JK Rowling beats Shakespeare to top dinner guest poll

STRATFORDIANS have picked JK Rowling over William Shakespeare as the person they would most like to have as a fantasy dinner guest, a poll by the Stratford Literary Festival has surprisingly revealed.

The 11th annual festival drew to a close on Sunday after a weeklong series of events, which saw visits from celebrity guests such as Harry Hill, Harriet Harman and AC Grayling

During the course of the festival, participants were invited to submit which writer — dead or alive — they would most like to share a meal with at ballot boxes at the Stratford ArtsHouse, where most events took place, and at Waterstones on the High Street.

Suggestions ranged from great writers such as F Scott Fitzgerald and Harper Lee, to more contemporary ones including Nora Ephron and Bill Bryson.

Also included were names of those appearing at the festival, such as Jeremy Vine and Rose Tremain.

Festival director, Annie Ashworth, joked: “We suspect there may have been some election rigging and self-promotion with those contributions!”

Asked what she thought about Shakespeare being beaten on his home turf, Annie added: “I was quite surprised by the vote actually but it confirms what an enormously popular author JK Rowling is!”

And which writer would she have voted for? “I think I’d go for either George Eliot because she was an extraordinary writer, Beatrix Potter because her life was so interesting and at times tragic, or for Oscar Wilde — I think he’d be great value, entertaining and wonderfully indiscreet. But three is cheating!”

See Thursday’s Herald arts for a round-up of closing events at this year’s festival.