Tower and Town, September 2021

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Sharing The Books You Love - An Annual Competition

One of LitFest’s aims is to celebrate the power of reading to shift perceptions, to open up opportunities, literally to change lives. As part of this we have been working with the English Literature Department at Bath Spa University on an annual competition to encourage people of all ages to share their passion for a book they love. They can do this either in a piece of text of up to 750 words or in a video up to four minutes in length. The competition is open to anyone across the country in three age groups – 13-16, 17-19 and 20 and above – but we are especially grateful to teachers at local schools for encouraging their classes to take part.

Now in its second year, our Love Books Competition attracted 111 entries in 2021. Bath Spa English lecturer Dr Nicola Presley and her student volunteers have been sifting through these since the deadline of 30 June. A shortlist was then passed to three judges: Jan Williamson, former chair of Marlborough LitFest; Judy Golding, CEO of William Golding Ltd and writer; and Ian Gadd, Professor in English Literature at Bath Spa University.

We will be announcing a winner and runner-up for each age category over the LitFest weekend. They will receive prizes of £300 and £100 respectively and their entries will be published on the LitFest website.

Please consider submitting your own entry for the third year of the competition which should launch in early 2022. Keep an eye on lovebookscompetition.org and marlboroughlitfest.org for more information.

Genevieve Clarke