written word
29th-31st March
wordpoolfestival.co.uk
Blackpool Arts & Libraries is proud to launch Wordpool's 11th year with a brand new Festival of Written Word The festival’s early Spring date seems more than appropriate for new beginnings and Wordpool’s Festival of Written Word has lots of fresh ideas to tempt you out of your winter ‘hygge’. Wordpool launches with some Elly Griffiths’ magic. Elly, one of Wordpool’s favourite crime writers, will host our annual fundraiser debating the “illusions of crime” that guest authors Sharon Bolton, Alex Marwood and Denise Mina so successfully create. Wordpool’s Festival Thursday takes to the road with our Wordpool Rover. Our 1967 Leyland bus will take you on a reader’s voyage that has something for everyone. Start your day with successful debut authors G X Todd, Kit de Waal and Alice Broadway, enjoy an afternoon cream tea with internationally best-selling author Susan Lewis, book a tea-time treat with Queens of Noir, Julia Crouch, Mandasue Heller and Sarah Ward and end your amazing reader’s day with Rivers of London author Ben Aaronovitch in conversation with crime author and screenwriter M J Arlidge. We’re pleased to be collaborating with Liverpool-based Writing on the Wall to launch three new creative writing projects, ‘Postcards from Blackpool’, ‘My Story ’ and ‘Pulp Idol’. Come along on Friday to their launch event to find out more. If you’re wondering how to convert your new writing into published work please book early for our industry panel discussion with Kevin Duffy from Bluemoose Books, Maura Brickell from Brickell PR and Communications and published debut author Anna Chilvers. Last but not least a huge “thank you” to our funders, Arts Council England and Blackpool Council, our amazing authors and their publishers, our friends, partners and supporters – without whom none of this would be possible. We can’t wait to see you at Wordpool!
Clancy, Kari and Lynne The Wordpool Team
wordpoolfestival.co.uk facebook/wordpool twitter.com/wordpoolfest
Festival of Written Word Launch Event
thors meet the au ! next page
wednesday 29th march at 6pm for 6.30pm. stanley park art deco café FY3 9EQ
Mystery and Illusion: the Art of the Crime Writer Elly Griffiths hosts a panel of renowned crime authors, Sharon Bolton, Alex Marwood and Denise Mina for a magical evening of writing revelations and criminal disclosures. Ticket Price includes entertainment from the fabulous Bookshop Band, author signings, book discounts at Joan’s Popup Bookshop, quiz, raffle, complimentary cocktail on arrival and a selection of criminally delicious canapes. There will be prizes! Wordpool’s launch event and annual fundraiser. Funds raised will go towards Wordpool’s schools programme. Dress to sparkle after dark.
Tickets £15 kpool £13 for BlMaecmbers Library
Elly Griffiths Elly Griffiths’ bestselling series of Ruth Galloway novels feature a forensic archaeologist and are set in Norfolk. She brought Ruth to Blackpool for book 5 in the series, Dying Fall. Elly’s new series of Stephens and Mephisto mysteries is based in 1950s Brighton. She was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library Award in 2016 and the Mary Higgins Clark Award in 2011.
Sharon Bolton Sharon (formerly SJ) Bolton grew up in a cotton-mill town in Lancashire. Her first novel, Sacrifice, was voted Best New Read by Amazon.uk, whilst her second, Awakening, won the 2010 Mary Higgins Clark Award. In 2014, Lost, was named RT Magazine’s Best Contemporary Thriller in the US, That same year, Sharon was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library, for her entire body of work.
Alex Marwood Alex Marwood is the pseudonym of journalist Serena Makesy. She is the author of The Wicked Girls, 2013, which won the prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Award and was listed by Stephen King as one of his top ten novels of that year. Her second novel, The Killer Next Door, won the Macavity Award for best mystery novel in 2015. Both novels have been optioned for the screen. Her latest book is The Darkest Secret.
denise mina Denise Mina is a Scottish crime writer and playwright. She has written the Garnethill trilogy and another three novels featuring the character Patricia “Paddy” Meehan, a Glasgow journalist. Described as an author of Tartan Noir, she has also recently written 13 issues of the comic book Hellblazer. The End of the Wasp Season and Gods and Beasts won the prestigious Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the year Award in consecutive years.
