Ben Haggarty returns for Manx Litfest 2013!

As we've mentioned before, this year's line-up of visiting authors and poets will see different faces from last year... with one or two exceptions.

One of those exceptions is the obscenely talented performance storyteller Ben Haggarty, founder and artistic director of the Crick Crack Club, who has confirmed he will be back again to entertain spellbound audiences this September.

Last year Ben performed Fairytales for Grown-ups on the Saturday night and a family show on the Sunday - The Devil, The Tsar and the Three Dry Biscuits - and the feedback we received from punters for both performances was incredible. This year he'll be dazzling us with different shows, and we'll have full details very soon.

Ben will be based at The Studio Theatre at Ballakermeen High School, again with a show aimed at older children and adults on the Saturday night, and one for the family on Sunday afternoon. What's more, he'll be staging workshops over the weekend for anyone (young and old) interested in studying the craft of performance storytelling.

Make sure you book early - Ben really is one name who is not to be missed.

Manx Litfest Reading Club - March focus on Andrew Taylor

With our 2013 festival seven months away, we're in that exciting period where we secure authors/poets/storytellers and announce their participation to our growing pack of eager literary fans.
The first name to be announced, earlier in February, was Andrew Taylor - and what better way of kick-starting the Manx Litfest Reading Club in the run-up to September's festival than by choosing Andrew as our reading choice for the month of March.
So, for the next 31 days, indulge yourselves in Andrew's work. No set book - if you're new to his work, then perhaps a standalone or the first in one of his series; if you're a fan, then find one of his books you've not got round to reading.
One thing's for certain - Andrew has a long enough back catalogue to choose from.
His first novel Caroline Minuscule, published in 1982, won the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasey Memorial Award - and the awards kept on coming.

He is the only author to have won the CWA's Historical Dagger twice, with The Office of the Dead and The American Boy - the latter, a gothic mystery linked to Edgar Allan Poe's childhood years in England, was a Richard & Judy pick in 2005. Andrew also won the Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing and over the years has been shortlisted for a host of leading awards.
Other landmarks include the Lydmouth series - eight crime novels in total - set in a 1950s fictional town (Lydmouth) on the England/Wales border, and his Roth trilogy, which was adapted for television as Fallen Angel and broadcast on ITV1 in 2007, starring Charles Dance and Emilia Fox.
The chilling Bleeding Heart Square was named winner of Sweden’s Golden Crowbar, the Martin Beck Award 2009, and also shortlisted for the CWA's Historical Dagger.
His latest offering, The Scent of Death, has just been published.
So take your pick - you're spoilt for choice. Feel free to post your thoughts on this blog post or when you see discussions start on our Facebook page.
We'll announce the Reading Club's choice for April in due course...

Thursday's sponsors... ManSat & Manx Dyslexia Association

One thing we know at Litfest HQ is that without our sponsors and supporters, our inaugural literary gathering - which kicks off this Thursday, September 27 - wouldn't be taking place.

On Thursday, we have two events which are sponsored...

Ulla Corkill's talk 'The Life and Times of Sir Hall Caine' takes place at 12.30pm at Greeba Castle, his home for many years which is still owned by his family. It was a sell-out affair pretty quickly, as there were only 24 seats available, not to mention the fact that Ulla is an authority on Caine and a respected speaker.

Sponsor for the talk (and light buffet lunch) is ManSat Ltd, the pioneer in the Manx space industry on its creation in 1998, which now works with the Isle of Man Government in preparing orbital filings to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for all satellites.

The second sponsored event sees poet Gez Walsh talk about dyslexia in the main marquee within our festival hub in the Villa Marina Gardens. Gez started writing poetry to encourage his dyslexic son to read and he's now one of the UK's leading children's poets, travelling around the UK visiting schools, libraries, festivals and theatres delivering his own unique brand of humour. The talk on Thursday evening - starting at 7.00pm - is aimed at parents of children with dyslexia and is a free event, open to all.

The Manx Dyslexia Association is generously sponsoring this event, along with a second talk on Saturday lunchtime (September 29), which will see Gez give a talk/performance for youngsters. That starts at 1.00pm and is another free event.

Our sincere thanks to ManSat and the MDA for backing our first festival - their support is very much appreciated by everyone involved with Manx Litfest.

Tickets! Schedule! Books! Litfest book bags! Come and see us at The Strand...

If you're in or around Douglas tomorrow (Saturday), please feel free to stop by The Strand, where we'll have a stall - in the usual exhibitor spot in front of the escalator.

The team will be on hand to talk all things Manx Litfest, and we'll have tickets on sale, along with books by some of our Litfest authors. We'll also have the full schedule for you to devour - but if you really can't wait, check it out on our website. We'll also have the positively cool and funky Litfest bags, ideal for carryng a skutch of books over your shoulder.

