Birmingham Literature Festival 2016 by Birmingham Literature Festival

6–16 OCTOBER 2016 WRITERS BOOKS IDEAS 1

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Welcome Welcome to the 2016 Birmingham Literature Festival. Our Festival is about writers and their ideas and we cover an extraordinary range of subjects – from the creativity of concrete to what makes Birmingham a great speech-making city.

Festival Pass

£70 to access all festival events, worth over £300 Buy a Festival Pass to give you access to all events for only £70. Your pass also entitles you to 20% off all books sold at the Festival and discounts from our host cafés. Book via The BOX: 0121 245 4455 Festival Pass cost £70/£56 WWM Friends: £63

Euro Pass 7-9 October

Buy a Euro Pass to give you access to all Euro Pass events Friday 7th – Saturday 8th October Your pass also entitles you to 20% off all books sold at the Festival and discounts from our host cafés. Book via The BOX: 0121 245 4455 Euro Pass cost: £30/£24 WWM Friends: £27

We look closely at working class writing, at writing and psychotherapy and at how accent and dialect influence poetry. We welcome BBC Radio Four and the Frankfurt LiteraTurm Festival, and writers from over half a dozen European nations. Our first Sunday is a Teen Takeover – produced by four young people – and we are also pleased to welcome Chris Riddell, the Waterstones Children’s Laureate. We open the festival with a National Poetry Day Gala featuring the magnificent Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and the announcement of the new Birmingham Poet Laureate and Birmingham Young Poet Laureate. Our very popular Festival Pass returns, alongside a Euro Pass and a Teen Takeover Pass – all excellent value and a way of really being part of the Festival.

Whether you are with us every day or just for one or two events, we hope you find the Birmingham Literature Festival a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Jonathan Davidson Chief Executive, Writing West Midlands

For more information on venues and tickets, see page 56 of this programme.

These aren’t the only passes available – take a look at the Teen Takeover pass on page 27.

Book: Book:www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/ 0121 / 0121245 2454455 4455

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

SUPPORT CREATIVE WRITING AND WRITERS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS Join us by becoming a Friend and help us develop writers of all ages across the region. You will also get special discounts at our events and workshops, including a discount on the Festival Pass and for our National Writers’ Conference. For as little as £3 a month (or an annual payment of £30), you can make a real contribution to creative writing and literature activities in the West Midlands. Join online www.writingwestmidlands.org or via The BOX. The benefits of becoming a Friend include: 10% off tickets for events, including at the Birmingham Literature Festival Special Friends price for the Festival Pass (see page 2 for details)

Special prices for workshops 20% off books at our events Exclusive quarterly newsletter 15% off any full price purchases at Foyles, Grand Central.

10% off any full price purchases at Waterstones Birmingham 10% off total bill at Marmalade at the Rep 10% discount off total bill at Café Opus at Ikon 10% off at Library of Birmingham Café 3 for 2 on all whisky masterclasses at Hard to Find Whisky 25% off Nine Arches Press books 2 for 1 offer on tickets to the RSC viewing tower

We work all over the region fostering the creative writing talents of over 120 young people. Donate to help fund our Young Writers Groups! 4

Text WWMS15 £5 to 70070, visit www.writingwestmidlands.org/donate to give by PayPal or donate in cash or by card during the Festival. Thank you!

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

A Moveable Feast – pop-up performances by regional writers Follow us on Twitter via #PopUpBhamLitFest

Writing West Midlands runs a career development scheme for emerging regional writers, now in its fifth year. Alumni and current participants of this programme (‘Room 204’) will be performing live at the Library of Birmingham, Waterstones and Grand Central throughout the festival.

Waterstones Birmingham is the official bookstore for Birmingham Literature Festival. 20% off all festival books for Festival Pass and Euro Pass holders.

Sounds from Arden Listen out for Sounds from Arden in the Studio Theatre while you wait for events to begin. Produced by Darren Cannan and James Summerfield, these tender portraits of Birmingham in words and music, feature Catherine O’Flynn, Mike Gayle and Ranking Roger amongst others. Available to download on iTunes, or buy the CD and book at the festival bookshop.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Thursday 6 October

Thursday 6 October National Poetry Day Gala

with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, Roy McFarlane and the Birmingham Poets Laureate

7.30pm-9pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £10/£8, Festival Pass: Free. Announcing Birmingham’s new Poets Laureate Who will represent your city with sensational poetry until 2018? We introduce you to the new Poet Laureate and Young Poet Laureate, selected from exceptional applicants, who will perform poems on the theme of Birmingham.

Roy McFarlane Beginning With Your Last Breath

Jean 'Binta' Breeze

Roy McFarlane is a former Birmingham Poet Laureate. His work has been published widely in anthologies and magazines. His debut collection, Beginning With Your Last Breath, is a powerful exploration of love, loss and identity, taking in the Black Country, Norman Tebbitt and Marvin Gaye along the way.

Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze: The Verandah Poems

Internationally renowned Jamaican poet Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze is the author of eight books of poems and stories. Described as a ‘one-woman festival’ her poetry is deeply powerful, political and personal. Come and be awed and inspired. Jean’s latest collection, The Verandah Poems, is published by Bloodaxe. Jean appears courtesy of Renaissance One: writers, tours and events www.renaissanceone.co.uk Sponsored by Newman University.

Image © Hayley Madden

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Friday 7 October The Gift of the Gab with David Crystal 4-5pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free

FACTS: • You will be taught by lecturers who publish research rated as world leading in the latest REF. • Strong links with high quality local arts organisations including Birmingham Hippodrome, REP, SAMPAD and the Library of Birmingham for work placements.

To find out more about English degrees at Newman visit www.newman.ac.uk/ english

• The courses are varied and cover a range of disciplines including creative writing, literature, language and film.

We think we know eloquence when we hear it. But what is it? And how can we be more eloquent? Join David Crystal, world renowned expert on the history and usage of the English language, to learn how to master the art of eloquence. David probes the intricate workings of eloquence from everyday situations (wedding speeches, business presentations, storytelling) to the oratory of great public gatherings. Looking at (and listening to) pitch, pace, prosody, jokes, appropriateness, and even how to wield a microphone, David Crystal will share his expert understanding of eloquence as he examines each of its facets, and explain the verbal manoeuvres that make masterful speakers such as Barack Obama so effective.

This event is must for anyone with an interest in speaking and presenting. David Crystal is the foremost writer and lecturer on the English language, with a worldwide reputation and over 100 books to his name.

