Sunday 6th – Sunday 13th November
The Twelfth
BRIDPORT
Literary Festival 2016
Main Festival sponsors:
1
www.bridlit.com
Legal advice and services for life We are very happy to make home visits and out of hours appointments
Beaminster 01308 862313 | Bridport 01308 427436 Lyme Regis 01297 442580
www.kitsonandtrotman.co.uk
The Bull Hotel
Electric Palace
The Lyric Theatre
Bridport Arts Centre
The Riverside
Sladers Yard
The 12th Bridport Literary Festival welcomes all those who read books and love literature. Last year’s Festival was bigger and better than ever before and we were delighted to welcome audiences of all tastes and all ages from all over the county as well as visitors from much further afield. This year we have a stellar list of writers of both fiction and non-fiction and our programme of events will again, we hope, banish the gloomy days of November and help us all to look forward with optimism to the Christmas season and New Year. To launch the Festival, we are delighted to announce that The Bridport Literary Festival and The Bridport Arts Centre are jointly presenting A Very Special Literary Event at the Arts Centre on the evening of Friday 4 November at 7.30pm with George Monbiot. the brilliant environmentalist and political activist , and Ewan McLennan, the Scottish folk musician and singer-songwriter, on the theme of: Breaking the Spell of Loneliness. Last year’s Bridlit Little ‘Uns morning was a huge success and we have all kinds of entertainment planned for kids this year at The Lyric Theatre in Barrack Street in the centre of Bridport on Saturday 12 November. An essential date for the diary. The Bull Hotel (www.thebullhotel.co.uk) is again the hub of our activities where talks take place in the glamorous ballroom and a specially created lunch menu can be enjoyed by Festival devotees. Events will also be hosted at the gloriously eclectic Electric Palace (www.electricpalace.org.uk) and the Bridport Arts Centre (www.bridport-arts.com), Sladers Yard Gallery and Café (www.sladersyard.co.uk) and The Riverside (www.thefishrestaurant-westbay.co.uk) at West Bay. We are also presenting a Turkish evening of exotic food and music with Jason Goodwin at The Tithe Barn Symondsbury (www.symondsburyestate.co.uk) where we have held several successful Friends events this year. Please see information about becoming a Friend on page 26. Festival Director: Tanya Bruce-Lockhart
The Tithe Barn, Symondsbury
Patron: Sir Michael Holroyd CBE
The Team: Miranda Alexander Spencer Butler James Crowden Fiona Henderson Joanna Jacobson Sally Laverack Horatio Morpurgo Cath Nickels Boris Starling Robert Twigger Jason Webster President: Lord Fellowes of West Stafford Trustees: John Sacher CBE (Chairman) Deirdre Coates (Chairman of The Friends) Antony Hichens, Kate Hobbs, Venetia Ross Skinner
www.bridlit.com
Advance Booking: Bridport Tourist Information Centre The Town Hall, South Street DT6 3LF Tel: 01308 424 901 Registered Charity No: 1147075
3
THE FRIENDS OF THE BRIDPORT LITERARY FESTIVAL A VERY SPECIAL LITERARY EVENT
Monday 10th October 2016 Tithe Barn, Symondsbury, Bridport DT6 6HQ DEEPEST DORSET – Exploring “England’s Tuscany” A NEW book about Dorset explores what makes the county special – the landscape, the geology, the food, the history, the literature…… and the people. DEEPEST DORSET, written and edited by Fanny Charles and Gay Pirrie-Weir, with photographs by Katharine Davies and Philip Hartley, has contributions from well-known Dorset residents including Julian Fellowes, Kate Adie, Italian cookery writer Anna del Conte, photographer Charlie Waite, novelist Tracy Chevalier and poet Paul Hyland. Picture essays include Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy, food and farming campaigner, Jyoti Fernandes of Fivepenny Farm, St. Giles House and the Shaftesburys, and artist Marzia Colonna, the Italian-born sculptor and collage artist who describes Dorset as “England’s Tuscany”. DEEPEST DORSET aims to capture some of the voices of Dorset in the 21st century. It is not a travel guide or an exhaustive study of contemporary Dorset, but the authors hope that readers will discover places and people that are new to them - food for thought and the dinner table stimulating facts and surprises. Join sculptor and artist Marzia Colonna, musician and oral history expert Tim Laycock, cider-maker and poet James Crowden and journalist Fanny Charles for a delicious Dorset cream tea at The Tithe Barn Symondsbury on Monday 10 October at 2.30 pm when we they will be talking about DEEPEST DORSET.
