It was a most enjoyble evening last Friday 17 November
at The SWAN HOTEL, LAVENHAM
where we met for the
LAVENHAM LITERARY FESTIVAL DINNER.
We are all looking forward to our biennial
Lavenham Literary Festival in 2024.
Author and journalist
Carla Carlisle
was the guest speaker
at Lavenham Literary Festival’s popular annual Dinner.
In the picturesque Gallery Restaurant of the Swan Hotel,
after a delicious dinner,
Carla was very entertaining telling us about her early life in the US Deep South
and how she came to the UK and married an Englishman.
This is all chronicled in her latest book Another Country.
Carla talked about Another Country, a collection of her recent articles in Country Life magazine which was published in September 2023. Since 1996 she has written about the divide between town and country, the New World and the Old, for that most English of publications.
Many of you will know The Leaping Hare and Wyken’s glorious gardens, and may already be familiar with Carla’s regular columns.
Here is a taster of Carla's writing, her style and topics (click to read).
American-born Carla and her husband Kenneth live at Wyken Hall where she established and runs The Leaping Hare, a well-known restaurant, country store and vineyard. Carla has been short-listed for ‘Columnist of the Year’ and ‘Writer of the Year’ but so far she has only managed to win ‘English Wine of the Year’.
Below is a reminder of the 2022 Festival Dinner and Festival events
The 2022 Festival Dinner took place at The Swan at Lavenham. The audience was enthralled by none other than Kate Humble with her entertaining talk entitled "Sharks, Placenta and Chocolate Marmalade Cake".
The main Festival was opened by Tracy Borman with an informative and thrilling talk on her latest book Crown and Sceptre: A New History of the British Monarchy from William the Conqueror to Charles III
Here is a reminder of the exciting, varied and outstanding range of speakers who joined us.
Tom Henry
Simon Edge
Kate Humble
Tracy Borman
Kate Sawyer
Lisa Brennan
Dr Roopa Farooki
Catherine Larner
Alan Johnson
Lesley Dolphin
Andrew Lownie
Patrick Barkham
Lady Colin Campbell
Some quotes about past festivals:
Tracy Borman: “This is my favourite Festival! I relished the chance to return to beautiful Lavenham, and this year’s Festival was even better than ever (if that’s possible!). It was wonderful to see so many people in the audience, and everyone I spoke to afterwards was lovely.”
John Higgs: “A brilliant Festival. I enjoyed every moment of it!”
Toby Buchan: “Lavenham Literary Festival gets some marvellous speakers and a lot of richly-deserved support, and I know just how much care and thought goes into the organisation of the event.”
Kate Mosse: “One of my favourite events. I just love coming back to Lavenham.”
