HARROGATE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS
Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival 19-22 October 2017 | Harrogate home of literature
Learn from the past
19-22 Oct ‘17
Think of the future
Box Office: 01423 562 303
harrogateinternationalfestivals.com
Picked by Harper’s Bazaar as one of the UK’s Best Literary Festivals Banish Autumn chills with four exceptional days of exhilarating literature and inspiring talks that will warm your heart and set fire to your mind. Enjoy brilliant speakers from the worlds of TV, Politics, Psychology, History and more and take home a selection of fabulous reads to keep you going until Spring.
THURSDAY 19 OCTOBER
10am Lisa Faulkner – From Mother to Mother: Recipes from a Family Kitchen Tickets £10 Putting a new spin on kitchen sink drama, Lisa Falkner pressed pause on her TV career to focus on cooking after winning Celebrity Masterchef in 2010. Don’t miss this cliff-hanger of a cookery talk from an actress who recently added extra soap to her washing-up duties, joining the cast of EastEnders.
12pm Yorkshire Post Literary Lunch with Chris Bonington Tickets £35 Grief led him to the summit of Everest in 1985 after the death of his son. Years later, after the loss of his wife in 2012, the mountains still bring joy, friendships and challenges, “to help me make the most of my eighties without the love of my life.” One of Britain’s greatest mountaineers, Chris Bonington promises to inspire.
3pm Victoria Hislop Cartes Postales from Greece Tickets £14 The summer holidays are a distant memory. Relive the sand, sea and sun with literary bestseller, Victoria Hislop and her lavish love affair with Greece. Her protagonist, Ellie, is miserable, but a shaft of Mediterranean sunlight enters her life when she starts receiving mysterious postcards. A tale of discovery unfolds.
5pm Joan Bakewell – Stop the Clocks Tickets £14 Bakewell’s reflections on her life and times are heartfelt and fiendishly smart. Now in her eighties, it was in the swinging sixties the Labour Peer was dubbed the ‘thinking man’s crumpet’. Stop the Clocks, is a book of musings covering life, love and politics, from one of the most outspoken and courageous women of our times.
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6.30pm Cathy Rentzenbrink with Gail Honeyman Tickets £14 Funny and joyful Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine sold for huge sums worldwide when debut author Gail Honeyman won a writing competition. Eleanor suffers profound loneliness in this tale dubbed not a coming of age novel, but a coming to life one. She talks to Cathy Rentzenbrink about how to look for hope and joy amidst the heartache of being human. Cathy experienced loss after the death of her brother, resulting in her latest book, A Manual for Heartache. Interviewed by Mark Lawson, journalist and author.
8pm Peter Snow and Ann MacMillan – War Stories Tickets £16 War Stories, recounts true stories of love and bravery from husband and wife team, Peter and Ann. Ann, the great granddaughter of David Lloyd George, worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Peter became a household name on ITN News renowned for his impassioned delivery. They’ll span four centuries and four continents, with tales of spies, escapes and uplifting acts of humanity.
FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER
10.30am Tom Fort – The Village News: The Truth Behind England’s Idyll Tickets £10 Move over Bill Bryson. The thwack of cricket balls on bats, church bells, and ducks on the village pond…all codswallop according to Tom in his funny myth-busting exploration through England’s rural idylls. Travel with Tom through villages, such as Askrigg of All Creatures Great and Small fame, as he argues that villages must develop or die in his entertaining pedal around the parishes.
12pm Joanna Cannon The Trouble with Goats & Sheep Tickets £10 The seventies; Babycham, Jackie magazine and Angel Delight. Set during the legendary ‘76 heatwave, Cannon’s debut novel follows the story of ten-year old Grace and the disappearance of neighbour, Mrs Creasy. A Richard and Judy pick, ‘imagine Donna Tartt’s The Secret History set in 1970s English suburbia.’ Joanna will also give a special preview to her second novel, Three Things About Elsie.
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2pm Marina Benjamin In Conversation with Miranda Sawyer Tickets £10 Marina Benjamin’s The Middlepause: On Turning 50 is part memoir, drawing on philosophy, and literature to help embrace the ‘blows and scars’ of life. Music journalist Miranda hit her own mid-life crisis at 44 with a new born baby. Once a poster girl for youth culture, she realised she had only so much time left. Out of Time navigates the existential puzzle of middle life. Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen, radio and television presenter, producer and writer.