8 • There are regular guest lectures from published authors. • Writing retreats enable you to have a period of uninterrupted creativity.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Friday 7 October Walter Presents

6-7.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £10/£8, Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free

Walter Iuzzolino, the man behind Channel 4’s hugely successful Netflix of foreign drama, Walter Presents, watched over 3,500 hours of international television to curate a catalogue of TV and online hits including Deutschland 83, Spin and Blue Eyes. He believes foreign drama is giving people the greedy fix once provided only by novels: “One episode is just not enough. And that type of fiction, built on cliff-hangers, is Dickens. It’s Balzac…. These TV series are also something that unites people. In the same way as people join book clubs, now they discuss TV series’. In this very special event, hear from Walter himself about how Walter Presents came to be, and what makes it so compelling for UK audiences.

Friday 7 October Secret Storytelling

5-6:30pm, Secret Location £10/£8, Festival Pass: Free First there was Secret Cinema. And now, only at the Birmingham Literature Festival, there’s Secret Storytelling. Internationally renowned storyteller, Cat Weatherill, will lead an evening of ghostly storytelling in a secret, spooky venue in the city centre. Book your ticket and you’ll receive an email with further instructions towards the end of September. Cat Weatherill will also be running a special workshop - ‘How to Tell a Great Ghost Story’ - on Sunday 2nd October 3-5pm at the Writing West Midlands office. Suitable for those with some experience of storytelling, and those with none. Book on the Festival website.

write | now Are you the next Malorie Blackman? Or Dudley’s answer to James Patterson? Are you writing the next epic love story, featuring Romeo and Julian? If so, we want to meet you. WriteNow is looking to find, mentor and publish new writers with different stories to tell. Visit www.write-now.live to find out more and apply. #WriteNowLive

Secret Storytelling: £10/£8 Workshop: £5/£4

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Friday 7 October

Friday 7 October Henry Normal

Henry Normal – Staring Directly at the Eclipse 8-9.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £10/£8, Festival Pass: Free

Henry Normal, the enfant terrible of British TV and film comedy – co-creator of The Royle Family, co-writer of The Mrs Merton Show, producer with Steve Coogan of Gavin and Stacey, The Mighty Boosh, the Oscar nominated hit Philomena and the Alan Partridge film Alpha Papa - returns to his first passion of poetry.

Nude Modelling for the Afterlife. A not-to-be-missed evening of stand-up and poetry from one of the UK’s finest writers.

Staring Directly at the Eclipse is Normal’s new collected poems- about dealth, frailty and other classic conversation stoppers, which the Guardian describes as “stuff of proper substance, marrying the suburban beauty of Beatles’ ballads with the blunt candour of the kitchen sink”. Henry has performed alongside poets such as Lemn Sissay, John Hegley and Wendy Cope, in festivals, factories and folk clubs across the country, and published six poetry books, including

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Saturday 8 October

Translator in Residence – Translating Shakespeare Today we are celebrating the writing and writers of Europe, from the Ukraine to Spain, Germany, Scandinavia and Wales. Today is the day to use your Euro Pass to access all areas – details in the front of the brochure.

Shakespeare in Translation

In between events, visit our Translation Bureau in the library foyer. Here you’ll find our Translator in Residence and her team of professional translators. They need your help: we’ve set them a challenge to translate a Shakespeare sonnet (Sonnet 130 - My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun) into as many of the languages spoken in Birmingham as possible. You can also send your translation to info@ writingwestmidlands.org by 17th October 2016.

Writers from the Ukraine

10-11am, Marmalade, Birmingham Rep, Library of Birmingham, £8/£6.40, Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free

Cristina Sánchez-Andrade

11.30am-12.30pm, Marmalade, Birmingham Rep, Library of Birmingham £8/£6.40, Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free

Translator in Residence

For the first year ever we have a Festival Translator in Residence. Marta Dziurosz is a translator and interpreter, currently based at the Free Word Centre in London. A Polish-English-Polish specialist, she has translated a wide range of work, from travel literature to historical novels, academic essays and film scripts, lectures and oral histories. When not at the Translation Bureau, Marta will host our Ukranian literature event, and a translation workshop. Come and say “cześć”!

We’ll publish a selection of translated sonnets on our website www.writingwestmidlands.org.

Three Ukrainian writers are spending two weeks in the West Midlands as part of a writers exchange programme with the British Council in Ukraine. Our writers represent the range of literature being published in Ukraine today. They will share some of their writing (in translation) and discuss the importance of contemporary writing in their country. Halyna Shyyan is a novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and translator from the city of Lviv. Volodymyr Rafieienko is a poet, novelist, publisher and editor, a long-time resident of Donetsk now living in Kyiv. Lyubko Deresh is a novelist and playwright also based in Kyiv. Chaired by Translator in Residence, Marta Dziurosz

Cristina Sánchez-Andrade is one of the most powerful voices in contemporary Spanish Literature. The Winterlings, her latest novel, has gained outstanding critical acclaim – her fellow Galician, Manual Rivas, described it as ‘original and unusual’ – and it won an English PEN Award earlier this year. It’s the compelling story of two sisters who return to their childhood home, stirring up both memories and trouble as they do so. Her elegant prose has been said to ‘sit between the magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the southern gothic of Flannery O’Connor’. Cristina will be in conversation with Dr Raquel Medina, Senior Lecturer in Spanish at Aston University. Ticket includes a complimentary tea/coffee. Supported by Scribe Publications

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Saturday 8 October

Diego Marani, Frank Witzel and Nick Lezard Europanto, pop, politics and paranoia

Jonas Hassen Khemiri and Elif Shafak

3.30-4.45pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £10/£8 Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free

1.30-2.45pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £8/£6.40, Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free In this unmissable event we bring together two dazzling writers from Germany and Italy. Frank Witzel is an essayist and novelist, illustrator and musician. He won the 2015 German Book Prize, Germany’s most prestigious literature award, with his 99 chapter epic: The Invention of the Red Army Faction by a Manic Depressive Teenager in the Summer of 1969, a rich, enigmatic look at Cold War Germany seen through the eyes of a 13 year old boy. The prize jury described it as “a brilliant linguistic work of art that is a vast quarry of words and ideas – a hybrid compendium of pop, politics and paranoia”.

Diego Marani is a celebrated Italian novelist, translator, and journalist, and the creator of the mock language, Europanto, made up of every European language but without rules or grammar.

