Successful relaunch event featured bestselling author Louise Doughty
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Whitstable’s very own literary festival, Whitlit, returned in a brand new format last week featuring the multi-million selling author, Louise Doughty, at the Whitstable School on Thursday 9th November.
Interviewed by celebrity journalist and WhitLit Patron, Richard Barber, Doughty captivated the packed audience with wit and self-deprecating humour as she outlined the route to her spectacular success, with ten novels to her name, one of which, Apple Tree Yard became a hit BBC TV series, along with Crossfire, an original series penned by Doughty herself. Another novel, Platform 7, has been filmed for broadcast on ITVX on 7th December.
The psychological thriller, Apple Tree Yard, sold over half a million copies in the UK alone and has been translated for 30 territories worldwide, while its TV adaptation starring Emily Watson gained 7 million viewers per episode, making it the most-viewed new BBC drama since The Night Manager.
Doughty’s latest novel, A Bird in Winter, published by Faber & Faber UK Ltd in August of this year, has been described as “an unconventional spy story” by Radio Times, its narrative “propelled by the bestselling author’s trademark tension-building’. As the late Hilary Mantel commented: “Louise Doughty leads her readers into dark territory” – as I was to discover when I began reading the book straight after the event…
Since its launch in 2014, this much loved, not-for-profit festival has welcomed many high profile names including Sandi Toksvig, Terry Waite, Lord David Owen, Lynda La Plante, Alan Johnson, Kate Adie, Martin Bell, David Nicholls, Joanne Harris, Kate Mosse, Susan Hill, Lynn Barber, Kathy Lette and Peter James. But in 2020 it was forced to cancel future events due to the Covid pandemic and has been on a hiatus – until now.
WhitLit’s Founder and Director, Victoria Falconer, explained: “The time felt right to bring it back to life, and we decided that a change of format would breathe new energy into it. Having an annual festival in May was a huge undertaking and though it always proved successful, we were often limited by authors who were promoting their books at that specific time of the year. By moving to a year-round model, we will be able to access a wider number of high profile writers, as well as offering regular events for the many literary lovers in Whitstable and beyond.”
Richard Barber, former editor of nine magazines including Woman and TV Times, agrees. “Pop-up WhitLit is perfect because it means authors can choose when they want to visit us.”
Certainly, Louise Doughty proved to be a perfect choice for the launch of WhitLit’s new format – a brilliant storyteller but one who has honed her craft over several decades and who generously shared the secrets of her success to the packed audience, from having completed an MA in Creative Writing course with Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter to becoming not only an award winning author but a critic and cultural commentator for UK and international newspapers and a judge for both the Man Booker Prize and Costa Book of Year Award.
For my own part, I am grateful to WhitLit for giving me a proper introduction to Louise Doughty’s work, which also includes the internationally acclaimed Fires in the Dark (2003), about the mass murder of Romany people by the Nazis during the Second World War and which was followed by Stone Cradle (2006), based on Louise’s own Romany ancestry,
As Richard Barber commented: “Louise Doughty could not have been a better pioneer for this new initiative: intelligent, witty and with a real insight into how a book is crafted. The bar has been set high.”
It has indeed – but WhitLit promises to meet that challenge by providing many more fascinating events to come so be sure to keep up with details of the next via the following:
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About:
Julie Wassmer is a Whitstable-based author, TV writer and environmental campaigner. She has successfully fought a number of environmental issues, including fracking in Kent and tree clearances by Network Rail. Her Whitstable Pearl crime novels are now a major TV series, starring Kerry Godliman. She is also a Patron of WhitLit.
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