In conversation with Archives - Bridport Literary Festival

Special Event | Alexander McCall Smith | Bertie’s Theory of Ice Cream

£16.00

Bridport Literary Festival is thrilled to welcome worldwide best-selling author, Alexander McCall Smith, who will be joining us again for a special event in anticipation of this year’s BridLit Festival. He will be in conversation with much loved author Nikki May, in an event which promises to be an evening of sheer delight. The master storyteller will entertain you with tales from the latest 44 Scotland Street novel, Bertie's Theory of Ice Cream, and discuss In the Time of Five Pumpkins, the new novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

in conversation with Nikki May
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When: Thursday 23rd October 2025 @ 7.00pm

Where: Electric Palace

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Event 2 | Andrew O’Hagan | On Friendship

£16.00

Andrew O’Hagan - On Friendship
From the bestselling author of Mayflies and Caledonian Road, a heart-enriching celebration of what makes us great: our friends. In our lives, our friendships are rich and varied, shared with those with two legs, or four legs. They come dressed in the simplicity of childhood or the professional attire of adult life - either spanning decades, or only fleeting. In these gorgeous personal reflections, Andrew O’Hagan explores friendship through music and poetry, memory and history, illuminating the many ways and reasons that people come together, and how our lives are all the better because we do. in conversation with Nic Jeune Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Sunday 2nd November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: Electric Palace

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Event 3 | Simon Hart | Ungovernable

£16.00

Simon Hart - Ungovernable - The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip

Former Chief Whip and MP Simon Hart had a front-row seat to the most turbulent times in Britain’s recent political history, from negotiations around Brexit, the impact of Liz Truss’s forty-nine-day premiership, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Simon witnessed successive dramas unfold, many of which involved an extensive build-up, a complicated process and a noisy and vitriolic public commentary. Revisiting diaries kept throughout his career, Ungovernable is an insider’s story and unflinching look into the heart of British politics from the centre of government.
in conversation with Oliver Letwin Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Sunday 2nd November 2025 @ 2.00pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsor: Church House Investments

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Event 5 | John Suchet | In Search of Beethoven

£16.00

John Suchet - In Search of Beethoven - A Personal Journey
John Suchet is passionate about Beethoven. In his eighth book on the composer, he traces Beethoven’s life from his early years in Bonn to his dying days in Vienna, a journey both literal and symbolic, to demonstrate the life changing power of great music. Part biography, memoir and travelogue, Suchet draws from his own life and experience as a foreign correspondent and news anchor to create a compelling and moving account of Beethoven’s life in an immersive tale of adventure and discovery. Suchet reveals what we can gain from turning to genius in life’s many crises. an illustrated talk - Introduced by Guy Johnston Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Sunday 2nd November 2025 @ 6.00 pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: : Carol Hammick and Adam Tindall

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Event 6 | Philip Marsden | Under A Metal Sky

£12.00

Philip Marsden - Under A Metal Sky - A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder
Philip Marsden traces the dazzling achievements and dark consequences of our ability to extract from the earth – minerals which generated a leap forward in technology, producing amazement and wonder, but also destruction and greed. From his homeland of Cornwall, Marsden travels eastwards into Europe, uncovering stories of potent resources, from iron-rich meteorites to radium, mercury and gold. As he travels, he explores precious seams of ideas, and those who pursued them - from Paracelsus to Marie Curie. an illustrated talk - Introduced by James Crowden Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 10.30 am

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Felicity Fairbairn

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Event 7 | Paula Byrne | Six Weeks By The Sea

£12.00

Paula Byrne - Six Weeks By The Sea - The Summer Jane Austen Fell in Love

A revelation made by Jane Austen’s sister, ten years after her death, gestures to a brief, intense relationship one Summer holiday. Paula Byrne tells the story of this encounter, dramatising what has been lost to history. Jane’s relationship with two, very different, men brings about unexpected surprises; by Summer’s end, the course of her life will have changed forever. Set against the backdrop of Austen’s family, the tensions of the Napoleonic Wars, and naval and colonial politics, Byrne’s novel is the story of how our most celebrated romance writer first fell in love.
in conversation with Jo Willett Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: The Bull Ballroom

