County prepares to host two literary festivals

Authors Louis de Bernières and Brogen Murphy will appear alongside poets, historians and broadcasters as two literary festivals return to a county.

Ipswich Book Festival will take place between 2-4 October following its success last year after four local business owners came up with the idea for the project.

Later in the month, Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival will return to the town between 8-11 October.

Here is all you need to know about the two festivals.

This year's theme for the Ipswich Book Festival is "More than Words", which aims to celebrate a book's ability to connect and challenge a reader.

Authors Brogen Murphy, Eva Verde, Frances Quinn, Matson Taylor and Ashley Hickson-Lovence will be a part of the festival's line-up.

Tony Felgate, one of the festival's directors, said the event will include 50 gatherings across 10 venues over the weekend.

He said: "Last year exceeded all our expectations. It was wonderful to see people travelling from across the country to discover Ipswich through books, ideas and conversation."

Ipswich Book Festival Schools Week will take place from 28 September to 2 October where children will be given the opportunity to meet an author.

Andrew Marsh, a director of Ipswich Book Festival and owner of Dial Lane Books, said the initiative aims to reach more than 4,000 children across the town.

He said: "Schools Week is about giving every child the opportunity to discover the joy of reading.

"Meeting an author can inspire confidence, curiosity and creativity in ways that stay with young people long after the visit has ended. We want every child in Ipswich to know that books are for them."

Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival will return to Suffolk for its ninth year.

The event will include talks and panel discussions with authors such as Louis de Bernières, Rachel Joyce and Sarah Winman, as well as guided walks, film screenings and live performances across the town.

Kate Sawyer, the festival's artistic director, said: "It's our biggest, boldest array of exciting, thought-provoking and joyful talks, poetry readings, workshops, walks, film screenings and performances in our nine-year history."

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