Burnham Book Festival runs from Friday May 17th through to Sunday May 19th at Burnham’s Princess Theatre and Burnham Library with a great line-up of book-themed events.
Friday will host BBC’s Stephen Moss with his talk about Britain’s Favourite Birds. There’s also a poetry and Journaling workshop in the library plus humour from travel writer Jonathan Evans with his book Rum Jungle Hotel. There’s also a musical theme, with David Sutcliffe’s talk and song on Cecil Sharp, Richard Jones’ talk on Adge Cutler, followed by the Mangledwurzels.
Saturday’s line-up is jam-packed with four Beatles themed events at the centre of it. Leslie Cavendish, the Beatles hairdresser and stylist, talks about the Apple days and was there at that famous roof top concert.
Prolific Beatles author David Bedford talks about the birth of the Beatles; and John Lennon’s original band, The Quarrymen relive those early days with an In Conversation event, followed by a performance – a rare chance to see the surviving members playing.
“We’re very excited about bringing the band down from Liverpool,” festival organiser Lewis Coleman says.
“They were there at the genesis of the biggest musical sensation the world has seen. They were there the day John met Paul for the first time.”
On Saturday, the festival will also host Simon Elliot with his talk on David Hockney; Michael Turner shares his travel stories following in the footsteps of Sir Francis Drake; Mark Steeds entertains us with his talk on Bristol’s Pirates and Privateers; Justin Newland reminds us how History Repeats Itself; Crime writer, Lionel Ward offers us a glimpse into his crime series; and Saturday Spotlight author, Elizabeth Delo, shares the journey of her stunning and successful debut, Becoming Liz Taylor.
Elizabeth Delo will also lead a workshop, Writing Nature, on Saturday; and Polly Hall is holding a Horror Workshop.
“We have several workshops throughout the festival,” Lewis adds, “culminating with a day of workshops on Sunday for aspiring authors. This is before our Burnham Book Festival 2024 award ceremony, which is free for anyone to attend.”
On Sunday, TC Arkle is holding a workshop “So You Wanna Be A Poet”, Jeff Dowson has “The Mysteries of Crime Writing” workshop; and there’s two workshops for authors hoping to self-publish and promote their books, with Justin Newland and Rebecca Strickland respectively.
With ticket prices ranging from £2 – £20, the festival also has several free local author events. For more information check out the programme here: Programme.
“We have just one other event on Sunday, Voices of Highbridge and Burnham,” Lewis says. “This is a drop-in session, 10.30am – 1pm, where people can pop in and offer their thoughts on our town and maybe get a little creative.”
Sunday morning sees a free, creative, drop-in session taking place at the Princess Theatre. The workshop, called Voices of Highbridge and Burnham, is running from 10:30 to 1pm but you can drop in any time and stay for as little or as long as you like. The session is open to anyone who wants to get a bit creative and share their memories, thoughts and love of their towns.
“There will be a variety of creative activities aimed to inspire and engage your imagination. Activities will include recording your thoughts, feelings and memories about the towns in the lots of different ways. You might be inspired to write a poem about a landmark in Burnham, you might want to write the beginning of a story set in Highbridge, or you might want to tell us your favourite thing about the towns,” says a spokesperson.
For more information and tickets for other events click here or burnhambookfest.co.uk.