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Event 8 | Helen Rappaport | The Rebel Romanov

£12.00

Helen Rappaport - The Rebel Romanov - Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had
This is the story of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Queen Victoria’s aunt. Born in 1781 in a small, impoverished duchy of Germany, Julie married into the Russian Imperial Family. This world proved no fairytale. Helen Rappaport recreates the life of this forgotten figure; she sheds new light on the Romanovs, revealing the sacrifices Julie made to further her family’s interests and she investigates the nature of Julie’s relationship with Tsar Alexander I and a world thrown into tumult by the murder of Emperor Paul and the rise of Napoleon.
in conversation with Celia Brayfield Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 2.00 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Barry Mawhinney

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Event 9 | Sophie Pavelle | To Have or To Hold

£12.00

Sophie Pavelle - To Have or To Hold - Nature’s Hidden Relationships

Award-winning author Sophie Pavelle explores nature’s symbiotic relationships. Investigating eight relationships trying to survive the climate crises, Pavelle asks: what can nature teach us about living together? Species form and sever alliances everywhere. Whether deep within temperate rainforests or the open ocean, nature thrives on relationships as glamorous as they are grotesque. Low carbon travelling around the British Isles, Sophie presents nature’s frauds, fortunetellers, and misfits.
in conversation with Sam Rose Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 3.30 pm

Where: Bridport Arts Centre

Sponsored by:Rob and Alex Appleby

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Event 10 | James Fox | Craftland

£12.00

James Fox - Craftland - A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades

Historian and broadcaster James Fox, guides us through the lost and endangered crafts that shaped Britain. Always a craft land, for generations, what we made defined our families and communities. Through the stories of often humble-seeming objects of both exquisite beauty and utility, Fox shows us how craft connects us to the land, becoming the material expression of our regional identities and cultures. In encounters with some of the last remaining craftspeople at work today, Craftland reveals a richer and more connected way of living
an illustrated talk - Introduced by Malcolm Seal Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 5.00 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Francesca Radcliffe

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Event 12 | Roger Morgan-Grenville | The Restless Coast

£12.00

Roger Morgan-Grenville - The Restless Coast - A Journey Round the Edge of Britain

Britain has over 10,000 miles of coastline, steeped in history. The Restless Coast is a moving and beautiful account of a journey around it. Both delightful travelogue and passionate defence, Roger Morgan-Grenville shines a powerful spotlight on the thin line that defines our status as islanders; interwoven are the modern challenges that the shoreline faces, and the extraordinary natural history of the coastline. At once informative, angry and funny, what emerges is a very personal love letter to our island edge.

an illustrated talk - Introduced by James Crowden
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 10.30 am

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Sue Bradbury

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Event 13 | Iain MacGregor | The Hiroshima Men

£12.00

Iain MacGregor - The Hiroshima Men - The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb and the Fateful Decision to Use it
Coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack comes a riveting history based on new interviews and research. Built in top secret by the US, the weapon killed tens of thousands. Iain MacGregor’s vivid narrative recounts the decade-long journey toward this moment that changed the world. It charts the race through several key characters: from Robert Oppenheimer, to the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya, to writer John Hersey. Both thrilling and nuanced, Iain MacGregor writes a deeply human account of the bombing’s meaning and aftermath. an illustrated talk - Introduced by John Dean Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Richard and Liz Strang

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Event 14 | Clare Leslie Hall | Broken Country

£12.00

Clare Leslie Hall - Broken Country - A Novel
A moving account of love, loss and family, Clare Leslie Hall’s novel follows seventeen year old Beth when she first meets Gabriel, over a heady, intense Summer. When Gabriel leaves, it is Frank who picks up the pieces. Together they build a home, and watching her husband and son riding a tractor across their farm, Beth feels sure that this was the life she was supposed to lead. However, when Gabriel returns, all Beth’s certainty crumbles - even after ten years, their connection is instant. A love story with the pulse of a thriller, Broken Country is a heart-pounding novel of impossible choices and devastating consequences. in conversation with Lucy Brazier Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 2 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

