Guildford Book Festival 2024

Karen Neville

Activities & Events, Round and About, Surrey

A whole world of words awaits at the 2024 Guildford Book Festival, October 6th to 20th at venues across the borough and it’s jam packed with authors and books to suit all tastes

Big names and bright young stars are on the programme at this year’s Guildford Book Festival, now in it’s 25th year.

Highlights of this year’s festival include worldwide bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith with his latest book in the hugely popular No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series; multi award-winning crime fiction author and Prime Suspect creator, Lynda La Plante, sharing stories from her new memoir; Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas has Dance to the Death; Great British Sewing Bee favourite Patrick Grant urges us to rethink our relationship with clothing in Less; Olympian and former World Champion athlete Iwan Thomas shines a light on his career highs and brutal lows, and award-winning wildlife gardening TV presenter Kate Bradbury shows us how to take a stand against the climate crisis in our own back gardens.

Multi-million-selling authors Kate Mosse and Alison Weir return with their latest historical novels, and Linda Porter explores The Extraordinary Life of Margaret Tudor, elder sister of Henry VIII.

This year’s History Day at West Horsley Place features Nicola Tallis with her biography of young Elizabeth I, Melita Thomas introduces the lives of 1000 Tudor People, David Gibbins shares his History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks and Saul David discusses Sky Warriors – British Airborne Forces in the Second World War.

Image by: Ruth Crafer

Image by: Blake Ezra

Kate Summerscale tells the riveting true story of The Murders at 10 Rillington Place. Leading expert and correspondent on China Michael Sheridan discusses his new biography of Xi Jinping, arguably the most powerful man in the world.

This year’s Readers’ Day includes bestselling authors Louise Candlish and Freya North and multi-million bestselling local author Adele Parks will discuss her latest novel, First Wife’s Shadow, at this year’s Literary Dinner.

This year’s programme is packed with events for children and young people. Dinosaur detectives can discover Dig Dig Dinosaur with Anjali Goswami at Leith Hill Place, Oi Dinosaurs! with Kes Gray and How to Draw Dinosaurs with Jonny Duddle. There’s a nature art workshop with Yuval Zommer at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village and a nature treasure hunt with Moira Butterworth at Dapdune Wharf.

Image by: Gemma Day

Image by: Kirsty Anderson

For the first time, the festival is presenting a special event in partnership with Books Beyond Words, a national charity co-creating word-free stories for people with learning disabilities. Rose Gets in Shape takes place at Guildford Library. The Festival’s ever-popular Creative Writing Course returns too.

Alex Andrews, Guildford Book Festival Director, said: “We’re really excited about this year’s line-up, which includes some of the biggest names along with bright new stars discussing a huge range of genres and topics. Whether you’re a fan of fiction, fascinated by crime or fancy learning something new, there’s lots to discover and enjoy this year!”

A whole world of words awaits at the 2024 Guildford Book Festival, October 6th to 20th at venues across the borough and it’s jam packed with authors and books to suit all tastes

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