The Independent Bath Literature Festival 2014

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY – SUNDAY 9 MARCH Bath Box Office 01225 2014 463362

Bath Box Office 01225 463362 @bathfestivals #bathlitfest bathfestivals.org.uk bathfestivalsbathfestivals bathfestivals.org.uk @bathfestivals #bathlitfest

PARTNERS AND SPONSORS

Principal Sponsor

Title Sponsor

Magazine Partner

Creative Partner

Festival Funders

Major Sponsors

Festival Partners

Helping you choose your next book

Local Media Partners

Associate Sponsors

Festival Supporters

Hotel & Restaurant Partner

Individuals & Trusts Camille Tsu Brooke Sandra Le Marchant Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust Morny and Ian Hay Davison Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust

2

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

WELCOME

W

elcome to the 2014 Independent Bath Literature Festival. Our theme for this year is bliss. It’s the feeling you get as a child when you’re presented with an unexpectedly large stick of candyfloss.

Or as an adult when you realise they haven’t called last orders just yet. Or when you’re reading a great book and you realise the author is expressing something you’ve always known but never quite put into words.

The feeling of pure joy and inspiration we get from the written and spoken word is something to cling to in times of uncertainty. In our exclusive series of Bliss Lectures, writers and thinkers will explore their personal bliss, from Tolstoy, Wagner and Austen to the joy of a perfectly ripe pear.

As usual our programme showcases the best of fiction and non-fiction, plus names from comedy, sport, food, philosophy, nature and history: Germaine Greer, Hanif Kureishi, Lionel Shriver, A. L. Kennedy, Rowan Williams, Henry Blofeld, Jennifer Saunders, Alain de Botton, Michael Rosen, Russia’s best-selling novelist Boris Akunin, Kirsty Wark, Game of Thrones’ Gemma Whelan, Mock the Week’s Mark Watson, Mark Hix, Claudia Roden. Prepare to be inspired, cheered, challenged, moved and uplifted. Come and experience bliss with us!

Festival Bookshop, Guildhall We are pleased to welcome back Waterstones (waterstones.com) as the official bookseller for The Independent Bath Literature Festival.

Visit their Festival Bookshop in the Guildhall where a full selection of books will be available to tempt you – a great place to while away the time between events. And don’t forget that there will be a book signing after every event.

There will also be satellite bookshops at the other Literature Festival venues.

Booking dates Patrons Booking 2 January 2014 Pen Friends Booking 2 January 2014 Penpals Booking 9 January 2014

Viv Groskop Artistic Director

General Booking 20 January 2014

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 3

BLISS

S

pecially curated for our 2014 programme, our Bliss Lectures are designed to inspire and delight. Nine writers and thinkers share their thoughts on the one thing in life they're most passionate about.

Discover Bliss with our exclusive series.

Julian Baggini Bliss is… eating — p.22 Philip Hensher Bliss is… Wagner — p.28 Patrick Barkham Bliss is… badgers — p.34 Frieda Hughes Bliss is… knowing yourself — p.37 Olivia Laing Bliss is… drinking — p46 Rowan Williams Bliss is… Tolstoy — p.48

A glass of champagne for the brain, the Bliss Lectures are unique to Bath. Each speaker has eighteen minutes to talk intimately and off-thecuff on a subject they’re passionate about.

They’ll then be grilled by an interviewer on their life and work, as well as on issues raised by the lecture, before facing Q&A from the audience.

Be uplifted by our authors and thinkers speaking on their personal bliss: Rowan Williams on Tolstoy, Olivia Laing on drinking, Julian Baggini on eating, Philip Hensher on Wagner, Patrick Barkham on badgers, Frieda Hughes on knowing yourself. Joanna Trollope and Val McDermid present twin views on the joy of reading Jane Austen. While Anna Pavord argues that bliss is… a perfectly ripe pear.

Anna Pavord: Bliss is… a perfectly ripe pear — p.50 Joanna Trollope: Bliss is… Austen (Part I) — p.65 Val McDermid: Bliss is… Austen (Part II) —p.68

4 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

STRANDS

Austen Re-Imagined

Comedy

A series of exclusive events casting Jane Austen in a new light, with contributions from Joanna Trollope, Val McDermid, food historian Pen Vogler and Edinburgh Fringe comedy favourites Austentatious. Expect bold and exciting work, plus the story behind HarperCollins' The Austen Project (controversial contemporary rewrites of Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey).

Artistic Director Viv Groskop performed 100 stand-up gigs in 100 nights. Now she returns from the front lines of the comedy circuit bringing her hand-picked favourites with her, including Jennifer Saunders, Mark Watson, Jo Caulfield and Lucy Porter.

Bliss Lectures

Thought Leaders

Our headline theme strand featuring writers and thinkers talking about the one thing in life they’re most passionate about. For eighteen minutes only. Followed by conversation and Q&A. From Rowan Williams on Tolstoy and Philip Hensher on Wagner to Olivia Laing on the link between drink and creativity and Patrick Barkham’s love of the humble badger, everyone has their own unique idea of bliss.

Bringing together some of the most influential writers and thinkers of our time, this series of events will both inspire and inform. From financial guru and Undercover Economist Tim Harford and philosopher Alain de Botton on The News: A User's Manual, to Newsnight presenters Gavin Esler and Kirsty Wark and Channel 4’s Mrs Moneypenny.

News and Current Affairs

Create

A strand focusing on current affairs, news and politics. From Jonathan Dimbleby chairing our 'News Is Ruining Our Lives' debate to husbandand-wife team Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld (both Yale law professors) on cultural differences.

Plus: Ben Chu, Jon Snow, Alex Brummer, Douglas Alexander and Jonathan Aitken.

Our pick of the best creative workshops around.

Get expert advice and hands-on experience in the company of internationally-renowned authors, with our sessions on creative writing (from short stories and memoir to screenplays and food writing), gardening for all the family, home crafts and more. Book early as class sizes are strictly limited.

Sponsored by

Supported by our Creative Partner

Bath Aloud

Voices in the City

A selection of spoken word, poetry and short story events which bring literature to life through performance. 'You-had-to-be-there' moments galore, including one-off actors’ readings at Short Stories Aloud and Hollie McNish’s award-winning 'slam poetry' ('I can’t take my ears off her' — Benjamin Zephaniah).

Our hugely popular series of free events is returning for 2014. Including street performance, comedy, story telling and poetry across Bath.

This is your chance to take part in anything you want — and it's all for free.

Supported by our Creative Partner Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 5

HIGHLIGHTS

P.

19

JENNIFER SAUNDERS

P.

21

GREAT BATH NEWS DEBATE

p.

26

HANIF KUREISHI

P.

48

ROWAN WILLIAMS

P.

60

LIONEL SHRIVER

P.

20

GERMAINE GREER

P.

22

HENRY BLOFELD

p.

38

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL

P.

52

GREAT BIG COMEDY NIGHT

P.

61 65 +

JOANNA TROLLOPE

6 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

WORKSHOPS

SATURDAY 1 MARCH / SATURDAY 8 MARCH

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

1914: Poetry Remembers

Jonathan Wakeham: Screenwriting

2 – 5pm St. Michael's Without Marking the centenary of the First World War in 2014, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy edited a unique collection of poems, engaging the most eminent poets of the present to choose the writing from the Great War that touched them profoundly. She also commissioned them to write a poem of their own in response to the war to end all wars. We now invite you to be part of a public reading of this remarkable anthology - you can sign up to read a set of 2 poems by emailing us on info@bathfestivals.org.uk.

Everyone, young and old, is welcome to drop in and listen to the readings, taking time to reflect on conflicts past, present and future.

In association with Faber & Faber and St Michael's Without

Do you want to be the next Stanley Kubrick and see your words turned into action on the silver screen? Join Jonathan Wakeham, screenwriter, co-founder of LoCo Film Festival and guest lecturer at Paisley University, to learn all about choosing genres and characters, and how to pitch your ideas to a producer.

MONDAY 3 MARCH

Sarah Franklin: Writing Short Stories 10.15am – 4pm Holburne Museum £50 (£48) W3

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

A Beginner's Guide to Successful Self-Publishing 11.15am – 12.45pm Holburne Museum £10 (£9) W1 With self-publishing being considered the new way forward, author Sandy Osborne (Girl Cop – the life and loves of an officer on the beat) and her publisher Helen Hart, Publishing Director of SilverWood Books, present everything you need to know about getting your book into print — and tips for marketing your finished product.

An un-missable event for the rookie author.

Supported by

2.45 – 4.45pm Holburne Museum £10 (£9) W2

The often neglected genre of short story writing has produced some of the world’s most acclaimed writing. If you feel inspired by the likes of Alice Munro and Lydia Davis, join editor, writer and Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University Sarah Franklin for this inspiring workshop. Polish your skills and learn how to achieve high impact in short fiction.

Create Strand supported by our Creative Partner Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 7

WORKSHOPS FRIDAY 7 MARCH

Andy Lynes: How to be a Better Food Writer TUESDAY 4 MARCH

Caroline Zoob: The Hand-Stitched Home 10.15am – 4pm Holburne Museum £62 (£60) includes material cost W4 Embroiderer and textile designer Caroline Zoob will show you how to add elegant embroidered touches to modern, airy decorating schemes.

Explaining the importance of spotting things that lend themselves to be captured in stitches, she will help you find inspiration in your own garden, from bare branches to patterns on flower petals.

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH

Paul Dodgson: Life Writing 10.15am – 4pm Holburne Museum £50 (£48) W5 Do you want to write about your life but do not know where to start? During this workshop you will experience dynamic memoir writing techniques and exercises to help recall long ago events. The tutor is writer, producer and composer Paul Dodgson who teaches lifewriting around the world.

THURSDAY 6 MARCH

Melanie McGrath: How to Get Started 10.15am – 4pm Holburne Museum £50 (£48) W6 Are you an aspiring fiction writer? Join bestselling novelist and Arvon creative writing tutor Melanie McGrath for a day of practical exercises.

Find out where to get your ideas, how to create characters and plots, and how to move them forward into narrative.

10.15am – 4pm Holburne Museum £50 (£48) W7 Full of practical exercises on writing and pitching pieces, this workshop will give a real insight into food writing and how to avoid the pitfalls of the genre. Learn from Metro’s restaurant critic and Independent on Sunday columnist Andy Lynes how to craft great reviews and features — and how to break into this highly competitive world.

SATURDAY 8 MARCH

Get Outside! – Family Workshop 11 – 11.45am (W8) & 12.30 – 1.15pm (W9) Holburne Museum Age 7 – 11/ Family £5 Dawn Isaac, garden designer and author of 101 Things for Kids to do Outside, will show you different ways to entice your children outdoors.

From family-friendly ways to redesign your garden to projects, games and crafts you can all enjoy in the open air.

Children under 12 must be accompanied by a ticket-buying adult.

SUNDAY 9 MARCH

Young Writers' Lab 10am – 4pm Holburne Museum Age 13 – 18 £20/£15 W10 If you love writing, perhaps see yourself on the festival stage in a few years, then join our Young Writers' workshop. This intensive day of writing for young writers will offer you tips and a host of new skills to take your writing to the next level.

Join writers, Alice Maddicott and Shaun Usher to explore the wonders of the Holburne collection as an inspirational starting point.

8 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Create Strand supported by our Creative Partner

DIARY GUILDHALL

OTHER VENUES

MORNING

11am − 4.30pm Walking On (BCL, Exhibition Space)

AFTERN0ON

12 − 1pm John Julius Norwich (Theatre Royal Bath)

EVENING

7.30pm − late Poems in Pubs (starts at The Raven)

GUILDHALL

MORNING

11.15am − 12.15pm Jonathan Dimbleby Destiny in the Desert

MINERAL HOSPITAL

FORUM

11.15 – 12.15pm Amy Chua

AFTERNOON

12 – 1pm Jennifer Saunders

1 – 2pm Vikings: Life & Legend

OTHER VENUES

HOLBURNE MUSEUM

10.30am – 4.30pm Bath Poetry Café (BCL, Exhibition Space)

11.15am – 12.45 A Beginner's Guide to Successful Self Publishing

1 – 2pm Jed Rubenfeld

2.45 – 3.45pm Germaine Greer

2.45 – 3.45pm Vanessa Able Never Mind the Bullocks

4.30 – 5.30pm Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld

4.30 – 5.30pm The salon: collective

EVENING

6.15 – 7.15pm Alain de Botton

TIME

GUILDHALL

AFTERNOON

2.45 – 3.45pm Chinese Whispers Ben Chu

2.45 – 3.45pm The Night I DiedJo Caulfield

4.30 – 5.30pm Charlotte Higgins and Peter Stothard

4.30 – 5.30pm Henry Marsh

3 – 4 pm Great Bath News Debate

12 noon Random Acts of Shakespeare (Bath City centre) 2 – 5pm Words on the Street (Bath City centre)

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

TIME

6.30 − 9pm Any Questions (The Royal High School)

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY

TIME

2.45 – 4.45pm Jonathan Wakeham Screenwriting

4.30 – 5.30pm Tim Moore

6.15 – 7.15pm Gary Shteyngart

6 – 7pm Henry Blofeld

MINERAL HOSPITAL 2.45 – 3.45pm The Examined Life

OTHER VENUES

8 – 9pm Julian Baggini Bliss is… Food

EVENING

8 – 9.30pm Word Perfect

8 – 9pm Lucy Porter

8 – 9pm Charlotte Higgins (Roman Baths - Pump Room)

