34 minute read
Chester Literature Festival
9 November — 30 November 2019
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Every afternoon we bring you a Four O'Clock Story. It's a chance for the whole family to pull up a beanbag, get comfy and listen to a wide variety of storytellers and tales. With a different storyteller each day (line-ups on our website soon) there is something for everyone to enjoy. LitFest Elevenses is Chester Literature Festival’s morning session. It’s a chance for Chester to dip a toe into the literary waters each day in Storyhouse’s Kitchen and listen to a short reading from a local author, poet or storyteller to start the Literature Festival day. Keep your eye on the website for our line-up. LitFest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story
Saturday 9 – Saturday 30 November excluding Sunday 10 November (Monday 11 November at 11.15am) The Kitchen | 11am FREE
Saturday 9 – Saturday 30 November excluding Sunday 10 November The Kitchen | 4pm FREE
Whether you’re a beginner or a Scrabble pro, test out your wordplay skills with Storyhouse’s Scrabble Club. Scrabble Boards are available in The Kitchen ready for you to play at your leisure. The Kitchen | 10am Get to know your library with a tour led by our team of library staff. Find out how to get around our fully accessible building, where to find your favourite books, and how to use the library’s wide range of resources. Meet in the Foyer | 2pm Every Tuesday Saturday 23 November Scrabble Club Get to Know Your Library FREE
Tuesday 26 November Experience Audiobooks
Join us in the Book Pod to experience some of our favourite audiobooks and learn how to download and borrow for free using your Library Card. Book Pod | 2.30pm-5.30pm FREE
The Friends of Chester Literature Festival
The Friends of Chester Literature Festival are an independent group who are committed supporters of the Festival. They organise a varied programme of literary events throughout the year as well as hosting writing workshops. They also sponsor events for local children. It costs £12 a year to join us. Find out more at friendsofchesterliteraturefestival.org.uk
This year is the Festival’s 30th birthday! It was established in 1989 by voluntary organisation Chester Arts 89 and the booksellers of the city. They programmed a week of activity with a line-up that included a reading by DH Lawrence’s niece. Since then the Festival has welcomed some of world’s most exciting and talented writers, thinkers and performers. Storyhouse has programmed the festival since 2012 and we look forward to another inspiring programme of events.
Storyhouse promotes cultural democracy. To put it in a slightly snappier way, we are all about open minds and good times. Our Literature Festival brings our library’s 50,000 books to life. It celebrates the words, stories and writers who line all the walls of Storyhouse. For a fortnight, our building is filled with diverse writers loved by our readers; we celebrate the power of great words to change lives.
We are more than honoured to welcome Imtiaz Dharker to Storyhouse, as guest director, and poet in residence for 2020. Her artwork and poetry will overtake Storyhouse, with a newly-written 30-stanza poem wrapping itself around you as you move through the building. It was written after Imtiaz came and spent days here, meeting and carefully listening to the people who fill our building every day. It’s a special and beautiful portrait. I'll let her words overleaf welcome you to Chester Literature Festival 2019.
Alex Clifton, Artistic Director, Storyhouse
This year’s festival bookseller is Waterstones, you can find their friendly staff at almost every event.
A door full of light, walls made of nothing but words. Traveller, come in.
This is the embrace that can heal and hold you safe. Stranger, welcome home.
Look where your footsteps have made a line on time that leads to this door.
Take one step forward and the light will find your face. You are the story.
Look out for the whole poem across the walls of Storyhouse from 9 November
Artist in Residence and Guest Director
Imtiaz Dharker is one of Britain’s most inspirational contemporary poets. She is also an artist and documentary filmmaker. She has won the Queen’s Gold Medal for her poetry amongst many other prizes and has been a judge for the Manchester Poetry Prize with Carol Ann Duffy. Her words and art can be seen emblazoned throughout Storyhouse’s spaces. Here is a taster…
Imtiaz Dharker has curated four very special events for the Festival's anniversary year
Wednesday 20 November
British-Jamaican poet Raymond Antrobus reads from his debut book The Perseverance. A book of loss, contested language and praise, where elegies for the poet’s father sit alongside meditations on the d/Deaf experience. Winner of the Ted Hughes Award and Rathbones Folio Prize. Guardian and Sunday Times Poetry Book of the Year.
‘Raymond uses nostalgia for a place and a time, but resists sentimentality completely. He makes the reader/listener experience the
Photo: Tenee Attoh
moment with all the senses and very skilfully sets that up against a harsher reality’ Imtiaz Dharker
With BSL interpretation Garret Theatre | 9pm £12.50
Friday 22 November & Friends
Festival Artist in Residence, Imtiaz Dharker, is joined by celebrated and emerging artists for an evening of friends and poetry.