His New Finnish Grammar, the story of a soldier’s disputed identity, with echoes of The Return of Martin Guerre and The English Patient, topped the Guardian bestseller lists and acquired something of a cult status in the UK. His latest book is The Intepreter. Marani is a Policy Officer at the European Union.

We are delighted to welcome to the festival two leading international writers, acclaimed as much for the way their work crosses and connects cultures, as for how they push the boundaries of literary fiction. Elif Shafak was born in France, to Turkish parents. She is an award-winning novelist and the most widely-read woman writer in Turkey. She’s been described as “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Turkish and world literature”.

The event will be chaired by literary critic, journalist and all-round champion of European writing, Nick Lezard. Supported by Frankfurt LiteraTurm and the Goethe-Institut London and part of the Frankfurt Birmingham 50 Years celebration.

Tunisian-Swedish novelist and playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri is considered one of the most important Swedish writers of his generation. His novels have been widely translated and his plays performed internationally. His open letter to the Swedish Minister of Justice in response to a controversial immigration policy became an international social media phenomenon. The conversation will be chaired by Rosie Goldsmith. This event is supported by the Royal Society of Literature and the EU Commission.

Frankfurt Birmingham Celebrating 50 years in partnership

Shafak’s books have been published in more than 40 countries. She’s an active political commentator.

Frankfurt Birmingham

Elif Shafak (on left): Image © Zeynel Abidin and Jonas Hassen Khemiri: Image © Thron Ullberg

Celebrating 50 years in partnership

45.3 Birmingham-Frankfurt 50th Anniversary logo Sheet 1

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Saturday 8 October Workshop: Literary Translation

5.30-7pm, Heritage Learning Space, Library of Birmingham, £12/£9.60 Ever wanted to try your hand at literary translation but not been sure how to start? Now’s your chance! In this brand new workshop, Translator in Residence Marta Dziurosz will bring a sample of Polish fiction with a literal translation into English. She will work with you to create a literary translation – faithful to the original, but living and fresh, and distinctly your own. This is a special opportunity to experience the craft of literary translation in a relaxed and fun environment. No previous experience of translation or Polish necessary. Places are limited; early booking is recommended. Sponsored by Foyles Bookshop

David Lodge and Philippine Hamen

4.30–5.30pm, Private View, Ikon Gallery 6-7pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free French designer Philippine Hamen was inspired by David Lodge’s short story, The Man Who Wouldn’t Get Up, to create a new, hybrid piece of furniture, “a lounger desk”, being shown at Ikon Gallery throughout the festival. In this unique event we hear more about the process of translating fiction into art. The conversation will be chaired by Rosie Goldsmith.

MA in Creative Writing Fulfil your potential as a novelist, scriptwriter, non-fiction writer or poet with a course that will help you to develop creatively and prepare for your future career. You will: • Learn from distinguished practitioners from the School as well as the Fellows of the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing (www.bcu.ac.uk/iccw) • Work in a range of genres, including Fiction, Screenplay, Creative Non-Fiction and Poetry • Enjoy direct contact with guest authors and visiting literary professionals – literary agents, publishers, editors and development agencies • Benefit from our modular structure, allowing you to construct a course that fits your interests • Get access to extra events held by the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing Admission is based on talent, commitment and potential. Find out more and apply for September 2017 at: www.bcu.ac.uk/ma-creativewriting www.bcu.ac.uk/english /BCUSchoolofEnglish

@BCUEnglish & @ICCWriting

This event is presented in partnership with Ikon and Vintage Books. A private view of For The Man Who Wouldn’t Get Up – Hommage to David Lodge is included in the ticket price, from 4.30pm at Ikon Gallery. Please note the Tower Room is only accessible via a number of steps.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Saturday 8 October

Saturday 8 October The Bridge to Hinterland:

With Hans Rosenfeldt and Ed Thomas

7.30-8.45pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £10/£8, Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free Bilingual, border-town crime drama, The Bridge, set the bar for Nordic Noir. Season 3 attracted over 2 million viewers in the UK and Swedish detective Saga Noren, became something of a national treasure. A fourth series is due to filmed later this year. Award-winning Welsh crime drama Hinterland was originally broadcast in English and Welsh, a first for BBC television drama. The first two series have been screened internationally via Netflix. Filming of a third series began earlier this year.

Hans Rosenfeldt

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

This event is presented in partnership with the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. Sponsored by Birmingham City University

Ed Thomas

Tonight, for the first time, we bring together the writer-creators of both series, Hans Rosenfeldt and Ed Thomas, to talk about making compelling bilingual TV drama. This is a unique opportunity to hear from the writers behind some of the most talked-about dramas to hit our TV screens in recent years.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Sunday 9 October

Royal Society of Literature Booker Prize Foundation Masterclass: Crime Writing with Simon Brett

What Haunts the Heart

Join Royal Society of Literature Fellow, Simon Brett at this special masterclass. Simon was a producer in radio and television before taking up writing full time. He is responsible for the much-loved Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, Fethering, and Blotto and Twinks series of crime novels, and the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Diamond Dagger, one of the highest accolades in the crime writing world.

What Haunts the Heart is a new collection of short stories by brilliant writers from across the Midlands, presenting a host of haunted characters: a waxwork-maker, a doomed puppeteer, an isolated writer... What Haunts the Heart weaves together tales of lost love, regret, bad decisions, madness, secrets, obsession and redemption.

10am-1pm, Heritage Learning Space, Library of Birmingham £30/£15

The masterclass is limited to 14 places; six are reserved for RSL members. If you are an RSL member please email ally@ rsliterature.org or call 0207 845 4677 to book your place. All other attendees please book via the Box Office (details at bottom of page). Sponsored by Foyles Bookshop

“A masterclass can transform one’s writing: something magical happens when you get a group of like-minded people in a room together. The RSL Booker Masterclasses make it possible for aspiring writers to learn from some of the most distinguished and successful novelists at work today” – Deborah Moggach.

2-3pm, Waterstones Birmingham £3, Festival Pass: Free

Come and hear a selection of these fantastic stories performed live by writers including William Gallagher, Liz Kershaw and Fiona Joseph. What Haunts the Heart is published by Mantle Lane Press, part of Mantle Arts – a participatory arts organisation based in Leicestershire. Simon Brett

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Sunday 9 October

Sunday 9 October Wendy Cope: Life, Love and the Psyche

4-5.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £12/£9.60, Festival Pass: Free Wendy Cope is widely acclaimed for her funny, fearless and frank take on life. She has published four collections of poetry: Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, Serious Concerns, If I Don’t Know, and Family Values. She has also edited several anthologies of comic verse, including Heaven on Earth: 101 happy poems. Dr Rowan Williams said: “Wendy Cope is without doubt the wittiest of contemporary English poets, and says a lot of extremely serious things”. Her style has been compared to both Betjeman and Larkin.

