONG brings many of these stories together as it tells of the creation, the existence and the loss of a country now called Doggerland, a huge and fertile area that once connected the entire east coast of England with mainland Europe, until it was finally submerged by rising sea levels around 5000BC.
Fragments from Julia's own life feature alongside a series of eighteen 'songs' and stories about the places and people she meets in her quest to get closer to an understanding of Doggerland.
Liz Trenow
author of The Secret of The Lake
Liz trenow, international bestselling author of historical novels such as IN LOVE AND WAR and THE SILK WEAVER, returns to her East Anglian roots for her latest book THE SECRETS OF THE LAKE, a very personal novel inspired by her childhood and a mysterious local legend.
Liz's family have been silk weavers for nearly three hundred years, and she grew up in the house next to the mill in Sudbury which still operates today, weaving for top-end fashion houses and royal commisions. This unique history inspired her first two novels and the fourth novel, THE SILK WEAVER.
THE SECRET OF THE LAKE is a coming of age story set in Suffolk with a tragic mystery at its heart. The traumas of two world wars reverberate through a rural village, rocking the community and threatening the innocence of a new generation.
Liz talked about her writing life and her fascination with history.
Liz trenow, international bestselling author of historical novels such as IN LOVE AND WAR and THE SILK WEAVER, returns to her East Anglian roots for her latest book THE SECRETS OF THE LAKE, a very personal novel inspired by her childhood and a mysterious local legend.
Liz's family have been silk weavers for nearly three hundred years, and she grew up in the house next to the mill in Sudbury which still operates today, weaving for top-end fashion houses and royal commisions. This unique history inspired her first two novels and the fourth novel, THE SILK WEAVER.
THE SECRET OF THE LAKE is a coming of age story set in Suffolk with a tragic mystery at its heart. The traumas of two world wars reverberate through a rural village, rocking the community and threatening the innocence of a new generation.
Liz talked about her writing life and her fascination with history.
William Shaw
author of The Trawlermen
Before becoming a crime writer, William Shaw was an award-winning journalist and the author of several non-fiction books including WESTSIDERS: STORES OF THE BOYS IN THE HOOD, about a year spent with the young men of South Central Los Angeles, and A SUPERHERO FOR HIRE, a compilation of columns in the Observer Magazine.
William's series featuring DS Cathal Breen and the brash young constable Helen Tozer are set in late sixties London amidst the cultural and political revolution of the times. They have been called "an elegy for an entire alienated generation".
Following his acclaimed novel, THE BIRDWATCHER, set in the bleak landscape of Dungeness, he has written a contemporary series also set there, featuring DS Alexandra Cupidi, a woman making her way in what is still a male dominated world. The latest in the series is THE TRAWLERMEN.
Before becoming a crime writer, William Shaw was an award-winning journalist and the author of several non-fiction books including WESTSIDERS: STORES OF THE BOYS IN THE HOOD, about a year spent with the young men of South Central Los Angeles, and A SUPERHERO FOR HIRE, a compilation of columns in the Observer Magazine.
William's series featuring DS Cathal Breen and the brash young constable Helen Tozer are set in late sixties London amidst the cultural and political revolution of the times. They have been called "an elegy for an entire alienated generation".
Following his acclaimed novel, THE BIRDWATCHER, set in the bleak landscape of Dungeness, he has written a contemporary series also set there, featuring DS Alexandra Cupidi, a woman making her way in what is still a male dominated world. The latest in the series is THE TRAWLERMEN.
Adrian Bleese
author of Above The Law
After the RAF, Adrian Bleese began working for Suffolk Constabulary and spent years flying on police helicopters. In ABOVE THE LAW he recounts the most intriguining, challenging, amusing and downright baffling episodes in his career working for Suffolk Constabulary and the National Police Air Service. Rescuing lost walkers, chasing cars down narrow country lanes, searching for a rural cannabis factory and disrupting an illegal forest rave...they're all in day's work!
It's a side of policing that most of us never see, and he describes it with real compassion as he lives his dream job, indulging his love of flying, the English landscape and helping people. More than anything it's a story about hope.
After the RAF, Adrian Bleese began working for Suffolk Constabulary and spent years flying on police helicopters. In ABOVE THE LAW he recounts the most intriguining, challenging, amusing and downright baffling episodes in his career working for Suffolk Constabulary and the National Police Air Service. Rescuing lost walkers, chasing cars down narrow country lanes, searching for a rural cannabis factory and disrupting an illegal forest rave...they're all in day's work!
It's a side of policing that most of us never see, and he describes it with real compassion as he lives his dream job, indulging his love of flying, the English landscape and helping people. More than anything it's a story about hope.
Rachel Hore
author of A Beautiful Spy
Rachel is a multi-million copy Sunday Times bestselling auhtor, has been shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association Novel of the Year, and was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. She is an Honorary Lecturer in Creative Writig at UEA. She is the author of ten novels, many of which are woven from the past and the present. Her latest book A BEAUTIFUL SPY was inspired by the life of Olga Gray.
Rachel is a multi-million copy Sunday Times bestselling auhtor, has been shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association Novel of the Year, and was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. She is an Honorary Lecturer in Creative Writig at UEA. She is the author of ten novels, many of which are woven from the past and the present. Her latest book A BEAUTIFUL SPY was inspired by the life of Olga Gray.
Jan Etherington
author of BBC R4's A Long Marriage
Jan Etherington is a multi-award-winning comedy writer. She has written for local and national newspapers and magazines as well as being an entertaining broadcaster. She is best known as a playwright for stage, television and radio. Her gentle, but perceptive comedy has universal appeal. Many listeners identify with the couple in her hugely popular BBC Radio 4 drama CONVERSATIONS FROM A LONG MARRIAGE which stars Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam.
Jan has always written comedy, having started young contributing to her school magazine. Her early career, as a journalist, began on music magazines and continued through features, humorous columns and star interviews for major newspapers and magazines. She still works as a freelance newspaper writer, contributing travel, features and comment articles to many national newspapers and magazines, as well as a monthly column to the Suffolk magazine.
Jan Etherington is a multi-award-winning comedy writer. She has written for local and national newspapers and magazines as well as being an entertaining broadcaster. She is best known as a playwright for stage, television and radio. Her gentle, but perceptive comedy has universal appeal. Many listeners identify with the couple in her hugely popular BBC Radio 4 drama CONVERSATIONS FROM A LONG MARRIAGE which stars Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam.
Jan has always written comedy, having started young contributing to her school magazine. Her early career, as a journalist, began on music magazines and continued through features, humorous columns and star interviews for major newspapers and magazines. She still works as a freelance newspaper writer, contributing travel, features and comment articles to many national newspapers and magazines, as well as a monthly column to the Suffolk magazine.