Time: Tickets: Venue:
2.30pm £12 to include Dorset Cream Tea and Apple Cake Tickets for this event are available through the The Bridport Tourist Information Centre (01308 424901) The Tithe Barn, Symondsbury
James Crowden
Marzia Colonna
Tim Laycock
Friday 4th November Special Event
A Very Special Literary Event Presented by: The Bridport Literary Festival and The Bridport Arts Centre
Breaking the Spell of Loneliness George Monbiot and Ewan McLennan introduced by Horatio Morpurgo George Monbiot is one of the great journalists of his generation, known above all perhaps for his political activism and writing on the environment. His book: Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding and a recently published volume of essays: How Did We Get Into This Mess? have both met with acclaim. His has always been a compelling voice for a world in which personal realisation and social engagement belong together. Ewan McLennan is a singer song-writer, guitarist and winner of multiple awards. A star on the UK folk circuit, he combines political storytelling with a lyrical gift that delights audiences everywhere. The claim that we are all inherently selfish is by now just part of the background noise of our lives. But we pay a price for our collusion in this dubious assumption. An epidemic of loneliness is sweeping the world, leaving us emotionally and socially fragmented. When George wrote an article about this for his weekly column in The Guardian it went viral. Rather than write another book, he chose to document and address the problem of loneliness through music. The result has been a concept album with Ewan. George wrote the stories and Ewan turned them into ballads and anthems. Their aim is to entertain and delight - and help us all overcome our shyness to make friends among the strangers in our midst. An evening of words and music promises to break that spell of separation and unite us all.
Time: 7.30pm Tickets: £15 Tickets for this event are available through the Bridport Arts Centre Box Office (01308 424204) www.bridport-arts.com Venue: The Bridport Arts Centre 5
Sunday 6th Nov Event 1
SAS Rogue Heroes: The Authorized Wartime History Ben Macintyre in conversation with
Event 2
Shakespeare the Poet: a Celebration of the playwright’s poetic gift in the sonnets, the big poems and the plays
General Sir Michael Rose
Graham Fawcett
The History of the SAS is the last great untold story of WWII of one of the most secretive organisations in the world. Best selling author, Ben Macintryre has had complete and unprecedented access to the SAS archives, a trove of unpublished material including top secret reports, diaries, letters, maps and photographs. In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, came up with a plan that was imaginative, radical and entirely against the rules: a small, undercover unit that would wreak havoc behind enemy lines. Despite opposition, Churchill gave Stirling permission to go ahead and thus began the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS.
400 years after Shakespeare’s death in 1616, there are still so many questions we are forced to ask ourselves afresh about his astonishing output of literary work. To what extent did the author of the Sonnets feel he was writing poems in his plays as though momentarily staging a poetry recital of set pieces to hold an audience’s breath in mid-drama? Yet when we see a Shakespeare play, the unfolding narrative, the constant impact of the action, the naturalness of verse as speech sweeps our imagination over the poetry and blinds us to the sheer craft. Graham Fawcett, whose annual literary lectures are always a highlight of BridLit, will illustrate an abundance of compelling examples from The Works, which will distinguish Shakespeare the poet from Shakespeare the dramatist.
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom Sponsored by: John and Felicity Fairbairn 6
Time: 12 Noon Tickets: £12/£30* Venue: Sladers Yard, West Bay Sponsored by: Howard and Prue Davies
*with two course lunch. Please telephone Sladers Yard (01308 459511) for reservations.
Sunday 6th Nov Event 3
Event 4
A House Full of Daughters Cousins Juliet Nicolson in conversation with Caroline Montagu All families have their myths and legends. For many years Juliet Nicolson accepted hers – the dangerous beauty of her flamenco dancing great-great-grandmother Pepita, the flirty manipulation of her great-grandmother Victoria, the infamous eccentricity of her grandmother, Vita Sackville-West, and her mother’s tory-conventional background. Juliet has sought to question and uncover fact from fiction and expose secrets long held out of sight and difficult to expose. A House Full of Daughters takes us through seven generations of women with the unblinking eyes of a historian and then with courage and candour, Juliet reveals the uncomfortable patterns repeated in her own life; but with the birth of each of her daughters there is hope to break free from the cycle and to start afresh.
Time: 3.00 pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom Sponsored by: Barry and Islay Mawhinney Ian and Mary Scott
How much can love ask of us? Salley Vickers in conversation with Boris Starling Salley Vickers is the bestselling author of Miss Garnet’s Angel and several other novels as well as a collections of short stories including: The Boy Who Could See Death published last year. In her latest novel, Cousins, Salley takes a highimpact, controversial psychological premise and its effects, drawing an emotionally vivid, page-turning portrait of family conflicts and social norms. A love story between cousins and its dramatic impact upon all those concerned takes us from the outbreak of WWII to the present day, exploring the recurrence of tragedy, the nature of transgression and the limits of morality.
Time: 6.30pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom 7
Monday 7th Nov Event 5
Event 6
Event 7
White Mountain Les Parisiennes
Shakespeare in Swahililand
How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved Adventures with the and Died in the 1940s Ever-Living Poet Anne Sebba
Edward Wilson-Lee
How did it feel to be a woman living in Paris from 1939 to 1949? Years of fear, power, aggression, courage, deprivation and secrets. It was women, more than men who came face to face with their German conquerors on a daily basis. By looking at a wide range of individuals from collaborators to resisters, actresses to prostitutes to teachers and writers, Anne Sebba shows that women made life-and-death decisions every day. How did these women who survived to see the Liberation of Paris come to terms with their actions and those of others?
