Programme 29th -31st Oct 2010

Books at Bowling Green Alley
Poole Print Makers, exhibition open 11am - 5pm Friday 29th - Sunday 31st October (and by arrangement until 17th November - email ruthoaks@poole-painting.co.uk or phone 01202 666428). Admission is free.
An exhibition of contemporary artists' books and literary prints, with printmaking demonstrations.
Bowling Green Alley is a Dickensian relic in a hidden corner of old Poole. In keeping with the historic atmosphere, the ground floor houses antique presses and equipment once used for printing books. This is Poole Printmakers, a thriving co-operative of artists who work in the medium of original prints. In the same building at 5, Bowling Green Alley is Poole Painting Studio.
For Poole Literary Festival the two come together for an exhibition on the first floor of artists' books and on both floors of original prints and paintings which include text. Most of the art work is for sale. In the ground floor workshop you can also see artist-printmakers at work, and look at some of the traditional printers' equipment now put to new use in contemporary art.

'Glittery Literary' Lunch
Branksome Beach Restaurant 12.30-3.30pm, Tickets £35 (lunch and goody bag included), Q&A, Book Signing.
Join us at this stunning seaside restaurant for a sumptuous two-course lunch with wine coffee and a goody bag. Adele Parks, Imogen Parker & Katie Fforde will be sharing their thoughts on life, love and food...sounds good enough to eat!

Young People’s Day
Lighthouse All Day, Free Event.
A brilliant day packed full of exciting events curated by Young People for Young People. If you would like to get involved please contact tracey@poolelitfest.com she will be delighted to hear from you!

'Futurising' BU Media School Screenings
Lighthouse Cinema All day, Free Event.
Postgraduate students from Bournemouth University present their end of year films, radio installations and readings. The screening schedule will be available to download soon.

Solent Shore and Jarman's Door
Poole Museum 7.00pm, Tickets £6 (refreshments included), Q&A.
Poems by renowned poet, critic & broadcaster Jeremy Hooker and an exploration of an artefact by the young Derek Jarman. Presented by Stephen Batty.

Additional Information:
Tickets will be available from Lighthouse Box Office in August 2010 telephone 0844 406 8666 or book online by clicking the link above.

Visit the Interactive Gallery to see work from the short listed candidates of the PLF New Media Writing Prize.

Look out for David Gaffney’s Poole Confessions performance installation on Friday and Saturday in the Dolphin Shopping Centre.

Dorset Delights
Lighthouse 10.00am-2.00pm, Tickets £10/£8 (includes Dorset apple cake & hot drink), Q&A, Book Signings.
A delightful day featuring an exciting mix of Dorset writers & artists. Talks, storyelling & a few suprises from Paul Atterbury, Beverley Naidoo, Andy McDermott, Sarah Challis, Tricia Walker, Daisy Goodwin, Jason Goodwin and Kit Berry. Gardening advice and give aways with Joe 'Dirty Nails' Hashman, cooking tips from Mrs Simkins, music from the Bournemouth Community Gospel Choir, impromptu Shakespeare by Brownsea Open Air Theatre and an exclusive live art collaboration led by Frances Hatch and Hazel Evans. Also joining in the delights will be Andy Lane & Ciara Hegarty, Ping Pong Poetry and The Thomas Hardy Society. Lots of tasty treats for all ages plus a delicious Dorset Apple cake included in your ticket price! For full details on all of our exciting authors appearing please visit the Author Biogs tab.

Books at Bowling Green Alley
Poole Print Makers, exhibition open 11am - 5pm Friday 29th - Sunday 31st October (and by arrangement until 17th November - email ruthoaks@poole-painting.co.uk or phone 01202 666428). Admission is free.
An exhibition of contemporary artists' books and literary prints, with printmaking demonstrations.

Valentine Warner - TV Chef
Lighthouse Cinema, 1-2.15pm, Tickets £5/£3, Q&A, Book Signing.
Valentine Warner is a home cook with a passion for nature, the seasons and being outdoors. Valentine first appeared on our TV screens with his series What to Eat Now seeking out the best food and dishes that Autumn has to offer. A second series of What to Eat Now concentrated on Summer's seasonal bounty. Valentine will share with us his passion for seasonal cooking and the best Dorset produce.

