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Programme for September 2026 Event: Mysterious Ways

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Like to know a little more about the programme for our “Mysterious Ways” Festival event on Saturday 26th September? Here’s a handy guide.

11am Welcome & Introductions – Debbie Young

11:10 am The Woman In White – A reading from Wilkie Collins’ seminal mystery novel – Gerard Boyce

11:25am The Extraordinary Marriage of Charles Dickens – a performance – Annie Elliot

11:45am Flannen Isle – Wilfrid Wilson Gibson’s poem about a lighthouse mystery – read by Gerard Boyce

12noon Comfort Break

12:15pm A Miraculous Coincidence – A Reading from The MichMash Miracle – by its author Nigel Messenger

12:25pm Suffragettes, Spiritualists & The Occult – an interview – with historian Lucienne Boyce

12:40pm Revelations: A Secret Book Revealed – insights from a retired vicar – Trevor Stubbs

12:55pm “An August Midnight” – a reading of Thomas Hardy’s poem – Gerard Boyce

1pm Lunch Break

1.30pm Gifts – a saga about genetics – an interview with its author – Lesley Bootiman

1.45pm One Foot in Front of the Other – an interview about the last taboo with its author- Judy Heminsley

2pm This is Not My Land – a travel writer talks about her Cotswold farm – Caroline Mills

2.15pm A Kind of Alchemy – a Gloucestershire poet reads from her latest collection – Josephine Lay

2.25pm “Fabulous Fungus” – a local poet reveals a mystery of nature – Hugh O’Connell

2.35pm Comfort Break

2.50pm Why do crimewriters write about crime writers? – a panel discussion – with Jayne Chard, Nicola Kelsall, Fiona Walker & Debbie Young

3.20pm How to tell a story with photos – a photographer shares the mystery of his art – Peter Salenieks

3.40pm A short story written especially for this event – perfomed by a HULF favourite – Mark Rutterford

3.55 pm Thanks and Closing Remarks – Debbie Young

To book your tickets now, please visit our online Box Office page hosted at Eventbrite. Tickets are £10 per head (pluss £1.55 booking charge), to include tea, coffee and cake, and a £2 book voucher valid on the day.

A full list of speakers will be shared in our next blog post.

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE
Authors Frances Evesham, Debbie Young & Lorna Fergusson at the September 2025 event
A fun conversation at last September’s HULF event, with (from left to right) Frances Evesham, Debbie Young, and Lorna Fergusson (Photo credit: Peter Salenieks)

HULF 2020 – One More Destination for Digital Nomad Jay Artale

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Jay Artale Headshot for debbie

Jay Artale, travel writer, non-fiction author & digital nomad

Travel writer and non-fiction author Jay Artale played an important part in HULF 2019, sharing our news via the HULF Twitter account, from different countries around the world. You see, Jay’s a digital nomad, travelling the world while working online. We’re delighted to announce that for next year’s event, she’ll be in Hawkesbury Upton in person. Meanwhile, she shares her thoughts on what it means to be a digital nomad and why she’s glad to be adding Hawkesbury Upton to her itinerary in 2020.

Location Independent Digital Nomad

If being a digital nomad was a cult, then Arthur C. Clarke would be our guru.

When I was two years old, he predicted developments in communication would create a world independent of distance where we could conduct our business from anywhere in the world—and that’s what I do.

As long as I have a computer and internet connection it doesn’t matter where I write my travel guides or books about travel writing and self-publishing. My location is immaterial.

Since abandoning my corporate career to become location independent I’ve wallowed in the digital advances Arthur C. Clarke predicted, but sometimes it means I miss out on coveted opportunities.

The 2019 #HULitFest

In the past, I’ve scanned literary and book festivals with no more than a passing interest, but the 2019 Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival line-up changed that.

  • The Voicing Dementia talk, non-fiction reading, and travel-related panel discussion piqued my interest.
  • The adult workshops for how to write for magazines, free writing, and writing poetry, grabbed my attention.
  • The poetry slam sealed the deal—I had to attend.

