Welcome to Portsmouth BookFest

About The Festival

Portsmouth has a strong literary heritage including Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and HG Wells and Portsmouth BookFest continues that tradition, attracting diverse audiences to exciting events featuring popular and accessible authors.

Portsmouth BookFest is jointly organised by Portsmouth City Library Service and The Hayling Island Bookshop. There is an associated schools programme organised by Portsmouth School Library Service.

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Thank You

Portsmouth BookFest ended with a great Book Swop event at Aspex gallery on Saturday.

Once again Portsmouth BookFest received very good reviews from attendees and authors. Over the period of the Festival we ran eighteen events at twelve different venues across the city involving twenty different authors and attended by two thousand five hundred children, adults and families.

We will continue to use this website to post details about literary events in the area in the coming months.

Our thanks to the Authors, the Event Managers and Volunteers who made it all happen and of course everyone who came along to the events.

Lesley Pearce – The Truth Behind The Fiction

Over two million copies of her 18 novels have been sold worldwide. Lesley’s own life story has been as packed with drama as her books and she has skilfully married the pain and unhappiness of her early experiences with a unique gift for storytelling.. Bristol-based Lesley has firmly established herself as one of the country’s most popular writers.

Her most recent novel, Belle, is about the adventures of a New Orleans courtesan struggling to find her family at the turn of the last century.

Fans and newcomers to her books will be able to hear more about her own story from her on November 3rd in the Menuhin Theatre Central Library, Guildhall Square at 7pm.

A few tickets left for Claire Tomalin’s Talk

There are only a few tickets left for Claire Tomalin’s talk about her new biography on Dickens. She is speaking in The Menuhin Theatre Portsmouth Central Library on Saturday starting at 7.30pm. There will be a chance to buy the book at a specially discounted price and have it signed by Claire after the talk.Call the Box Office on 02392 688 685

Here’s what The Guardian had to say about the book “Flawless in its historical detail, and acute on the novels, Claire Tomalin’s superb Dickens biography is most valuable in the sense it gives us of the man himself.”

Queen Of Crafts – Tuesday 18th October

You can take part in a hands on workshop with Jazz Domino Holly, Queen of Crafts when she talks about her book on Tuesday October 18th at Aspex Gallery Gunwharf Quays. Click on this link to hear Jazz talking about her work

BookFest 2011 Opens With Darren Shan Event

Master of horror Darren Shan delighted his fans when he appeared at Highlight Portsmouth on Sunday. This was the first time Darren had appeared in a comedy club and he thoroughly enjoyed himself giving a series of ghoulish readings from a selection of his books. After the talk, he signed books for two hours and posed for pictures with audience members.

The next event in BookFest will be on October 18th when Queen of Crafts and founder of the Shoreditch Women’s Institute, Jazz Domino Holly will be talking about her new book at Aspex Gallery Gunwharf…the book is the modern girls guide to knitting, swing, quilting, baking & kitchen gardening. Tickets from the Box Office on 02392 688 685

2011 Programme Announced

Once again Portsmouth BookFest will bring a terrific selection of top authors and quirky events to the city between November 17th and October 13th.

CSI Portsmouth will be back by popular demand, this time featuring current top ten best-selling author Mark Billingham along with John Harvey, Michael Ridpath and Pauline Rowson who will be joined by crime scene professionals from the University and Hampshire Constabulary. A special feature of CSI Portsmouth this year is a series of bookable workshops in the morning featuring crime and forensic experts.

We are also very pleased to welcome Lesley Pearse to the city to talk about her books, Leasley is also riding high in the charts with her latest novel Belle. Acclaimed biographer and Whitbread Book Of The Year winner Clare Tomalin will also be with us to introduce her latest work which is appropriately about Charles Dickens.

