The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
Fowey Literary Festival News ››
A Date for Your Diaries
The du Maurier Fowey Literary Festival 2025 will take place from 9th – 17th May 2025, when we will again all meet up in Fowey for another interesting, entertaining, and fun-packed Festival in beautiful Cornwall.
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The Fowey Literary Festival is holding an online fundraising auction from Friday, 22nd November, to Sunday, 1st December. There will be lots of fabulous things to bid on, including signed books, some du Maurier titles, paintings, Spa days, sailing lessons and much more.
The auction will be available to view, and you will be able to place bids from 6pm on Friday, 22nd November.
We will bring you more details, including updates on some of the wonderful auction lots, closer to the time.
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Exciting News From Fowey Festival – November 2024
We have exciting news from the Fowey Festival. Here is the statement that they have shared with us all this week -
We are thrilled to announce two new Festival Patrons and to unveil our new logo.
The new Patrons are Christian Browning – Film Director and Photographer, son of Daphne du Maurier and Iain Dale - British broadcaster, author, political commentator and former publisher and book retailer.
We look forward to working with Christian and Iain and welcome their support in assisting us to deliver our mission to promote the joy of literature and the arts, through our Festival and school outreach programme.
Christian Browning
We are honoured that Christian Browning, Film Director and Photographer, son of Daphne du Maurier and advocate of the work we do, joins us as Patron. His guidance over the years has been invaluable, and we are delighted to have his continued support.
Iain Dale
We are thrilled to announce that British Broadcaster, Author, Political Commentator and former publisher and book retailer, Iain Dale, has been appointed as a Patron of the Festival. Iain is no stranger to the Festival having first attended over 20 years ago, when he interviewed Ann Widdecombe. This year, he returned to talk about his bestselling book, Kings and Queens, conducted author interviews and entertained a captive audience with a live recording of his highly acclaimed podcast, For the Many. Iain’s support and enthusiasm for the festival is infectious, and it is a privilege to have him on board.
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A Reminder about the Fowey Festival Calendar 2025
If you haven’t bought your Fowey Festival Calendars for 2025 yet, now is the time, as they are selling very fast this year. They will make ideal Christmas gifts or can be an attractive and useful item to hang up in your own home.
This year, the calendars are A5 size, opening to A4, so they are smaller and neater than in previous years. Each month shows a stunning picture of Fowey or the surrounding area, with a beautiful photograph of Ferryside on the front cover and for the month of May.
Throughout the calendar, you will find some key dates associated with Daphne du Maurier and her family, researched by us, here at the Daphne du Maurier website.
Calendars are priced at £7.00 each, including P&P to UK addresses. To buy yours, please click on this link to the Fowey Festival website https://www.foweyfestival.com/shop/sample-product/festival-calendar-2025/
For multiple copies or postage outside the UK, please email info@foweyfestival.com
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Friends of the Festival
If you would like to become a Friend of Fowey Festival, there are three levels of membership:
Gold Life - £500.00
Annual Silver - £60.00
Annual Bronze - £30.00
For full details, go to the Fowey Festival website https://www.foweyfestival.com/friends
Becoming a friend of the Festival not only provides you with the benefits mentioned above but also helps support the Festival, for which the trustees and all those involved with producing the Festival are extremely grateful.
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A Brief History of Our Literary Festival in Fowey
The first festival programme
A literary festival has taken place in Fowey for many years, the first being The Daphne du Maurier Festival of Arts and Literature in May 1997. This was a community initiative which had the full support of the du Maurier Browning family and was timed to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Daphne's birth.
From then on it became a tradition that 13th May, Daphne's birthday, would always be included within the dates of the festival.
That first festival provided the pattern for the future, with du Maurier-related walks, exhibitions, talks, plays and music events. There was a national one-day conference on the subject of Daphne du Maurier and the Romance of Place, with speakers including Avril Horner, Sue Zlosnik and Helen Taylor.
The conference was repeated on a much bigger scale in 2007 to celebrate Daphne du Maurier's centenary when a three-day international conference was held and concluded with a visit to Ferryside for all the delegates.
Over the years that followed, the Daphne du Maurier Festival of Arts and Literature grew under the direction of a small team of people from Restormel Borough Council led by Jonathan Aberdeen. The centrepiece of the festival was a beautiful festival village built on land belonging to Fowey Community College just beyond Fowey Hall Hotel.
When the festival in Fowey began, it was a rare and special event that thrived through the good years of the 2000s. But, as the decade drew to a close, a vast range of literary festivals all over the country gave people a greater choice of venue, and politics and the recession began to play their part in what was to become quite a struggle for survival.
With the inception of a unitary authority in the county, Cornwall Council could no longer justify supporting the du Maurier Festival in isolation; funding was reduced and shortly after ceased. However, a local group of enthusiastic people got together, incorporated the concept of the festival into a charity, and the Fowey Festival of Words and Music was born.
The festival became an altogether smaller event, located in various venues around the town, and, despite misgivings from many people, both local and visitors, has proved in the last few years to be very successful and financially sound.
Despite two years when the festival had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival continued to grow in strength and content under the direction of Brenda Daly and its board of trustees. It is enjoyed by all who come.
The formula continued to be one of walks, exhibitions, talks, workshops, and music events, but now it also includes an Art Trail, which gives local artists the opportunity to open their homes and studios to show and sell their work. Another popular addition is the Secret Gardens Programme, through which local people open their gardens to festival goers.
The festival also always makes a point of focusing on children through its school outreach programme.
In 2016, the name of the festival was tweaked slightly to reflect more accurately what the festival did and became the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature.
In November 2024, the festival announced that there were to be two new Festival Patrons and a new logo, naming the festival The du Maurier Fowey Literary Festival. The new Patrons are Christian Browning – Film Director and Photographer, son of Daphne du Maurier and Iain Dale - British broadcaster, author, political commentator and former publisher and book retailer.
We can now confirm that the dates of the next Fowey Literary Festival are 9th - 17th May 2025. We will bring you news of what you can look forward to and link you with the festival website so that you can be completely up to date with all festival news.