This year's Guernsey Literary Festival was bigger and better than ever. More than 70 events were crammed into 10 days in April and May, including big-name speakers like Tom Kerridge, Jon Sopel, and Shami Chakrabarti.
Ticket sales broke new records, and a remarkable total of 11,500 people attended Festival events in one form or another.
It was a record year at the Library, too, with 19 events - the most ever - attended by more than 1,300 people. We loved welcoming so many of you to our newly upgraded Hayward Room to enjoy great writing, listen to thought-provoking conversations, and celebrate the joy and power of books.
One of the highlights was the event with acclaimed novelist Kit de Waal, author of the award-winning My Name is Leon. Chaired by the Library's own Adam Bayfield, the conversation focused on Kit's new novel, The Best of Everything, which covers loss, heartache, and the sadness of children growing up - but, as Kit says, "is far less depressing than that sounds!" Kit also talked about her experience as Chair of the judging panel for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction, which provoked lots of interesting questions from the audience.
That event kicked off a jam-packed weekend which also featured a conversation with Amy Jeffs, author of a new book about medieval Saints, a fascinating talk from Haru Yamada, author of The Japanese Art of Good Listening, and a Crime Panel with two leading lights of the genre, Clare Mackintosh and Asia Mackay. Clare and Asia discussed the balance between writing what you know and using your imagination; how they approach plot; and how to ensure readers can empathise with their main characters, even when, as in the case of Asia's new novel, they're serial killers.
“I really enjoyed both the Festival and Guernsey as a whole - my first visit and definitely not my last. I thought everything was so well run and it was great sharing the stage with Clare Mackintosh. whose books I've always loved!”
- Asia Mackay
Alongside these visiting authors, throughout the Festival we were delighted to welcome a wide range of local writers, most notably at the Local Voices event. Chaired by Nick Le Messurier from the Festival team, the event included Theresa Le Flem, author of a new novel set during the Occupation, and Kelvin Whelan, whose new non-fiction book centres on the case of John Charles Tapner, the last man to be hanged in Guernsey. Other local authors on the programme included Jenny O'Brien, Richard Graham, Tony Gallienne, and Gregory Stevens-Cox, while locally-based novelist Tom Gaisford was joined by Toby Lichtig from the Times Literary Supplement to discuss his debut book, Sanctuary.
"I’ve been so struck by how engaged the audiences are and how regularly the events are selling out. There’s a fantastic range: children’s authors, fiction, non-fiction, food, politics. You really pack a great deal in."
- Toby Lichtig, Times Literary Supplement
At the heart of every Guernsey Literary Festival is the Family programme, and it was an absolute delight this year to welcome several high-profile names in the world of children's books. Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series, was one of the hottest tickets going around - the queue for her book signing stretched through the Children's Library and deep into the Assembly Room next door. And we were similarly packed out for illustrator Dapo Adeola and author-illustrators Sophy Henn and Louie Stowell, all of whom gave live drawing demonstrations - much to the delight of the children (and librarians!) in the audience.
Poetry fans enjoyed hearing the work of the winners of the prestigious Guernsey International Poetry Competition, which this year received more than 2,300 entries from all over the world. The winner flew all the way from Oregon to receive her prize! It was judged by award-winning poet Imtiaz Dharker, who went on to read some of her own work in a second event immediately afterwards.
Alongside the events in the Library, our Schools Team work hard to facilitate the Festival's ever-growing education programme, which this year saw 14 events and more than 3,000 children enjoy visits from well-known authors including Nadia Shireen and Pari Thomson.
We also played our part in the Festival's newest addition, the community programme, which involves writers joining in the Tea & Tales sessions we run in care homes. This year's programme included a popular event with photographer Marco Tersigni, whose new book compares historic photos of the island during Liberation with their modern-day equivalents.
“What a wonderfully organised and well supported festival. The audiences were engaged and smart, the whole event seemed to run like clockwork - and can you beat it as a location? Thank you Guernsey.”
- Jon Sopel
As the years go by, the Festival keeps on growing and growing. This was the 13th edition, and it's now well and truly cemented itself as one of the leading cultural events in the Channel Islands. Congratulations to Director Claire Allen and her fantastic team for staging such a successful programme. We're glad that we're able to play our part at the Library, too.
Roll on next year!