Literary Tourism is all the rage

We have already commented on Visit Wales's new campaign to use "literary icons" like Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas to attract new visitors to Wales. 

It's all the rage.........  Today's Observer reports on the new campaign to use literary tourism to pull new tourists into England, capitalising on the weak pound and "value for money" (!!).  Hmm -- I think I might have preferred a strong pound and a life not dominated by all this Brexit nonsense.

Anyway, 2017 is  Visit England's Year of Literary Heroes. According to the PR, Literary Heroes 2017 promises to be bumper year for book lovers everywhere with a host of English literary anniversaries to celebrate. Some of the key events on the horizon include:

20th anniversary of the first publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
50th anniversary of the death of Arthur Ransome, Suffolk
75th anniversary of Enid Blyton's Famous Five
100th anniversary of poet, Edward Thomas's death, Hampshire
125th anniversary of the first publication of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
125th anniversary of the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Lincolnshire
150th anniversary of the birth of Arnold Bennett, Stoke-on-Trent
200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen.