Tag Archives: books

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PROGRAMME FOR SEPTEMBER 2025 EVENT

Like to know a little more about the programme for our “Strength of Character” Festival event on Saturday 27th September? Here’s a handy guide.

11.00 Welcome and introductions

11.10 Two Shakespeare Characters for the Price of OneGerard Boyce

11.30 Robert Louis Stevenson’s First Love: A Study in Quiet DeterminationAli Bacon, author of The Absent Heart

11.50 Writing Villains You Love to Hate – thriller writer AA Abbott, author of Run for Your Lies

12.10 The Human Interest Brothers: Dickens & CharacterLucienne Boyce, author of Bloodie Bones

12.30 Shedding the Shadow SelfHelen Idris-Jones author of Missing Ella

12.50 Story Time #1: Mark Rutterford performs “No Help at All”, a short story written especially for this event

1-2pm Lunch Break, Book Sales, and Viewing of Philip Ringland’s sculpture entitled “Don Quixote”

2.00 Story Time #2: Stefania Hartley reads a short story from her Sicilian collection, “Drive Me Crazy”

2.10 To Travel is To Meet Yourself: Stories of Self-Discovery – Lorna Fergusson, author of “One Morning in Provence”

2.35 The Lively Character of Rivers – Sarah Siân Chave, author of Hafren: The Wisdom of the River Severn

2.55 The Global Portrait Project: Telling the Story of Environmentalists Changing the World for the Better James Nickells, medical professional and local portrait artist painting the world

3.20 The Strength of Character Required to be an Author – panel discussion with Frances Evesham, author of 11 mystery novels, and Lorna Fergusson, writing coach, editor and author, chaired by Debbie Young, HULF Founder & Director

3.55 Time for a Poem: Author Trevor Stubbs reads “Manning the Bookstall”

4.00 Closing Remarks & Thanks

For more infomation about the guest speakers, click here.

As ever, this will be a quick-fire day that keeps you on your toes – and thankfully also supplies you with tea, coffee and cake to help you keep up with it all!

BOOK NOW TO ENSURE WE HAVE ENOUGH CAKE TO GO AROUND!

banner image showing title, time, date and venue of this event

NEXT EVENT: A Sense of Place (Saturday 27th April)

The first Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival event will take place on Saturday 27t April from 10.30am until pm in the beautiful, historic parish church of St Mary the Virgin – a highly atmospheric setting for this event’s theme, A Sense of Place.

The programme will address the theme from many different angles, with talks by the following authors:

  • AA Abbott, psychological thriller author
  • Sophia Ashe, author of “Ride Like a Gaucho”, an memoir of Argentina
  • Lucienne Boyce, historical novelist and historian
  • Tiggy Greenwood, author of a children’s trilogy of novels, starting with The Holder of Annanbourne
  • Felice Hardy, travel writer and author of family biography The Tennis Champion Who Fled the Nazis
  • Stephen Oram, author of near-future speculative fiction
  • Lisa Overton, author & art historian
  • Bill Wood, undertaker and author of “An Odd Undertaking”
  • Mark Rutterford, performing a story he has written especially for the occasion

Plus there’ll be readings of poetry and prose by the ever-popular Gerard Boyce.

The event will be chaired by HULF Founder and Director Debbie Young, who will combine this fascinating line-up into a coherent whole.

VENUE

Our venue, the beautiful ancient parish church of St Mary the Virgin, may be chilly, so please wrap up warm. Seating is on antique wooden church pews – feel free to bring a cushion! Free parking available in the adjacent field. Please leave the hardstanding in front of the church free for those with limited mobility.

REFRESHMENTS

Tea, coffee and cake are included in the ticket price. Savoury food such as soup and sandwiches will be on sale for lunch during the break at 1pm.

BOOK SALES

A £2 book voucher is included with the ticket, valid at the event. All our speakers give their time for free, so please make the most of your voucher to support them by buying their books! A book stall manned by the authors will be open before and after the talks and during the breaks.

BOX OFFICE

Click here to book your tickets in advance via our box office hosted by Eventbrite.

Please note advance booking is essential to ensure we have plenty of cake for all!

photo of the Festival venue, St Mary's Hawkesbury
Our venue: the historic parish church of St Mary the Virgin, which predates the Domesday Book

This event will be dedicated to the memory of Clare Weiner, who wrote as Mari Howard, a fervent supporter of HULF from its founding in 2015, and a frequent speaker and reader at past events.