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The Festival: 6 - 14 November 2026 | Tickets: 01308 424901|bridport.tic@bridport-tc.gov.uk
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The Bull Ballroom

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    Event 1 | Horatio Morpurgo | The Port Bredy Lecture

    £12.00

    Horatio Morpurgo - The Port Bredy Lecture

    Port Bredy was the name Thomas Hardy gave Bridport. The annual Port Bredy Lecture aims to celebrate Hardy and other writers with connections to West Dorset. Beginning with Hardy’s Bridport-set tale ‘Fellow-Townsmen’, which reaches its fateful conclusion at the Bull Hotel, Horatio Morpurgo considers how the author understood a rural society turned upside down by the coming of the railways, one in which the “outside world” was both an opportunity and a threat. What lessons might Dorset’s greatest writer have for the 21st century’s Wessex-dwellers as they also deal with with a fast-changing world? Horatio Morpurgo is an activist and writer on the environment. His new book is A Guide to the Unconformity.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Friday 6th November 2026 @ 5 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 8 | Iain MacGregor | Battle

    £14.00
    Iain MacGregor - Battle - The Moments that Transformed Warfare from Ancient Greece to Ukraine

    How did leaders like Alexander the Great, Robert the Bruce and Horatio Nelson change the course of history? Join bestselling historian Iain MacGregor for a thrilling journey through 3,000 years of conflict. From the shield walls of ancient Greece to the drone warfare of modern Ukraine, this fascinating talk explores the five forces that have shaped victory and defeat throughout history: Morale, Leadership, Innovation, Subterfuge, Timing & Numbers. Travel from Marathon to the Spanish Armada, Stalingrad and Kyiv, discovering the dramatic moments when battles changed not just wars, but the course of civilisation itself.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Saturday 7th November 2026 @ 4.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Church House Investments
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 10 | Sarah O’Connor | We Are Not Machines

    £12.00

    Sarah O'Connor - We Are Not Machines - The Fight for the Future of Work

    We’re told that a tsunami of change is sweeping the economy as AI replaces humans in the workplace. But when Sarah O’Connor ventured into the front line of this new industrial revolution, she found that employees weren’t generally losing their jobs to machines, they were losing their humanity. Work was becoming lonelier, less creative and highly controlled. We were at risk of turning ourselves into robots. Drawing on stories from 19thcentury English cotton mills to 21st-century Swedish mines, the prize-winning Financial Times journalist tackles one of our age’s most important questions: how can we shape technology before it shapes us? She talks to Boris Starling.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Sunday 8th November 2026 @ 10.00 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Samantha Knights
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 11 | Charlotte Higgins | Ukrainian Lessons

    £12.00
    Charlotte Higgins - Ukrainian Lessons - Art in a Time of War

    Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins never imagined reporting on a war. In autumn 2022, she travelled to a book festival in Ukraine to discover how artists were reflecting the conflict in their work. It would change her life. During a war that threatens the very existence of Ukrainian culture, art has become literally a matter of life and death. Based on three years of reporting, Ukrainian Lessons is an urgent and unforgettable book about what artists are prepared to risk – and why culture is worth fighting for. In conversation with the writer Philip Ardagh. “The most beautifully written, moving book I can ever remember readingˮ, Philippa Perry.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Sunday 8th November 2026 @ 11.30 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Carol Hammick & Adam Tindall
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 14 | Lauren Working | A Golden World

    £12.00

    Lauren Working - A Golden World - How the Americas Transformed Tudor and Stuart England

    From rumours of Amazonian gold to silver-veined mountains, dreams of enormous wealth fuelled Tudor imperial fantasies. But how did the peoples of the Americas really influence English art, fashion and literature – and at what cost? In A Golden World, historian Lauren Working shows how objects from across the Atlantic – such as tobacco leaves strewn in playhouses and courtly pearls – became central to 16thcentury culture. Uncovering stories of Raleigh’s privateers and the indigenous craftsmanship that fed Renaissance splendour, Working presents a glittering new history of Tudor ambition. She talks to historian Eleanor Barraclough. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Sunday 8th November 2026 @ 1.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsor:  Tina Graham
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 17 | Thomas Asbridge | The Black Death

