A MORNING focusing on the life and work of author and former Chipping Campden resident Graham Greene will be one of the highlights of this year’s literature festival in the Cotswold town.

Greene, author of Brighton Rock, lived at Little Orchard, Hoo Lane, from 1929 to 1931 and the Campden connection gives an added interest to the event, which includes a presentation of Vivien Greene’s letters to local resident Commander Fred Hart.

A Morning with Graham Greene will also feature David Pearce, former schoolmaster at Greene’s old school in Berkhamsted and a founder of the Graham Greene Festival, who will talk about the international bestselling thriller Stamboul Train, which Greene wrote while living in Campden.

At the time the author said: “I deliberately set out to write a book to please.”

Other contributors include Jeremy Lewis, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, commissioning editor of The Oldie, and editor-at-large of the Literary Review, who will discuss his critically-acclaimed Greene family biography Shades of Greene. In the afternoon, following the recent release of the new film version of Brighton Rock, festival-goers will have the chance see the classic 1947 version of the novel, starring Richard Attenborough as Pinkie Brown.

Other highlights of the festival, which runs from Tuesday to Sunday, May 3-8, include Victorian Affairs, an exploration of Victorian life and art; a workshop by Warwick University Fellow Carole Angier on how to write biography; and a Poetry Day at The Court run by Mario Petrucci.  Full details of the 2011 Festival can be found at campdenlitfest. co.uk. Programmes are due to be available from this week at various outlets in Campden, including the Jaffe and Neale Bookshop Draycott Books, the post office and the tourist information centre.

The festival box office opens on Friday, April 1, at Jaffé & Neale.