Festival Thursday at Central Library Thursday 30th March primetime:writing for screen and print with Ben Aaronovitch & MJ ArLIDGE 7.15-8.30pm A fantastic finale to our authors’ day. Best-selling author/ screenwriters Ben Aaronovitch and M J Arlidge in conversation with Blackpool Museum Project’s John Simpson-Wedge. *Double Bill Ticket price includes hotpot supper served at 6.45pm
*Get access to
both of our headline even with a DOUBLE BILL ts TICKET, including hotpot supper £10
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Queens of Noir: Julia Crouch, Mandasue Heller and Sarah Ward in conversation 5.30-6.30pm Dissecting the crime genre are three best selling authors who know how to create a thrillingly successful page turner. *Double Bill Ticket price includes hot pot supper served at 6.45pm Tickets £6.00*
thors meet the au ! next page
Ben Aaronovitch The Hanging Tree is the eagerly-awaited sixth book in Ben Aaronovitch’s bestselling Peter Grant series. A gripping adventure through the secret streets of London, The Hanging Tree is a fascinating mix of urban fantasy crime, folklore and myth. Think Harry Potter meets CSI! Aaronovitch’s previous titles, Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho, Whispers Underground, Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer have all been Sunday Times Top Ten Bestsellers and attracted rave reviews. Ben has also written TV scripts for ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Casualty’.
MJ Arlidge M.J. Arlidge has worked in television for the last fifteen years, specialising in high-end drama production. In the last five years Arlidge has produced a number of prime-time crime serials for ITV, including ‘Torn’, ‘The Little House’, ‘Undeniable’ and ‘Innocent’ (ITV April 2017). He also writes for ‘Silent Witness’ and is piloting original crime series for both UK and US networks. Arlidge’s latest fast-paced DI Helen Grace novel is Hide and Seek.
Julia Crouch After a drama degree at Bristol University, Julia Crouch spent ten years devising, directing and writing for the theatre. During this time she had twelve plays produced and co-founded Bristol`s Public Parts Theatre Company. She has written five novels, including the highly-acclaimed Cuckoo.
Sarah Ward Sarah Ward is the author of three DC Childs novels set in the Derbyshire Peak District where she lives. On her blog, Crimepieces, she reviews the best of current crime fiction published around the world, and she has also reviewed for Euro Crime and CrimeSquad.
Festival Thursday at Moor Park Library Thursday 30th March Cream Tea with Susan Lewis 3.00-4.30pm Susan Lewis talks about her successful writing career and best-selling novels with journalist Elizabeth Gomm. Ticket price includes cream tea Tickets £5.00
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Festival Thursday at Layton Library Thursday 30th March Lunch with Kit de Waal & GX TODD
Mandasue Heller
12.30-2.00pm
Mandasue Heller spent ten years living in Manchester’s notorious Hulme Crescents, which have since become the background to her novels.
Two authors from the midlands who have both achieved critical and popular success with very different debut novels, in conversation with former librarian Lynne Scarles.
Not only is she a successful author, she has also sung in cabaret and rock groups, seventies soul cover bands and blues jam bands. Her latest book is Run.
Ticket price includes a light lunch Tickets £5.00
thors meet the au ! next page
Susan Lewis Before Susan Lewis started writing fiction, she had a successful career in television and lived in both LA and France. Thirty-seven novels later, Susan is one of the UK’s bestselling fiction writers. Her latest novel is You Said Forever. Susan has also written two moving memoirs about her childhood in Bristol.
Festival Thursday at Palatine Library Thursday 30th March TALK BY Young Adult Fiction AUTHOR Alice Broadway
Kit de Waal Kit de Waal writes about forgotten and overlooked places where the best stories are found. Her debut novel, My Name is Leon, a heart-breaking story of love and identity, is a Times and international bestseller and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. She has also received the Bridport Prize for Flash Fiction 2015.
