The 25th Graham Greene International Festival

The 25th Graham Greene International Festival will take place in Berkhamsted from 3-6 October. Britain’s leading novelist of the twentieth century, Graham Greene is also the town’s most famous resident. His books, plays and films continue to have a grip on readers and audiences, and the festival attracts visitors from around the world.

This year’s festival celebrates the novelist’s 120th birthday. It will bring together experts on Graham Greene, as well as ordinary readers and film enthusiasts for sessions at the Town Hall, the Civic Centre, and Berkhamsted School. According to the Festival Director Richard Greene, the presentations are intended to be richly informative but also accessible and highly entertaining.

The son of a headmaster of Berkhamsted School, Graham Greene was haunted by a difficult childhood which shaped the books he wrote. Famously, he fled from bullies at the school and took refuge on the Common. In later years he went on to write engrossing tales about people on the run.

Greene is one of the great spy novelists of modern times. Two of this year’s speakers will look at his long involvement with MI6: the renowned expert on intelligence and security Nigel West, and Nicholas Shakespeare, a leading novelist, who has recently completed a new biography of the Bond-creator Ian Fleming. Among the other presentations will be one related to Brighton Rock (1938) and one concerning his experiences in Mexico which led to the writing of The Power and the Glory (1940).

Film buffs will be able to watch a pair of rare and suspenseful films at the Civic Centre, The Man Within (1947) and The Fallen Idol (1948), with commentary from film expert Mike Hill.

Tickets and further information are available at grahamgreenebt.org.