Wendy Cope

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

psychoanalyst are both seekers after truth”. In this special event, produced in partnership with the West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy, Wendy will be in conversation with poet and psychotherapist, Myra Connell, to explore the relationship between psychoanalysis and creativity and the effect of Cope’s psychoanalysis on her writing. The event will close with Wendy reading from some of her best-loved work. This event is produced in partnership with the West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy. Myra Connell’s debut collection, House, is published by Nine Arches Press

Cope’s prose collection, Life, Love and The Archers, details her inspirations, her depression and her experience of psychoanalysis. She says: “Poetry is about telling the truth. The poet and

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Sunday 9 October Lifeline, Heartline: Poems by Lesbian and Gay Poets 6–7pm, Waterstones £3.00

This event brings to life the new pamphlet from Candlestick Press featuring ten poets who have written about same-sex loves and lives through history, from Walt Whitman to Kate Tempest, C P Cavafy to Carol Ann Duffy. Editors Mandy Ross and Jo Brooks will perform from the collection and then discuss their choice of poems. Join us for a lively conversation about love, identity and poetry. Candlestick Press is a small independent publisher based in Nottingham. publishing poetry pamphlets aimed equally at people familiar with poetry and those who are not.

For all your print, design, and promotional requirements, contact Jigsaw Print Solutions. T: 0121 585 6040 E: stuart@jigsawprintsolutions.co.uk

A miniature festival – no wellies required. Buy a Teen Takeover Pass to access all events (excluding workshops) for only £20. Programmed by the Writing West Midlands Gold Arts Award Young Producers. Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org 0121 245 4455

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Juno Dawson

Welcome to the first ever Birmingham Literature Festival: Teen Takeover On Sunday 9th October 2016 The Birmingham Literature Festival will be handed over to the next generation of creative talent for a day of unique and vibrant events. For the first time ever four promising young writers have been working handin-glove with Writing West Midlands, giving them the opportunity to flex their creative muscles and organise this exciting new literary extravaganza. The Teen Takeover is a truly diverse and innovative all-day festival that has been enthusiastically crafted by young writers to celebrate the art forms they love and cast light on the issues that matter to them. From anarchic graphic novels to hard-hitting spoken word, there’ll be something for everyone on the day. #BLFTeenTakeover

Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs: an open-minded and uplifting discussion about young people and mental health. 12-1.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham, £8/£6.40 Acclaimed YA authors Juno Dawson and Nicola Morgan talk about their writing, and their ambition to reduce the stigma around mental illness. Juno says: “I want us all to be able to speak about mental health without shame, without secrecy, so we can all get the help we need”. Award-winning author of dark teen thrillers, Juno’s first non-fiction book was Being a Boy, followed by This Book is Gay and then Mind Your Head – a guide to everything a young person needs to know about mental health. Nicola Morgan is an international speaker and award-winning author for and about teenagers. She has written nearly 100 books, including the novels Wasted and Mondays are Red, but she is best-known for her nonfiction, including the brilliant Blame My Brain, and The Teenage Guide to Stress. Chaired by writer, journalist and dramatist: William Gallagher

The True Identity of Comic Books Revealed: Exploring the hidden creative depths of a misunderstood medium. 2-3.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham, £8/£6.40 For far too long graphic novels have been considered a secondary art form; condemned by their critics as twodimensional pulp, in which spandex-clad muscle-bound heroes save the day with a stereotypical POW! But that is merely the tip of this pop-cultural iceberg. If you care to look beyond the capes and masks you will discover a uniquely diverse industry overflowing with everything from innovatively told autobiographies to lushly illustrated retellings of 19th century classics. Join our guests Mike Carey (awardwinning writer of Lucifer, The Unwritten & X-Men), Leah Moore (writer of Albion and co-founder of Electricomics), and Al ‘The Astral Gypsy’ Davison (writer/artist of The Spiral Cage & Muscle Memory) as they discuss their work and show us some of the reasons why this misunderstood medium is smashing its way into the mainstream. Chaired by Bleeding Cool Magazine journalist: Olly MacNamee

Creating Comics: Workshop with Leah Moore and Al ‘The Astral Gypsy’ Davison. 3.30-5pm Heritage Learning Space, Library of Birmingham £12/£9.60 Join Leah Moore, writer of Albion and co-founder of the pioneering digital comics app Electricomics, and Al ‘The Astral Gypsy’ Davison, author and artist behind the ground-breaking graphic memoirs, The Spiral Cage and Muscle Memory, as they share techniques and tricks of the trade to help get that restless idea out of your head and onto the page. This intimate workshop is an unmissable opportunity for any aspiring comic book writer or artist to gain advice, guidance and learn the basics of creating comics from two of the biggest names in the British comic industry. Sponsored by Foyles Bookshop

Sunday 9 October Beyond the Water’s Edge

In conversation with Mike Carey 6-7pm Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham, £8/£6.40 Best-selling author Mike Carey talks monsters, movies and more. Mike Carey tells us all about the making of the movie inspired by his book, The Girl with All the Gifts – the hotly anticipated apocalyptic zombie thriller, shot on location in Birmingham, out this autumn. Carey tells us about the unenviable task of translating his 400-page novel into a screenplay and the thrill of seeing his characters brought to life by Hollywood heavy weights Glenn Close and Gemma Arterton. He also takes the audience behind bars with his haunting new thriller Fellside and hints at its cinematic future. If you love all things un-dead this event is not to be missed.

7.30-9pm, The Door, Birmingham Rep £12/£9.60 Festival Pass/Euro Pass: Free

An Evening of Spoken Word with Hollie McNish 8-9pm, Studio Theatre Library of Birmingham £10/8 Internationally acclaimed poet Hollie McNish brings the Teen Takeover to a close with a bang. She’s an unmistakeable and unmissable spoken word performer with a massive following. Birmingham’s own Benjamin Zephaniah said he “can’t take his ears off her”. Hollie’s books include Cherry Pie and Nobody Told Me and her first official album, Versus, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, making her the first poet ever to record there. This event features a special performance from Beat Freeks.

