Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann™ :: Books on the Madeleine McCann case :: Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan's book: 'Looking for Madeleine'
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Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by Tony Bennett 21.10.15 20:28
Last year, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan were amongst special guests at the Hay Festival Kells.
This is how they were billed:
Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
Event 49 • Saturday 5 July 2014, 6.30pm • Venue: Headfort Arms Hotel – Meath County Council Stage
Long-time collaborators Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11and Osama bin Laden) offer a master class in investigative journalism. Chaired by Myles Dungan.
On Saturday 27 June this year Anthony Summers and Robbyn again spoke at a special literary evening at a festival in Ireland called ‘Hay Festival Kells’. Summers and Swan had flown over from the United States for this prestigious event.
For those who are unaware of this event, the Hay Festival is an annual gathering of the great and the good in the British literary world and usually takes place in the English/Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye. It’s the sort of event where anybody who is a ‘somebody’ in the literary world - authors, writers, poets, publishers, journalist, broadcaster, media people and their bosses are likely to be in attendance. It is a highly influential, trendsetting event. And now an annual version of this is held at Kells, County Meath, in the Republic of Ireland. The Festival usually lasts two weeks.
Summers and Swan were invited to speak at an event that could only be attended if you were already a Hay Festival Member AND paid a large fee to attend. Quote: “Only Friends of Hay Festival may buy tickets for this event prior to the public launch of the programme”. They were interviewed by Myles Dungan, an Irish author and journalist who also works for the Irish TV station: Radio Teilifis Eeirann.
The event this year was billed as follows:
LOOKING FOR MADELEINE
Internationally renowned investigative journalists Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: The Ultimate Account of 9/11) return to Hay Festival Kells to talk about their 2014 bestseller Looking for Madeleine, about the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann. They discuss the overwhelming and often troubling response to the book on social media. Chaired by Myles Dungan.
In another handout, their talk was billed slightly differently, as follows:
* Internationally renowned investigative journalists Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: the Ultimate Account of 9/11) return to the Hay Festival to talk about their 2014 bestseller Looking for Madeleine about the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Anthony and Robbyn will also be talking in a separate event about their biography of Frank Sinatra to mark the centenary of his birth.
By all accounts, Summers and Swan boasted of their skills in journalistic investigation, re-confirmed that all that the McCanns had said about Madeleine’s abducution was the truth, how they had checked all the alleged contradictions and found that they were all explicable, and finally rounded on the nasty, hating trolls on the internet had unfairly savaged both the McCanns and their book. No-one was there to challenge Summers & Swan.
And so it came to pass that public perception about the abduction of Madeleine McCann was once again powerfully reinforced at this gathering of the ‘great and the good’ of the literary, publishing and media world.
This is how they were billed:
Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
Event 49 • Saturday 5 July 2014, 6.30pm • Venue: Headfort Arms Hotel – Meath County Council Stage
Long-time collaborators Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11and Osama bin Laden) offer a master class in investigative journalism. Chaired by Myles Dungan.
On Saturday 27 June this year Anthony Summers and Robbyn again spoke at a special literary evening at a festival in Ireland called ‘Hay Festival Kells’. Summers and Swan had flown over from the United States for this prestigious event.
For those who are unaware of this event, the Hay Festival is an annual gathering of the great and the good in the British literary world and usually takes place in the English/Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye. It’s the sort of event where anybody who is a ‘somebody’ in the literary world - authors, writers, poets, publishers, journalist, broadcaster, media people and their bosses are likely to be in attendance. It is a highly influential, trendsetting event. And now an annual version of this is held at Kells, County Meath, in the Republic of Ireland. The Festival usually lasts two weeks.
 Myles Dungan@MylesDungan1 Jun 21 Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan will discuss 'Looking for Madeleine' with me at the @HayKells on Sat 27 June - https://www.hayfestival.com/s-376-saturday-27-june-2015.aspx?pagenum=2 … |
Summers and Swan were invited to speak at an event that could only be attended if you were already a Hay Festival Member AND paid a large fee to attend. Quote: “Only Friends of Hay Festival may buy tickets for this event prior to the public launch of the programme”. They were interviewed by Myles Dungan, an Irish author and journalist who also works for the Irish TV station: Radio Teilifis Eeirann.
The event this year was billed as follows:
LOOKING FOR MADELEINE
Internationally renowned investigative journalists Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: The Ultimate Account of 9/11) return to Hay Festival Kells to talk about their 2014 bestseller Looking for Madeleine, about the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann. They discuss the overwhelming and often troubling response to the book on social media. Chaired by Myles Dungan.
In another handout, their talk was billed slightly differently, as follows:
* Internationally renowned investigative journalists Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan (The Eleventh Day: the Ultimate Account of 9/11) return to the Hay Festival to talk about their 2014 bestseller Looking for Madeleine about the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Anthony and Robbyn will also be talking in a separate event about their biography of Frank Sinatra to mark the centenary of his birth.
By all accounts, Summers and Swan boasted of their skills in journalistic investigation, re-confirmed that all that the McCanns had said about Madeleine’s abducution was the truth, how they had checked all the alleged contradictions and found that they were all explicable, and finally rounded on the nasty, hating trolls on the internet had unfairly savaged both the McCanns and their book. No-one was there to challenge Summers & Swan.
And so it came to pass that public perception about the abduction of Madeleine McCann was once again powerfully reinforced at this gathering of the ‘great and the good’ of the literary, publishing and media world.
____________________
Dr Martin Roberts: "The evidence is that these are the pjyamas Madeleine wore on holiday in Praia da Luz. They were photographed and the photo handed to a press agency, who released it on 8 May, as the search for Madeleine continued. The McCanns held up these same pyjamas at two press conferences on 5 & 7June 2007. How could Madeleine have been abducted?"
Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".
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Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by Guest 21.10.15 20:34
"Bestseller"? I don't think so!
Guest- Guest
Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by Tony Bennett 21.10.15 21:01
Ladyinred wrote:"Bestseller"? I don't think so!
I flicked through the first 15 pages of Waterstones' best-seller lists (18 books to a page). It's not listed on any of them, so it's not in their top 270 best-sellers list at the moment
____________________
Dr Martin Roberts: "The evidence is that these are the pjyamas Madeleine wore on holiday in Praia da Luz. They were photographed and the photo handed to a press agency, who released it on 8 May, as the search for Madeleine continued. The McCanns held up these same pyjamas at two press conferences on 5 & 7June 2007. How could Madeleine have been abducted?"
Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".
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Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by plebgate 21.10.15 21:56
I would be very surprised if the great and the good had not already looked on line and seen the comments posted about the "best selling" book. Maybe some have now done a bit of research of their own and found this forum. 
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Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by woodpecker 22.10.15 14:01
I wish I’d known about Summers & Swan being at that literary festival in Kells, Ireland. I’ve wanted an excuse to visit Ireland for a while and I have read their book.......
I doubt that they were paid a large fee though. Literary Festivals are not commercial events; they just aim to cover costs as far as I know. I looked up the programme and the entry fee for the S & S duo was €5. The lowest entry fee was €4 and the better known writers there like Lynda La Plante cost €9. The S&S gig was sponsored by Rooneys HomeValu Agri & Hardware in Kells. I doubt that a small town hardware shop would put up a big fee even for this pair of ‘bestsellers.’
It costs £25 to be Friend of the Festival (£40 for 2 people). This gives you priority booking for all events before the official (public) launch of the festival programme. So it wouldn’t have been difficult to get a ticket for S&S. I doubt there was a rush, and almost certainly no need to pay the Festival Friend fee; you could just pay your €5 entry fee on the door.
I thought they lived in Ireland (Summers is an Irish citizen) so not sure they flew over from the States for the Festival. Maybe they were visiting Robbyn’s family in the States and were able to plan their schedule to get their flights paid by the Festival?
Tony, judging from your post you got a version of the event from someone there or who knew someone who was. Do you know/can you find out how many people approx attended? And did anyone ask even a slightly awkward question? What a pity you weren’t there.
Would be great if anyone knowing they are appearing at a literary festival in the future could post the info beforehand and maybe some of us could go....
I doubt that they were paid a large fee though. Literary Festivals are not commercial events; they just aim to cover costs as far as I know. I looked up the programme and the entry fee for the S & S duo was €5. The lowest entry fee was €4 and the better known writers there like Lynda La Plante cost €9. The S&S gig was sponsored by Rooneys HomeValu Agri & Hardware in Kells. I doubt that a small town hardware shop would put up a big fee even for this pair of ‘bestsellers.’
It costs £25 to be Friend of the Festival (£40 for 2 people). This gives you priority booking for all events before the official (public) launch of the festival programme. So it wouldn’t have been difficult to get a ticket for S&S. I doubt there was a rush, and almost certainly no need to pay the Festival Friend fee; you could just pay your €5 entry fee on the door.
I thought they lived in Ireland (Summers is an Irish citizen) so not sure they flew over from the States for the Festival. Maybe they were visiting Robbyn’s family in the States and were able to plan their schedule to get their flights paid by the Festival?
Tony, judging from your post you got a version of the event from someone there or who knew someone who was. Do you know/can you find out how many people approx attended? And did anyone ask even a slightly awkward question? What a pity you weren’t there.
Would be great if anyone knowing they are appearing at a literary festival in the future could post the info beforehand and maybe some of us could go....
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Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by snook 22.10.15 16:48
Sorry to drag you know who into this thread but she picked up my comment about them being successful writers whether or not we agree with their conclusions.
Her response is that she classes herself as a writer of superior talents to S & S!?
And there was me thinking she didn't visit this corner of the internet?
Her response is that she classes herself as a writer of superior talents to S & S!?
And there was me thinking she didn't visit this corner of the internet?
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Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by tigger 23.10.15 14:29
I just wonder how this short-listing for the Pullitzer Prize works? How long is that list?
Besides, as in many other matters, nomination for an award is a matter of politics in the PR world.
'madeleine' was shortlisted for some or other award. Something to do with Freud PR iirc.
Also, S&S have written what I understand to be a book abou 9/11 which imo goes against all the evidence -e.g. a passenger plane does not slice through a steel and concrete building like a knife through butter to name but one issue.
Taking that into consideration - if I'd written a book to exonerate myself from involvement in say an abduction and it didn't work all that well, might be an idea to commision a book from as-good-as Pullitzer winners?
Wouldn't set me back much more than about 50 K...
Besides, as in many other matters, nomination for an award is a matter of politics in the PR world.
'madeleine' was shortlisted for some or other award. Something to do with Freud PR iirc.
Also, S&S have written what I understand to be a book abou 9/11 which imo goes against all the evidence -e.g. a passenger plane does not slice through a steel and concrete building like a knife through butter to name but one issue.
Taking that into consideration - if I'd written a book to exonerate myself from involvement in say an abduction and it didn't work all that well, might be an idea to commision a book from as-good-as Pullitzer winners?
Wouldn't set me back much more than about 50 K...
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Re: Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
by Amy Dean 24.10.15 16:01
Woodpecker, I'm surprised that event in June didn't receive any publicity. A friend in Galway would have attended it if he'd heard about it.
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» Interesting new blog - Looking For Madeleine: A chapter by chapter review
The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann™ :: Books on the Madeleine McCann case :: Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan's book: 'Looking for Madeleine'
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