A highly entertaining programme is being put together for one of Wales’ premier literary festivals. The Wrexham Carnival of Words has become a fixture in the literary calendar in Wales and the borderlands attracting a diverse range of well-known authors. The 2023 festival will be held between 22-29 April and several well-known authors have already agreed to appear at local venues.
Among the authors highlighting the 2023 Carnival will be Sunday Times bestselling authors Erica James and Lucy Diamond whose combined worldwide book sales of total over 7 million books. Erica James’ books are loved by readers for their beautifully drawn relationships, emotionally powerful storylines and evocative settings. Lucy Diamond’s latest release, The Best Days of Our Lives, is a big-hearted, hopeful and uplifting novel about family, loss and love.
The Carnival will be pleased to welcome adventurous science communicator and author Sophie Pavelle who has gained an outstanding reputation across the conservation sector. Sophie finds creative routes to storytelling, putting a contemporary twist on the natural history genre, as shown in her recent book Forget Me Not: Finding the Forgotten Species of Climate Change Britain.
There will be a special Historical fiction evening reliving “Vikings and the Last Kingdom” featuring renowned authors Matthew Harffy (The Bernicia Chronicles) and Angus Donald (The Outlaw Chronicles and The Fire Born series). There is a rumour that the organisers are keeping under wraps a special event involving huge international author Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe and The Last Kingdom)!
Mike Gayle’s books feature ordinary people who become extraordinary. Since his breakthrough My Legendary Girlfriend, Mike has written 12 books in the lad lit genre.
Crime fiction fans will be able to meet enthralling crime writer Conrad Jones (Anglesey Murders) and Tim Weaver (missing persons investigator David Raker), the master of clever unpredictable plot twists. The ever-popular Murder Mystery evening will feature a script written by Ann Cleves (Shetland).
Poetry will be well-represented by local poet Aled Lewis Evans giving unique readings of his English-language poetry and the ever-popular Viva Voce open mic for local poets. There will also be a special appearance by Hanan Issa, the National Poet of Wales.
Acclaimed Welsh-language author Meinir Pierce Jones will talk about Capten, the book that won the 2022 National Eisteddfod Daniel Owen Memorial Prize.
Local writers and budding authors will be able to attend a free event to meet other local authors, poets, bloggers, journalists and songwriters and participate in the active panel sessions during The Writers’ Carousel.
Families are warmly invited to a free Storytelling for Families event at Wrexham Library on Saturday 22nd April.
Festival Director Dylan Hughes has said: “this year’s Carnival is back with a bang with an exciting and varied programme of events and we can’t wait to put on a great week for local readers and book-lovers”.
Keep up with news about the 2023 Carnival and our regular blogs at www.wrexhamcarnivalofwords.com
CLAIM WHAT’S YOURS