HARROGATEINTERNATIONALFESTIVALS
23 - 26 October 2014 The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate 2014 Programme Featuring:
Elizabeth Chadwick
Bernard Cornwell Sarah Dunant Irving Finkel Conn Ig gulden
James Naughtie Peter Snow Sandi Toksvig
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History – it’s the future!
We’re delighted to welcome you to the 2014 Harrogate History Festival. After astounding success in 2013 with the inaugural Harrogate History Festival, we have returned, in association with the Historical Writers Association, to bring you an epic line-up of Special Guests, with author debates and expert panels. Set over a long weekend in the famed Old Swan Hotel, soak up the friendly atmosphere and stroll in the expansive hotel grounds – dip into one-off events, spend the day or immerse yourself for the whole weekend. Welcome from the Harrogate International Festivals Team. “After last year’s stellar debut, the trajectory is heading firmly up with a longer, bigger programme packed with the best of current historical writing. We have fiction and non-fiction, military fiction, exploratory fiction, myths and legends, heroes and heroines, war and peace. We’re stretching from Viking times to nearly the present day, bringing together writers and readers in a heady mix of talk, film and discussion between those of us whose passion is the past. Come and make new friends, open new doors, discover new avenues of fascination. Immerse yourself in history!” Manda (MC) Scott, Chair of the Historical Writers’ Association
Historical Fiction Awards & Opening Party Thursday 23 October | Old Swan Hotel | 8pm | £12 Welcome to the historical-writing world’s answer to the Oscars. Which of the line-up will be taking home one of historical fiction’s most hotly-contended and prestigious literary awards, the Historical Writers’ Association Crown for Debut Historical Fiction? The contenders are Kate Worsley (She Rises), David Kirk (Child of Vengeance), Elisabeth Gifford (Secrets of the Sea House), Victoria Hendry (A Capital Union) and Beatrice Hitchmann (Petite Mort). Continue the celebrations and commiserations after the presentation at the official Festival Opening Party. Ticket price includes a glass of wine.
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In Association with the Historical Writers’ Association
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Special Guest: Bernard Cornwell Friday 24 October | 9am | Tickets £11 Look sharp! Tickets will go fast for this veritable giant of the genre. Bernard Cornwell is the most successful and prolific historical novelist writing today, and is the author of over 50 novels. A consummate researcher, his books are loved by millions for their blend of gripping action and meticulous attention to historical detail, and have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Cornwell’s current series, The Warrior Chronicle’s with the latest instalment The Empty Throne, is published this autumn as well as his first non-fiction book, Waterloo. Cornwell will be interviewed by broadcaster Mark Lawson.
Special Guest: Elizabeth Chadwick Friday 24 October | 10.30am | Tickets £11 She’s the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author who started her love of historic fiction after her imagination jumped into the pages of history books at school. Born-storyteller Elizabeth Chadwick has written over 20 historical novels, sold in 18 languages worldwide. Elizabeth built her craft through sheer love of writing, and research. Elizabeth’s current series is the magnificent Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy, which launched in 2013 with The Summer Queen. The second in the sequence, The Winter Crown, is published in September 2014.
They Die In The End Friday 24 October | Old Swan Hotel | 12pm | £7 Some eras of history are hidden, and each new novel opens doors into worlds we barely know. But there are times when writers embrace the challenges of writing men and women whose fates are bywords and warnings; we think we know the truth, but always there is a twist, something new, that makes sense of things in ways we could never expect. Still, if we know they’re going to die in the end, what is it that keeps us reading right to the last page? Four exceptional authors of books nobody could ever put down bring us their individual approaches. How do these authors write of such iconic executions and deaths, often gloriously bloody, yet give them the power to be utterly unexpected when they happen? James Aitcheson, Toby Clements, Michael Ridpath and Robert Wilton will disclose how they give their characters the power to enthral us entirely, with chair Robert Goddard.