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Event 15 | Bijan Omrani | God is an Englishman

£12.00

Bijan Omrani - God is an Englishman - Christianity and the Creation of England

Christianity in England is in decline and Bijan Omrani argues that this is the most momentous change to occur in English history. He shows how a religion that has been part of our story for over 1700 years was instrumental in the creation and development of the nation. He demonstrates its profound cultural impact, from architecture and literature to our very landscape and the structure of our everyday life and language. Its enormous influence, he contends, shouldn’t be lightly abandoned.
in conversation with James Crowden Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 3.30 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Fenella Wynford

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Event 16 | Sue Roe | Hidden Portraits

£12.00

Sue Roe - Hidden Portraits - The Untold Stories of Six Women Who Loved Picasso Sue Roe examines the individual stories of the women with whom Pablo Picasso shared his life. These six extraordinary women were instrumental in Picasso’s career, yet long dismissed as passive models or muses. Hidden Portraits delves deeply into the women’s experiences, to tell the true story of Picasso’s women from their point of view. This enthralling book spans seventy years, from Bohemian Montmartre to glittering 1920s French Riviera, through Paris under Nazi occupation and beyond - the result is a riveting, atmospheric read. in conversation with Rene Wyndham It is with much sadness that we acknowledge the death of Hugh Dunford-Wood, who was going to be in conversation with Sue Roe, and chair this event. Hugh was a good friend to the Festival and we know he would have brought all his colour, humour and deep knowledge of art to this event. He will be much missed and we run this event in his memory. Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 5.00 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

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Event 17 | Manni Coe | Little Ruins

£12.00

Manni Coe - Little Ruins - Rebuilding a Life

Beginning a new chapter, Manni Coe and his partner buy a crumbling but beautiful old farmstead tucked into a remote valley in Andalusia. It’s perfect for their unconventional family of three: Jack, Manni and his youngest brother, Reuben who has Down Syndrome. Despite the idyllic surroundings, Manni starts to realise that the scars from his childhood might not have healed at all, and a single and terrible event threatens everything the three of them have spent so long building together. Little Ruins is a heart-mending exploration of human connection, nature’s gifts and the power of love in all its forms.
in conversation with Sophy Roberts Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 6.30 pm

Where: The Bull Ballrooom

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Event 18 | Miranda Cowley Heller | What The Deep Water Knows

£12.00

Miranda Cowley Heller - What The Deep Water Knows - A collection of poems

Miranda Cowley Heller grew up in New York before moving to Los Angeles, leaving her job as a magazine editor to become Head of Drama at HBO, where she oversaw numerous successful series, including The Wire and The Sopranos. Her debut novel, The Paper Palace (2021), sold over two million copies worldwide and was a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. It was also longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She has followed this with her first poetry collection, What the Deep Water Knows - a collection of reflections on love, life and loss that capture a woman’s life, described as “raw, honest and thought-provoking”.

in conversation with Daisy Goodwin
£18 - 1 Course Supper Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Tuesday 4th November 2025 @ 7 pm

Where: Sladers Yard

£12 ticket only £18 addition for one course supper

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Event 19 | Colin Heber-Percy | Lost in the Forest

£12.00

Colin Heber-Percy - Lost in the Forest - Notes on Not Belonging from the English Countryside

This book is a hymn to getting lost. Drawing on his experience as a troubled schoolboy, a burnt-out screenwriter, and an ‘awkward’ Church of England priest, Colin Heber-Percy reflects on the value of not belonging. There is reassurance and safety in knowing who we are and where we fit in, but at significant moments in our lives – a new job, new school or just in the ruts of everyday life – we can experience a sense of dislocation, of being lost in a forest. Rather than fearing the forest, Colin discovers great value and creativity there. He encourages us to relish the liberation of losing our way. Blending anecdotes from parish life, with philosophy, literature and tales from his local Savernake Forest, Colin argues that there is an overlooked richness to be found outside the boundary lines.

in conversation with Jon Woolcott
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2024 @ 10.30 am

