Let there be books – and cake

When it came to launching the programme for this year’s Monty Lit Fest, we only had one thing on our minds: to bring together two of the things we love best – books and cake.

Cue this fabulous book cake nestling gorgeously among some of the equally lovely books we’ll be showcasing this year.

It was a great way to launch a programme that, as always, has something for everyone – from top fiction to the Tudors; rock music to Wrexham FC; folklore to farming and nature. You might want to hone your writing skills at our writers’ workshops; exercise your grey cells at our Saturday Night Quiz or belt out your best Calon Lân at our very own Cymanfa Ganu.

Once again, we’re grateful to the combined talents of the Montgomery community who will help to create a real buzz in the town with an art exhibition, children’s story time, buskers and musical groups, street food vans and – of course – coffee and cake in the Town Hall itself.

So, add those dates – 7th – 9th June – to your calendar now and start browsing the programme. Here are just some of the highlights ahead:

  • Find out what 100 everyday objects can tell us about our rural past with Sally Coulthard
  • Meet top fiction authors Tim Pears, Carys Davies, Siân Hughes, Chris Lloyd, Jon Gower and Simon Chandler
  • Get spooked as Delyth Badder tells us all about Wales’s wealth of ghost stories, and find our why Jacqueline Yallop is so fascinated by the dark
  • Debate the future of farming and nature with Adam Bedford in conversation with Carwyn Graves and Roger Morgan-Grenville and travel the length of Sarn Helen with Tom Bullough
  • Hear the inside story of Wrexham FC’s Hollywood-inspired renaissance – a perfect accompaniment to the TV series
  • Chart the Welsh origins of the Tudor dynasty; discover what happened when 200 kindertransport children arrived at Gwrych Castle in the 1940s and find out about the life and work of Welsh woman artist, Ray Howard-Jones
  • Relive the 1990s and Cool Cymru with author Neil Collins and Welsh music legend, Rhys Mwyn
  • Join M Wynn Jones, Sioned Webb and the Penybontfawr Choir as we explore – and sing – some of Wales’s greatest hymns

Tickets are available online, or in person at The Montgomery Bookshop or Ivy House Café in Montgomery.

See you in June!