A sneak preview of the Guildford Book Festival

4th October 2018

The Guildford Book Festival – 6th to 14th October 2018

The Guildford Book Festival is in its 29th year, is recognised as the premier literary event in the south-east and this year’s Festival is promising to be one of the best ever.

TripFiction readers will be particularly interested in writers talking about books with a strong sense of location, of which there are several. Andrew will again be attending some of these, and hopefully chatting with the authors for TripFiction.

Kate Mosse – talking about The Burning Chambers (set in Carcassone & Toulouse)

Highly-acclaimed author Kate Mosse, talks to Stephanie Merritt (aka S J Parris) about her number one bestselling novel, The Burning Chambers. Bringing 16th century Languedoc vividly to life, it’s a gripping story of love and betrayal, mysteries and secrets, conspiracies and divided loyalties.

Emma Burstall – talking about A Cornish Secret (set in Cornwall)

One of Britain’s most popular romantic fiction writers, Emma Burstall talks about her career as journalist and full-time novelist, and her latest book, A Cornish Secret, the fourth is her heartwarming series, set in the Cornish seaside village of Tremarnock.

Libby Page – The Lido on Readers’ Day (set in Brixton)

Rosemary has lived in Brixton all her life, but everything she knows is changing. Only the local lido, where she swims every day, remains a constant reminder of the past and her beloved husband George.

Kate has just moved and feels adrift in a city that is too big for her. She’s on the bottom rung of her career as a local journalist, and is determined to make something of it.

So when the lido is threatened with closure, Kate knows this story could be her chance to shine. But for Rosemary, it could be the end of everything. Together they are determined to make a stand, and to prove that the pool is more than just a place to swim – it is the heart of the community.

The Lido is an uplifting novel about the importance of friendship, the value of community, and how 
ordinary people can protect the things they love.

Patrick Gale – talking about Take Nothing with You (set in Somerset & Scotland)

One of the UK’s best-loved authors talks to Fanny Blake about his new novel, Take Nothing with You, the heartwarming story of a young boy whose life is transformed by cello lessons.

Drawing partly on his own boyhood it explores what happens when childish hero-worshipping meets the reality of messy adult love lives.

So there are plenty of events at this year’s Guildford Book Festival that will transport you to different places, but there are many other events in the programme to get your literary teeth into…click here to see the complete schedule.

‘In this centenary year for women’s suffrage, we have several events dedicated to women who have made a difference from Miranda
Seymour on computer pioneer, Ada Lovelace, to Jenni Murray on international women who have shaped our world, from Joan of Arc
to Madonna. Diane Atkinson charts the fight for women’s right to vote, and we celebrate female poets, too. Comedian Jo Brand joins
us to reveal her unique take on life as a woman.

Acclaimed author Matt Haig discusses how to stay sane and feel human in our hi-tech world, while science broadcaster, Adam Rutherford reveals what it means to be human in the first place.

Former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell, issues an impassioned plea to put the substance back into news, while journalist Max
Hastings presents an enthralling reassessment of the Vietnam War.

With Joanna Trollope, Kate Mosse, Bernard Cornwell and Patrick Gale among the bestselling novelists, Ben Macintyre on Cold War espionage, Humphrey Burton on Leonard Bernstein, Lucy Siegle on the plastics war, and Surrey’s very own Supervet, Noel Fitzpatrick, we believe this is going to be one of the best festivals ever.’

Click on any of the names above to see more details of their events at the Festival, and click on the places highlighted to see other books located in that destination on the TripFiction database.

Andrew for the TripFiction team

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