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 9

SUNDAY 2 MARCH

4.30 – 5.30pm Ben Watt

6.15 – 7.15 pm Jo Baker

6.15 – 7.15 pm Under the Influence of Books - Jo Caulfield 8 – 9pm Hanif Kureishi

2 – 5pm Pavement Paradise (Bath City Centre)

GUILDHALL

OTHER VENUES

HOLBURNE MUSEUM 10am Morning Walk. Bath at War

1 – 2pm Philip Hensher - Bliss is…Wagner (chair. Viv Groskop)

10.15am-4pm Sarah Franklin Writing Short Stories

1 – 2pm Caroline Zoob Virginia Woolf’s Garden

2.45 – 3.45pm Great War Fashion with Lucy Adlington 4.30 – 5.30pm Michael Rosen

4.30 – 5.30pm John Walsh and Jonathan Grimwood - Food in fiction

EVENING

6.15 – 7.15pm Douglas Alexander

6.15 – 7.15pm Around the World in 10 Books

8 – 9pm Jonathan Aitken

8 – 9pm Short Stories Aloud

TIME

GUILDHALL

OTHER VENUES

HOLBURNE MUSEUM

8.30-10am Books for Breakfast Gavin Esler (Hall & Woodhouse)

MORNING AFTERNOON

TUESDAY 4 MARCH

TIME MORN AFTERNOON

MONDAY 3 MARCH

DIARY

11.15am – 12.15pm Sally Magnusson

11.15am – 12.15pm Matthew Dennison

1 – 2pm The Incredible Spice Men

1 – 2pm Lucy Lethbridge

2.45 – 3.45pm 100 Works of Art that will Define Our Age

2.45 – 3.45pm Barbara Swindin

10.15am - 4pm Caroline Zoob workshop, The HandStitched Home

4.30 – 5.30pm Nicky Haslam EVENING

6.15 – 7.15pm 6.15 – 7.15pm Andrew Hussey - The French Intifada David Lodge

TIME

8 – 9pm Alex Brummer

GUILDHALL

7.30 - 8.30pm Count Arthur Strong (Komedia)

6pm Evening walk: A Georgian Pub Crawl

OTHER VENUES

HOLBURNE MUSEUM

8.30-10am Books for Breakfast - Mrs Moneypenny (Hall & Woodhouse)

MORNING AFTERNOON

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH

8 - 9pm Patrick Barkham - Bliss is…Badgers

7 – 7.45pm Barbara Swindin. All But One (Midsomer Norton Library)

10.15am-4pm Workshop Paul Dogson, Life Writing

11am - 12pm The Little Red Hen (Keynsham Library)

EVENING

1 – 2pm The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory - Deborah Alun-Jones

1 – 2pm Bath Big Read Book Group

12.30 - 3pm Literary Lunch (Allium Brasserie)

2.45 – 3.45pm Nick Cohen

2.45 – 3.45pm Frieda Hughes - Bliss is...

4.30 – 5.30pm Claudia Roden

4.30 – 5.30pm Elizabeth Day and Rachel Joyce

4.15 – 5pm Creating Stories Out of the Blue (Keynsham Library)

6.15 – 7.15pm Alastair Campbell

6.15 – 7.15pm Poetry with Frieda Hughes

6 – 7pm Writers’ Surgery (Keynsham Library)

8 – 9pm Encouraging Wealth Creation

8 – 9pm Matthew Fort

8 – 9pm Hollie McNish (The Porter)

10 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

7.30 – 8.15pm Joanna Rossiter

8 – 9.30pm Pin Drop - No 1.

(Royal Cresent)

DIARY GUILDHALL

MORNING

11.15am – 12.15pm Miranda Seymour

OTHER VENUES

HOLBURNE MUSEUM 10am Morning Walk: The Georgian City

AFTERNOON

11.15am – 12.15pm Theresa Lloyd The Psychology of Giving

1 – 2pm Gyles and Saethryd Brandreth

1 – 2pm Joanna Rossiter

2.45 – 3.45pm Kate Williams - Josephine

2.45 – 3.45pm A.L. Kennedy

10.15am-4pm Melanie McGrath: How to get started 12 – 1pm Countess of Carnarvon (Theatre Royal Bath)

THURSDAY 6 MARCH

TIME

4.30 – 5.30pm Pushkin House Prize EVENING

6.15 – 7.15pm Boris Akunin

8 – 9pm Steve Richards - Rock ‘n Roll Politics

8 – 9pm Olivia LaingBliss is...Drinking

GUILDHALL

6 – 7pm Writers’ Surgery (Roscoff Deli) 7.30 – 8.15pm Sandy Osborne.

Self-Publishing Q&A (Radstock Library)

KOMEDIA

OTHER VENUES

MORNING

9 − 10.30am Dream Breakfast (Hall & Woodhouse)

AFTERNOON

11.15am – 12.15pm Rowan Williams

11.15am – 12.15pm Turkish Awakening

1 – 2pm Getting Under Their Skins - Art, History and Fiction

1 – 2pm Anna Pavord Bliss is…a perfectly ripe pear

EVENING

6.15 – 7.15pm Mark Hix

10am Morning Walk: A Georgian Pub Crawl

10.15am - 4pm Andy Lynes How to be a Better Food Writer

12.30 - 3pm Lunch with Mr Darcy Penelope Vogler (Allium Brasserie)

2.45 – 3.45pm Mark Watson The Knot 4.30 – 5.30pm Josh Cohen - Privacy

HOLBURNE MUSEUM

2.45 – 3.45pm Trevor Cox (BRLSI) 4.30 – 5.30pm Viv Groskop I Laughed, I Cried

6.15 – 7.15pm Sarah Dunant and SJ Parris 8 – 9pm Alex Clark's Rising Stars

7.30 – 10pm Great Big Comedy Night.

Gemma Whelan, Mary Bourke, Mark Watson

Join the conversation @bathfestivals

/bathfestivals

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 11

FRIDAY 7 MARCH

TIME

6.15 – 7.15pm Tim Harford

TIME MORNING AFTERNOON

SATURDAY 8 MARCH

DIARY

EVENING

THE OLD THEATRE ROYAL

11.15am – 12.15pm How to be a Booker Judge

11.15am – 12.15pm Jessica Fellowes Behind the scenes at Downton Abbey

1 – 2pm Firestation Children’s Book Swap

2.45 – 3.45pm Austentatious

2.45 – 3.45pm Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

2.45 – 3.45pm Berlin: Imagine a City

4.30 – 5.30pm Kirsty Wark

4.30 – 5.30pm Firestation Book Swap

4.30 – 5.30pm Rick Gekoski Lost, Stolen or Shredded

6.15 – 7.15pm Simon Jenkins

6.15 – 7.15pm The Knackered Mother’s Wine Club

6.15 – 7.15pm A Celebration of Game of Thrones

8 – 9pm Lionel Shriver

8 – 9pm James Mullinger Bad Boy of Feminism

GUILDHALL

THE OLD THEATRE ROYAL

11.15am – 12.15pm Joanna Trollope Bliss is...Jane Austen (Part I)

11.15am – 12.15pm Turner and the Sea

AFTERNOON EVENING

1 – 2pm Call the Midwife

1 – 2pm Celebrating British Cycling

1 – 2pm Mark Lawson

2.45 – 3.45pm Penelope Lively

2.45 – 3.45pm Shaun Usher

2.45 – 3.45pm Tom Rob Smith

4.30 – 5.30pm Patricia Hodge

4.30 – 5.30pm Chrys Salt and Ghareeb Iskander

4.30 – 5.30pm Natalie Haynes

6.15 – 7.15pm Val McDermid Bliss is...Jane Austen (Part I I)

6.15 – 7.15pm Maureen Freely

6.15 – 7.15pm Emily Mayhew

GUILDHALL COUNCIL CHAMBER

1 - 2pm Hanged for Love

12.30 – 1.15pm Get Outside!

Family Workshop

6.15 – 7.15pm Hanged for Love

6 – 8pm Great War Salon

OTHER VENUES

GUILDHALL COUNCIL CHAMBER

12 - 1.30pm Red Network Event (The Francis Hotel)

12.30 - 3pm Literary Lunch Sophia Waugh (Allium Brasserie)

2.45 – 3.45pm Hanged for Love

6.15 - 7.15pm Hanged for Love

8.30 – 10pm Quite Literate (The Belvoir Castle)

Save the date The Telegraph Bath Children's Literature Festival 26 Sept — 5 Oct 2014

12 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

HOLBURNE MUSEUM

11 – 11.45 Get Outside!

Family Workshop

11.30am – 12.15pm The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Radstock Library)

1 – 2pm Tim Richardson

TIME

OTHER VENUES 9.45 – 10.30am The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Paulton Library)

1 – 2pm 4th Estate Literary Salon: A Woman's Place is...?

MORNING

SUNDAY 9 MARCH

GUILDHALL

8pm Jazz with Jeff Williams (The Porter)

NEWS FEATURE

The Global Picture We’re thrilled to welcome BBC Radio 4‘s Any Questions to the Independent Bath Literature Festival on our launch night. The next day our Bath News and Current Affairs strand kicks off with an explosive debate about the role of news in our over-loaded lives. Join host Jonathan Dimbleby as philosopher Alain de Botton and TED speaker Carl Honoré argue that “News Is Ruining Our Lives.” Channel 4’s Jon Snow and BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight’s Ritula Shah will oppose.

Get the inside track on leadership in our Thought Leaders strand from Newsnight’s Gavin Esler and on ambition from the Financial Times’ Mrs Moneypenny. See a live one-man Have I Got News For You? in the shape of Rock n’ Roll Politics, the sold-out Edinburgh show by The Independent’s chief political commentator Steve Richards. Plus: an exclusive UK festival appearance from “Tiger Mother” Amy Chua, the latest on China from The Independent’s economics editor Ben Chu and Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander on the future of foreign policy.

Big Bath News Debate p.21 Alain de Botton p.21 & p.22 Gavin Esler p.32 Mrs Moneypenny p.36 Steve Richards p.46 Amy Chua & Jed Rubenfeld p.21 Ben Chu p.24 Douglas Alexander p.29

Standby ticket offer Under 25s, over 60s and other concessions may purchase unsold tickets half price, 30 minutes before the event*. *T&C's apply see p.76

14 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Alex Brummer p.34 Josh Cohen p.51 Nick Cohen p.37

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY VOICES IN THE CITY

John Julius Norwich

Walking On 11am – 4.30pm Bath Central Library Exhibition Space Free Eighteen poets from Bath, Bristol, Frome, Malmesbury, Reading, Swindon and Wells who featured in the Bath Poetry Cafe’s 2013 anthology The Listening Walk perform some of the best new poetry in the West.

Supported by our Creative Partner

12 − 1pm Theatre Royal Bath £10 (listen only) (for £23.50 ticket including lunch visit theatreroyal.org.uk) A1 When Lady Diana Cooper married the politician Duff Cooper, they became a golden couple at the heart of British public life. Her letters to her son, John Julius Norwich, give a touching portrait of the love between mother and son, separated by war, oceans — and the constraints of the time in which they lived.

In association with

NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

VOICES IN THE CITY

BBC Radio 4's Any Questions

Poems in Pubs

6.30 – 9pm Doors open 6.30pm, audience to be seated by 7.15pm The Royal High School Free but ticketed A2 The popular BBC Radio 4 programme comes to Bath, for a live broadcast from the Royal High School. Join the panel of personalities from politics, media and elsewhere and put your questions to them.

7.30pm – Late Starts at The Raven, Queen St. For full route see bathfestivals.org.uk Free The UK’s only annual performance poetry pub crawl returns — celebrating its fifth anniversary!

Follow fifteen poets on a route through Bath’s pubs or dip in and out as you please. Expect some special guests to bring verse to your vodka and poetry to your pint. Open mic slots at the end for those wishing to join in.

Supported by our Creative Partner

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 15

£5

A WEEK

SAVE OVER 50% £5 includes seven days of the paper plus free iPad access worth £9.99 per month.

For the smarter way to pay and more information go to: independent.co.uk/subscriptions

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

Jonathan Dimbleby: Destiny in the Desert 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £9 (£8) B1 The Allied victory at the Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Second World War. Jonathan Dimbleby’s Destiny in the Desert creates a vivid portrait of this decisive struggle, charting the nail-biting months preceding the victory. “A scintillating study” — Daily Telegraph.

VOICES IN THE CITY

Bath Poetry Café 10.30am – 4.30pm / Bath Central Library Exhibition Space / Free Sex, Death and Dismemberment: drama in the making — a daring new Bath Poetry Café enterprise. Join Café Poets for the first ever runthrough of their collective retelling of the classic story of Actaeon.

Supported by our Creative Partner

Millions of British children could use a Tiger Mother in their tank ALLISON PEARSON, DAILY TELEGRAPH

Amy Chua 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) B2 Amy Chua shot to global prominence with her best-selling memoir-meets-parenting-manual The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which advocated strict family rules. Here she talks about her life as a professor of law at Yale, writer and parent.

