BGU sponsors Gothic-themed Lincoln Book Festival

The Lincoln Book Festival is ‘Going Gothic’ this September and Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) is co-sponsoring a variety of events.

The festival invites visitors to explore the Gothic at events celebrating the genre throughout the city. Literature, history, art and architecture are all on the line-up at the festival that ‘places history at its heart’.

BGU is sponsoring a free workshop at the University of Lincoln on Gothic literature for local schools and colleges. Experts from both BGU and the University of Lincoln will jointly run the event on Wednesday 27 September.

On Thursday 28 September, BGU’s Dr Claudia Capancioni chairs an evening of ‘Victorian Truths & Gothic Mysteries’ at The Collection alongside the University of Lincoln’s Dr Scott Brewer. The evening will see a talk from award-winning historian and biographer Kathryn Hughes telling ‘Tales of Flesh in the Ages of Decorum’. Author Diane Setterfield will then present her talk on ‘Fiction of a Gothic Disposition’.

Dr Claudia Capancioni has also helped to organise a free event on Friday 29 September aimed at creative writers. ‘Writing Romance – Mills & Boon Style’ takes place at The Collection and the two invited speakers are both historical romance authors.

The final BGU co-sponsored event of the festival is ‘An Afternoon of Architecture – Revived and Inspiring’ at BGU’s Robert Hardy Building on Saturday 30 September. The afternoon sees Geoff Brandwood guiding the audience through the revival of Gothic Architecture Victorian style and discussing the churches of Sir Gilbert Scott, including many examples in Lincolnshire. Author Pamela Holmes will also be speaking at the event.

The festival also launched a Flash Fiction competition. Writers of any age and ability were encouraged to submit Gothic-themed short stories of exactly 50 words. Dr Claudia Capancioni was part of the judging panel tasked with shortlisting over 400 entries for the final judges. The winners in three categories (primary school age, secondary school age and adults) will be announced at the festival launch party on Monday 25 September. 

 Speaking about the festival Dr Claudia Capancioni, Academic Coordinator for English at BGU, said, “this year’s festival is most exciting because of the Gothic theme and a new Flash Fiction competition.

“The programme caters for the whole community with creative writing events as well as speakers who share their works. It is a great programme and I can say already that we have had a great response.

“As the success of the Flash Fiction competition shows, there is interest in the events the programme presents.

“We are pleased to be working with the organising committee, the community and colleagues at the University of Lincoln to make sure this year’s Lincoln Book Festival is most engaging with Gothic mystery, horror and romance.”

The Lincoln Book Festival takes place from 25-30 September 2017 across a range of locations in Lincoln.

Visit the Lincoln Book Festival website to book tickets now.