✨ SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT | SEAN O’CONNOR Sean O’Connor has worked as a writer and director across film, TV, radio and theatre. With a background in theatre, he’s been showrunner on some of the UK’s biggest dramas – Footballers’ Wives, EastEnders and Hollyoaks – and won acclaim for his groundbreaking domestic violence storyline while helming The Archers on BBC Radio. As a writer of non-fiction, Sean is the author of “The Haunting of Borley Rectory”, “Handsome Brute” (a study of murderer Neville Heath, now in development with a script by Mark Gatiss), and “The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury” (soon to be adapted by Neil McKay for Two Cities Television). In 2011, he coaxed film director Terence Davies out of retirement for “The Deep Blue Sea”, starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale. He is also a Trustee of the Estate of Sir Terence Rattigan. The Most Haunted House in England? In conversation with journalist and broadcaster David Benedict, Sean will unravel the story of Borley Rectory – once notorious as the “most haunted house in England.” Was it fact or fiction, haunting or hoax? With tales of skulls in cupboards, poltergeist attacks, scandal, and Harry Price – the most famous ghost-hunter of the age – this chilling session dives into one of the most extraordinary cases in paranormal history. 📅 Event: SUNDAY 12TH OCTOBER | 1.30PM 📍 Isle of Wight Literary Festival, Northwood House 👉 Full details & tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/isle-of-wight-literary-festival/t-ojnmnel #IWLitFest #SeanOConnor #BorleyRectory #TrueCrime #Haunting #GhostStories #HalloweenReads (fb)

📚✨ SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT | ANDREW LOWNIE Andrew Lownie was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Union, before completing his master’s and doctorate at Edinburgh University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he later returned to Cambridge as a visiting fellow at Churchill College. Andrew Lownie has been a bookseller, publisher, and journalist for The Times, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Spectator and Guardian, and since 1988 has run his own literary agency. He is President of the Biographers Club, sits on the board of Biographers International Organisation, and is a Trustee of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. His books include the prize-winning “Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess” (2015) and the Sunday Times top ten bestsellers “The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves” (2019) and “Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor” (2021). Rigorously researched and full of revelations, Andrew’s latest biography sheds new light on the lives of the Duke and Duchess of York. Based on four years of research, numerous FOI requests, and interviews with over 100 people who have never spoken before, it traces their lives in parallel — through childhoods, courtship, marriage, divorce, careers and royal roles. The result is the story of a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess driven by insecurity and a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought. 🗓️ Event details: SUNDAY 12TH OCTOBER | 12.00PM 📍 Northwood House , Cowes 👉 Full info & tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/isle-of-wight-literary-festival/t-avraoor #IWLitFest #AndrewLownie #Biography #RoyalHistory #HistoricalNonFiction #BritishRoyals #RoyalScandal #BookTalk #IsleofWightLiteraryFestival (fb)