18 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

An endless stream of funny anecdotes THE INDEPENDENT

COMEDY

Jennifer Saunders 12 – 1pm Forum £15 (£12) B3 Described as “funny, touching and disarmingly honest” (and wouldn’t it be strange if it were anything else?), Jennifer Saunders’ muchanticipated memoir Bonkers: My Life in Laughs is packed with celebrity tales about life on set with Ruby Wax, Goldie Hawn, Joanna Lumley and Lulu. Away from the spotlight, Saunders grew up on military bases as the daughter of an RAF man before becoming best friends with Dawn French at teacher training school — and meeting husband Adrian Edmondson (Vyvyan in The Young Ones) when she was just twentythree. Now fifty-five and a grandmother, she says she wanted to write her life up “before time takes its toll on my memory.” Join her in intimate conversation before she embarks on her next quest, the much-vaunted movie spin-off of Absolutely Fabulous.

Sponsored by

Join the conversation @bathfestivals

/bathfestivals

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 19

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

VOICES IN THE CITY

Random Acts of Shakespeare From 12 noon Bath City Centre / Free Experience Shakespeare’s sonnets, monologues and most famous scenes like never before as performers from salon:collective bring their immersive theatre experience to the streets of Bath, aiming to reintroduce the public to the Bard, one street at a time.

Supported by our Creative Partner

Vikings: Life and Legend 1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) B4 Coinciding with the opening of a major exhibition at the British Museum, which will feature an extraordinary range of objects and new discoveries, curator Gareth Williams joins us to talk about the core period of the Viking Age, examining how the Vikings created a lasting historical impact on our world today.

Jed Rubenfeld 1 – 2pm Mineral Hospital £7.50 (£6.50) B5 Yale law professor Jed Rubenfeld moonlights as a bestselling thriller writer. Described as 'one of the most elegant legal writers of his generation', his first book, The Interpretation of Murder, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and sold over a million copies worldwide. His second, The Death Instinct, was described as “genius” (Daily Telegraph). Here he talks about the highs and lows of writing page-turner thrillers.

Germaine Greer

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £9 (£8) B6 Germaine Greer has been shocking, delighting and stupefying the British public ever since she first came to Cambridge fifty years ago to write her thesis. From The Female Eunuch (1972) to its sequel The Whole Woman (1999), debate continues to rage about her theories decades later.

The ever-controversial feminist thinker gives an exclusive lecture on her most personal book yet, White Beech: The Rainforest Years. The account of a dogged battle to tame a sixty-hectare plot of land in south-east Queensland, this is also the story of her life-long passion for the environment — and for her homeland, Australia.

'It’s a complicated love affair,' she says.

Greer reveals how the political can turn personal, as she works on returning her own patch of Queensland rainforest to its native roots. Always the most exciting, challenging and brilliantly unpredictable thinker, don’t miss this unique chance to hear her speak live in Bath.

20 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

VOICES IN THE CITY

Words on the Street 2 – 5pm / Bath City Centre / Free Be prepared to be enticingly engaged as students of creative writing, English literature and performing arts from Bath Spa University bring their blissfinding talents to the heart of the city, exploring what makes them (and you) happy.

Presented by our Creative Partner

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

Vanessa Able: Never Mind the Bullocks 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) B7 The story of one woman's 10,000 kilometre drive across India in the world’s cheapest car. In her brilliant debut travelogue, Vanessa Able competes for space with bullocks and SUVs on eight–lane super-highways in a country where a blessing from the gods is considered sufficient road insurance.

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Great Bath News Debate

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld: The Triple Package

3 – 4 pm Forum £12 (£10) B8 A must-see debate chaired by the BBC’s Jonathan Dimbleby.

Philosopher Alain de Botton, author of The News: A User’s Manual, and TED speaker Carl Honoré, author of The Slow Fix, propose the motion: 'News Is Ruining Our Lives.' Channel 4’s Jon Snow and BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight’s Ritula Shah will oppose. Expect fireworks.

In Association with

Sponsored by Sponsored by

4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £8 (£7) B9 In their only UK festival appearance, Amy Chua (Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother) and her best-selling thriller writer husband Jed Rubenfeld (The Interpretation of Murder) join forces to debate racial stereotypes in their explosive analysis of success, The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America.

Sponsored by

BATH ALOUD

Blissful Tales from Shakespeare with salon:collective 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) B10 What does bliss mean to us, where does it come from and what happens when we lose it? The salon:collective’s actors find some of the answers through exploring Shakespeare’s works, and discover that his sonnets were the 16th century equivalent of social media when it comes to expressing the highs and lows of love.

Tim Moore 4.30 – 5.30pm Mineral Hospital £8 (£7) B11 On the eve of the Giro d’Italia’s 100th anniversary, Tim Moore 'Britain’s answer to Bill Bryson' - sets out to cycle the route of the first race, all 3,162 km of it.

On a 100-year-old bike. That he built himself. With A Tour of Italy, the author of French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France takes on his biggest challenge yet.

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

21

SATURDAY 1 MARCH

THOUGHT LEADERS

Alain de Botton – The News: A User’s Manual 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £9 (£8) B13 Following on from his bestselling Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton now looks at the peculiar position that ‘the news’ occupies in our lives. We invest it with an authority and importance which used to be the preserve of religion — but what does it do for us?

Sponsored by

Henry Blofeld

Gary Shteyngart

6 – 7pm Forum £15 (£12) B12

6.15 – 7.15pm Mineral Hospital £7.50 (£6.50) B14

The quintessentially English cricket commentator, writer, oenophile, bon viveur, collector and national treasure tells his riveting life story in his latest memoir, Squeezing the Orange.

Fondly known as “Blowers”, he is best known as a cricket commentator for Test Match Special on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra.

Prepare for an evening of delicious anecdotes and vividly eccentric observations of life on and off the pitch.

On a rare visit from the US, Gary Shteyngart, the acclaimed author of Super Sad True Love Story, talks to Kirsty Lang about his funny and moving memoir, Little Failure, in which he reflects on his transformation from a toddler in Leningrad to a 40-something Manhattanite.

Sponsored by

BLISS LECTURE

Julian Baggini: Bliss is… Food 8 – 9pm Guildhall £9 (£8) B15 In The Virtues of the Table: How to Eat and Think best-selling philosopher Julian Baggini argues that thinking about what we eat can help us decide how to live. In this special lecture, he will explore our blissful relationship with food. Bon appetit!

22 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Bath Half marathon takes place on Sunday 2 March. This exciting event attracts a lot of supporters to the city so please allow more time to get to your event. Local road closures and parking suspensions will be in place. Alternative routes will be signposted.

For further details for how this could affect your journey please visit bathfestivals.org.uk/literature/bathhalf

SUNDAY 2 MARCH VOICES IN THE CITY

Pavement Paradise 2 – 5pm Bath City Centre Free Responding to themes of perfection and paradise, students from Bath Spa University bring their creative energy back into the city centre with performances and interactive encounters suitable for all the family.

Presented by our Creative Partner

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

COMEDY

Chinese Whispers: Why Everything You’ve Heard About China is Wrong

The Night I Died – Jo Caulfield

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) C1 We think we know China — a superpower on the rise, destined to overtake the West and dominate the 21st century.

But, as the Independent’s economics editor Ben Chu argues, we have been getting China and the Chinese wrong for centuries. Be prepared for a surprising, penetrating insight into modern China. Chaired by Stefan Stern.

The Examined Life 2.45 – 3.45pm Mineral Hospital £8 (£7) C3 Having started out as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz’s The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves has grown into an international phenomenon.

Grosz distils over 50,000 hours of therapy room conversation into pure psychological insight with a series of extraordinary stories about life changes and grief, love and lies.

24 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) C2 A celebration of the joys and (mostly) horrors of live performance, hosted by artistic director Viv Groskop, starring BBC Radio 4’s Jo Caulfield and other surprise guests. It’s a cross between a chat show and a therapy session as comedians and raconteurs reveal their worst on-stage moments.

'An absolute treat' — Daily Telegraph.

SUNDAY 2 MARCH

Charlotte Higgins and Peter Stothard 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £9 (£8) C4 In Under Another Sky, Guardian chief arts writer Charlotte Higgins examines what Roman Britain has meant to us throughout history. She is joined

by TLS editor Peter Stothard, whose Alexandria sees him reconnect with an ancient city and culture, as well as his personal memories, as they discuss the influence of the past on our lives and thinking.

Sponsored by

Henry Marsh

Ben Watt

4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) C5

4.30 – 5.30pm Mineral Hospital £8 (£7) C6

An astonishingly candid insight into the life and work of a modern neurosurgeon, Henry Marsh’s Do No Harm explores what it’s really like to be a brain surgeon, to drill down into the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason, and to reach the limitations of modern medicine.

Divorcees from very different backgrounds, Romany and Tom “came together like colliding trains in 1957.” Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watt has written a candid, moving and funny account about his parents: their everyday life, marriage and the decline into old age. A personal journey through ambition, stardom and the family roots of this musician, DJ and writer.

Chaired by Kirsty Lang.

Sponsored by

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

25

SUNDAY 2 MARCH

Hanif Kureishi COMEDY

AUSTEN REIMAGINED

Under the Influence of Books – Jo Caulfield

Jo Baker

6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) C7 You might recognise Jo Caulfield from Have I Got News For You? or Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Road Show. Exclusively for our 2014 programme, the awardwinning stand-up, comedy writer and host of BBC Radio 4’s Speakeasy presents an intimate, funny guide to her literary world.

6.15 – 7.15pm Mineral Hospital £8 (£7) C8 In Jo Baker’s Longbourn, the acclaimed re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice, the servants take centre stage. Baker captures the trials faced by the lower classes in Regency England and shows us that there is as much romance, heartbreak and intrigue downstairs as there is upstairs.

Presented by our Creative Partner

Supported by our Creative Partner

Charlotte Higgins 8 – 9pm Roman Baths – Pump Room £7.50 (£6.50) C12

Word Perfect

Enjoy an entertaining evening with students from Bath Spa University as they showcase the best bits from their street performances over the weekend — plus special items reserved for indoors — hosted

by Bath bard and storyteller David Metcalfe.

The award-winning author of The Buddha of Suburbia and Intimacy joins Kirsty Lang to discuss his controversial new novel, his first in nearly six years. The Last Word is an outrageous, clever and witty story about passion, lies, art and the meaning of life. Join us to journey through love, desire, loyalty and betrayal.

Sponsored by

VOICES IN THE CITY

8 – 9.30pm Guildhall Free but ticketed C10

8 – 9pm Guildhall £9 (£8) C9

COMEDY

Lucy Porter 8 - 9pm Mineral Hospital £7.50 (£6.50) C11 After studying English Literature at Manchester, stand-up Lucy Porter went on to become one of the most sought-after comedy writers in Britain. She appears regularly on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You. Join her as she returns to her first love: books. "Undoubtedly feelgood' — The Independent

26 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Speaking for the first time from the site of the most famous Roman remnants, the Baths, Guardian chief arts writer and classicist Charlotte Higgins explores Britain’s relationship with its Roman past. From medieval historians to 20th century poets, how were the physical Roman remains rediscovered and made sense of? And what does 'Roman Britain' mean to us today?

Supported by

Sponsored by

MONDAY 3 MARCH

Morning Walk: Bath at War 10am start Streets of Bath (meeting place on ticket) £8.50 (£7.50) D1 Although far from the front line, Bath was profoundly changed by the First World War. Join Andrew Swift, the author of All Roads Lead to France, and Kirsten Elliott on a walk looking back at a city facing unprecedented challenges.

BLISS LECTURE

Philip Hensher: Bliss is… Wagner 1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) D2 The Booker Prize-shortlisted author (for The Northern Clemency), Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and lifelong music fan reveals his bliss: composer Richard Wagner. He writes: “Like no other opera, the Ring operates like a 19th century novel, exploring the world, and the people in it grow and change like characters in Tolstoy.”

Caroline Zoob – Virginia Woolf’s Garden 1 – 2pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) D3 Join homewear designer Caroline Zoob, onetime resident at Virginia Woolf’s former home Monk’s House for over a decade, as she explores the house’s magical garden, which played a significant role in the lives of Virginia and Leonard. This absorbing account is sure to appeal to gardeners and literary fans alike.

Great War Fashion with Lucy Adlington 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) D4 The outbreak of the First World War saw women emerge from behind the stiff ideal of the Edwardian Society lady to form a new breed of women, donning trousers and overalls. Join Lucy Adlington on a journey into the lives of these women and admire an array of stunning, original clothes.

28 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

MONDAY 3 MARCH

Michael Rosen 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £9 (£8) D5 The former Poet Laureate takes you on an unforgettable adventure through the history of the alphabet, fizzing with personal anecdotes and fascinating facts. From minding your Ps and Qs to wondering why X should mark the spot, Alphabetical will change the way you think about letters forever.

Jonathan Grimwood & John Walsh – Food in Fiction 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) D6 The foodie’s answer to Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, Jonathan Grimwood’s extraordinarily evocative novel The Last Banquet, set in pre-revolutionary France, is “a true feast for the senses” (The Scotsman). Hear him talk sparrow kebabs and fillet of cat with bon viveur and the Guild of Food Writers Restaurant Reviewer of the Year, John Walsh.

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Douglas Alexander 6.15 – 7.15pm / Guildhall £9 (£8) / D7 In Influencing Tomorrow, Douglas Alexander, Shadow Foreign Secretary, brings together leading thinkers to ponder the constant new challenges that British foreign policy faces.

Join him as he discusses the complexities of global issues outlined in their work and how the UK can respond. Chaired by Stefan Stern.