Hear voices from around the world, distilled into poetry in this unique performance. Midland Creative Projects take the words of the world’s poets and present them on stage with live music to create a celebration of our lives in all their forms. Drawing from every continent we are given stories that move and inspire – from Sweden to Chile and all points between. The drama of love, loss and re-birth mingle with the comedy of daily life, resulting in a captivating series of portraits presented through the words of some of the world’s best poets. Directed by Steve Byrne from Interplay Theatre, Beyond The Water’s Edge uses poems published by Bloodaxe Books with music and original set design by Talking Birds.

images © Graeme Braidwood

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Monday 10 October Workers’ Writes

6-7.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham Cost: £8/£6.40 (Trade union members receive concessionary rate for this event) Festival Pass: Free When A Kestrel for a Knave author Barry Hines died aged 76 earlier this year, he had been writing about working-class lives for more than 40 years. Who can claim to have done that in 40 years’ time? Are working-class writers and working class narratives in danger of disappearing from English literary fiction? Tim Lott chairs this important debate. Lisa Blower is an award-winning shortstory writer. Her debut novel Sitting Ducks traces one family’s campaign to remain in their Stoke council house, against the backdrop of the 2010 general election. “A livid and unapologetic evocation of a world most novels never get near.” (Stuart Maconie)

Novelist and short story writer Charlie Hill was asked to leave school at 12 and abandoned formal education at 16. His first job was in Birmingham’s fish market.

His third book, Stuff, is published this autumn. Kit de Waal’s first novel My Name is Leon, set in 1980s Handsworth, was published this year to great acclaim. She founded a creative writing scholarship at Birkbeck University for writers unable to afford a Master’s degree. Niall Griffiths’ best-known works include the novels Grits, Sheepshagger and Stump, (Wales Book of the Year). Currently Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Wolverhampton, he’s spoken about being “bound by duty, to write in a voice that I have lived with”. Tim Lott is a writer and journalist. His novels include White City Blue and Rumours of a Hurricane. His memoir of working-class life, The Scent of Dried Roses, won the J.R.Ackerley Prize.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Define and refine your discipline: short fiction, the novel, poetry, scripts Study with our team of published, award-winning writers, and benefit from regular guest talks by visiting writers. BA English and Creative Writing

MA Creative Writing

Our BA English and Creative Writing will give you a foundation in all main genres of creative writing whilst setting your work and aspirations in the context of the wider literary world. Alongside this you will explore the professional aspects of contemporary writing and editing and will be supported in finding your own ‘voice’.

Our MA Creative Writing is for those with prior experience of writing creatively who wish to develop a career or go on to further study in this area. It brings together students who are working in different genres, so that you can engage collaboratively before specialising in screenwriting, playwriting, fiction or poetry for your dissertation.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/ ba-creativewriting

www.birmingham.ac.uk/ ma-creativewriting

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Monday 10 October Jackie Kay

Monday 10 October Jackie Kay and Kit de Waal

8–9.30pm Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £12/£9.60, Festival Pass: Free

We are thrilled to be welcoming the new Makar, Jackie Kay, back to the Festival. Jackie is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry and plays, whose subtle investigation into the complexities of identity have been informed by her own life. Born in Edinburgh to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father, she was adopted as a baby by a white couple. Kit de Waal’s debut novel, My Name is Leon, was published earlier this year, to critical and popular acclaim. A coming of age tale, told by a mixed race nine year old boy in foster care, it’s a profoundly moving story of love, identity and almost unbearable loss. Jackie and Kit will be in conversation, and also read from their work. This will be a lively and unforgettable event. Don’t miss it.

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Sponsored by University of Birmingham

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Tuesday 11 October Chris Mullin

6.30-7.30pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham, £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free

Chris Mullin is the former Labour MP for Sunderland South. By the time he entered Parliament aged 39 he had reported from the wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. His successful campaign to free the innocent people convicted of the Birmingham bombings was described as ‘one of the greatest feats ever achieved by an investigative reporter’. He is the author of three volumes of diaries, A View from the Foothills, A Walk-On Part and Decline and Fall, and the bestselling novel A Very British Coup, which was turned into an award-winning television series. Tonight we’ll hear Chris talk about and read from his new autobiography, Hinterland – a wry and revealing memoir by one of our most acclaimed chroniclers of contemporary politics.

Creative writing groups for children and young people in the West Midlands £6 per session

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Tuesday 11 October

Tuesday 11 October Benjamin Zephaniah and Liz Berry

8-9.15pm Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £12/£9.60, Festival Pass: Free Two leading poets of our region come together to discuss how the distinctive accents and dialects spoken in Birmingham and the Black Country shape and colour their writing. Benjamin Zephaniah was born and brought up in Handsworth; what he’s called the ‘Jamaican capital of Europe’. His internationally renowned writing is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and by what he calls “street politics”: “It doesn’t matter what I do or where I go, Birmingham is always close to me. I live in Birmingham more than I let on. I have never let the city get away from me”. Liz Berry was born in the Black Country and now lives in Birmingham. Berry’s work is recognisable for its distinctive usage of Black Country dialect and vocabulary, a regional foregrounding which remains unusual among her generation of British poets. When writing

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her award-winning debut collection The Black Country she said she felt like she was ‘digging up her own Staffordshire Hoard’. This fascinating conversation will be chaired by Professor of Language and Linguistics at Aston University, and Director of The West Midlands English: Speech and Society project, Urszula Clark. Sponsored by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. In association with the International Literature Showcase from British Council, Arts Council England and Writers’ Centre Norwich.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Wednesday 12 October

Gregory Leadbetter: Launch of The Fetch 6-7.30pm, Waterstones, Birmingham £3, Festival Pass: Free

We’re delighted to be launching Gregory Leadbetter’s wonderful first full-length collection, The Fetch. These poems conjure and quicken the wild and the weird – full of awakenings and apprehensions, births and becoming, the hinterlands where life and death meet. “His poetry is uncanny in the true sense: a place of unnerving strangeness where you feel finally at home” (Luke Kennard). Gregory will be joined by fellow poets Jo Bell and Angela France, also published by Rugby-based Nine Arches Press.