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Edward Wilson-Lee, a Cambridge lecturer brought up in Kenya, brings us a riveting celebration of the Bard as a global poet. Part travelogue and part history, Shakespeare in Swahililand tells the unexpected literary tale of Shakespeare’s influence in East Africa, weaving together stories of explorers, eccentrics living out their dreams, decadent émigrés and Cold War intrigues. In an sumptuous illustrated talk, Edward gets to the heart of what makes Shakespeare universal.
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom
Time: 2.30 pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom
Sponsored by: Cato Strategic Limited 8
Sponsored by: Anthony and Val Pitt-Rivers Denotes an Illustrated Talk
Robert Twigger in conversation with Adrian Turpin Robert Twigger, British author, poet and adventurer, has written a sweeping and fascinating biography of the Himalayas – home to mythical kingdoms, wars and expeditions, and strange and magical beasts. The world’s greatest mountain range is an ever constant draw upon our imagination. Overrun at different times by Buddhism, Taoism, Shamanism, Islam and Christianity, the region has been Grand Central Station of the world’s religions as well as a plant hunter’s paradise, a climber’s challenge and a traveller’s dream. Robert illustrates the magnificence of the Himalyas with some breathtaking photographs and reveals his own personal reasons for writing the book.
Time: 6.30pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom Sponsored by: Francesca Radcliffe in memory of ‘Dick’ Worcester
Denotes an Illustrated Talk
Tuesday 8th Nov Event 8
How To Read Water
Event 9
The Dark Flood Rises
Margaret Drabble in Clues, Signs and Patterns from Puddles conversation with Sally Laverack to the Sea A new novel from a literary great is always a major From the author of the cultural highlight. Margaret award-winning: The Natural Drabble’s latest work of Navigator and bestselling The fiction: The Dark Flood Rises Walker’s Guide to Outdoor is partly set in the West Clues and Signs, Tristan Country and tackles with Gooley gives an illustrated deftness the difficulties we talk which will reveal the all have to face with old age skills, tips and observations to and death. The question of help understand the water all what constitutes a good death around us and its relationship and how we understand it with land, sky, sun, moon, does preoccupy this dazzling stars, clouds, trees, plants new novel which enthrals, and animals. For everyone entertains and asks existential interested in the natural questions in equal measure. world, How To Read Water Wit and wisdom prevail unlocks the secrets of water throughout this strong and Tristan draws on his own narrative of the ultimate adventures and experiences conundrum that faces all from wild swimming in families. Sussex to canoeing in Borneo.
Tristan Gooley
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bridport Arts Centre Sponsored by: John and Caryl Hubbard Denotes an Illustrated Talk
Event 10
Five Quarters Recipes and notes from a Kitchen in Rome Rachel Roddy in conversation with Shirley Booth Rome-based Rachel Roddy is the popular food blogger (www. racheleats.wordpress.com) and writer of a weekly column for The Guardian: Kitchen Sink Tales. Winner of the 2015 Andre Simon Book Award for her captivating book: Five Quarters, Rachel shares her love of Italian food and charts a year in her small kitchen in the Testaccio Quarter of Rome – capturing a uniquely domestic picture of life in this vibrant, charismatic city. Her conversation with Shirley Booth is to be followed by a sumptuously delicious feast based on her recipes and created by Sladers Yard masterchef, Jackie Spendlow.
Time: 6.30 pm Time: 2.30 pm Tickets: £12/£30* Tickets: £10 Venue: S laders Yard, Venue: The Bridort Arts West Bay Centre
Sponsored by: Jean Edwards Sponsored by: and the Dorset Community Sally Inchbald and Peter Lee OBE Foundation *with two course Roman feast Please telephone Sladers Yard (01308 459511) for reservations
9
Proud to once again support the
Bridport
Literary Festival
Now in it’s 12th glorious year!
SERVING DELICIOUS BREAKFAST, BRUNCH, LUNCH AND DINNER SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, MOULES NIGHT EVERY WEDNESDAY, AWARD WINNING SUNDAY ROASTS EVERY WEEKEND. ALSO HOME TO THE LEGENDARY VENNER COCKTAIL BAR.
Book now 01308 422878
3 4 E A ST ST R E E T , B R I D P O R T | T HEB ULLHOT EL.C O.UK The Bull Hotel & Restaurant - serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week
Tuesday 8th Nov Event 11
George Millar DSO MC, Croix de Guerre and Legion d’Honneur The Literary Dinner is held every year in memory of George Millar who for 50 years lived in West Dorset until his death in 2005. His war memoirs and his books on sailing are still in print and continue to be enjoyed by generations of readers of all ages.
