Fiction
Rupert Tower – Between Two Worlds: Inside Daphne du Maurier’s House on the Strand
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomDaphne du Maurier’s grandson, Jungian analyst, Rupert Tower, will explore Daphne du Maurier’s novel in the context of her inner life preoccupations, including dreaming in time, identity, and loss, together with her continued fascination with the past, ancestry, and power of place. He will also examine her narrative from the psychological perspective of Jungian analytical...
Movie Night – Don’t Look Now
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomNicolas Roeg's classic thriller, based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier, follows a married couple as they attempt to recover from the death of their young daughter. John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his wife Laura (Julie Christie) are staying in Venice in an attempt to find relief after the drowning of their daughter Christine...
Tiffany Murray – Writing Workshop – From Life to Fiction
Fowey Parish Hall Browns Hill, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomIf you have the urge to write but don’t know where to begin, or have made a start but need a fresh impetus to push on through to the end of a draft, this writing workshop is for you. Drawing on lived experiences, we will play with the toolbox a new writer needs: character, story, structure, and...
Louis de Bernières – Light Over Liskeard
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomLouis de Bernières is one of the UK’s leading novelists. His fourth novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, a love story set in World War II, has now sold over 4 million copies worldwide, was translated into 36 languages and has been made into a Hollywood film starring Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz. In his latest book,...
Dr Ella Westland – Reading Group Don’t Look Now and Not After Midnight
Fowey Parish Hall Browns Hill, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin Dr Ella Westland for an informal reading group discussion of two stories by Daphne du Maurier, Don't Look Now and Not After Midnight. The reading group will be a relaxed and informal opportunity for sharing ideas. Participants should have read both books, no further preparation is necessary. Just bring yourself, your copy of the stories, and...
Helen Hanson – ‘Do’ Look Now: Viewpoints on the Adaptable Daphne du Maurier
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomDaphne du Maurier’s brilliant control of suspense, and her vivid creation of character viewpoint are qualities which have enduring appeal to readers, and have made her stories eminently adaptable beyond the page to visual storytelling in film and television. Taking Don’t Look Now and its 1973 film adaptation as a case study, this talk will...
Annie Price – ‘The past is still close to us’: An exploration of the Daphne du Maurier archives at the University of Exeter Special Collections
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomThe University of Exeter looks after more than 50 boxes of archival materials relating to Daphne du Maurier, including several recent acquisitions. In this illustrative presentation, archivist Annie Price will introduce the archives, and discuss the fascinating insight they can provide into the novelist’s writing process, daily life, and love for Cornwall. Annie is an...
Alan Johnson – Death on the Thames
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomFollowing his series of successful memoirs – This Boy, In My Life, The Long and Winding Road and Please, Mr Postman, former Labour MP Alan Johnson joins us to discuss his latest novel in the bestselling Mangan thriller series, Death on the Thames. His career in Parliament began after a period as General Secretary of the Communication Workers...
Nicola Upson – Shot with Crimson
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin crime novelist Nicola Upson for the latest instalment in the Josephine Tey mystery series, Shot with Crimson. September 1939, and the worries of war follow Josephine Tey to Hollywood, where a different sort of battle is raging on the set of Hitchcock’s Rebecca. Then, a shocking act of violence reawakens the shadows of the past, with consequences...
Creative Writing Workshop – Creating Memorable Characters
Fowey Parish Hall Browns Hill, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomHow do you create characters who are interesting and authentic? What makes a character compelling? Join playwrights Kate Aspengren and Kyle John Schmidt for a lively exploration of character. This interactive workshop will include tips, tricks, and the opportunity to create some rich, unique characters of your own. Writers of any age, experience level, or...
Amanda Prowse – Swimming to Lundy
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomWe are delighted to welcome international bestselling author, radio and TV personality Amanda Prowse to the Festival. She has written thirty novels, two non-fiction titles and seven novellas, which have been published in dozens of languages around the world. Amanda is the most prolific writer of bestselling contemporary fiction in the UK today. Her books,...
Jennie Godfrey – The List of Suspicious Things
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomThe List of Suspicious Things is set to be one of the most talked about debut books of 2024, and after publication, swiftly became a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. This is a multi-layered, bittersweet coming of age story of friendship and love. From her dad’s realisation that he knew the Yorkshire Ripper, to a passion...
Harriet Evans and Veronica Henry – The Stargazers and The Secret Beach
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomBetween them, Harriet Evans and Veronica Henry have written over forty bestselling novels. They both started their writing careers as editors - Harriet in publishing and Veronica in television. They met when Harriet was working at Penguin, and she gave Veronica her first book deal. Today, they discuss their working processes, what makes a bestseller and,...
Jenny Eclair – In Conversation
Fowey Parish ChurchStand-up comedian Jenny Éclair was the first woman to win the coveted Perrier Award, the UK’s top comedy award, in 1995. Since then, she has taken multiple shows on tour around the country. She is well known for her starring role on BBC1’s Grumpy Old Women, being a co-host for the podcast Older and Wider,...
Dr Serena Trowbridge – Reading Group – Frenchman’s Creek
Fowey Parish Hall Browns Hill, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin Dr Serena Trowbridge for an informal reading group discussion on du Maurier’s Frenchman's Creek.This classic novel is one which is often described as ‘romantic’, and yet is perplexingly both romantic and pragmatic, dreamy yet realistic. Come along and discuss whether this is a ‘pirate romance’ or a clear-sighted approach to women’s lot. Dr Serena...
Georgina Moore and Becky Hunter in Conversation
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin us as we welcome bestselling author, Georgina Moore, to the festival to celebrate the paperback publication of her captivating debut novel, The Garnett Girls. This highly reviewed book became a Sunday Times bestseller, with Georgina being voted one of the Observer’s Top 10 debut novelists for 2023. In addition to her writing, Georgina has...
Dr Serena Trowbridge – Villainesses, Femmes Fatales, Matriarchs and Muses: Du Maurier’s Heroines
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomDu Maurier’s novels are filled with strong women, difficult women, interesting and dangerous women. None of her heroines are boring, but they are all very different, as though the author is experimenting with a variety of approaches to womanhood. It’s well-known that du Maurier herself was often uncomfortable with the expected social roles of wife...
Lemn Sissay OBE – Let The Light Pour In
Fowey Parish ChurchFor the past decade, Lemn Sissay has composed a short poem as dawn breaks each morning. Life-affirming, witty and full of wonder, these poems chronicle his own battle with the dark and are fuelled by resilience and defiant joy. Let the Light Pour In is a collection of the best of these poems, and a...
Dr Serena Trowbridge – Reading Group: The King’s General
Fowey Parish Hall Browns Hill, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin Dr Serena Trowbridge for an informal reading group discussion on du Maurier’s The King’s General. Written at Menabilly and deeply rooted in Cornish history, this novel in the Gothic genre is set during the English Civil War, and contains some of Du Maurier’s most striking characters. This session is an opportunity to explore the historical,...
Adam Sisman – The Secret Life of John Le Carré
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin John le Carré's biographer, Adam Sisman, as he reveals the tale of an extraordinary secret life of the great novelist, which he was unable to publish while le Carré was alive. The Secret Life of John le Carré is the story of what was left out, and offers reflections on the difficult relationship between...
Christie Watson – Moral Injuries
Fowey Town Hall Market Street, Fowey, Cornwall, United KingdomJoin bestselling author Christie Watson as she discusses her highly anticipated new thriller, Moral Injuries. This gripping page-turner follows the lives of three female medics whose unbreakable bond is tested to its limits. Expect an event of intrigue and suspense as Watson delves into the moral ambiguity that arises when lives hang in the balance....