GX Todd G. X. Todd lives and works in the West Midlands, where she drives a 35ft library van around the Black Country. Her first novel, Defender, is attracting rave reviews! ‘Compelling, suspenseful and altogether extraordinary’ Lee Child. If you loved The Stand, you’ll love Defender, the first in a four part series.
10.30-11.30am From NaNoWriMo to an acclaimed first novel, Ink, Alice Broadway talks about her writing journey. Ticket price includes refreshments
————————————————————— Tickets £3.00, under 18s FREE
You can get copies of our Wordpool author books:
• You can borrow a copy from any of our eight libraries in Blackpool
• Our books are available to borrow for free via Overdrive, our online eBook and audiobook services
• The Mystery & Illusion launch event in the Stanley Park Art Deco Alice Broadway Alice Broadway is a Lancashire-based debut young adult fiction writer who drinks more tea than is really necessary and loves writing in her yellow camper van. She hates being too cold or too hot, and really likes wearing lipstick and watching terrible Christmas movies. Ink originally started out as a NaNoWriMo novel draft in 2013 and is now the first in a trilogy.
café will be supported by Joan’s criminally addictive popup book shop
• Storytellers Inc, our favourite independent booksellers, will be bringing their gorgeous Popup Book shop to all of our Festival Thursday events
Wordpool Rover Route
Wordpool Rover Timetable
why not buy et? a rover tick
St Anne’s Rd, Blackpool FY4 2AP
only £20
Departing Palatine library 11.45am Departing Layton library 2.15pm Talbot Rd, Blackpool FY3 7BD
Departing Moor Park library 4.45pm Bristol Avenue, Blackpool, FY2 0JG
Request return stops (approx. times) Departing Central library 8.40pm Queen St, Blackpool FY1 1PX
Arrive Moor Park library 9.00pm
Tickets for any event can be bought separately and you can also travel between venues free on the Wordpool Rover bus. Please indicate when booking your ticket if you have access requirements.
Bristol Avenue, Blackpool, FY2 0JG
Arrive Layton library 9.15pm Talbot Rd, Blackpool FY3 7BD
Arrive Palatine library 9.30pm St Anne’s Rd, Blackpool FY4 2AP
The Wordpool Rover ticket The Wordpool Rover ticket gives you access to all Festival Thursday tickets and includes food and hop-on hop-off transport on our vintage rover bus between library venues!
rover ticket £20
Festival Friday at Central Library
Postcards to Blackpool: Every Picture Tells a Story Postcards to Blackpool, using an array of images from the Local History Library’s extensive, unique archives, invites you to imagine yourself into a new story, writing to friends, family, lovers, writing forward or backward through time, letting them know you wish they were here.
You’ve written your bestseller... What happens now? 12.00-1.30pm
What stories lie behind Blackpool’s famous façade; what tales could the tower tell?
Industry panel discussion featuring:
Are you an aspiring novelist hoping to get your work published? This could be the competition for you; focussing on new and unheard voices, with huge success from previous finalists, this is an opportunity for new writers to have their novel showcased to the public, reaching new audiences and getting your first chapter in front of agents and publishers.
Kevin Duffy, head of independent publisher, Bluemoose Books.
Anna Chilvers, debut author of Falling Through Clouds and Tainted Love, both published by Bluemoose Books.
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Tickets £4.00
New Creative Writing Projects Launch with Writing on the Wall 2.00-4.00pm
Wordpool is working with Liverpool-based Writing on the Wall to bring you three new creative writing projects What’s Your Story?, Postcards to Blackpool and Pulp Idol. Come along to find out how you can be involved, pick up your entry packs and/or sign up.
Libraries
©Blackpool
PULP IDOL Comes to Blackpool!
©Blackpool
• ••
Maura Brickell from Maura PR & Communications, award winning publicist working with some of the biggest names in literature.
Libraries
friday 31st March
First-time romances, family holidays, ballroom dances and comedy capers - behind Blackpool’s seafront, the beach, the Tower and the world-famous illuminations, are a hidden history of untold stories.
