By C. J. De Mel, Jadetimes News
The Durham Book Festival is back, running from October 10-13, with a stellar lineup of Booker Prize-winning authors, homegrown talent, and international best-sellers. They'll be joined by the likes of Helen Fielding, Jodi Picoult, and Rebecca F. Kuang, acclaimed author of Yellowface. There's something for budding writers, too, with workshops during the weekend.
According to Elizabeth Scott from Durham County Council, the festival underlines Durham's commitment to its writers and readers, and its audiences. Among the jewels in this crown of a festival is Durham-born Pat Barker, best known for her evocative reading style, who will dramatize a reading from her newest novel, The Voyage Home. Winner of the Booker Prize in 1995 for The Ghost Road and Fawcett Society's prize for fiction in 1983 for Union Street, Barker has a place in the contemporary scene.
Rebecca Wilkie, the festival's director at New Writing North, hailed the event's strong legacy and announced a new commission to develop fresh narratives of the region. She said she was particularly thrilled by the involvement of Pat Barker, who will be premiering something based on her new book.
Also participating is Sunderland-born Terry Deary, known for the Horrible Histories series, who will show his first book for adults, A History of Britain in Ten Enemies.
It will also launch North East Now, a specially commissioned anthology in which 12 northern writers have written new stories celebrating the North East's devolution. Three of these, Arlen Pettitt, Louise Powell, and Richard Benson, will take part in a debate about the themes that shatter preconceptions about the north.
There will be poetry readings, documentary screenings, and different authors giving talks to provide a richly varied experience to audiences from across the region.
