Tower and Town, October 2019 (view the full edition)Editorial: Celebrating 10 YearsA decade on from the first festival in 2010, Marlborough will be welcoming yet another fabulous crop of authors and interviewers at the end of September for a weekend bulging with events, workshops and book-related chat in the Town Hall café. Tickets for some of the big names and more niche activities have sold out but there’s plenty more on offer which we’re previewing for you here. It’s a chance to try something new – a young novelist you haven’t heard of or someone sharing their expertise on an historical figure or a timely subject such as the food we eat or the air we breathe. The LitFest also has some new local partnerships this year. The town’s link with Save the Children through Eglantyne Jebb’s brief time as a teacher here has led to schoolchildren responding to a picture book about child refugees. Look out for a display of their work in the Town Hall alongside entries for our annual children’s competition. And we’re delighted that Raynor Winn, this year’s popular Big Town Read author, will be giving a talk at HMP Erlestoke on the Monday after the festival. We would be really pleased to hear from other local organisations who would like to work with us in future years. A festival can be much more than its showcase events. It’s about sowing seeds so that a love of reading takes root in more unexpected quarters. We have wonderful support from the town for which we’re truly grateful – from our lead sponsor Brewin Dolphin, event sponsors and donors, all our volunteers, the White Horse Bookshop, and Tower & Town for devoting this issue to LitFest, and then of course thanks to you, our audience. Here’s to the next ten years! Genevieve Clarke |