Get ready for the 4th year of Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival

Created to reflect the number of writers living in and around the area, the Ham & High Literary Festival is now in its 4^th year, and attracts writers and audience members from far and wide with a packed three-day programme.

This year’s festival runs from Sunday 9^th to Tuesday 11^th September and boasts a diverse range of almost sixty events ranging from fiction to food, travel to blogging, and includes several workshops for aspiring writers.

Held at Ivy House, the former home of famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, this is an intimate affair with the largest room holding just 180 people, so it’s a chance to really get up close and personal with the authors and speakers. Festival Coordinator Carolyn Black comments that many authors enjoy the intimacy of the setting with several returning year on year. Man Booker Prize-Winner Howard Jacobson is attending for his third year and is quoted on the Festival’s website saying: “The Ham and High Literary Festival … ranks high among my favourites. I feel as though I’m talking to family.”

Carolyn advises patrons to try a variety of events to get the most out of the programme, perhaps choosing an unfamiliar name – “you never know who you might discover” – as well as a well-known favourite, of which there are plenty. Michael Palin, Rose Tremain and Kathy Lette are among the big names due to appear, along with Rachel Joyce who is on this year’s Man Booker long list. Rachel will be discussing what makes a successful debut novel.

Emma Cooper

The full festival programme is available online here and tickets can be booked there too or by calling 020 8511 7900