The George Millar Literary Dinner Guest Speaker: Harry Bucknall After twelve years service in the Coldstream Guards, including operational tours of Northern Ireland and Bosnia, Harry Bucknall worked in the oil and mining industry in the Middle East. He has also produced theatre on the London Fringe and written on behalf of the Arts Council and for many distinguished publications. He is the consummate journeyman whose thrilling adventures he has chronicled in two bestselling books: In the Dolphin’s Wake charts his 5,500 mile journey from Venice to Istanbul through the Greek Archipelago and Like A Tramp, Like a Pilgrim: the story of his incredible 1,411 mile walk to Rome through England, France, Switzerland and Italy, following the ancient Via Francigena which took 94 exhausting yet exhiliarating days. On 24th November 2015 Harry was granted the Freedom of the City of London and on the 30th November he walked the 335 miles from Coldstream to St. Paul’s Cathedral, arriving on the 14th December, having raised over £33,000 in aid of Walking With The Wounded’s homeless veterans’ Appeal. Harry Bucknall is a traveller and writer of distinction and brilliant at sharing his astonishing tales of daring do with wit and panache.
Time: 7.00 pm Tickets: £40 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom Sponsored by: Liz Jackson and Richard Strang
11
Wednesday 9th Nov Event 12
Writers Workshop – Crime Pays! Robert Twigger and Jason Webster A writing workshop for people who want to enter the ever expanding market for crime fiction. Jason Webster is the author of many crime novels featuring the series character Max Camara. Robert Twigger is the author of Red Nile – a history of the Nile told through numerous ‘true crime’ stories as well as the novel Dr. Ragab’s Universal Language which uses a crime/thriller format to tell a story spanning three generations in Egypt and Germany. Twigger and Webster specialise in workshops and courses that teach the essence of story telling and drama, and specifically the technical skills needed to write a real page turner. This short course will benefit everyone from the beginner just starting to the experienced writer wanting to move into crime fiction.
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £12 Venue: The Hayloft Bar of The Stables (behind The Bull Hotel) 12
Event 13
Pot Luck Nick Fisher in conversation with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall BAFTA winning scriptwriter and series creator, Nick Fisher, is a much published expert on fishing and fish cookery and has devised and presented a handful of factual fishing tv shows including Screaming Reels and Dirty Tackle. Pot Luck is his first venture into thriller writing and his is a dark and desperate tale of greed, drugs, crime and commercial crab fishing set in the vibrant seaside community of Weymouth. Nick and Hugh have been friends for years – join them for a delicious fishy lunch at the west country’s best fish restaurant.
Time: 12 noon Tickets: £30 Venue: The Riverside, West Bay Sponsored by: Robert and Diana Clarke
Wednesday 9th Nov Event 14
Event 15
Crime Thrillers
Mr. Gandy’s Grand Tour
Sophie Hannah and Janet Ellis in
Alan Titchmarsh in conversation with René Wyndham
conversation with Jason Webster
Without question Alan Titchmarsh is one of Britain’s National Treasures and is known to millions through his career as a television Sophie Hannah is the presenter and gardening expert as well as the bestselling author of 10 psychological thrillers and her chilling new host of The Alan Titchmarsh Show and his new Culver Valley crime novel: The Narrow Bed ITV games show: Masterpiece. He has written featuring DC Simon Waterhouse and Charlie more than 40 books on gardening and is the author of 8 bestselling novels and three volumes Zailer, is her most intriguing novel to date. of memoir. The hero of Alan’s new book, Sanctioned by the Agatha Christie Estate, Timothy Gandy, has aspired for 40 years to Sophie also continues the adventures of Christie’s Hercule Poirot, the latest of which: abandon his humdrum existence and to embark on a Grand Tour of Europe in the footsteps Closed Casket – is another gripping crime of eighteenth century aristocrats. When the for the master sleuth to solve. Janet Ellis, the popular television presenter and writer, opportunity suddenly arises, he is propelled into a series of adventures that he could never have best known for hosting the BBC children’s programme: Blue Peter has had rave reviews foreseen and which amount to a voyage of selfdiscovery as well as the wonders of humankind for her debut novel: The Butcher’s Hook, a found in unexpected places. historical thriller set in Georgian London – an enthralling and darkly bewitching gothic Time: 6.30pm tale. A trio of thriller writers is devised to Tickets: £10 enthrall!
