STARS AT BOOK EVENT
T V celebrity Vicky Pattison, actresses Denise Welch and Dame Harriet Walter and former MP Alan Johnson are among the headline guests at Books by the Beach in Scarborough later this year.
They will be joined by bestselling writers Louise Doughty – the BBC’s adaptation of Apple Tree Yard is on our screens now – Joanna Trollope, Salley Vickers, Mark Billingham and Adele Parks.
Also in the line-up is a heart surgeon, military historian, ‘rowing mums’ and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin
The festival will run at various venues – mainly at the library in Vernon Road – from Wednesday April
26 to Monday May
1.
“It’s planned to include May bank holiday weekend and increase visitors to Scarborough,” said Scarborough librarian Heather French who, with writer and critic Peter Guttridge, is codirector of the event..
“I’m thrilled by the mix of fact and fiction and feel we’ve expanded our programme to include some inspiring figures,” she said.
“I’m honoured to bring Dr Steve Westaby, pioneering heart surgeon, to Scarborough with his new book Fragile Lives in which he tells stories of life and death on the operating table.
“He was the first surgeon in history to fit a patient with a new type of artificial heart and he’s performed more than 11,000 heart operations.”
“We’re also playing host to president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Sir Simon Wessely who will be sharing the stage with historian Taylor Downing and former soldier Allan Mallinson to discuss Shellshock - From The Somme to Syria.”
Forensics also feature when crime scene pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton joins Mark Billingham to discuss suspicious death in real-life and literature.
There’s crime too from ‘over the pond’ when critic and festival regular Barry Forshaw introduces his new book American Noir.
Eat Me Cafe, in Hanover Road, will serve light bites between anecdotes at the Stephen Joseph Theatre Bistro on Sunday April 30 at 4.30pm.
The Theatre in the Round welcomes Dame Harriet Walter later that day at 7pm. She will be talking about playing Shakespeare’s roles for women.
Celebrity authors include Denise Welch and Vicky Pattison. Denise is a TV presenter and was a panellist on daytime show Loose Women. She also starred in a number of TV shows including Coronation Street, Soldier, Soldier and Waterloo Road. Denise has written two best selling autobiographies and on Bank Holiday Monday introduces her debut novel.
Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison won the nation’s hearts when crowned Queen of the Jungle in I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here.
On Saturday April 29 she’ll be joining fellow North-Easterner and bestselling author Adele Parks.
“There’s a dose of girl power on Friday at The Spa Theatre.
“The Four Mums who rowed across the Atlantic in 67 days will be telling their heroic tale with humour and true Yorkshire grit. Earlier that day miracle survivor champion jockey Declan Murphy tells the tale of his near death fall at Haydock Park and his amazing recovery.
Screenwriting features this year with a double dose of Daisy Goodwin –creator of ITV’s Victoria. On Wednesday April 26 Daisy will be talking about the series and also reading from Victoria’s diaries.
Later that afternoon Daisy will be hosting a Victorian tea party at Wykeham Abbey old kitchen.
Scarborough scriptwriter and co-founder of BeachHut Theatre Company Alison Watt will be running two themed drama workshops in contrasting settings.
There’s a Salley Vickers literary lunch date on Friday April 28 at the Crescent Hotel, when she will be speaking about her new novel Cousins.
On the Saturday historian Anne Sebba transports us to the French Occupation of Paris in the 1940s. The venue is the Palm Court Hotel.
Festival beer sponsors Wold Top Brewery offer a variety of hop and barley flavours accompanied by Greensmith and Thackwray nibbles on Thursday April 28.
The prison opens it’s gates to historian Jerry White and his new biography about the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison.
There’s a wealth of historians on offer including John Lewis-Stempel whose latest book Where Poppies Grow tells the story of the British soldiers of the Great War.
In The Mesmerist journalist and writer Wendy Moore introduces us to 1800s John Elliotson, a doctor who brought hypnotism to Victorian Britain.
Art historian Ross King appears at the art gallery to share the history of Claude Monet’s water lily paintings and the story of his last decade.
Former MP Alan Johnson returns with his awardwinning third memoir The Long and Winding Road.
Co-director ‘I’m thrilled by the mix of fact and fiction’ Highlights ‘Tea at the old abbey, lunch at the Crescent’