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Category: gladfest

Gladfest is Go Go Go!

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 17th August 2023

YOU are invited to a festival billed as the UK’s friendliest literary event.

Gladfest is looking for volunteers!

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 10th August 2018

Gladstone’s Library has a thriving volunteer programme. Volunteers work in the Reading Rooms, help give tours, and tend to the gardens. Volunteers help us extend our team and broaden our skills.

Gladfest interview: Miranda Kaufmann

by Gladstones Library | Wednesday, 01st August 2018

Miranda Kaufmann is the author of Black Tudors: The Untold Story, and one of the wonderful guests joining us for Gladfest 2018. With just a month to go until the festival, we caught up with Miranda to find out what to expect from her new work, as well as glimpses into her writing life.

Make a Gladfest stage your own!

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 16th January 2018

We are looking for family-friendly performers of all kinds to showcase their talents at this year’s Gladfest, 8th – 9th September.

Gladfest interview: Louisa Young

by Gladstones Library | Monday, 07th August 2017

Louisa Young was born in London and educated there and at Cambridge University. She was a freelance journalist for many years, including for the Guardian, Marie-Claire and the motorcycle magazine, Bike. An interview with Johnny Cash led to the realisation that she couldn’t be a journalist any more, and she moved into fiction, biography, history, and recently, songwriting. Her first book was a biography of her grandmother Kathleen Scott, sculptor and widow of Captain Scott of the Antarctic, who lived in the house where Peter Pan was written, and in which Louisa grew up with five siblings and six cousins. 

Gladfest interview: Kate Hamer

by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 20th July 2017

Kate Hamer grew up in Pembrokeshire and, after studying art, worked in television for over 10 years, mainly on documentaries. Her debut novel, The Girl in the Red Coat, was published by Faber & Faber in February 2015 and has sold in eight other territories. Kate won the Rhys Davies short story prize in 2011 and the story One Summer was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She has also had work published in short story anthologies such as A Fiction Map of Wales and Seren’s New Welsh Short Stories. She lives in Cardiff with her husband. 

Gladfest interview: Dan Richards

by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 13th July 2017

Dan Richards was born in Wales in 1982 and grew up in Bristol. He has studied at UEA and Norwich Arts School. Dan is the co-author of Holloway with Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood, published by Faber in 2013. The Beechwood Airship Interviews, a book about the creative process and the importance of art for art’s sake, was published by The Friday Project / HarperCollins in 2015.

Volunteer at Gladfest!

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 06th June 2017

We are currently looking for a small team of Site Information Volunteers for our Gladfest literary festival which takes place at the Library 1st – 3rd September.

Expressions of interest for the Gladfest Market Place

by Gladstones Library | Wednesday, 26th April 2017

We are delighted to begin accepting expressions of interest from artists, crafters, designers and makers who want to participate in our fantastic Gladfest Market Place over the Gladfest weekend Saturday, 2nd - Sunday, 3rd September. This will be our biggest-ever Market Place and will house an eclectic range of goods and gifts from local and national stallholders.

A blog from Gladfest Festival Director, Louisa Yates

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 13th September 2016

On Sunday 4th September, at approximately 5pm, I was the lucky recipient of a bout of applause. Over 80 people showed their appreciation in the usual way for two-and-a-bit days of Gladfest, our now annual fixture where the brightest stars of the literary firmament come to Hawarden. If I do say so myself, that applause was especially well deserved this year. Gladfest has always been good but there was an energy about it this year that really made it one-of-a-kind.

Gladfest interview: Ian Parks

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 02nd August 2016

Ian Parks was one of the first Writers in Residence at Gladstone's Library in 2012. His collections of poems include Shell Island, The Landing Stage, Love Poems 1979-2009, and The Exile's House. He is the editor of Versions of the North: Contemporary Yorkshire Poetry and was Writing Fellow at De Montfort University, Leicester from 2012 - 2014.

Friends priority booking for Gladfest 2016 open now!

by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 28th April 2016

The UK’s friendliest literary festival returns 2nd – 4th September 2016 and to all of our valued Friends, we’re offering first dibs on festival tickets and exclusive accommodation for our most popular event of the year, Gladfest, as a thank you for your generous support.

A Feast of Words and Ideas: Gladfest by Robyn Cadwallader

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 10th November 2015

September isn’t the time to leave Australia and go travelling to the other side of the world. It’s the first month of spring. The air moves more lightly; the hard, hopeful buds are beginning to swell; the trees are coated in the bright green of young leaves; the blossom appears, seemingly, overnight; and the magpies turn ballsy. Outside my kitchen the Wisteria transforms from winding sticks to purple lanterns and the veggie garden grows weeds at an alarming rate.

Gladfest 2015 social highlights

by Administrator | Wednesday, 09th September 2015

Browse the fantastic selection of photographs and comments from across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram which chronicled the Gladfest weekend.

Katrina Naomi and Tim Ridley Interview

by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 07th August 2014

As part of our Fifty Days of Gladfest, we caught up with Katrina Naomi and Tim Ridley, to discuss their event 'The Argument: Art Vs Poetry'.GLADSTONE’S LIBRARY (GL):Your event at

Celebrating Gladstones Library

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 16th September 2011

It is the start of the Gladstone Festival at the Library today. The Festival has been organised to celebrate the past, present and future of the Library. It will open with a reception with Warden, Pet

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