Falmouth Book Festival who's on and when

The 2021 pilot event was a major success with over 2,000 attendees and 80% of talks and workshops sold out, and a glowing reception from heavyweight authors.

The 2022 Falmouth Book Festival lasts a full week from Monday, October 17 to Sunday, October 23 and with a line-up featuring beloved actors, celebrity chefs, internationally renowned environmentalists and award-winning novelists, meaning the event is fast becoming one of the major book festivals in the South West.

Amongst the impressive line-up, some of the stand-out names include acclaimed actress Sheila Hancock, chef and campaigner Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Cornwall-based favourite Raynor Winn, best selling author of The Salt Path, environmentalist George Monbiot, and the inimitable Will Self.

Events will take place throughout the Cornish port, at the Poly, The Pavilion, the former Methodist Church on the Moor and Falmouth Library.

In the coming weeks organisers will release details of a series of weekend writing workshops, an educational programme that brings award-winning writers into local schools, and a line-up of children’s book events that are all totally free to attend.

Sponsors for this year’s festival include Falmouth University, the Falmouth Bookseller, Falmouth Business improvement District (BID), Heather & Lay Estate Agents, Pendennis and St Michael’s Resort.

Founder and director Colin Midson said, “It’s important for us to build on the successes of last year’s event and bring really exceptional, nationally renowned authors to town. But there’s a lot of variation in the programme too: this year we have debut novelists, a maritime explorer, acclaimed art historians, and some wonderful surprises like the actor-turned-novelist like Paterson Joseph, who I’m sure will draw a huge crowd."

Paul Springer, director of the School of Communication at Falmouth University said, “The University is proud of its partnership with the Falmouth Book Festival, which supports and celebrates the written word at its most creative. Given Cornwall’s rich tradition of storytelling – and the span of careers that now require verbal and writing skills – it’s vital that books and words are brought to life for children, parents and bibliophiles across Falmouth and the county. Falmouth University actively supports young talent in finding careers through various forms of creative writing, and the Falmouth Book Festival will, once again, profile the best of the written word produced in the UK, while celebrating the fact that the written word is one of Cornwall’s best exports!”

Richard Wilcox, Executive Director of Falmouth BID, said: “Falmouth’s enviable festival calendar gets bigger and better every year, and Falmouth BID is delighted to be able to support the second Falmouth Book Festival via the proactive new umbrella group of Falmouth Creates. With many entrepreneurial businesses and organisations flourishing within our vibrant community, Falmouth Book Festival is another brilliant example of grass roots collaboration. Falmouth is a dynamic and creative destination, which punches well above its weight; attracting people from all around the world for its festivals and events, superb food and drink scene, bustling high street and community offering.”

Line-up 2022:

Raynor Winn

On Monday 17, Raynor Winn makes a welcome return to Falmouth for this year’s launch event. She will be celebrating the publication of her latest book Landlines, her follow-up to the international bestselling nature memoirs The Salt Path and The Wild Silence. She will be in conversation with award-winning local writer Cathy Rentzenbrink.

Campaigning food writer and cookbook author Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is launching his new book River Cottage: Comfort Food. On Tuesday 18, He will be talking the BBC’s Jemma Woodman about the solace to be found in certain meals and the importance of changing our eating habits for the better.

On Wednesday 19, the discussion is all about who gets to tell the story of our art history. Katy Hessel's first book The History of Art Without Men builds on the work she has done on her Instagram account @thegreatwomenartists (over 280,000 followers) and the podcast of the same name. Michael Bird is a Cornwall-based writer whose latest work is This is Tomorrow: Twentieth-century Britain and its Artists is published by Thames and Hudson.

George Monbiot

George Monbiot is one of our most significant environmental campaigners and the winner of this year's Orwell Prize for journalism. On Thursday 20th, he'll be talking to Tim Smit about his new book Regenesis, the climate crisis and the need to change the way we eat before it’s too late.

Paterson Joseph

On Friday 21, celebrated actor Paterson Joseph (Vigil, The Beach, Peep Show) will be talking about his debut novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho. Bringing 18th-century culture, politics and race relations into sharp focus, he tells the story of a former slave, composer, letter-writer and anti-slavery campaigner, whose life embodies the strange, uncomfortable relationship that Britain has always had with its colonies.

Sheila Hancock

Aside from being one of our most respected actors, Sheila Hancock is also in danger of becoming a national treasure. In her latest memoir, Old Rage, published this year, she takes a wry look at life in her ninth decade and how, despite Brexit, bereavement, diagnoses, and pandemics, she always finds reasons for joy.

Rachel Joyce is the award-winning author of the international bestsellers including The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, (released next year as a major film starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton), The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy and Miss Benson’s Beetle. Her new novel, Maureen Fry & the Angel of the North, picks up the story of Harold’s wife ten years after the events of her first book.

Ukrainian born chef Olia Hercules is an award-winning cookery writer and co-founder of #CookForUkraine. In Home Food, Olia draws on her broad influences from all the places she has called home: her childhood in Ukraine; her years in Cyprus and Italy; and with her family in London.

Times critic and nonfiction author Will Hodgkinson is one of the most high-profile music writers out there. He’s going to be talking to the Guardian’s Laura Snapes about his new book In Perfect Harmony, and the story of 1970s Britain told through the prism of its sublimely uncool singalong pop culture and across a backdrop of political unrest, IRA bombings and national strikes.

Will Self

Will Self is a celebrated novelist, award-winning cultural commentator, and one of the best essayists of his generation. In his latest book, Why Read?, a cornucopia of thoughtful and brilliantly witty essays, he looks at attitudes to writing and literature and a wider range of subjects including the legacy of Chernobyl and the ongoing climate crisis.

Mensun Bound, a leading maritime archaeologist dubbed "the Indiana Jones of the Deep”, has discovered many of the world’s most famous shipwrecks. His latest book The Ship Beneath the Ice is an account of how, in March 2022, he was part of the archaeological expedition that succeeded in finding the wreck of Shakleton's Endurance.

John Higgs is a cultural magpie and the master of telling old stories in new and unique ways. In his latest book, Love and Let Die, he looks back to 5th October 1962, the day on which Dr No, the first Bond film, and 'Love Me Do', the first Beatles record were both released, and takes us on a rollercoaster ride through 20th Century British Cultural history.

When paparazzi caught Rebecca Humphries' then boyfriend Sean Walsh kissing his Strictly dance partner back in 2018, it sent her life into a tailspin. But rather than being cast as the victim the award-winning actor and writer decided to confront the story head on with an empowering memoir – Why Did you Stay? – about toxic relationships, self-worth and reframing disaster into something positive.

Natasha Brown is the author of Assembly, one of the most talked-about debuts of last year. Shortlisted for multiple Prizes and chosen as a Book of the Year by booksellers, writers and readers, it tells the story of a Black British woman preparing to attend a lavish party at her boyfriend's family estate, deep in the English countryside. As the minutes tick by and the future beckons, she begins to re-consider the carefully assembled version she has created of herself.