    £14.00

    Thomas Asbridge - The Black Death - A Global History

    The Black Death is remembered as one of Europe’s great catastrophes, but it swept far beyond the continent’s borders, transforming societies from Cairo to Central Asia. Thomas Asbridge reveals the pandemic’s forgotten history, showing how one disease tragically affected empires, religions and millions of everyday lives. One of our leading medieval historians and the mind behind landmark BBC TV series, The Crusades, brings to life the darkest of eras. Full of fresh research and evocative parallels to our own times, his new book illuminates the human capacity for compassion and resilience in the face of unimaginable crises.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Sunday 8th November 2026 @ 6.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballrooom
    Sponsored by:Paul & Sybella Zisman
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 19 | James Aldred | A Wagon in the Woods

    £12.00

    James Aldred - A Wagon in the Woods

    When James Aldred found the decaying horse-drawn wagon he had played in as a child, buried beneath New Forest brambles, he found himself transported in time. Rebuilding the vehicle became a way to re-examine the forest itself. Aldred retraces the paths of his youth, exploring a landscape shaped as much by royal history and Romany heritage as by its otters and goshawks. A Wagon in the Woods offers a portrait of one of the UK’s most cherished landscapes and considers the deep roots that bind us to place. Chaired by writer and editor Jon Woolcott. James Aldred is an award-winning wildlife cameraman who has worked on many landmark natural history programmes with Sir David Attenborough.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Monday 9th November 2026 @ 10.30 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Francesca Radcliffe
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 23 | Jennifer Potter | Looking for Mr Schwitters

    £12.00

    Jennifer Potter - Looking for Mr Schwitters

    Modern art circles revere Kurt Schwitters as an “artist’s artist”, leader of the Dada movement and pioneer of pop art. But he ended his days as an exile, working in post-war Cumbria. Writer and artist Jennifer Potter follows the traces left after Schwitters was dismissed as a “degenerate” by the Nazis and forced into exile. Potter blends biography, memoir and art history in an attempt to understand Schwitters’ mysterious influence on her own life and writing. Exploring his revolutionary collages as well as an unfinished masterpiece hidden in the Langdale Valley, Potter reflects on exile and what it means to leave a mark on a place. Chaired by festival director, Adrian Turpin.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Monday 9th November 2026 @ 3.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Jim Bartos
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 24 | James Holland | The Visionaries

    £14.00

    James Holland - The Visionaries

    Leading second world war historian James Holland discusses his new book The Visionaries with the novelist Boris Starling. Holland explores how architects of peace – spearheaded by Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry S Truman – had begun to think seriously about the 20th-century post-war world order long before the carnage had ended. Through bold initiatives such as the Marshall Plan, these leaders chose cooperation over retribution, laying the foundations for eight decades of Western peace and prosperity. Holland argues that global stability is never an accident: it is designed. What lessons are there for today’s leaders?” And will anyone step up to be a visionary for the 21st century?

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Monday 9th November 2026 @ 5.00 pm
    Where: Bridport Arts Centre
    Sponsored by: Guy & Clare Schwinge
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 29 | Paul Morley | On Hockney

    £12.00

    Paul Morley - On Hockney - An Artist for Life

    The late David Hockney remains one of Britain’s most recognisable artists. His career spanned decades of constant reinvention, taking him from post-war Bradford and Swinging London to Los Angeles, Paris, Normandy and the Yorkshire Wolds. In David Hockney: An Artist for Life, writer and broadcaster Paul Morley explores how these locations shaped the painter’s vision. Morley traces Hockney’s key friendships and artistic influences showing how he repeatedly renewed his creative practice while remaining unmistakably himself. The result is a celebration of a restless, resourceful and deeply optimistic figure whose life and work mirrored broader changes in society and altered how a nation sees itself and understands the world.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10th November 2026 @ 10.30 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 30 | Frank Tallis | Wise

    £12.00

    Frank Tallis - Wise - A History of Wisdom

    Renowned clinical psychologist and author of the Vienna Blood novels Frank Tallis addresses the art of growing old. Chaired by philosopher Julian Baggini, this event explores how to maintain psychological health and purpose despite the daunting realities of later life, loss, physical decline and accumulated regrets. Making use of decades of psychotherapeutic practice as well as insights from Stoicism, Jungian psychology and neuroscience, Tallis argues that living well requires reconciling all aspects of our past and present self. He’ll be talking about how we can embrace our mortality, make peace with time’s inevitable passage and cultivate true happiness in our later years. “Transformative and deeply insightful”, Guardian.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10th November 2026 @ 12 noon
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 31 | Juliet Nicolson | The Book of Revelations

