THIS week sees the launch of the first Salisbury Literary Festival. The event will take place this autumn in venues across the city on the weekend of Friday 27 to Sunday 29 October and if successful, will become a regular addition to the cultural calendar of the city.

Led by local author Tom Bromley, the festival is being organised by members of the Salisbury Writing Circle – a monthly writing group set up in Spring 2015, that has since grown to become the largest writing community in South Wiltshire. The Writing Circle is a free resource for anyone interested in creative writing, and the festival is intended to build on these principles for the benefit of the whole community.

Literary Patrons

The festival boasts three literary patrons, each of them local writers with strong links to Salisbury: Kristina Stephenson is the bestselling children’s author of the Sir Charlie Stinky Socks series; Barney Norris, is the author of the award-winning novel, Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain; and Mark Dawson is the USA Today Bestselling author of the John Milton and Beatrix Rose series, downloaded more than two million times around the world.

Of the festival, Mark says: “Salisbury Literary Festival is a long-time coming: with an amazing heritage from Golding to Creasey and Pratchett, it’s the perfect place for writers and readers to gather and talk about books.”

Barney, meanwhile, says: “Salisbury Literary Festival will give voice to a vibrant scene that’s been growing very quickly over the last few years, spreading by word of mouth through the pubs and meeting rooms of the city. The place is really starting to sing its stories, and now there’s a capstone to what this community has been building together, a highlight to the year.”

Celebrating Salisbury

An important component of the festival will be in celebrating the rich literary heritage that Salisbury has. The festival will include literary walks around the city, revealing the inspiration and locations of writers including Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Edward Rutherford and Dorothy L Sayers. There will also be a series of special events on the work on various writers with links to the city: on Saturday 28 Richard Creasey will speak about his father, the crime writer John Creasey; on the Sunday, Judy Golding will talk about her father, William Golding; the festival will also coincide with Terry Pratchett exhibition being held at Salisbury Museum.

As well as events by the three literary patrons, the festival will also showcase the work of the many local writers living in Salisbury who have published novels in the last few years, including Tarn Richardson, Richard Parker, Julia North and Russell Mardell.

Author Events

The Saturday of the festival is deemed a Reader’s Day, and will feature a number of bestselling authors coming to Salisbury to discuss their work. These will include the crime writer Julia Crouch, who created the domestic noir genre, and Joanna Cannon, whose novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep was the bestselling literary debut of 2016. On the Saturday evening, the Literary Festival and Salisbury Cathedral will hold a special event with author Philippa Gregory, to mark the 500th anniversary of the reformation.

Writers’ Day

On the Sunday, the festival focus will switch to a writing focus. In the morning, there will be a series of creative writing workshops by tutors from the Faber Academy, Curtis Brown Creative, Professional Writing Academy and Cornerstones. In the afternoon, there will be a series of discussions panels with authors, editors and literary agents on everything from how to go about getting an agent to the secrets of self-publishing.

Events for Children

With the festival taking place over half-term there will be a range of author events and workshops for children of all ages. These will include events by Kristina Stephenson, Melinda Salisbury, Emma Carroll and Alex Wheatle. Echoing the adult programme, there will be reader’s events on the Saturday and workshop events on the Sunday. All the children’s events will be free or at pocket money prices.

Short Story Competition

To celebrate the richness of Salisbury’s literary heritage – there will also be a short story competition – the Salisbury Story Prize – for stories on the theme of The City of Stories. This is a free competition with three age groups, under 11, 12-18 and adults, with prizes of Waterstone’s vouchers for children and their schools, and online writing courses for the adults. The winners will be judged by Kristina Stephenson, Barney Norris and Mark Dawson and the winning entries will be printed in the Salisbury Journal.

Getting Involved and Buying Tickets

For more information, to get involved and to buy tickets, please visit salisburyliteraryfestival.co.uk. Tickets for the first events go on sale next week and will be added over the summer: the full programme and remaining events will be announced at the beginning of September.