10:00am

Matty Long

At the Social Club

Matty Long, author and illustrator of the ‘Super Happy Magic Forest’ books brings his drawing workshop to the festival. Matty will demonstrate how to draw characters, step-by-step with simple shapes, from his books, so children can use what they learn to draw their own invented characters. Suitable for ages 5-10.  All are welcome (no drawing skills required!). Bring paper, pencils and pens please!

Matty Long is the author and illustrator of Super Happy Magic Forest, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and is now a super successful series! Matty, also author of Salty Dogs, earned a master’s degree in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in England, and lives in Ely.

2:00pm

Nicola Irvine

At the Social Club

Nicola Irvine is a film director, screenwriter and founder of film production company, Landlady Films. Nicola has been passionate about film her whole life and made films since the age of twelve. She founded Landlady Films in 2019 as a hub for films determined to tell chilling stories which offer new ideas, get the mind pondering and explore important subjects. Since founding her production company, she has created award winning short films (winning Best Student Film at New York Women’s International Film Festival), music videos working with numerous artists, dance videos and everything in between.

She is now preparing to start at Cambridge University this October to complete her Masters in Writing for Performance. In this master class, Nicola will cover the key differences between writing for prose and performance, the importance of show don’t tell, creating conflict for screen, how to say more with less and how adaptations work.

4:00pm

Sophie Hannah

At the Social Club

Have you ever wanted to become a writer? Now’s your chance! Welcome to a Masterclass with bestselling Sunday Times and New York Times crime fiction author Sophie Hannah! Author of: How To Think And What To Do To Make Your Writing Dreams Come True

Sophie is an internationally bestselling crime writer and course director of University of Cambridge’s new Master’s degree in Crime and Thriller Writing. In this masterclass for writers and aspiring writers, Sophie will teach participants:

• how to massively increase your chances of success
• how to change incorrect, unhelpful and limiting beliefs
• how to avoid unnecessary suffering
• how to thrive in the face of the psychological and emotional challenges that life as a writer brings with it
• what to do when you feel scared, confused, overwhelmed or stuck — in order to feel better, make progress and solve whatever problem you’re facing
• how to retain full control over your writing dreams and journey, instead of giving your power away to the first agent or editor who shows an interest in you
• how to make sure your dreams, and your definitions of success and failure, aren’t working against you
• how to be your own best and most powerful ally and advocate, throughout your writing life
• and how to use Sophie’s amazing invention, the Literary Diagnostics method (which is very different from editing), to take your writing to the next level.

10:00am

Matty Long

At the Social Club

Matty Long, author and illustrator of the ‘Super Happy Magic Forest’ books brings his drawing workshop to the festival. Matty will demonstrate how to draw characters, step-by-step with simple shapes, from his books, so children can use what they learn to draw their own invented characters. Suitable for ages 5-10.  All are welcome (no drawing skills required!). Bring paper, pencils and pens please!

Matty Long is the author and illustrator of Super Happy Magic Forest, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and is now a super successful series! Matty, also author of Salty Dogs, earned a master’s degree in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in England, and lives in Ely.

11:30am

Rachel Lawston

At the Social Club

Join nature enthusiast and children’s author, Rachel Lawston for story time! An inspiring event and the perfect way to get children to engage with nature. Rachel, author of the highly praised Finn’s Garden Friends, will read her latest book,  Mia Makes a Meadow (Pikku, April 2022) – a charming tale of a child, a few wildflower seeds and an absent gardener!  Rachel loves to engage with young audiences, so bring them along for this fun event! Suitable for ages 3-7.

Rachel will also be running a Garden Friends Charity Raffle! Prizes include copies of her books, a cuddly toy, seed bombs and bookmarks!

All proceeds will be donated to a conservation charity.

10:30am

Dr Matthew Green

At the Village Hall

An enthralling talk by Dr Matthew Green, presenting his brilliant Shadowlands (Faber, 2022). A deeply evocative and original account of Britain’s past, be prepared to be surprised, moved and inspired. From an Orkney settlement buried in sand five thousand years ago to a medieval city mouldering beneath the waves of the North Sea, Britain’s landscape is marked with haunting and romantic remains.

In a fascinating presentation, learn how these places met their fate, and why Britain looks the way it does today. 

Dr Matthew Green is a historian, writer and broadcaster, who has appeared in documentaries on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. His first book was London: A Travel Guide Through Time.

11:45am

Faye Brann

At the Village Hall

Faye Brann, in conversation with Leigh Chambers, discusses creating strong middle age female protagonists, writing meaningful comedy, and her journey to becoming a published author. Faye won the 2020 Comedy Women in Print Prize and is currently polishing up her second novel after the success of Tinker, Tailor, Schoolmum, Spy (Harper Collins, 2021). As well as writing, Faye enjoys treading the boards: she has a back catalogue of musical theatre performance credits, she has trained, directed and performed in numerous comedy improvisation shows both in London and Dubai.