Since writing my poetic memoir, A Turbulent Mind about my mother’s journey with Alzheimers, slamming those Hillaire Belloc inspired poems has been on my bucket list. Here was my opportunity to fill that quest—but my travel schedule had other plans.

3d image of Jay Artale's poetry book about Alzheimers's, A Turbulent Mind

In this moving and beautifully designed poetry collection, Jay shares her experience of her mother’s Alzheimer’s

Tweeting Support

Although I couldn’t participate in person, physical distance wasn’t going to stop me from being part of this community of words. So in lieu of attendance, I offered Debbie remote support to spread the word about the 2019 lineup and event via Twitter.

Ostensibly I was getting the word out to encourage book lovers to travel locally to Hawkesbury Upton for this one-day event. But our tweets also showcased the speakers to a global audience and helped them grow their reader-base.

Using words to move people into action or reaction is a compulsion of mine.

Finding a Niche

I use my Bodrum Peninsula website and travel guides to encourage visitors to get off the beaten path and discover a country that doesn’t deserve the negative press it receives. I use my indie publishing website, podcast and travel writing books to inspire travelers to write and self publish, and my personal blog to share my travel adventures.

image of Jay Artale's travel books

It’s an erratic collection of content meant to serve different roles to different audiences, and I think that’s why I was drawn to HULitFest.

When what we write doesn’t neatly fit into the confines of a single niche, we have to create a platform to deliver it. I’ve done that virtually through my websites, and it’s what Debbie does with her annual Literary Festival.

The 2020 #HULitFest

I’m looking forward to attending the 2020 Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival in person. Fingers crossed my application to host a travel writing workshop is accepted. [It will be! What a great addition to the HULF workshop programme! – Ed.] I’m also limbering up my poetry slam muscles to bare my soul.

The world has shrunk to that point Arthur C. Clarke predicted. It’s called the internet.

It’s where we communicate and reach people no matter their location. But this online world has exploded to such an extent, it’s become an information suburb where virtual connections can make us feel disconnected.

It’s just as well physical destinations still have a place in our world, and each year authors and book lovers commute to Hawkesbury Upton to share their love and appreciation of the written word to communicate with their fellow human beings, face-to-face.

 

About Jay Artale

Jay Artale Headshot for debbieJay Artale abandoned her corporate career to become a digital nomad and full-time writer. She’s an avid blogger and a nonfiction author helping travel writers and travel bloggers achieve their self-publishing goals. Join her at Birds of a Feather Press where she shares tips, advice, and inspiration to writers with an independent spirit.

Connect with Jay on social media here:

A Festival for Poetry – and So Much More

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photo of Shirley Wright speaking at the opening ceremony with Debbie Young

Shirley Wright praises the village school’s Poetry Anthology at the opening ceremony (Photo by Angela Fitch)

Award-winning Shirley Wright, who has been part of every HULF to date, added another win to her name when she made a welcome return this year. Inspired by her enthusiasm and support, and her skill for making poetry accessible to everyone, we have expanded the poetry element since the Festival’s inception, and this will continue next year. Now read on to share her experience of HULF 2019, including our first ever Poetry Slam.

April 2019 saw me heading back to Hawkesbury Upton to take part in my fifth HULF. I’ve been so privileged to be involved since the very beginning, watching as it’s grown and flourished under the indefatigable leadership of Debbie Young.

Launch of School Poetry Anthology

One of this year’s innovations was the village school’s Poetry Anthology, containing a poem from every single child at the school. I was lucky enough to be asked by Debbie to write a Foreword to the book and to say a few words at the launch, first thing on Saturday morning. So … note to self, don’t be late. So … I arrive ridiculously early! But this gave me the chance for a proper annual catch up with people I only see at HULF, to down a coffee or two, sort out what to do with my own books, get a programme for the day and get my head sorted before the proceedings began!

photo of small boy proudly reading his poem

A young pupil at Hawkesbury Primary School proudly reads his poem to the Festival crowd (photo by Angela Fitch)

After a quick few words from me on why I was deeply impressed with the poetry collection, it was lovely to hear some of the children read their poems out loud to the gathered crowd. You could spot the mums and dads from the width of the grins on their faces! What an inspirational, inclusive project, proving that everyone can write poetry and that it’s an uplifting thing.

