Star authors lined up for first ever Maidstone LitFest
Lisa Jewell, Dorothy Koomson, A.F Steadman, Julie Wassmer, Mark Stay and many more
Dorothy Koomson (image by Niall McDiarmid)
Maidstone will play host to its first literary festival this October (2nd-8th) and welcome international bestseller Lisa Jewell to head the line-up in a festival that celebrates the power of words, imagination and storytelling (@maidstonelitfest).
Lisa is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 19 novels, most lately a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls and Then She Was Gone (both R&J Book Club picks). Her novels have sold more than 10 million copies internationally and been translated into 25 languages. Her latest novel None of This is True was released in July this year.
Joining Lisa is Dorothy Koomson - an award-winning, global bestselling author, known as the ‘Queen of the Big Reveal’. Her emotional thrillers are regularly Sunday Times bestsellers, have sold more than 2.5 million copies in the UK alone and have been translated into more than 30 languages. Dorothy featured on the 2021 Powerlist as one of the most influential black people in Britain and was a judge for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her latest novel My Other Husband is out now in paperback.
Lisa Jewell
There’s a LitFest for little ones and popular children’s author A. F. Steadman will share the inspiration for her blockbuster hit series Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, which was recently crowned Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year, with a film by Sony Pictures around the corner.
There will be workshops for creative writers on how to get published, as well as a Japanese manga drawing workshop with artist Chie Kutsuwada.
The event is also championing local authors, with a showcase event at Lockmeadow Entertainment Centre on Sunday 8th at which local writers can share their work with festivalgoers.
Maidstone LitFest has been brought to the town by Maidstone Borough Council and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
