Now in its seventh year, the Liverpool Literary Festival is back from this Friday, 7 October. With a fantastic range of authors here’s ten reasons why the festival is not to be missed:
Find out about the work of a multi-million best-selling author
Adele Parks is the author of 22 bestselling novels including the Sunday Times and eBook Number One bestseller Both Of You. Over four and a half million UK editions of her work have been sold and her books have been translated into 31 different languages. Adele’s recent Sunday Times Number One bestsellers Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck were shortlisted for the British Book Awards and have been optioned for development for TV. Book your tickets to see Adele on Sunday at 5.30pm here: One Last Secret with Adele Parks Tickets, Sun 9 Oct 2022 at 17:30 | Eventbrite
Reflect on Joanna Trollope’s long-standing career
Bestselling novelist Joanna Trollope CBE will be joining our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Beer CBE, to reflect on her prolific 30-year writing career. Hailed as one of the most insightful chroniclers and social commenters writing fiction today, Joanna’s first books to be published were a number of historical novels under the name Caroline Harvey. These were followed by Britannia’s Daughters, a historical study of women in the British Empire and more recently, her enormously successful contemporary works of fiction. The Choir was Joanna’s first contemporary novel, followed by A Village Affair and A Passionate Man. The Rector’s Wife, first published in 1991, was Joanna’s first number one bestseller, and made her into a household name. Book your tickets here: A life in letters with Joanna Trollope, in conversation Tickets, Sat 8 Oct 2022 at 17:30 | Eventbrite
Learn about Her Majesty’s Screenwriting Service with Frank Cottrell-Boyce
To his own surprise, Merseyside favourite Frank Cottrell Boyce has helped create some of the best loved images of the monarchy – including the moment James Bond helped the Queen to jump out of a helicopter into the Olympic Stadium. He shares his thoughts on how we create, use and abuse soft power, and the difference between patriotism and nationalism.
Frank will appear at the festival on Sunday 9 October at 4pm. Book your tickets here: Frank Cottrell Boyce On Her Majesty’s Screenwriting Service Tickets, Sun 9 Oct 2022 at 16:00 | Eventbrite
Discuss a debut novel
Seaforth-born Lauren John Joseph made waves with their plays Boy in a Dress and A Generous Lover, and the experimental prose volume Everything Must Go. At the Literary festival, Lauren will discuss their first novel, At Certain Points We Touch, a story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of London, San Francisco and New York – a riotous, razor-sharp, coming-of-age story. Lauren was selected as one of the Observer’s best debut novelists in 2022.
Lauren will be at the festival on Saturday 8 October at 10am, book your tickets here: Lauren John Joseph Tickets, Sat 8 Oct 2022 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
Find out how to get a book deal with the Liverpool Literary Agency
University of Liverpool graduate, published writer and founder of the Liverpool Literary Agency, Clare Coombes, will be sharing her insights around securing a book deal and how to break into the publishing industry. Clare will then be joined in a lively panel discussion with Steph Sowden, whose debut novel After Everything You Did, explores the question of whether killers are born or made. Also joining the discussion is David Beckler, who, thanks to the Liverpool Literary Agency, has just secured a three-book deal with Amazon Publishing. Book your tickets here: How to get a book deal with the Liverpool Literary Agency Tickets, Sun 9 Oct 2022 at 14:30 | Eventbrite
Mark the Twentieth anniversary of George Harrison’s death with poems from his wife, Olivia
On Saturday at 7pm, Oliva Harrison will deliver a moving talk on her latest book of poetry, Came the Lightening, dedicated to her late husband, George Harrison of the Beatles. The twenty poems, to mark the twentieth anniversary of his passing, are accompanied by Olivia’s curated selection of never seen before photographs and mementos from her time with George, with a foreword from Martin Scorsese. Came the Lightening sees Olivia delve into the phenomenon of losing a partner and the passage of time through a memorable series of poems. Book your tickets here: Came the Lightening: poems with Olivia Harrison Tickets, Sat 8 Oct 2022 at 19:00 | Eventbrite
Enter another world with fantasy fiction author Quillem McBreen
University of Liverpool Biochemistry graduate and Scouser, Quillem McBreen will be discussing his adult fantasy fiction novel, The Tenets of Truth which deals with themes like oppression, manipulation and institutional gaslighting. This thrilling debut novel, about power, corruption and equality, uses the lives of four ordinary people to consider how truth is subjective and can be used by those in power to distort the relationship of the individual to the world around them. The novel is the first in a gripping four-part Alytheian Cycle series. On Sunday at 11.30am, Quillem will discuss how he fits his writing around a full-time job at Liverpool City Council and how he managed to get a book deal with no writing background. Book your tickets here: Building Worlds with Quillem McBreen Tickets, Sun 9 Oct 2022 at 11:30 | Eventbrite
Immerse yourself in beautiful surroundings
The festival on Saturday and Sunday takes place in our iconic Victoria Gallery & Museum, with discussions, readings and debates taking place in the beautiful Leggate theatre, seeped in history.
On Friday, best-selling British Crime Writer Anne Cleeves OBE will be discussing her prolific writing career with Professor Dinah Birch in the Liverpool Literary Lecture – in our new state-of-the-art concert hall, the Tung auditorium.
See faces new to Liverpool
David Szalay, award winning novelist and short-story writer, is making his Merseyside debut at the Festival on Saturday 8 October. Montreal-born and Budapest-based Szalay has been named one of The Telegraph’s Top 20 British Writers Under 40. He won the Betty Trask Award for his first novel, London and the South-East, along with the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016 for his novel All That Man Is, described by the Guardian as “a kaleidoscopic portrait of masculinity” which was “the work of a first-rate writer.” Szalay has also written a range of dramas for BBC Radio 4, which he developed into his 2019 short story collection, Turbulence, exploring a series of interconnected stories about 12 people travelling around the globe. Book your tickets here:David Szalay – Liverpool Literary Festival – University of Liverpool
Get great value tickets for the whole weekend with student discount and VIP passes
This year we’re offering you the chance to purchase full day or weekend passes so you can enjoy everything the festival has to offer. All passes will include reserved seating in the Leggate theatre, a free drink at the Waterhouse Café, plus a host of other exclusive VIP benefits.
If you’re a University of Liverpool student, you can also access half price tickets for all individual events (excluding ‘In conversation with Ann Cleeves’), using code UOLSTUDENT.
Tickets will also be available on the door for each event for those who want to turn up on the day – there’s no excuse to miss out!