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New Blood Friday 24 October | Old Swan Hotel | 2pm | £7 You heard it here first! Every year, new writers hit the bookshelves; new names, fresh names, good names - and here, we have brought you four new writers of the very best new historical works of fiction. The Historical Writers’ Association is in the third year of its Debut Crown Award for best debut historical novel. Here we have our pick of the best new novelists whose books cross eras and span continents. The New Blood panel brings you four of the brilliant shortlisted authors, Elisabeth Gifford, Victoria Hendry, Beatrice Hitchmann and Kate Worsley. These four sparkling new talents will talk to HWA and Prize committee Chair, Manda Scott, about their books, their experience of life in the world of publishing, and their plans for the future. Sponsored by
Special Guests: Alison Weir In Conversation with Sarah Gristwood Friday 24 October | 3.30pm | Tickets £11 Coming from two very different standpoints, Alison Weir and Sarah Gristwood look at the evidence concerning the roles of the women involved in one of the most intriguing and enduring mysteries in British History. In Blood Sisters, Sarah Gristwood has explored the lives of seven royal ladies of the period; Alison Weir has written on Elizabeth of York and the Princes in the Tower. Their debate on the case promises to be a lively one - expect blood on the floor as the two historians search for fresh light on one of the most controversial individuals of all time, Richard III! Sponsored by
Special Guests: Elizabeth Fremantle in Conversation with Suzannah Dunn Friday 24 October | 5pm | Tickets £11
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Elizabeth Fremantle knows a thing or two about trends. Before penning her Tudor trilogy with her debut novel Queen’s Gambit, she was a fashion editor with a stint in Paris with French Vogue. She has a fascination around women and power, particularly the first Queens that ruled Britain. Queen’s Gambit and Sisters of Treason have been hailed as books Hilary Mantel fans will devour.
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Suzannah Dunn also reclaims the subtleties of women’s lives in the male dominated Tudor times. The Telegraph hailed her as a remarkable ‘lyricist’ of ordinary people. She published her first historical novel, The Queen of Subtleties, in 2004. As sharp on historical detail as the workings of the human heart, her following three novels were all bestsellers. Her new book, The May Bride, follows Jane Seymour’s destiny to marry the King in a heady, gripping tale. Author and creative writing teacher Emma Darwin chairs.
Special Guests: Sandi Toksvig interviewed by Manda Scott Friday 24 October | 8.30pm | Tickets £11 Forget the discs, what books would you take to your desert island? Would you bother with the complete works of Shakespeare, or would you rather have Mary Renault, Rosemary Sutcliff, James Fenimore Cooper, Alan Garner? The books that mark the highs and lows of our lives are as important as the music so come and join us for this unforgettable evening, as Sandi Toksvig, the star of QI, Mock the Week, Whose Line is it Anyway? Excess Baggage, - and author of seven novels, including the moving, passionate Hitler’s Canary - reveals her choice of Desert Island Books to Manda Scott, Chair of the Historical Writers’ Association, author and passionate advocator for the genre that allows us to ‘live a thousand lives’.
Special Guest: Peter Snow Saturday 25 October | 9am | Tickets £11 Peter Snow CBE is used to reporting world events that become history, now he’s writing it. Famed for his enthusiastic use of the BBC swing-o-meter on election nights, he brings the same zeal and excitement to Harrogate to talk about his latest book, When Britain Burned the White House. It’s the extraordinary tale when 200 years ago - just 31 years after the War of Independence British troops burned the White House. Americans were humiliated in their own capital and their president, James Madison, was forced to flee for his life. The iconic broadcaster, who has been a familiar face on our screens for over 40 years, has a larger than life oratory. He began as ITN’s Diplomatic and Defence Correspondent from 1966-1979, and was a Newsnight presenter from 1980-1997. Despite his decades as a journalist, broadcaster and author, this book, he insists, is one of the most extraordinary stories he’s ever had to tackle.
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Special Guests: James Naughtie interviewed by Robert Wilton Saturday 25 October | 10.30am | Tickets £11 The spies come in from the cold as James Naughtie - the masterly interrogator over 7 million of us wake up to on BBC Radio 4 - talks about his debut novel, The Madness of July. It’s intriguingly inspired by the key figures in politics and espionage he’s interviewed all over the world as well as his time spent in the House of Commons in the 1970s. Naughtie will be put under the spotlight by Robert Wilton, an author who knows a thing or two about the subject, thanks to his previous roles as advisor to two Prime Ministers of Kosovo and Private Secretary to three UK Secretaries of State for Defence. His prizewinning Comptrollerate-General series of historical espionage thrillers has been dubbed literary gold for his ability to create absorbing, edge-of-your-seat spy action, matched with intelligent, political history.
Black Cats and Broomsticks Saturday 25 October | Old Swan Hotel | 12pm | £7 Magic: a word to conjure with. For millennia, women and men have endeavoured to harness the powers of the supernatural to their own ends, to mould events in accord with their own will, to work with the moon, the sun, the stones, the rivers, the trees to help themselves and those around them - or have been accused of doing so by the powers that be who like their citizens meek and malleable. In the annals of history, few come off worse than the witches, and yet they survive and thrive. Tracy Borman, Paula Brackston, Elisabeth Gifford and Karen Maitland will discuss their views on magic, myth and meetings at midnight with author and chair Katherine Clements. Sponsored by
Special Guests: Charlotte Higgins and Richard Hobbs Saturday 25 October | 2pm | Tickets £11
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British exploration. Charlotte, who is also chief arts writer at the Guardian, discusses the legacy of the Romans in Britain with Dr Richard Hobbs, curator of Romano-British collections at the British Museum.