Mavis Cheek
Lighthouse Cinema 2.30pm, Tickets £8/£6, Q&A, Book Signing.
Author of thirteen novels including Mrs Fytton's Country Life, Janice Gentle Gets Sexy and Amenable Women, Mavis will be talking with us about her sparkling new novel Truth to Tell with all the brio and humour her readers have come to love.

Jeremy Hooker
Poole Museum 4.00pm, Tickets £6 (Tea and Cake included).
Mary Butts: A fascinating insight into this neglected novelist and poet by Jeremy Hooker. A rare chance to delve into the Poole archives and find out more about this writer from Lilliput.

'Futurising' BU Media School Screenings
Lighthouse Cinema, 4.30-10pm, Free Event.
Postgraduate students from Bournemouth University present their end of year films, radio installations and readings. The screening schedule will be available to download soon.

Candlelit Story Telling
Branksome Dene Community Beach Hut 6.00-8.00pm, Tickets £4/£2 (Warm clothing and blankets recommended).
Led by Actor & Story Teller Michele O'Brien this will be a magical evening of Halloween inspired fun. There'll be ghostly goings on in this spine-tingling night that will leave you screaming for more! The Hut will be decorated to give you that haunted feeling - so watch out for things that might go bump in the night. Suitable for children of all ages and brave mums and dads!

Elvis McGonagall & Luke Wright
Lighthouse Studio 7.30pm, Tickets £7/£5.
BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live regulars, two of the finest and funniest Performance Poets you’re ever likely to see. We’re so convinced you’ll love their work; we’ll treat you to a drink in the bar if you can prove you haven’t laughed once! Bar open from 7.00pm

Additional Information:
Tickets will be available from Lighthouse Box Office in August 2010 telephone 0844 406 8666 or book online by clicking the link above.

Visit the Interactive Gallery to see work from the short listed candidates of the PLF New Media Writing Prize.

Look out for David Gaffney’s Poole Confessions performance installation on Friday and Saturday in the Dolphin Shopping Centre.

Gervase Phinn
Lighthouse Theatre 11.00am, Tickets £8/£6 (Coffee and Croissants included), Q&A, Book Signing.
One of Britain's most popular writers and performers, Gervase shares his hilarious tales of life as a school inspector. Dubbed 'The James Herriot of schools' this best selling author, Radio and TV personality will be signing books before and after his event. Come early and enjoy your coffee & croissant in the café whilst pouring over the Sunday papers - what better way to start the day?

Books at Bowling Green Alley
Poole Print Makers, exhibition open 11am - 5pm Friday 29th - Sunday 31st October (and by arrangement until 17th November - email ruthoaks@poole-painting.co.uk or phone 01202 666428). Admission is free.
An exhibition of contemporary artists' books and literary prints, with printmaking demonstrations.

Carol Ann Duffy
Poole Library 11.00am, Tickets £6/£4, Book Signing.
Bring your own blanket and snuggle up as Carol Ann Duffy reads her fairy tale about a princess who always feels cold. Accompanied by actor and musician John Sampson, this is an enchanting and unforgettable experience for all the family to enjoy. Be sure to book early to avoid disappointment.

Carol Ann Duffy
Lighthouse Theatre 1.30pm, Tickets £15/£13, Book Signing.
We are privileged to welcome Britain’s first female Poet Laureate to Poole Literary Festival. Virtuoso musician John Sampson will accompany Carol Ann Duffy, the most significant voice in contemporary poetry, in an evocative reading that interweaves music and words. A unique opportunity not to be missed.

Deborah Moggach
Lighthouse Cinema 2.30pm, Tickets £8/£6, Q&A.
Author of 16 novels including Tulip Fever, Deborah has also become prolific in her adaptations of books into films. She will be talking about her BAFTA-nominated script for Pride & Prejudice and her teleplay for The Diary of Anne Frank as seen on BBC1.

