Our next meeting and various other things!!!

A timely reminder of our next meeting on Tuesday 6th October. The subject for the meeting is 'RUINS' and that sounds very much like my attempt to write something for our gathering. 

One or two things have popped into the inbox during my absence and are posted below. This includes a message from Debra at the Library which outlines some interesting events coming soon.

Hope to see you all on Tuesday in the Library - 7.30pm start.

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Hope you enjoyed your summer. We are looking ahead now to our Autumn programme of events here at Felixstowe Library and I thought you might be interested to hear about a couple of them. If you coordinate a book group please would you pass on the information to the other members. 

Author Talk

Firstly, we welcome back Suffolk author Natalie Meg Evans to talk about her recently published book, The Milliner's Secret.  Set during WW2 it is the story of Londoner Cora Masson who has reinvented herself as Coralie de Lirac, using a false claim to aristocratic birth to launch herself as a fashionable milliner in Paris. When the Nazis invade, the influence of a high-ranking lover protects her business. But the cruel demands of war - and of love - cannot be kept at bay forever. Soon Coralie must find the courage to do what's necessary to protect her friends, her freedom and everything she believes in.  

Some of you may have heard Natalie's very engaging talk last year.  She spoke honestly of her determined, though often challenging, path to publication and the background to her first book. 

I'm confident that you would  enjoy Natalie's talk so why not come along on Saturday 3rd October at 2pm?  Tickets are £5, including refreshments.  Copies of her books will be available to purchase and Natalie will sign them. Let me know if you would like a ticket put aside.

Suffolk Libraries Presents..

Next I have news of a new venture for Felixstowe Library,  one of only  seven Suffolk libraries to host screenings of a series of recorded live performances.  We are excited to be able to offer something a bit different to our local community; a taste of top quality arts events which will include theatre, ballet and art exhibitions.  The experience will be enhanced by a new projector and new seating in our Room at the Top.  We start with a performance of the play The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster,  recorded live at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in London. The first ever play to be staged entirely in candlelight, this promises to be a very atmospheric production. 

The widowed Duchess of Malfi longs to marry her  lover, the steward Antonio.  But her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal are opposed to the match. When their spy, Bosola, discovers that the Duchess has secretly married and is carrying Antonio's child they seek revenge. The Metro called it a "dish of delicious horrors served up in style."

The Duchess is played by Gemma Arterton who you may have seen recently in the new film Madame Bovery. Gemma has many other credits to her name including the films Tamara Drewe and
Quantum of Solace.

So the film of the play will be shown on Friday 13th November. Tickets are £7.50. Doors open 6.30pm, film starts 7pm.  There will be an interval when refreshments may be purchased. Please contact me asap if you would like to reserve a ticket - we have limited spaces of 30.  We haven't as yet publicised this widely so you are one of the first to know about it!

Best wishes

Debra Rowe
Library and Information Advisor

Felixstowe Library, Crescent Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 7BY
01394 694880

debra.rowe@suffolklibraries.co.uk
www.facebook.com/FelixstoweLibrary
www.suffolklibraries.co.uk

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Director’s Diary

October 1, 2015 By HR 2 Comments

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Judging by all the very lovely comments made on the feedback forms you really enjoyed the 2015 Felixstowe Book Festival, so you’ll be happy to know plans are already under-way for 2016. The all important dates to put in your diary are 25th and 26th June 2016. Invite all your friends and relatives to come to Felixstowe that weekend to enjoy the fun!

Esther Freud 
Photo: Emily Greene

Big news for our Festival is that Esther Freud has agreed to be our Festival patron! A lovely coup and endorsement for us. To keep you in touch with with more exciting news and plans for 2016 I’ll be writing a Festival Director’s diary once a month on the blog. This will take you behind the scenes to give you an insight into how we create Felixstowe Book Festival.

So what happened in July after the festival weekend?