Sponsored by

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 29

MONDAY 3 MARCH

Around the World in 10 Books 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) D8 Travelling from country to country, racking up the air miles. Not on aeroplanes but within the pages of ten specially-chosen books. Publisher and writer Scott Pack discusses ten favourite titles in translation with writer and translator Maureen Freely and novelist (and Scandinavian fiction fan) Sam Baker, helping you to discover hidden gems and worlds as yet unknown.

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Jonathan Aitken

Short Stories Aloud

8 – 9pm Guildhall £9 (£8) D9

8 – 9pm Guildhall £9 (£8) D10

In his acclaimed study Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality, the former MP and cabinet minister, and Thatcher family friend, draws on his own diaries and a wealth of extensive research to explore the life of one of Britain's most influential, but also most divisive, leaders.

Whoever said stories should be read and not heard? Sarah Franklin, host of this Oxford-based cult short story night, is joined by authors Sam Baker and Jonathan Grimwood whose beautifully crafted short stories will be read aloud by actors Jason Hewitt and Jenny Johns of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers. “Unlike any other literary event” — The Huffington Post.

Sponsored by

30 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

TUESDAY 4 MARCH

THOUGHT LEADERS

Books for Breakfast – Gavin Esler 8.30am for 9 - 10am event Hall & Woodhouse £20 (includes book and breakfast) E1 Soho House’s pre-office breakfast book group comes to Bath with BBC Newsnight’s Gavin Esler talking about Lessons From the Top: The Three Universal Stories that All Successful Leaders Tell. In conversation with Sony awardwinning Richard Kilgarriff.

“The literary equivalent of the perfect fry-up” — The Guardian.

Sally Magnusson 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E2 In Where Memories Go, Scottish broadcaster and author Sally Magnusson, daughter of Magnus Magnusson and Mamie Baird, gives a moving account of slowly losing her mother to dementia. In an equally passionate and personal call to arms, she urges society to reconsider how we look after the most fragile of our citizens.

Matthew Dennison on Queen Victoria 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) E3 In his brilliant new biography of Queen Victoria, A Life of Contradictions, Matthew Dennison shows a monarch who became the spirit of the age to which she gave her name. In this illustrated talk, he gives a compelling assessment of Victoria’s mercurial character and her impact.

Sponsored by

The Incredible Spice Men 1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E4 Acclaimed chefs Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala are on a mission to spice up British cooking. As seen in their popular BBC2 series, they add their own spicy twist to British classics. Here they share top tips which will open your cooking up to a world of exciting flavours. And they’re hilarious with it.

Sponsored by

32 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth-Century Britain 1 – 2pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) E5 In her brilliantly observed new book, Lucy Lethbridge explores the social history of the last century through the eyes of those who served. As our curiosity about this social class is piqued by TV programmes, the voices of servants and domestic staff have largely been ignored by history — until now.

TUESDAY 4 MARCH

Barbara Swindin

Nicky Haslam

100 Works of Art That Will Define Our Age

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) E7

4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E8

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E6

Born in 1950s Gloucestershire, Barbara Swindin succeeded in climbing the Alpine Fourthousanders – all but one. Accompanied by beautiful images, she tells of her enduring delight in mountaineering while also giving insights into the pioneering women who dared to tackle alpine routes when alpinism was strictly the preserve of men.

Celebrated interior designer Nicky Haslam has transformed homes for high-profile clientele including Rod Stewart and Ringo Starr. In this talk, he takes you on an illustrated tour of Folly de Grandeur, his unique country house. Discover its rich history and stunning décor, and be inspired by Haslam’s design aesthetic.

Just as Picasso’s Guernica and Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa have endured across the decades, many of today’s artworks will also prove lasting.

But which ones? In 100 Works of Art That Will Define Our Age, US-born poet and art historian Kelly Grovier guides us through the maze of contemporary art.

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Evening Walk: A Georgian Pub Crawl 6pm start Streets of Bath (meeting place on ticket) £8.50 (£7.50) E9 Bath is renowned for the range and quality of its pubs, but what would a pub crawl of the city have been like during its Georgian heyday? Join pub historians Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott as they go in search of the taverns and alehouses frequented by our eighteenth-century forebears.

The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and its Arabs 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E10 An expert on Franco-British relationships, Andrew Hussey talks to Stefan Stern about the relationship between France and the Muslim world of North Africa, the former subjects of the French Empire.

David Lodge 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E11 In his thoughtful and enlightening essay collection, Lives in Writing, celebrated novelist and critic David Lodge considers some of the most interesting examples of life-writing, from H.G. Wells to Graham Greene. A casebook of the splendours and miseries of authorship, he creates a fascinating study of the interface between life and literature.

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

33

TUESDAY 4 MARCH

COMEDY

Count Arthur Strong ON TOUR

Barbara Swindin: All But One 7 – 7.45pm Midsomer Norton Library Free but ticketed E12 Barbara Swindin took on the task of climbing all 52 of the highest mountains in the Alps and came within touching distance of her goal before treacherous weather and injury cut her quest short one peak before the end. Join her as she recounts her extraordinary achievements in her book All But One.

7.30 – 8.30pm Komedia £9 (8) E13 Count Arthur Strong, the show business legend, afterdinner speaker and racketeer has consented to give a rare live interview in front of an audience. The former variety star and well-known Radio 4 celebrity, recently seen in his first BBC2 TV series, will be interviewed in a no-holdsbarred exposé of his life and times.

Through It All I’ve Always Laughed, Count Arthur’s new book, is the first of what he believes may be a six-volume collection of his memoirs.

BLISS LECTURE

Patrick Barkham: Bliss is ... Badgers 8 - 9pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E14 There are more badgers per square kilometre in this country than anywhere else in the world. And yet many of us have never seen one alive.

The author of Badgerlands: The Twilight World of Britain’s Most Enigmatic Animal delivers an impassioned, funny and celebratory lecture on his bliss: the badger.

n affectionate A and timely portrait of a most elusive creature” DAILY TELEGRAPH.

34 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Alex Brummer – Bad Banks 8 – 9pm Guildhall £8 (£7) E15 City editor of the Daily Mail, Alex Brummer, provides an unflinching and gripping account of the problems that continue to bedevil the world’s banking system. Looking at the state of individual banks, he offers a compelling, and often shocking, insight into a sector which threatens to undermine our future economic security.

Chaired by Stefan Stern.

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH THOUGHT LEADERS

Books for Breakfast II: The Financial Times’ Mrs Moneypenny

recommends

Literary Lunch: James Pembroke and Matthew Fort

8.30am for 9 - 10am event Hall & Woodhouse £20 (includes book and breakfast) F1 Day Two of Soho House’s pre-work author fix sees the Financial Times columnist talking with Richard Kilgarriff about her book Mrs Moneypenny’s Careers Advice for Ambitious Women.

Disclaimer: the advice works pretty well for men too. Mrs Moneypenny: “Saying no is the most important life skill.”

Sponsored by

Save the date Bath International Music Festival 16 — 26 May 2014

ON TOUR

The Little Red Hen 11am – 12pm Keynsham Library Free but ticketed (ages 2 – 5) F2 Join professional storyteller Chrissie Weltike to explore the tale of the Little Red Hen who found some seeds.

There’ll be songs, puppetry and craft activities to bring the characters to life and immerse little ones in the fantastic world of stories.

The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory – Deborah Alun-Jones 1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) F4 The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory reveals hidden desires, domestic dramas, bitterness and isolation. Deborah Alun-Jones uncovers a rich seam of literary history in her exploration of the authors who once called a parsonage their home. Includes new insight into the lives of John Betjeman, Rupert Brooke and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

36 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

12.30 for 1pm - 3pm lunch and event Allium Brasserie £35 (two course lunch, two glasses of wine and coffee) F3 Enjoy a delicious lunch followed by a conversation about foodie memories. The Oldie publisher James Pembroke combines personal memoir with a history of eating out in Britain in Growing Up in Restaurants, while food critic and Great British Menu judge Matthew Fort shares memories of exploring Italy’s food and landscape.

Supported by our Creative Partner

Big Bath Read Book Group

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH

1 – 2pm / Guildhall / £4 (£3) / F5

Take part in an exclusive book group on the Big Bath Read 2014, The Sea Change, a novel about war, love and betrayal. Join Artistic Director Viv Groskop to discuss this moving and insightful book.

In 2014 the Big Bath Read returns bigger and better than ever before and we are inviting book groups and book lovers to get involved. The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter tells the parallel tales of an estranged mother remembering the forced evacuation of her community from their village in Wiltshire in 1941 and her daughter on honeymoon in Southern India in 1971 caught in the aftermath of a devastating tsunami, and how both are forced to face up to hidden truths and secrets from the past.

We will be hosting special book groups in the build up to the Festival which individuals and book groups are welcome to attend.

For further information on time and dates and to download reading notes for book groups please visit bathfestivals.org.uk/literature/ bigbathread.

Supported by

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

BLISS LECTURE

ON TOUR

Nick Cohen – You Can’t Read This Book

Frieda Hughes: Bliss is … knowing yourself

Creating Stories Out of the Blue

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) F6

2.45- 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) F7

Join the incisive Observer columnist and author of You Can’t Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom for a blistering attack on the status quo. Winner of Polemic of the Year at the 2013 Political Book Awards, Nick Cohen argues it’s naive to think that we live in an age of unparalleled freedom.

In this unique Bliss Lecture based on her poetry collections, the poet and painter Frieda Hughes explores a subject which has driven much of her art: knowledge of the self.

“Finding one’s passion is one of the ways in which we can drive ourselves through life with considerable verve,” she says.

4.15 – 5pm Keynsham Library Free but ticketed Ages 8 – 11 F8 Fleur Hitchcock, author of Shrunk! and The Trouble With Mummies shares her techniques for coming up with ideas for stories quickly and easily. Get your creativity flowing and unleash your inner storyteller with writing games and tips.

Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

37

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH

Elizabeth Day and Rachel Joyce 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) F10

Claudia Roden

In Home Fires (“Inspired” — Sadie Jones), Elizabeth Day creates a delicate portrait of a family torn apart by war. She talks to BBC Radio 4 playwright turned novelist Rachel Joyce, author of Booker-longlisted The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, whose latest book Perfect is an intense, beautifully-crafted portrait of intimate crisis.

4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £8 (£7) F9 Claudia Roden revolutionised Western attitudes to the cuisines of the Middle East and North Africa in 1968 and went on to become a celebrated and award-winning food writer and television presenter. Join her as she shares memories with Matthew Fort of an inspiring career and reflects on The Food of Italy, a book which has had a huge influence on British cooking and which will be reissued in 2014.

Supported by Camille Tsu Brooke

ON TOUR

BATH ALOAD

Writers’ Surgery

Poetry with Frieda Hughes

6 – 7pm Keynsham Library Free Whatever you write, get expert one-on-one help from Bath Spa University’s Creative Writing Department. Send up to 2000 words of prose, three poems, or four minutes of script to info@bathfestivals.org.uk and book your writers’ surgery appointment.

Presented by our Creative Partner

6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) F11 Accomplished visual artist, children’s author and poet, Frieda Hughes’s work ranges from her debut collection Woorooloo to her most recent, The Book of Mirrors. During this special reading, she will share some of her work, new and old, with you.

38 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Alastair Campbell 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) F12 Born in Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet, Alastair Campbell was a newspaper editor before moving into political communications and strategy for the Labour Party. An electrifying speaker and bestselling author, his third novel My Name Is... reveals the story of a teenage alcoholic. “Stunning” — The Independent on Sunday.

Sponsored by

WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH ON TOUR

THOUGHT LEADERS

Joanna Rossiter

Encouraging Wealth Creation:

7.30 - 8.15pm Keynsham Library Free but ticketed F13 Joanna Rossiter, author of the 2014 Big Bath Read The Sea Change, discusses her acclaimed debut novel, the story’s roots in the West Country and her life as an author.

8 – 9pm Guildhall £8 (£7) F14 In this debate about financial responsibility and the tension between the individual and the state, Theresa Lloyd, author of Richer Lives, and Tom HughesHallett argue that philanthropy is the answer. Political commentator Steve Richards and Observer columnist Nick Cohen say the state must provide. Chaired by Stefan Stern, Financial Times columnist and Visiting Professor at Cass Business School.

Sponsored by

BATH ALOUD

BATH ALOUD

Matthew Fort

Hollie McNish

Pin Drop

8 – 9pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) F15

8 – 9pm Downstairs at The Porter Free

8 – 9.30pm No. 1 Royal Crescent £7.50 (£6.50) F16

After many summers eating his way around Italy, Britain’s bestloved food critic Matthew Fort reveals an exclusive advance taste of A Summer in the Islands, his forthcoming crowdfunded book. Here the Great British Menu judge shares tales from his many journeys and explores the history and food culture of Italy and Sicily.

Hollie McNish is at the forefront of the UK beat poetry scene, performing captivating and stunning spoken word that will make you laugh and think. She was the 2009 UK Slam Poetry Champion and the 3rd place World Slam finalist. Bath’s finest young performance poets will warm up for Hollie.

Supported by our Creative Partner

Founded by journalist and author Elizabeth Day and gallerist Simon Oldfield, Pin Drop stages short story readings in beautiful and intriguing locations. Bel Mooney and Olivia Laing will read a short story that has in some way influenced their work. Re-connect with the simple pleasure of being told a story by world-leading narrators in an historic venue.

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

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40 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

MAP

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Travel Information For information on travelling to Bath, and specific venue information, including accessibility and addresses, please go to: bathfestivals.org.uk/your-visit

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 41

Excited to be supporting Bath Festivals 2014.

Come and see us at our Open Morning Prep & Senior 8th March 2014

From blogging to tweeting, discussing editorials and creating articles – at Monkton we ask our students to engage in current affairs and, most importantly, to read between the lines.

01225 721 133 admissions@monkton.org.uk monktoncombeschool.com

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THURSDAY 6 MARCH

Morning Walk: The Georgian City 10am start Streets of Bath (meeting place on ticket) £8.50 (£7.50) G1 As well as the centenary of Britain declaring war on Germany, 2014 also marks 300 years since a German succeeded to the British throne. To mark the occasion, join Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott on a walk to discover why Bath did so spectacularly well during the Georgian age.

Miranda Seymour 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) G2 The award-winning author of In My Father’s House reveals the hidden story of the relationship between two countries. Based on numerous unpublished sources, her acclaimed history Noble Endeavours: The Life of Two Countries, England and Germany, in Many Stories is simply extraordinary. “A highminded, wide-ranging new history” — Sunday Times.

Countess of Carnarvon 12 – 1pm / Theatre Royal Bath £10 (listen only) For £23.50 ticket including lunch visit theatreroyal.org.uk G4 Drawing on material from private archives at Highclere, the castle where Downton Abbey is set, its chatelaine the Countess of Carnarvon talks to Artistic Director Viv Groskop about the dramatic story of one of its former inhabitants, as told in her book Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey.

In association with

44 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Theresa Lloyd: The Psychology of Giving 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) G3 Based on interviews with over a hundred wealthy people, Theresa Lloyd’s Richer Lives: Why Rich People Give is the first major UK study of attitudes towards giving. Why do people decide to give money away?

And would you be as generous (or as cautious) in their position? A fascinating study of human psychology.

COMEDY

Gyles and Saethryd Brandreth 1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) G5 Games are in the Brandreth family’s blood. Gyles and his writer daughter Saethryd join us to talk about The Lost Art of Having Fun, showing us how to get the whole family involved in playing games again.

Guaranteed to make even the grumpiest of grown-ups laugh on a rainy day.

THURSDAY 6 MARCH

BIG BATH READ

Joanna Rossiter 1 – 2pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) G6 Joanna Rossiter, author of the 2014 Big Bath Read The Sea Change, discusses her acclaimed debut novel, the story’s roots in the West Country and her life as an author.

Kate Williams – Josephine 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) G7 Historian and presenter of BBC2’s Restoration Home, Kate Williams writes passionately of the rise and fall of Napoleon’s Josephine: mistress, courtesan and Revolutionary heroine. From her sexual obsessions to her survival as a woman in a man’s world, this is a new take on Josephine’s extraordinary story.

Supported by

A. L. Kennedy

Pushkin House Prize

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) G8

4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) G9

Costa Book of the Year winner A. L. Kennedy is renowned for her dark humour and taut prose. Join the writer and comedian as she talks about her new short story collection All The Rage with its themes of passion, deceit and betrayal.

“Mordantly funny” — The Guardian. Chaired by Steve Richards.

Now in its second year, the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize, sponsored by Waterstones, rewards the very best non-fiction writing on Russia. Join judges Viv Groskop and Boris Akunin as they discuss the best reads on Russia with Andrew Jack, and reveal the short list for the first time.

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

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THURSDAY 6 MARCH

VOICES IN THE CITY

THOUGHT LEADERS

Writers’ Surgery

Tim Harford

6 – 7pm Roscoff Deli Free

6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) G10

Whatever you write, get expert one-on-one help from Bath Spa University’s Creative Writing Department. Send up to 2000 words of prose, three poems, or four minutes of script to info@bathfestivals.org.uk and book your writers’ surgery appointment.

Presented by our Creative Partner

Tim Harford is a columnist for the Financial Times and the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s More or Less. His first book The Undercover Economist sold over a million copies worldwide.

With his usual accessible wit and charm, the sequel looks at the complexities of macroeconomics - and how they affect us all. “The best popular economics writer in the world” — The New Statesman Sponsored by

Boris Akunin 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) G11 Compared to Nikolai Gogol and Arthur Conan Doyle, in terms of success Boris Akunin is Russia’s answer to JK Rowling. His Erast Fandorin books have sold thirty million copies worldwide. He’s also a critic, essayist, translator and political commentator. In a rare UK appearance he talks about his life and career as Russia’s best-selling contemporary author in translation.

Supported by our Creative Partner

ON TOUR

THOUGHT LEADERS

BLISS LECTURE

Sandy Osborne: Self-Publishing Q&A

Steve Richards – Rock ‘n' Roll Politics

Olivia Laing: Bliss is… Drinking

7.30 – 8.15pm Radstock Library Free but ticketed G12

8 – 9pm Guildhall £8 (£7) G13

8 – 9pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) G14

A former Police Officer, Sandy wrote her debut novel Girl Cop as an affectionate look at the police force in the early 1990s. Achieving success after self-publishing online, she will talk about how e-readers have made it possible for anyone with a good story to tell to reach their audience.

After sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and London’s Soho Theatre, award-winning political columnist and BBC presenter Steve Richards brings his unmissable one-man version of Have I Got News For You? to Bath for the first time.

“Very funny, but with serious insights on the mysterious world of politics and the media.” — The Independent

Olivia Laing’s Costa-shortlisted travelogue The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink (“Original, very brave and moving” — The Observer) examines the link between creativity and alcohol through the lives of six great writers.

Laing, who grew up in an alcoholic family herself, presents a bittersweet Bliss Lecture on the demon drink.

Supported by

Sponsored by 46 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

FRIDAY 7 MARCH

VOICES IN THE CITY

Dream Breakfast 9 – 10.30am Hall and Woodhouse Free, but ticketed H1 Join Alex and Jude for a Dream Breakfast.

Share your dreams over coffee, learn writing techniques and find out how dreams can spark off literary ideas. Alex and Jude are former psychotherapists who now run Writing Events Bath, lead a creative writing group in Bath Central Library and organise literature events.

Morning Walk: A Georgian Pub Crawl 10am start Streets of Bath (meeting place on ticket) £8.50 (£7.50) H2 Bath is renowned for the range and quality of its pubs, but what would a pub crawl of the city have been like during its Georgian heyday? Join pub historians Andrew Swift and Kirsten Elliott as they go in search of the taverns and alehouses frequented by our eighteenth-century forebears.

Supported by our Creative Partner

BLISS LECTURE

Rowan Williams: Bliss is … Tolstoy 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) H3 145 years after the publication of War and Peace, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, chair of the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize 2014, presents a unique meditation on his lifelong passion for Tolstoy.

Sponsored by

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48 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Mock the Week’s Mark Watson is the token man and headliner at our Great Big Comedy Night at Komedia. In partnership with Bristol’s What the Frock! this is a night celebrating women in comedy — and Germaine Greer’s 75th birthday (with her tacit blessing). Special guests include Game of Thrones’ star Gemma Whelan and award-winning comic Mary Bourke’s Muffragette show.

Check bathfestivals.org.uk for surprise guests.

Catch BBC Radio 4’s Jo Caulfield talking about her life in books and at The Night I Died revealing the highs and lows of live performance. Artistic Director Viv Groskop presents her five-star Edinburgh show based on her acclaimed memoir I Laughed, I Cried. Michael McIntyre’s favourite new comic and Jane Austen obsessive James Mullinger reveals why he’s a feminist — sort of. And be there for a must-see Bath Literature Festival gala performance from Austentatious, the comedy troupe everyone is talking about, featuring BBC3’s Cariad Lloyd and Channel 4‘s The IT Crowd’s Rachel Parris. They never perform the same show twice (because they make it up right in front of you).

Jennifer Saunders p.19 Jo Caulfied p.24 & 26 Lucy Porter p.26 Count Arthur Strong p.34 Gyles Brandreth p.44 Viv Groskop p.51 Great Big Comedy Night p.52 Austentatious p.55 & 57 James Mullinger p.60

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

49

FRIDAY 7 MARCH

Turkish Awakening

Getting under their skins – Art, history and fiction

11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) H4

1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) H5

The eruption of protests in Turkey in June last year laid bare the tension accrued over a decade of economically successful but increasingly autocratic rule by the governing party. Alev Scott, born in London and now living in Istanbul, explores the shift in Turkish society and looks ahead at the country’s immediate future.

Acclaimed bestselling author of Sacred Hearts and Blood and Beauty, Sarah Dunant shares the secrets of art history in fiction. In this sumptuously illustrated talk, she recounts how the decoding of old paintings and work of modern historians helped her to penetrate the worlds inside the Renaissance and find inspiration for her fiction.

THOUGHT LEADERS

Sponsored by

Recommends BLISS LECTURE

AUSTEN REIMAGINED

Anna Pavord: Bliss is… a perfectly ripe pear

Literary Lunch with Mr Darcy – Pen Vogler

1 – 2pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) H6 In this Bliss Lecture, Anna Pavord, The Independent’s gardening writer and author of best-selling horticultural biography The Tulip, reveals the secrets of the Dorset garden that has inspired her for over thirty years and why her bliss lies in enjoying a perfectly ripe pear.

Supported by Morny and Ian Hay Davison

12.30 for 1pm - 3pm lunch and event Allium Brasserie £35 (two course lunch, two glasses of wine and coffee) H7 In Dinner with Mr Darcy, Pen Vogler, acclaimed food writer and editor of Penguin’s Great Food series, has collected authentic Regency recipes, inspired by the food featured in Austen’s novels.

Join her for a delicious lunch based on some of the recipes and be inspired by her fascinating and mouth-watering talk on the foodie aspect of the cherished literary classics.

Supported by our Creative Partner

50 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

FRIDAY 7 MARCH

Sonic Wonderland – Trevor Cox 2.45 – 3.45pm BRLSI £8 (£7) H8 In this tour of the world’s most amazing acoustic phenomena, Trevor Cox of BBC Radio 4‘s So You Want To Be a Scientist uses his experience of visiting sewers, caves, sand dunes and concert halls to explore all things sonic. Open your ears and join us on this original and compelling journey into sound.

Sponsored by

COMEDY

Mark Watson – The Knot 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) H9 “Photographer Dominic is hiding a secret. One he has carried all his life. One that could destroy everything.”

Acclaimed author and comedian Mark Watson, best known for his appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Mock the Week, discusses his latest novel. “A pitch-perfect tragicomedy” — Jonathan Coe

COMEDY

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

Viv Groskop – I Laughed, I Cried

Josh Cohen: Privacy

4.30 – 5.30pm Komedia £7.50 (£6.50) H10 Join Artistic Director Viv Groskop for her fivestar Edinburgh Fringe comedy show about her ill-conceived attempt to do 100 stand-up gigs in 100 consecutive nights, based on her funny, brutally honest mid-life crisis memoir. “I laughed, I cried, I dry-retched at her sheer balls” — Caroline Quentin.

4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £8 (£7) H11 Is there such a thing as privacy anymore? Josh Cohen, Professor of Literary Theory at Goldsmiths University of London, uses his experience as a psychoanalyst to explore intimacy versus the glare of the spotlight in his wonderful book of ideas, The Private Life: Why We Remain in the Dark.

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

51

FRIDAY 7 MARCH

Sarah Dunant and S J Parris Mark Hix 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) H12 With signature dishes like rabbit and crayfish stargazy pie and summer fruits with elderflower ice cream, Mark Hix, as seen on BBC2’s Great British Menu, is a culinary legend. Centred around his latest book, Mark Hix: The Collection, expect sublime recipes and great storytelling to help you reinvent even the most traditional dishes.

Allium Brasserie are hosting an exclusive dinner with Mark following his event at the Festival.

For bookings, please call 01225 461603 or visit abbeyhotelbath.co.uk Sponsored by

COMEDY

Great Big Comedy Night!

With Gemma Whelan, Mary Bourke, Mark Watson

6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) H13 Two acclaimed historical fiction writers talk about their fascination with the past. The novels of Sunday Times best-seller SJ Parris, most recently Treachery, follow Giordano Bruno, Elizabethan philosopher and spy. Meanwhile Sarah Dunant, the author of The Birth of Venus and Sacred Hearts whose work is translated into 30 languages, explores Renaissance Italy in Blood and Beauty, her acclaimed fictional study of the Borgia family.

Alex Clark’s Rising Stars with Darragh McKeon 8 – 9pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) H15 Alex Clark, the literary critic for The Guardian renowned for her ability to pinpoint one-towatch debut fiction, talks to theatre director and rising star Darragh McKeon about his first novel, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air. Set in the Soviet Union in 1986, it follows a set of extraordinary characters as their lives are changed forever by the Chernobyl disaster.

Doors 7pm for 7.30 - 10pm event Komedia £15 (£12) H14 A joyous night celebrating women and comedy in association with What the Frock! to celebrate the 75th birthday of Germaine Greer.

Featuring Edinburgh Fringe sensation Mary Bourke’s Muffragette show, Game of Thrones’ Gemma Whelan as Chastity Butterworth and a host of surprise guests. Token man Mark Watson (Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mock the Week) headlines.

In association with Sponsored by 52 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Supported by our Creative Partner

SATURDAY 8 MARCH

ON TOUR

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 9.45 – 10.30am Paulton Library Free but ticketed (Ages 2 – 5) J1 A regular face at our Children’s Literature Festival, Liz Fost will lead a team of intrepid explorers on the trail of a Very Hungry Caterpillar who has eaten his way through so much food you might not recognise him anymore! Expect fun, games, music and dancing on this magical storytelling adventure.

