The Not-So-Secret Book festival takes place 20—22 June in Carrickfergus
Award-winning bookstore The Secret Bookshelf will host a boutique book festival over the summer solstice weekend.
Set in the charming Secret Garden in The Courtyard, Carrickfergus, this is the book shop’s first festival which will be launched by writer and broadcaster Anne-Marie McAleese on Friday 21 June at 4.30pm, when everyone is welcome to mark the start of events with a glass of something nice.
The festival kicks off with Leo Vardiashvili in conversation with Dr Frank Ferguson. Vardiashvili’s debut novel, Hard by a Great Forest, is a breadcrumb-trail mystery through the author’s home country, Georgia, blending family dynamics with an entrancing sense of place. Picking up on themes such as sense of belonging, post-conflict trauma, and deep rooted community cohesion, it resonated strongly with the shop’s book group.
On Saturday afternoon Armagh-based author Byddi Lee will read from her latest novel, Barren, which is garnering great reviews after a series of successful launches and talks. In the afternoon, Liz Weir and friends will be telling stories in the freshly yarn-bombed garden, and the fantastically creative crafters from Woolworx ,also in the Courtyard, are planning some terrific book-themed woolliness.
FEMINA CULPA
At 2pm the fantastic Femina Culpa poets, Kelly Creighton, Linda McKenna, Emma McKervey and Milena Williamson will be hosted at Carrickfergus Museum, where an exhibition on crime will also be available.
Bringing Saturday to a close there will be a celebration of 10 years of A Court of Thorns and Roses, with exclusive ACOTEN! goodies, a design-your-romantasy-book cover art activity, a choice of drink and churros with homemade toffee sauce from @7 bistro next door, and a fan-chat led by booktokkers Hannah and Ruthie from The Silly Little Bookclub. The night will be rounded off with a quiz and exclusive tote bag prizes.
Sunday is packed programme, with a free children’s book morning, including a book swap and the chance to ask book doctors Paul Howard, Sheena Wilkinson and Sue Divin for their recommendations.
In @7 bistro there will be two crime panels, curated by James Murphy for National Crime Reading Month. In the morning Linda Hagan, Kerry Buchanan and Kelly Creighton will be spilling the beans on writing police procedurals, and in the afternoon Colin Bateman, Callum McSorley and James Murphy will be talking about the funny side of Noir.
In the bookshop the afternoon programme includes Wendy Erskine launching her debut novel The Benefactors, and author Katherine Mezzacappa, historian David Hume and journalist Malachi O’Doherty will be talking about historical research, contrasting and comparing their approaches.
Bringing the festival to a close, Michael Kinsella, Maureen Boyle and Tim Dwyer will remember Michael Longley, sharing his poems as well as work he inspired, while harpist Ursula Burns will capture some of his favourite music.
