Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival back in October with authors Annie Garthwaite, Rosie Andrews, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Kate Sawyer and more

Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival is back this October, with a programme that spans genres and interests and, organisers hope, has something for everyone.

Taking place at the Unitarian Meeting House in the town from Friday, October 20, to Sunday, October 22, the fifth Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival has an ‘exciting and varied’ line-up of authors.

The programme showcases some of the most talked about talent from the area: Kate Sawyer (Bury St Edmunds-set THIS FAMILY and Costa-shortlisted debut novel THE STRANDING) and Ashley Hickson-Lovence (YOUR SHOW, about the life of Uriah Rennie, the Premier League’s first Black referee).

It will also give a platform to best-selling authors whose novels have local connections: Annie Garthwaite (her debut novel CECILY, told through the eyes of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York) and Rosie Andrews (THE LEVIATHAN, set during the English Civil War).

Festival organisers will also be introducing some new voices in fiction and placing them alongside some famous names, including the return of the queen of crime fiction, Elly Griffiths (RUTH GALLOWAY MYSTERIES) on the Saturday.

The festival is excited to be offering a ‘parent and child double bill’ on the Saturday, starting with an event for all ages with award-winning children's author Hannah Gold (THE LAST BEAR), which is free for children when accompanied by a paying adult.

This will be followed by non-fiction author Marianne Levy (DON'T FORGET TO SCREAM), whose honest memoir about parenting is sure to bring about some laughs and lively debate in this event for parents, and children are welcome to come along.

Organisers are opening this year’s festival, as they always have, with poetry: celebrated poet Elizabeth Cook is returning to Bury to talk about and read poetry from her collections BOWL and WHEN I KISS THE SKY.

Fast-forwarding to the festival’s final day, it will close with a triple bill of events that discuss the spooky, the monstrous and the downright horrifying, as Halloween approaches.

Polly Crosby (VITA AND THE BIRDS) and SA Harris (SEAHURST) will discuss their novels steeped in the mystery and ghosts which haunt the Suffolk coastline and Rosie Andrews (THE LEVIATHAN) will be in conversation about the literal and figurative monsters in her hugely popular novel.

The festival will close with a ‘very exciting’ panel event ‘The Women they called Witches’, on a subject entrenched in Bury St Edmunds history, with three celebrated authors: AK Blakemore (THE MANNINGTREE WITCHES, winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize 2021), Margaret Meyer (THE WITCHING TIDE) and Marion Gibson (WITCHCRAFT: A HISTORY IN 13 TRIALS).

Festival co-organiser Kate Sawyer, who features as part of the line-up and is from Bury St Edmunds, said they were trying to grow the event following the pandemic, with this year’s set to be bigger than in 2022.

She said: “We want it to be a legacy event and the pride of the town, and East Anglia in times to come, providing something for everyone.”

She said they hope the festival will be a ‘destination event’, bringing tourists and money into the area.

“We are really excited about it,” she added. “We think it could be a great thing for book clubs, a focal point in the year for people who like to read.”

The festival has this year linked up with Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, which is handling ticket sales. And it is also working with independent bookshop Harris & Harris Books in Clare, which is official bookseller for the event.

Early bird tickets are available until July 31.

For more information, including the full programme, visit www.burylitfest.co.uk