The Bournemouth Literary Festival 2009 will run from 12 – 17 October and we will confirm the line up in due course.  Confirmed events are:

Haiku Double Event on 12 October that showcases this Japanese poetic form of deceptive simplicity.

Writing for Children on 13 October with Julia Churchill, leading London-based children’s writer literary scout from the Greenhouse Literary Agency and Leah Thaxton, children's fiction publisher at Egmont.  Julia is looking for debut children’s writers and will give a talk, offer a question and answer session and provide one-to-one surgeries.  

A World of Wonder Children's Creative Writing Workshop for 7-11 year olds which includes the creation of collage of art, music and writing on Saturday 17 October.

Quintet Poetry Mash Up with comedy, improvisation, music, magic and poetry on Saturday 17 October.

STOP PRESS - on 3 October 2008 ITV filmed a documentary on the festival which will be aired in June 2009. The exact date will be confirmed soon!

Coming soon: Online discount book store selling antique, new, second hand and special edition books!  Watch this space!

Introduction

Welcome to the Bournemouth Literary Festival website!  We are alive and kicking, evaluating, fundraising and developing the festival.  2009 and beyond will feature events (for all ages) with an international flavour and this year's festival in particular will focus on literature in lifelong learning.

A world of words!

Report on this year's Bournemouth Literary Festival coming soon!  Watch this space!

In the meantime, here's a photo of our event "An evening in the Den with Theo Paphitis":


The photo shows, from left to right: David Jones (Co-Director, BLF), Theo Paphitis, Lillian Avon (Director and Founder, BLF), Steve Worth (MC for the evening) at the Opera House in Boscombe, Bournemouth.
Photo: copyright of Noel White, Rowan White Photographic, 2008.  Noel is the festival's official photographer.  Find more photos of the festival at: www.rowanwhite.co.uk

The theme for the Bournemouth Literary Festival 2008 was “International culture – a world of words”.
The organisers invited expressions of interest from international writers active in the local community (novelists, short story writers, poets, dramatists, screenwriters, etc) who were interested in participating in the 2008 festival.  The festival dates were Monday 29th September until Sunday 5th October, with most events taking place on 4th and 5th October (ie. the weekend).

Here is the Festival programme:

 
Left: David Jones and Lillian Avon, two of the Directors of the Bournemouth Literary Festival.
(Photo by Noel White of Rowan White Photographic).
Right: Theo Paphitis will be reading from his autobiography.

Check out Listed Magazine's recent interview with Theo, downloadable at: www.listedmagazine.com

You can also listen to the latest Festival podcasts here:
http://bournemouthliteraryfestival.mypodcast.com/index.html

Bournemouth Literary Festival 2008 – A World of Words
The arts are growing in Bournemouth and the town’s impressive literary heritage, international community and language schools are the festival’s inspiration. The festival is an annual celebration of all genres of creative writing from around the world.

See below for details of how to book a place at one of the festival events.

Please check the time and date of events with the festival organisers before setting out.  This website will show the latest information.

Monday 29th September, 2008
6.30pm – Theo Paphitis - reading and book signing session. Theo will be reading from his autobiography “Enter the Dragon”, which recounts how he travelled from Limassol in Cyprus as a young boy and went from working as a tea boy / filing clerk with Lloyds of London insurance brokers to work in retail and finance, specialising in business turnarounds. Amongst others, he purchased and turned around ailing companies like Movie Media Sports, Ryman the Stationer, and the Contessa and La Senza lingerie chains. He has been in the public eye recently because of his appearance on the successful BBC TV series Dragons’ Den and his acquisition of the experience company Red Letter Days. This session will be followed by a book signing and business networking session from about 8.15pm.
Venue: The Opera House, 570 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth. BH1 4BH.
Price: £30 per person (to include a drink on arrival, a copy of Theo's book and networking opportunities).
For the Theo Paphitis event, please book via the Opera House Box Office:
Telephone: 08701 98 98 98 or book online at:
http://www.operahouse.co.uk/event.php?eid=8817

