NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER – GREEN MAN ANNOUNCES A SPANKING LINE-UP OF COMEDY & LITERATURE FOR SUMMER 2009

When he’s not slurping cider, making mischief or head-banging in the front row, there’s nothing the Green Man likes better than a good old-fashioned belly laugh, a little food for thought and a decent film.

Lucky for you then he’s lined up a rib-tickling array of award-winning comics, writers and cultural icons including Josie Long, Howard Marks and Jon Savage – especially for those in need of some time out from the music and mayhem of this summer’s festival.

COMEDY

One of Britain’s brightest comedy hopes, Josie Long won the BBC’s New Comedy Award at the tender age of 17 before being crowned Best Newcomer at Edinburgh in 2006. Ramshackle, rambling and hugely entertaining, she is sure to win over great hearts and minds alike at Green Man 2009.

Half Canadian, half Trinidadian Tony Law is one of the comedians’ favourite comedians, leaving audiences around the world in stitches with his ingenious brand of laid-back acid-casualty humour.

Elsewhere Radio 4’s musical mirth-maker Mitch Benn and Terry Saunders - comedy bible Chortle’s 2008 Breakthrough Act - head a glittering cast of more than 20 top comics including circuit regulars Ian Cognito, Howard Read and Liam Mullone that will leave your eyes streaming and jaw aching…

LITERATURE


Welsh dope fiend, drugs legalisation campaigner and all-round Mr Nice Guy Howard Marks holds court with a hatful of hedonistic tales from a life that has seen him amass 43 aliases, a 25-year prison sentence, some rather famous friends and two best-selling books.

Also not to be missed are missives from the frontline of popular culture with journalist and broadcaster Jon Savage - author of the seminal England’s Dreaming - post-punk pioneers Jah Wobble (Public Image Limited) and David Thomas (Pere Ubu), and industry insider Stephen Machat lifting the lid on the music biz with his no-holds-barred expose Gods, Gangsters & Monsters, published in August.

Plus there’s a Green Man Exclusive appearance from legendary producer Joe Boyd reading from his star-studded memoirs White Bicycles, an alternative tour of Britain with Guardian music journalist Will Hodgkinson, acclaimed novelist Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen) and many, many more treats yet to be announced.