Out and about

Cambridge Wordfest, Friday 28th - Sunday 30th March 2008

If you didn't already know, the Cambridge Wordfest is full of so much substance it's worth more than just a quick browse. In fact it's more like a well thumbed copy of Catcher in the Rye (insert your alternative favourite book here) than a flick through a coffee table picture book.

Dave Gorman

Running from the 28th - 30th of March, 2008, the festival canvasses the hottest and sometimes newest writing talent in fiction, politics, poetry and crime as well as providing workshops for budding writers.

Featured novelists include Will Self, who will be promoting his post-9/11 question poser The Butt, the Wordfest debut of Louis de Bernières, Rose Tremain, Ben Okri and Fay Weldon.

You can also catch new writer Aravind Adiga and Outcast author Sadie Jones, who seems to be living up to the hype that has accompanied the anticipation of her first novel.

Will Self

Dave Gorman brings the story of his American adventures, recalling how he attempted to survive on a cross USA journey without ever using a chained store or restaurant. The social investigation continues with Ugandan born British performer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Janet Street-Porter's bluntly titled Life's Too F***ing Short.

Wendy Cope and Daljit Nagra are among the scribes who will be putting poetry in motion with readings across the festival's many venues.

Cambridge has the thrill of playing host to a who's who of crime fiction including Mark Billingham, John Harvey and Jill Paton-Walsh and, maybe most poignantly, the Queen of American crime, Sara Paretsky, who will be launching her new book Bleeding Kansas.

Louis de Bernières

If the literature elite get your creative juices flowing, then you can take time out to join one of many courses aimed at developing the skills of budding writers. Check the website for details on workshops that include help with translation, comedy writing and performing poetry.

And if it all gets a bit pretentious for you, there's always a host of children's authors to take you to lands of a more fantastic nature. Anyway, 2008 is the National Year of Reading, so now is as good a time as any to get to the festival and pick up a book.