Tower and Town, September 2023 (view the full edition)LitFest - involving the town and beyondLitFest has always been about promoting reading and writing to people of all ages in Marlborough and further afield, whether or not they are festival goers. As part of this, we run an annual competition to encourage young people and adults to share their passion for a book they love in a piece of text of up to 750 words. This is open to anyone nationally, or indeed internationally, in three age groups - 13 to 15, 16 to 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 fourth year, our Love Books Competition attracted a record total of 160 entries in 2023. A shortlist selected by our committee was passed to three judges in August: Jan Williamson, former chair of LitFest; Judy Carver, writer and CEO of William Golding Ltd; and Nicola Presley, senior lecturer in English Literature at Bath Spa University. We will be announcing a winner and runner-up for each age category at LitFest. They will receive prizes of £300 and £100 respectively and their entries will be published on the LitFest website. We're also keen to work with local businesses and other organisations to share a love of books. Earlier in the year we held our first partnership event with The Parade Cinema featuring The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Our invited audience was treated to insights into the film's development from the book's author Rachel Joyce, who wrote the screenplay. We also collaborated with one of our sponsors Wansbroughs on an author event for their staff in Devizes featuring local author Kate Webb talking about her Wiltshire-based crime novel, Stay Buried, to Jon Stock, aka JS Monroe, LitFest committee member and author of last year's Big Town Read, The Man on Hackpen Hill. We're thrilled that several local businesses have become event sponsors this year alongside our new lead sponsor Fermoie, which creates fine fabrics in-house at its studio and factory in Marlborough. Even more have signed up to support our inaugural children's story trail along the High Street, which will run from 16 September to 1 October. Leaflets for this and other children's events will be in The White Horse Bookshop and Marlborough Library from 11 September. Please contact us at general@marlboroughlitfest.org if you would like to get involved for our 15th year in 2024. Now is the time to join in!  Genevieve Clarke, LitFest chair |