How to be a Booker Judge 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) J2 It’s every bookworm’s dream to judge the Booker.

But David Baddiel called the process “souldestroying.” So what is it really like to tackle over a hundred novels in a matter of months? And can anyone really pick the best one? Join current and former Booker judges Natalie Haynes, Rick Gekoski and Alex Clark for a unique insight into the world of the Booker.

RED RECOMMENDS

Jessica Fellowes – Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey 11.15am – 12.15pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) J3 Author and journalist Jessica Fellowes, niece of screenwriter Julian Fellowes, goes behind the scenes of the TV and cultural phenomenon, in her book The Chronicles of Downton Abbey. Enjoy a wander through the crowded servants’ quarters and peek into luxurious bed chambers, experiencing every aspect of life at the Downton Estate.

RECOMMENDS

ON TOUR

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 11.30am – 12.15pm Radstock Library Free but ticketed (Ages 2 -5) J4 Liz Fost leads a team of intrepid explorers on the trail of a Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Expect fun, games, music and dancing on this magical storytelling adventure.

Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult

54 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

A These six actors and their self confessed 'literary mischief' have not only created the most talked-about show on the improvised comedy circuit, but have also been credited with bringing back the traditional format of the popular radio and TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?

ustentatious is a deceptively simple idea: audiences are asked to place imaginary titles of an Austen novel into a hat: one of these is selected at random and immediately turned into an hour long improvised performance. Whether it’s Pride and Extreme Prejudice; Tax and Taxability; Man-Filled Park; Me Tarzan, You Jane Austen or Fifty Shades of Mr Darcy, no two shows are ever the same and the results are always hilarious.

There is no dilution of Austen here — if anything, the love and respect we all feel for a national literary treasure is reinforced, as the wit and wisdom of her language and the world of manners she created becomes a shrewd starting point for genuine human comedy, accessible to all. k57

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 55

SATURDAY 8 MARCH

RECOMMENDS

4TH Estate Literary Salon: A Woman's Place Is…?

BATH ALOUD

Firestation Children’s Book Swap

1 – 2pm Guildhall £8 (£7) J5 Taking the 21st century feminism of her best-selling essay collection Be Awesome: Modern Life for Modern Ladies as the starting point, Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman leads an alpha-female discussion. The topic? Women’s role in public life. With Jane Shepherdson, ex-Top Shop brand director and now CEO of Whistles, and Sarah Bailey, editor-in-chief of Red magazine.

Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark chairs.

Sponsored by

Hanged for Love: The Trial of Edith Thompson and Freddie Bywaters 1 – 2pm Guildhall £15 (£12) J8 On 9 January 1923, Edith Thompson and her lover Frederick Bywaters were hanged in London, both found guilty of her husband's murder.

Our courtroom drama in the atmospheric Council Chamber

Tim Richardson 1 – 2pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) J6 Garden historian and contemporary landscape architecture critic Tim Richardson takes you on a beautifully illustrated tour of The New English Garden.

Enjoy a wide range of styles flourishing in English garden design today, from the Prince of Wales’ garden at Highgrove to Kim Wilkie’s astonishing Orpheus Landform at Boughton House. is an annual highlight of the Festival. For 2014, director Marilyn Imrie presents this extraordinary love story, revealed as the lovers’ letters are read in court as part of the evidence. Featuring Bristol Old Vic Theatre School actors and music by Sally Davies’ acclaimed duo, Bow and Bellows. Check our website for news of the show’s guest star narrator.

Supported by

56 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

1 – 2pm Old Theatre Royal £5 (Family event/ Age 7+) J7 A chance for children to swap an old book, go home with a new book and get to meet two amazing authors. Scott Pack will be joined by Andy Stanton, author of the Mr Gum books, and Marianne Levy, author of the Ellie May series, who will answer the most silly and peculiar questions and do some frenzied book-swapping.

Check bathfestivals.org.uk for more information and a Firestation Book Swap How To guide.

Children under 12 need to be accompanied by a ticketbuying adult.

This cult event is the brainchild of novelist Marie Phillips and publisher and ultimate bookworm Scott Pack.

Described as 'a cross between a book group and a public reading', Firestation Book Swap (page 58) is a wonderfully chaotic, informal chat with two authors, who have each brought a favourite book to swap. Everyone in the audience can bring a book too: ideally something you recommend.

SATURDAY 8 MARCH AUSTEN REIMAGINED

Austentatious 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £15 (£12) includes a glass of fizz J9 Described as “one of the most enjoyable sixty minutes of the Fringe” (The Guardian), improvised period drama Austentatious comes to Bath following a five-star sell-out run at Edinburgh. A comedy play spun in the style of Jane Austen and based entirely on audience suggestions.

Sponsored by

RECOMMENDS

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) J10 The Independent’s Boyd Tonkin and fellow judges of The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize — authors Nadifa Mohamed and Natalie Haynes — discuss the 2014 longlist, announced the same day.

The £10,000 Prize for fiction in translation is funded by Arts Council England, managed

by Booktrust and supported

by The Independent and Champagne Taittinger.

Berlin: Imagine a City 2.45 – 3.45pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) J11 Berlin is a city of fragments and ghosts, a laboratory of ideas and the fount of the brightest and darkest designs of history’s most bloody century. Award-winning writer Rory McLean assembles a dazzlingly ecclectic cast from over five centuries in this whirlwind tour of the city’s history.

THOUGHT LEADERS

Kirsty Wark: Fact to Fiction 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £9 (£8) J12 The journalist and Newsnight broadcaster talks to Alex Clark about her debut novel, The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle. A captivating and haunting story, set on the Scottish island of Arran, it explores the richness beneath so-called ordinary lives and the secrets and threads that hold women together.

Sponsored by

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

57

SATURDAY 8 MARCH

BATH ALOUD

Firestation Book Swap 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £6 (£5) J13 This Windsor-based cult event comes to Bath as Scott Pack and Marie Phillips present “the literary event with a difference” (The Guardian). Bring a book to swap and leave with something new to read. Also looking for swaps will be author Natalie Haynes and a surprise author.

You can ask them about anything you want to — apart from their writing! k56 or visit bathfestivals. org.uk for more information and a Firestation Book Swap How To guide.

Lost, Stolen or Shredded

Great War Salon

4.30 – 5.30pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) J14

6 – 8pm Holburne £9 (£8) J15

Rare book dealer, writer and broadcaster Rick Gekoski tells of the greatest losses to artistic culture in Lost, Stolen or Shredded. From Philip Larkin’s diaries to architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s career, which never had a chance to thrive — what lies behind these tales of tremendous loss and what deeper questions do they raise?

Salon London works with passionate experts to bring massive ideas in to intimate spaces. At Bath, we will be using our senses, the Suffrage movement, and the world of Downton Abbey to take a lateral look at the mood of the country just before WWI, with Lucinda Hawksley, Jessica Fellowes, Lizzie Ostrom and host Helen Bagnall.

Simon Jenkins 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £8 (£7) J16 A breath-taking look at landscape with Bath to the fore. From iconic views like the White Cliffs of Dover to Hadrian’s Wall, award-winning author, commentator and Chairman of the National Trust Simon Jenkins goes on a journey around the country’s best views, sharing England’s fascinating historical, geographical, botanical and architectural background.

Supported by The Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust 58 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

SATURDAY 8 MARCH

Knackered Mother’s Wine Club 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) J17 Do you frequently panic in the wine aisle of the supermarket?

Want to expand your drinking horizons? Then join Helen McGinn and her Knackered Mother’s Wine Club! She will guide you towards the right wine for every occasion — and of course there will also be samples on hand to taste.

Knackered non-mothers also welcome.

RECOMMENDS

A Celebration of Game of Thrones 6.15 – 7.15pm Old Theatre Royal £7.50 (£6.50) J18 George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novels have inspired a cult following, with 22 million copies sold worldwide. The HBO show — dubbed “the best TV series ever” by The Hollywood Reporter - averages 14 million viewers per episode. So what’s the secret of Game of Thrones’ success?

Join actress Gemma Whelan, who plays Yara Greyjoy (Asha in the books) in conversation with Guardian TV critic and superfan Stuart Jeffries.

Hanged for Love: The Trial of Edith Thompson and Freddie Bywaters 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £15 (£12) J19

Red Cocktail Party

RECOMMENDS

On 9 January 1923, Edith Thompson and her lover Frederick Bywaters were hanged in London, both found guilty of her husband's murder.

Our courtroom drama in the atmospheric Council Chamber is an annual highlight of the Festival. For 2014, director Marilyn Imrie presents this extraordinary love story, revealed as the lovers’ letters are read in court as part of the evidence. Featuring Bristol Old Vic Theatre School actors and music by Sally Davies’ acclaimed duo, Bow and Bellows. Check our website for news of the show’s guest star narrator.

7 - 9pm The Pump Rooms £20, includes drinks reception, canapés and a goody bag TO BOOK, visit: redonline. co.uk/red-women/redevents/bath-festival

Join Red magazine, and the festival's literary stars, for an exclusive evening in one of Bath’s most elegant and iconic venues: The Pump Room. At this VIP party, you’ll get to mingle with authors and agents, whilst enjoying cocktails and canapés and will also receive a free goody bag.

Sponsored by

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

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SATURDAY 8 MARCH MARCH

Lionel Shriver

RED RECOMMENDS

Lionel Shriver, chaired by Natalie Haynes 8 – 9pm Guildhall £9 (£8) J20 The US-born Orange Prize winning novelist (for We Need to Talk About Kevin) talks to BBC2 Newsnight Review’s Natalie Haynes about her compelling new novel Big Brother. Inspired by Shriver’s own family, it’s the story of a woman forced to make a choice. Always outspoken, controversial and disarmingly honest, Shriver’s live events are unmissable.

RECOMMENDS

W

ith Big Brother, Lionel Shriver presents her most personal and intimate novel yet. Or is it? Shriver is one of the most playful contemporary novelists, never afraid to be disliked or ragingly bold, in her quest to write fiction that feels real, honest and raw. The story behind Big Brother is extraordinary: Shriver’s own brother, Greg, died of obesity shortly before she started writing this novel. In the book, Pandora, a successful businesswoman with a happy marriage, finds herself having to choose between keeping her own life going - and saving the life of Edison, her beloved but hopelessly overweight brother. Every bit as intense and addictive as the Orange Prize-winning novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, Big Brother is vintage Shriver. And up close and personal, the author herself is just as compelling, intriguing and entertaining as her work.

A must-see.

Sponsored by

COMEDY

One to watch THE GUARDIAN

60 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

James Mullinger – Bad Boy of Feminism 8 – 9pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) J21 He took Women’s Studies at university and has worshipped Sense and Sensibility’s Marianne all his life. So how did James Mullinger end up working in men’s magazines? Michael McIntyre’s favourite new standup brings his sold-out tour show Bad Boy of Feminism to Bath for the first time.

Jane Austen wrote only six books. She was one of eight children born to an Anglican rector and she died a spinster in 1817 at the age of 41, but her novels, all works of romantic fiction, have won her a place as one of the most widely read writers in the English language and certainly one of the most loved. Her understanding of the society in which she lived and the restrained, amused and ironic language she uses to expose its complexities, are what make her novels the timeless studies of love, class and money they have become.

W

ho better to rework Austen for the 21st century than Joanna Trollope?

Born in her own grandfather’s rectory, the eldest of three siblings, Trollope is a skilled, intelligent and witty novelist, whose romantic novels go way beyond the boundaries of the genre in her grasp of human psychology, relationships and modern manners.

The Austen Project has commissioned six bestselling authors to update Jane Austen’s six completed works to mark her 200th anniversary and Trollope is the first to publish her contemporary take on Sense and Sensibility.

'It’s hugely exciting to attempt the reworking of one of the best novels written by one of our greatest novelists,’ says Trollope. ‘This is a project which requires consummate respect above all else; not an emulation, but a tribute.’ k65

Joanna Trollope Whatever age you are, Austen has something for you. I would go further, in fact, to assert that a reader never comes away from an Austen novel empty-handed.

JOANNA TROLLOPE

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

61

Follow in the footsteps of Jane Austen Jane Austen lived with her family in Bath in the early 1800s, setting two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, here.

In Austen’s time, Bath was a thriving spa resort, visited by the most fashionable of society. Austen fans can learn about how the beautiful settings influenced her novels with the visitBath ‘In the Footsteps of Jane Austen,’ audio walking tour.

The tour is free to download from the visitBath website and can be used with an iPod / MP3 player or smart phone. Starting in front of Bath Abbey in Abbey Churchyard, the tour includes extracts from Austen’s novels and letters, which brilliantly describe Bath as it would have been in its Georgian heyday.

To download the free tour and route map go to visitBath.co.uk/JA. For a fuller Austen immersion try the visitBath Royal Package which includes tickets to the recently re-furbished No. 1 townhouse on the Royal Crescent — a comprehensive presentation of real Georgian living above and below stairs, followed by a delicious afternoon tea.

Join the conversation @bathfestivals

/bathfestivals

The Official Bath App The Official Bath App, created by visitBath, provides a useful guide to everything you need to know when planning your visit to Bath. It is free to download for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets. This handy mobile app can save you money and help you make the most of your time here.

