Cheltenham Literature Festival Part I

(Image courtesy of welovethesky)

Bit of a mixed post today. In an outstanding mood, having booked tickets for this year's Cheltenham Literature Festival. I'm off to see Jasper Fforde, Mark Thomas, Roger McGough and Victoria Hislop.

Extremely excited. I went for the first time last year but, as I was working overseas, I only made one day. It was a fantastic experience though, and I got to see Lionel Shriver - author of We Need to Talk About Kevin, which is out as a film this year.

There's a really brilliant article here from May this year, titled: Lionel Shriver talks about Kevin

How does it feel to have your widely rejected manuscript become a best-selling, prize-winning novel, then a book-club favourite and now the toast of the Cannes film festival? The author of We Need to Talk About Kevin explains.

It truly was a privilege to listen to her talk. Same goes for Ann Cleeves, Andrea Maria Schenkel, and the Crick Crack Club - all of which you can read about in my post: Cheltenham Literature Festival 2010.

Looking forward to the whole line-up, but particularly stoked about going to see Mark Thomas. When I was growing up he was one of the country's leading political satirists, doing lots of crazy things like flying a hot air balloon over Menwith Hill listening station and entering a tank in the Lord Mayor's Show sponsored by the Church of England, in order to highlight their part in the arms trade. In short - a living legend. Can't wait.