But it's tickets that you book lovers seem most keen on - which is understandable. Some of our events are on sale on the Villa Gaiety website, but we'll have tickets to all our events with us at The Strand.

What's more, we'll be selling raffle tickets tomorrow, with the top prize being a book by every author/poet appearing at Manx Litfest - you might need to check you've got some spare room on your bookshelf for that little lot - and other prizes of tickets to various events.

Our sincere thanks to John Shakespeare and the team at The Strand for accommodating us tomorrow - come on down, say hello and have a chat. Providing you buy at least one ticket. Okay, that last bit was a joke. You need to buy at least two tickets.

Enjoy your weekend, folks!

Name that ale...!

We may have mentioned this way back when, but now that the first ever Manx Litfest is just around the corner (September 27-30) it's time to officially announce it - and give you fine people the chance to win a prize.

We have teamed up with Bushy's boss Martin Brunnschweiler to create a special ale for Litfest. The only problem is, we don't have a name for it. And that's where you come in.

This week we're asking our friends and followers to suggest a name for the Litfest ale. This being a literature festival, we're thinking that names that have some kind of literary link or theme might be best. But who's to say what kind of ideas we're going to receive from you lot...

Suggestions can be made in the comments section below this blog post, by tweeting us over on Twitter, or on Facebook - either post a comment to our FB page, or reply to one of the FB posts about this competition. You can also email your nominated ale names to manxlitfest@gmail.com

The deadline for suggestions is midnight (IOM time) on Friday, September 24. We'll then gather them all together, pool our collective wisdom (won't take long) and announce the winner a couple of days later. The winner will receive two tickets to the (invite only) official Litfest launch reception at the Villa Marina on Thursday, September 27 (5.30pm-7.30pm) and two tickets to a Litfest event of your choice (subject to availability).

So, ladies and gents, start your engines... and get those suggestions rolling in!

A shout-out on Huffington Post - all is right with the world

We're not ones to name-drop.
Oh, who are we trying to kid. Course we are.
A Google alert pinged into our inbox last night to tell us that we'd had a mention on none other than the Huffington Post.
The shout-out came courtesy of children's author Hilary Robinson, who we're delighted to confirm will be joining us at Manx Litfest in September.
If you have a look on her website, you'll see that not only is Hilary a prolific author, she's also a broadcaster, radio producer and feature writer. She's also a patron of the Children's University, which earlier this year opened a branch on the Isle of Man, and in addition to her events within Litfest, we're in talks to arrange an event with IOMCU.
Anyway, Hilary has put together a fine article for the Huffington Post - top tips for writing and selling your book - and gives us a most welcome name drop at the end of the piece, which left us blushing a little.
We'll have details of Hilary's events in due course.

Isle of Man authors - your Litfest needs you!

If we give the impression of a (cough) well-oiled machine, gliding smoothly along towards the inaugural Manx Litfest in September, you'd be forgiven for not seeing the manic pedalling and twisting of leavers that is going on behind the curtain.

One of the key elements we're working on now is finalising the schedule. The framework for the weekend is largely in place - so, for example, the official opening reception will take place on the Thurs evening (Sept 27 at the Villa Marina; the talk by Martin Bell OBE, the man in the white suit, will take place in the Gaiety Theatre on Friday night (Sept 28); the crime writers' panel, featuring RJ Ellory, Ann Cleeves and IOM-based Chris Ewan will be on the Saturday night (Sept 29); the same night as performance storyteller Ben Haggarty (right) will wow crowds at Erin Arts Centre, with Fairy Tales for Grown-ups; and Sunday (Sept 30) will see Castle Rushen transformed for our Narnia meets Middle-Earth family day.

That's just a taste of what's in store. What we're busy doing now is completing the schedule in and around the framework of events, and a vital part of this is the involvement of the many Isle of Man-based writers and poets who have been in touch with us over the last year or so. An important aspect of Manx Litfest, particularly when applying to organisations for funding - such as the Manx Heritage Foundation, Manx Lottery Trust and Isle of Man Arts Council, who have all given us significant support - has been the need to provide a platform for local literary talent to showcase their work.

With that in mind, if you are an IOM-based writer or poet, and haven't been in touch with us yet, please drop us a line and we will do our utmost to include you in the programme (obviously, if 793 previously unknown IOM writers suddenly thrust their arms skyward, we might be in a bit of trouble...)

Seriously, though, we'd like to hear from you - give us a shout at manxlitfest@gmail.com

If you have already done so, and haven't been contacted in the last few days, bear with us - there's plenty of you to get through! Of course, if you haven't heard anything by, say, July 20 - feel free to drop us a line and give us a not very subtle nudge...