City’s book festival line-up looks to be a real page turner
The line-up for the region’s largest literary event, Durham Book Festival 2018, has been announced.
The annual festival returns this October with headline guests including Sarah Waters, David Olusoga, Sarah Perry, Pat Barker, Carol Ann Duffy and Alan Johnson.
Tickets are on sale now for the festival which takes place between October 5 and 14 this year, and will see some of the country’s most talented writers, artists and thinkers inspiring audiences across County Durham.
The festival features an array of talks, readings and performances, including an evening with one of the UK’s bestloved authors, Sarah Waters.
Sarah’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Little Stranger is this year’s Durham Book Festival Big Read, and this autumn the festival will distribute 3,000 free copies of the book throughout County Durham to schools, libraries, prisons, businesses, and to university staff and students.
Sarah will talk about her modern classic at a special event at the Gala Theatre, and reflect on her incredible career and some of the books that have meant the most to her.
New to the festival for 2018 is the inaugural Little Read, which will see picture books distributed throughout the county and produce an innovative family story-gig adapted from the picture book Izzy Gizmo, written by Pip Jones and illustrated by Newcastle-based illustrator Sara Ogilvie.
The performance will feature new songs written by children from across County Durham, who will attend story telling and music-making workshops with festival favourites Ruth Johnson and Jeremy Bradfield.
Durham Book Festival is commissioned by Durham County Council and produced by New Writing North.
The festival also offers far more than traditional literary events: Mercury Prize-nominated musicians Field Music will be playing an exclusive “first gig” for younger readers, performing songs inspired by their favourite children’s books and nursery rhymes.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Daphne du Maurier’s masterpiece Rebecca, the festival will hold a special screening of Hitchcock’s 1940 adaptation, held in the atmospheric surroundings of Durham’s historic Town Hall.