Minette Walters
Lighthouse Theatre 3.00pm, Tickets £8/£6 (Special Offer £12/£8 for both the Minette Walters talk and the Crime Panel Discussion), Q&A, Book Signing.
Award-winning, best-selling, the 'queen of the psychological thriller' -- are phrases you’ll often find in front of crime fiction author Minette Walters' name. Her most recent novel is The Chameleon’s Shadow, while The Sculptress, The Ice House and The Dark Room all formed the basis of hit BBC1 TV dramas. We are thrilled, quite literally, to welcome Minette to Poole Literary Festival.

Michael Morpurgo, Coope Boyes & Simpson
PRIVATE PEACEFUL: THE CONCERT
Lighthouse Concert Hall 3.30pm, Tickets £12/£6, Q&A, Book Signing.
We are delighted to announce this very special performance by our festival patron. Master-storyteller and one of the nation’s best-loved writers Michael Morpurgo joins the outstanding English a cappella trio, Coope Boyes & Simpson for a rare performance of this deeply moving and timely reminder of the human cost of ‘the war to end all wars’. With additional readings and new, specially written songs from Coope Boyes & Simpson, Poole Literary Festival will see the first performance outside London of Michael Morpurgo’s extended telling of his unforgettable story.

Minette Walters, Michael Jecks, Simon Hall chaired by Lorelei King
Discussing The Past, Present & Future of Crime Writing
Lighthouse Theatre 4.00pm, Tickets £6/£4 (Special Offer £12/£8 for both the Minette Walters talk and the Crime Panel Discussion), Q&A, Book Signings.
Minette Walters will be joined by Michael Jecks, Master of the Medieval Murder Mystery and Simon Hall, BBC TV crime correspondent, chaired by American actress and award winning narrator Lorelei King (Notting Hill, Cold Feet, Jonathan Creek).



For more thrills, watch out for our Murder Mystery Fish & Chip Supper and Cracking Crime Quiz!

Additional Information:
Tickets will be available from Lighthouse Box Office in August 2010 telephone 0844 406 8666 or book online by clicking the link above.

Paul Atterbury Paul Atterbury is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster, with special interests in the art, architecture and design of the 19th and 20th centuries. He has written many books about ceramics, canals and railways, being Britain's best-selling railway author. For 20 years he has been a member of the team of experts on BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow. He lives in West Dorset.

Christine Aziz Christine Aziz is a prize winning novelist, playwright, journalist and visiting tutor for creative writing at the Arts University College Bournemouth. She is best known for The Olive Readers, a book which she wrote over a 20 year period, and which is set after the fall of the American Empire in a time when all books and music have been banned.

Adrian Beckingham Adrian Beckingham, aka The Man from Story Mountain, has been a full time professional storyteller for 15 years, performing in over 400 UK schools. He won the Help The Aged Millennium Award in 2000, and performs for the National Trust, English Heritage, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, the Home Office, and festivals across the UK. He works extensively with the charity MIND. His collection of traditional earth creation stories, Stories That Crafted The Earth, was published in 2005. He is currently writing the authorised biography of Aboriginal Australian elder Francis Firebrace and is working on his first novel, The Silver Tiger.

Kit Berry Kit Berry lives in Reading but has spent most of her adult life in Dorset as a school teacher in Weymouth. Inspired by the beauty of the Dorset landscape and local folklore, Kit wrote and self-published the Young Adult series the Stonewylde, selling the books in local shops and through Amazon. The series become a cult success across the UK, Europe and the US, enabling Kit to become a full time writer. Stonewylde has recently been snapped up by a major publisher and may become a film series.

B.O.A.T. People Since 1964 BOAT have been presenting Shakespeare on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. The Poole Literary Festival is delighted to welcome this innovative theatre group, who will be bringing highlights from their 2010 production of The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Denise Mallender, to several venues throughout the Festival.

Sarah Challis Sarah Challis wrote her first novel, Killing Helen when she was 50 and she is now completing her ninth book for Hodder Headline. Other titles include Blackthorn Winter, and most recently Love and Other Secrets. Sarah's best known book is Footprints in the Sand (2006) which she wrote after successive trips to ride camels with the Tuareg people of Mali. Sarah spent much of her working life as a teacher. She has lived in Scotland and California but is now happily settled in a Dorset village. She is married with four sons.

