By Isle of Wight Observer
The stars certainly brought out the bookworms for this year’s Isle of Wight Literary Festival.
The event returned its best attendance since Covid, as literature fans turned out in their thousands to hear from authors such as Gyles Brandreth, Clare Balding, Susie Dent, Celia Imrie and Louise Minchin. Big-name interviewers included Alan Titchmarsh, Anneka Rice and Sophie Raworth.
As well as the celebrity headliners, a wide range of writers, from historian, Tracy Borman, to politician, Norman Fowler, wine guru, Helen McGinn, and rock music expert, David Hepworth, kept the crowds enthralled over the four days of the festival (October 3-6), based at Northwood House, in Cowes.
New segment Write on Wight, for the Island’s author community, attracted 39 published authors to participate in three events.
Now in its second year, the LitFeast cooking demonstrations, a jazz event, and the Fizz Quiz, drew big numbers to add to the triumph of the 13th festival. The enhanced schools programme was also a huge success, with 5,000 children from 27 Isle of Wight schools enjoying 78 author sessions.
Maggie Ankers, festival chairman, said: “The amazing hard work of the trustees team, which organises the festival, was paid off – especially our programme director, Julia Dams, who no doubt has already starting plotting next year’s programme.
“We had so many positive comments from authors and festival goers. Many writers asked to come back again next year.”
Maggie said that numbers were up on previous years for many of the sessions, with Gyles Brandreth the top attraction, selling 500-plus tickets for his event at Cowes Enterprise College.
She added: “We could not make this happen without the thousands of hours put in by our incredible volunteers over the year. We would also like to thank our sponsors, including Red Funnel, and donors for their invaluable support.”
Mal Butler