'North Cornwall Book Festival 2022' by Faye Cano Valadez
Refreshing - Inspiring - Educating
These were the words people used to describe their experience of North Cornwall’s 9th annual Book Festival. Set in the scenic landscape around Port Isaac, last weekend’s literature event attracted many locals as well as guests from further afar. Curated by bestselling author Patrick Gale and run by the devoted team of Endelienta, the three-day festival offered a multitude of literary and cultural delights. Local, national and international writers were invited to share stories, run workshops and give interviews. The incredible and diverse lineup included authors like Kate Mosse, Kit de Waal, Jasper Fforde and Esther Freud. Rounded off with an evening concert by Welsh-Cornish musician Gwenno Saunders and poetry readings by Inua Ellams and Vanessa Kissule, the festival became a brilliant success.
Each year, the organisers aim to offer their guests something new and unprecedented, and this year’s choices definitely saw them succeed. Friday night had the poet Inua Ellams sweep the stage with his succinct coolness, permitting the audience a profound glimpse of his skill. Vanessa Kisuule impressed with her no-excuses confidence and a repertoire that covered ‘everything'.
Saturday offered a dazzling blend of author talks, covering topics like human relationships, history, racism, working-class writing and publishing. Sisters Esther Freud and Susie Boyt introduced their latest novels, beautifully handling the fine line between trauma and forgiveness. In the meantime, Jasper Fforde ‘moved around the furniture in people’s heads‘ and had the audience erupt in cascades of laughter. The afternoon took on a more serious tone when writer, lecturer and historian Onyeka Nubia talked about the history of Black people in the UK and Western Europe, highlighting how ‘these people were made invisible in the fabric of our country.‘
In conversation with Tiffany Murray, Lennie Goodings, chair of Virago Press, entertained the audience with a colourful account of Virago’s journey as a Publishing House, featuring charming anecdotes about working with Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood and Sarah Waters.
Fans of fantasy and YA fiction were in for a treat with Frances Hardinge’s reading from her latest book Unraveller, within the beautiful setting of St. Endellion church.
The ‘Cream of Cornish’: four writers either based in Cornwall or writing about Cornwall, showcased a great collection of stories on mental health, homosexuality and Cornwall’s old Gunpowder history, as well as a West Cornish literary thriller.
Cornish-born Natasha Carthew completed the afternoon’s program with the captivating story of her working-class origins and her gift for poetry and writing.
At night, ST. Endellion church was filled to the rafters with people flocking to see Gwenno Saunders’ stunning evening performance. To everyone’s delight, she soon had the audience sing 'I want cheese' at the top of their lungs (and in Cornish, of course).
On Sunday morning, author and medical doctor Roopa Farooki, spoke about her frontline experience of the first forty days of the pandemic. (She was in conversation with Nigerian public health specialist Ike Anya.) Farooki’s interview was followed by Kate Mosse’s moving narration of the time she spent caring for her elderly parents and parents-in-law. This subject made for an unexpected change from her usual topic range, but it seemed, perhaps therefore, even more appreciated by the audience.
The next speaker, Philip Limbery had been anticipated with mixed emotions. One of the food industry’s most influential people, Limbery spoke about the drastic need for sustainable change in the agricultural sector; a thought-provoking topic for an area that relies heavily on agriculture.
In an interview with publisher Lennie Goodings, Kit de Waal introduced her striking memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes, in which she talks about growing up between her parents’ very different concepts of paradise.
The final highlight of the day, Imagine a City, had airline pilot and writer Mark Vanhoenacker take the audience on a fascinating journey around the globe, never short of a poignant detail or anecdote.
Apart from bringing great literature to our part of the country, Patrick Gale and his team want to show the world of literature and art to children and aspiring young authors. They aim to portray writing as a profession worth pursuing, demonstrating that there is a multitude of opportunities in that field. On Friday afternoon, students of Sir James Smith’s community school read out their historical fiction stories on stage, inspired by an earlier outing with the Walter Scott Prize. The winners of the Charles Causley 2022 Young People’s Poetry Competition were also announced at the fair, with Ruth Dun’s winning poem: People, not Places read out by David Devanny.
Winners of key stages 1 and 2 at St. Petroc’s Primary school read their stories aloud on stage, all complete with a rainbow beanstalk, a golden electric guitar and a roaring diplodocus.
The event was supported by great sponsors such as Savills, Sea Salt, Citroen Wells and the Eden Project. Throughout the weekend, writers, bibliotherapists and cartoonists ran workshops to further one’s skills and talents. Work by local artists and a market with handpicked Cornish produce made for a perfectly rounded experience. The bookshop tent, run by the Padstow Bookseller, was well stocked with new and old titles by the authors that featured. And what better souvenir to take home than a stack of new books, signed by their authors?
(for full line-up see: https://www.ncornbookfest.org/whats-on/)