Tickets £16
Include the talk and tea and baclavaTickets can be purchased through the Bridport Information Centre 01308 424901
Become a friend.| When: Monday 16th Oct 2023 @ 2.30pm |
| Where: The Bull Ballroom |
-
With the centenary this month of modern Turkey, which was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, what better time to reflect upon the country in the company of two well- known Turkophiles? Jeremy Seal is the author of acclaimed travelogues, including A Fez of the Heart, and Meander, while Jason Goodwin’s books include the wonderful Yasmin detective novels, set in 19th-century Istanbul, and a magnificent history of the Ottoman Empire. Our starting point is Jeremy’s most recent book. A Coup in Turkey takes a darker turn in exploring the little-known events of 1960 and 1961, when Turkey’s first coup led to the execution of the country’s first democratically-elected Prime Minister. The book serves as a graphic exposé of the tensions and contradictions at work in this young country. But for all its troubles, Turkey remains an inspirational and often spectacular place. Then there is the cuisine, as Jason’s Yasmin Cooks Istanbul so lovingly demonstrates. -
Helen Rebanks - The Farmer's Wife - My Life in Days
With rare honesty, Helen Rebanks, shares her daily life - the joy, the wonder and the grind. Weaving past and present, she takes us from her Grandma’s farmhouse table, on a journey of self-discovery and into the Lake District home she now shares with her husband, James, their four children and a plethora of animals including a flock of Herdwick sheep and a herd of Belted Galloway cattle. The Farmer’s Wife is a story about labour and delight in keeping house and raising a family and described by Raynor Winn as “quite an achievement to portray the quiet power behind the choices we make for our children”. An exquisite love-letter to goodness and wisdom. In conversation with James RebanksWhen: Sunday 5th November 2023 @ 4.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Emma Farqhuarson Interior Design -
Jeremy Bowen - The Making of the Modern Middle East - A Personal History
Recently appointed as the International Editor for BBC News, award winning journalist Jeremy Bowen joined the BBC in 1984 and has been a war correspondent for much of his career. He has reported from more than 70 countries, predominantly in the Middle East – Afghanistan, Lebanon, Chechnya, Assad’s Syria and Netanyahu’s Israel – the Balkans and latterly from Ukraine. Based on his acclaimed podcast: Frontlines of Journalism, his new book takes us on a journey through the Middle East and explores the power games that have wreaked devastation on civilians as their leaders jostle for political, religious and economic control.
In conversation with Barney White-SpunnerWhen: Sunday 5th November 2023 @ 6.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Felicity Fairbairn -
Georgina Moore and Georgina Maynard - The Garnett Girls and I Will Keep herGetting published is of primary importance to any writer. Top publicity guru, Georgina Moore, and portraitist and columnist, Georgina Maynard, had their debut novels published this year. The Garnett Girls is a compelling story of family dynamics and the complexity of human relationships set on the beautiful beaches of the Isle of Wight. I Will Keep Her is a thrilling, action packed adventure with an unexpected twist which erupts from the English countryside to the exotic back streets of Riyadh and across the Saudi Desert.
In conversation with Boris StarlingWhen: Monday 6th November 2023 @ 2.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
Patrick Gale - Mother's Boy
Best selling author Patrick Gale brings us a coming of age novel of class, desire and two world wars. Cornish laundress Laura meets her husband in 1914, only to be later widowed with a young child, Charles. As a new war looms, Charles signs up for the navy as a coder. Here he experiences the excitement and terror of a love as clandestine as his work. Gale crafts a complex and tender rendering of the relationship between a dauntless mother and her son.
This is a book club event and the book purchased from The Bookshop prior to the day of the event will be eligible for a 15% discount.
In conversation with Sally LaverackWhen: Monday 6th November 2023 @ 3.30 pm Where: Bridport Arts Centre (NEW VENUE) Sponsored by: Harold Carter and Tess Silkstone -
Alexandra Blanchard & Alex Howlett - Wander Women
Wander Women unites tales of journeys around the world - from the streets of London to the ruins of Syria, from Calais to Russia - and shines light on the constraints, that mould the lives of women, transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. In this moving and reflective book, two journalists gather voices of activists and artists, matriarchs and mothers, politicians and humanitarians, drawing links between the gendering of migration and the policing of gender.
In conversation with Jo WillettWhen: Monday 6th November 2023 @ 5.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
Sarah Watling - Tomorrow Perhaps the Future
In the 1930s, women and men from across Britain, Europe and America made their way to Spain to be part of what they identified as a historic fight for freedom from fascism. Tomorrow Perhaps the Future follows a handful of extraordinary outsiders, determined to live their lives with courage and conviction. Among them, young American journalist Martha Gellhorn, the aristocratic rebel Jessica Mitford and the maverick poet Nancy Cunard. Sarah Watling uncovers how, for these women and others like them, Spain, became a place where they found a freedom unthinkable at home.
