Marlborough LitFest has announced more names for its 2017 line-up in its eighth year (28 September – 1 October, 2017), including BBC Security correspondent, Frank Gardner, Graeme McCrae Burnet, local crime writer Jon Stock, as well as a talk hosted by the William Golding Estate.
These authors will join this year’s Golding Speaker, Will Self, who will open the Festival on 29 September.
BBC Security correspondent Frank Gardner OBE will be talking about his latest thriller, Ultimatum (published in September 2017), the second book in a trilogy.
]Ten years after himself surviving an Islamist ambush in Saudi Arabia during which his cameraman was killed, Frank Gardner, although partly paralysed, continues to travel the world reporting for the BBC.
He has written for The Economist, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph as well as writing a memoir and travel anthology.
Graeme McCrae Burnet’s His Bloody Project was shortlisted for the Man Booker 2016. Renowned as a real ‘word of mouth’ book, The Guardian reviewed it as ‘a psychological thriller masquerading as a slice of true crime; a collection of “found” documents that play lovingly with the traditions of Scottish literature; an artful portrait of a remote crofting community in the 19th century that showcases contemporary theories about class and criminology’.
McCrae Burnet, a former teacher, is considered one of the brightest stars on Scotland’s current literary scene.
Local crime author Jon Stock is the author of five spy novels (Warner Brothers bought the film rights to his Daniel Marchant trilogy) and a new standalone psychological thriller, Find Me, (published in February 2017 under the pen name of JS Monroe).
There are more details about Jon Stock on Marlborough.News – and there is also a review of Find Me by Adrian Clarke.
Stock previously was a freelance journalist and until 2015 he headed up the Weekend and Living sections of the Saturday and Sunday Telegraph. He will fill the popular crime spot at the 2017 LitFest.
To coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of William Golding’s novel, The Pyramid (which is described as a ‘Marlborough-disguised’ novel) a talk will be given by the William Golding Estate on ‘William Golding’s Legacy and his debt to Marlborough’.
The Marlborough LitFest committee say they are especially pleased to celebrate the town’s long connection with the Nobel Laureate and Booker Prize winning author.
Jan Williamson, Festival Chair, said: “We are very excited about this year’s line-up. We’ve got some brand new authors and some very well-known ones.”
More names for the 2017 programme will be announced later. The organisers are including a wide variety of speakers throughout the festival weekend.
The list will feature new and young fiction writers as well as established names, children’s authors, workshops and poetry events. The Festival’s intention is to bring the best of good writing to the town of Marlborough.
The Marlborough LitFest is supported by a number of sponsors – notably their founder sponsor ALCS (the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society.) The lead sponsor is Brewin Dolphin.
And LitFest’s events sponsors are: Hiscox Insurance, the William Golding Estate, Marlborough College and St Francis School.
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