Literary Festival announces line-up

Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival announces literary line-up for the sixth year of inspiring talks, readings and conversations with talented authors, scientists, playwrights, historians, broadcasters, economists, comedians and rising literary stars.

Organisers of the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival have announced the full programme for this year’s festival. Taking place from Thursday 18th – Sunday 21st September 2014, the Festival will once again feature a diverse selection of talented, prize-winning and critically acclaimed authors.

Best-selling and prize-winning author Paddy Ashdown will open the festival on Thursday afternoon to discuss his forthcoming book, The Cruel Victory: The French Resistance and the Battle for the Vercors 1944. Paddy will be followed by Lord Spencer who will discuss his book Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles 1.

The line-up also includes War Horse author and Devon resident Michael Morpurgo, who will be talking about his forthcoming novel Listen to the Moon and his World War 1 anthology, Only Remembered, and award-winning author of the critically acclaimed Life After Life, Kate Atkinson.

Also appearing will be author of Labyrinth and founder of Women’s Fiction Prize, Kate Mosse, who will discuss her forthcoming novel The Taxidermist’s Daughter. Ahead of his 10th anniversary tour in October, popular comedian and writer Mark Watson will be talking about his forthcoming novel Hotel Alpha.

One of the returning speakers is their Hon. President, double Man Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel CBE, who will feature in two events during the festival. In an event on Saturday night she will discuss the critically acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company adaptations of the celebrated novel Wolf Hall and its best selling sequel Bring up the Bodies. In the final festival event on Sunday afternoon, Hilary will be in conversation about her forthcoming and eagerly awaited collection of short stories, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher.

This year’s festival will be full of the usual activities such as the marquee on the green where many of the authors will offer the rare chance of a book signing immediately after their events, as well as a wide selection of refreshments, all accompanied by live music throughout the four day festival.

The full programme for the 2014 Festival includes:

Paddy Ashdown – After service as a Royal Marine Commando Officer and a commander of a Special Boat Service unit in the Far East, Paddy Ashdown served as a diplomat in the Foreign Office before, being elected as the Member of Parliament for Yeovil. In 1988 he became leader of the Liberal Democrats, standing aside after eleven years of leading his Party. He is the author of many books, including A Brilliant Little Operation which won the British Army Military History prize for 2013.

Lord Spencer – Charles Spencer was a reporter on NBC’s Today show from 1986 until 1995, and is the author of four books, including the Sunday Times bestseller Blenheim: The Battle for Europe (shortlisted for History Book of the Year, National Book Awards) and Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier.

Mark Watson – Mark is the author of four acclaimed novels, most recently Eleven and The Knot. He is also a stand-up comedian, well-known for his appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Mock the Week. Ahead of his 10th anniversary tour in October, Mark Watson will be talking about his forthcoming novel Hotel Alpha.

Kate Mosse – Kate is the No 1 international bestselling author of six novels, three works of nonfiction, three plays and short stories and essays. The first of her Languedoc Trilogy, Labyrinth, was a multi-million bestselling and critical success on an international scale. Kate is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (previously the Orange Prize) and in June 2013, Kate was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to literature.

Louise Doughty – Louise is the author of seven novels, including Apple Tree Yard and Whatever You Love, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and long listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She is a critic and cultural commentator for UK and international newspapers and broadcasts regularly for the BBC. Louise will be talking about her latest novel and court-room drama, Apple Tree Yard.

Claudia Renton – Claudia gained a First at Oxford and was awarded the Gibbs Book Prize for Modern History. Now a practising barrister, she has also enjoyed a career as an actress, appearing with the RSC and at the National Theatre. She is co-author of Heroes with Simon Sebag Montefiore and was identified as one of the Guardian’s ‘new history girls’ and one of Vogue’s 'Bright Stars' of the next decade. Claudia will be talking about her biography, Those Wild Wyndhams.

Judith Mackrell – Judith is a celebrated dance critic, writing first for the Independent and now for the Guardian. She broadcasts regularly on television and radio and has written several critically acclaimed books on dance. Her first biography, Bloomsbury Ballerina, a portrait of the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, was published 2008 and was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award. Judith will be in conversation about her latest book Flappers: Six Women of A Dangerous Generation.

John Lanchester – John has worked as a football reporter, book editor, restaurant critic, and deputy editor of the London Review of Books, where he is a contributing editor. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and has written four novels and two works of non-fiction: Family Romance, a memoir; and Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay. His books have won the Hawthornden Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Prize, E M Forster Award, and been longlisted for the Booker Prize, and been translated into twenty-five languages. John will be talking about his forthcoming economics book, How to Talk Money.