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Richard and Emily Cave

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Event 20 | Marian Boswall | The Kindest Garden

£12.00

Marian Boswall - The Kindest Garden - A Practical Guide to Regenerative Gardening

Leading landscape designer Marian Boswall has worked on some of the UK’s most ambitious and innovative regenerative landscape projects, and now she shares her wisdom in this guide. Regenerative gardening is about making an active contribution to the health of the planet: nurturing and replenishing biodiversity and ourselves through our gardens. Drawing on lessons from forward-thinking farmers, foresters, rewilders and nature itself, The Kindest Garden shows you how to make a garden that is both a beautiful sanctuary and a place where nature can thrive. A beautifully-written text, with clear explanations and practical takeaways - Boswall teaches how to apply in-depth practical knowledge, and plan planting to nourish the soil, yourself and others.

an illustrated talk - Introduced by Deirdre Coates
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Allan and Rachel James

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Event 21 | Frances Wilson | Electric Spark

£12.00

Frances Wilson - Electric Spark - The Enigma of Muriel Spark

From leading biographer and critic Frances Wilson comes a revealing, exhilarating, and landmark new look at Muriel Spark. Often described as ‘puzzling’, her books deal in word games, tricks and ciphers; her life was composed of weird accidents and strange coincidences. Using a wealth of archival materials, and following the clues, riddles, and instructions Spark planted in her writing, Frances Wilson aims to piece together this puzzle. We learn from her early years how her experiences became the material of her art.

in conversation with Daisy Goodwin
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 2.00 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Deirdre and Howard Coates

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Event 22 | Andrew Blick | Could It Happen Here?

£12.00

Andrew Blick - Could It Happen Here? - The Day a Prime Minister Refuses to Resign

Does the UK’s constitution sufficiently protect our democracy from a rogue prime minister? With the resurgence of the far Right across Europe and some of the rhetoric of the 2024 General Election, Andrew Blick explores the possible consequences of a British prime minister refusing to leave office. Mapping out the processes which might occur after such an eventuality, the UK’s ‘unwritten’ constitution comes under the microscope. Could It Happen Here? provides a crucial appraisal, advocating for the protection of our parliamentary democracy.

in conversation with Paul Lashmar
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 3.30pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

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Event 23 | Marina Warner | Sanctuary

£12.00

Marina Warner - Sanctuary

Sanctuary is an ancient right. In the classical world, it offered immunity to fugitives from justice; in medieval Europe it extended a reprieve to all who sought it in a church or holy site. But what does sanctuary mean in today’s world? With the growth of nationalism and individualism, the concept has drifted away from a place of openness and welcome towards privacy: home as sanctuaries against strangers, migrants, incomers. Marina Warner navigates the principles that underpin the tradition of sanctuary and argues that storytelling offers a salve, a route to mutual understanding.
in conversation with Prue Keely Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 5.00 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Harold Carter and Tess Silkstone

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Event 24 | Horatio Clare | We Came By Sea

£12.00

Horatio Clare - We Came By Sea - Stories of a Greater Britain

Written with his trademark compassion and humanity, Horatio Clare’s We Came by Sea is an untold story of the small boats crisis - a story which shows the best of us. It is the story of the volunteers who help thousands of refugees in Calais, of the lifeboat crews mounting one of the great search and rescue operations of all time, of an unrecognised, uncelebrated, all but unknown, Britain, giving its all to help the vulnerable and desperate. This journey through an unexamined nation, a nation which is as truly great and good as the people in the dinghies believe Britain to be, is not the story we have been told, but it is a true story.

in conversation with Sophy Roberts
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 6.30 pm

Where: The Bull Ballroom

Sponsored by: Nick and Linda Child | Sue and David Orr

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Special Event | Joanne Briggs | The Scientist Who Wasn’t There

