North Notts Lit Fest reveals plans for this year’s celebrations

The hugely popular Literary Festival will take place between Sunday, September 12 and Sunday, September 19 across the district with a host of activities for book lovers and aspiring authors, as well as fun for the whole family.

Taking on the theme of ‘In Great Company’, the festival will be back for its third year following a hugely successful ‘digital and distanced’ event in 2020 that reached more than 250,000 people in over 44 different countries.

North Notts Literary Ambassador, Liz Carney-Marsh, said: “‘This year’s festival is going to be really special; it will mean so much to come back together again and be ‘In Great Company’!

“We are incredibly lucky to have survived the pandemic and, as ever, are so grateful to Bassetlaw District Council and the North Notts BID for their continued support, as well as that of our wonderful community partners.”

In person events will resume this year, in addition to online talks and workshops from local and international best-selling authors, as well as some fantastic children’s authors and illustrators as part of a Schools Festival.

Cllr Jo White, Cabinet Member for Economic Development at Bassetlaw District Council, said this year’s LitFest promises to be an unmissable week of activities for anyone who has an interest in books, poetry and story-telling.

“We have an incredible line up of authors, poets and literary experts who will entertaining us all and passing on invaluable hints and tips for aspiring authors,” she said. “We’ll also be announcing the winners of our Writing Competitions, which this year shares the same theme of ‘In Great Company’.”

More details of the week-long festival will be released soon, but just some of the things to look out for include the daily ‘Bassetlaw Bookdrops’, and the First Chapters Trail, which last year saw over 2,000 people comb the streets of Worksop and Retford to find plaques and hidden videos of famous authors reading their first chapters just for us.

There will also be a daily ‘NNLF Café’ where book lovers and writers are encouraged to enjoy each other’s company and discuss their favourite novels or even collaborate on a new masterpiece. The winners of this year’s North Notts Writing Competition will also be announced.

Sally Gillborn, chief executive of North Notts BID, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the return of LitFest, which promises to be an action-packed week of activities for the North Notts community, showcasing why our region truly is a leading destination for literary creatives. The LitFest coincides with the end of the tremendously successful North Notts Journeys BookBench sculpture trail - with literature being a core theme of the event.

“LitFest is an event that we look forward to every year and it’s an amazing way to encourage young people to take more of an interest in reading and writing as schools begin to reopen.”

For full details of the festival and the events that are taking place, visit www.nnlf.org.uk or for the latest updates follow @nnlitfest on Facebook and Twitter.