Adrian Rodda interprets Cornish history and folklore through his verse. He has performed at festivals and open mic sessions and leads guided walks in Penwith to present his verses in their original inspirational landscapes.

Amanda Jennings writes psychological suspense and is the author of Sworn Secret, which was published in the UK, US and Italy. It was an Amazon kindle Top 5 bestseller in the UK, a Top 100 bestseller in the US, and reached the number 1 spot in Italy. Her second book, The Judas Scar, was published […]

Born 1947. Aged 11, Andrew won a camera in a comic competition but failed 11-plus. Worked for Stanley Kubrick and as assistant editor of Ambit Poetry Magazine. Winner of film, painting and book awards. Inventor of a character who discovers art is a visually transmitted virus and who isolates integrity, marketing it as a paste. ‘Lanyon […]

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol in 1960. He has lived in Spain, Japan, Ireland and France, and currently lives in Somerset. He is the author of six novels; his fiction has been translated into over 30 languages. His new novel is The Crossing. Set in the present day, he sees a blossoming relationship between […]

For the past seven years, Anna has been the one and only bilingual tour guide specialising in Penzance and Mousehole, travelling with cruise ship visitors on coaches through Penwith and hoping to entice them to return for a longer holiday. This year, she presented her virtual coach tour through Cornwall to a German Landfrauen (WI) […]

Anne Taylor is a writer, journalist, teacher and workshop facilitator. She co-tutors the online Introduction to Therapeutic and Reflective Writing course for the Professional Writing Academy (www.profwritingacademy.com) and has a healthy interest in all things to do with medicine and literature – oh, and she loves throwing herself in the sea.

Now in its sixth year, and with an ever-growing reputation, the Bookshop Band makes a welcome return to the Litfest with a new programme of songs inspired by books – some of them by authors appearing at this year’s event. Fans of the Band’s unique sound won’t want to miss this. And if you’re new […]

Bridget Holding founded ‘Wild Words’ and ‘The Society of Writers-In-The-Wild’ in 2011. She is a writer and UKCP registered psychotherapist. She has been a tutor of creative writing for the Lifelong Learning Department of The University of Exeter

Colin Stringer was born in St. Ives but has come a long way since; all the way to Heamoor, via Huddersfield. After three successful shows at Gulval Mead, he moved up North to become a rock star in the all-Cornish, Anne Gwirder. Eighteen months and two unsuccessful shows later he moved back to Penzance and […]

Sergeant Colin Taylor has been in the police force for over 20 years. The last six years he has spent policing the Isles of Scilly where he lives with his family. He also runs the Isle of Scilly Police Facebook page where he regularly posts the dramatic events as they unfold on the Island. His comedic […]

Des Hannigan is a travel writer and journalist. He came to Cornwall from Scotland in the 1960s and worked as a resident singer at the famous Count House Folk Club at Botallack. He then worked as a fisherman for fifteen years and later worked as a news reporter for Cornish newspapers and the Press Association. […]

Duncan Yeates is a poet and academic. His work can be found in Wave Hub: New Poetry from Cornwall and his own limited edition poetry pamphlet series entitled  Lallocropia. Duncan is currently completing a PhD focusing on the work of the Camborne miner poet, John Harris.

Gavin Knight’s first book, Hood Rat, about gun and gang crime in the UK’s cities, was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Crime Writer’s Association Non-fiction Dagger in 2012. To research it, he spent two years with criminals, frontline police units and gang members from the inner cities of Britain. His work has appeared […]

Gill  has been teaching and directing Drama and Theatre in London and more recently Penzance for many years. After two Edinburgh Shows and major Community Theatre productions up country, she now leads the regular Acorn Accolades Adult Drama workshops on Tuesday mornings.

Gray Lightfoot… dreamer, poet, bus driver Gray is a performance poet who lives in Penzance. His job as a bus driver allows him to play with words in his head as he drives past bus stops full of angry, waving passengers. As the first Lightfoot of his bloodline to be born out of Cornwall for well […]

Grevel Lindop lives in Manchester, where he was formerly Professor of English at the University. His books include Travels on the Dance Floor (a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and shortlisted for Authors’ Club Dolman Best Travel Book 2009); A Literary Guide to the Lake District (a Lakeland Book of the Year); and […]

Jak has lived in West Cornwall for 37 years. “If you cut her open,” she says, “I would have Penzance printed inside me, like a stick of rock.” For ten years Jak worked as a local music promoter, bringing to Cornwall national and international new music artists. The NME described her as part of the […]

Jane Moss is an author and writing tutor who grew up in Cornwall and returned here, permanently, three years ago. One of her earliest memories is of being swept off her feet by a wave at Porthcurno. She survived and now runs The Writing Retreat near Lamorna Cove – www.thewritingretreat.co.uk.