£12.00

Joanne Briggs - The Scientist Who Wasn’t There - A True Story of Staggering Deception
SPECIAL EVENT JOANNE BRIGGS in conjunction with THE BRIDPORT PRIZE Bridport Prize winner, Joanne Briggs, will be in conversation with Manni Coe, this year’s Bridport Prize judge, about her astonishing new book. Renowned scientist Professor Michael Briggs - space expert at NASA, adviser to the World Health Organisation, successful Big Pharma executive - fell from grace amid a scandal that broke in 1986. Soon after, he was dead, struck down by a mystery illness in a foreign country. Briggs left behind hundreds of people who believe they are victims of his negligence, and he left his daughter, Joanne. After decades of wondering who her father really was, Joanne decided to investigate, and in hypnotic prose, she uncovers the secret that shaped her father's entire life and made his story more fantastic than any science fiction. As she discovered, Briggs's greatest invention was himself. in conversation with Manni Coe Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Monday 3rd November 2025 @ 8.00 pm

Where: Bull Ballroom

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Event 25 | Anna Whitwham | Soft Tissue Damage

£40.00

Anna Whitwham - Soft Tissue Damage - Writing Workshop

Join author Anna Whitwham for a writing workshop looking at how memory works in the art of writing memoir. Anna, who teaches Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, shares her insights into the processes of writing memoir, based on her own experience of writing Soft Tissue Damage, which explores the human body’s capacity for strength and vulnerability, as she trains as a boxer alongside the grief of losing her mother to cancer. At 8pm, anyone is welcome to come along to the Human Nature sofa to hear local artist Vanessa Cooper talk to Anna about the book and enjoy an evening of conversation with pop up bar.
followed by a conversation with Vanessa Cooper Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Wednesday 5th November 2025 @ 6.00 - 8.00pm (workshop), 8.00pm Q&A

Where: Human Nature, East Street

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Event 27 | Malise Ruthven | Unholy Kingdom

£14.00

Malise Ruthven - Unholy Kingdom - Religion, Corruption and Violence in Saudi Arabia

In recent years, the ruling family in Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud, has promoted the oil-rich kingdom as an open, liberalising nation that has invested in culture, tourism, and social innovation. But the murder in 2018 of journalist Jamal Khashoggi reveals a darker reality: one of intensifying political and religious repression, all within the tumultuous context of the war in Yemen, sectarian rivalry with Iran, the crisis in Gaza, and volatile relations with the United States. Leading commentator, Malise Ruthven, reconstructs the nation’s history, whilst looking to its future in the hands of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This essential book traces the shifting fault lines in the Middle East to determine Saudi Arabia’s place in our volatile times.

in conversation with David Burnett
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: The Bridport Arts Centre

Sponsored by: Martin and Lindsay Bowdery

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Event 28 | Philip Hoare | William Blake and The Sea Monsters of Love

£12.00

Philip Hoare - William Blake and The Sea Monsters of Love
William Blake has inspired 200 years of art, poetry and protest. Weaving between the historical, cultural and personal, award-winning author Philip Hoare reveals a web of creative minds and artistic iconoclasts fired with the wild and revolutionary genius of Blake. Reaching out of his past and into our future, Blake draws together the natural world and metaphysical realms, merging the human and the animal and the spiritual, firing up 20th century artists, filmmakers, poets, writers and musicians with his radical promise of absolute freedom - Derek Jarman and Paul Nash to name but two. This stirring, deeply-felt book brings us back to Blake and shows that art still has the power to create positive change.
an illustrated talk - Introduced by Adam Teasdale
Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: Sir John Colfox School

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Event 29 | Ian Collins | Blythe Spirit

£14.00

Ian Collins - Blythe Spirit - The Remarkable Life of Ronald Blythe

Drawing on unparalleled access to letters, notebooks, published works, and conversations from decades of friendship, Ian Collins tells the full story of Ronald Blythe. Intimate, meditative and often laced with a wry humour, Blythe’s writing invited readers to share his enchanting perspective on the world. Yet the ‘real’ Ronald Blythe left school at 14, and educated himself in libraries, churches and walks in the East Anglian landscape. He experienced early poverty, wartime trauma, and his sexuality was kept private except from those closest to him. Collins’ book is a sensitive, revelatory portrait which celebrates a fascinating, complex man and casts new light on one of our greatest writers.
in conversation with Caroline Montagu Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 2.00 pm

