Belfast Book Festival 2018
The 8th Belfast Book Festival ran from the 6th - 16th June 2018, and aimed to open up the world of books to everyone. For 11 days venues across the city including The Crescent came alive with a whole host of unique events featuring high profile authors along with events exploring a range of interests and themes.
Across 11 days, the festival:
- Delivered 108 events across 101 unique events
- Used 30 external venues across the city
- Was attended by 1,022 customers
- Delivered seven Outreach projects which were attended by 755 participants
- Involved 13 members of staff, 8 volunteers and 85 artists (local and international)
- Hosted Lit Crawl Belfast; the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, the 2nd on the Ireland of Ireland, and the 3rd city in the UK.
Some key highlights for 2018 included:
- Acclaimed journalist, broadcaster and former Downing Street Press Secretary and now prolific novelist Alastair Campbell at Windsor Park
- Award winning comedian, writer and actress Francesca Martinez at The Crescent
- Champion motorcyclist, truck racer and television presenter Steve Parrish at Malone Lodge Hotel
- Internationally renowned speaker, mathematician, scientist and philosopher John Lennox at Fisherwick Presbyterian Church
- Best-selling author on the subjects of Nutrition and Health, the Medicinal chef Dale Pinnock at Hillmount Garden Centre, Belfast
- Guillem Balagué Sky Sports journalist and author of best-selling biographies on Pep Guardiola, Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at The Black Box
- Adventurer, environmentalist, speaker and writer Huw Kingston at The Crescent
- The guys behind The Guardian's political sketches John Crace
- Donal Scullion led a special guest band at the Strand Arts Centre for Astral Weeks: The Music And The Myths Of Van Morrison featuring a set in tribute to the album that blessed us with such tracks as Madam George, Cyprus Avenue and Sweet Thing.
- Renowned broadcaster, defender of the arts and protector of journalistic freedoms John Tusa
- Sir Robert Salisbury, in the beautiful setting of the Botanic Gardens Palm House, talked about the inspiring story of how he and Rosemary transformed an unloved rural wasteland into a thriving, renowned wildlife garden
- The Queen of Scottish stand-up and perennial thorn in Donald Trump's side Janey Godley
- James Harpur, Mark Roper and John F Deane hosted an evening of readings from three superlative poets at The Crescent
Click on the cover bellow to read the Belfast Book Festival 2018 programme.