 
Enter the Dragon - Theo Paphitis - interview / reading / networking session

Tuesday 30th September, 2008
6.30pm – "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” – a post-colonial perspective, by Penny Stanley, MA (Hons) Literature.  This iconic novel gives a fascinating insight into political, social and economic conditions at the beginning of the 20th Century.  It is descibed by the author, Robert Tressell, (who died in a workhouse before the book's publication) as 'twelve months in hell written by one of the damned.'  However, this realistic tale of poverty and hard labour also contains a strong sense of irony and humour, which has helped endear it to the reader.  Indeed, since 1914 it has not been out of print and has now been published in 27 different countries, most recently Turkey, and workers everywhere still seem to empathise with the characters.  Because of its consciousness-raising narrative, it has often been cited as helping the Labour Party first gain power in England.  Politicians such as Tony Benn and Neil Kinnock, and the actor Ricky Tomlinson have often claimed it as their favourite book.  Indeed, voters in the latest BBC "Big Read" poll put it ahead of the very contemporary "Bridget Jones's Diary"!  This talk shall centre on post-colonial issues such as race and class and is intended for fans of the recent radio series as well as those who have read the book, or simply students who are interested in social and political history.
Venue: ETC International College café, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

Wednesday 1st October, 2008
2pm – Louisa Parker (Manager of the Black History in Dorset project) – poetry reading and workshop. Louisa Adjoa Parker, West Dorset writer and poet of British and Ghanaian heritage says her experience of being mixed heritage informs her work. Louisa has lived in the Westcountry since the age of 13, when her family moved to South Devon, and has found her experiences both in Devon and Dorset difficult as a member of an ethnic minority. She also writes about issues of domestic violence, abusive relationships, parenting and the deaths of partners. Recently her poem 'Rag Doll' - from her critically acclaimed debt collection 'Salt-sweat and Tears' - was included in the Forward Book of Poetry 2008. Louisa also writes about Dorset's 'hidden histories' - the experiences of people of African and Caribbean descent, and worked with Development Education in Dorset to produce a book and exhibition highlighting this in 2007.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

 
Louisa Parker, poetry reading and workshop

3pm – Kazakh Music and Words. Bakhtiyar Amanzhol and his wife Gulzhan present a showcase of traditional Kazakh music, played on the dombyra, kobyz, kolkobyz and sibizgy. This event is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Venue: ETC International College café, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

4pm – Japanese calligraphy demonstration by Mr Umon Tachibana. This event is supported by the Embassy of Japan.
Venue: the Nippon Inn (Japanese Izakaya bar / restaurant), Charminster Road, Bournemouth.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

6.30pm – Sulaiman Addonia, “The Consequences of Love”. Bournemouth Literary Festival invites you to an evening with debut novelist Sulaiman Addonia, whose erotic love story reveals a sexually repressive society amid Saudi Arabia’s bustling cafés and street markets. “The Consequences of Love” (published by Chatto & Windus) is inspired by the “mysterious girls of Jeddah who made love possible with their secret love notes” and discloses a secret world where the quashing of individuality and forbidden practices elicits clandestine relationships and a culture of complicit homosexuality. Sulaiman S.M.Y. Addonia was born in Eritrea to an Eritrean mother and an Ethiopian father. He spent his early life in a refugee camp in Sudan following the Om Hajar massacre in 1976, and in his early teens he lived and studied in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He has lived in London since 1990. Sulaiman says he is moved by people who strive to assert their identity under a repressive regime and admires the women and youth of Saudi Arabia who aren’t afraid to defy the system.
Venue: Boscanova Café, 650 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth. BH1 4BP.
Price: Free.

7.00pm - Salsa around Latin America!  Grevel Lindop author of "Travels on the Dance floor", recently serialised on Radio 4, will be speaking about his journey to South America to experience the best salsa clubs and salsa teachers in Panama, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia.  Find out how you can plan the salsa holiday of a lifetime!  This event is sponsored by http://www.pooleacademyofsalsadancing.co.uk (Salsa courses for beginners in Dorset and Hampshire - for information about salsa dancing sessions, call Duncan on 07594 772227).
Venue: Bar Ink at the Print Room, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth town centre. 
Price: Tickets will be £5 and include a tea or a coffee.  Minimum age: 18 years.  To reserve your place, please call 01202 551257.

