The long-standing relationship between books and the wider creative arts will be celebrated at this year’s Belfast Book Festival. Music, poetry, art and theatre all feature in this year’s packed programme, welcoming household names from a wide range of disciplines.
Poet, broadcaster and playwright, Ian McMillan, will be discussing his prolific career and current role as host of Radio 3’s The Verb. The gregarious Yorkshireman, known for his outgoing approach and love of language, will be at the Crescent Arts Centre on Tuesday, 10th June from 8.30pm.
Hosted by Marie-Louise Muir, music fans can revel in writing set to music when Jan Carson performs her vibrant work, Malcolm Orange Disappears. This novel about 11-year-old Malcom, who struggles to cope with an absent father, an increasingly absent mother and a childhood spent travelling the highways of America in the back seat of an ancient Volkswagen, will feature a musical response by Hannah McPhillimy.
Blues aficionado and band manager Paul Charles‘ career started when he took on his first group aged 15, and never looked back. The Magherafelt man is behind the popular Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy series and has also written on how to succeed in the music business. Meanwhile theatre lovers will enjoy performances of Brendan Behan’s The Confirmation Suit and Frank O’Connor’s Guest of the Nation by local actor Conor Maguire at Linenhall Library.
All events will offer our audiences the chance to ask their favourite authors and personalities questions, along with signing sessions. For more information, the full programme and tickets, contact Crescent Arts Centre on 028 9024 2338 or visit www.belfastbookfestival.com.