Time: 2.30 pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom
Venue: The Electric Palace
13
jackson-stops.co.uk
Big enough to cope small enough to care With 8 offices in the West Country and over 40 nationally, including 8 in London, we combine expert local knowledge with comprehensive national coverage. For sales and valuation advice please contact your nearest office. Bridport 01308 423 133
Dorchester 01305 262 123
Sherborne 01935 810 141
Shaftesbury 01747 850 858
Exeter 01392 214 222
Barnstaple 01271 325 153
Truro 01872 261 160
Taunton 01823 325 144
People Property Places
The Bridport Literary Festival 2016 Booking Form SUNDAY 6TH NOVEMBER
Event
1
Event
2
Event
3
No.of
11.00 am Ben Macintyre
The Bull Ballroom
£10
12 Noon Graham Fawcett
Sladers Yard
3.00 pm Juliet Nicolson
The Bull Ballroom
£10
6.30 pm Salley Vickers
The Bull Ballroom
£10
The Bull Ballroom
£10
Event 4 MONDAY 7TH NOVEMBER
11.00 am Anne Sebba
£12/£30*
Event
5
Event
6
2.30 pm Edward Wilson-Lee
The Bull Ballroom
£10
Event
7
6.30 pm Robert Twigger
The Bull Ballroom
£10
Bridport Arts Ctr
£10
TUESDAY 8TH NOVEMBER
Event
8
11.00 am Tristan Gooley
Event
9
2.30 pm Margaret Drabble
Bridport Arts Ctr
Event
10
6.30 pm Rachel Roddy
Sladers Yard
7.00 pm Event 11 WEDNESDAY 9TH NOVEMBER
The Bull Ballroom
£40
Event
12
11.00 am Writers Workshop
The Hayloft Bar
£12
Event
13
12 Noon Nick Fisher
The Riverside
£30
Event
14
2.30 pm S Hannah & J Ellis
The Bull Ballroom
£10
Electric Palace
£10
6.30 pm 15 THURSDAY 10TH NOVEMBER Event
Event
16
Event
17
2.30 pm Tim Scott Bolton
6.30 pm 18 FRIDAY 11TH NOVEMBER Event
19
Event
20
Alan Titchmarsh
11.00 am Helen Dunmore David Aaronovitch
Event
11.00 am Ben Fogle 2.30 pm A.N. Wilson
6.30 pm Event 21 SATURDAY 12TH NOVEMBER
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Event
Bridlit Kids Events
22
The Bull Ballroom
£10
The Bull Ballroom
£10
The Bull Ballroom
£10
Electric Palace
£10
Electric Palace
£10
Electric Palace
£10
Event a
10.00 am
M Maudsley & D Duffy
The Lyric Theatre
Event b
12 Noon
Charlie Fuge
The Lyric Theatre
£5
Event c
2.00 pm
Angie Sage
The Lyric Theatre
£3/FREE
Event
23
Electric Palace
£10
Electric Palace
£12
Electric Palace
£10
The Tithe Barn
£20
Event
24
2.30 pm Charles Foster
Event
25
6.30 pm Jeremy Paxman
Event
27
Event
28
£3/FREE
11.00 am Paddy Ashdown
8.00 pm Event 26 SUNDAY 13TH NOVEMBER
✂
Literary Dinner
£10 £12/£30**
Turkish Delight
11.00 am Words & Music 3.00 pm Ghillean Prance
Sladers Yard The Bull Ballroom
NB If you would like tickets posted to you please enclose a SAE Denotes an Illustrated Talk
£12/£30* £10 Total
* with two course lunch. Please phone Sladers Yard ** with two course Roman feast. Please phone (01308 459511) for reservations. Sladers Yard (01308 459511) for reservations.
Booking Form details www.bridlit.com Name Address Postcode Tel Email Box Office: Bridport Tourist Information Centre, The Town Hall, South Street, Bridport, DT6 3LF
Tel: 01308 424 901 Opening times; Open Monday–Saturday 9.00 am – 5.00 pm until 29th October Open Monday–Saturday 10.00 am – 3.00 pm from 31rd October
Payment by cheque or credit card: Credit card payment via this form or in person at the Tourist Information Centre. I enclose a cheque for £
made payable to WDDC
Please charge my debit/creditcard: Solo/Switch/Mastercard/Visa card number expiry date
security number
issue/start date signature There will be a booking fee of £1 for telephone transactions Bridport Tourist Information Centre, The Town Hall, South Street, Bridport, DT6 3LF NB: If you would like tickets posted to you, please enclose s.a.e.
✂
By post:
Thursday 10th Nov Event 16
Event 17
A Brush with Brown Exposure Helen Dunmore in conversation with Jason Webster
The Landscapes of Capability Brown Tim Scott Bolton gives an
Event 18
Party Animals My Family and other Communists David Aaronovitch in conversation with Fergus Byrne
illustrated talk
Award winning author, Helen Dunmore, has always been fascinated by the Cold War period, which was also the era of her childhood, and it also provides the setting for her most recent novel: Exposure. London, November 1960 provides the backcloth to that period when the Cold War was most toxic. The secrets, betrayals, loves, lies and loyalties provide the narrative which envelops the two protagonists, Simon and Lily Callington, whose family life is drastically threatened by unknown and unseen forces. Helen’s spy drama has a chilling feel of absolute authenticity.
