Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Edward Parnell talks about how, devastated by family tragedies, he found comfort in the ghost stories of his childhood, prompting him to travel to Britain’s uncanniest destinations. Weaving memoir with history, cultural commentary with meditations on grief, he traces a path through the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles – our lonely moors, our moss-covered cemeteries, our stark shores and our folkloric woodlands – landscapes that inspired the likes of M.R. James and Alan Garner, and classic folk horror cinema such as Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man. Ghostland is Parnell’s moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.
“Ghostland is a delicious, creepy, gothic gazetteer to a British landscape filled with folkloric, literary and filmic spirits, avian auguries, and natural history and a deeply touching personal grief” – Philip Hoare
About the author: Norfolk-based Edward Parnell’s first novel, The Listeners, won the 2014 Rethink New Novels Prize. been the recipient of an Escalator Award from Writers’ Centre Norwich, and in 2009 received a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to fund a seven-week book research expedition to the Australian Outback. He is also the director of the Wymondham Words literature festival. Ghostland was shortlisted for the Pen Ackerley Prize 2020.
In conversation with Stuart Kelly.
You can purchase titles relating to this event from the Festival Bookshop online - bookshop.wigtownbookfestival.com
Edward Parnell talks about how, devastated by family tragedies, he found comfort in the ghost stories of his childhood, prompting him to travel to Britain’s uncanniest destinations. Weaving memoir with history, cultural commentary with meditations on grief, he traces a path through the ‘sequestered places’ of the British Isles – our lonely moors, our moss-covered cemeteries, our stark shores and our folkloric woodlands – landscapes that inspired the likes of M.R. James and Alan Garner, and classic folk horror cinema such as Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man. Ghostland is Parnell’s moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.
“Ghostland is a delicious, creepy, gothic gazetteer to a British landscape filled with folkloric, literary and filmic spirits, avian auguries, and natural history and a deeply touching personal grief” – Philip Hoare
About the author: Norfolk-based Edward Parnell’s first novel, The Listeners, won the 2014 Rethink New Novels Prize. been the recipient of an Escalator Award from Writers’ Centre Norwich, and in 2009 received a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to fund a seven-week book research expedition to the Australian Outback. He is also the director of the Wymondham Words literature festival. Ghostland was shortlisted for the Pen Ackerley Prize 2020.
In conversation with Stuart Kelly.
You can purchase titles relating to this event from the Festival Bookshop online - bookshop.wigtownbookfestival.com
![Joanna Nadin || The Worst Class in the World [AGES 5-8]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CXaChHjpguk/mqdefault.jpg "Joanna Nadin || The Worst Class in the World [AGES 5-8]
According to Miss Bottomley-Blunt, 4B is the worst class in the world, but Stanley and Manjit didnt mean to make their whole class sick, or for Manjits dog to eat their teacher’s shoes, or for the rat to escape. These things just seem to happen, even when they have a foolproof plan. They might be the worst class in the world, but where else would you want to be?
Join Joanna Nadin as she talks to Vivian French about the hilarious adventures in her new laugh-out-loud series.
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS
You or your teacher can send questions before or during the show for a special Q&A at the end. Submit to questions@wigtownbookfestival.com.")
![Abi Elphinstone || Everdark || [AGES 7-12]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F0D4sqTsDVQ/mqdefault.jpg "Abi Elphinstone || Everdark || [AGES 7-12]
A world of magic and adventure awaits. Join Abi Elphinstone as she leads you into a whole new world in her latest title Everdark, the prequel to her mesmerising Unmapped Chronicles series.
It is midnight in Crackledawn - a midnight full of magic. Sea dragons stir in the depths of the ocean, silver whales surface beneath the moon and sand goblins line the shores. Everyone is waiting for the phoenix, the guardian of the kingdoms magic, to rise up from the forests of Everdark. But there is no sign of the phoenix tonight. Can eleven-year-old Smudge and a grumpy monkey called Bartholomew sail beyond the legendary Northswirl to stop the harpy stealing Crackledawns magic, before it’s too late?
Grab your compass, roll down your sail and join the adventure.
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS
You or your teacher can send questions to Abi before or during the event [questions@wigtownbookfestival.com] for a Q&A session at the end of the event.")
