Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature
25th festival - May 12th-20th, 2023
Fowey will be celebrating its 25th Literary
festival next year, so make a note to join us for this very special occasion. It is going to be a splendid festival to celebrate
this important landmark.
The dates are 12th – 20th May
2023.
Watch this space as we get nearer to those dates, as
plans for what you can look forward to are gradually revealed.
We very much look forward to seeing you all. Whether you are familiar faces or new
visitors, everyone will find something to enjoy from what will be a varied and
fabulous programme.
Save this page in your favourites so you can look
in on us and see the treats in store as they are announced, and click here for
the Fowey Festival website.
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Fowey Festival Photographic Competition Wall Calendar 2023 - update
The Fowey Festival Photographic Calendar 2023, with photographs based on the theme of Literary Landscapes, is now in production.
The judging panel was chaired by Daphne du Maurier’s son, Christian Browning. He was joined by wildlife and BBC photographer Ian McCarthy and our Festival Director, Brenda Daly. They had a tough job on their hands, but eventually, they decided upon twelve wonderful entries that you will be able to see in our 2023 calendar.
The calendar will be on sale through the Fowey Festival website in September.
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A literary festival has taken place in Fowey for many years, the first being The Daphne du Maurier Festival of Arts and Literature in May 1997. This was a community initiative which had the full support of the du Maurier Browning family and was timed to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Daphne’s birth.
From then on it became a tradition that 13th May, Daphne’s birthday, would always be included within the dates of the festival.
That first festival provided the pattern for the future, with du Maurier-related walks, exhibitions, talks, plays and music events. There was a national one-day conference on the subject of Daphne du Maurier and the Romance of Place, with speakers including Avril Horner, Sue Zlosnik and Helen Taylor.
This was repeated on a much bigger scale in 2007, to celebrate Daphne du Maurier’s centenary, when a three-day international conference was held and concluded with a visit to Ferryside for all the delegates.
Over the years that followed the Daphne du Maurier Festival of Arts and Literature grew, under the direction of a small team of people from Restormel Borough Council led by Jonathan Aberdeen. The centrepiece of the festival was a beautiful festival village, built on land belonging to Fowey Community College just beyond Fowey Hall Hotel.
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When the festival in Fowey began it was a rare and special event, which thrived through the good years of the 2000s. But, as the decade drew to a close, a huge range of literary festivals all over the country gave people a greater choice of venue, and politics and the recession began to play their part in what was to become quite a struggle for survival.
With the inception of a unitary authority in the county, Cornwall Council could no longer justify supporting the du Maurier Festival in isolation; funding was reduced and shortly after ceased. However a local group of enthusiastic people got together, incorporated themselves into a charity and the Fowey Festival of Words and Music was born.
The festival became an altogether smaller event, located in various venues around the town, and, despite misgivings from many people, both local and visitors, has proved in the last few years to be very successful and financially sound.
The festival is gently growing in strength and content, under the direction of Brenda Daly and its board of trustees, and is enjoyed by all who come.
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The formula is still one of walks, exhibitions, talks, workshops, plays and music events but also includes an Art Trail, which gives local artists the opportunity to open their homes and studios to show their work. Another popular addition in the Secret Gardens Programme, through which local people open their gardens to festival goers. The festival also always makes a point of focusing on events to include children.
In 2016 the name of the festival was tweaked slightly, to reflect more accurately what the festival does, and became the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature. Despite Daphne du Maurier's name no longer being in the festival title she is still a vital part of the proceedings.
We can now confirm that the dates of the next Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature are 12th - 20th May 2023. We will being you news of what you can look forward to and link you with the festival website, so that you can be completely up to date with all festival news.
www.foweyfestival.com
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