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FULL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED FOR CHESTER LITERATURE FESTIVAL - PART THREE

Friday, 8 September 2023 13:03

The full programme has now been revealed for this year’s hotly anticipated Chester Literature Festival. Here's the third part of their programme...

At a Debut Writers Event on Wednesday, 22 November, a panel of first-time writers including Jessie Wells (The Good News Gazette) and Emma Venables (Fragments of a Woman) will discuss the trials and tribulations of writing their first book as well as the inspiration behind their stories and how their passion for writing kept them going. 
 
The Kitchen is the venue for a free Local Authors Party on Thursday, 23 November, where writers can meet, network and pitch their work (fiction, non-fiction or poetry) to an audience. Places to speak are limited and should be booked in advance via: 
 
 
Then on Friday, 24 November and Saturday, 25 November there is the return of the popular Poetry Pub Crawl. Join a rowdy, fun and joyful journey around the pubs of Chester hearing poems and songs in each venue. 
 
The evenings, hosted by festival favourite Molly Naylor and with entertainer Gavin Osborn, start with a drink at Storyhouse. 
 
Break out the bunting on Friday, 24 November because poet Luke Wright is celebrating his Silver Jubilee. 
Over 25 years, the fresh-faced Wright has built a reputation for being one of Britain’s most popular live poets. He has won an unprecedented four Saboteur Awards (awards for the spoken word), a Stage Award and a Fringe First accolade. He’s sold out shows around the world and regularly tours with John Cooper Clarke. 
 
Thwarted in his attempts to hold a jubilee street party by council philistines, he is instead doing what a poet does best and taking a deep dive into himself in what promises to be his most confessional show yet. 
 
It will be followed by a post-performance event in The Kitchen. 
 
Saturday, 25 November sees Storyhouse welcome Niki Segnit, award-winning author of the global bestseller The Flavour Thesaurus. 
 
Segnit’s follow up The Flavour Thesaurus: More Flavours sees her apply her groundbreaking approach to explore 92 mostly plant-based flavours from kale to cashew and pomegranate to pistachio, with more than 800 witty and erudite entries combining recipes, tasting notes and stories to bring each ingredient to life. 
 
The Fab Four are the subject of a fascinating evening on the main stage in the company of the legendary ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and author and music journalist Colin Hall, for 20 years custodian of John Lennon’s childhood home for the National Trust. 
The Songs the Beatles Gave Away traces the tracks Lennon and McCartney (and George Harrison) wrote which were gifted to other 60s stars, from Cilla Black to Billy J Kramer and Tommy Quickly to The Rolling Stones. 
And The Kitchen is the stage for a free Poetry Open Mic Night, hosted by local poet, performer and book artist Jeremy Dixon, and with the theme of Freedom of Identity. 
 
The festival comes to a close on Sunday, 26 November when Internationally acclaimed author Joanne Harris returns to Storyhouse with not one but two events. 
Maiden, Mother, Crone, he latest book, which is released on November 2, draws together her award-winning novellas A Pocketful of Crows, The Blue Salt Road and Orfeia together with illustrations from Bonnie Helen Hawkins, a new introduction from Harris and three original short stories in one volume which reimagines British folk stories. 
 
Then #Storytime, which returns by popular demand, is a live show featuring takes from Harris’ book Honeycomb plus image projections and live music. 
 
Both shows take place in the intimate Garret Theatre. 
 
There are also three free events which run throughout the 18-day festival. 
 
Love Letters to Your Library, in the Storyhouse lobby, encourages visitors to fill in a blank postcard with what a library means to them, while in Blind Date With a Book – running in the Library - visitors can borrow a mystery tome, wrapped in brown paper tagged with clues. 
 
Installation The Last Taboo of Motherhood? illuminating an area of women’s health which has been historically overlooked: postnatal mental illness, will be in the Book Pod on the library’s first floor. 
 
And a new initiative for 2023, is Sit For Six. A study by researchers at Sussex University has found that reading for as little as six minutes can reduce stress by as much as 68 percent. 
 
 
This is the 12th year that the festival has been programmed by Storyhouse, and along with visiting names, special artists in residence have included Benjamin Zephaniah, Lemn Sissay and Ted Hughes Prize-winner Hollie McNish. 
 
Storyhouse Creative Director Suzie Henderson said: 
 
“We have an incredible programme of authors, writers, poets and thinkers lined up for this year’s Chester Literature Festival. 

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