Where is the lineup? folkestonelitfest.co.uk has nothing yet. I really should have already joined up as a friend and be running their site for them shouldn't I...
Names I've heard so far include [abe]Will Self[/abe], [abe]John Hegley[/abe] and a return for local lad [abe]David Starkey[/abe], but no idea of venues or dates yet, except that it runs from the 1st to the 9th of November.
UPDATE: Aha, Folkestone Herald says [abe]Maureen Lipman[/abe], [abe]Kate Adie[/abe], [abe]John Bird[/abe], [abe]Joanna Trollope[/abe], [abe]Ffion Hague[/abe], [abe]Mary Berry[/abe], and most excitingly (if it's her off Countdown) [abe]Susie Dent[/abe].
British Arts Council has this, but it's all about last year's really:
Now in its 8th year, the Folkestone Literary Festival will play host over 50 speakers, entertainers, poets and creatives in a packed schedule promising 9 days of entertaining live performances. Authors in 2007 included [abe]Terry Jones[/abe], [abe]David Frost[/abe], [abe]Roy Hattersley[/abe], [abe]Nicholas Parsons[/abe], [abe]Tony Benn[/abe], [abe]David Starkey[/abe], [abe]James Naughtie[/abe], S[abe]andra Howard[/abe] and [abe]John Humphrys[/abe]. The 2007 Festival programme also included a special Childrens event including performances from former Children's Laureate [abe]Michael Morpurgo[/abe], family reading sessions, a new event for young people featuring [abe]Colin Foreman[/abe], film screenings (including [abe]Al Gore's [/abe]"An Inconvenient Truth"), a Cabaret evening, book swap, exhibitions, tours of the town and more. This year will see even more events to celebrate all that is literary at the festival which has fast become one of the region's most important cultural events.
Contact: Roberta Spicer (Festival Organiser) The Creative Foundation, The Block, 65-69 Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent CT20 1JR Tel: +44 (0)1303 842192 Fax: +44 (0)1303 245799 E-Mail: Roberta@creativefoundation.org.uk Web links: folkestonelitfest.co.uk
This is part of my website The Folkestone Gerald that I built in a fury of enthusiasm when we first moved here sometime in 2004. I'd been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that so I am technically one of those DFLs you get nowadays. The site was a lot more dynamic with a gig calendar and voting for favourite places and stuff, and I know it was a useful resource for those who were thinking of moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though just to Hythe) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. My name is not Gerald BTW, the name comes from a pretend newspaper in an episode of The Day Today or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local newspaper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do contact me if you have something to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.