Mavis Cheek Mavis Cheek began writing after her daughter, Bella, was born. Pause Between Acts was published in 1988 and won the She/John Menzies First Novel Prize. Twelve more novels have followed, including Mrs Fytton's Country Life, Janice Gentle Gets Sexy and recently, Amenable Women, described in The Times as 'a brilliantly funny, warm, intelligent read'. Truth To Tell is her sparkling new novel is about shaking your life up, striking-out and learning to be true to yourself. It's told with all the brio and humour that her readers have come to love.

Carol Ann Duffy Carol Ann Duffy is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009. She is both the first woman and the first Scot to hold this position. Her collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan, Somerset Maugham Award; Mean Time (1993), Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture (2005), the T. S. Eliot Prize. Recent children's books include The Tear Thief, The Hat, The Princess's Blankets and New & Collected Poems for Children.

Richard Evans Casting Director Richard Evans has cast a wide variety of productions in all media since 1989. Prior to this he worked as an actor for ten years. He has devised and presented audition and career development workshops at many top drama and theatre schools, including the Actors' Centre in London and Manchester. He wrote 'A Casting Director's Perspective' for The Actors' Yearbook. He is a member of The Casting Directors' Guild of Great Britain and Ireland, and his book, Auditions: A Practical Guide, was published in both the UK and USA last year.

Katie Fforde Katie Fforde is a best-selling author of 16 books and chair of The Romantic Novelist's Association. Her latest novel, A Perfect Proposal, was published in June, while Love Letters is her most recent paperback. Her debut was Living Dangerously, in 1995, and was followed by The Rose Revived and more recently Wedding Season. Katie Fforde lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and some of her three children. Recently her old hobbies of ironing and housework have given way to singing, flamenco dancing and husky racing. She claims this keeps her fit.

John Foster John Foster teaches screenwriting at Bournemouth University and Regent's College, London. His screen credits include many episodes for TV series including Z-Cars, Softly Softly, Crown Court, Emmerdale, Juliet Bravo, Rockliffe and The Bill. His Omnibus documentary about Raymond Chandler won a BAFTA. He wrote the story for the 1988 Patrick Swayze drama Letters from a Killer and he is contributor to the award-winning crime collection, Mean Time. John's fiction has been published in the Guardian and Spectator and written for radio and the theatre. He is currently working on several plays and a novel.

David Gaffney David Gaffney is from Manchester. He is the author of Sawn Off Tales, Aromabingo, Never Never, Buildings Crying Out and 23 Stops To Hull. Rivers Take Them is a set of short operas with composer Ailis Ni Riain (BBC Radio Three 2008) and Destroy PowerPoint presented stories in PowerPoint format for the 2009 Edinburgh Festival. His latest collection is The Half Life of Songs, while Poole Confessions, stories told in a mobile confessional box, looks set to be a highlight of the Poole Literary Festival.

Daisy Goodwin Daisy Goodwin began her TV career as an Arts Producer at the BBC, devising such programmes as Bookworm, The Nation's Favourite Poems, Looking Good and Home Front. At Talkback Productions Daisy masterminded The Apprentice, House Doctor, Jamie's Kitchen and Grand Designs. She is a founder of Silver River productions, a regular columnist in the Sunday Times, has edited numerous poetry anthologies and is currently Chair of the Orange Prize judging committee. Her first novel, My Last Duchess, will be published in August 2010.

Jason Goodwin Jason Goodwin has written award winning-books of travel, history and suspense. After walking across Eastern Europe to Istanbul, he wrote Lords of the Horizons: a History of the Ottoman Empire. The Janissary Tree, the first in his Ottoman detective series set in 1830's Istanbul, won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Novel in 2007 and has been translated into 38 languages. The Snake Stone and The Bellini Card followed. Jason is a keen cook and grows his own vegetables. He lives in West Dorset with his wife Kate and their four children.