In conversation with Jason WebsterWhen: Tuesday 7th November 2023 @ 3.30 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
Max Porter - Shy From bestselling author Max Porter, Shy is a novel tracing a few strange hours in the life of a teenage boy who is escaping Last Chance, a home for ‘very disturbed young men’, and walking into the haunted space between his night terrors, his past and the heavy question of his future. As he wanders into the night, he listens to the voices in his head: his teachers, his parents, the people he has hurt and the people who are trying to love him. Ultimately, it is a story about being lost in the dark, and realising you are not alone. In conversation with Jon WoolcottWhen: Tuesday 7th November 2023 @ 5.00 pm Where: The Bull Ballroom -
Ruth Padel - Watershed
Ruth Padel is a poet, novelist and non-fiction writer, known for her poetic exploration of migration and her involvement with classical music, wildlife conservation and Greece. Her most recent collection of poems, Watershed, celebrates the numinous power of water while exploring the depths of our capacity to deny the climate crisis. What lurks in the underwater caverns of our unconscious to give denial such potency? Ruth’s poems are a celebration of fluidity, illuminating the mystery of water in its flex and flow.
£18 1 Course Dinner In conversation with James CrowdenWhen: Tuesday 7th November 2023 @ 6.30 pm Where: Sladers Yard -
Celia Brayfield - Writing Black Beauty - Anna Sewell and the Story of Animal Rights
Bestselling author Celia Brayfield tells the story of an extraordinary woman. Anna Sewell grew up in Victorian London, permanently disabled from an early age fall. Rejecting the life of a invalid, she developed a remarkable empathy with horses. Rebellious and independent minded, empowered by women writers, activists and abolitionists, she wrote her now book - Black Beauty - published sadly after her death. It became a beacon for the animal welfare movement.
An illustrated talk
Introduced by Tanya Bruce-Lockhart, Festival DirectorWhen: Wednesday 8th November 2023 @ 10.30 am Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Robert and Diana Clarke -
Ysenda Maxtone Graham - Jobs for the Girls - How We Set Out to Work in the Typewriter Age
Drawn from real life memories in interviews with women from all sections of society, this is a lively chronicle of British women’s working lives from the 1950s through cardigans and pearls, via mini-skirts and bottom pinching, to shoulder pads and the ping of the first emails in the early 1990s. Graham conveys with humour the full range of experience and flavour of work places; the jollities as well as the drudgeries, the good men as well as the vile ones, the nasty women as well as the heroines, the office crushes as well as the romances. A wonderfully witty social history of the typewriter age.
In conversation with Prue Keely
When: Thursday 9th November 2023 @ 10.30 am Where: The Bull Ballroom Sponsored by: Georgia Langton -
Pen Vogler - Stuffed - A History of Food and Responsibility
Pen Vogler has written a fascinating history of the people, the ideas and the dishes that have fed – and starved – a nation. Whose responsibility is it to make sure there is something to eat on every table and of what quality? With the ever increasing cost of food, who ensures that children get milk and cereal, eggs and toast to keep hunger at bay, that key workers - whether NHS nurses or soldiers fighting abroad – have the nourishment they need to work at the coal face? Changing customs and laws around food reveal how to feed the nation and the love hate relationship with meat, fish, vegetables and cheese.
£45 3 Course DinnerIn conversation with Prue Keely
When: Thursday 9th November 2023 @ 6.30 pm Where: Sladers Yard -
Amanda Craig - The Three Graces
Bestselling author, Amanda Craig, has set her new novel against a backdrop of the Tuscan hills and writes: “This is my most personal novel yet, which I’ve been waiting my whole life to write. The lives of international emigres and their choices, eccentricities, prejudices, ideals and enthusiasm contrasting with the extreme localism of Italians has always fascinated me”. The Three Graces - suspenseful, comical and highly original - is about three elderly expat women in the last decade of their lives, teetering on the brink - with four breasts, five eyes and three hip replacements between them - and determined to make more than the best of things. A riotous comedy of manners.
