TAKE a look back with us as we celebrate 18 years of The Hexham Book Festival.
Founded by Susie Troup in 2006, the event has grown in popularity each year and it is hard to imagine that it once began as a one-day event with a handful of speakers.
The festival now forms an important part of the regional arts calendar, attracting audiences from across Tynedale and beyond.
Over the years, guests have included Luke Jennings, Germaine Greer, Melvyn Bragg, Michael Morpurgo, PD James, Alexander McCall-Smith, Margaret Drabble, Jodi Picoult, Lionel Shriver, Kate Atkinson, Joe Simpson, Will Self, Val McDermid, and Libby Purves, to name but a few authors, all taken the train north, as have politicos Shirley Williams, Paddy Ashdown, Edwina Currie, Douglas Hurd, Anne Widdecombe, Nadine Dorries, and Alastair Campbell.
The 2020 event was unable to go ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but last year, it was held in a spiegeltent, a large travelling tent from the Netherlands, within the Hexham Abbey Grounds.
Guests included Jung Chang, Gavin Esler, Luke Jennings and Hollie McNish.
A new children’s book festival was also held alongside the traditional book festival programme. There were events for schools during weekdays, with funding available to bring children from far-reaching areas of Northumberland to Hexham to enjoy it.
The investment in a children’s festival was made possible through funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust, and Arts Council England.
Next year it will be back from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, May 5 with headline authors and jam-packed activities.
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