The six-day festival welcomed over a hundred novelists, poets, politicians, artists, historians, comedians and children’s writers, celebrating the art of the written and spoken word. Contributing to the main programme were Helen Dunmore, author of A Spell in Winter and The Lie; Carol Ann Duffy, who has been Britain’s Poet Laureate since 2009; Melvyn Bragg, whose latest novel, Grace and Mary, provides an insight into the life of his late mother and Joanna Trollope, who made her festival debut to discuss her new book, Balancing Act. Television presenter Kirsty Wark spoke to Alex Clark, the festival’s Guest Programmer about becoming a novelist, and Hanif Kureishi, acclaimed author of the screenplay My Beautiful Laundrette, talked about writers and their reputations.
Read Jackie's review and hightlights from the festival
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