Fakenham to hold its first ever micro literary festival

Arriving this month is Fakenham’s first-ever literary micro festival, Norfolk Write Now!

The organisers hope visitors will come along and enjoy seeing, hearing and meeting a panel of distinguished writers as they celebrate the written word.

Those attending will have the opportunity of listening to Louis de Bernières , Martin Figura, Helen Ivory and Jeremy Page, asking them questions as well as enjoying a free glass of wine in a relaxed and fascinating evening.

Louis de Bernières, who lives in Norfolk, published his first novel in 1990 and was selected by Granta magazine as one of the 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 1993.

Since then he has become well known internationally as a writer, with Captain Corelli’s Mandolin winning the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Novel in 1994 and being made into a Hollywood film.

His first collection of poetry, Imagining Alexandria: Poems in Memory of Constantinos Cavafis, was released in 2013. As well as writing, de Bernières plays the flute, mandolin and guitar.

Helen Ivory’s new Bloodaxe Books collection, The Anatomical Venus, examines how women have been portrayed as ‘other’; as witches; as hysterics with wandering wombs and as beautiful corpses cast in wax, or on mortuary slabs in TV box sets.

She lives in Norwich with her husband Martin Figura. His Dr Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine, was shortlisted in the 2018 Saboteur Awards and is currently touring.

Jeremy Page’s first novel Salt (Penguin, 2007), was set among the saltmarshes of North Norfolk.

His second novel, The Wake (Penguin, 2009), explores this border further, set in the estuaries of East Anglia and the North Sea itself, where its protagonist, Guy, takes his barge out to sea in an attempt to reinvent his life.

The event is being organised at the Prince of Wales suite at Fakenham racecourse, on Saturday, October 26. Tickets are £15. Phone 01328 853653. Tickets and drinks will be issued at the door.