A fortuitous meeting in support of a book shop in Maidstone, and a conversation with a mutual friend in Medway Libraries, saw destiny strike while searching for a suitable Patron for our festival.

Lisa Cutts is a new star of the crime writing genre, with her third novel, Mercy Killing – featuring the East Rise Incident Room -due for release by Simon and Schuster on October 20, coinciding nicely with our fourth festival, Written Worlds, Inspiring Places (1-9 October).

We’re extremely happy that Lisa agreed to become our Patron, and are looking forward to supporting each other’s endeavours as we grow together.

Lisa says: “I am both thrilled and honoured to be the Patron of the Rochester Literature Festival. It promises to be full of brilliant events once again, all taking place in my home county, and I’m delighted to be a part of it. It’s a wonderful festival bringing readers, writers and the Medway community together. Reading and writing are two things I love, so to see them celebrated so strongly within the Medway area, not just from 1st to 9th October, but with events happening throughout the year, is inspiring.

“The packed 2016 programme contains workshops, library events, screenwriting and the Dickens Festival. Medway Libraries have been particularly supportive of me over the last few years, so to be asked to come along and spend time talking to readers and writers was something I agreed to without any hesitation.

“I really would like to thank the hard working and enthusiastic team at Rochester Literature Festival for asking me to be their Patron.”

Lisa is the author of three police procedural novels, based on her twenty years of policing experience. She works as a detective constable for Kent Police and has spent over ten years in the Serious Crime Directorate dealing mostly with murders and other serious investigations.

An extract from her first novel, Never Forget, won the Writer’s Retreat competition in 2012 and was published by Myriad Editions in 2013. The second in the DC Nina Foster series was published in 2014 and her third book is to be published by Simon and Schuster on 20th October 2016.

She has been on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book with Mariella Frostrup, BBC Radio Kent, part of First Fictions festival at West Dean College, Chichester, on the inaugural panel at Brighton’s Dark and Stormy Festival, took part in the Chiswick Book Festival in 2015, and is appearing at Bristol’s Crimefest on Friday 20th May 2016.

Her debut novel, Never Forget, won the 2014 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Thriller.

Lisa’s talk during the festival will be at Strood Library on Tuesday, October 4th. More details will be available in due course, so do save the date in your diary to come along and meet her.