Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Crime Writer Robert Goddard

7th June 2010

The Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and bestselling author Robert Goddard will give the first Open Lectures at Winchester Writers' Conference, Festival and Bookfair at the University of Winchester on Saturday 26 June.

Carol Ann Duffy will give a reading of her favourite poems on Saturday 26 June from 2.15-3.15pm in The Stripe at the University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester SO22 4NR..

Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009, and her first reading as Poet Laureate was organized by the English Project at the University of Winchester for National Poetry Day in October 2009. Duffy has written for both children and adults and her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread and Forward Prizes and the Lannan and EM Forster Prize in America. In 2006 she won the T S Eliot Prize for Rapture.

Robert Goddard will give his talk, 'Plotting: Literature's Problem Child' on Saturday 26 June from 3.45-4.45pm also in The Stripe. The author has written more than twenty best-selling novels, distinguished by their deeply plotted story lines. His latest novel, Long Time Coming, was published in January to great acclaim.

The Conference, now in its thirtieth year, will be held on the weekend of 25-27 June and is followed by a week of in-depth writing workshops for budding novelists and writers of children's fiction and non-fiction.
Both writers will sign copies of their books at the Bookfair after their talks. As places are limited, early booking is recommended. Those wishing to attend either or both of these lectures will be offered the special Town and Gown fee of £10. for each talk.

Full details of the Winchester Writers' Conference and the Keynote Address, 'Why Are You Listening to Me When You Should Be at Home Writing', to be presented by Sir Terry Pratchett OBE, can be found on www.writersconference.co.uk
To receive a conference programme or to book theses lectures, please contact the Conference Director, Barbara Large MBE:  Barbara.Large@winchester.ac.uk 
Supported by the English Project

University of Winchester, a private charitable company limited by guarantee in England and Wales number 5969256. Registered Office: Sparkford Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO22 4NR