Literary festival goes virtual

Friday 08 May 2020

Although the Guernsey Literary Festival had to close the book on this year's events, it has turned its focus online to join up with the national 'Big Book Weekend'.

The three day virtual event aims to bring together the best of all the British literary festivals which have had to be cancelled because of corona virus.

The Guernsey Literary Festival was due to take place across the island last week, bringing over big names such as Professor Richard Dawkins, Joanne Harris and Cerys Matthews. But, of course, it fell victim to covid-19, along with many other similar events across the UK.

However, the story didn't end there. The team behind the festival has joined up with the Big Book Weekend as one of its partners, and even features alongside high profile authors in the programme. 

Honorary Chairman of the local festival, Terry Waite, will be interviewed online by Tony Gallienne at 18:00 this evening, focusing on the topic of isolation.

Many other virtual events have been scheduled for the next few days as part of the festival, with talks from the likes of Alexander McCall Smith, Marian Keyes and Maggie O'Farrell. There will be a number of other sessions covering a wide range of topics, for both adults and children.

The festival is free to watch, but viewers must sign up here first. Once a day's programming has finished, the videos will remain online so that people can catch up if they weren't able to watch it 'as live'.

For more information on the Big Book Weekend and its programme, click HERE.

Pictured top: The Big Book Weekend.