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About the festival
The Guernsey Literary Festival is one of the highlights of the island’s arts calendar bringing some of the world’s greatest writers, speakers and thinkers to Guernsey. With events for all interests and ages, the Festival is a unique opportunity to come together to celebrate the written word.
The festival attracts speakers from a wide range of disciplines, from literature to politics, from history to sport, from the environment to food, from biography to travel. We also organise a full education and community programme, together with workshops for local writers with renowned visiting authors.
Discovered by writers like Victor Hugo and Mervyn Peake, the Bailiwick of Guernsey's beauty and history makes it the perfect literary travel destination.
The Guernsey Literary Festival is a not for profit organisation and registered charity, run by volunteers and is supported by generous and committed sponsors, patrons, members and partners.
The Festival Team
The Guernsey Literary Festival is a non-for profit organisation and registered charity run by a group of volunteers and board of directors.
Festival Team (Steering Group)
Claire Allen, Adam Bayfield, Livia Blücher, Maz Campbell, Paul Chambers, Eileen Chapman, Diane Colton, Niki Cleal, Stef Haigh, Rick James, Hollie Lanyon, Huw Lewis-Jones, Nick Le Messurier, Laura McKerrell, Lauren Taylor, Gillie Revill, Mandi Rutter, Catriona Stares, Rachael Taylor-Blake, Ruth Thomason, Holly Watkins, Anne Wilkes-Green.
Festival Board
Rob Shepherd (Chair), Claire Allen, Livia Blücher, Tony Gallienne, Jacqui Golden, Sharon Parr, Mandi Rutter, Trina Le Noury.
Patrons
Thank you to the following patrons:
Valerie Blows, Livia Blücher, Michael Brown, Evelyne Burke, James & Georgina Ede-Golightly, Michael & Heather Fattorini, Tony & Susie Gallienne, Jacqui Golden, Tessa Hall, Connie Helyar-Wilkinson, Jon & Pauline Moulton, Kay Parnwell, Larry Malcic and Felicity Quevâtre-Malcic, Craig & Janette Roberts, Christopher & Lavinia Storey, Nadine Stares and David Warr.
Event Hosts & Guest Curators
With thanks to our event hosts including Adam Bayfield, Paul Chambers, Tony Curr, Jim Delbridge, Matt Fallaize, Holly Farrell, Alice Gill, Nick Le Huray, Nick Le Messurier, Nick Mann, Jo Osborne, Felicity Quevâtre-Malcic, Sally Rochester, Rob Shepherd and Steph Watkins.
The following Guest Curators have kindly shared their insights and expertise to the programming team and will also be chairing Festival events.
Steve Foote
Steve Foote is the founder of local publisher Blue Ormer, CEO of the Priaulx Library and Editor of The Review of the Guernsey Society. He is passionate about celebrating local history, and the impact that the Bailiwick has had on the world - and, through Blue Ormer, providing a platform for local literary talent and books on local subjects.
Gerry Foley
Gerry Foley is a regular chair at book festivals across the UK and Ireland. While most of his career was as a broadcast journalist in Westminster, Gerry has also worked in Dublin and Belfast. Known for his versatility, he’s more than happy to chat to authors across genres. Recent interviewees have included high profile novelists such as John Boyne, Rachel Joyce and Richard Ford, crime writers Mari Hannah, Luke Jennings and Alan Johnson as well as professors and sporting personalities.
Sarah Montague
Sarah is lead anchor on BBC Radio 4’s The World At One, after previously presenting the flagship Today Programme for 18 years. She also presents HARDtalk on BBC World Television. In more than 25 years at the BBC Sarah has fronted many of its television news programmes, from Newsnight to BBC Breakfast and the News Channel. Sarah made the leap into journalism as a reporter and presenter at Channel Television in both Guernsey and Jersey before moving to the UK to join Reuters, Sky News, and then the BBC in 1997.
Toby Lichtig
Toby Lichtig is a journalist, broadcaster and the Fiction and Politics Editor of The Times Literary Supplement. He writes for a range of publications, including the TLS, Wall Street Journal and New Lines Magazine, and has appeared as a guest critic on various television and radio programmes. He has also worked as a producer, specialising in arts and serious factual documentaries.
Sue Gaisford
Sue Gaisford is an all-purpose journalist. Besides reviewing books for The Economist and The Independent, she has been a literary editor, a travel writer, a dance critic and a radio reviewer. She has written columns and features for Radio Timesand Harpers & Queen, and been a judge of both best first novel and best first biography awards. She currently writes for The Tablet and The Financial Times.
Huw Lewis-Jones
Dr Huw Lewis-Jones is a polar-exploring author and naturalist, who grew up in Guernsey. He now lives in Cornwall where he is a professor at Falmouth University, teaching natural history and other creative things. Huw also travels across the Arctic and Antarctica each year working as an expedition leader. He has written numerous books for children, including award-winning Do Bears Poop in the Woods?, Do Penguins Like the Cold?, the Bad Apple series of picture books, and the bestseller Clive Penguin.
