Yvonne
In these times of austerity and with a general feeling of malaise within the country, it is great to see a new venture blossom forth, to try and lift the spirits.
In my home county of Somerset, UK, the county town of Taunton, is this month holding its inaugural literary festival. The idea has been nurtured and is being hosted by local independent bookseller, Brendon Books, who have succeeded in attracting sponsorship from a wide source of primarily academic establishments within the local area.
The event runs for a lengthy 11 days, from 15th-25th September 2011 and has a full and diverse schedule of over 40 separate events, taking place at 9 individual locations throughout the town, with something to suit everyone.
A complete and detailed itinerary of events can be found, together with full booking instructions, on the Literary Festival website. In general, tickets are available for most events at £6.50, although there are generous discounts for booking multiple events.
The festival is opening on Thursday 15th September 2011, at the Castle Hotel Taunton, with a single event, featuring author Salley Vickers. I have only read one of her books ‘The Other Side Of You’, which I found to be most moving and poignant, however, Salley on this occasion will talking about her latest collection of off-beat love stories, in Aphrodite’s Hat
If you are between events, or just making a day of it, why not visit Taunton Castle and Museum, which lies right at the heart of the town and was built to defend it.
Or, if you want to explore the town on foot and discover some of its more well-kept and hidden secrets, why not visit the Treasure Trails site sometime before your visit, download your lost treasure map of Taunton and help Dr I. Nosealot locate the missing loot. A fun, healthy and educational way to spend a couple of hours and all for only £5.
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Are you going to Salley’s talk? Do let us know about it, please. I think Taunton is lovely place, just wish I could visit now.
Hi Margaret,
Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the talk, as we are going away for a long weekend, back to the stamping ground of our early married days, the Cotswolds, to attend our niece’s wedding on Saturday.
We have lived in Somerset for over 20 years, but have never really explored its full potential until just recently, but it really is quite a beautiful place.
We have now decided that it is about time to fully adopt the county as our home and get to know it a little better.
Goodness, I had no idea about any of this so thanks for the tip-off. Not sure whether I’ll have time to pop over as things are a bit unpredictable at the moment but I’ll certainly check out the website later when I have more time.
Hi Cath,
I had you in mind when I wrote the post, but I didn’t get to know about it until Tuesday, when I happened to spot the leaflet in the local library, and I don’t know how close to Taunton you actually live.
I really wish that I could have been there, but I don’t think my niece would be too impressed if we decided not to travel up to her weddding, because of a talk by Salley Vickers!!
Do check out the web site if you get the chance, there are a whole host of fiction writers appearing over the next week or so …. Michael Dobbs, Robert Goddard, Rebecca Shaw, Jack Sheffield … to name but a few.
For an inaugural event, the sponsors have managed to secure some top notch names, so I just hope that it is a great success for them.
Hope that things on the home front improve for you and your family soon
Sounds like it’s going to be a great week & a half down there in Taunton. If only I lived closer! 🙂
Hi Nikki,
What with the wedding and all the associated extended nights away, I don’t think that I am likely to get to Taunton to any of the talks, even though it is not all that far from us.
Real shame, as it does sound like they have attracted some big names for their fist event. I just hope that is well supported, so that the organizers will seriously consider making it a regular festival.