Bridport Arts Centre Archives - Bridport Literary Festival

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 26 | Tristan Gooley | Hidden Seasons

£14.00

Tristan Gooley - Hidden Seasons - A Calendar of Nature’s Clues and Signs

Bestselling author Tristan Gooley is known for his breathtaking observational skills of the natural world, coupled with the talent and infectious delight he has for translating them into words to share with his readers. In The Hidden Seasons, Tristan shows us how to read the clues that the sun, moon, stars, plants, fungi, animals, water and weather give us - but that we continually miss because we don’t know how and where to look. Spring brings wildflower signs, Summer, coastal clues and grass patterns, Autumn, a time to investigate fungi and in Winter we look to snow and the stars. Seasons will never be the same again.
an illustrated talk - Introduced by Tom Brereton Priority booking - Become a Friend - Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901

When: Thursday 6th November 2025 @ 10.00 am

Where: The Bridport Arts Centre

Sponsored by: John and Maggie Mills

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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 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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