Northcote launches new literary festival
This August, luxury boutique hotel, Northcote is launching a major new literary event – The Ribble Valley Literary Festival bringing together distinguished authors including The Countess of Carnarvon, Helena Attlee, Felix Francis and Salley Vickers and legendary broadcaster Nicholas Parsons.
Guests are invited to hear each author talk about their life as a writer and their recent books while enjoying a delicious menu of Michelin-starred food and wine in the glorious setting of Northcote’s Louis Roederer Room and Champagne Terrace.
Craig Bancroft, Northcote’s Managing Director says: “Few things can be more pleasurable than spending time in the company of your favourite authors, in elegant surroundings whilst enjoying Michelin-star dining created by our Executive Chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen.”
Consultants to the Ribble Valley Literary Festival are Sally Dunsmore and Tony Byrne, director and special advisor respectively, to the internationally famous Oxford Literary Festival and Blenheim Palace Festival of Literature, film and Music.
The Countess of Carnarvon author of At Home at Highclere: Entertaining at The Real Downton Abbey will share the stories of the great and the good and the art of hosting through the ages at her family’s home, Highclere Castle – most well known as the setting of Downton Abbey.
Felix Francis is Dick Francis’s youngest son. Felix shared his father’s love of racing and helped him with both the research and the writing of many of his novels. Since his death, Felix has taken over the literary reigns from his father and Gamble, which was published in September 2011, is a Dick Francis novel written by Felix Francis.
The legendary broadcaster, Nicholas Parsons, has hosted over 900 episodes of Radio 4’s Just a Minute which have entertained listeners since its first broadcast in 1967. His book Welcome to Just a Minute recalls the very best, occasionally awkward and often hilarious, moments from the last six decades over a delicious Sunday lunch.
Since bursting onto the literary scene with her stunning and sensational debut, Miss Garnet’s Angel in 2000, Salley Vickers’ incredibly popular novels have been a continual presence in bookshops up and down the country. Her tenth novel,The Librarian, is currently BBC R4 Book at Bedtime.
Helena Attlee writes about the cultural history of gardens and has published books and articles about gardens in Japan, Portugal, Wales, England and the Caribbean. Her award winning book, The Land Where Lemons Grow, The Story of Italy and Its Citrus Fruit, takes us on a surprising journey through Italy’s culinary, cultural and political past. With the help of a menu specially devised by Lisa Goodwin-Allen, she will alert us to the flavours of some of Italy’s unique citrus fruits, many of them now protected by the Slow Food movement.
For more information, visit Northcote Literary Festival