Guest blog by Rowan Whiteside- The Forum
Readers rejoice! Norwich Book Festival is coming to the City of Stories, bringing more than 35 bookish events for everybody to enjoy, from Thursday 24 – Sunday 27 October. This new festival takes place in venues across Norwich, including the city’s bookshops, National Centre for Writing, Norwich Theatre, St Peter Mancroft and The Forum. Find out more below!
Tell us a bit about Norwich Book Festival– who is it for?
There are events for every kind of reader, for all ages, and across genres! From romance to historical fiction, to the best of non-fiction across religion, geography, mental health and more. There’s also plenty for little ones, with live drawing, storytelling, and performance poetry.
Norwich Book Festival is a brand-new event taking place this October!
What makes Norwich- aptly named the City of Stories- the perfect place for this event?
As England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, Norwich is the perfect place for a new book festival. Our city is home to a fantastic literary history, from the first book written by a woman in the English language by Julian of Norwich (1395!), to the first Creative Writing MA in the UK at University of East Anglia. Today, we have bookshops galore, writers around every corner, a fantastic trail of book benches throughout the city, the National Centre for Writing, as well as independent publishers, the British Centre of Literary Translation, and much much more.
Which events should we look out for?
We’ll be kicking off Norwich Book Festival with a launch event with Liz Jensen and Lauren (Wren) James, where they’ll share two specially commissioned pieces on how books can change the world (Thu 24 Oct).
We’ve also got a Crime Brunch, which features Bloody Marys, breakfast baps, and murder (Sun 27 Oct), a special romance event celebrating second chance love stories (Sat 26 Oct) and Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize Winner Ferdia Lennon (Sun 27 Oct).
For lovers of romance? Celebrate second chance love stories
Is there anything for the history-lovers among us?
For the historians, we have a jam-packed weekend – award-winning writer Craig Brown is coming to Jarrolds with his new witty biography of Queen Elizabeth II (Fri 25 Oct), Diarmaid MacCulloch will be discussing his new history of sex and Christianity; Lower than the Angels (Fri 25 Oct), and Hetta Howes will dive into the lives of four extraordinary medieval women, including Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe (Sun 27). Corinne Fowler will also take us on a walk through the British countryside, and reveal the colonial links and the role of the British Empire (Fri 25 Oct).
Plus, local author Tim Clare will delve into the history of the board game, from ancient dice to contemporary cards (Sun 27 Oct) and Pete Brown will invite us to have a pint, and learn the history of beer – with free tasters (Sun 27 Oct)!
Norwich Book Festival has events for every kind of reader
Norwich Book Festival is taking place at the end of October. What will get us in the mood for Halloween on 31st?
For those who love spooky season, Of the Flesh features Michel Faber, Louisa Young, and Irenosen Okojie reading their stories from the new horror anthology, in atmospheric Dragon Hall (Sat 26 Oct) Natalie Lawrence will reveal what our mythological monsters mean about the human mind (Thu 24 Oct). And, for the little ones, we have author illustrator duo Pam Smy and Lucy Strange introduce their brand new book Dreadfully Haunting Mysteries (Sat 26 Oct) – which has already been compared to Lemony Snicket!
Anything else for children looking to get involved?
There’s lots more for kids – Joseph Coelho, former Waterstones Children’s Laureate, will be in conversation with local author Ashley Hickson-Lovence as they discuss their new YA verse novels, which explore mythology and modern life (Sun 27 Oct). We’ll be celebrating one of our favourite places—the library—with Luna Loves Library Day (Sun 27 Oct), going exploring with Matt Robertson’s hands-on craft and storytelling sessions (Sat 26 Oct) and enjoying live poetry performance with Toasties Kids’ Poetry Show (Sun 27 Oct)!
Plus, at the centre of The Forum, across the weekend, The Imaginarium will be filled full of amazing free activities for everyone to enjoy – from live drawing to interactive experiences. And there’s loads more too – visit norwichbookfestival.co.uk to see the whole programme!
Key partners include Norwich’s The Book Hive
Norwich Book Festival is presented by The Forum and has been developed alongside key partners from the city and county, including National Centre for Writing, Norfolk County Council – Library and Information Service, and University of East Anglia, and booksellers including Waterstones, and award-winning independents Jarrolds, The Book Hive and Bookbugs & Dragon Tales.
