Medway Culture Fest 24 highlights: Medway River Lit 2024

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Medway River Lit brings a stellar line up of internationally renowned authors and local writers and poets together for readings, talks and workshops. This year’s festival is taking place throughout November across Medway as part of Medway Culture Fest 24 and is focussed on the theme of environment and climate crisis.

Medway River Lit will kick off with a launch event at Chatham Library on Friday 1 November. You’ll have the chance to hear more about what’s on and try out some writing activities. Later that evening, the festival’s first Poetry Friday takes place at Coffee Republic in Chatham, with Medway’s own Four Poets. Attendees will be treated to environmentally-conscious goodie bags and book giveaways.

The first weekend of the festival (2/3 November) is headlined by Booker Prize-winning author Sir Ben Okri. Megan Hunter (‘The End We Start From’), and Chloe Timms will also talk about their climate themed novels. On the Sunday, we’ll have a Local Authors Book Fair, plus panels with publishers and on self-publishing for those interested in learning more about the craft of writing.

The second weekend (9/10 November), we’ll be celebrating fandom and ‘90s indie music with Jim Bob, former lead singer of Carter USM. There may be music! Poet Sarah L Dixon, will read from her collection of ‘90s indie inspired poems, and festival co-director Sam Hall will talk about her fictionalized graphic memoir. On Sunday, in association with Renaissance One, poetry legend John Agard will be in conversation with Melanie Abrahams. John Agard is a recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and is on the GCSE syllabus.

Saturday 16 November is our crime fiction and fact day. Thriller writer AA Chaudhuri, and Caitlin Davies, the author of ‘Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths’, will both join us at Strood Library. On Sunday 17 November, we have two more writers of dystopian eco fiction – April Doyle and Thomas McMullan.

The fourth weekend of the festival, (23/24 November), features Carol Donaldson, Adam Taylor and Doctor Phil Smith, one of the originators of ‘mythogeography’ – a way of walking that transcends the physical act. If you’re interested in folklore and myths, this is the weekend for you. On Sunday, Sacha Coward will talk about his debut non-fiction book ‘Queer as folklore’.

The final weekend of the festival, (29/30 November), will see a Poetry Friday headline set from festival patron, Forward Prize-winning poet Caroline Bird in Chatham. On Saturday, we’re joined by Ben Aaronovitch, author of the bestselling ‘Rivers of London’ series, plus Tom Huddlestone who’ll be talking about ‘The Worlds of Dune’, Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi series.

Throughout the month, we’ll also be running Writing Masterclasses, a regular poetry evening event on Fridays and panels where you’ll be able to ask writers questions about the craft of writing.   

The full Medway River Lit 2024 programme will be announced in October.  You can find details of the programme on our website and follow us on Instagram (@MedwayRiverLit2024) or Facebook (Medway River Lit).  Listen to our podcast for competitions, writer interviews, book reviews and more!