Then to the events of the day. Inspired by the above, I started by going to the children’s writing session and listening to authors talk about and read extracts from their fiction for children. Then more coffee and cake. There’s always plenty of good food and home cooking at HULF – something not to be taken lightly!

Poetry Workshop

My poetry workshop later in the morning was full of eager writers. We started by chatting  about climate change and how this urgent topic could best be conveyed through poetry. Then everyone settled down to writing acrostics on the theme. As always, some fabulous poems emerged from the session and everyone had something to take away with them to think about or to work on at home.

Poetry Slam

After lunch (good soup!) I took part in another HULF innovation for 2019 – the first ever Poetry Slam. We had a good, appreciative audience, and lots of participants. As Slams ought to be, it was fun, competitive and well organised. (Read judge Barry Faulkner’s entertaining take on the Poetry Slam in his post here – an experience that has now got him hooked on reading poetry!)

Beyond Poetry

But HULF is about more than poetry. There’s all the things I haven’t mentioned – art exhibitions, talks, readings and discussion groups in venues all around the village on topics such as non-fiction, historical fiction, favourite authors …

And the focus every time is on the festival-goers rather than the invited guests, about inclusiveness and genuine interest from everybody.

Can’t wait for next year!

Shirley Wright’s Books

cover of Sticks and Stones by Shirley Wright

Shirley Wright’s latest poetry collection

Shirley Wright has published two poetry collections and a novel:

  • The Last Green Field and Sticks and Stones – poetry collections published by Indigo Dreams
  • Time Out of Mind – a ghost story published by Thornberry

You can buy them all from Amazon here.

 

Bobbie Coelho’s Ode to HULF 2019

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photo of Bobbie Coelho holding up one of her books

Bobbie with her latest poetry collection, snapped at HULF 2018 by Angela Fitch

We always enjoy Bobbie Coelho‘s contribution to the Festival. As well as taking part in poetry events in the Methodist Chapel, she joins in our Outreach programme to Beaufort House, the care home in the village.

This programme sends poets into Beaufort House to read to those residents who are too frail to visit the main Festival. Beaufort House residents love hearing poetry read to them and are always moved by the poets’ words.

It’s very important to us at HULF to be as inclusive as we can, and we are very grateful to the poets who volunteer for the Outreach.

Bobbie also kindly made a special trip to Hawkesbury in between Festivals for a solo reading at Beaufort House, which the residents very much appreciated.

Bobbie’s Poetry Collections

cover of Finding the LightBobbie has now published three collections of poetry, Finding the Light, Reflecting the Light, and The Lesson. She started writing to help her come to terms with her diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. She also uses her poems to raise awareness of Parkinson’s. The beautiful covers and upbeat titles of her books reflect her positive attitude and determination, Her presence at the Festival inspires us all.

No surprises then that Bobbie’s review of this year’s Festival arrived in the form of a poem!

ODE TO HULF 2019

A Cotswold village, so pretty,
It would be a pity
To miss HULF while its around
Though its only on for one day

It is Debbie Young
Who organises the fun
I don’t know how she does it all in one day
I hear a lot of people say

There are books galore
To which are added plenty more!
On every subject under the sun
Get there quickly before it goes away.

Bobbie Coelho’s Children’s Stories

Bobbie’s latest children’s book

Bobbie also enjoys writing children’s stories, and since HULF 2019 has published her latest book for children, Blodwyn’s Baby. Bobbie whets our appetite for the new book as follows:

“Imagine if you will a large, red, very large and extremely grumpy dragon, called Blodwyn. While out walking one day, she finds a baby …………..human”!

What fun!

For More Information

Bobbie shares many of her poems on her website and her Facebook page. Here are the links so you can enjoy more of her work – and you’ll also find her books available to order online or from good bookshops.