John Crace is the Guardian’s parliamentary sketch writer and author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. He writes the Digested Read for G2.

John Martin is a former librarian and lifelong crime fiction reader. He spent 30 years working in public libraries before leaving Leicestershire Libraries in 2012. He was a member of the judging panel for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award from 2009-2012, and is a regular speaker on crime fiction. His first book, Crime Scene […]

John Phillips was born and presently lives in St. Ives. For many years, he lived in Slovenia. His most recent publication is Heretic. His other books include What Shape Sound and Language Is. His work has appeared in several anthologies, as well as many magazines in the U.K. and abroad.

John Sutherland is the Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus of Modern English Literature at UCL, and has spent most of his academic career working up to that august post. ‘Emeritus’ is the Latin for ‘without merit’. John has written many books on many subjects (including Is Henry V a War Criminal—OUP) and most recently, Stars, Cars and Crystal Meth […]

Julie Myerson is the author of Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House and nine novels, including the best-selling Something Might Happen, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. In the words of the Observer, she ‘has a talent for making the unthinkable readable. The results are riveting.’

Juliet Pickering is an agent at the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. She worked for Waterstones as a fiction buyer before joining A P Watt in 2003, and become an Agent in 2007.  Juliet moved to Blake Friedmann in 2013

Karen Sullivan is publisher of Orenda Books, a small independent founded in late 2014 to publish literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, about half in translation. Karen will discuss how and why she started Orenda Books, which was shortlisted for the IPG Nick Robinson Newcomer Award, the ideology behind the list, and the […]

Katharine Norbury was abandoned as a baby in a Liverpool convent. Raised by loving adoptive parents, she grew into a wanderer, drawn by the landscape of the British countryside. One summer, following the miscarriage of a much-longed-for child, Katharine sets out – accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter, Evie – with the idea of following a […]

Kathryn Aalto is a writer, designer, historian and lecturer. For the past twenty-five years, her focus has been on places where nature and culture intersect: teaching literature of nature and place, designing gardens, and writing about the natural world.  She is the author of The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest that Inspired […]

Katrina Naomi’s poetry has appeared in The TLS, The Spectator and The Poetry Review, and has been broadcast on Radio 4. Her second collection, The Way the Crocodile Taught Me, has just been published by Seren (2016), following the pamphlet Hooligans, (Rack Press, 2015). Previous publications include: The Girl with the Cactus Handshake (Templar Poetry), […]

Lauie Garrison has had successful careers in two disparate fields: lecturing in Victorian literature and digital marketing. She now combines her expertise from both these fields to help writers use the online world to complete, publish and promote their books

After a degree in psychology Lisa studied documentary photography at Newport School of Art. She then worked as a freelance photographer for 12 years – past clients include The Independent on Sunday, Barnardos, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Livia Morant will understudy Rose-Mary Harrington’s readings of The Ivy House Diary. Livia has been involved in amateur drama in the area for many years and is currently an active member of the St. Peter’s Players, Newlyn.

Lucy Cooper is a writer with a love of folklore, fairy tales and mythology. She grew up in the wilds of West Penwith. Her fascination with tales from cultures around the world has taken her from the temples of China to the back roads of Bulgaria, and lots of places in between. She is the […]

Dr Luke Thompson is a writer and editor from mid-Cornwall. This year, he publishes a debut pamphlet of poetry, the clearing (Atlantic Press), a full-length biography of Cornish poet Jack Clemo, Clay Phoenix (Ally Press), and a sequence of illustrated short fiction (Guillemot Press). Early 2017, his non-fiction work A Noctuary will be published by […]

Writer, mad cat lady, re-enactor, and 17th century historian. Been slightly potty about the clankier side of Ironside for around 20 years, and lists amongst her heroes in this unworthy world Sir Thomas Fairfax, Elizabeth Cromwell and the revenge playwright John Webster (for his sense of humour.) When not purveying historically-accurate cake to various re-enactment […]

Martin trained at the New College of Speech and Drama and then gained an MA in Theatre Studies at Warwick University. He has worked as a professional actor, director, administrator, lecturer and examiner. His best selling book, The Mysterious Loss of the Darlwyne : A Cornish Holiday Tragedy, has been the subject of both ITV and […]