Where: The Bridport Arts Centre

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Event 30 | Malik Al Nasir & Miranda Kaufmann | Searching for My Slave Roots & Heiresses

£14.00

Malik Al Nasir - Searching for My Slave Roots - From Guyana’s Sugar Plantations to Cambridge

Miranda Kaufmann - Heiresses - Marriage, Inheritance and Caribbean Slavery

Paul Lashmar, local investigative journalist with a recently published book on slavery, chairs a discussion with a formidable panel of experts in their field. In Searching for my Slave Roots, Malik Al Nasir unravels the legacies of slavery, plantation economics and the wealth of a slaveholding dynasty that he himself descended from - both enslaved people and prominent slaveholders - and the nuanced ways that historic trauma plays down through generations. Miranda Kaufmann reveals the sugar plantations of the Caribbean generated vast wealth, not only for men, but women also. Heiresses exposes how, for almost two centuries, generations of women became enslavers and plantation owners in their own right and brought huge fortunes back to Britain.
in conversation with Paul Lashmar Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thusday 6th November 2025 @ 3.30 pm

Where: The Bridport Arts Centre

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Event 31 | Robert Macfarlane | Is A River Alive?

£16.00

Robert Macfarlane - Is A River Alive?
Around the world, rivers are dying from pollution, drought and damming, but a powerful movement is underway to recognise the lives and rights of rivers. At the heart of this book is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings who should be recognised as such in both imagination and law. On a global journey which crosses boundaries of time and space, from Ecuador, India and Quebec, to the chalk stream a mile from his house, Is A River Alive? is Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date. It teems with fascinating ideas, unforgettable characters and stories. in conversation with Sophy Roberts Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 5.00 pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: Angela and David Neuberger | Sybella and Paul Zisman

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Event 32 | Emma Simpson & Vassos Alexander | Breaking Waves & Swimmingly

£14.00

Emma Simpson - Breaking Waves - Discovery, Healing and Inspiration in the Open Water

Vassos Alexander - Swimmingly - Adventures in Water

In discovering the joy of wild swimming, both Emma Simpson and Vassos Alexander also discover the tremendous sense of community and inspirational stories at its heart. Breaking Waves is an uplifting memoir about healing wounds, reclaiming a voice and discovering sisterhood. In Swimmingly Vassos finds magic in every stroke, whilst at the same time discussing issues of water quality and the need to experience our bodies of water safely.
in conversation with Lucy Brazier Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thursday 6th November 2024 @ 7.00 pm

Where: The Bridport Art Centre

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Event 34 | Andrew Lownie | Entitled

£16.00

Andrew Lownie - Entitled - The Rise and Fall of the House of York
Packed full of extraordinary revelations, Entitled is the first joint biography of the Duke and Duchess of York. Drawing on four years of research and interviews, biographer Andrew Lownie chronicles their lives in parallel through childhood, courtship, careers and divorce. The picture that emerges is of a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought. Rigorously researched and packed full of revelations, this is eyewatering biography at its best in conversation with Stuart Rock Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Friday 7th November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: Robert and Diana Clarke

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Event 35 | Lyse Doucet | The Finest Hotel In Kabul

£16.00

Lyse Doucet - The Finest Hotel In Kabul - A People’s History of Afghanistan
When the Intercontinental opened in Kabul in 1969, Afghanistan’s first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connecting to the world. Fifty years later, the hotel is still standing having endured Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a grievous civil war, a US invasion and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban. Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, has been checking into the Intercontinental since 1968. She uses its story to craft a richly immersive history of modern Afghanistan. in conversation with Lindsey Hilsum Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Friday 7th November 2025 @ 2.00 pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: Johnnie and Sophie Boden

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Event 37 | Mick Herron | Clown Town

£16.00

Mick Herron - Clown Town
Clown Town is the latest spy thriller in the best-selling series Slough House that inspired the TV series SLOW HORSES. At Slough House, the repository for failed spies, River Cartwright is waiting to be passed fit for work. With time to kill and with his grandfather — a former legendary spy — long dead, he investigates the secrets of his grandfather’s library and a mysteriously missing book. Mick will be in conversation with Bridport-based crime writer Chris Chibnall, the creator of TV series Broadchurch and whose debut book Death At The White Hart was published this year. in conversation with Chris Chibnall Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Friday 7th November 2025 @ 6.00 pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: Andrew and Helen Carless