In conversation with Celia BrayfieldWhen: Friday 10th November 2023 @ 12 noon Where: Bridport Arts Centre -
Joanne Harris - Broken Light
Have you ever felt invisible? Have you moved through a crowd and wondered why no-one ever meets your eye? Have you felt unseen, even by the people you love… Bernie Moon has. She has given her life to other people; she’s been a wife, a mother, a friend but now facing middle age and the menopause, she feels even more like a fading light. Award winning author, Joanne Harris, has written eighteen novels including Chocolat and her new book weaves a story that so many women empathise with – inspired by Stephen King’s Carrie and the rise of the Me Too movement and the murder of Sarah Everard - Broken Light is about rage, healing and forgiveness. In conversation with Jo WillettWhen: Friday 10th November 2023 @ 2.00 pm Where: Electric Palace -
Chris Bryant - Code of Conduct - Why We Need to Fix Parliament
The extraordinary turmoil we have witnessed in British politics in the last few years has set records. We have had the fastest turnover in Prime Ministers in our history and more MPs suspended from the House than ever. Not least Boris Johnson. Rules have been repeatedly flouted and the Government seems unable to escape the brush of dishonesty and sleaze, cronyism, nepotism, misconduct and conflicts of interest. AND just as things appear to calm down, another scandal breaks. As Chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges. Chris Bryant has had a front row seat for the battle over standards. Public trust worn thin. It is time for a better brand of politics. In conversation with Oliver LetwinWhen: Friday 10th November 2023 @ 3.30 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Carol Hammick and Adam Tindall -
Simon Heffer - Sing as We Go - Britain Between the Wars
Simon Heffer explores and explains the politics of the period between WWI and WWII and puts such moments of national turmoil as the General Strike of 1926 and the Abdication Crisis of 1936 under the microscope. He offers pen portraits of the era’s most significant figures and traces the changing face of Britain as cars made their first appearance, the suburbs sprawled and radio and television became the means of mass entertainment. He also probes the deep divisions that split the nation: between the haves and have-nots, between warring ideological factions and between those who promoted fascism in Europe and those bitterly opposed to it. Sing as We Go is the fourth and final volume in Simon Heffer’s critically acclaimed sequence of books that chart the history of Britain in a century from the accession of Queen Victoria to the outbreak of WWII. In conversation with John DeanWhen: Friday 10th November 2023 @ 5.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Tim Clarke -
John Crace - Depraved New World - Please Hold, the Government Will Be With You Shortly
John Crace gives a blisteringly hilarious tour through the whirlwind of post-Brexit Britain, from the ousting of Boris to the dawn of a new era……..well, sort of. ‘O brave new world, that has such people in’t.' Clearly William Shakespeare never imagined a mess on this scale! Given the state of the country right now, he would need a long lie down. In Depraved New World, Crace introduces a worryingly funny selection of his finest journalism from Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous short reign to Bojo’s final farewell and the psychodrama of Rishi, Suella Braveman’s hokey pokey and what ever lies ahead. In conversation with Paul LashmarWhen: Saturday 11th November 2023 @ 10.30 am Where: Electric Palace -
Isabella Tree - The Book Of Wilding - A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small
Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell know firsthand how spectacularly nature can bounce back if you give it the chance. The Book of Wilding is a handbook for how we can all help to restore nature. Ambitious, visionary and pragmatic, the book has grown out of Isabella and Charlie’s mission to rewild Britain, Europe and the rest of the world by sharing knowledge from their pioneering project at Knepp. It is a response to people wanting to rewild everything from unprofitable farms, rivers, churchyards, urban allotments, public spaces, parks and gardens. In conversation with Julia Hailes The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Talk, introduced by Tristan AllsopWhen: Saturday 11th November 2023 @ 12 noon Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Julia Hailes -
Mike Brearley - Turning Over the Pebbles
One of England’s finest cricket captains, Mike Brearley looks back on a lifetime of the sport from joyful childhood games to his captaincy in the 1981 Ashes, leading England to one of their most famous victories. A trained psychoanalyst, Brearley blends reflection on his sporting life with introspections on literature, religion and leadership, using his experiences both on and off the field. Intelligent and insightful, Turning Over the Pebbles is a memoir full of Brearley’s private passions as he reflects on an extraordinary life and career In conversation with Boris StarlingWhen: Saturday 11th November 2023 @ 2.30 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Lindsay and Martin Bowdery -
Megan McCubbin - An Atlas of Endangered Species
Around 55,000 animals and plants are thrown into extinction every year and in this beautifully illustrated collection, conservationist and wildlife broadcaster Megan McCubbin, stepdaughter to Chris Packham, speaks to scientists and conservationists fighting to reverse the mass extinction. From changing shark legislation and tracking deadly fungi, to homegrown glow-worm farms, the methods for protection of survival are endless, whether it’s the infamous northern white rhinos and the Sumatran orangutans, or lesser-known icons like lady slipper orchids. Megan appeals to us all to join the battle against extinction.
In conversation with Sam RoseWhen: Saturday 11th November 2023 @ 4.00 pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: John and Maggie Mills -
Clive Myrie - Everything is Everything - A memoir of Love, Hate & Hope
As a Bolton teenager with a paper round, Clive Myrie read all the newspapers he delivered and dreamed of becoming a journalist. Thirty years on, he has reported from more than ninety countries for the BBC. In this deeply personal memoir, he reflects on how being black has affected his perspective on the many issues he’s encountered in reporting some of the biggest stories of our time. Everything is Everything is about the intersection of the personal and the professional and what he has learned.
In conversation with Susannah SimonsWhen: Saturday 11th November 2023 @ 5.30pm Where: Electric Palace Sponsored by: Sophie and Johnnie Boden