{"id":4782,"date":"2025-09-05T23:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/4782\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T23:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:30:07","slug":"burnham-book-festival-returns-today-with-packed-line-up-of-authors-talks-and-workshops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/4782\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham Book Festival returns today with packed line-up of authors, talks and workshops"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"pf0\">Burnham Book Festival returns today (Saturday, 6th September), transforming the Princess Theatre into a lively hub for readers, writers, and curious minds with further events also taking place in the library.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">Organiser Lewis Coleman says a busy line-up of activities, workshops and talks will be held through the day \u2013 with the full schedule below. \u201cIf there was a theme this year, it would be life stories,\u201d says Lewis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">Burnham author Alan Huddart will talk about his life at sea as a Radio Officer. Alan served as a radio operator and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burnham-on-sea.com\/news\/burnham-on-sea-resident-unveils-book-recounting-his-time-with-the-merchant-navy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">published his first book<\/a> this year that recalls a busy career around the world.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_1179-696x525.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">Local rehab owner, charity founder and recent BEM recipient Angie Clarke shares her turbulent journey to recovery.\u00a0 She has dedicated over 34 years to helping others in the Somerset community and has been vocal and actively involved in changing things for the better in areas of mental health and wellbeing in both adults and children, substance misuse and victims of abuse.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Angie-Clarke-1-696x490.jpg\" alt=\"Angie Clarke Somewhere House\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">Weston resident, Rob Coughlin, offers his story from the streets and jail, in his latest book, Tailspin. Zoe Langley-Wathen has stepped in at the last minute to replace Paula Rooney, with her talk Walking Myself Braver, recounting her 630 mile solo hike on the South West Coastal Path.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">Robin Ince will talk on \u2018Normally Weird &amp; Weirdly Normal\u2019, a warm and witty talk about his late life ADHD diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">There will also be three workshops, one of which is already sold-out, Captivating Characters. The two remaining workshops are Comedy Poetry, and Creative Writing and Mindfulness. There\u2019s limited tickets available.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-221668\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/pro-iW8IrtPn.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"972\" height=\"1024\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">He adds: \u201cA special event is being run in the theatre\u2019s Aroma Cafe and Bar, Tea with Mr Banks, with James Tomlinson, son of the legendary actor, Mary Poppins star, David Tomlinson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">\u201cIt starts at 3pm and is \u00a38 a ticket, which includes a homebaked scone with clotted cream, jam, strawberries and a hot drink. There are very few tickets left and they won\u2019t be available on the day as the scones are baked to order.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">\u201cEvery other event with remaining spaces can be booked on the day. That includes Dr Andrew Curran\u2019s musical demonstration about the science of neuroplasticity and healing; bestselling, Richard and Judy Book Club author, Hazel Prior, and comic poet Robert Garnham\u2019s recital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">The Burnham Book Festival writing and cover competition winners will be announced at 5pm by multi-million book selling crime writer, Damien Boyd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">For more information and to purchase tickets click here:\u00a0https:\/\/www.theprincesstheatre.co.uk\/whats-on\/<\/p>\n<p>10:30 : Rock Bottom talk with Rob Coughlin. \u00a32. Princess \u2013 Mendip Room<\/p>\n<p>10:30 : Life at Sea talk with Alan Huddart. \u00a33. Library<\/p>\n<p>12:00 : Meet the Locals panel session. Free. Princess \u2013 Mendip<\/p>\n<p>12:00 : Sh*t Creek to Somewhere Else with Angie Clarke. \u00a32. Library<\/p>\n<p>12:30 : Captivating Characters Workshop. \u00a312. Princess \u2013 Pizey *SOLD OUT*<\/p>\n<p>13:30 : This is Us: The Individuality Project. Free. Princess \u2013 Mendip<\/p>\n<p>14:30 : Walking Myself Braver, Zoe Langley-Watham. \u00a34. Princess \u2013 Pizey<\/p>\n<p>15:00 : Poetry Workshop with Robert Garnham. \u00a310\/\u00a38. Princess \u2013 Mendip<\/p>\n<p>15:00 : Tea with Mr Banks with James Tomlinson. \u00a38. Princess \u2013 Cafe<\/p>\n<p>16:00 : Big Stuff About the Brain with Andrew Curran. \u00a36\/\u00a34. Princess \u2013 Pizey<\/p>\n<p>16:30 : Poetry Performance from Robert Garnham. \u00a34. Princess \u2013 Mendip<\/p>\n<p>17:00 : Award Ceremony with Damien Boyd. Free. Princess \u2013 Hall<\/p>\n<p>17:30 : A Harp and Many Penguins with Hazel Prior. \u00a34. Princess \u2013 Pizey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Burnham Book Festival returns today (Saturday, 6th September), transforming the Princess Theatre into a lively hub for readers,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[489,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-4782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}