Hexham Book Festival preview

Posted by The Journal on Apr 30, 09 04:29 PM in What's On

Benjamin Zephaniah Paddy Ashdown, Janet Street-Porter and Benjamin Zephaniah (pictured) will be among the guest speakers attending the Hexham Book Festival over the next few days.

The festival, which has managed to buck the recession and expand from last year, is based at several venues in Hexham, as well as few in the surrounding countryside. It started on Saturday and will run until May 3.

Organisers hope the event will help to spark the creative juices of the public, with events ranging from the popular childrens' live show Horrible Science, to a morning with Radio Four presenter and columnist Irma Kurtz.

Hexham Book Festival is funded by a number of organisations, including Tyneside Council, Queens Hall Arts and Northumberland National Park, and will be able to continue for years to come thanks to a ÃÂ£60,000, grant from Northern Rock.

Event organiser Susie Troup hopes over 2,000 people will attend the events around the area.

She said: "I work as organiser of the festival all year round, getting together the authors and sorting out the venues. We are delighted to have so many guest speakers and it is great that Northumberland is getting more attention on a national scale.

A big thank you is needed to be given to all our fundraisers."

One event - called Write Through the Night - gives budding poets the chance to meet Maurice Riordan and explore the beauty of the night sky from the Kielder Observatory.

Susie said: "This is a really exciting event which takes place from 10pm to 3am. We even give people a free breakfast."

The big name guests at the festival begin today when former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown gives a talk at Hexham Library, starting at 12.30pm.

Agony aunt Irma Kurtz and Radio 4 presenter Libby Purves will both appear at the library tomorrow morning and reggae poet Benjamin Zephaniah will be giving a reading at the Queen's Hall Theatre on Sunday afternoon.

Janet Street-Porter But the big draw at this year's festival is expected to be broadcaster and journalist Janet Street-Porter, who will appear at the Queen's Hall Theatre on Saturday.

Other events include a Mills and Boon workshop, a Jane Austen night at the Forum cinema and a look at the River Cottage Handbooks at the Garden Station in Langley.

For more information on the event, please visit the website at www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk

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