The brochure will be available to the general public from the weekend of 20th June. The line-up will be kept under wraps until then, so make a note to check our web-site again in June – and you won’t be disappointed!
We have already booked some exciting authors and speakers to take part in this our 4th year. There will be a range of people, including politicians, children’s writers, personalities, crime writers, and good old-fashioned story-tellers.
The brochure will be available to the general public from the weekend of 20th June. The line-up will be kept under wraps until then, so make a note to check our web-site again in June – and you won’t be disappointed! Members of the ‘ABF Friend’s Group’ will however receive their brochure one week in advance, and will be able to book advanced tickets on our dedicated hot-line.
Information about the Friends Group will be posted on the web-site in the near future – Watch this space!
To be informed about the Friend’s Group, click here to send us your email contact details, and we will add you to our information mailing list.
Here's a video of the Brochure launch event 2009, and you can see other video interviews and more information on the Festival here:
Brochure Launch Event 2009
Appledore stands at the junction of sky and sea. Its only connection with land is a peninsular bounded by salt marshes so unspoilt that they are part of a world biosphere site - and a rugged coastline beautiful enough to make you catch your breath.
Even when you stand in the heart of the village, on the stunning quay or wander the narrow winding streets lined with quaint colour-washed cottages, everything seems inspiringly unreal - a place of dreams and imagination. Read our Appledorian Dictionary here.
Everywhere there are things to see and search for - a bronze age barrow, secret cobbled alleys and nooks that even the locals haven't found, lost wells and the strange lookout turrets of long-dead captains. Traces of a forgotten town where people spoke their own language and worshipped in hidden chapels and dined off shellfish and seaweed - click here to download some traditional Appledore recipes.
In Appledore, where time and tide collide, there seems little need for clocks and yet the village could stand on the brink of extinction. Every year the tides rise higher and threaten to flood the village.
The churchyard is full of drowned seafarers and on the Quay fishermen still sell fish that they risked their lives to catch.
Appledore is a town of a million stories and most of them have never been told. At night, your imagination can quickly conjure up images from the past - the sailors rewarded by Queen Elizabeth I when she made Appledore a free port returning home from an epic sea battle against the French, smugglers furtively crossing cobbled courtyards with their booty, press gangs lying in wait for their next victim outside one of the many village pubs and Cistercian monks on their way to their monastery at Docton House.
And then there is the mysterious Appledore white rabbit that no-one can account for ... It has become a popular part of Appledore folklore especially among the children.
No wonder writers have loved this place and the village might well be haunted by the ghosts of Henry Williamson and Jerome K. Jerome and Kingsley and Kipling, who all found inspiration here.
In the end, though, mere words will never do justice to a place that can only be lived. To know Appledore you must seek it and what better time to discover a village of dreams than a festival dedicated to the power of words and imagination? Read our Appledorian Dictionary here.
Useful Websites: If you want to know more about North Devon here are some excellent websites run by good friends of the Book Festival
We have already booked some exciting authors and speakers to take part in this our 4th year. There will be a range of people, including Politicians, Children’s writers, Personalities, Crime writers, and good old-fashioned Story-tellers.
Appledore stands at the junction of sky and sea. Its only connection with land is a peninsular bounded by salt marshes so unspoilt that they are part of a world biosphere site - and a rugged coastline beautiful enough to make you catch your breath.
Appledore is a town of a million stories and most of them have never been told. At night, your imagination can quickly conjure up images from the past - the sailors rewarded by Queen Elizabeth I when she made Appledore a free port returning home from an epic sea battle against the French, smugglers furtively crossing cobbled courtyards with their booty, press gangs lying in wait for their next victim outside one of the many village pubs and Cistercian monks on their way to their monastery at Docton House.
Useful Websites: If you want to know more about North Devon here are some excellent websites run by good friends of the Book Festival