​​​Although Bury St Edmunds has a rich literary history, it was only in 2017, that a literature festival for the town was established. The festival was founded by a small committee of passionate book lovers keen to make space for the celebration of books and writing in Bury’s cultural calendar. The festival was founded by Susan Pocklington, Julia Wakelam with help from local author Jackie Carreira and her actor/writer husband AJ Deane.  The response from direct approaches they made to authors was amazing and for a week in October 2017 a series of literature focused events spread across various venues in the town. Events were held in churches, pubs, shops, hotels and open-spaces; some that have even been mentioned in Dickens and Shakespeare! The sparkling literary line-up including Louis de Bernieres (Captain Corelli's Mandolin), Helen Callaghan (Dear Amy), Elly Griffiths (Dr Ruth Galloway novels) and Sarah Perry (The Essex Serpent). The festival also had a great non-fiction offering - with events from nature writer, Patrick Barkham and Ann Kronbergs - and there was something for younger readers too, with children's authors Amanda Gee and James Campbell. The events took across the town centre at Oakes Barn, Waterstones, Angel Hotel, Hunter Club and St John’s Centre. You can read more about the first year and the founding of the festival from 2017 organisers Jackie Carreira & AJ Deane over on our blog.

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2019 saw the festival return with another stellar line up including poet Wendy Cope and local authors Erica James, Sam Byers, Matt Gaw and Am Howell being joined by Ruth Hogan, Georgina Harding, Sophie Hannah, Francis Young and Nicola Upson who shortly after became a patron of the festival. This was the first year that the festival found its home in Bury's beautiful and historic, Unitarian Meeting House.

 

Then came 2020...but let's not talk about that!

 

In 2021 and 2022 the festival ran two, slightly scaled back and socially distanced festivals, but there were still some fantastic events, including appearances by Liz Trenow, Jenny Uglow, William Shaw, Jan Etherington and Rachel Hore.

 

2023 saw the festival regroup after a quiet couple of years with a diverse line-up to appeal to readers of all ages and persuasions. For the first time there were panel events, including a conversation with four brilliant debut authors whose work is set or influenced by East Anglian connections, a spooky exploration of the mysteries of the Suffolk coast with Polly Crosby (Vita and the Birds) and SA Harris (Seahurst) and The Women They Called Witches a discussion between non-fiction author Marion Gibson (witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials) and novelist Margaret Meyer (The Witching Tide), on the history and literature of 'witch' hunts, so many of whichtook place in Bury St Edmunds. The offering for children returned to the festival with award winning Hannah Gold talking to a sold out enraptured house. And fiction lovers were spoiled for choice with appearances from bestelling and award-winning authors across the genres, including from Annie Garthwaite (Cecily), Ashley Hickson-Lovence (Your Show), Kate Sawyer (This Family) and Elly Griffiths (The Brighton Mysteries).​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Becoming a registered charity in 2024 allowed us to set the wheels in motion to accomplish our other goals; not least, to establish an outreach programme for local schools and education institutions; all part of our mission to share the joy of reading and creative writing with the children and young people of Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area. 2024 saw us introduce our first events for schools, with two free in-school events delivered by award-winning children's author and illustrators Kiran Millwood-Hargrave and Tom de Freston at Abbots Green Academy Primary School and King Edwards VI Upper School, as part of the prize for the winners of our Creative Writing Competition.

 

We also focused on expanded our offering for readers of all ages, presenting a diverse and accessible programme for all; covering pressing global topics and local interest in our non-fiction programme with authors Matt Gaw, Sam Leith and Patrick Barkham and celebrating fiction with events from Janice Hallett, Jill Dawson, Clare Chambers, Georgina Moore, Bobby Palmer, Phoebe Morgan, JM Hewitt, Jessica Moor, Kirsty Capes and poet Martin Figura. 2024 also saw our biggest offering for children with live events from Catherine Emmett, Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston and Dominique Valente. It was also the proud occasion of offering our first accessible event for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing audience members, as we presented a fully BSL interpretetion and live captioning for our event with historical fiction author, Sarah Marsh.

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As you can see, from humble beginnings, the festival has gone from strength to strength, but despite our continued growth and ambition, we retain our community feel with the promotion of reading and writing for pleasure at the heart of all we do; making decisions with our values of inclusivity, accessibility, sustainability and community in mind.

 

Now, as we head towards our seventh festival in 2025, our focus turns to the development required to craft a strong and reliable future. In an unstable world where cuts to the arts are rampant and the vice of a cost-of-living crisis ever tightens, this can only be achieved through a mixed model of earned revenue, public funding, corporate sponsorship and private philanthropy.

 

We’re on a mission to spread the joy of reading and writing to the people of Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area. We’d love for you to be part of our continuing story! To discuss possibilities and options for being part of the future of Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival please CONTACT US.

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