Simon Hall Simon Hall is the BBC's Crime Correspondent for the South West of England and the author of the Plymouth set TV Detective novels, in which a TV reporter and a detective work together to solve a series of extraordinary crimes. The series comprises The Death Pictures, Evil Valley and The Judgement Book. The latest addition to the series, The Balance of Guilt, was published in September and concerns a terrorist attack, while a prequel to the series, The TV Detective, was published in February.

Joe Hashman Joe Hashman's weekly columns, written under the pen-name of 'Dirty Nails', have been enjoyed by readers of Dorset's Blackmore Vale Magazine since 2004. He now contributes to newspapers across England and Wales on a regular basis. Writing with poetic licence Joe takes the reader on a wonderful journey of discovery through the changing seasons. His first book, How to Grow Your Own Food, was published by How To Books in 2007 to wide acclaim. His down-to-earth style and quirky tales from the garden continued with the release of A Vegetable Gardener's Year. His latest book is On the Plot With 'Dirty Nails'.

Ciara Hegarty Ciara Hegarty's debut novel The Road To The Sea was published in February by Pan Macmillan New Writing, as a result of which Ciara was described by The Irish Post as 'One of Ireland's most promising writers'. Ciara grew up in Ealing but spent every holiday possible on the family farm in County Cork, Ireland, settling in Corfe three years ago. She read English Language and Communication at King's College, London, has worked as an artist and has two daughters. Ciara is currently working on her second novel.

Jeremy Hooker Jeremy Hooker is an English poet, critic, teacher, and broadcaster whose formative years were spent on the edge of the New Forest. He has published many collections of poetry including Soliloquies of a Chalk Giant (winner of the Welsh Arts Council Literature Prize), Landscape of the Daylight Moon and Solent Shore. He has edited works by Richard Jefferies, Edward Thomas and Frances Bellerby and published critical studies of John Cowper Powys and David Jones. His work shows a deep concern with place and landscape in relation to personal identity. The Cut of the Light. Poems 1965-2005 was published in 2006.

Michael Jecks Michael Jecks has written thirty novels in his Templar series of medieval thrillers and has been called the 'master of the medieval murder mystery'. Making use of Dartmoor legends, the politics of the period, and actual murders from the Coroner's Rolls, his books have continually gripped readers. A passionate supporter of new writing, Michael organised the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger before becoming Chairman of the CWA. He is a founder of Medieval Murderers and a regular speaker at events all over the world. His latest novel The Oath, was published in May.

Lorelei King Lorelei King is one of the most successful and accomplished American actresses working in the UK today. She has appeared in numerous film and TV shows, including Notting Hill, Cold Feet, Jonathan Creek and Monarch of the Glen. She is a multi-award-winning narrator of audiobooks from best-selling authors such as Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell. Lorelei is also a writer and script editor, and is currently working on the BBC animation series Chuggington. She is co-founder, with Ali Muirden, of digital publishing company Creative Content.

Andy Lane Andy Lane is the author of the new 'Young Sherlock Holmes' series. Death Cloud was published in June, with Red Leech to follow, and with a third book due next year. He has written several spin-off novels and audio dramas based on Doctor Who and Torchwood, as well as non-fiction books based on popular film and TV franchises including James Bond, Austin Powers and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Andy has developed storylines and scripts for the Sky One science fiction series Space Island One. He lives with his wife and son in Dorset.

Nell Leyshon Nell Leyshon's novels include Black Dirt, Devotion and The Voice. She won the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright award for Comfort me with Apples. She is the first woman to be asked to write for Shakespeare's Globe theatre; her drama, Bedlam was premiered at the Globe in September. Nell has written several plays for BBC Radio 4, including Soldier Boy and War Bride. She is Writer in Residence for the Bournemouth based theatre company and charity Vita Nova, helping volunteers tell their stories and find their authentic voices.