    £12.00

    Juliet Nicolson - The Book of Revelations

    Research shows that the average person is keeping thirteen secrets at any one time, five of which they’ve never shared with a soul. The Book of Revelations, by the bestselling social historian Juliet Nicolson, is specifically about the secrets women hold. Told through a blend of first-person stories, family history and memoir, Nicolson’s compelling account moves from the “silent generation” of the 1950s to the influencers of the 2020s. What does the changing nature of the secrets women keep tell us about our world and what makes any of us hide or reveal ourselves? In conversation with the novelist and television producer Daisy Goodwin. “Utterly engrossing and timely”, India Knight. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10th November 2026 @ 1.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Ros & John Senior
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 33 | Francis Spufford | Nonesuch

    £12.00

    Francis Spufford - Nonesuch

    Lauded by the Times as “one of the finest prose stylists of his generation”, the author of Golden Hill and Light Perpetual talks to fellow author Raffaella Barker about his fantastical new novel, Nonesuch. It’s the summer of 1939. London is on the brink of war. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman working in the City, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a technical whizz at the BBC’s new TV unit. But what was supposed to be one night of abandon leads her instead into a netherworld where time bends and spirits can be summoned. London will soon be burning. But Iris has more to worry about than the Blitz. A fascist fanatic is at large with a gun in her hand. And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10th November 2026 @ 4.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 35 | The Bookery with Angela Tomaski | Home

    £10.00

    The Bookery with Angela Tomaski - Home

      Bridport’s regular literary pop-up presents an evening of readings on the theme of “Home”. A trio of Dorset authors is led by Angela Tomaski whose “exquisitely gothic and darkly comedic” The Infamous Gilberts was shortlisted for the 2026 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. The five eccentric protagonists of Tomaski’s novel are a romantic, a traditionalist, a dreamer, a diva and an explorer. As their crumbling stately home is handed over to a chain of luxury hotels, these five fatherless siblings are cast adrift on the troubled shores of the 20th-century. Angela is supported by Ros Huxley whose novel Kendal Acts Up, is published by local imprint WriteSideLeft, while Lesley Gillilan, shares her work-in-progress, Creatures of Habit. Two hours, with interval. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Tuesday 10th November 2026 @ 7.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 36 | Brian Jackman | Lion Song

    £12.00

    Brian Jackman - Lion Song

    For over five decades, Brian Jackman has reported from the front lines of African wildlife conservation. In Lion Song, Britain’s foremost safari writer reflects on a lifetime tracking the continent’s megafauna, from his first encounter with a roaring lion in the Maasai Mara to the famous Marsh Lions, which he documented for the BBC’s Big Cat Diary. Blending vivid field reporting with reverence for the natural world, Jackman chronicles Africa’s changing wilderness through meetings with legendary naturalists like George Adamson and firsthand accounts of the war against poaching. Part memoir and part call to action, this narrative charts the retreat of wild spaces while celebrating a continent where, for now at least, the rulers of the savanna are still free to greet the dawn. Chaired by Sam Rose.
    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Wednesday 11th November 2026 @ 10.30 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 38 | Amy Jeffs | Arthur

    £12.00

    Amy Jeffs - Arthur - A New Life

    Historian, artist, musician and author of the Sunday Times bestsellers Storyland and Wild, Dr Amy Jeffs turns her focus to Britain’s most enduring legend. Known for bringing ancient folklore to life through meticulous research and her own beautifully bold line drawings, Jeffs gives fresh form to a story we only think we know. Drawing from early medieval Welsh, Latin and French sources, she strips away Victorian romanticism to resurrect an earlier, earthier Arthur: a warlord raised by fairies, leader of the Wild Hunt and monster-slayer. Journeying from deep forests to the underworld, Jeffs explores how these ancient stories were continually reshaped to serve the political needs of their day. In conversation with the writer James Crowden. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Wednesday 11th November 2026 @ 12 noon
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 39 | Amanda Craig | High and Low

    £12.00

    Amanda Craig - High and Low

    Few novelists capture the “state of the nation” better than Amanda Craig, who we’re delighted to welcome back to the festival. High and Low is the latest in her gripping and eagle-eyed depictions of Britain today. Set in a six-hour timeframe, a small group of writers, bakers and shopkeepers are under siege from an armed mob. Inside a café, they have nothing but books and flour to defend not just themselves, but a child being hunted by a gang. This is a fascinating novel about moral choices made in extreme situations. What do we owe strangers, neighbours or even our enemies? Amanda Craig is the author of 10 novels, including A Vicious Circle, The Three Graces, Hearts and Minds and The Lie of the Land. Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Wednesday 11th November 2026 @ 1.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 44 | Jon Woolcott | The Tattooed Hills