 
Salsa around Latin America, presented by Grevel Lindop

6.30pm - Reading and book signing session by Pam Fudge from her new novel “A Blessing in Disguise”. When Alex Siddons suddenly discovers she is pregnant after twenty-five years of a childless marriage, her comfortable life is turned upside down and her relationship with her husband, Phil, hangs in the balance. Pamela Fudge has written poetry since she was a child and started writing fiction in 1983. Her first short story was accepted for publication in 1984 and since then, her short stories have been published in most of the national women’s magazines in the UK.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

8pm – Strange Sea Sighed – poetry performance by Peter John Cooper.
A funny, acerbic, witty and melancholy performance of poems from the new book by Peter John Cooper and Kate Cross counterpointed by readings from some of the literary greats who found Swanage just as weird. This is not the view of the tourist brochure and the gushing romantic.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / Adults £5. Space limited.

Thursday 2nd October, 2008
2pm – Federico Garcia Lorca – by Suzannah Spencer-George. Lorca is Spain’s most deeply appreciated poet and dramatist. His reputation puts him as one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century and the singer songwriter Leonard Cohen said that he was: “Probably my greatest influence”. He is perceived especially by readers in the English-speaking world to be the epitome of what it is to be a Spanish writer, with images of guitars and moons and the themes of violence and passion appearing throughout his work. This talk will be a personal appreciation of the man and his work, focusing in particular on the play “The House of Bernarda Alba”.
Venue: ETC International College café, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

6.30pm - International Story Writing Workshop led by Mary Scharnhorst. This workshop is designed for international students of intermediate level and above. Writing a ghost story from the participant’s culture by means of answering a set of questions, the answers to which should produce a spooky tale. There will be a prize for the best story.
Venue: ETC International College café, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: IEF or RALSA staff and students – Free / Adults - £3 /

Friday 3rd October, 2008
3pm – Reading / performance by Tena Stivicic. This event is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia.
Venue: ETC International College café, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.


Tena Stivicic

5.00pm – “Diving into Light” by Natasha Farrant. The novelist will be interviewed by speechwriter Brian Jenner.  Brian Jenner will interview Natasha about her new book, how she writes, where she gets her inspiration, her work as an agent and her experience in the world of children's books. Guests will then be able to ask questions. Costa (the cafe within Waterstones, Bournemouth town centre branch) will remain open until 6pm to allow guests to buy coffee and cakes during the event.
Venue: Waterstones bookstore, Bournemouth Arcade, Bournemouth town centre. 
Price: £3 per person.  Guests can redeem the ticket as a £2 off voucher on signed copies of Natasha's book.
To reserve your place and buy tickets for the "Diving into Light" event, please contact Brian Jenner on telephone 01202 551257, or buy them from Waterstones bookstore in Bournemouth Arcade.

 
Natasha Farrant - "Diving into Light"

5.30pm – John Kay, poetry reading session.  John Kay is a seasoned TEFL teacher and respected poet with a very impressive poetry CV, having performed at many poetry / literary festivals, won several major poetry prizes (eg. 1st prize in Ottaker’s / Faber Poetry Competition 2004) and had his poetry published in various anthologies, including "Poetry as a Foreign Language".  Check out his poetry on the following website:
Poetry Library, Royal Festival Hall: www.poetrymagazines.org.uk
Venue: All Fired Up café, Bournemouth town centre.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

7pm (for 7.30pm start) – "Quotable Quotes" panel quiz, hosted by Brian Jenner and featuring a panel of VIPs.
Venue: All Fired Up café, Bournemouth town centre.
Price: £5 per person - TBC.
To reserve your place and buy tickets for the "Quotable Quotes" event, please contact Brian Jenner on telephone 01202 551257.

 
Tobias Ellwood, MP - one of the VIPs at the "Quotable Quotes" event

9pm – 11.00 pm – The Rob and Jo Show – an evening of performance poetry.
This event has been moved to Sunday evening. 

Saturday 4th October, 2008
11am – “A Slice of Apple Pie: Your One Stop Guide to Living in America”. Local writer and editor Julie Musk was living happily in Frampton near Dorchester, when her husband’s job uprooted the family and took them to the States for two years. In this book, she describes the family’s experience of moving from Dorset to Ohio and passes on exclusive first-hand knowledge about life in the great US of A. Reading and signing session.
Venue: The Ink Bar at the Print Room, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth.
Price: Free. Minimum age: 18 years.

