CAPACITY audiences made for a flying start at the opening night of Wells Festival of Literature at Cedars Hall.
Novelist Sebastian Faulks, author of Birdsong, entertained his audience with wryly funny tales from his life, while gut health guru Tim Spector, of The Diet Myth fame, championed the health-giving properties of fermented foods.
The enthusiasm and atmosphere of that first night set the scene for a lively week of talks, meet-the-author lunches, and a quirky quiz for bookworms.
Hot-ticket sellers included royal biographer Andrew Lownie, whose book Entitled –
The Rise And Fall Of The House of York, on the scandals surrounding Prince Andrew, chimed with the slew of headlines during the week of the festival.
Seats for BBC chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, who has been reporting from Afghanistan and other far-flung outposts for almost 40 years, were snapped up early, as were those for climate scientist Mike Berners-Lee, gardener Carol Klein and glamorous cook Prue Leith.
Neuroscientist Masud Husain, whose book Our Brains, Our Selves won him the top prize of £25,000 in the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, gave a riveting account of the effects of brain disorders on the personalities of some of his clients.
An awards ceremony for winners of the international writing competitions saw Jane Crozier (Open Poetry), Paul Toolan (Short Story), and Paul Roberts (Book for Children) carry off the local prizes. The full list of winners is on the festival website.
Festival chairman Richard Manning expressed delight at this year’s high ticket sales, saying: “We greatly appreciate all those who support us, with special thanks to our loyal sponsors whose help enables us to continue our educational projects in local schools.”
The festival is a registered charity, the profits of which fund year-round literary projects such as author visits and books for school libraries.
Schools-only sessions for more than 1,000 Year 6 youngsters also take place at the festival, this year with adventure writer Sam Sedgman. The youngsters’ excitement at meeting a favourite author was boundless, inspiring in them a love of reading and potential new audiences for future literary festivals.
• Picture: Lamorna Ash with former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in conversation about her book Don’t Forget We’re Here: A New Generation’s Search For Religion (Jo Shepherd)