What a great way to kick off the 2014 LitFest.

As the Golding speaker this year, Louis de Bernières was introduced by the festival founder patron Mavis Cheek, who didn’t have to remind us of his most famous work, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, as well as his Turkish novel that many think superior, Birds Without Wings.

De Bernières divided his hour-long slot between poetry, prose and an audience question and answer session.

He read from his new anthology of poetry, which has just been published, giving us a broad cross-section of his themes of love, memory, ancient Greek and Roman literature and poetry and finishing with evocative poems about Belfast and Manchester.

He next read out a short story which was set in the Surrey village in which he grew up. It again looked at themes of love and memory, as well as old age.

The session ended with audience questions, with de Bernières answering questions with honesty, self-deprecation and charm.

Annie Wilkinson