Past successes include James Rice (Alice and the Fly), Deborah Morgan (Disappearing Home) & Clare Coombes (Definitions). The Writing on the Wall Festival has been running the Pulp Idol competition since 2006, with an exciting string of heats across Liverpool before a final judged by some of the leading names in the industry. All finalists will have their first chapter published in our new book of ‘Firsts’ which is sent out to agents and publishers across the country. The winner of the Blackpool heat will go forward to the grand final held in Liverpool during the Writing on the Wall Festival in May 2017. Deadline for entry: Midnight Sunday 16th April 2017
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Blackpool Heat: Thurs 11th May Liverpool Final: to be confirmed
Tickets FREE
Talk about Torque
What’s Your Story?
RE-LEARNING TO READ An exhibition about the new technologies changing how we read today.
Everybody has a story to tell. What’s yours?
A special talk about the new exhibition at Grundy Art Gallery followed by a preview tour. Using an interactive installation, talks, films and workshops, this show asks if we all need to relearn to read in an era of social media, emojis and speed reading apps.
A creative writing course which aims to uncover new stories from unheard voices. Over four weeks you will be guided through the creative process, from gathering ideas to completing a first draft. You will be free to write in whatever form of storytelling you like: short story, poetry, flash fiction and spoken word. Your will be free to write in whichever form you prefer, developing at your own rate. This is a unique opportunity for aspiring writers to develop their writing skills and confidence in a creative, supportive environment. Course dates: 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th April, 2-4pm at Palatine Library. Sessions £2 each
4.00-5.00pm
It includes a new reading machine (developed with artist Tom Schofield), combining scanners, screens and sculpture for a radically new human-computer reading experience. This machine scans books that people bring from home or the adjoining library, turning them into an array of text animation and other live media. An accompanying group show includes hand-made flip books, VR-headset poems, and digital art, asking: what new forms can reading take? Curated by Torque (Nathan Jones and Sam Skinner) Tickets FREE
Find out more about our exciting events, buy tickets and keep up with our latest news on our brand new website: www.wordpoolfestival.co.uk
Competition Prize Draw: Sign up to our Wordpool mailing list before Wednesday 29th March, noon, and your name will be entered into a prize draw to win a Wordpool book bundle featuring a selection of books from our Wordpool authors!
STANLEY PARK BLACKPOOL
Tall & small, big and tiny! Track down an adventure with our animal friends!
1-4pm Registration from 12.30pm Pick up an Adventure Map to help you FInd your way!
New for 2017...
there are two limited edition Wordpool bags available to buy during the festival... grab yours while you can!
The Crafty Animals Big Tent, Pop-up Picture Boathouse, The Storyteller’s Stage, Bandstand Rhymes, Adventure Trails, puppet shows, music, giant animals and much, much more! T-Rex is back with a tiny baby dino! suitable for All Ages, children must be accompanied by an adult.
at a glance when what
where
Wednesday 29th march 6pm
launch event - Mystery stanley park & Illusion, the Art of art deco café the Crime Writer
thursday 30th march 10.30-11.30am
talk by yaf author palatine Library £3.00 alice broadway under 18s free
thursday 30th march 12.30-2pm
lunch with kit de waal & gx todd
layton Library
£5.00
thursday 30th march 3-4.30pm
Cream Tea with susan lewis
Moor Park Library
£5.00
thursday 30th march 5.30-6.30pm
Queens of Noir: Julia Crouch, central library Mandasue Heller and Sarah Ward in conversation
thursday 30th march 7.15-8.30pm
Ben Aaronovitch & MJ ArlIDGE
central library
£6.00*
friday 31st march 12-1.30pm
you’ve written a bestseller... central library what happens now?
£4.00
friday 31st march, 2-4pm
new creative writing projects central library with writing on the wall
free
friday 31st march, 4-5pm talk about torque
Venues & Tickets
central library
£15 £13 blackpool library Members
£6.00* *or both for £10.00
free
All tickets and passes available at central library blackpool and at www.wordpoolfestival.co.uk