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The Alderney Literary Trust has announced a line-up of leading authors and historians for the Island’s seventh annual Literary Festival to be held on March 22-24.
Guernsey-based investment company Polygon Collective has been announced as the headline sponsor for the Festival which focuses on historical writing with talks, panel discussions and book club events.
Polygon Chairman Martin Belcher said: “The Collective is delighted to continue its sponsorship of the Alderney Literary Festival this Spring. The programme of events planned for this year is fantastic and we look forward to supporting this prestigious event which continues to grow in popularity year on year.”
The 2024 speakers are:
▪ Priscilla Morris, the daughter of a Yugoslav mother and a Cornish father, teaches Creative Writing at University College Dublin and currently lives between Ireland and Spain. Her moving debut novel, Black Butterflies, captures life inside the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-96) and was
shortlisted for The Women's Prize, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Author's Club Best First Novel Award.
▪ David Leffman has written guidebooks to Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Iceland. His non-travel books include The Mercenary Mandarin, a biography of the 19th Century Channel Islands adventurer in China, William Mesny, and Paper Horses: Traditional Woodblock Prints of Gods from North China.
▪ Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India – the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in Mumbai and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. His first book was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels and is also a winner of the Crime Writers Association Historical Dagger Award.
▪ Sunday Times bestseller S J Parris is the pseudonym of the author and journalist Stephanie Merritt. Fascinated by the rich history of Tudor England and Renaissance Europe, she created a series of historical thrillers featuring the 16th Century Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, which has now sold over one million copies.
▪ Gail Simmons is a ‘walking writer’ and the author of Between the Chalk and the Sea and The Country of Larks which was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2020. She has an MA in Medieval History and a PhD in Creative Writing and teaches at Bath Spa University on Nature and Travel Writing.
▪ Lucinda Hawksley is an author, art historian and broadcaster specialising in literature, art, history and social history from the 19th and early 20th centuries. As a great, great, great granddaughter of Charles and Catherine Dickens, Lucinda grew up with an interest in her family history. For the last decade, she has been a Patron of the Charles Dickens Museum in London.
▪ As hands-on editor, agent and publicist for John Zametica’s seminal book Folly and Malice, Marko Gasic will bring a remarkable insight into the work which has overturned a hundred years of history as taught to schoolchildren and students about the origins of the First World War.
▪ Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and lives in Cambridge, UK. Her first novel, Peach Blossom Spring, a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, as told through the lives of her grand and great grandparents, was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick in the UK and was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Historical Fiction.
▪ Marek Kohn lives in Brighton and is the author of nine widely acclaimed books, including The Race Gallery, Dope Girls and Four Words for Friend. Their themes include diversity, identity, nationalism, language and the social implications of scientific thought. His latest, The Stories Old Towns Tell, explores how old towns in Europe destroyed in WW2 are rebuilt to reinforce certain versions of history.
Festival Chairman is Anthony Riches, Committee Member of the Historical Writers Association and a successful writer of military historical fiction.
Other Festival sponsors include Alderney Electricity Ltd (AEL), Gower Financial Services, Liberation Pubs & Bars and The Fort Group. The Trust is also grateful to the States of Alderney and to Ravenscroft, sponsor of the Alderney Literary Trust, for their support. A few sponsorship opportunities remain – contact Tracey Farquhar-Beck, 07715 880516 or email tracey@alderneyliterarytrust.com.
Tickets at £10 per talk or £100 for a Rover ticket are available at the Visitor Centre in Victoria Street, Alderney and online at www.alderneyliterarytrust.com/festival from 29th January 29th.
