Tuesday 25 March 2014

Hove Book Festival

The inaugural Hove Book Festival, founded and curated by bestselling author, Dorothy Koomson will run from Thursday 3rd April to Saturday 5th April 2014. Created to celebrate great storytelling for all ages, the launch line-up includes authors Lynne Truss, Alexandra Heminsley, Bethan Roberts, Araminta Hall, Simon Toyne and Eleanor Moran and a range of events including ‘Write by the Sea’; ‘The Big Book Quiz’ hosted by BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey presenter, Sarah Gorrell, appearances from ‘Stripy Horse’ and a series of ‘How to...’ writing sessions. 

Talking about the Festival, Dorothy Koomson says: “I wanted to celebrate and share my love of reading, books and really good story-telling so thought it’d be a great idea to start a festival near my home. We’re very fortunate with the line-up for the Festival – we have brilliant authors and experts on board, so I’m really excited to get the opportunity to buy their books and have them signed for me. Setting up Hove Book Festival has been a labour of love and I’m looking forward to hearing what all of the authors and experts have to say.” 

 Events will take place at Hove Library and The Hove Centre, Hove Town Hall, with support for The National Literacy Trust, the charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. WHSmith and British Bookshops, Hove are confirmed as the official Festival booksellers

The Festival in brief

Thursday 3rd April at 7pm, Hove Library 
Write By The Sea With Simon Toyne, Bethan Roberts & Dorothy Koomson Three best-selling authors talk about how they got published, how they come up with ideas for their books and what it’s like to be a writer who lives near the sea. 

Friday 4 April at 7.30pm, Hove Library 
The Big Book Quiz With Lynn Truss, Tom Bale, Joanna Rees, Mark Barrowcliffe and Alexandra Heminsley 5 well-known, local authors will head up 5 teams to find out who knows the most about books. BBC Sussex & Surrey radio host Sarah Gorrell will be asking the questions and interviewing the authors. 

Saturday 5 April at 10.30am, The Hove Centre/Hove Town Hall 
Stripy Horse Comes To The Seaside Award-winning children’s authors Karen Wall and Jim Helmore bring their most famous creation, the lovable Stripy Horse to the seaside. They’ll be reading from their first story Who Are You Stripy Horse? and involving the children in discussions about the book. (For 3-5 year-olds) 

Saturday 5 April from 1pm, The Hove Centre, Hove Town Hall 
How To Write A Bestselling Fiction Series With Elly Griffiths 1pm Elly Griffiths, the bestselling author of a series of crime books currently in development with the BBC, shares her secrets on how she puts together her complex, linked series of stories. 

How To Get Published With Jo Dickinson 2:30pm The Publishing Director of adult fiction at Simon & Schuster (one of the world’s biggest publishing companies) explains what she looks for when deciding to sign up an author and their book

How To Find Your Writing Voice With Lizzie Enfield & Araminta Hall 4pm 
These experienced authors and writing coaches will explain the importance of finding your own ‘voice’ when writing and how you can put that story bubbling away inside down on paper in your own unique way. 

How To Write For TV With Eleanor Moran 5:30pm Not only is Eleanor Moran a bestselling author, she’s also a TV drama producer who’ll be revealing how you can put together a story for the small screen. 

For tickets and further information please visit www.hovebookfestival.co.uk 

NOTES TO EDITORS: Dorothy Koomson is the international bestselling author of 9 novels and her sales exceed 1.5 million copies in the UK. Translated into 30 languages, Dorothy’s books are powerful, thought-provoking and compelling ‘emotional thrillers’ where moral dilemmas are central and where the complex emotions of family and friendships are intertwined. The Rose Petal Beach, Dorothy’s 8th novel, was shortlisted for a Specsavers National Book Award in 2012. Dorothy’s 9th novel, The Flavours of Love is published in paperback on the 10th April 2014. 

About The National Literacy Trust: The National Literacy Trust is a charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. Their research and analysis make them the leading authority on literacy. They run projects in the poorest communities, campaign to make literacy a priority for politicians and parents, and support schools. Visit www.literacytrust.org.uk to find out more For further information about the National Literacy Trust, please contact Claire Nevill, Media Manager on 0207 820 6275 or at Claire.Nevill@literacytrust.org.uk


The Hove Book Festival runs from 3rd – 5th April in Hove Library and The Hove Centre, Hove Town Hall.
For further information on authors, events or to speak to Dorothy Koomson please contact Emma Draude at ed public relations on
020 8299 4541 or email emma@edpr.co.uk
www.hovebookfestival.co.uk       @hovebookfest

3 comments:

Peter G. said...

Good post, Ayo - though it's a festival not a fair - and why aren't I invited?? :-))

albert said...

Nice post ! We loved the combination of the onsite and online bookfair. The combination was easy to use and gave our parents more flexibility to support our bookfair. I loved the option of having our online orders delivered to our school free of shipping. This service was greatly appreciated by many of our families, allowing them to feel they could order more books through the online book fairs

steve said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!
With Bookworm as our Book Fair vendor, I know the selection of books will be high quality in every regard. In fact, I feel confident enough in this to allow our middle school students to count any book purchased at our Book Fairs as part of their summer reading requirement