Andy Mcdermott Andy Mcdermott is the international bestselling author of the Nina Wilde/Eddie Chase adventure thrillers. The series began with The Hunt for Atlantis, with book six, The Sacred Vault published in July 2010. The seventh novel in the series, Empire of Gold is due next February. Andy lives in Bournemouth and prior to becoming a full-time novelist was a journalist and editor for DVD Review and Hotdog. He has worked as a cartoonist, graphic designer and videogame reviewer, and written for the award-winning British science fiction comic 2000AD.

Elvis McGonagall Stand-up poet, armchair revolutionary and recumbent rocker, Elvis McGonagall is the sole resident of The Graceland Caravan Park somewhere in the middle of nowhere where he scribbles verse whilst drinking malt whisky, listening to Johnny Cash and throwing heavy objects at his portable telly. Elvis is the 2006 World Slam Champion, the compere of the notorious Blue Suede Sporran Club and appears regularly on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live and occasionally on the Today programme.

Deborah Moggach Deborah Moggach is the author of 16 novels including Tulip Fever and In The Dark. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Deborah's screenplay for the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice was nominated for a BAFTA. Last year BBC1 broadcast her adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank. Deborah described creating the serial as 'an extraordinary and emotional journey'. TV screenplays include the award-winning adaptation of Goggle-Eyes and small screen versions of her own novels Final Demand and Close Relations.

Michael Morpurgo Michael Morpurgo is the former Children's Laureate and best-selling author of over 120 books for children including Private Peaceful, Kensuke's Kingdom and War Horse, which successfully transferred to the National Theatre in 2007. It is currently being filmed by Steven Spielberg, starring Emily Watson and David Thewlis, for release in August next year. Michael was awarded an OBE for services to literature in 2007. His most recent book is It's A Dog's Life.

Beverley Naidoo Beverley Naidoo's first children's book, Journey to Jo'burg, about life under apartheid, was banned in her native South Africa until 1991. The Other Side of Truth won the Carnegie Medal and Beverley was the South African nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2008. Among her other books are The Great Tug of War and S is for South Africa. Beverley is currently working on a retelling of Aesop's Fables. On Wednesday 3 November, just after the Poole Literary Festival, Trestle Theatre's 2010 adaptation of Burn My Heart, set in 1950s colonial Kenya, will come to Lighthouse Poole's Centre for the Arts.

Imogen Parker Imogen Parker has published eleven novels, including her recent trilogy, The Time of Our Lives, The Things We Do For Love and This Little World, chronicling 50 years in the post-war history of a fictional South-Coast town. Other novels include These Foolish Things and Perfect Day. Before becoming a writer Imogen Parker was a literary agent with a major London agency where she represented many prize-winning authors. Imogen has served on the Committee of the Society of Authors.

Adele Parks Adele Parks wrote her first nine novels in as many years, all of which were Times Top Ten bestsellers, with total UK sales over one-and-a-half-million. Her books, including Love Lies and Tell Me Something, have been translated into 25 languages. Her latest novel Men I've Loved Before was published in July. Adele passionately believes that reading is a basic right and since 2006 has been heavily involved with World Book Day and The National Literacy Trust. This year Adele was one of the 3 judges for the Costa Book Awards.

Gervase Phinn Gervase Phinn is known for his bestselling autobiographical novels, including The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale, Head Over Heels in the Dales and most recently The Heart of the Dales. He has also written books for children, including Twinkle Twinkle, Little Stars, and A Bit of a Hero. As well as being a freelance lecturer, broadcaster and writer, Gervase Phinn is a consultant for the Open University and Visiting Professor of Education at The University of Teesside.

Keira Rathbone Artist Keira Rathbone grew up in Poole and has become internationally celebrated using a vintage typewriter to create extraordinarily detailed artworks by typing out letters, numbers and symbols, in place of brush strokes and pixels. Last year she collaborated with Bonnie Greer to create the artwork for her new book Obama Music. The volume was featured in The Independent, The Guardian and BBC TV. Keira currently lives in London but still finds a lot of inspiration during her frequent return visits to the beautiful Jurassic Coast and surrounding Dorset countryside.

