A Literary Feast: North Cornwall Book Festival 2025
For four days this September, from Thursday 25th through to Sunday 28th, the North Cornwall Book Festival returns to St Endellion, just outside Port Isaac, with another fantastic line-up of author talks and workshops for fans of literature.
This year author Tiffany Murray has taken over the mantle of Artistic Director from Patrick Gale, curating two full days of programming over the Saturday and Sunday, with twelve talks and six workshops, alongside two evening musical performances on Friday and Saturday and a festival-long art exhibition and artisan market.
This year author Tiffany Murray has taken over the mantle of Artistic Director from Patrick Gale, curating two full days of programming over the Saturday and Sunday, with twelve talks and six workshops, alongside two evening musical performances on Friday and Saturday and a festival-long art exhibition and artisan market.
We caught up with Tiffany to find out more about the programme of authors and workshops that she’s planned, and what she’s particularly looking forward to about this year’s festival.
Can you tell us how you came to take over the curation of North Cornwall Book Festival from Patrick?
I have been coming to the festival since its beginnings as an author and volunteer, so who could say no to someone as generous and community spirited as Patrick Gale! It’s a wonderful weekend he has created, bringing internationally celebrated authors, Booker Prize winners, and musicians to St Endellion, and I wanted it to continue.
What’s your relationship with the festival and this part of the world?
I’ve been friends with Patrick for over 25 years so visiting his Land’s End farm and the festival further North is a yearly event. It’s wonderful to see audiences light up when they are here, come rain or shine.
This year’s festival has a wonderfully broad programme – how did you go about selecting the books, authors and themes for this year?
I am over the moon that some of our most celebrated novelists, Andrew Miller and Rachel Joyce are on the program, and in the festival tradition Andrew is now on the Booker Prize list. (For context, we have had Booker winners Samantha Harvey, Anne Enright and Alan Hollinghurst, so we have great hopes for The Land in Winter). Crime is a hugely popular genre and we’re so lucky to have Sunday Times best seller SJ Parris with her latest historical crime series, Traitor’s Legacy, as well as bestseller Vaseem Khan. Of course, non-fiction is hugely popular and the selection was very much about Cornish interests and concerns, so we have the Wainwright shortlisted Merlin Hanbury-Tenison with the Bodmin based Our Oaken Bones, Philip Marsden will be discuss Under a Metal Sky which begins and ends in Cornwall, and Helen Scales will talk the sea with her bestselling What the Wild Sea Can Be.
Are there any talks or workshops this year that you’re particularly looking forward to?
The 27th & 28th of September are packed with so many gems. I will be chairing Georgina Moore and her gorgeous book River of Stars on Sat 27th, and Merlin and Our Oaken Bones on Sunday 28th. We have two story writing workshops with award winning writers Pascale Petit and Liz Kessler in the barn, as well a poetry workshop with Katrina Naomi, also an award winner! And don’t forget, fans of Patrick Gale, he will be returning on Sunday 28th to chair a fantastic event with Ian Collins on the life of Ronald Blythe, as well as talking to the amazing Rachel Joyce, our headliner, at 5pm.