The Isle of Wight Book Awards 2022 Grand Literary Lunch will be held on Monday 12th September 2022 at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes.
This will be a chance to hear and meet three nationally-recognised authors who will talk about the winning books.
Judges will reveal winners
There are three categories: fiction, nonfiction and children’s books.
The shortlists will be announced beforehand, but no one will know the winners until the lunch when the judges will reveal all.
Everyone on the short lists will get a certificate and the winners will receive £100.
At the end of the lunch it will also be announced which is the winner of the Isle of Wight Book of the Year.
More than 100 books entered
It was expected that for these first awards there would be around 20 books entered, but it was decided to extend the entries which has resulted in just over 100 books being entered.
The judges are going bog eyed … but of course enjoying it; full of admiration for all the authors.
Everyone has a book in them
Next year the awards will be limited to books published in that year. Authors can live anywhere, be alive or dead or middling, but the content of their books must in some way relate to the Isle of Wight.
The object is to encourage people who know and love the Island to get down their own memories, experiences, family stories, local histories or write about their interests and research. Any subject really. Everyone has a book in them.
It is expected a lot of the books will be self published and these days self-publishing is fairly easy.
Where and when
The lunch will kick off at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes at 12.30pm on Monday 12th September 2022 with a glass of bubbly. Then guests will mingle on the balcony over the harbour, weather willing.
Before the meal begins there will be a short presentation by the well-known local charity, Mountbatten.
Prizes for donations
Names of all those who then make donations will later be drawn from a hat and there will be loads of prizes including a bottle of champagne, a free meal for two at The Heron in Ryde, plus one of the books entered this year.
It is expected the Grand Awards Lunch will finish around 3.30pm.
Book now
So for a bargain price of £35 each, the 100 or so guests will get a free glass of Prosecco, a sumptuous three course meal and a chance to meet and be entertained for around two hours by the judges, three nationally-known authors in the flesh:
- Alan Titchmarsh
- Joanna Trollope
- Hunter Davies
Book your tickets via the Island Sailing Club Website, where details of the menu are also included.
Local support
The awards are non profit-making and they hope non loss-making.
But three well known local firms are generously supporting the event:
- Hovertravel
- The Isle of Wight Music Festival and
- estate agents, Hose Rhodes Dickson
- plus the Medina Bookshop in Cowes and Monkton Arts in Ryde.
News shared by Claire Thornton, in her own words. Ed
Image: ashlyn ciara under CC BY 2.0