In July 1961 when David Aaronovitch, the award Nothing could be more winning journalist, was barely appropriate than a landscape seven years old, Yuri Gagarin, artist as author of this first the Russian Cosmonaut, came book of paintings of the 18th to London and represented century landscapes created by everything the Aaronovitch Lancelot Capability Brown. It family wished for – a popular th marks the 300 anniversary and handsome embodiment of Capability Brown’s birth in of modern communism. They 1716. The master landscapist, lived secretly and parallel to the is thought to have worked on non-communist majority who 150 country houses, and Tim went to church while David’s has painted a third of them family went to Socialist Sunday for his book. School. Society’s Up was their From Alnwick in the north Down, its Heroes were their to Petworth in the south, Villains. Party Animals is a his paintings evoke all the memoir of early life among hallmarks of CB’s legacy – communists – memories parkland grazed by sheep of belief and action and or deer, serpentine lakes, subsequent realisation of the undulating hills softened by elements that shaped them. clumps of trees – all seen through the artist’s eye. Time: 6.30 pm
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom
Time: 2.30 pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom
Sponsored by: Sue and Hugh Robinson
Sponsored by: Georgia Langton Denotes an Illustrated Talk
Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom Sponsored by: Jennifer Coombs Charles and Cindy Gray 17
Friday 11th Nov Event 19
Event 20
Event 21
The Romanovs: 1613 – 1918 Resolution Land Rover
in conversation with Jason
A.N. Wilson in conversation Goodwin
with Sally Laverack
Ben Fogle in conversation
A.N. Wilson’s powerful new novel explores the life and with Boris Starling times of one of the greatest It is said that for more than British explorers, Captain half the world’s population, Cook, and the golden age of the first car they ever saw Britain’s period of expansion was a Land Rover! It mirrors and exploration. Witness to many of our national traits Cook’s brilliance and wisdom, – stiff upper-lipped and the protagonist is George slightly eccentric. Ben Fogle, Forrester who travelled with writer and adventurer, is as Cook as botanist on board the quintessentially British as his HMS Resolution and penned a utilitarian car and his best famous account of the journey. beloved Labrador companions. Forrester’s own story is every He has travelled the length bit as extraordinary as Cook’s of the British Isles spending and Wilson weaves a tale of a time with the Royal Marines, remarkable cast of characters the Dartmoor search-andto look at human endeavour, rescue teams and consummate ingenuity and valour. explorers such as Sir Ranulph Time: 2.30 pm Fiennes to find out what Tickets: £10 makes this iconic vehicle a beacon of durability. Venue: The Electric
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £10 Venue: The Electric Palace
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Palace
Sponsored by: Jim Bartos and Trish Reed
Prizewinning historian, Simon Sebag Montefiore, tells the intimate story of twenty Tsars and Tsarinas whose lives were touched by genius and madness, inspired by holy autocracy, tainted by remorseless killing and sexual decadence. This family chronicle reveals a secret world of unlimited power, ruthless empire-building and palace conspiracy, with a global cast of tyrants, poets and adventuresses – from Ivan the Terrible to Lenin, Tolstoy to Lincoln, and Katherine the Great to Queen Victoria. The Romanovs is a story of triumph and tragedy – a portrait of an empire that still defines Russia today.
Time: 6.30pm Tickets: £10 Venue; The Electric Palace Sponsored by: Tim Clarke Nicky and Adam Fenwick 19
Saturday 12th Nov Event 22
Event 23
BridLit Fest Children’s Events Sponsored by: Sophie and Johnnie Boden Event 22a The dynamic duo of Martin Maudsley and Declan Duffy entertain with a mix of stories and songs – a joyous concoction of fun, frolics and flights of fancy. Recommended for 3 – 7 year olds.
Time: 10.00 am – 11.00 am Tickets: Children £3 Adults FREE Venue: The Lyric Theatre, Barrack Street Event 22b An Illustration Workshop with author and illustrator Charlie Fuge. His dazzling skill and wealth of experience will guide young hands to bring words and drawings to life on the page. Recommended for 8 year olds and upwards.
Time: 12 noon – 1.00pm Tickets: Children £5 sketchpad and pencil included Venue: The Lyric Theatre, Barrack Street Sponsored by: Bridport Arts and Crafts, East Street
Event 22c
Pathways to Magic Angie Sage is the best selling author of the fantastic Septimus Head series of thrilling adventures. She creates a truly ‘Magykal’ world. We are delighted that she will be introducing: StarChaser – Book 3 of the TodHunter Moon series. Recommended for 8 year olds and upwards.
Time: 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm Tickets: Children £3 Adults FREE Venue: The Lyric Theatre, Barrack Street Refreshments provided by The Lyric Box Office Café
20
Game of Spies The Secret Agent, the Traitor and the Nazi Bordeaux 1942 – 1944 Paddy Ashdown After service as a Royal Marine and as an intelligence officer for the UK security services, Paddy Ashdown is supremely well placed to tell a riveting threeway spy story set in occupied France. Three Men: one British, one French and one German were caught up in an atmosphere of collaboration, betrayal and assassination in which comrades sold fellow comrades. It is a story of the SOE, of treachery and heroism in a city once labelled ‘la plus collaboratrice’ in the whole of France.
