The culture, beauty and talent of Wales and its people are being celebrated in eight days of fascinating events.
Two distinguished speakers mark the brilliance of our literary heritage and the character of our people: Dr Rowan Williams will discuss the work of the great Welsh poet, Henry Vaughan and Owen Sheers will pay tribute to the stoic endurance that shaped Welsh identity in his presentation of The Green Hollow, a TV documentary that commemorates last year’s fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster.
By contrast, the magical properties of Welsh legends will be celebrated by Horatio Clare, and members of the production team of Hinterland, will applaud the stunning Welsh landscape at the heart of its success. Guto Dafis will sing folk songs to soothe the soul, and you are invited to take the air in the Black Mountains with Welsh poet Paul Henry, or perhaps just consider hill walking with Kevin Walker. The art of poetry is explored in many forms, not least by Welsh poet Robert Minhinnick but, as always, the festival also looks outwards, with the appearance of two Irish poets: Anne-Marie Fyfe, who meditates on how we are all beguiled by the landscape of our birth, and C. L. Dallat who remembers schooldays, family and neighbours, both in his own poetry and in the poems of Charles Causley.
2017 is a year of many anniversaries and we mark two: the 200th
anniversary of Jane Austen’s death and the 125th anniversary of the first Sherlock Holmes story. Crime writing, in fact, features strikingly this year, with two former police officers revealing how shocking aspects of their careers informs their writing. Other writers of compelling contemporary fiction appear in conversation and are not to be missed: listen to Claire Fuller, Kate Hamer and Katherine Webb answer probing questions, and for those beguiled by the Romance, Judith Watts will explain why women in their millions reach for Mills and Boon.
If you harbour your own writerly ambitions Dr Meg Jensen will advise on writing a memoir and Julia Forster on how to carve out a career as an author. Our aim is to provide something for everyone, so a taste for adventure will be satisfied by amazing tales of mountaineering, budding scientists can find out how the brain works, budding chefs can experiment with British and Italian cookery. Failing that, you can practise the art of incantation or even intrude on the secret lives of cows.
In whatever way you participate in the 2017 Crickhowell Literary Festival, we hope you will both enjoy and learn from the array of events you will find here.
For full event listings go to www.cricklitfest.co.uk
Emma Corfield-Walters & Anne Rowe Directors, the Crickhowell Literary Festival
