Writers, aspiring writers and fans of literature who are within striking distance of Henley-on-Thames — home to the famous Henley Royal Regatta (and the late ex-Beatle George Harrison) — may be pleased to learn that the Henley Literary Festival takes place next week. It’s quite sad that I only know about it because of a streetside sign I saw on the way to work this morning, as my daily commute takes me through part of Henley.
The Festival’s programme contains numerous well known authors discussing their works and providing Q&A sessions, river cruises with readings and discussions, writing and poetry workshops, events for children, and an event to end each day. Events need to be booked and many have a nominal charge, but some are free. A number of events have already sold out, so if you are interested in a bookable event, I’d suggest you do so sooner rather than later.
Of the events that haven’t sold out already, a couple of highlights for me will be:
- Irvine Welsh’s talk on his upcoming Trainspotting prequel, Skagboys
- Saturday morning’s writing workshops
- Rick Wakeman‘s talk on his upcoming book, Further Adventures of a Grumpy Old Rock Star.
I may make it to a couple of other events, but we’ll have to see how time and event booking turns out.
Hope to see you there, or hear about how the Festival went for you.
Edit 28-Sep: There’s been a slight change of plans for me. I was notified a couple of days ago that I’ve managed to obtain a ticket to a conference in London that takes place the same weekend as the Festival. The tickets for the conference (nothing to do with writing or literature) sold out in under 90 minutes last May, so I’m very pleased and fortunate to be going to that instead. See you at the Festival next year?