Raw Concrete:

Barnabas Calder and Honor Gavin

6-7.15pm, Nest, Glenn Howells Architects £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free The beauty of concrete is the inspiration for the two writers taking part in this special event, chaired by local architect and journalist, Joe Holyoak. Barnabas Calder’s Raw Concrete is a celebration of concrete, and of the craft and engineering which powered the brutalist style across Britain in the ‘60s, a period Calder describes as ‘one of the greatest ever flowerings of human creativity and ingenuity’. Honor Gavin’s debut novel, Midland, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize in 2015. Set in Birmingham, Midland’s characters live in post-war suburbia, meet in the Central Library and the Odeon, and watch as a concrete ring-road is built around the city. Gavin describes herself as being full of ‘concrete longing’.

Barnabas Calder is a historian of architecture and senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool; Honor Gavin is a writer and musician, founder member of whenwebuildagain.org collective, and lecturer in Film and Writing at the University of Sheffield. In partnership with RIBA

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Wednesday 12 October

Wednesday 12 October Roy Fisher

A Roy Fisher Celebration – With Luke Kennard, Ian McMillan, Peter Robinson & Jacqui Rowe 8-9.15pm, Birmingham Cathedral £10/£8, Festival Pass: Free

Roy Fisher is the great poet of Birmingham and the Midlands. His poetry, written over 55 years, ranges from ruminations on the urban to comic flights of fancy. This celebration brings together four poets who love his work – Luke Kennard, Ian McMillan, Peter Robinson and Jacqui Rowe – to present favourite pieces, and to join us in some playful exploration of his poems – including his famous ‘On the Neglect of Figure Composition’ which in 1984 introduced the concept of Zoggists and Ianists (small prizes for anyone who chooses to attend in appropriate apparel…). The evening will also welcome publication of Slakki: New & Neglected Poems by Roy Fisher, edited by Peter Robinson.

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Thursday 13 October

Utopias: Gillian Darley and Jacqueline Yallop

Lisa Owens, Not Working

6-7pm, Nest, Glenn Howells Architects £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free Thomas More was the first to name the idea that has captured the human imagination throughout history: that by imagining a better world is possible, we are empowered to create it. His Utopia, published five hundred years ago, presents an ideal society living on a fictitious island.

Jacqueline Yallop is a historian and novelist. Her Dreamstreets: A Journey Through Britain’s Village Utopias was published to great acclaim earlier this year. Sponsored by University of Wolverhampton

His work continues to inspire. In this special event we hear from two writers who have reflected on communities planned from scratch, to fulfil a cultural mission or appease a capitalist conscience - from Saltaire to Poundbury, Port Sunlight to Bournville. They share the dreams and delusions of their founders, and consider the future of utopian settlements in this country.

Gillian Darley is a writer, broadcaster, historian and architectural campaigner. Her iconic Villages of Vision: A Study of Strange Utopias is published by Five Leaves Publications.

School of Humanities The School of Humanities at the University of Wolverhampton offers a broad range of challenging undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in a range of disciplines. The literature and dialect of the Black Country is studied in English, Creative and Professional Writing and English Language and Linguistics. Our Religious Studies and Philosophy teams, together with our new BA (Hons) in Cultural Heritage offer students the opportunity of developing a strategic understanding of the role the Arts and Humanities play in creating our world.

Apply at: wlv.ac.uk/humanities Queries: arts@wlv.ac.uk

6.30pm–7:30pm Waterstones, Birmingham, £3, Festival Pass: Free Lisa Owens’ debut novel, Not Working, is sharp, tender and very funny. It’s the story of Claire Flannery, who quits her job in order to discover her true vocation, only to realise she has no idea how to go about finding it. ‘It’s fine,’ her grandmother says. ‘I remember what being your age was like – of course, I had four children under eight then, but modern life is different, you’ve got an awful lot on’. The Guardian loved this “delicately understated portrait of everyday uncertainty”. Vogue described it as “pin-sharp, utterly addictive”.

Jacqueline Yallop

Gillian Darley

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Thursday 13 October

Thursday 13 October Walls Come Tumbling Down

8–9.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £12/£9.60, Festival Pass: Free

Daniel Rachel’s book Walls Chris Mullin is thenew former LabourCome MP Tumbling Down charts the period for Sunderland South. Bypivotal the time he betweenParliament 1976 and 1992 politics entered agedthat 39 saw he had and pop music come together for arguably reported from the wars in Vietnam, the first and last time in Britain’s musical Laos and Cambodia. His successful history; musicians their fans people suddenly campaign to free and the innocent became instigators of social change, and convicted of the Birmingham bombings the political persuasion of musicians was was described as ‘one of the greatest as important the songs sang. feats everas achieved bythey an investigative reporter’. He is the author of three Through voices of campaigners, volumes the of diaries, A View from the musicians, artists and Part and Decline politicians, Daniel Foothills, A Walk-On Rachel follows thebestselling rise and fall novel A of three and Fall, and the key of the time: Rock Against Verymovements British Coup, which was turned Racism, 2 Tone, and Red Wedge, into an award-winning television revealing series. how they both shaped, and were –shaped Hinterland is his autobiography a wry by, music ofmemoir a generation. andthe revealing by one of our most

Ranking Roger

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Daniel Rachel

The event also includes extracts of a Red Wedge film, unseen since 1986. Sponsored by Dains Accountants

acclaimed chroniclers of contemporary In this special event Daniel is joined by politics. four contributors to the book, Richard Coles (The Communards), Tom Watson MP, Ranking Roger (The Beat) and Ruth Gregory (Rock Against Racism).

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Friday 14 October Accountancy & Business Services Business Recovery & Insolvency Forensic Accounting Corporate Finance Taxation Audit

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Friday 14 October The Good Immigrant

Black Country Voyages Book Club

The Good Immigrant brings together fifteen emerging British black, Asian and minority ethnic writers, in a collection of essays about race and immigration. They paint a picture “of what it means to be ‘other’ in a country that wants you, doesn’t want you, doesn’t accept you, needs you for its equality monitoring forms and would prefer you if you won a major reality show competition”.

Join author Kerry Hadley-Pryce on board Ikon’s canal boat Black Country Voyages for an evening exploring her macabre thriller The Black Country.

