Sarah Perry and book cover for Enlightenment

We are thrilled and proud that festival patron Sarah Perry’s latest book, Enlightenment, has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.

Enlightenment is Sarah’s finest novel to date. It is a story of love and astronomy told over the course of 20 years through the lives of two improbable best friends.

Sarah Perry is an internationally bestselling author. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Her work includes the novels Melmoth, The Essex Serpent and After Me Comes the Flood, and the non-fiction Essex Girls.

She is a winner of the Waterstone’s Book of the Year Award and the British Book of the Year Award and has been nominated for major literary prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Folio Prize and the Costa Novel Award.

We were delighted to have Sarah Perry join us for our launch event at University of Essex to discuss the book. Here is just some of the feedback we received about this thought-provoking event:

“The interview with Sarah Perry was exceptional, great questions, but most of all the author was very eloquent, unassuming and humble in her responses whilst being so thought provoking. It really was a very lovely event. Thank you!”

“Wow what a dazzling event , such a privilege to hear Sarah Perry discuss her work , writing process , inspirations and read from enlightenment. An exceptional talent, could have listened to her for a lot longer.”

If you missed it you can watch the recording of Sarah Perry’s event on our YouTube channel.

Congratulations Sarah – you really are a shining star!