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Falmouth Book Festival: Seven days of literary enrichment
AA stellar cast of speakers including authors, actors, celebrity chefs, explorers and critics will take to the stage at Falmouth Book Festival from October 17 to 23. Sheila Hancock, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and George Monbiot are among the headline acts, with talks taking place at venues including the Princess Pavilion, The Poly, Falmouth Library and the Cornish Bank.
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The festival made its debut in 2021, and was a collaboration between Colin Midson and Helen Waters, who had previously programmed the book tent at Port Eliot Festival.
Having worked in publishing in London, Colin moved to Cornwall in 2013 and almost immediately joined the Port Eliot Festival team. When the festival was suspended indefinitely in 2019, “it was devastating for me both professionally and personally. I was living on the edge of a cliff on the Lizard, and didn’t know what I was going to do in the book world from there.”
As it turned out, Falmouth had a lot going for it. Ron Johns, who ran the book tent at Port Eliot, is the owner of the independent Bookseller chain, which has a branch in Falmouth; and of course, it’s the location of Cornwall’s only university, which has a creative writing course and counts eminent authors among its staff. here,” says Colin. The idea was delayed by Covid, but with the university on board as principal sponsor and students volunteering in a number of areas, it was all systems go for 2021.
The first festival started out as a long weekend, and grew when Dawn French – actor, author and Falmouth University chancellor – confirmed at a late stage. “While Port Eliot was an established festival, we were building this one from scratch,” Colin continues. “You hope there’s an audience, but you’re not really sure who it is or whether anyone will turn up. Then you’ve got to get the writers down to Cornwall.”
Fortunately, Cornwall has plenty of literary names to call upon: Patrick Gale, Philip Marsden, Nina Stibbe, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Raynor Winn, Wyl Menmuir... Events sold well and quickly, with many selling out. “This gave us confidence that it was something we could do again.”
This year, Colin is casting the net wider but still calling upon his extensive contacts; having worked with Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall as his publicist for many years at Bloomsbury, he has persuaded the celebrity chef to come to falmouth and discuss his latest book, River Cottage: Good Comfort.
There are three actors on the roster: Sheila Hancock with her memoir, Old Rage; Rebecca Humphries, star of Ten Per Cent and The Crown and author of Why Did You Stay? a memoir about self-worth inspired by her Strictly-curse split with comedian Seann Walsh; and Paterson Joseph, whose debut novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho was described by Stephen Fry as “an absolutely thrilling throatcatching wonder of a historical novel”.
Topical talks include Ukrainian-born chef and food writer Olia Hercules in conversation with local author and Russian specialist Charlotte Hobson, who volunteered on the Poland/Ukrainian border earlier this year; and environmental campaigner George Monbiot, discussing his new book Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet.
In non-fiction, Raynor Winn will discuss Landlines, her account of a thousand-mile trek from Scotland to Cornwall; Mensun Bound, leader of the expedition to find the Endurance in the Antarctic earlier in the year, has since written The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton's Endurance; and Will Hodgkinson, chief rock and pop critic for The Times and author of In Perfect Harmony, will appear in conversation with fellow journalist Laura Snapes.
“It’s a really exciting line-up,” Colin enthuses, “and this year, we can guarantee that there are some very switched-on people who want to experience books on an entertaining and intellectual level.” l www.falmouthbookfestival.com