6-7pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham. £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free

The book was conceived by Nikesh Shukla and published by Unbound, reaching its crowdfunding target in three days, with the support of writers including J.K.Rowling and Jonathan Coe. Presented in partnership with Impact Hub, Birmingham, and chaired by Imandeep Kaur, Nikesh Shukla will be joined by three contributors: blogger Wei Ming Kam, pop culture writer Sarah Sahim, and scriptwriter Vinay Patel.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

5:30-7.30pm, Ikon Gallery, Brindleyplace £16/£12.80

Maddie and Harry: she’s an estate agent, he’s a teacher. They’ll say they live in the Black Country. And as they search for a truth, they’ll tell us their secrets, their mistakes. And we’ll judge them. We’ll judge the nature of love and violence, good and evil. The Black Country. For Maddie and Harry, it’s darker than it should be.

in Brindleyplace. The boat trip itself will start at 6pm and finish at 7.30pm. Places are limited. We recommend booking early to avoid disappointment. Buy your copy of The Black Country from Ikon Shop this summer, priced £8.99. This event is delivered in partnership with Ikon.

The boat will set off just as dusk falls. Settle back and listen to Kerry read, and then enjoy a discussion about this unique and compelling novel with her and your fellow floating readers. Hot drinks and blankets will be provided. Meet at Ikon Gallery at 5.30pm for the short walk to where the boat is moored

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Friday 14 October Miranda Sawyer

7.30-8.45pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £10/£8 Festival Pass: Free Make time for Miranda Sawyer’s Out of Time – not a self-help book “because any book you enjoy, from The Gruffalo to Ulysses is a self-help book”, but a brilliant exploration and evocation of midlife crisis. Copthorne Hotel Paradise Circus Queensway is just a few steps from Library of Birmingham with rooms from £85.00 B&B inc VAT. The hotel’s Bugis Street Brasserie offers Literature Festival ticket holders 10% off food from the main menu. Food discount not valid in conjunction with any other promotions. www.millenniumhotels.com/en/birmingham/ copthorne-hotel-birmingham

CLASSIC | BRITISH | DELICIOUS

In the 1990s she was a poster girl for youth culture, but when Sawyer hit her mid-40s she felt like a failure: middle age had crept up on her “like smoke creeping under the door”. She started doing the maths: “adding and subtracting, calculating how long I had left, how little time I had to do what I thought I had to do... Death maths. I was doing my death maths and I didn’t like the way the sums were adding up.”

- 10% off -

This smart and straight-talking companion to midlife is both a joy and a comfort to read.

0121 248 3226

Miranda Sawyer is a journalist and broadcaster. Her writing appears in The Observer, GQ, Vogue and the Guardian.

for Birmingham Literature Festival ticket holders 1 OOZELLS SQ | BRINDLEYPLACE | B1 2HS | @CAFEOPUS WWW.CAFEOPUS.CO.UK

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Miranda Sawyer

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Saturday 15 October When Harry Met Sally: Harry Venning and Sally Phillips

12–1pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £8/£6, Festival Pass: Free Harry Venning’s Clare in the Community strip cartoon has featured in the Guardian since 1996. In 2004 he adapted it, with David Ramsden, into a BBC Radio 4 comedy starring Sally Phillips, winning a prestigious Sony Radio Award the following year. It’s now in its eleventh series.

Sally Phillips is a writer and actor, bestknown for her role in Miranda, and also as one of the four female writers and performers behind Channel 4’s awardwinning comedy sketch show, Smack the Pony. She appears as ‘Shazza’ in Bridget Jones’ Baby, released in the autumn.

Join us for this special celebration of the relationship between drawing, writing and performance.

Ask the Laureate, with Chris Riddell

2-3pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free

Come and hear one of our most successful writers and illustrators, Chris Riddell, talk about what it’s like being Children’s Laureate and the inspiration behind some of his books like Ottoline, and Goth Girl. Ask him a question (anything you like!) and he’ll draw you an answer. Chris Riddell is the 9th Children’s Laureate, and a prolific writer and illustrator. He’s the only illustrator to have won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal three times, most recently for his illustration of Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle. He has also illustrated A Great Big Cuddle: Poems for the Very Young by former Children›s Laureate Michael Rosen.

We’re bringing together Harry and Sally to talk about making a sitcom out of a cartoon, and about creating in Clare – the self-absorbed social worker – an anti-hero for Radio 4 listeners everywhere.

Harry Venning is a writer, performer and cartoonist. His cartoon Hamlet The Pig appears in The Stage. He’s currently writing a family sitcom for CBBC.

Saturday 15 October

Chris is a respected political cartoonist whose work appears in The Observer, The Literary Review and The New Statesman. Sally Phillips

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Chris Riddell

From 4pm Chris will be live drawing on a wall inside Waterstones Birmingham. Come and watch!

An event for readers of all ages.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Saturday 15 October Sathnam Sanghera & Lynsey Hanley

4–5pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free

We talk a lot about the role class plays in British society, but how exactly do we move from one ‘class’ to another – and, if we can do so, what effect does it have on us? In her new book, Respectable, Lynsey Hanley draws on her own experience growing up on the Birmingham estate of Chelmsley Wood – living through the Thatcher years, listening to the Pet Shop Boys and Erasure, reading her parents’ Daily Mirror and her grandparents’ Sun – to explore the psychological impact of social mobility. Lynsey will be in conversation with award-winning journalist and writer, Sathnam Sanghera, author of Marriage Material: A Novel and The Boy With The Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton.

Speech!

6-7.15pm, Studio Theatre, Library of Birmingham £8/£6.40, Festival Pass: Free

Some of the most nationally significant speeches made outside Parliament have been delivered in Birmingham. The city is alive with speeches people listen to and remember: two Prime Ministers delivered key policy-making speeches here in the past year. Malala’s speech at the opening of the Library of Birmingham in 2013 made international headlines. What is it about our city which inspires such oratory and orators? Join us for a lively discussion about Birmingham, and what makes a great speech. With Imandeep Kaur, co-founder of Impact Hub Birmingham and TEDxBrum, historian Andrew Reekes and Jess Phillips MP for Birmingham Yardley. The event will be chaired by Dr Malcolm Dick (University of Birmingham).

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Sunday 16 October BBC Radio 4 Presents: Word of Mouth Drop-in 3-5pm, BBC Birmingham, Mailbox Free

From tranklements to bobowlers, donnies to gambols, Birmingham and the Black Country glitters with linguistic gems. And BBC Radio 4 wants to hear them!

If you can’t attend, you can send in your local language queries by emailing info@birminghamliteraturefestival.org; tweeting @bhamlitfest or posting on the Birmingham Literature Festival Facebook page.

