Ken Follett festival to mark new book release

Pan Macmillan will hold a one-off virtual festival for fans, bookshops and libraries around the world, celebrating the publication of his new Kingsbridge novel, The Evening and the Morning.

The Kingsbridge Festival starts this evening (14th September) at 6pm, running into the following morning with exclusive events and activities hosted across the writer's social channels.

The schedule includes a Q&A with Kate Mosse, Kingsbridge quizzes, partnerships with the Reading Museum and a virtual peek inside the Jorvik Viking Centre to immerse fans in the history of the book—including a virtual tour of the Bayeux Tapestry and a demonstration on Viking Weaponry.

Downloadable “celebrate from home” packs will also be made available and a bookshop window display competition launched on social media. The festival will also include a live serialisation of the book via online book club The Pigeonhole.

Follett said: “This year has been difficult and full of unique challenges for everyone, which is why I am excited to be able to bring Kingsbridge to life in a virtual setting for my readers all around the world. I hope that my readers will be very pleased and surprised by the variety of content, and that they will enjoy the festival as much as I have enjoyed returning to the world of Kingsbridge for my new novel, The Evening and the Morning.”

The new book, a sequel to bestseller 1989 novel The Pillars of the Earth, is published on 15th September.

Sarah Arratoon, Pan’s head of marketing, said: “Having implemented an award-winning innovative campaign with The Pigeonhole for Ken’s last book, A Column of Fire, we wanted to build on this success. The challenges of this year mean that we’ve had to completely reimagine the campaign and taking it into a virtual setting has been surprisingly refreshing and a positive experience. We’ve been delighted by how many different partners have united and come on board and that we’ve been able to create something new and exciting not only for Ken’s fans but also the broader historical fiction audience."

More details of the festival are available online.