One of the most important July events was a party to thank all our wonderful volunteers. Without them the festival simply could not happen. Thankfully everyone seems to be willing to stay onboard for next year. There was also a fair amount of tidying up admin to do- authors to thank and pay, detailed reports to write for funding bodies, collating the feedback comments, finding out how many books and festival bags we had sold and, of course, the accounts.

There was also the matter of deciding on a festival theme for 2016 as authors and publishers were already asking about taking part. So I can let you know that the 2016 festival theme will be “Gateways”. This theme is inspired by Felixstowe’s position as the gateway for goods coming into the UK from all over the world through our port. However “Gateways ” has many interpretations- more of that next month – so has possibilities for many different events. I choose some of the authors who come to the festival just because their books are a good read but it is useful to have a theme running through the festival.

In August I went off to enjoy someone else’s festival- the Edinburgh International Book Festival…

A very bookish Wigtown window box!

I met Sara Sheridan for a cup of tea. Sara hosted our Vintage tea parties and ran a writers’ workshop at our festival. Several of ‘our’ authors were appearing in Edinburgh including Terry Waite, Professor Sir Anthony King, Mike Revell and Patrick Gale. Before leaving Scotland I went to look at Wigtown which is Scotland’s official “National ‘Book Town” no shortage of book shops there!

Back home in September planning started in earnest…

I’ve been meeting sponsors and funders, as well as emailing publishers and authors. Of course it was important to get the date in the Orwell’s diary and to discuss with them how the festival spaces will work next year. So far I can tell you the exciting news that Deborah Moggach will be appearing at our 2016 festival. I heard Deborah talk a few years ago and she was one of the most interesting and engaging authors I’ve heard and this was before her book These Foolish Things was made into the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I guess she may have some intriguing things to say about that. Felixstowe’s own author Ruth Dugdall will also be at the festival talking about her latest book Nowhere Girl which will be published later this year.

On the non fiction front we have Joris Luyendijk and John Kay in conversation. Luyendijk, a Dutch anthropologist, was assigned to investigate the financial sector for The Guardian. He managed to speak to over two hundred City insiders; from elite investment bankers to downtrodden back office staff. In Swimming with Sharks: My Journey into the World of the Banker they explain what they do all day and what makes them tick and Luyendijk asks if global finance is more sinister than we ever imagined. Leading economist John Kay writes along similar lines in his new book Other People’s Money, in which he explores what has gone wrong in the dark heart of the finance sector and how we can reform it.

For poetry fans we have two poets involved: Will Stone and Martin Newell. Will appeared in our first festival in 2013 and said that the Felixstowe audience was the most responsive and interested he’d ever experienced. As well as writing poetry, Martin writes regular features in The East Anglian Daily Times and Suffolkmagazine.

One of the perks of organising the festival is meeting people to talk about books and ideas for talks. Recently I’ve had coffee several times with Dr. Rosalind Green, the Director of the Essex Book Festival and we are planning a collaboration called “Dialogues” which will involve 6 panel discussions on various topics over a year: three in Essex and three here. They will be launched at the Essex Book festival in March and we will host the second at our festival in June.

I hope you’ll like what I’ve booked so far and there’ll be lots more to tell you next time.

Meg Reid

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'DOG DIARIES’  Working Dogs Short Story Competition   UPDATE

Congratulations to the shortlist and many thanks to all who entered the competition - visit www.ouenpress.com to view the shortlist selection.

Now even more tough decisions ahead - choosing the PRIZE WINNERS from this superb shortlist selection - and we are still intent on publishing the very best entries from the competition.

The PRIZE WINNERS for the competition will be announced later in the year on our website — or you may wish to check in with us on Twitter @OuenP  for more regular updates on the competition and all our other activities.

We would like to let you know about our activities from time to time, however should you wish not to be contacted in this way, please do let me know.

Good luck with your writing projects.

Paula Comley

Principal

OUEN PRESS

www.ouenpress.com