    £12.00

    Jon Woolcott - The Tattooed Hills - Journeys to Chalk Figures

    Across the downlands of Britain, giant white horses, warriors and regimental badges are etched into the chalk. These landmarks have captured the human imagination for centuries, permanently altering the contours of our countryside. In The Tattooed Hills, Dorset-based writer and publisher Jon Woolcott explores iconic sites – from the Cerne Abbas Giant to the Uffington White Horse – tracing how each generation has reinterpreted, maintained and even fabricated these hill figures. Blending travelogue, folklore and cultural history, Woolcott examines how these carvings reflect our relationship with the land. Are they timeless symbols of local identity or mirror images of our changing anxieties?

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Thursday 12th November 2026 @ 10.00 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: David & Sue Orr
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 46 | Lucy Hughes-Hallett | Cleopatra

    £12.00

    Lucy Hughes-Hallett - Cleopatra - Histories, Dreams and Distortions

    For two thousand years, Cleopatra has been continually reinvented: medieval emblem of wifely devotion, Renaissance beauty, Romantic femme fatale and Hollywood temptress. Yet these archetypes tell us less about Egypt’s last pharaoh than about the preoccupations, racial politics and erotic fantasies of the cultures that constructed them. Samuel Johnson Prize-winning biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett examines the historical monarch alongside her legion of imaginary counterparts. From hostile Roman propaganda to modern pop culture, Hughes-Hallett disentangles the astute political strategist from centuries of myth-making. “Brilliant and discursive”, Antonia Fraser.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Thursday 12th November 2026 @ 1.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Flora Hood
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 48 | Steve Crawshaw | Prosecuting the Powerful

    £12.00

    Steve Crawshaw - Prosecuting the Powerful - War Crimes and the Battle for Justice

    Putting a ruling dictator in the dock once seemed unthinkable. Today, as international warrants for world leaders mount, that is changing. Author and human rights advocate Steve Crawshaw introduces his book Prosecuting the Powerful. Drawing on his career as a foreign correspondent for the Independent and senior director at both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Crawshaw offers a front-row seat to the fight against state impunity. From the Nuremberg trials to today’s investigations in Gaza, he brings to life the prosecutors, whistleblowers and survivors challenging political crimes. Is the era of immunity for despots coming to an end?

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Thursday 12th November 2026 @ 4.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 52 | Peter Stanford | Gaudi

    £12.00

    Peter Stanford - Gaudi - God’s Architect

    Today Antoni Gaudíʼs unfinished basilica, La Sagrada Família,welcomes five million visitors a year. Yet its creator died in a pauper’s hospital after he was hit by a tram and mistaken for a tramp. What led him to this fate? Even in the centenary year of his death, much about this unworldly genius remains a mystery. Telegraph writer Peter Stanford tries to make sense of it, treading in the great man’s footsteps from the Catalan countryside to industrial Barcelona, a city in which Gaudi was at once a loner and a celebrity. This revelatory biography explores how the tragedies and triumphs of Gaudiʼs life connect, and how the architectʼs work drew on his religious faith. He talks to broadcaster Gill Pyrah.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Friday 13th November 2026 @ 10.00 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 53 | Luke Pepera | Motherland

    £12.00

    Luke Pepera - Motherland - A Journey Through 5,000 Years of African History

    For centuries, Africa’s kaleidoscopic history has been viewed through a narrow, often colonial lens – but its true heritage spans an astonishing 500,000 years. Join historian, archaeologist, and broadcaster Luke Pepera as he discusses his groundbreaking book, Motherland. A brilliant presenter of his subject, Pepera brings to life a remarkable cast of characters, from the wealthiest rulers of the ancient world to fierce warrior queens who defeated the Romans. Moving effortlessly between ancient empires and modern pop culture, he reveals how African history shapes our world today. “Wonderful and illuminating … an essential read”, Simon Sebag Montefiore.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Friday 13th November 2026 @ 11.30 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 56 | Catherine Carr | Who’s the Favourite?

