A Good Book Makes a Good Holiday... Literary and Book Festivals in Suffolk

With this week seeing World Book Day, we thought we’d celebrate all things literary and look at Suffolk’s exciting literary and book festivals scheduled for 2018. Suffolk has inspired authors for hundreds of years from George Orwell to Enid Blyton to Ronald Blyth. In fact, Geroge Orwell spent much of his time at his family home Montague House in Southwold which is now one of Suffolk Secret’s very own properties! It’s not surprising that Suffolk gets imaginations working with its interesting history, pretty market towns, beautiful countryside and wonderful farmland.

As well as writing, Suffolk is the perfect place for reading. With its peaceful surroundings, Suffolk is ideal for relaxing and getting engrossed in a good book. Discover some of Suffolk’s literary festivals this year below where you can discover your new favourite author, see many speakers and find lots of great books.

Felixstowe Book Festival

Now in its sixth year, Felixstowe Book Festival returns and due to its roaring success will run over five days as opposed to its usual two. With the generous support of local funders, volunteers, friends and family, Meg Reid got the event running in 2013 and it has been a success ever since. Taking place in the delightful seaside town of Felixstowe, avid bookworms or book newbies can enjoy a weekend of varied literature and poetry from politics to sport to crime to romance. Tickets for Felixstowe Book Festival will be available from May 1st directly from their website or from Felixstowe Library at a cash-only desk.

Flipside, Snape Maltings

Surrounded by delightful autumnal colours in the beautiful venue of Snape Maltings is Flipside, a fantastically exotic festival celebrating writers from Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. The festival will host literary talks, workshops and walks along with family fun, food, music and more from Friday the 6th to Sunday the 8th of October. For prices and ticket information visit the Snape Maltings website.

Festival of Suffolk Poetry, Stowmarket

2018 sees the fifth Suffolk Poetry Festival at the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts in Stowmarket on the 26th of May. Blake Morrison will be headlining the day with his outstanding collection of literacy as well as Rebecca Watts. Throughout the morning will be workshops, leading to café readings and a fun open mic section to the evening's main readings.

Ways With Words Festival, Southwold

A popular town for writers and artists over the years, Southwold hosts the Ways With Words Festival from the 8th till the 12th of November. The festival creates an escape from the everyday life where you can engage with new and old books in one of the countries most sought-after destinations. Festival-goers can enjoy many speakers with previous names including Vince Cable, Martin Bell and Peter Stanford. Here at Suffolk Secrets we strongly believe that a pint of Adnams in Southwold accompanied by a great book is the epitome of relaxation.

Other annual literary events in Suffolk include:

Bury St Edmunds Festival, May

Latitude Festival, Henham Park, July

Halesworth Arts Festival, October

Lavenham Literary Festival, November

Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, November