Special Guests: Sarah Dunant In Conversation with S.J. Parris Saturday 25 October | 3.30pm| Tickets £11 Italy is a passionate backdrop and one suited to Sarah Dunant, whose writing celebrates the raw power of history and whose novels use historical accuracy with narrative drive. Her novel Blood & Beauty brims with the disease, lawlessness, and lust of fifteenth century Italy. Taking on the brutal and notorious Borgia dynasty, it’s a brilliant gripping transformation of the black-hearted family. S. J. Parris is the pseudonym of author and journalist Stephanie Merritt. As a student at Cambridge, Stephanie became fascinated by the rich history of Renaissance Europe. Her historical thrillers follow the Italian renegade monk, philosopher and heretic Giordano Bruno, with her latest instalment Treachery out now. To keep the Italian passions in check, ‘word nerd’, author, blogger and Twitter evangelist Sara Sheridan Chairs.
Special Guest: Irving Finkel Saturday 25 October | 5pm | Tickets £11 If you thought the Noah’s Ark story originated in the Bible, meet Dr. Irving Finkel. Dr. Finkel is an Assistant Keeper at the British Museum and one of the world’s experts in deciphering cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. When a member of the public walked into the museum one day with a clay tablet dating from 1850BC Dr. Finkel discovered that it contained the instructions for building the Ark which, it turns out, was round. It was one of the most exciting discoveries in the British Museum’s history. Channel 4 have a documentary about the Ark tablet and are rebuilding the Ark in Kerala, India, following the instructions on the tablet. The film will be shown on Channel 4 in the autumn. Dr. Finkel will be talking about the Ark tablet and the impact its discovery has had on his life.
She came, she saw, she conquered. In a VW camper van. In Under Another Sky – shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Wainwright and Dolman prizes – Charlotte Higgins examines the imprint of the Romans on Britain’s history, landscape and imagination, the van being the mode of transport for two summers of Romano-
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Author Dinner Saturday 25 October | 6.15pm| Tickets £30
If Walls Could Talk Sunday 26 October | Old Swan Hotel | 10am | £7
Delve deeper in to the bitter sweet worlds of history writers Harry Sidebottom, Edouardo Albert, Leanda de Lisle, David Reynolds and Andrew Taylor with our Harrogate History Festival dinner.
Join four brilliant historians for an event that will change and challenge the way we look at society, throwing into sharp and intimate relief periods of feverish social change.
Together with Salon North, we will be giving you a literal taste of the period, as we examine the foods that powered the worlds in the books. Taste Ancient Albion, The Holy Roman Empire, 18th Century Cambridge and 1930s Britain exactly as the author’s characters would have known it, whilst gaining a richer understanding of the histories of the foods themselves.
Special Guest: Conn Iggulden Saturday 25 October | 8.30pm| Tickets £11 Danger and boys are the backbone of adventurous yarns throughout time. Conn Iggulden has made history as well as writing it; he was the first author to ever achieve a simultaneous no.1 across fiction and non-fiction charts, thanks to his handbook for sons and dads the world over, The Dangerous Book for Boys. A former adventurer, and English teacher, Conn knows how to conquer the two seductions of fine words and daring action. As a child, his mother told him history as an exciting series of stories – with dates. His father - a maths and science teacher - recited poetry with a gleam in his eye. Conn devoured it all. It’s not surprising then he grew up to become one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today. Trinity is the second instalment in his Wars of the Roses series, following on from the top ten bestselling Stormbird.