12.30pm - Selling your Father’s Bones – by Brian Schofield (former editor of the Sunday Times Travel magazine and a regular travel writer for the Sunday Times).
Brian Schofield Travel Writing Workshop incorporating readings from Brian’s book.
The former editor of the Sunday Times Travel Magazine and writer for Conde Nast Traveller, The New Statesman and the Sunday Times will offer help and guidance to budding travel writers. What information should you bring home from your travels, how do you style and structure a great piece of travel writing and, most importantly of all, how can you get your work published? The travel writer and historian’s book recounts one of the great adventure stories of the American West, the Nez Perce Exodus of 1877, in which 700 Native American men, women and children were chased for over 1,700 miles of frontier mountains, forests and torrential rivers. Four armies of the United States chased the Nez Perce, under the guidance of their charismatic Chief Joseph, towards the Canadian Border. But would they escape?
Brian Schofield's first book, Selling Your Father's Bones, combines travelogue, history and environmental studies to follow the story of the Nez Perce Native American tribe, whose exodus of 1877 is one of the great unknown adventure tales of American history. Brian, who lives in East Sussex, is a travel and features writer for the Sunday Times, the New Statesman, GQ and Arena. This workshop / reading session will be followed by a book signing session.
Venue: The Ink Bar at the Print Room, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth.
Price: Free. Minimum age: 18 years.

 
Brian Schofield, Travel Writing Workshop

3.30pm - “Finderworld” – reading and book signing session by Doreen Kellett. 
Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances.  Doreen and the organisers apologise to all interested parties and we aim to reschedule this event at a later date. 

 
Velta Snikere - a unique poetry performance artist

4.30pm – Velta Snikere, Marta Praulina and Marta Landmane – Latvian poetry performance, supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £2 children (under 14) / £3 adults.

 
Seethrewmusic show "The Pioneers" - left: Angeline Conaghan; right: David Leahy.

7pm – Seethrewmusic show "The Pioneers". Bringing alive New Zealand poetry through a combination of story telling, visual projection and a mesmerising musical performance.
A musical tale that follows the lives of three individuals who decide to leave Victorian England to settle in the wilderness that was New Zealand 150 years ago. On the way, they encounter hardship and uncertainty, freedom and love, but most importantly the prospect of a new beginning full of possibility. Live music featuring ex-pat musicians Ben Brewer (guitar, vocals), Angeline Conaghan (vocals, guitar) and David Leahy (double bass, vocals).
Venue: ETC International College cafe (at the rear of the college), 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: £3 IEF or RALSA staff and students / £7 children (under 14) / £10 adults.

9pm - Festival party with disco.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £4 adults.
Please note that the Salsa demonstration by Latino Beat will now take place on Sunday 5th October.  (Please see below for details).

Sunday 5th October, 2008
2pm - Bournemouth's Literary Heritage - Guided Walk (max 2 hours), led by local historian John Walker. Come and hear about Bournemouth's connections with the Shelleys, R.L. Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Beardsley, Tolkien, D. H. Lawrence, Rupert Brooke, etc.
Venue: starting from St Peter's Church, Hinton Road, Bournemouth town centre. No need to book, just turn up.
Price: £3.50 per person.

3.30pm – “Your own world of words” – poetry performance and interactive workshop, led by Keith Bennett. 'An interactive workshop and reading'. Attendees produce a short piece of creative writing which they share with those present; Keith will lead the workshop and MC/critique the feedback, which will be intercut with performance pieces. The workshop aims to prove that culture has an international dynamic and we are adding to that by generating our own “world of words”.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: £3 IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

 
Keith Bennett, performance poet

5pm – Teflonstage performance - Authentic and boisterous!

The festival organisers very much appreciate what Kestrel Books and the Teflonstage theatre company did for us and we were all very impressed by their enormously entertaining “One in Five” performance.

The show offered a dynamic blast of poetry in performance, combining poetry, music, prose, wordplay and humour based on the theme of being an international student dealing with the wonderful variety of Englishes, identities, rivalries, customs, tribal behaviours, etc, in the world today.


