First year of the Conversations on the Coast festival hailed a success

In its inaugural year Conversations on the Coast has welcomed more than 300 visitors to the village of Elie and Earlsferry. As the first in what is hoped to be many annual literature festivals set in the East Neuk, organisers are celebrating the success of its four events, which were hosted over November. The event’s four authors were interviewed about their works, taking questions from the audience and also offering book signings. Some of the authors shared why they were delighted to be involved:

Elizabeth Macneal told us: “I was so delighted to be invited to the East Neuk Literary Festival. My family is from Elie and Upper Largo, and as a child I spent most of my summers on Elie beach, playing on Anstruther harbour, or writing stories at my grandmother’s house with its views across the Forth. Coming to Fife always feels like a return home and I can’t wait to talk about my novels The Doll Factory and Circus of Wonders with a few familiar faces in the audience!”

Tom Pow said: “There are a number of reasons why I’m delighted to be coming to Conversations on the Coast. I know the East Neuk from my university days, but also because I’ve been returning regularly to events like StAnza and to the East Neuk Festival, when it ran its literary strand. I’ve also holidayed there with my wife and, when our son was a boy, he and I walked the coast as one of our ‘walking holidays’. So, every return is a welcome experience. Two other reasons are that in 2019 I was Creative Director of A Year of Conversation, so anything that has conversation at its heart has my backing; and secondly that this is a festival that was planned before Covid, that has come through Covid, changed slightly – as are we all – but with a commitment and a welcome to warm a November heart. I very much look forward to engaging with an audience on Why write? Why write now? And what?”

The latest Elie and Earlsferry newsletter gives a glowing review of the events, stating that: “We could not let the occasion pass without mentioning the huge success of East Neuk Literary Festival events. A full house listened enraptured to Neil Oliver giving his philosophy of life. We could have listened all night as Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman, aka Ambrose Parry, fascinated us with stories about Sir James Simpson, chloroform and Victorian Society to tie in with their very readable books, the Way of All Flesh, the Art of Dying and a Corruption of Blood.”