3.30pm Denise Welch If They Could See Me Now Tickets £14 The former Loose Women panellist appeared in Coronation Street and Celebrity Big Brother. The TV star has a welldocumented battle with depression. She quit Loose Women in 2013, returning to her first loves - acting and writing. If They Could See Me Now is a funny, warm and honest debut novel about following our own hearts. Interviewed by Peter Guttridge, novelist and critic.
5pm Sophie Kinsella - My Not So Perfect Life Tickets £14 The ‘queen of chick lit’ has sold over 36 million books. My Not So Perfect Life is her novel of ‘what ifs.’ What if you were struggling to make it in London? What if your own social media was slightly idealized? Sophie prefers the term ‘wit lit’ as laugh out loud moments, and a love story, mix with office politics. Hear from Sophie herself on the perfect life creating bestselling novels. Interviewed by Gerry Foley, political and broadcast journalist.
6.30pm Martin Sixsmith – Ayesha’s Gift Tickets £12 Journalist Martin Sixsmith was portrayed on the big screen by Steve Coogan in Philomena. He takes us on a deeply personal journey with Ayesha’s Gift as Martin helps a woman from Yorkshire find her father’s killer after his violent death. It ends up as a search for answers to a different death – his brother’s suicide - as both become consumed by a search for the truth. Festival bookstore: Waterstones will provide the Festival bookstore onsite at The Crown Hotel and book signings will follow each event. Seating: Seating for all events is unreserved. Doors will open no later than ten minutes before the event start times shown.
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SATURDAY 21 OCTOBER
10.30am Keith Stuart In Conversation with Jem Lester Tickets £10 Two fathers, two sons and two heart-warming stories of family, love, forgiveness and finding light. Keith Stuart’s book, A Boy Made of Blocks, is a moving odyssey about his relationship with his autistic son. Jem Lester’s novel Shtum, is a darkly comic exhilarating roller coaster ride, portraying the love, guilt, exhaustion and rage of parents of a boy with profound autism.
12pm Julian Glover In Conversation with Erica Wagner Tickets £10 Erica Wagner’s Chief Engineer is a biography of Washington Roebling - New York’s master builder behind the Brooklyn Bridge, which took 14 dramatic years to complete. She powerfully unfolds the personal story behind the epic landmark. Julian Glover’s Man of Iron, tells the story of Britain’s greatest civil engineer, Thomas Telford, in his immersive, astonishing and inspiring biography. Together they will discuss the extraordinary lives of these two great engineers and how the modern world was made.
2pm Clover Stroud and Rick Stroud In Conversation Tickets £10 Clover’s childhood ended after her mother was left brain damaged falling from her horse. It shaped her life, seeking wild experiences with sex, narcotics and men. Her memoir The Wild Other explores the power of nature to destroy and heal. Discussing this with her dad, Rick, promises to be intriguing, moving and perhaps at times, a little awkward! As a TV director, Rick has worked with John Hurt and Joanna Lumley, and is also a bestselling author. Lonely Courage tells the poignant true story of the heroines of the Resistance who fought to free Nazi-occupied France.
3.30pm Ann Widdecombe – Strictly Ann Tickets £14 She flabbergasted the nation flying through the air on Strictly. Forthright and intrepid in sequins, and even more formidable in the House of Commons, her numerous books including her memoir, Strictly Ann, and a crime novel inspired by the show, The Dancing Detective. Ann will focus on her career as an author and life after politics. She is currently writing her fifth novel, An Act of Brotherhood.
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5pm Jenni Murray A History of Britain in 21 Women Tickets £14 Dame Jenni Murray has spent 30 years presenting Woman’s Hour. A History of Britain in 21 Women, goes further back in time to celebrate the defiant spirit of heroines who revolutionised our world. Dame Jenni promises to inspire with beguiling stories of forgotten visionaries, great artists and trailblazing politicians.
6.30pm – Gin Tasting with Ian Buxton – 101 Gins to Try Before You Die Tickets £15 We’re in the grip of a ‘Ginaissance’ with sales of the spirit surpassing £1bn last year. Once known as mother’s ruin, today gin is sophisticated and hip with botanical additions from lemon peel to cardamom. Mix with Ian Buxton’s London dry humour, this promises to be a fun and heady evening. Price includes a selection of gin tastings.