Time: 11.00 am Tickets: £10 Venue: The Electric Palace Sponsored by: Helen and Andrew Carless Tess Silkstone and Harold Carter
The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Talk Event 24
Being a Beast Charles Foster in conversation with James Crowden Charles Foster, writer, barrister, veterinarian, traveller and Fellow of the University of Oxford, wanted to know what it was like to be a beast: a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox, a swift. What it was really like. And through knowing what is was like he wanted to get down and grapple with the beast in us all. A passionate naturalist, Foster set about living life as a badger for six weeks, sleeping in a dirt hole and eating earthworms, facing shrimps at close quarters as he lived like an otter and raiding bins for food as he lived like an urban fox. It also provided a literary challenge. Looking at what science can tell us about what happens in a fox’s or badger’s brain when it picks up a scent, he uses this information to imagine their world for us and to write it through their eyes, or rather through the eyes of Charles, the beast.
Time: 2.30 pm Tickets: £12 Venue: The Electric Palace
Kenneth Allsop, was a broadcaster, writer and champion of conservation who lived near Bridport until his death in 1973.
Sponsored by: Sue and John Bradbury
Part of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Common Ground, the West Dorset based environmental arts charity www.comonground.org.uk
21
Saturday 12th Nov Event 25
Event 26 L hPbWX\R^^ZbISTANBU
SQTP]P__TcXbX]V_a^b_TRc 0HPbWX\R^^ZTahQ^^Zf^d[ CWT6dPaSXP]
hPbWX\R^^Zb
ISTANBUL
YPb^]V^^SfX]
A Life in Questions
Turkish Delight
Jeremy Paxman in conversation with
Yashim Cooks Istanbul
Susannah Simons Undoubtedly one of the nation’s most accomplished and incisive political commentators and programme presenters of his generation, Jeremy Paxman’s memoirs are a literary highlight this year. His recollections of reporting in war zones, the role of journalism in our political system and his observations on the state of the BBC and his years as anchorman of their flagship Newsnight are candid, witty and self-deprecating. An often impatient and acerbic host of University Challenge, Paxman is also the author of nine best-selling books covering everything from military history to the role of monarchy. He is also the recipient of many awards and honours including five Royal Television Society Awards. His love of fly fishing, his loyalty to Leeds United and his eclectic taste in art together with his wicked sense of humour are both entertaining and revealing. A conversation with Jeremy Paxman is a treat in store.
Time: 6.30 pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Electric Palace
Jason Goodwin An evening of delicious food and intoxicating music with award-winning crime writer, Jason Goodwin, and She’Koyakh the best Klezmer and Baltic Band in Britain. Jason explores the culinary delights of the old Ottoman capital, a powerhouse served by the most fertile regions of the eastern Mediterranean. Dozens of scrumptious recipes mingle influences from Greek, Levantine and Turkish cuisine inspired by Jason’s bestselling Yashim detective novels. Follow a trail of tastes and sounds from menemen to meze, klephtic lamb to ladies’ thighs! Jason gives an illustrated talk and She’Koyakh entertain with the vibrant and seductive rhythms of eastern Europe and beyond.
Time: 8.00 pm Tickets: £20 Venue: The Tithe Barn, Symondsbury Sponsored by: Jim and Sarah Wild Cigdem Aslan
Sponsored by: Carol Hammick and Adam Tindall Sue and David Orr 22
Zivorad Nikolic
Matt Bacon
Sunday 13th Nov Event 27
Event 28
Adventures in Words and Music Featuring: poet and author: Matt Harvey multi-instrumentalist and story-teller: Daniel Marcus Clark saxophonist: Andy Williamson pianist: Philip Clouts A very special event exclusively curated for this year’s festival, brings together four talented wordsmiths and musicians. Matt is well known for his delicious wordsmithery and for his eclectic poetry readings, keeping audiences in rapt attention and never far from giggles and guffaws. Daniel is the creative force behind Earfilms – amazing three-dimensional audio worlds presented live to a blindfolded audience. Andy performed for years with The Honkin’ Hep Cats and now leads The Big Buzzard Boogie Band and Philip has the longest pedigree as a celebrated jazz musician, praised for his ebullience and funkiness. As a Collective, their rapport is exemplary and their entertainment brings this year’s festival to a merry and memorable musical conclusion.
