After much to-ing and fro-ing with our graphic designer – perfection takes time - we are delighted to unveil the Festival poster for the 14th April event. Designed by Craig Aldwinckle, freelance graphic designer based in Warwick (studio@craigaldwinckle.com for all your graphic needs) , we are absolutely chuffed with it.
It’s been a while but plans have moved on apace. Our first full big day is now finalised with Frank Field confirming that he will come along and tell us what David Cameron is doing wrong at 5.00 pm. I shall press my Ché t-shirt especially.
So, the day in it’s entirety looks like this;
9.30 am Sandra Howard ( latest book coming out is “Ex Wives”…comes out next month, too )
11.00 am Virginia McKenna ………….need I say more
12.30 pm Chris Fowler………crime writer – the Bryant and May novels and a very sparky character indeed. Check his blog here and the Bryant and May novels. 
Looking forward to this one. (Sparky ….geddit? …..Bryant and May ? ………Oh well……..)
2.00 pm Kate Adie…………now, this one will get you going. Kate will talk about her book “Into Danger.Risking your life for your work” . Now it could be said that some of you may think that you do…..risk your life for your work….but not like this, eh ?
3.30 pm David Dickinson, another crime writer, will talk about his work as creator of Lord Powerscroft, in particular, the art of writing historical crime fiction – from Powerscroft to Mycroft Holmes. David’s new book, “Death at the Jesus Hospital” (out in March) sees Lord Powerscroft attempting to solve 3 murders with strange bodily markings. Mmmm ( strokes chin, thoughtfully).
5.00 pm The Rt.Hon.Frank Field MP is an expert on all matters Welfare State. Told by Tony Bliar to “think the unthinkable” ….did Tony like what Frank thought…. I can’t wait to find out. 
What a varied line up. Westminster. Romance and Intrigue. The Natural World. Real Life War corresponding. And if you ever wanted to write a crime novel…..now’s your time to learn how from the masters.
Overjoyed with the line-up, we have been beavering away on practical matters too with some success. The final layout of the promo-poster for the 14th is done and will be posted up here shortly. We all think it’s great. Tickets are selling fast even though there is still more promo to come……………but our ticket hotline has crashed. Not sure whether it is under the weight of demand or not but we’re working on it frantically, Literature Fans, so that you can all get the tickets you require.
Don’t forget our first venture on the 10th March.
Get your tickets while you can…………..I tell you, they’ll be collectors items.
(All proceeds to charity.) 
Okay folks, the ether has been abuzz, as you would expect, and now the schedule for 10th March looks like this;
Susan Hill
Susan Hill 11.00 am.
Christine Hamilton 2.00 pm.
...........battleaxe ?.........you're kidding.......
Unfortunately, Lord Guthrie was unable to confirm that he’d be able to make it so our Lit.Fest. taster session is finalised as above.
Susan Hill will no doubt be talking about the adaptation of her book “The Woman in Black” and her other works. So, come along and ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask. How does she structure her working day ? Where do the ideas for ghost stories come from and if she spends all day thinking about ghosts does she have nightmares at bedtime ? Is Daniel Radcliffe really a “scaredy-pants” ?
And of course, we’ll have Christine Hamilton talking about her book. Is she really a battleaxe or just a softy at heart? Can that winning smile really mask a latter-day Boadicea ? Who really wears the pants in the Hamilton household ? And who dares ask ?!
....to know them is to love them....
Well, you’ll never know the answers to all these and other questions too if you don’t buy your tickets and come along. Ticket information is on the panel on the right. All proceeds go to charity……we’re not doing this for fun, you know !
Oh, and an update for 14th April……Sandra Howard is now on at 9.30 am. Good early start !!
OMG ! (as the youngsters say) we have a plan…..and don’t you just love it when a plan comes together. An earlier start time at Tim’s Den sifted out those with proper jobs or mouths to feed so the meeting last night was (the) hard core (see how I’m getting down with the kids?).
More speakers have confirmed their appearances and times and the March and April events have a real shape to them. There’s some talk that the closet Socialists are looking forward to hearing the Rt. Hon. Frank Field MP speak. If you find a Socialist in your closet he was probably a “Red under the Bed” originally.
Rt.Hon. Frank Field MP
The flyer “rough” was universally applauded but we may have to take the font up a notch so that there’s no fiddling around in handbags for pince-nez.
So, the running order is looking like this;
10th March: Lit Fest Taster
Christine Hamilton 2.00pm
Susan Hill 4.00pm (tbc)
Lord Guthrie 5.00pm (tbc)
14th April: Lit Fest Main Day 1
Virginia McKenna 11.00 am
Chris Fowler 12.30 pm
Kate Adie 2.00 pm
David Dickinson 3.30 pm
Sandra Howard 5.00 pm (tbc)
Rt.Hon. Frank Field MP 6.00 pm
Wow, what a day ! I hope Roy at The George stocks up on sherry.
