New chair for Alderney Literary Festival

Tuesday 27 March 2018

The Alderney Literary Festival has closed after a successful weekend, with the outgoing Chair handing the reigns to his replacement after three years at the helm.

Simon Scarrow was Chair of the Alderney Literary Festival until Sunday when he introduced Anthony Riches as the man who will lead the event going forward.

Mr Riches, an author himself, first visited Alderney in 2015 as part of an event which saw him dress up as a Roman soldier. He returned the following year for a family holiday and was asked by the organisers of the Literary Festival then if he would get involved in the future:

"This is one of the nicest festival that we come to, because you've got an island that is stacked with history and you've got the people who welcome you into their homes and they feed you and provide you with wine, which is quite important to writers! 

"The festival itself is always fun, the people are full of questions and they just show such an enthusiasm for writing of all kinds."

Other festival attendees told Express the event was a "complete success" with many of the visiting authors' talks selling out. The organisers of the event, which is in its third year, are already discussing who may come over for the next one in 2019.

Among the guest authors this year were Joy Rhoades, a debut author who has written a novel called "Woolgrowers Companion". She told Express she would like to come back again another year. 

Pictured: Author Joy Rhoades

Lord Thomas of Gresford was another guest author. He is a member of the House of Lords in the UK and was previously appointed Queen Council in 1979. He specialises in criminal and human rights practices and has written a number of historical books:

Pictured: Lord Gresford 

Among Lord Gresford's work is a book entitled "My Dear Hamy" which he wrote about Ann Hayman who was the Privy Purse to Princess Catherine. It contains real letters, which he recited during an event at the Alderney Literary Festival

Mr Riches told Express the 2019 Alderney Literary Festival will be held during the last weekend in March again. He said plans are already taking shape:

"We're looking into the line up for that right now and there's a few names already being discussed but nothing is confirmed yet.

"I am a committee member of the Historical Writers Association and I already have people from within the association asking me about the Festival and how to get to Alderney. It is absolutely delightful - it is the nicest thing you can do. Compared to some of the bigger festivals like Hay, where you're just a cog. You turn up, you do your talk and here you're encouraged to be about and there's always someone wanting to talk to you. It is just delightful."

Pictured top, l-r: Anthony Riches and Simon Scarrow