As Keith Johnstone, the godfather of improv once said, ’those who say yes, are rewarded by the adventures they have. Those who say no are rewarded by the safety they attain.’ Faye is definitely a yes person!

1:00pm

Mick Finlay

At the Village Hall

Mick Finlay in conversation with Leigh Chambers, talks about his life and his writing– and in particular his hit series of historical crime fiction novels. Arrowood – a flawed and fascinating sleuth – is ‘a terrific creation’ (The Tablet), inhabiting a seedy, desperate London full of vivid characters…Mick will be signing copies of his last Arrowood novel – Arrowood and The Meeting House Murders.

Mick Finlay teaches psychology and has published social psychological research on political violence, persuasion, and verbal and non-verbal behaviour. Before becoming an academic he worked as a tent hand in a travelling circus, a butcher’s boy, a hotel porter, and in various psychology-related roles in the NHS and social services. He reads widely in history, psychology, and enjoys a variety of fiction genres (including crime, of course!). He lives in Brighton with his family.

2:30pm

Ed Patrick

At the Village Hall

Comedian, author and NHS anaesthetist Ed Patrick is coming!  He’ll be giving us a dash of his wit, before talking to Leigh Chambers about Catch Your Breath (Brazen pb, April 2022) and his life. Now out in paperback, this is a hilariously funny read, but also moving and truly insightful.  It follows Ed’s journey from bewildered medical student in Aberdeen to unflinching anaesthetist on the NHS frontline. A dose of insight into life on the wards during the pandemic, while injecting hope that we will all get through this. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of laughing gas to be had!

Ed Patrick has performed across the UK, including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ed hosts the “Comedians’ Surgery” podcast where he speaks to guests including Joe Lycett, Rose Matafeo and Reginald D Hunter about their health stories and experiences. He also created and presented “Infectious Personalities” with Hat Trick Productions, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 with guests Charlie Brooker and Sindhu Vee. Ed has also written and performed on BBC Radio 4, for shows such as “Now Wash Your Hands” and “Newsjack”, and he has a written for the Guardian about the intersection between medicine and comedy.

4:00pm

Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning

At the Village Hall

Why are all my clothes made in Asia? How come I’m so much richer than my great-great grandma? And what even is money?

We’ve all asked ourselves these questions!  So come and meet Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning, authors of CAN’T WE JUST PRINT MORE MONEY ? (Cornerstone Press, May 2022) –  and get some answers!

Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning are economists at the Bank of England. Rupal specialises in trying to prevent economic crises, which means you know who to blame when everything goes wrong. Jack is focused on protecting the pound in your pocket, which means he goes to lots of long meetings about interest rates.

Are you a teacher? The Bank of England’s advance and future royalties will be used to buy copies of the book for UK state secondary schools and to support the Bank’s education programme. Schools that receive the book will also be given access to a classroom resource that introduces young people to key economic ideas.

5:30pm

Vitali Vitaliev

At the Village Hall

Award winning journalist and travel writer Vitali Vitaliev shares his fascinating life in conversation with Leigh Chambers. His new book An Atlas of Geographical Curiosities (Jonglez, October 2022), presents the wondrous and the bizarre, including the world’s only town that lies almost entirely underground, and a hotel room whose bedroom is in France and bathroom is in Switzerland!

Vitali’s vast career includes writing for national newspapers including The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, BBC Radio 4 appearances (‘Excess Baggage’, “Start the Week”, and “In Our Time”, to name a few), and writing and presenting documentaries. In 2021 he was appointed Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund and the RLF Writing Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He is also a member of the International Travel Writers Alliance.

Vitali was the first Soviet journalist to publicly expose organised crime, the so-called Soviet Mafia, as well as the existence of prostitution, political prisoners and Soviet neo-Nazis. It was largely due to those ground-breaking investigations that he was forced to defect.

7:00pm

Sophie Hannah

At the Village Hall

Our star of the evening is crime writing doyenne and local author Sophie Hannah, who latest hit book The Couple at the Table (Hodder and Stoughton, 2022) has been called her best yet. Join us to hear Sophie talk about her life in books and what inspires her.

Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in forty-nine languages and fifty-one territories. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. In 2014, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, Sophie published a new Poirot novel, The Monogram Murders, which was a bestseller in more than fifteen countries. She has since published two more Poirot novels, Closed Casket and The Mystery of Three Quarters, both of which were instant Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers.

Sophie has recently helped to create a Master’s Degree in Crime and Thriller Writing at the University of Cambridge, for which she is the main teacher and Course Director. She is also the founder of the DREAM AUTHOR coaching programme for writers: why not come and try it out at our festival? Sophie lives with her husband, children and dog in Cambridge, where she is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College.