The George.......for a fine sherry........
Hostesses and minders sorted. Bob is looking forward to entertaining Christine Hamilton with his tales of dry-stone walling. Articles are being published and we continue to put together July and September. It’s all beginning to look great.
…..and the things you learn….publishes won’t do sale or return on books by authors….have these pipe-smokers surrendered to The Kindle ?!….
Screeching and howling from the churchyard as I left The Den last night? Very “Hound of the Baskervilles” .
Now, must get the advertising out; “Local Rags” – tick; “County Mags” – tick; Radio – to do; County newspapers – to do; flyer and poster print………..
Great news today. The lovely Virginia McKenna has been added to the line-up for the 14th April (11.00 am.)
Virginia will be talking about her amazing life and her books, the Born Free Foundation and her conservation work. The book of her memoirs, ‘The Life in My Years’ - published in 2009, went into paperback in September 2010.
It was after making ‘Born Free’ that Virginia and her husband Bill Travers became involved with the many issues concerning wild animals, and the death of a ‘teenage’ elephant, Pole Pole, in London Zoo began the next phase of their lives. The story of this elephant is a heart-rending one and was vividly portrayed by Bill in his chapter in ‘Beyond the Bars’ – the first of several books Virginia was to write or contribute to.
Increasingly, she became more and more involved with the work of Zoo Check – the organisation she and Bill, and their eldest son Will had, with three others, started in 1984. The original focus was on the problems facing wild animals in captivity but, as time passed, it began to include wildlife in the wild issues. The name then changed, in 1991, to The Born Free Foundation.
Virginia now spends most of her time working with the foundation. Apart from this work, she also occasionally takes part in poetry programmes – the latest being a poetry and music evening in aid of Combat Stress, the charity that helps service men and women returning from war zones in need of emotional support.
The line-up for the 14th April now looks like this;
Virginia McKenna
Kate Adie
Sandra Howard
Chris Fowler
David Dickinson
Some times are still to be confirmed. It looks like being a great day. See you there.
Ticket information can be found on the “Home” page.
We crammed into Tim’s Den on Tuesday night to start the serious work of pulling this year’s Festival together. I love Committee Meeting’s, don’t you ? You learn so much. Talk about “6 degrees of separation” – it’s a lot less than that around here. So, it’s Friday and I’m getting my advertising out, or at least some of it and what I can. An article on the launch of the whole event has gone to Cotswold Essence, who will, hopefully, include it in their next issue. So watch out for that.
I have an email interview to do for Cotswold Life magazine to be included in their March issue ( or is it April ?) which will come through shortly.
Bob is beavering away trying to confirm speakers. I don’t envy him the task.
Confirmed so far are Christine Hamilton, “Confessions of a Battleaxe” at 4.00 pm on the Saturday 10th March.
....to know them is to love them....
Mrs.Monkey has seen this talk before, or I guess a variant of it, and really enjoyed it so we’re hopeful for a full house. We’re also trying to confirm Susan Hill for the same day and though she has indicated that she will come along I do suspect that with the film of the book coming out …”The Woman in Black”…then she might be pretty busy. We try to get the hot current names here for you, dear readers. Fingers crossed anyway.
The 14th April is looking good. We have confirmed Kate Adie, Sandra Howard and crime writers Chris Fowler and David Dickinson. David Dickinson’s theme will be something like “From Lord Francis Powerscourt to Mycroft Holmes, writing historical fiction 1892 – 1910″ . There, hot on the heals of the latest Sherlock !
The latest books of our other first guests for this year’s festival are:
Kate Adie – “Into Danger” 
Sandra Howard – “A Matter of Loyalty” 
David Dickinson – “Death in a Scarlet Coat” 
Chris Fowler – you’ll find what Chris is working on here at his lively blog ..http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/
Tickets are £7.50 each and can be bought at tickets@kempsfordliteraryfestival.co.uk or by calling 01285 898584. Don’t forget, all proceeds go to local charities.
Stay tuned, folks, for updates (sorry, wrong medium) . Emails wing their way across Kempsford at breakneck speed these days.
And your topic, for today, the apostrophe – is it dead ? i thnk nt.
Plans for this years Festival are moving on apace. Early confirmations include Christine Hamilton and her “Confessions of a Battleaxe” talk on 10th March. Kate Adie and Sandra Howard will be along on 14th April, as will crime writers Chris Fowler and David Dickinson.
Keep checking back for more information to be updated as we have it. Ticket info coming soon.
