01/10/12…….Love, History and Boris – sample them all at Thame’s Arts & Literature Festival

JUST two weeks to go before Thame’s third Arts and Literature festval launches and the excitement is mounting. Here’s a snap-shot to whet your appetite!

The Festival kicks off on Friday, October 12, with debut author, Liz Harris, who lives close to Thame, in Watlington. Her impressive first novel, The Road Back, is a love story set in the Himalayas. It is a beautiful tale of love, loss and tragedy against a backdrop of the Indian state of Ladekh. Liz will be talking about her novel and how she got started as a writer, in Thame Library at 1pm. This is a must for all aspiring writers, as well as lovers of romantic fiction.

Following on from Liz, at 3pm, will be Gillian Tindall, who is both an accomplished researcher and elegant writer, with the ability to present localised history in a fascinating and accessible way. Her latest book, Three Houses, Many Lives, follows the lives of a Cotswold vicarage, a former girls? boarding school in Surrey and a Jacobean house now buried in inner London. Learn about the eccentric and the strange as Gillian weaves amazing stories about the former residents of these houses. You can hear Gillian Tindall at the Players Theatre, on Friday, October 12, at 3pm.

Thomas Mogford and Kay Langdale are two young talented writers who are quickly making a name for themselves in the literary world. Thomas? book, Shadow of the Rock, has led critics to describe him as ‘a rare and enviable talent.’ Kay?s novel, Her Giant Octopus Moment, is her third novel and has received rave reviews. You can meet both writers at Christchurch on Saturday, October 13, at 10.30am.

If you like your Saturday mornings tinged with controversy, then Sonia Purnell?s biography, Boris, is for you. Come and listen to Sonia and decide for yourself who the real Boris really is! Christchurch, Saturday, October 13, 12 noon.

PHOTO: Liz Harris