Felixstowe Book Festival

Meet highly acclaimed authors this summer in Felixstowe at the prestigious Harvest House. Award-winning authors including Rachel Joyce (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry), Comedian Robin Ince – as part of his tour Bibliomaniac, Political Scientist Ben Ansell, Festival Patron Terry Waite, and Fiction writer Rebecca May Johnson whose new book (Small Fires) is due out also in June.

Among the guests this year will be Louise Doughty, author of nine novels including the number one best-seller, Apple Tree Yard which has been made into a TV series. Louise will be talking about her latest book Platform Seven. More guest speakers are still to be confirmed and one of the events even includes a cream tea!

Join the team from the Felixstowe Book Festival from June 16th-25th for your chance to meet some of the worlds’ most popular authors rubbing shoulders with debut writers.

“A flourishing festival, with a programme to catch the imagination.” Esther Freud, Festival Patron www.felixstowebookfestival.co.uk

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Last Voyage of The Gloucester at Norwich Castle Museum

Artefacts from a 17th century royal shipwreck have been unveiled for the first time in an immersive exhibition exploring its last voyage and the historical mysteries raised by its discovery off the coast of Norfolk.

Featuring research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the latest technological innovations, The Last Voyage of The Gloucester: Norfolk’s Royal Shipwreck, 1682, runs until September 10th at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery.

The Gloucester sank in the North Sea off the coast of Norfolk in 1682 while carrying the future King of England and Scotland, James Stuart. After lying on the seabed for 325 years, the ship was discovered in 2007 by Norfolk brothers Julian and Lincoln Barnwell and their friend James Little.

Due to the age and prestige of the ship, the condition of the wreck and the accident’s political context, the discovery has been described as the most important British maritime discovery since the Mary Rose.

Now for the first time the public will be able to explore the story of the ship’s fateful final voyage and the painstaking work to retrieve, conserve and research some of its artefacts, in an expansive exhibition co-curated by Norfolk Museums Service and UEA.

Key objects include the Gloucester’s bell – the discovery of which in 2012 confirmed the identity of the wreck – alongside personal possessions of the passengers and crew that serve as poignant reminders of a disaster that cost hundreds of lives. museums.norfolk.gov.uk

Visitors will view wine bottles encrusted with barnacles, the ship’s navigation tools, and personal items including a pair of spectacles along with their wooden case, combs and clay pipes, all of which have survived centuries on the seabed. Together they illuminate the wide range of social classes and professions of those onboard the ship.

Digital elements include a film exploring the discovery of the wreck, a 3D diver’s eye tour of the wreck site and a specially commissioned animation examining the circumstances of the sinking of the ship.

Alongside objects from the wreck, prestigious museums in Britain and Europe are loaning key paintings, documents and objects associated with the maritime, political, cultural and social history of the period to set the wider context for the Gloucester’s story. The objects rescued from the Gloucester wreck site appear in this exhibition with the permission of the Ministry of Defence and Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks.

Tickets to the exhibition are free with museum admission. It is recommended to book tickets in advance.