This week at Midas: 20th-24th January
Festival lineups and launch parties, reading summits, the Children’s Word of the Year, longlist announcements and new publications! Here’s what’s been happening at Midas this week:
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Henley Festival 2025 Launch
Henley Festival presented by Westcoast is thrilled to reveal a glittering line-up of artists for 2025, appearing across five magical summer nights from 9-13 July. Henley Festival will once again deliver a programme full of world-class talent across music, comedy and more, with headliners including Diana Ross, McFly, Rick Astley, Matteo Bocelli, Jamie Cullum, Hacienda Classical, Jo Whiley’s Festival Anthems, YolanDa Brown’s Bob Marley Songbook, Ellie Sax, Ed Byrne and Ivo Graham.
The UK’s only black-tie music and arts festival, it is truly an experience like no other: a world-class music programme of pop, world, classical, folk and jazz set alongside stellar comedy and cabaret, stunning art galleries and sculpture installations, roving performers, as well as dining, drinks, dancing and simply jaw-dropping fireworks. Henley Festival is also more than an unmissable event: it is a charity with a mission to support the next generation of talent through its RISE programme. As part of the festival’s incredible line-up, the RISE stage gives a unique platform for emerging musicians and visual artists, as well offering opportunities for young people aspiring to work behind the scenes.
Tickets will go on public sale on Thursday 6 February.
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The Reading Rights Summit
On Wednesday the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate, best-selling author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce hosted ‘The Reading Rights Summit’ – the first of its kind led by a Children’s Laureate – at Liverpool’s iconic St George’s Hall, aiming to address ‘invisible privilege and inequality’ within books and reading. Frank opened the Summit with a speech calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Government to ‘stand up and give a visible sign that this country values its children’. The day-long summit brought together high-profile, expert voices in the political, education, literacy, early years, arts and health sectors – including the Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram, and former Laureates Cressida Cowell, Michael Rosen and Chris Riddell – with a view to recommending an urgent course of action to policymakers that will address the ‘recession in happiness’. BookTrust
Oxford Children's Word of the Year
Kindness?is?Oxford Children’s Word of the Year?for 2024, as part of the annual research conducted by?Oxford University Press?(OUP). The word was picked by 61% of the 6,000 children aged 6-14 surveyed. A quarter of children chose?artificial intelligence,?while?slay?was crowned slang word of the year, followed by?sigma?and?skibidi.
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Spanish Beauty Publication
On Tuesday, Foundry Editions publish the electric novella?Spanish Beauty?by?Esther García Llovet?(translated by Richard Village). Like an ITV series blended with?Don Quixote?–?Spanish Beauty?is an unconventional literary thriller about a tough, uncompromising female police officer, operating on the shadier side of the law. A cinematic novella that reads like a Raymond Chandler story interpreted by Pedro Almodóvar,?Spanish Beauty?surprises you at every turn.
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The longlist for the world’s largest and most prestigious literary prize for young writers – the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize – has been announced, with authors hailing from across the world including the UK, Palestine, India, the Netherlands, and Ireland.
The Less Unkind by Rosaria Giorgi
Mark your calendars! Rosaria Giorgi’s debut novel,?The Less Unkind, hits the shelves next week. Drawing inspiration from Giorgi’s own experiences with the infamous Cold-War-era Umbrella Assassin and her international adventures, this gripping tale weaves together art, organised crime, history, linguistics, and breathtaking European destinations.
A perfect pick for fans of Patricia Highsmith’s?The Talented Mr Ripley, R.F. Kuang’s?Babel, and B.A. Shapiro’s?The Art Forger, the novel follows 21-year-old linguistic prodigy Pico as she deciphers cryptic clues left by her enigmatic employer. Her search unravels a decades-old Caravaggio theft, Mafia vendettas, and moral dilemmas, all set against a backdrop of Nordic serenity, the Italian Riviera, and Vatican intrigue. Don’t miss your chance to immerse yourself in this electrifying literary debut, pre-order your copy here now.
For more Midas news see?here.