Fay Weldon – Fay Weldon’s credits as writer of fiction include classic novels like The Life and Loves of a She Devil and Puffball, and the pilot episode of the original TV series Upstairs Downstairs. In 2001 she was awarded a CBE for services to literature. Fay will be talking about her current Love & Inheritance trilogy for Head of Zeus.

Jessie Burton – Jessie Burton was born in 1982. She studied at Oxford University and the Central School of Speech and Drama, and has worked as an actress and a PA in the City. Jessie was selected as one of the Guardian's debut authors of 2014 and will be talking about her exceptional first novel The Miniaturist.

Naomi Wood – Naomi was awarded the 2012 Eccles Centre British Library Writer in Resident Award to write and research her latest novel Mrs. Hemingway. Published to rave reviews, Mrs. Hemingway has already been a Radio 4 Book for Bedtime. She is the author of The Godless Boys and film rights have been sold to Riff Raff UK Limited. Naomi Wood is a Young Patrons Ambassador at the British Library and teaches Creative Writing at Goldsmiths University.

Xiaolu Guo – Xiaolu Guo was born in China and now lives in London. She is the author of titles including Village of Stone and A Concise English Dictionary for Lovers which was shortlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and has been translated into twenty-four languages. She is a successful filmmaker of feature films and documentaries and her work has premiered all over the world including New York and London Film Festivals. In 2013 she was named as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. Xiaolu will be talking about China, writing in translation and her eagerly awaited new novel I Am China.

James Lovelock – James, who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974, is the author of more than 200 scientific papers and the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis (now Gaia Theory). His many books on the subject include Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979), The Revenge of Gaia (2006), and The Vanishing Face of Gaia (2009). In 2003 he was made a Companion of Honour by Her Majesty the Queen, in 2005 Prospect magazine named him one of the world's top 100 public intellectuals, and in 2006 he received the Wollaston Medal, the highest Award of the UK Geological Society. He will be in conversation about his new book A Rough Ride to The Future.

Kirsty Wark – Kirsty is a journalist, broadcaster and writer who hosts a variety of BBC programmes including Newsnight and The Review Show. Her home has always been Scotland and her family's connection to Arran goes back over many years. At present she is working on her second novel. She will be talking about her acclaimed debut novel, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle.

Sadie Jones – Sadie is the author of three previous novels. With her debut The Outcast she won the Costa First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the novel is currently being adapted into a television drama. The novel was also selected as a Richard and Judy Summer Read. Her second novel, Small Wars, is inspired by the war in Afghanistan and her third novel, The Uninvited Guests is a darkly humorous, unsettling and ghostly tale. Sadie will be talking about her latest novel, Fallout.

Linda Grant – Linda is an Orange Prize winning and Man Booker shortlisted author whose titles include The Cast Iron Shore, When I Lived in Modern Times and Still Here. She has written a radio play which was broadcast on Radio 4 and a short story, ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’, part of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Beatles, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In July 2012 Linda received an honorary doctorate from the University of York. Linda will be talking about her forthcoming novel, Upstairs at the Party.

Michael Morpurgo – Michael Morpurgo, OBE, is the former Children’s Laureate and best-selling author of over 130 books for children including Private Peaceful, The Butterfly Lion, Kensuke’s Kingdom and War Horse, which first performed at the National Theatre in 2007 and has continued to be performed to packed theatres around the world. War Horse was released as a film directed by Steven Spielberg in January 2012. In 1976, Michael and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms for City Children.

Hilary Mantel – Hilary is the author of thirteen books, including A Place of Greater Safety, Giving Up the Ghost, Beyond Black, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize, and Wolf Hall, which won the 2009 Man Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the Walter Scott Prize and was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize. Her most recent novel Bring Up The Bodies won the 2012 Man Booker Prize, the 2012 Costa Book of the Year and was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Literature 2013. Hilary won The David Cohen Prize for Literature 2013. Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies have both been adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton and are currently being performed at the Aldwych Theatre in London after a critically acclaimed run at the RSC, Stratford.

Kate Atkinson – Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and has been a critically acclaimed international author ever since. Her most recent four bestsellers featured the former private detective Jackson Brodie: Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog. She was appointed MBE in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Commenting on this year’s literary line-up Hilary Mantel said: “As honorary President I am thrilled to announce our 2014 programme. Our list of speakers is as always diverse, impressive and distinguished and I am once again overjoyed to be part of the four day celebrations where Budleigh Salterton’s streets quite literally come alive with literary excitement.”

Since its modest beginnings six years ago, the festival has grown from strength to strength and each year reports record-breaking sales and an ever increasingly buzzing atmosphere at the event by the sea.

Tickets for Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival start from £7.50 and will be available from 28 July 2014. For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.budlitfest.org.uk