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Event 38 | Robert McCrum | An Evening of PG Wodehouse

£12.00

Robert McCrum - An Evening of PG Wodehouse
2025 sees the celebration of fifty years since the death of PG Wodehouse in American exile, on St Valentine’s Day, 1975. Today, the creator of Bertie Wooster, Jeeves, and Lord Emsworth holds an unrivalled position as Britain’s greatest comic writer. To mark this milestone, BridLit has invited Robert McCrum, to join Jason Webster in conversation. McCrum, the author of Wodehouse: A Life (2004), an acclaimed biography, will place PG Wodehouse in his lateVictorian context, celebrate his brilliant style and examine the ‘truth about his wartime Broadcasts’. in conversation with Jason Webster £12 ticket only £18 additional for 1 course supper

When: Friday 7th November 2025 @ 7.00 pm

Where: Sladers Yard, West Bay

Sponsored by: Flora Hood

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Event 39 | Mary Portas | I Shop Therefore I Am

£16.00

Mary Portas - I Shop Therefore I Am - The 90s, Harvey Nicks - and Me
It’s the 1990s and Mary Portas has been brought in to revitalise the department store Harvey Nichols. With two babies at home, a sceptical, all-male senior management team to impress and the pressure on to bring in new brands and customers, Mary would need to roll up her sleeves like never before to prove she was the woman for the job. Told with her trademark wit, grit and candour, Mary takes us behind the shop window – to the people who kept the show on the road and the early lessons that have shaped her career. in conversation with Mary Moore Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 10.00 am

Where: Electric Palace

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Event 41 | John Crace | Taking The Lead

£16.00

John Crace - Taking The Lead - A Dog at Number 10

A quick witted satirical memoir from the eyes of John Crace’s beloved dog, Herbie, a Westminster veteran with an insider’s eye. A chance encounter with Sadiq Khan’s Labrador landed Herbie a job working as a special advisor to Ed Miliband in 2014. Then he was summoned by David Cameron to work on the Remain campaign. He experienced the pain of working with Theresa May; was sacked and then rehired by Boris Johnson; was at Balmoral when the Queen died; was fired by Rishi Sunak and taken on by Keir Starmer. This is the story the politicians didn’t want you to know. Herbert Hound, finally, tells all.
in conversation with Boris Starling Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 12 noon

Where: Electric Palace

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Event 43 | Steve Richards & Iain Dale | Tony Blair & Margaret Thatcher

£16.00

Iain Dale & Steve Richards - Margaret Thatcher & Tony Blair

Margaret Thatcher was Iain Dale’s childhood heroine and the woman who inspired him into politics. In his book, he offers an intelligent and challenging look at the Iron Lady on the 100th anniversary of her birth. Likewise, Steve Richards casts new light on Tony Blair, the man and his legacy. Was all that he achieved overshadowed by the Iraq war, his rivalry with Brown and the dominance of Margaret Thatcher? A lively conversation about these two at once influential and controversial prime ministers of our time.
in conversation with Howard Davies Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 4.00 pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: Buffy Sacher

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Event 44 | Martin Clunes | Meetings With Remarkable Animals

£16.00

Martin Clunes - Meetings With Remarkable Animals - Real Life Tales of Heroism, Loyalty and Companionship

Martin Clunes celebrates the intelligence, loyalty and companionship of extraordinary animals ranging from mine-sniffing rats to therapy horses and life-saving dolphins. He recounts the fascinating, moving and astonishing ways animals have enriched our lives. Inspired by his own adoption of a former guide dog, Martin tells of his life-changing encounters with animals across the world.
in conversation with Jo Willett - Introduced by Jamie Giles Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Saturday 8th November 2025 @ 6.00 pm

Where: Electric Palace

Sponsored by: Symonds and Sampson | Emma Farquharson Interior Design

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