IT’S been another rocking year for reading this year as the Penarth Literary Festival wrapped up its two-week book extravaganza, which had top authors as guests - including the Reverend Richard Coles.
You can keep your Elton Johns at Glastonbury and your Foo Fighters coming to Cardiff, because at a heroic town just South of the capital, we were holding our own special summer celebration of everything great in the world of books.
The Penarth Literary Festival started off with a bang on June 14, when everyone’s favourite Reverend, the Rev Richard Coles came to town to promote the latest in his series of mystery murders, A Death in the Parish.
Of Celebrity MasterChef, Celebrity Mastermind, The Weakest Link, Strictly Come Dancing - and much more - fame, Rev Coles described Griffin Books as the “best book shop in the world” as he held a book signing at the store on Windsor Road before hosting a sell-out talk at All Saints Church later in the evening.
Watch the video below as the Rev Richard Coles calls Griffin Books the best in the world!
The 12-day programme, which ran from June 14 to June 25 featured talks, workshops and signings with household names, literary heavyweights, award-winning Welsh writers, and leading academics and historians.
Other big literary names featured in the programme included acclaimed novelist Diana Evans, who discussed her new book A House for Alice, set in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy; "rock star mythologist" Natalie Haynes, who appeared via Zoom to discuss Stone Blind, her stunning reimagining of the story of Medusa; and rising star Laura Shepherd-Robinson, whose new novel The Square of Sevens is an epic and mysterious tale set in Georgian high society.
The festival also featured many notable Welsh authors, including Mike Parker and Jon Gower who came together for their non-fiction event exploring the coast and border of Wales; while leading historian, foreign correspondent and Penarth resident Paul Moorcraft discussed his new book Churchill's German Special Forces with Phil Carradice.
As ever, the festival was rounded out with two popular events: the Big Festival Quiz, which this year featured local author team captains, including Penarth residents Chris Lloyd and Katie Munnik, and the Poetry Showcase, in which audiences heard poetry from three brilliant poets and music from Michael Munnik.
Griffin Books goes from strength to strength having recently been named UK Independent Bookshop of the Year.
Owner Mel Griffin said the festival was a great success.
"We're delighted to say that this has been our biggest and most successful Festival to date,” said Ms Griffin.
“The support of the whole town has been amazing and we want to thank everyone who attended the events, as we couldn't do it without you. It's a pleasure to be part of such a great community in the town and we can't wait to do it all again next year."
Griffin Books run a year-round event schedule as well as the festival, and are currently prepping to announce their Autumn line-up. You can keep up to date with all their news by following them on Instagram @griffinbooksuk, Twitter @griffinbooksuk and Facebook @griffinbookspenarth or by visiting their website: griffinbooks.co.uk.
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