2011 is the 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion and we have a real treat in store when George Cross holder marine Matt Croucher comes to the Royal Marines Museum to launch The Royal British Legion: 90 Years of Heroes which will feature heroes from each decade of the Royal British Legion. Some of the proceeds from the each book sold will be going to the poppy appeal….watch out for other details in The News about this event held just one week before 11/11/11.

For younger audiences, international best seller Darren Shan is appearing ahead of the main festival at Highlight club Portsmouth as part of his UK tour to launch Palace Of The Damned, this will be the first time we have used this night club venue for younger audiences. Later in the main festival we will be back at Highlight Portsmouth with Portsmouth Book Award winning author Guy Bass to introduce his new character Stitch Head to his young fans.

Saga lovers will be able to meet Dee William at Paulsgrove Library when she talks about her latest book set during the blitz and history buffs will enjoy a unique Tudor sensory experience in the Square Tower to meet James Forrester the fictional alter ego of historian Ian Mortimer.
For those wanting a more practical experience we have Jazz Domino Holly the founder of the Shoreditch Women’s Institute with her book Queen Of Crafts – the modern girl’s guide to knitting, sewing, quilting, baking, preserving & kitchen gardening.

Poetry fans will be sure to enjoy a feast of work by exceptional poets from diverse backgrounds when the Ten Tour comes to The New Theatre Royal hosted by Bernadine Evaristo. Arthur Conan Doyle fans will be please to hear that his previously unpublished novel will be discussed by editors Rachel Foss and Jon Lellenberg.

Throughout the festival period, the Guildhall Cafe will host a programme of free events featuring local authors and publishers and in parallel with the ticketed events there is a programme of events held within local schools which will reach over 2500 children and feature children’s authors Guy Bass, Paul Cookson, Paul Dowswell and Hannah Shaw.

The final event of the 2011 festival features the popular Firestation BookSwop which is an evening of book swopping and cake eating hosted by authors Scott Pack and Marie Phillips.

Tickets for all these events can be booked through the Box Office open Monday to Friday on 02392 688 685 or at any Portsmouth City Library or The Hayling Island Bookshop.

If you are a member of Portsmouth City Libraries you can get £1 off a ticket or you can even sign up to join the Libraries when buying your ticket and claim this discount! All tickets also entitle you to discounts off books bought at the special bookshop at each event for signing by the author.

You can click on the Full Programme tab above for individual event details.

Darren Shan To Visit Portsmouth

http://www.darrenshan.com/

We are really excited to be able to tell you that master of horror Darren Shan will be visiting Portsmouth on Sunday October 2nd for a public event as part of Portsmouth BookFest.

Darren will be on his launch tour for Palace Of The Damned which is book three in the Larten Crepsley series.  Audience members will be able to buy the new book at the venue for signing by Darren we will also have his other books on sale for signing by Darren as well!

To make the event even more unusual, it is being held at a night club venue in Gunwharf Quays which will be specially opened for Darren’s teen fans but of course serving non alcoholic drinks for this event!

Tickets for the event have some discount features as follows – tickets are £5 each but only £4 each if you are a member of Portsmouth Library Service – Portsmouth residents can even sign up and join when buying tickets if you want to get this discount! Then a further £2 from each ticket can be used at the Event as a discount off any of Darren’s books bought at the special on site bookshop. All this makes the tickets terrific value.

The Venue is Highlight Portsmouth which is in Gunwharf Quays and normally hosts comedy club and other adult events, Darren’s event starts at 3pm on Sunday 2nd October but doors will open at 2.15pm
Tickets can be obtained through the Box Office which will open on Monday 5th September from 9am. Telephone  02392 688 685.  Guideline age is 11+. Adults attending as audience members will also need tickets. The Box Office is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. On Saturdays, if required tickets can be purchased from The Hayling Island Bookshop on 02392 466 620

Further information as follows Portsmouth Schools – Peter Bone, Portsmouth School Library ServiceAll other schools – Colin Telford, Events Manager, The Hayling Island Bookshop