Photo: copyright of Noel White, Rowan White Photographic, 2008. Noel is the festival's official photographer. Find more photos of the festival at: www.rowanwhite.co.uk

Aimed at international students and their teachers, the performance was followed by a presentation on the practice book “Just Connect”, which is a very-well written collection of texts, tasks and activities inspired by and focused on real, everyday English.

Authenticity was the watchword and so many of the characters and vignettes that appeared struck a chord with the audience. At one stage, the actors jeered, chanted and yelled at each other in the guise of football supporters and the atmosphere created was scarily authentic!

By turns boisterous, rhythmic, melodic and inspiring, the show gripped everyone through to its tumultuous climax.

By all accounts, the performance was a “first” for the company, but it was a resounding success in several ways. The company was brought together and rehearsed at very short notice, but they obviously get along wonderfully well and in the event, they managed to put on a superlative performance that had members of the audience all but falling off their chairs with laughter.

All in all, it was a highly entertaining show and one that the festival organisers cannot recommend highly enough. It is telling that the ELT practitioners present, including the Principal of ETC International College and several of his staff members (plus a handful of international students), also remarked that the material would lend itself perfectly to pedagogical use. The format they used is apparently very flexible, and Tony Childs-Cutler (of Kestrel Books) told us afterwards that the group can vary it according to the English language levels in the audience. They are already discussing versions for ESOL students, for example, and one for a largely British audience. They also have available some pre- and post-performance materials if teachers would like to exploit these in the classroom. Jamie, the Director, evidently has a genuine interest in theatre for educational purposes and the festival organisers are convinced that he and the company are bound for great things!

The producers have managed to put together a great team and it will be exciting to witness how the show develops in future performances. Thank you and well done to the whole team!
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.

7.30pm - late - Poetry @ The Ink Bar.  A delightful evening of poetry.  Classic and new works read by local poets.  Open mike poetry.
Venue: The Ink Bar, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth (town centre).
Price: Free.

8pm - 10.30pm - Salsa dancing demo by “Latino Beat”.
Venue: ETC International College, 24 West Hill Road, Bournemouth. BH2 5PG.
Price: Free to IEF or RALSA staff and students / £3 children (under 14) / £4 adults.
This event rounds off the festival with a splash of colour and a latin beat!

Hopefully there was something to interest everyone!

Some events are free and others require payment. To confirm your attendance at a future free event please contact Lillian Avon on telephone 01202 417535 or send an email to: info@bournemouthliteraryfestival.co.uk

To buy tickets please write a cheque made payable to LILLIAN AVON and send to BLF, 20A Parkwood Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH5 2BH.

Background / history of the Festival

The Bournemouth Literary Festival was established in October 2004 and launched with aplomb on 2nd - 4th September, 2005 with the media headline: “It’s set to be a big success, literally”. Our master of ceremonies, Tobias Ellwood, MP kicked off the ‘around the world’ launch party and guest speaker, award-winning writer and biographer Nicholas Shakespeare, mesmerised guests with a lively speech and the glamorous Thai dance troupe, ‘Stars of Siam’, wowed the audience with their flowing oriental movements.

Other artists invited to the 2005 festival were acclaimed dissident Chinese writer Ma Jian, renowned Jewish writer Howard Jacobson, Noah Messomo African drummer, storyteller and musician extraordinaire and Bournemouth-based Christine Aziz, winner of the Richard & Judy prize for new writers.

2006 saw events that fused literature with events relating to cats in literature, comedy, food, speed dating plus a short story competition, and we enjoyed the humour of Guy Browning. 

In 2007, we spread the wings of "love", "romance" and "erotica" with a world of romance evening and erotic fiction workshop and party.

The arts are growing in Bournemouth and its impressive literary heritage and language schools are the festival’s inspiration – an annual international and multicultural festival that exhibits and introduces new and old fiction and poetry set in an international arena both in original English text and translations, with music, dance and drama as a backdrop.

If you are interested in collaborating with us or helping us to develop an event, please contact Lillian Avon at: info@bournemouthliteraryfestival.co.uk or David Jones at: davidjones@etc-inter.net

Thank you for visiting our website.

Lillian Avon Director & Founder
email: info@bournemouthliteraryfestival.co.uk

The Bournemouth Literary Festival is a self-funded voluntary association.


© Lillian Avon 2008.  All rights reserved.