Authors

Celebrated ‘fishing and culture’ website, Caught By The River, has gained a cult following for its evocative call to escape the rat race and celebrate the most important things in life – time, pleasure, books, music, cake and much more. Brought to us by Jeff Barrett, Robin Turner, and Andrew Walsh from Heavenly Recordings, Caught By The River will be hosting a special area by the estuary and presenting a varied mix of happenings in keeping with the website’s unique spirit.

Lynne Hatwell, aka Dovegreyreader – the “Devonshire based bookaholic, sock-knitting quilter who used to be a community nurse in her spare time” – has blogged daily at dovegreyreader scribbles for three years; mostly about books (470+ at the last count) but also about knitting, quilting and life in the very beautiful Tamar Valley… and then back to books again.

Described as “Alan Bennett meets Ricky Gervais in these brilliantly observed, incredibly funny and sometimes poignant snapshots of life in Britain today”, Craig Taylor’s One Million Tiny Plays About Britain in the Guardian Weekend magazine have gained a cult following. Following the publication of his book by the same name (Bloomsbury, March 2009), this year’s Port Eliot Festival will see Craig performing some of his much-loved tiny plays with and some of his friends.

Murray Lachlan Young made his name as a writer performer in the rock clubs and underground cabaret venues of London in the mid 1990s. His unique blend of dark satirical stand-up verse and prose shot to fame in 1996 when, signing to EMI, he became the first ever poet and spoken word performer to be given a £1 million record deal.

Writer, musician, composer, nightclub host, actor and all-round legend, Richard Strange has played a key role London’s cultural life for the last 30 years. The Sex Pistols, Joy Division and The Jam supported his first proto-punk band, The Doctors of Madness, in the 1970s. Since then, Richard has remained as diverse as he has prolific; working with Tom Waits and William Burroughs, writing numerous articles and books, and appearing in films like Batman and Gangs of New York.

Award-winning novelist and broadcaster Marcel Theroux is the author of three successful novels: The Stranger in The Earth, The Paperchase – for which he won the Somerset Maugham award in 2002 – and A Blow to The Heart. His newly released narrative Far North confirms his prolific talent, as Brandon Robshaw (the Independent) says: “Theroux is a master storyteller, and the narrative is as full of surprises as it is of murders.”

Susie Boyt’s latest book and fifth novel, My Judy Garland Life (Virago, 2008) “blends autobiography with biography to create something magical, poetic and truly original”, writes psychoanalyst Darian Leader. No stranger to acclaim, Boyt’s previous work has also been shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (The Last Hope of Girls) and the Mind Award (Only Human).

Bangladeshi-born Tahmima Anam’s debut novel, A Golden Age, explores family life during the Bangladesh War of Independence and was the Best First Book winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. The Independent’s Anita Sethi says the novel “does not buckle under the weight of its material, but with tight narrative vertebrae moves through the months of a single year in prose of a beautiful sparsity.”

Mike Jay has written extensively on the cultural history of science, medicine, drugs, madness and politics. He’s the author and editor of nine titles including The Air Loom Gang (of which Oliver Sacks wrote, “I have never seen the logic of madness so clearly and convincingly expressed…a wonderful book”) and The Unfortunate Colonel Despard, hailed as “popular history at its best” by the Times.

Will Hodgkinson is the author of Guitar Man, Song Man (both Bloomsbury) and The Ballad Of Britain (Portico). He writes on music and culture for The Guardian, The Times, Mojo and Vogue, and lives in London.