Lucy Lethbridge looks at the social history of the last century through the eyes of those who served. From the butler, the footman, the maid and the cook of 1900 to the au pairs, cleaners and childminders who took their place seventy years later. Tessa Boase explores one of the most prestigious (and toughest) jobs a nineteenth and early twentieth century woman could want, telling the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain’s most prominent households, revealing the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women’s careers as housekeepers. Dr Pamela Cox focuses on the perils of being a Victorian shopgirl, women she believes should be heroines, as celebrated as steelworkers in the Industrial Revolution. Her lively and ambitious research uncovers the shopgirls’ life stories, work cultures and economic contributions in a way never done before. Antonia Hodgson, debut author of The Devil in the Marshalsea, chairs, exploring the ‘invisible women’ who lived and shaped these under documented worlds. Sponsored by HISTORY LIVES at Hodder
Sunday 26 October | Old Swan Hotel | 11.30am Special Guest event to be announced soon
Sponsored by
The Road To Rome Saturday 25 October | Old Swan Hotel | 10pm | £7 Three Roman authors. Full Roman armour. Walking, talking, sweating and bleeding from the amphitheatre in Capua to the Colosseum in Rome. Why? All in aid of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and Combat Stress (The Veterans’ Medical Health Charity). The result equals one very entertaining and moving film following three inspiring men raising money for these most worthy causes. Urban Apache films documented the whole of this inspirational walk, which has now raised over £18,000.
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Training The Dragon Sunday 26 October | Old Swan Hotel | 2pm | £7 The Vikings, dragons of the north - a 300-year saga of the pirates and princes who are known as ferocious pagan warriors seeking land and booty under the banners of their gods. But they also became Christian kings and the first proponents of democracy in the West since the Ancient Greeks, while women enjoyed freedoms, in a medieval age, not seen until modern times.
Join the men behind the vision, Ben Kane, Tony Riches and Russ Whitfield, for this unforgettable late night event.
Take a journey with Margaret Elphinstone, Giles Kristian, Rob Low, Phil Stevens and chair Gareth Williams, as they explore the strange truths of an age of blood and poetry.
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Weekend Break Packages
50 Shades of Grail Sunday 26 October | Old Swan Hotel | 3.30pm | £7
Take a step back in time with our Festival Weekend Break Packages.
You’re looking for the Holy Grail? We’ve already got one. From a fish dish to the cup of Christ, from outlaws to folk heroes, discover how history’s greatest myths got started. Are they gifts to authors, or traps? And if we have a choice between the truth and the legend, should we always print the legend?
Treat yourself to three nights at the Harrogate History Festival by booking a combined ticket and accommodation package at the Old Swan Hotel. Weekend Break Packages including 3 nights’ accommodation and ticket for all events over the weekend are £379 per person for two people sharing a double/twin room, or £429 per person for singles. A Weekend Break Package includes:
Join Angus Donald, Tom Harper and James Wilde who, with the help of William Ryan as chair, will debunk some of the most iconic legends and myths of the past. From Robin Hood to Hereward the Wake, hold on tight for a series of adventures with four giants of the historical genre. Please note, this event may include men in tights!
The Old Swan at Harrogate Delighted to be hosting the 2014 Crime Writing Festival
HARROGATEINTERNATIONALFESTIVALS
Three nights’ bed and breakfast accommodation
Delicious lunches at the Old Swan Hotel
Your Rover ticket, giving you access to events across the weekend
A Festival goody bag
Weekend Rover Ticket
£180 for all events throughout the weekend*
Friday Rover Ticket
£65 for all events on Friday 24 October 2014
Saturday Rover Ticket
The Old Swan at Harrogate
£75 for all events on Saturday 25 October 2014*
* Rover Tickets DO NOT include the author dinner (Saturday 25 October)
Delighted to be hosting the 2014 Crime Writ
sunday series
The Old Swan Hotel
Famous as being the bolthole for Agatha Christie, The Old Swan exudes the
twenty fifteen
romance and mystery of its past. With its stunning ballroom and Wedgwood Restaurant, it is perfect for all types of meetings and events, from large weddings and receptions, to board meetings, conferences and product launches.
comfortable, contemporary bedrooms, excellent dining, and all the Sunwook Kim, piano | 25th Enjoy January A season of atmosphere, style and attentive service that befits this elegant Harrogate hotel.
Badke Quartet | 8th February Simone Lamsma, violin | 1st March Emma Johnson, clarinet | 29th March
coffee concerts at the
The hotel’s Victorian splendor and traditional elegance is complemented by a modern and contemporary environment. The hotel has 175 free car parking spaces and full disabled access.
Old Swan Hotel
The Old Swan Hotel, Swan Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG1 2SR Tel: 01423 500055 | www.classiclodges.co.uk/oldswan | info.oldswan@classiclodges.co.uk
Federico Colli, piano | 12th April
3/4/14 Old Swan Crime festival advert A5 port £25.00.indd 1
Dating back to the 1840s, the Old Swan Hotel is one of Harrogate’s oldest and most cherished hotels.
03/04/2014 17:26
If travelling by train, the Old Swan Hotel is located a five minute walk or a short taxi drive from the railway station.
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Famous as being the bolthole for Agatha Christie, The Old Swa
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Harrogate International Festivals
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