Search for ‘Bath’ in the App Store, Play Store or scan here to download: 64 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Accommodation Discount vouchers Directions Events Opening times Prices

SUNDAY 9 MARCH BLISS LECTURE

Joanna Trollope: Bliss is… Jane Austen (Part I) 11.15am – 12.15pm Guildhall £9 (£8) K1 Joanna Trollope has loved Jane Austen ever since she read Pride and Prejudice at the age of twelve. In this Bliss Lecture, exclusive to The Independent Bath Literature Festival, the author of the 21st century reworking of Sense & Sensibility reveals to The Guardian's Alex Clark why Austen has been a lifelong passion.

Sponsored by

Red Network Event: How To Get Published 12pm – 1.30pm The Francis Hotel £25, includes brunch and a goody bag TO BOOK, visit redonline. co.uk/red-women/redevents/bath-festival

Turner and the Sea 11.15am – 12.15pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) K2 Tying in with a major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Turner and the Sea celebrates the artist’s lifelong fascination with the sea. Curator Christine Riding explores his maritime work in this beautifully illustrated talk, setting it within the context of 19th century maritime painting.

With over a million book sales and seven bestselling novels under her belt, author Adele Parks has perfected the art of writing popular literature.

Cathryn Summerhayes works for the literary agency WME, and Karen Duffy, in her role as associate publisher at Atlantic Books, has acquired titles from the likes of Lionel Shriver and AM Homes.

Whether you’ve written the opening chapter, a first draft or your novel is merely percolating in your mind, come along to find out how to get your name on a book cover.

Literary Lunch – Cooking People: The Writers Who Taught the English How to Eat, with Sophia Waugh 12.30 for 1pm – 3pm lunch and event Allium Brasserie £35 (two course lunch, two glasses of wine and coffee) K3 Cooking at home has become more of a lifestyle choice than a necessity. Following a delicious lunch, food writer and journalist Sophia Waugh, daughter of Auberon Waugh, explores how cooking at home has changed throughout time, focusing on five iconic female writers — from Mrs Beeton to Elizabeth David — who changed the way we eat.

Supported by our Creative Partner

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

65

SUNDAY 9 MARCH

Call the Midwife

Celebrating British Cycling

1 – 2 pm Guildhall £8 (£7) K4

1 – 2pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) K5

Philip Worth and Suzannah Hart, husband and daughter of the late Jennifer Worth, author of the incredibly successful Call the Midwife trilogy, which in turn inspired the acclaimed TV series, come to talk about her life and work. They will also discuss Letters to the Midwife, a moving collection of Jennifer’s correspondence with readers, diary extracts and previously unpublished original writing. Check our website for news of a surprise guest.

Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins have inspired people across the UK to get back on their bikes. Guardian cycling correspondent William Fotheringham, author of Racing Hard, and journalist Richard Moore, author of Tour de France 100, talk to Danny Kelly about the success stories, as well as the darker side of the sport.

Mark Lawson

Penelope Lively

1 – 2pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) K6

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £8 (£7) K7

Leading a seemingly perfect and secure existence, in magnificent listed houses, interspersed by trips to exotic locations, four families’ lives are shocked to the core by an unthinkable act of violence. Mark Lawson’s novel The Deaths combines ingenious plotting and social comedy, creating a dark and brilliant novel of life in 21st century England.

Much-loved and award-winning author Penelope Lively reports from beyond the horizon of old age in her memoir Ammonites and Leaping Fish.

In conversation with Bel Mooney, she looks at the context of one’s life and times, memory, reading and writing and considers what old age feels like for those who have arrived there.

Supported by

66 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

SUNDAY 9 MARCH

Shaun Usher 2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) K8 Now finally in book form, Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note has been an online cult hit since 2009. His collection of “correspondence deserving of a wider audience”, features Margaret Mitchell, Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker, plus Marilyn Monroe’s thank you notes and a series of exchanges between Groucho Marx and Woody Allen.

Celebrate the vanishing art of letter-writing with Stephen Fry’s favourite digital curator.

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RECOMMENDS

Hanged for Love: The Trial of Edith Thompson and Freddie Bywaters

Tom Rob Smith 2.45 – 3.45pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) K9 Tom Rob Smith, author of the acclaimed Child 44, has created another thrilling novel with The Farm, inspired by a personal experience. Shortly after his father has told him the shocking news of his mother’s psychotic breakdown, Daniel receives a call from his mother, escaped from a mental hospital, denying everything. Who should he believe?

Sponsored by

2.45 – 3.45pm Guildhall £15 (£12) K10 On 9 January 1923, Edith Thompson and her lover Frederick Bywaters were hanged in London, both found guilty of her husband's murder.

Our courtroom drama in the atmospheric Council Chamber is an annual highlight of the Festival. For 2014, director Marilyn Imrie presents this extraordinary love story, revealed as the lovers’ letters are read in court as part of the evidence. Featuring Bristol Old Vic Theatre School actors and music by Sally Davies’ acclaimed duo, Bow and Bellows. Check our website for news of the show’s guest star narrator.

Sponsored by

Patricia Hodge 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £9 (£8) K11 This Olivier award-winning actress grew up in a family-run hotel in Grimsby. Now one of Britain’s best-loved performers, she is admired for her television and theatre roles from Rumpole of the Bailey and Calendar Girls to Miranda, where she plays the ultimate embarrassing mother.

An exclusive appearance ahead of publication of the memoir My Life in, What I Call, a Book.

Helping you choose your next book

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

67

SUNDAY 9 MARCH

BLISS LECTURE

BATH ALOUD

Chrys Salt and Ghareeb Iskander 4.30 – 5.30pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) K12 Eleven years after the Iraq invasion, UK poet Chrys Salt and Iraqi poet Ghareeb Iskander share unique perspectives on the conflict.

Chrys - whose younger son, then a TA Paratrooper, was mobilised to Iraq in 2003 — reads from her recent collection Home Front/Front Line; Ghareeb, a refugee from Saddam Hussein’s regime, views his homeland through the lens of exile.

Natalie Haynes 4.30 – 5.30pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) K13 A regular on BBC 2’s Newsnight Review, Natalie Haynes is currently a judge of the Man Booker Prize. In her first public appearance about her new novel The Amber Fury, the author and ex-Footlights comedian discusses the story of a grieving teacher who transforms a group of difficult pupils — and herself — through study of the classic Greek tragedies.

Val McDermid: Bliss is … Jane Austen (Part II) 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £9 (£8) K14 The next instalment in HarperCollins' Austen Project, following Joanne Trollope’s Sense & Sensibility, is Val McDermid’s reworking of Northanger Abbey, re-imagined as a suspense-filled teen thriller.

The best-selling crime author gives an exclusive Bliss Lecture, followed by Q&A with BBC Radio 4’s Mark Lawson.

Sponsored by Helping you choose your next book

Maureen Freely 6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) K15 Author and translator Mauren Freely’s new novel, Sailing Through Byzantium, begins in 1962 bohemian Istanbul, as the Cuban Missile Crisis is entering its final countdown, leaving a young girl, Mimi, terrified.

We meet Mimi again as an adult, when she tries to make sense of her tangled childhood memories, a blur of parties and travel.

68 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

Hanged for Love: The Trial of Edith Thompson and Freddie Bywaters 6.15 - 7.15pm Guildhall £15 (£12) K17

Emily Mayhew 6.15 – 7.15pm Old Theatre Royal £8 (£7) K16 Assembled from dozens of unused archival sources, academic and museum consultant Emily Mayhew’s comprehensive account of medical care at the Western Front is sure to both captivate and inspire. The experiences shared in Wounded encapsulate what it was to fight, live and die in the most brutal war of our time.

On 9 January 1923, Edith Thompson and her lover Frederick Bywaters were hanged in London, both found guilty of her husband's murder.

Our courtroom drama in the atmospheric Council Chamber is an annual highlight of the Festival. For 2014, director Marilyn Imrie presents this extraordinary love story, revealed as the lovers’ letters are read in court as part of the evidence. Featuring Bristol Old Vic Theatre School actors and music by Sally Davies’ acclaimed duo, Bow and Bellows. Check our website for news of the show’s guest star narrator.

SUNDAY 9 MARCH

VOICES IN THE CITY

Quite Literate 8.30 – 10pm The Belvoir Castle (upstairs), Lower Bristol Road Free The Idle Playthings’ panelshow ‘Quite Literate’ returns for a third outing, testing Bath Spa University Comedians’ literary knowledge. Can we tell the difference between Twilight and Dracula, spot the similarities between Stephen King and Sylvia Plath and expose the eccentricities of authors throughout history?

Join us for an evening of deep comedic joy.

Presented by our Creative Partner

Jazz with Jeff Williams 8pm Downstairs at the Porter £8 (£7) K18 Drummer Jeff Williams is a legend in the jazz world. Based between New York and London, his career spans four decades.

He also happens to be married to novelist Lionel Shriver and although they both perform at dozens of literature and music festivals internationally every year, this is the first time they have ever appeared at the same festival together. Join Jeff Williams, Josh Arcoleo on tenor saxophone and Sam Lasserson on bass for a special jazz gig marking our fabulous Festival finale.

Sponsored by Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

69

SUPPORT YOUR FESTIVALS

Your support matters W

e believe that engagement with the arts has a powerful, positive impact on the quality of life, culture, and economy of our community and we need your help to continue to achieve this. As a charity with less than 40% of our income from ticket sales, and with ongoing reductions in public funding, your support is essential in helping us raise over £1.2million every year to bring world class literature and music to your doorstep together with the largest outreach Learning & Participation programme of any festival organisation. Last year we worked with 500+ educators and 4,500+ young people, fulfilling potential, enriching lives and enhancing the wellbeing of our community.

You can play a vital role in making this happen.

To find out how and to see our work in action, visit bathfestivals.org.uk/watchandlisten Registered Charity No. 801617

Pen Pal £20 per year: Advance brochure mailing One week priority booking Regular updates from Bath Festivals throughout the year Invitation to a Pen Friends’ reception Discounts & special offers with Festival partners and the festival bookseller

Pen Friends £50 (£90 joint) per year: All Pen Pal benefits plus: Two weeks priority booking Exclusive invitation to Pen Friends’ events

Principal Benefactors £250 per year: All Pen Friend benefits plus: Complimentary Patrons’ reception Dedicated assistance with booking tickets and hospitality arrangements Acknowledgement of support in festival programme and website A signed copy of the Big Bath Read Opportunities to meet authors at the festival*

Champions £500 per year: All Patron benefits plus Involve authors in your own events* A signed copy of your favourite festival read*

Become a Friend

Ambassadors £1,250 per year:

Enjoy. Save. Support

All Champion benefits plus

Thank you for the generous support of: All our Pen Friends and Pen Pals Champion Joanna Dickson Leach Principal Benefactor Amanda Clarkson

Exclusive Festival briefing with the Artistic Director *To be arranged in advance and subject to author availability To find out more, simply visit bathfestivals.org. uk/literature/membership or ask at the Box Office for more details (01225 463362).

70 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

SUPPORT YOUR FESTIVALS

Become a Patron

Thank you Bath Festivals’ Patrons for your generous support:

Join us at the heart of Bath Festivals and play a vital role in developing our programmes, our audiences and our education work.

Life Patron Lady Evelyn Strasburger Paragon Patrons Trevor and Barbara Osborne

From just £62 per month, enjoy exclusive benefits across all of our festivals, including: Priority booking Patrons Box Office with dedicated private booking line Invitation to exclusive events, including the annual Artistic Director’s dinner and literary lunch Opportunities to attend rehearsals and behind the scenes tours Pre-reserved top price seats to selected events Advance information with newsletters and programme previews Acknowledgement at every festival Priority booking and Patron benefits at St Magnus International Festival

word ad 154_102

‘‘

28/11/13

15:26

Rob and Deborah Clements Morny and Ian Hay Davison Roy and Maureen Hatch LT.CDR Conrad Jones Sheila McCormack Nigel and Stephanie Pollard Bob and Diana Potter Wyn and Jan Rees Chris and Jan Shepley Brian and Maggie Woodford

Circus Patrons Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust Andrew Fletcher Jane Drabble and Bill Nemtin

Honorary Patrons Joanna MacGregor John & Gill McLay James Runcie

Crescent Patrons Chris and Gill Bottomley John and Rosalie Challis

For more information visit bathfestivals.org. uk/patrons or call Clare Diacono, Development Manager on 01225 462231

Save the date Bath International Music Festival 16 — 26 May 2014

Page 1

, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature.

If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young

When

I look back

Maya Angelou

’’

Nursery • Junior School • Senior School • Sixth Form College www.facebook.com/TheRoyalHighSchoolBath Lansdown Road, Bath BA1 5SZ Tel: 01225 313877

@royalhighbath

Email: royalhigh@rhsb.gdst.net

www.royalhighbath.gdst.net

LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

O

ur programmes not only encourage reading and writing for pleasure, but also help participants to develop their literacy and writing skills, while being inspired by the world-class writers and thinkers that we bring to Bath.

Young Writers’ Lab

(See page 8 for booking details) If you love writing, perhaps see yourself on the festival stage in a few years, and would like to explore new ideas then join our Young Writers workshop. This intensive day of writing for young writers aged 13 — 18, taking place at the Holburne Museum, will offer you tips and a host of new skills to take your writing to the next level. Join writer Alice Maddicott to explore the wonders of the Holburne collection as an inspirational starting point for writing.

Following this intensive day there will be regular monthly Writing Labs exploring a wide variety of genres and forms of creative writing and expression. These workshops are for young people aged 13 — 18 years and will involve special guest writers, performance and sharing opportunities at our festivals and publication of work. Please contact us on education@bathfestivals.org.uk if you would like further information.