Mrs Simkins Mrs Simkins has been cooking for more than thirty years for friends and family, during which time she has developed hundreds of recipes. She teaches courses in home cooking and baking and her recipes cover the whole range of wholesome cookery. In 2006 she began finalising a comprehensive recipe selection and her first book Cooking with Mrs Simkins was published in January 2010. Her second book Tea with Mrs Simkins is published in October. Mrs Simkins writes a weekly column for Dorset's Blackmore Vale Magazine. She lives in Dorset with her family.

Nicky Singer Nicky Singer's first children's novel, Feather Boy, won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. The television adaptation won a BAFTA for Best Children's Drama and the story was turned into a musical for the National Theatre. Other young adult novels include Doll, The Innocent's Story and GemX. Knight Crew retells the Arthur legend in a contemporary gangland setting. The novel was premiered in an operatic version with music by Julian Philips in April, with the behind the scenes story becoming a three-part documentary series shown on BBC2 in June presented by Gareth Malone.

Ali Sparkes If you were to snap Ali in half she would read CHILDREN'S AUTHOR through the middle, like Brighton rock. Although it would probably be a bit difficult to read, what with the blood and entrails and all that. Ali Sparks meant to be a superstar singer and actress, but after working at the Bournemouth Daily Echo she found herself writing comedy for Radio 4 Woman's Hour & Home Truths. She learned to edit producing magazines for BBC Radio Solent, and found her groove with her 2006 novel The Shapeshifter: Finding The Fox. Frozen In Time which won the 2010 Blue Peter Book of the Year award. Her latest novel is Wishful Thinking.

Ben Trill Ben Trill is an artist based at Lighthouse Poole's Centre for the Arts where he delivers creative digital media courses. Ben facilitates digital creative projects with children and young people of all age groups and abilities. Working as a digital designer his projects include animations from stories, poems and text, turning words into a more visual language, using drawings and designs.

Tricia Walker Tricia Walker's debut novel, Benedict's Brother, originally appeared in monthly instalments on her blog after languishing unpublished for a decade. A paperback edition followed in 2007 and was the biggest debut launch of an unknown author in Borders UK bookstores that year. It was selected as Book of the Year in Publishing News (alongside Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach and Costa Book award winner What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn). Benedict's Brother is a contemporary story of love, death and Buddhism set at the 'Bridge on the River Kwai' in Thailand. Tricia is currently completing her second book and working on a third.

Minette Walters Award-winning, best-selling, the 'queen of the psychological thriller' - are phrases you'll often find in front of crime fiction author Minette Walters' name. Passionate and caring, open-minded, wickedly funny - phrases that describe the real Minette Walters. Her most recent novel is The Chameleon's Shadow, while The Sculptress, The Ice House and The Dark Room all formed the basis of hit BBC1 TV dramas. We are thrilled, quite literally, to welcome Minette Walters to the Poole Literary Festival.

Valentine Warner Valentine Warner is a home cook with a passion for nature, the seasons and being outdoors. After art college, Valentine dropped the paint brush and picked up a spoon. He spent five years working under chefs such as Alastair Little and Rose Carrarini before setting up a private catering company. In September 2008 Valentine first appeared in his first TV series, What to Eat Now, which saw Valentine seeking out the best food and dishes Autumn has to offer. A second series of What to Eat Now was first shown in summer 2009. The two accompanying books What to Eat Now - Autumn & Winter and What to Eat Now - Spring & Summerwere published by Mitchell Beazley. Valentine has written for The Times, The Independent, Waitrose Food Illustrated, Delicious, Olive and more. A self-confessed, natural born fidget, Valentine always finds a cure for his restlessness in the kitchen.

Luke Wright 4Talent award winner Luke Wright programmed and hosted Latitude's poetry arena (the largest poetry event in Europe) and has become one of the poets-in-residence on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live. He has four solo poetry stage shows: Poet Laureate, Poet & Man, A Poet's Work Is Never Done, and The Petty Concerns of Luke Wright. He is currently developing a fifth - Cynical Ballads. All of which played to sold out audiences at The Edinburgh Fringe, got five star reviews and have completed extensive national tours. His debut pamphlet was published by Nasty Little Press in 2009.