Only a week to go, thanks to Isle of Arts organisers for helping to support VB by paying for this feature. Ed
Isle of Arts will be presenting discussions on literature throughout the festival with the help of authors Pauline Rowson, Kathryn Ferry and some of the Island’s successful writers.
Literature aficionados can also take a step back in time on our walk to discover more about the writers and poets who have made their home on the Isle of Wight’s south coast.
Meet creator of DI Andy Horton
Queen of crime Pauline Rowson combines her fascination with mystery and adventure with a love of the sea and in doing so, has created a whole new genre of crime fiction – the marine mystery. Murder, treachery, deceit and betrayal against the backdrop of the Solent mean another case for her rugged and flawed hero from Portsmouth CID, DI Andy Horton.
The author, whose work has been compared to American crime writing supremo Ed McBain, will reveal what inspires her and how she researches and writes her novels at Isle of Arts on Sunday 17 April.
Beach Hut historian
Beach huts are the great passion of architectural historian Kathryn Ferry. She will be sharing her enthusiasm for seaside social history, buildings – and beach huts – in a light-hearted and entertaining talk for festival goers on Sunday 17 April. It will include a look at the seaside heritage of the Isle of Wight.
Kathryn is delighted to be coming to Ventnor, saying our beach huts are “among the most interesting in the country because they are cut down bathing machines”. High praise indeed as she has visited most of the UK’s 20,000 beach huts and was chair of the judging panel for the competition to find Britainʼs Best Beach Hut in 2010.
Home grown talent
We have also scoured the Island to gather together some of our own best writers who will be participating in a lively and entertaining discussion hosted by Isle of Wight County Press Editor, Alan Marriott.
Historian Michael Freeman, novelists Jan Toms and Wendy Harris, screenwriter Raymond Allen, poet, fiction and screenwriter Felicity Fair Thompson and travel writer Mari Nicholson will be providing witty insights on the craft of writing.
This free event on Saturday 16 April will also include book signings by local authors.
Island’s Shore Women
Festival goers can have fun playing with words, narrative and rhythm at the creative writing workshop run by the Islandʼs Shore Women writers’ group on Saturday 16 April.
Suitable for both beginners and experienced writer, Memory and Imagination: approaches to writing will begin with the Shore Women performing a short reading from their own work and then they will help you develop your own ideas and style.
Isle of Arts literary walk
If you are intrigued by the colourful writers, poets and artists who have made Ventnor and Bonchurch their home over the past 150 years, photographer David White, a keen walker and engaging raconteur, will be leading the Isle of Arts literary walk on Saturday 16 April, setting off from East Dene, in Bonchurch – home to the young Algernon Swinburne.
David, whose career as a photographer has included assignments for all the top UK newspapers and glossy magazines, will take you on a literary journey past the homes and former haunts of poets John Keats, Edmund Peel (cousin to prime minister Robert Peel), and John Sterling. Learn why prolific novelist Henry de Vere Stacpoole donated the pond to Bonchurch village and hear, according to local folklore, how Charles Dickens based his character Miss Haversham on a fellow Bonchurch resident Margaret Catherine Dick who was jilted on her wedding day.
Full details of all events can be found on Events OnTheWight and the Isle of Arts Websites