SUNDAY 22 OCTOBER
10.30am Douglas Murray in Conversation with Mick Hume Tickets £10 Two visions of Europe, one hopeful, one pessimistic. Journalist Douglas Murray’s The Strange Death of Europe, explores a fatal prognosis from migration to multi-culturalism. Mick Hume - ‘Britain’s only libertarian Marxist newspaper columnist’ – passionately advocates free speech in Revolting! How the Establishment Are Undermining Democracy and What They’re Afraid Of. Get ready for a heated debate at this critical time in the history of Europe.
12pm Angus Roxburgh – Moscow Calling Tickets £10 Former BBC and Sunday Times Moscow correspondent Angus Roxburgh looks at the legacy of communism and Russia’s place in the world today. From the dark, fearful days of communism and his adventures as a correspondent as the Soviet Union collapsed into chaos, to his frustrating work as a media consultant in Putin’s Kremlin, this is a unique, fascinating and often very funny insight into a country that today, more than ever, is of global political significance.
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2pm Jonathan Aitken - Prison Life, Laughter and Rehabilitation Tickets £12 His career has spanned the worlds of newspapers, TV, business, politics and theology. But it was his time spent behind bars that turned Jonathan Aitken into a prisoner of hope as Honorary President of Tempus Novo, a charity that helps ex-offenders find work. Jonathan will invite to the stage HMP Leeds prison officers Steve Freer and Val Wawrosz. Chaired by Sir James Aykroyd, Vice President of Tempus Novo.
3.30pm Amanda Owen – A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Tickets £14 With nine children and 1,000 sheep, Amanda became a TV-sensation and Hollywood came knocking, buying the rights to The Yorkshire Shepherdess. A Year in the Life is a gentle account of life on the farm. Behind her humour and warmth, she’s acutely aware of how fast the seasons pass, so crams as much as possible into life – including babies, pigs and the vole who has taken up residence in the living room. Interviewed by Karen Robinson, The Sunday Times editor and writer.
5pm Take Three Actors Tickets £12 He’s worked with Clint Eastwood but Hugh Fraser’s role as Captain Hastings, faithful friend to Hercule Poirot, was perfect training for crime writing. He’ll discuss his trilogy of thrillers, Malice, Harm and Threat. George Costigan is famous for Rita, Sue and Bob Too. His debut novel, The Single Soldier was hailed as a ‘magnificent beast of a book’, set in France during the German Occupation. Emmerdale star Mark Charnock became a household name playing Marlon Dingle; he’ll discuss writing his first novel, Unquiet, for Young Adults in this dramatic meeting of minds promising thespian frolics.
6.30pm Steve Richards The Rise of the Outsiders Tickets £12 Britain votes Brexit, Trump promises a wall. From the far left to the far right, the presenter of Week in Westminster and former political editor of New Statesman, Steve Richards, delivers the most captivating account of the defining political phenomenon of the decade: the rise of the outsiders. This is a talk no politically engaged reader can afford to miss.
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Raworths Rewards Bundle up to take advantage of the Raworths Rewards Scheme. You can now enjoy more events throughout the Festival for less. Book 5 events - receive a 5% discount Book 10 events, receive a 10% discount Book 20 events, receive a 20% discount *Valid for all events including the Yorkshire Post Literary Lunch. A limited number of FREE tickets for under 18s are available for these events. Please contact the festival office for more details.
HOW TO BOOK Phone:
01423 562 303
Email:
info@harrogate-festival.org.uk
Online:
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In Person: Harrogate International Festivals, 32 Cheltenham Parade, Harrogate, HG1 1DB Opening Times: Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm and Saturdays throughout July Payment: Please note that all bookings are subject to a £1.75 booking fee. A £1 fee is charged for postal orders, or we offer free ticket collection.
With Thanks to Our Title Sponsor
Premier Partners
Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival Partners
Community Partner
Broadcasting Partner
Harrogate International Festivals is a registered charity, no. 244861. All information correct at time of going to print. Harrogate International Festivals reserves the right to make such alterations as may become necessary. T&Cs apply. Please see our website for details.
Box Office | 01423 562 303 | Booking Fees Apply