Legendary rugby referee's literature festival talk moved to bigger venue

Nigel Owens is one of the headliners for Monty Lit Fest, which runs from June 9 to 11.

The Welsh rugby union refereeing legend and broadcaster closes the festival, and had originally been scheduled to speak at Montgomery Town Hall, but due to demand the event has been moved to St Nicholas Church.

The move means the organisers have been able to almost double capacity.

“We knew that the chance to hear Nigel Owens would mean a sell-out – but not quite so quickly,” said one of the festival’s co-chairs, Sarah Corser.

“We had barely begun to publicise the festival when there was an avalanche of demand to hear Nigel talk about his book, The Final Whistle.

“He is such a charismatic character, and his book is full of the energy, fun and seriousness of the man himself.

"The festival itself has such a sense of place, a Marcher town. The Final Whistle is the voice of a man with strong roots who still has to find his place, and he is so captivating in the way he talks about it.”

Co-chair Myfanwy Alexander added: "Those on the waiting list for this session will have first call on the newly-released tickets and we strongly recommend people book weekend passes to secure a place. Even with extra tickets this will be a sell-out and it won’t be the only one. Nigel Owens is not the only big name coming to the festival.

“Max Boyce used to talk about Wales having an outside half factory but it’s just as true of our writers. Whether it’s number one-selling crime writer, Clare Mackintosh; Father Ted producer Lissa Evans; artist and poet Frieda Hughes or Rhys Mwyn, Jeff Collins and Marcus Berkmann reliving the Rockfield Studio years, you’re just hearing about the tip of the iceberg."

People can see the whole programme, get weekend passes and individual tickets at montylitfest.com