Have you got an old family saying that’s never quite made sense to you? Are you puzzled about a local inscription or piece of graffiti? Do you keep thinking about something you’ve overhead on the bus and never understood? Then bring your regional linguistic curiosities – written or spoken, formal or informal – to be unpicked, researched, explained and generally considered by poet and language expert Michael Rosen in this special recording of BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth, inspired by that staple of Sunday TV, The Antiques Roadshow.

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Venue and Booking Information Booking for our events is via The Box at Birmingham Repertory Theatre unless otherwise stated. By phone: 0121 245 4455 Online: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org In person: The Box, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square,

Partners, Funders and Supporters With thanks to our funders and partners Arts Council England, Birmingham Cathedral, British Council, Festivals Birmingham, Foyles bookshop, Frankfurt LiteraTurm, Free Word Centre, Goethe-Institut London, Ikon Gallery, Impact Hub, Library of Birmingham, Marmalade, Nest, Nine Arches Press, RIBA, Royal Society of Literature, Scribe, The Writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Guild of Great Britain, Waterstones, West Midlands Institute of Psychotherapy

Festival Sponsors

The full addresses of our event locations are: Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2ND Nest, Glenn Howells Architects, 321 Bradford St, Birmingham B5 6ET New Street Station, Birmingham B2 4XJ Birmingham Cathedral, Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QB Ikon Gallery, Brindleyplace, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham B1 2HS Waterstones, Pavilions, 24-26 High St, Birmingham B4 7S Marmalade, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EP The Door, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad St, Birmingham B1 2EP BBC Birmingham, Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RF

Birmingham Literature Festival is a project of Writing West Midlands. Writing West Midlands is the literature development agency for the region. Charity no. 1147710. Supported by Arts Council England. www.writingwestmidlands.org. Events are suitable for adults and children 14+ unless otherwise stated.

Festival Friends, Supporters & Benefactors Yasmin Ali Emma Austin-Jones Kathryn Azarpay Matt Black Sarah Bookey Lorraine Boyce Anne Cockitt Jane Commane Carolyn Cook Lindsay Davis Kit De Waal

Narinder Dhami Ann Dolan Edward Dunphy Jenny Durston Lorraine Francis Danielle Fuller William Gallagher Anna & Rob Ganley Lisa Godsal Jacqueline Grant Andrew Hollyhead

Rachel Hursey Liz Hyder Fiona Joseph Frances Kennedy Ian Kennedy Abda Khan Nadia Kingsley Sarah Leavesley Neil Lockwood Amos Mallard Paul McDonald

Sarah Mullen Marjorie Neilson Gareth Pert Karen Pincher Verity Relves Martin Sketchley Jeanette Sheppard Philip Monks & Jenny Stephens Peter Wakefield

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Programme Schedule

Event Title Thursday 6 October

Start Time

Finish Time

Venue

National Poetry Day Gala

19:30

21:00

Studio Theatre

Event Title Monday 10th October

Friday 7 October

Start Time

Finish Time

Venue

Workers’ Writes

18:00

19:15

Studio Theatre

Jackie Kay & Kit de Waal

20:00

21:30

Studio Theatre

Tuesday 11th October

The Gift of the Gab: David Crystal

16:00

17:00

Studio Theatre

Walter Presents

18:00

19:15

Studio Theatre

Chris Mullin

18:30

19:30

Studio Theatre

Secret Storytelling

17:00

18.30

Secret Location

Benjamin Zephaniah & Liz Berry

20:00

21:15

Studio Theatre

Henry Normal

20:00

21:15

Studio Theatre

Gregory Leadbetter: Launch of The Fetch

18:00

19:30

Waterstones

Raw Concrete: Barnabus Calder & Honor Gavin

18:00

19:15

The Nest

A Roy Fisher Celebration

20:00

21:15

Birmingham Cathedral

Wednesday 12th October

Saturday 8th October Translator in Residence

10:00

21:00

Library Foyer

Writers from the Ukraine

10:00

11:00

Marmalade at The Rep

Thursday 13th October

Cristina Sánchez-Andrade

11:30

12:30

Marmalade at The Rep

Diego Marani, Frank Witzel & Nick Lezard

13:30

14:45

Studio Theatre

Utopias (Gillian Darley & Jacqueline Yallop)

18:00

19:00

The Nest

Elif Shafak & Jonas Hassen Khemiri

15:30

16:45

Studio Theatre

Lisa Owens: Not Working

18:30

19:30

Waterstones

Walls Come Tumbling Down

20:00

21:30

Studio Theatre Studio Theatre

Workshop: Literary Translation

17:30

19:00

Heritage Learning Space

David Lodge and Philippine Hamen

16:30

19:00

Ikon Gallery/Studio Theatre

The Bridge to Hinterland

19:30

20:45

Studio Theatre

The Good Immigrant

18:00

19:00

17:30

19:30

Ikon Gallery

Studio Theatre

Black Country Voyages Book Club Miranda Sawyer

19:30

20:45

Studio Theatre

Sunday 9th October Juno Dawson & Nicola Morgan

12:00

13:15

Friday 14th October

Saturday 15th October

Leah Moore, Al Davison, M.R.Carey

14:00

15:15

Studio Theatre

Graphic Novel Workshop

15:30

17:00

Heritage Learning Space

When Harry met Sally

12:00

13:00

Studio Theatre

Mike Carey

18:00

19:00

Studio Theatre

Chris Riddell

14:00

15:00

Studio Theatre

Hollie McNish

20:00

21:00

Studio Theatre

Sathnam Sanghera & Lynsey Hanley

16:00

17:00

Studio Theatre

RSL Booker Masterclass: Crime Writing with Simon Brett

10:00

13:00

Heritage Learning Space

Speech!

18:00

19:15

Studo Theatre

What Haunts the Heart

14:00

15:00

Waterstones

Wendy Cope

16:00

17:15

Studio Theatre

15:00

17:00

BBC Birmingham, Mailbox

Lifeline, Heartline

18:00

19:00

Waterstones

Beyond the Water's Edge

19:30

21:00

The Door

Sunday 16th October BBC Radio 4 Presents: Word of Mouth

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455

Festival Highlights Chris Riddell Page 53

Wendy Cope Page 25

Miranda Sawyer Page 51

Walter Iuzzolino Page 8

Benjamin Zephaniah Page 39

Elif Shafak Page 17

Jackie Kay Page 35

Hans Rosenfeldt The Bridge Page 21

Hollie McNish Page 30

Juno Dawson Page 28

Book: www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org / 0121 245 4455