If your interested in literary festivals, put 21 to 31 May, 2009, in your diary, this year's Hay Festival dates.
The Guardian Hay Festival embedded in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, is something special. For over 20 years, the small town of Hay-on-Wye, which boasts over thirty bookshops selling specialist and second-hand books, has been drawing visitors from around the world. As many as 80,000 people swell the local population of 2000, to enjoy the company of some of the biggest literary names on the planet.
In their winter, Australians celebrate the art of producing literary works, with the Byron Bay Writers Festival.
This year the New South Wales festival moves to a new home in Byron Bay at Belongil Fields and will run from 7 - 9 August, with workshops beginning 3 August. Earlier in the year, the site hosts Australia's 20th Annual Bluesfest during Easter Weekend, April 9-13, 2009.
Just as well that the British are not as persuaded by the influence of numbers as the Chinese, it turns out that 2012 will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic!
However, there are other anniversaries that do give cause for celebration, 2012 is the 200th anniversay of the birth of one of the world's greatest writers, Charles Dickens.
Incredibly, it is also the 400th anniversary of the Cotswold Olimpicks at Chipping Campden, England. The event, which features many strange sports peculiar to the British countryside, such as Shin-Kicking, was started by Robert Dover back in 1612.
Here is a is a sample track from the walkdigital.com Tour of Oxford, it features Christchurch College, which has formed the subject of a number of posts in this blog and is notable for literary associations with Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.
And here is a video excerpt about the Bodleian Library and the benefactors who have supported it over the years, produced by The Virtual Experience Company.
Well here's a great , unplanned, link to the previous post. London's Globe theatre is mounting a production of Shakespeare's magical story of jealousy, love and redemption, The Winter's Tale, within the idyllic surroundings of the Bodleian Library Quadrangle, Oxford. Oxford is not far from Stratford-upon-Avon and would be a convenient venue on a literary tour. The current performance of The Winter's Tale only runs until Friday 22 August, 2008, with tickets booked at the Oxford Playhouse Box Office but the Oxford Playhouse has many other exciting productions in the pipeline.
The Bodleian Library dates back to 1600 and holds around 12 million volumes, offering over 200,000 titles from their Early English books and their Eighteenth Century collections, online. It is also a partner in Google's Book Search initiative and they are scanning many of their 19th century books.
The UK has come out on top in a list of the world's literary destinations compiled by TripAdvisor thanks to London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Edinburgh, placed first, second and third respectively. What is more, Dublin comes in fourth, reflecting the works of James Joyce.
London just exudes literature and has been the chosen workplace for many great writers besides being the chosen setting for many of their novels, Edinburgh for example, was home to Arthur Conan Doyle but famously, his creation Sherlock Holmes was given a home in London's Baker Street.
Other famous Edinburgh residents, past and present, include Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and of course. Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling. Stratford's fame is obviously down to one William Shakespeare, it is arguably the most picturesque of the UK trio and retains many medieval buildings, a few now hosting excellent restaurants.
In at five on the list is New York with Arthur Miller and Louisa May Alcott brings Concord, Massachusetts in at sixth, San Francisco with Allen Ginsberg rolling in at number eight. The US trio being split by Paris, placed in seventh, with Victor Hugo who was the most celebrated author of the nineteenth century; it is worth a visit to Paris just to see Auguste Rodin's powerful sculpture of him. The remaining places go to Rome with Virgil and in tenth place Dostoevsky and St Petersburg.
