The fifth annual PENfro Book Festival will be held from Friday, September 11th to Sunday, September 13th this year. Deborah Moggach, the popular author of ‘These Foolish Things’ (made into the hit movie ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’) will be the guest speaker on the Saturday evening. And there is plenty going on to suit all tastes over the whole weekend.

A host of writers, many of them award winners, feature in the PENfro Book Festival programme at Rhosygilwen over the weekend of September 11-13. They will give presentations, discuss their work, lead a range of workshops for writers and simply entertain. 

PENfro Sunday gets a fab new look this year – a Literary Lunch will be the main focus of the day in the Oak Hall with special guest award-winning poet and performer Jo Bell as the ‘after-dinner’ speaker. Jo has been described by Poet Laureate and former PENfro headline guest Carol Ann Duffy as “one of the most exciting poets now writing”.

Also on the Sunday there will be opportunities to meet a diverse range of writers and hear about their work at guest events on the site through the morning. Among them will be Tracy Rees, winner of the 2015 Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller Competition with her first novel ‘Amy Snow’ and Rebecca F. John, who is shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award this year.

The Friday evening features Stephanie Davies, who will give a presentation and answer questions about  the Hiraeth Project, which  unearths the fascinating history of the Welsh experience in Patagonia in time to celebrate the 150th anniversary of their voyage.

In her talk entitled ‘From Page to Screen’ on Saturday evening Deborah Moggach will talk about her many successful novels and her work as a screenwriter. She will include many anecdotes about her writing and about the experience of movie-making and she will be happy to answer questions from the audience.

Deborah has written 18 novels, including ‘Tulip Fever’, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘These Foolish Things’. The film of ‘Tulip Fever’ should be released this autumn and her new novel ‘Something To Hide’ is published this year. Her screenwriting credits include the BAFTA-nominated Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley.

There are six workshops on offer on PENfro Saturday, lead by experts in their fields. From poetry with Jo Bell, contemporary fiction with Helen Carey, starting to write with Jo Mazelis, to writing for children, travel writing and self publishing.

Local writers will give a sample of their work in an informal ‘Last Words’ event on Sunday afternoon in the Summerhouse, with an open mic session for poets and prose writers.

For more information on the PENfro Book Festival click here.

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