A LITERARY festival that took place earlier this month has been acclaimed as “the best ever”.
Ilminster Literary Festival took place between June 1 and June 8 and sold over 1000 tickets.
A spokesperson said: “With well over 1000 tickets sold, Ilminster’s seventh Literary Festival, held June 1 to 8, has been widely acclaimed as the best ever, with something to suit all tastes.
“A huge number of enthusiastic comments about speakers, venues, and organisation have been received.
“The festival featured two competitions for young people - Creative Writing and Poetry Performance held in liaison with schools and 18 further events for adults.
“If you think topics like politics and diplomacy are dull, think again - Vince Cable wowed a sold-out audience with a talk on “How to be a Politician” as did Simon McDonald, speaking about the leadership lessons learned during his career as a top diplomat working with six Foreign Secretaries and five Prime Ministers.
“In contrast, we heard from Tessa Boase about the glittering world of London’s lost department stores and from Andrew Prince - who made the jewellery featured in TV’s Downton Abbey - talking about the opulent jewellery and fashion produced and worn between the 1890s and 1930s.
“Gemma Aldridge, editor of The Sunday Mirror and The People, provided insight into the newspaper world, Dave Usher spoke about the restoration of the world-famous Hestercombe gardens and the Fresh Fiction event featured short stories from across the region, read by their authors.
The festival’s final event was a hugely successful wrap-up concert of tango music performed by Trio Paradis from Music South West and featuring readings about the tango by Mick and Irene Glynn from Ilminster’s Warehouse Theatre.
Ilminster Literary Festival is a real community event.
The organising committee would like to thank this year’s audiences, business sponsors, volunteer helpers, and venues (Ilminster Arts Centre, Warehouse Theatre, Monks Yard Conference Centre, the Minster Rooms, Nyanza Lodge, Whitelackington Village Hall) for their outstanding support, with special mention to Waterstones, a new partner who made ordering, lugging and selling books to enthusiastic buyers - always with a smile - an absolute doddle.
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