    £12.00

    Catherine Carr - Who’s the Favourite? - The loving, messy realities of sibling relationships

    Ever wondered if parents really do have a favourite child? BBC radio presenter, podcaster and producer Catherine Carr unpacks one of family life’s last remaining taboos. Stripping away the guilt and secrecy surrounding the subject, she’ll be diving into the dynamics of parental bias. Carr explores why favouritism happens, how it affects both the chosen and the sidelined child, and the unexpected ways these early dynamics dictate our romantic relationships and even career choices as adults. It promises to be an eye-opening, hilarious and perhaps liberating hour. Chaired by Mary Morris. “Truly enlightening, charming and moving”, Jane Garvey

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Friday 13th November 2026 @ 4.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 58 | Panel | Future Rural

    £10.00

    Panel - Future Rural - Imagining Tomorrow’s Countryside

    What might the countryside of tomorrow look like? That’s the question asked in Future Rural, a new collection of essays published by Little Toller. Roger Mortlock, Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, will be joined by some of the contributors including Kim Squirrell and Sophie Gregory. Together they will explore how climate change, nature recovery, housing needs, farming and, above all, creative thinking are reshaping rural Britain. A lively and timely conversation that celebrates the power of writing to inspire change, offering an optimistic, imaginative vision of the landscapes, communities and stories that will change the countryside for future generations.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Friday 13th November 2026 @ 6.00 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 60 | Cathy Rentzenbrink | The Agatha Christie Cure

    £12.00

    Cathy Rentzenbrink - The Agatha Christie Cure - What Reading the Queen of Crime Taught Me about Living

    Cathy Rentzenbrink fell in love with Agatha Christieʼs novels aged nine, after her grandmother paid her 10p for every mystery she finished. It turned her into an avid reader, but soon she left the Queen of Crime behind. Only when she was facing the end of her marriage, did she turn once more to Christie’s books, discovering in them the comfort and emotional support she craved. She talks to Lucy Brazier about the healing power of our greatest crime writer. Cathy Rentzenbrink worked as a bookseller and as an editor at the Bookseller, before becoming the bestselling author of The Last Act of Love and many other titles.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Saturday 14th November 2026 @ 10.30 am
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 62 | Rebecca Perry | May We Feed the King?

    £12.00

    Rebecca Perry - May We Feed the King?

    Winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026 and longlisted for the Booker Prize, Rebecca Perry is an impressively original new voice. An intricate exploration of how we construct history, May We Feed the King tells the story of a 21st-century curator at a medieval palace who is drawn deeper and deeper into the life of its former occupants, a reluctant ruler and the courtiers who scheme to replace him. Why is she turning to the past to hide from her present? And what drives a monarch to risk the future of their kingdom? This playful meditation on history and storytelling has become one of the most talked about novels of the year. Chaired by Adrian Turpin.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Saturday 14th November 2026 @ 12 noon
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    Sponsored by: Deirdre & Howard Coates
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 66 | Tom Cox | Everything Will Swallow You

    £12.00

    Tom Cox - Everything Will Swallow You

    Eric and Carl live in Dorset in a small white cottage under the shadow of a cliff. Eric sells old records. Carl – who one might easily mistake for a dog – cooks, cleans and crochets. Tom Cox’s third novel is the story of their friendship. Wandering through south-west England, they encounter local folklore and hints of a looming apocalypse. All the while, Carl’s true nature remains a closely guarded secret. One of our most original novelists talks to Joanna Quinn about landscape, love and the lore of the land. He’ll also read from his new short-story collection. Tom Cox’s 16 books include Villager, the Sunday Times bestseller The Good, The Bad and the Furry and the Wainwright Prize-longlisted 21st-Century Yokel.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Saturday 14th November 2026 @ 4.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details

  • Event 70 | Shaun Bythell | Diaries of a Bookseller

    £10.00

    Shaun Bythell - Diaries of a Bookseller

    The Bookshop in Wigtown is a bookworm’s paradise: Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop, a beautiful rural setting, miles of shelving and a log fire. You’d think that, after 25 years at the helm, its owner, Shaun Bythell, would be used to the customers. Don’t get him wrong, there are some good ones among the porn-hunters, mystics, hagglers and drifters on day-release. But, it’s fair to say, all human life is here. After a four year absence, the Sunday Times bestselling diarist returns with the latest journal, described by Alan Bennett as “gentle, funny and soothing”. He’ll be talking about the joy of shooting Kindles and eavesdropping on customers, and why the sitcom Black Books is actually a documentary.

    Priority booking opens Friday 28 August, while general booking opens on Friday 11 September. Become a Friend today and enjoy two weeks of priority booking, giving you first access to the programme. Contact TIC Bridport to book tickets - 01308 424901.
    When: Thursday 21st January 2027 @ 6.30 pm
    Where: Bull Ballroom
    PRIORITY BOOKING Details
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