Schools and Teachers Celebrate World Book Day Our learning and participation programme offers schools the opportunity to host visiting writers or an illustrator for a day or half a day to ignite and inspire young imaginations and support creative explorations of the world. We will work closely with the schools to identify appropriate writers to visit their school and offer training opportunities for teachers in those schools to maximise the potential of these, and future, visits from writers.

Our World Book Day Writer 2014 is Anna Wilson, author of Monkey Madness — the Only Way is Africa! and many other wonderful stories about cats, dogs, and chickens. Layn Marlow is our World Book Day Illustrator and the creator of picture books for children with themes of friendship and the challenges that young children might experience.

KS1 & 2, £175 — £275 The Write Team We can offer bespoke programmes for schools to explore creative writing, develop literacy or reading programmes in preparation for the introduction of the new curriculum or to explore how creative writing can raise attainment for children. Based on our nationally recognised research project, the Write Team, we can work with your school and teachers to reinvigorate your literacy teaching and outcomes for individual learners.

Teacher Training: Exploring Creative Writing We can offer training programmes which offer teachers the opportunity to develop their understanding and expertise in teaching creative writing to support learning and writing outcomes for children. The programme offers three INSET sessions and online support to introduce creative writing activities and techniques and reflect on the practice introduced by the programme to the classroom. Together we will identify further opportunities to stimulate creative writing and ways for schools to get involved with our vibrant literature festivals.

KS2 — £295 (discounts for schools with more than one teacher attending) To book a writer or for more information on any of our projects and year round Learning & Participation projects please e-mail Louise Betts on education@bathfestivals.org.uk Supported by the Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust

72 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

BAILLIE GIFFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL SPONSORSHIP

LITERATURE ADDS TO REALITY, IT DOES NOT SIMPLY DESCRIBE IT. IT ENRICHES THE NECESSARY COMPETENCIES THAT DAILY LIFE REQUIRES AND PROVIDES; AND IN THIS RESPECT, IT IRRIGATES THE DESERTS THAT OUR LIVES HAVE ALREADY BECOME. C. S. LEWIS 1898 -1963

The story of long-term investment continues.

Baillie Gifford is delighted to continue being the Principal Sponsor of The Independent Bath Literature Festival.

We are one of the UK’s largest investment trust managers. In our daily work in investments we do our very best to emulate the diligence and imagination that successful writers bring to the creative process.

Our free tri-annual Trust magazine offers you an engaging and insightful overview of the investment world along with details of our literary festival activity throughout the UK.

To find out more about our sponsorship or to enter our prize draw, visit us* at www.bgtrustonline.com/bath *To access the prize draw page you must use the full URL stated above. Baillie Gifford Savings Management Limited (BGSM) produces Trust magazine and is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford & Co, which is the manager and secretary of eight investment trusts. Your personal data is held and used by BGSM in accordance with data protection legislation. We may use your information to send you details about Baillie Gifford products, funds or special offers and to contact you for business research purposes. We will only disclose your information to other companies within the Baillie Gifford group and to agents appointed by us for these purposes. You can withdraw your consent to receiving further marketing communications from us and to being contacted for business research purposes at any time. You also have the right to review and amend your data at any time.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Independent Bath Literature Festival

Bath Festivals

Literature Producer Judith Robinson

Board of Trustees Jane Drabble OBE Chair Carol Baines, John Cullum, Councillor Cherry Beath, Margaret Heffernan, Celia Mead, Louise Mitchell, Ian Stockley, Richard Turner CMG OBE, Anna Williams

Bath Festivals would also like to thank the following for their invaluable support:

Chief Executive Belinda Kidd

The festival volunteers, event managers, freelance production team and the managers and staff of all the Festival venues.

Finance Director Lynne Gregory

The Independent Bath Literature Festival couldn’t happen without the enthusiastic help of publishers, agents and programming partners. For a full list of publishers who have supported the Festival in 2014, please see www.bathfestivals.org.uk

Development Clare Diacono, Rosie Fearon, Becky Whitmore

Artistic Director Viv Groskop

Photo and Illustration Credits p.14 Photo: Alain de Botton © Mathias Marx p.15 Photo: Bath Literature Festival 2013 © Julian Foxon; Photo: Jonathan Dimbleby © Antonio Olmos p.20 Image: Sword, late 8th early 9th century, Kalundborg or Holbæk, Zealand, Denmark. Photo: Arnold Mikkelsen © The National Museum of Denmark.

Background: Kim Westerskov/Getty Images. p.22 Photo: Alain de Botton © Mathias Marx; Photo: Julian Baggini © Richard H. Smith p.25 Photo: Charlotte Higgins © Nana Varveropoulou; Photo: Ben Watt © Ed Bishop p.26 Photo: Jo Baker © Ed Marshall Camera Press London; Photo: Lucy Porter © Steve Ullathorne p.28 Illustration: Richard Wagner - Picture from Meyers Lexicon books.

Collection of 21 volumes published between 1905 and 1909. p.29 Photo: Michael Rosen © Laurence Cendrowicz p.32 Photo: Sally Magnusson © Derek Prescott; Photo: Incredible Spice Men © Haraala Hamilton p.34 Photo: Patrick Barkham © Betty Bhandari p.38 Photo: Claudia Roden © Jason Lowe p.40 & 41 Map Illustration by Ricardo Bessa p.45 Photo: A. L. Kennedy © Campbell Mitchell p.46 Photo: Sandy Osborne © The Post; Photo: Olivia Laing © Johnny Ring p.50 Photo: Alev Scott © Alice Glover p.55 Photo: Austentatious © Betty Bhandari p.56 Photo: Hadley Freeman © Sarah Lee p.57 Photo: Austentatious © Betty Bhandari p.58 Photo: Rick Gekoski © Martin Crook p.60 Photo: Lionel Shriver © Eamonn McCabe 2013 p.61 Photo: Joanna Trollope © Betty Bhandari p.65 Photo: Joanna Trollope © Betty Bhandari p.72 Photo: The Telegraph Bath Children's Literature Festival © Julian Foxon

Development & Marketing Director Owen McNeir

Finance Rebecca Wheeler Festival Officers Laura Cook, Kate Hall Learning & Participation Louise Betts, Hazel Plowman Marketing and PR Liz Eyles, Tamsin Treverton Jones, Beth Cutter Box Office Alison Sully, Chloe Merritt, June Price, Melodie Robson, Isabel Snowden Jean Saint, Pam Twohig Brand and Festival Design Smith and Milton Bristol

Bath International Music Festival Artistic Director Alasdair Nicolson Music Producer Bethany Alexander

Bath Festivals Third Floor, Abbey Chambers Kingston Buildings Bath BA1 1NT Registered Charity No. 801617

The Telegraph Bath Children’s Literature Festival Guest Artistic Director David Almond

74 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

BOOKING

Contact Bath Box Office Bath Visitor Information Centre Abbey Chambers Abbey Churchyard Bath BA1 1LY 01225 463362 boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk www.bathfestivals.org.uk Box Office opening hours Monday to Saturday 9.30am — 5.30pm Sunday & Bank Holidays Closed

How to book In person at Bath Box Office By telephone on 01225 463362 Online at bathfestivals.org.uk By post to Bath Box Office at the above address — cheques made payable to Bath Box Office

When to Book Patrons & Friends Priority Booking 2 January 2014 Penpals Booking 9 January 2014 General Booking 20 January 2014

Booking details Your tickets will be posted to you for a charge of £1 or free of charge if you include a stamped addressed envelope with your booking. Otherwise your tickets will be held for collection at the Box Office, or at the venue from one hour before the event. Booking by credit card either in person or by telephone incurs a £2 transaction charge. Booking by debit card either in person or by telephone incurs no charge. All online bookings incur a transaction charge of £1.

Child protection Policy Children under 12 must be accompanied by a ticket buying adult at all festival events unless otherwise stated. Children under 2 who do not require a seat do not require a ticket. Bath Festivals maintains a Child Protection Policy but we cannot act in loco parentis or take responsibility for wandering children.

Join the conversation @bathfestivals

/bathfestivals

Concessions Concession prices are available to under–18s, full– time students, unemployment benefit claimants, visitors with a disability and those whose sole source of income is a DSS state retirement pension.

Concessions are only available when a separate price is given in brackets. Concession rate tickets cannot be purchased online. Only one concession may apply per ticket.

Standby ticket offer Under 25s, over 60s and other concessions may purchase unsold tickets half price, 30 minutes before the event. This does not apply to events at the Holburne or Komedia or for Walks, Literary Lunches, Workshops and the Books for Breakfast event.

Group bookings We offer one free seat for every ten purchased to the same event when booked at the same time.

Bath Festivals welcomes visitors with disabilities Please advise the Box Office of your requirements when making a booking. Visitors with a disability who need to bring a personal assistant are offered one free ticket. If you require a BSL interpreter, please enquire at the Box Office and we will do our best to accommodate this.

Other booking information Please quote the event code when booking. Event times are approximate and doors open 15 minutes before each event. Tickets are non-refundable, but if an event sells out we are happy to offer returned tickets for resale. A £2 per ticket handling charge will apply on all resold tickets. Please note we cannot refund card transaction or online booking fees. Programmes and performers may be subject to change. All information in this programme was correct at the time of going to press.

Filming Some events or shows may be filmed or photographed. Buying a ticket affirms your consent to the filming, sound recording or photographing of yourself as a member of the audience.

76 Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362

WHERE TO STAY Official Hotel Partner

The Abbey Hotel Located in the heart of the city, this 60-bedroomed hotel is brilliantly located for the Roman Baths, Thermae Spa, Abbey, main shopping area and Festival venues.

The much-acclaimed Allium Brasserie serves a varied and seasonal menu all day from 12 until 9pm including light dishes and pre-event menus, and the contemporary lounge, with its exhibition of modern art, is perfect for coffee, cocktails and afternoon teas. Terrace dining when the weather is warm.

1 — 3 North Parade Bath BA1 1LF 01225 461603 www.abbeyhotelbath.co.uk

Brooks Guesthouse Brooks Guesthouse is a stylish boutique townhouse, 350 meters below the Royal Crescent and a mere seven minute walk to the city centre. All bedrooms have designer wallpapers, comfy beds and goose down bedding. All bathrooms have Hansgrohe power showers. We offer a delicious breakfast, an honesty bar and free, superfast WiFi.

Kennard Hotel A Georgian townhouse with its own special charm and character quietly situated within minutes of the city centre.

11 Henrietta Street Bath BA2 6LL 01225 310472 kennard.co.uk

1 Upper Bristol Road Bath BA1 2NA 01225 425543 brooksguesthouse.com

Royal Crescent Hotel This stunning hotel overlooks the city of Bath and offers elegant Georgian grandeur, luxurious accommodation and unrivalled customer care. This five star Relais & Chateaux property also boasts an award winning restaurant, secluded gardens as well as the relaxing & intimate Spa. Come to The Royal Crescent Hotel and let us take care of you.

16 Royal Crescent Bath BA1 2LS 01225 823333 royalcrescent.co.uk

Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel The five star Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel is the perfect accommodation venue for Bath’s five star Festivals.

The Halcyon The Halcyon, a contemporary boutique townhouse hotel, centrally located within two minutes walk of major attractions, train station and parking. From £99.

Sydney Road Bath BA2 6NS 0844 879 9106 macdonaldhotels.co.uk /our-hotels/macdonaldbath-spa-hotel

2 — 3 South Parade Bath BA2 4AA 01225 444100 thehalcyon.com

Hilton Bath City Hilton Bath City is centrally located in the historic city of Bath, close to shops, local attractions and train station.

The hotel has been fully refurbished offering 173 air conditioned bedrooms, lobby bar serving Costa Coffee and a brand new French style restaurant “Atelier”.

Walcot Street Bath BA1 5BJ 01225 463411 hilton.co.uk/bathcity

Pratt’s Hotel Built in 1743 by John Wood, Pratt’s Hotel is in a great location to explore the city’s many historic attractions. Full of character rooms, a classic Georgian restaurant and lounges with open fireplaces.

Tasburgh House Set in seven acres of beautiful gardens Tasburgh House is a three minute taxi ride or 20 minute canal walk from the city centre. 12 stylish rooms with extraordinarily comfy beds and breathtaking views all set in a relaxing atmosphere. Helpful, knowledgeable staff will happily recommend and reserve restaurants, tours, taxis etc. Licensed, great breakfasts and free parking.

Warminster Road Bath BA2 6SH 01225 425096 tasburghhouse.co.uk

South Parade Bath BA2 4AB 01225 460441 forestdale.com

For more information about accommodation in Bath, visit visitbath.co.uk or call Bath Tourist Information Centre on 0906 711 2000 (50p/min).

Book online at bathfestivals.org.uk or call 01225 463362 77

PROUDLY SUPPORTING THE INDEPENDENT BATH LITERATURE FESTIVAL

PRIOR PARK SIXTH FORM More opportunities More challenges More choices More responsibilities More fun!

OPEN DOOR DAYS Friday 7 March 2014 11.30am–1.30pm Friday 2 May 2014 11.30am–1.30pm Please email to register – admissions@priorpark.co.uk

T: 01225 835 353 E: reception@priorpark.co.uk www.thepriorfoundation.com 3-18 Boarding 11-18 Day HMC Established Co-educational Catholic Senior School

Friday 28 February – Sunday 9 March 2014

bathfestivals.org.uk