Time: 12 noon Tickets: £12/£30* Venue: Sladers Yard, West Bay Sponsored Anonymously by ‘Soixante’ *with two course luncheon Please telephone Sladers Yard (01308 459511) for reservations
That Glorious Forest Professor Sir Ghillean Prance Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1988 to 1999, Professor Prance has spent a lifetime conducting extensive fieldwork all over the world and especially the Amazon region of Brazil. His book: That Glorious Forest is about the 39 expeditions mainly to the rainforest of that region and a fascinating illustrated talk will reveal the forest, its ecology and the native peoples. The adventures involved in collecting over thirty thousand specimens of plants over a thirty year period, including the discovery of 350 new unnamed species, are spell-binding and enthralling.
Time: 3.00pm Tickets: £10 Venue: The Bull Hotel – Ballroom Sponsored by: Anonymously and Ros and John Senior Denotes an Illustrated Talk
23
Map of venues
BRIDPORT
Literary Festival
2 B316
A35
port
A
id To Br
CHURCH ST.
CHANCERY LANE
The Riverside
WEST BAY To West Bay SEE INSET MAP
Advance Booking: Bridport Tourist Information Centre, The Town Hall, South Street, Bridport, DT6 3LF Tel: 01308 424 901 The Bridport Literary Festival Sunday 6th Sunday 13th Nov 2016
From Bridport
GE OR GE
P
35
To Chideock
The Electric Palace
Sladers Yard
ST .
7
SYMONDSBURY
P
Solicitors
FOLLY MILL LANE
B3157
Symondsbury estate
The Bull HotelHotel & Hayloft Bridport Kitson & Arts Centre Trotman
B3 15
Tourist Information Centre SOUTH ST.
The Tithe Barn
A35 To Dorchester
EAST ST. B3162
WEST ST.
B3162
A3066
To A35, Lyme Regis
Lyric Theatre Waterstone’s
A35
P
BARRACK STREET
BRIDPORT
Sponsors and Donors The Trustees and Festival Director of the Bridport Literary Festival would like to thank all the Sponsors, Donors and Advertisers, including those who have given anonymously, for their generosity and enthusiasm in supporting this year’s Festival. Many thanks to all our Stewards for their commitment and good humour. Platinum Howard and Deirdre Coates Antony and Sczerina Hichens John and Buffy Sacher
Waterstones Kitson & Trotman, solicitors Venetia Ross Skinner
Gold Nick Amor Sophie and Johnnie Boden Tim Clarke Denhay Farms Limited Jean Edwards The Dorset Community John and Felicity Fairbairn Foundation John and Caryl Hubbard Adam and Nicky Fenwick Derek Parkes Sally Inchbald and Francesca Radcliffe Peter Lee OBE Richard Strang and Liz Jackson Anthony and Val Pitt-Rivers Sue and Hugh Robinson Sarah and Jim Wild Silver Jim Bartos Sue and John Bradbury Helen and Andrew Carless Harold Carter and Cato Strategic Limited Tess Silkstone Jennifer Coombs Robert and Diana Clarke Carol Hammick and Adam Tindall Charles and Cindy Gray Barry and Islay Mawhinney Georgia Langton Trish Reed David and Sue Orr Ros and John Senior Mary and Ian Scott Howard and Pru Davies Bronze Stewart and Catherine Boyd John Caines Patrick and Jennifer Corbett Allan and Rachel James Angela and David Neuberger Alan and Anne Peck Mark and Caroline Vaughan-Lee
Anthony and Vallie Barker Minnie Churchill Meg Donovan June Milne and John Parker Maggie and Charles Ouin Michael and Angela Rose
Brochure cover: Colmers Hill by Marion Taylor Website: www.dorsetpaintings.co.uk Brochure: Wild Apple Design Printed by: Creeds Dates for: 1 3th Bridport Literary Festival Sunday 12 - Sunday 19 November 2017
Becoming a Friend of Bridport Literary Festival The Friends of The Bridport Literary Festival has been formed to bring together all those who enjoy reading and love literature all the year round. The Friends Association will give vital support to the Festival organisers to attract writers of excellence of both fiction and non fiction and encourage them to West Dorset to talk about their work. Friends of the Bridport Literary Festival will receive the following benefits: • An advance copy of the Festival Brochure • Priority booking of tickets • Free Postal Booking and no booking fee • Regular Friends events and gatherings • An annual Friends’ Party • A twice yearly newsletter • An opportunity to get involved
✂ Friends’ Membership starting annually from the 1st January Annual Individual Membership: £15 Annual Membership for couples at the same address: £25 Name: Address:
Postcode: Email: Please make cheques payable to: The Friends of the Bridport Literary Festival and send with this completed form to: The Secretary, Friends of the Bridport Literary Festival, Chideock Manor, Bridport, Dorset DT6 6LF Registered Charity No. 1147075 26
is proud to be the official bookseller We look forward to seeing you at the festival events. Waterstones,21-21A East Street, Bridport, DT6 3JX Tel 01308 458925
LM2304L1752497.indd 1
16/06/2016 16:27
The Twelfth
BRIDPORT
Literary Festival 2016
Box Office: Bridport Tourist Centre, The Town Hall, South Street, Bridport, DT6 3LF Tel: 01308 424901