Since leaving University, MCMC Spoken has gone from strength to strength, carving out her reputation as a poet, working with local producers and rappers to make hip hop tracks, hone here freestyling skills and perform at spoken word gigs both locally and across the UK and Europe. Her love of poetry has led her to […]

Michael Smith is an authority on Polar exploration who has written nine books, appeared in TV and radio documentaries and lectured at many literary festivals and other prestigious venues, including:  The Queen’s Gallery Buckingham Palace, Royal Geographical Society, National Library of Ireland, National Museum of Ireland, Princess Grace Memorial Library Monaco, Queen’s University Belfast, the […]

Mike Sagar-Fenton was born and bred here in Penzance. He is a regular columnist in the local press, author of eight published books on local themes, and also spent four years as director of Penzance’s Golowan Festival. He combined his love of writing and theatre by having his satirical play The Rise and Fall of […]

Patrick Barkham was born in 1975 in Norfolk and was educated at Cambridge University. He is a Natural History writer for the Guardian where he has worked for the last 10 years, reporting on everything from the Iraq War to climate change. His first book, The Butterfly Isles, was shortlisted for the 2011 Royal Society […]

Formed in 1990, PLHG is a friendly group with a serious intent: we research and write up local history. We use old documents, oral history, books in and out of print, and investigate the landscape. Our books so far have included In and around Penzance during Napoleonic Times, Treasures of the Morrab based on Morrab […]

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into 36 languages. Rachel […]

Rachel Lambert is a forager, wild food guide and author. Based in Penzance, she has been teaching foraging since 2007 and is passionate about sharing these skills and edible de-lights with others. She is the author of the sell out book; Wild Food Foraging in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (2015) and her new […]

Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic, and a retired physician and clinical neuroscientist. For the last decade Tallis has been a full-time writer. He has published fiction, poetry, and 25  books on the philosophy of mind, philosophical anthropology, literary and cultural criticism. His most recent book –  The Black Mirror. Fragments […]

Until his retirement in 2003, Robin was Senior Lecturer in History at Warwick University, specialising in German and European political and cultural history and publishing on the German 19th-century art world. He was commissioned to compile the Oxford Companion to the Photograph after his interests turned to photographic history. Robin has lived in Penzance since 2000, and in 2008 […]

Sarah Turner lives in Devon with her husband and their two boys. She has written for The Telegraph, The Daily Mirror, MumsNet, BabyCentre.co.uk, The Huffington Post, and has a regular column for Exeter Life. She won awards for Best Writer and Best Baby Blog at the MAD Awards 2015.

I’m a beat poet, well that’s one defenition. When I was at university I quietly started writing poetry, but always for myself. For one of my project I was meant to hand in a book with images and text in but instead I handed in a book with a CD in the cover. The photographs in the […]

Sophie Buchan, Senior Commissioning Editor at Weidenfeld & Nicolson Fiction  

Born in Suffolk in 1966, Spencer Smart headed for a life in west Cornwall many years ago where he lives with his family. He has worked as a technical author and marketing consultant since the late 1980s. Spencer’s first thriller No Regrets introduced Dutch detective Pieter van Es, who fled Amsterdam for a not-so-peaceful new […]

Spokes was originally set up by three creative writing students from Falmouth University. Their monthly nights at Penryn Town Hall have been drawing large audiences who are treated to a diverse range of material from storytelling, poetry, spleen venting, music and even the occasional interpretive dance.

Steph Haxton, historian, author and wordsmith, is always inspired by place. Pendennis Castle is a site she worked at for many years, finding forgotten facts that begged to be put into stories. Her historical novels have all been nominated in the Cornish Gorsedh Holyer an Gof Awards, with To Untie A Sealed Knot being a […]

Sue Kittowsays, ”My Cornish roots have always been very important to me, ensuring I returned from working in London for 14 years. Since becoming a journalist at the age of 50, I have interviewed many authors including Bill Bryson, Ian Rankin, Lionel Shriver and Rosamunde Pilcher for the international writing magazine, Writers’ Forum, and have […]

Tom Stockley is an organiser, performer, writer, designer and occasional statue based in the South West. Informed by a century of counter-culture, his practice is parasitic and flirts with the humour, beauty and sadness of every day life by any means necessary (including spoken word as t.s. idiot, video based collaborations and DIY venue Space 37). Among his influences […]

Wyl Menmuir was born in 1979 in Stockport. He lives on the north coast of Cornwall with his wife and two children and works as a freelance editor and literacy consultant and is also writer in residence at Richard Lander School, Truro. When he’s not writing, you’ll find him out on the water or up […]