Featuring former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Keith Hutson, Mark Pajak, Ella Duffy and Molly Underwood.
This event is supported by the Friends of Chester Literature Festival
Storyhouse Stage | 7.30pm £15
David Morley is a poet whose work often takes influence from his Romani background. David will be joined in The Kitchen by dancers from Deva Flamenco in a celebration of poetry and dance with gypsy roots.
David Morley won the Ted Hughes Award for The Invisible Gift: Selected Poems, the judges commenting, ‘Ted Hughes wrote about the natural magical and mythical world; The Invisible Gift is a natural successor’. David's awardwinning collections include The Magic of What’s There, The Gypsy and the Poet, Enchantment and The Invisible Kings. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Warwick University.
The Kitchen | 6pm
Sunday 24 November
Poet Andrew McMillan reads from physical and playtime. His debut collection physical was the first ever poetry collection to win The Guardian First Book Award. His second collection, playtime, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Autumn 2018, a Poetry Book of the Month in both The Observer and The Telegraph and a Poetry Book of the Year in The Sunday Times.
In these intimate, sometimes painfully frank poems, Andrew McMillan takes us back to childhood and early adolescence to explore the different ways we grow into our sexual selves and our adult identities.
Tuesday 5 – Friday 8 November Horrible Histories
Saturday 9 November Litfest Elevenses Family Book Crafts Four O’Clock Story What Young Adult Fiction Means to Us An Evening with Michael Morpurgo
Sunday 10 November Official Secrets screening with Q&A John Osborne: You’re In A Bad Way
Monday 11 November Storytime for under 5s Litfest Elevenses Storytime for under 5s The Pick ‘n’ Mix Book Group Four O’Clock Story An Evening with Armistead Maupin
Tuesday 12 November Scrabble Club Litfest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story Bullet Journaling Workshop
Wednesday 13 November Rhymetime for under 5s Litfest Elevenses Rhymetime for under 5s Uni at the Fest: Reading Flash Fiction to Write Flash Fiction Four O’Clock Story Storyhouse Women Book Club Nadiya Hussain: Finding My Voice
Thursday 14 November Telling Stories of Displacement Toussaint to Move: Windows of Displacement Litfest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story Neil Oliver: The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places
Various Time
11am 11am 4pm 4.30pm 7.30pm Time
6pm 8pm Time
10.15am 11.15am 11.15am 2pm 4pm 7.30pm Time
10am 11am 4pm 7.30pm Time
10.15am 11am 11.15am Time
2pm 4pm 7pm 7.30pm
11am 4pm Time
Friday 15 November Baby Rhymetime Litfest Elevenses Baby Rhymetime How to Get Into Travel Writing - From Your Own Backyard Relish Reading Group Four O’Clock Story Book to Screen - Shapeshifting Roger McGough: joinedupwriting Mark Grist: Mark Can’t Rap
Saturday 16 November Family Book Crafts Litfest Elevenses The Art of Zine Making Kate Pankhurst: Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders Sci-Fi Reading Group Baby’s First Jailbreak: Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins Four O’Clock Story Mark Grist: Down With the Poetry King! Austentatious Revelations by James Rowland
Sunday 17 November Family Book Crafts Litfest Elevenses
Chester Writers: An Introduction to Playwriting Lucy Worsley: Queen Victoria - Daughter, Wife, Mother & Widow Four O’Clock Story Folklore in Fiction: Anna Mazzola and Zoe Gilbert
Monday 18 November Storytime for under 5s Storytime for under 5s Litfest Elevenses Chester Writers: An Introduction Four O’Clock Story Chester Writers: An Introduction HoneyBee
10.15am 11am 11.15am Time
12.30pm 2pm 4pm 5pm 7.30pm 8pm
11am 11am 11am Time
12pm 2pm 2pm
4pm 4.30pm 8pm 8pm
11am 11am 2.30pm Time
2.30pm 4pm 6pm
10.15am 11.15am 11am 2.30pm 4pm 7.30pm 9pm Time
Tuesday 19 November Scrabble Club Litfest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story Writing the Earth
10am 11am 4pm 6.30pm Time
Monday 25 November Storytime for under 5s Litfest Elevenses Storytime for under 5s Four O’Clock Story
Wednesday 20 November Rhymetime for under 5s Litfest Elevenses Gavin Esler: Brexit without the Bullsh*t Rhymetime for under 5s Storyhouse Book Club Four O’Clock Story Raymond Antrobus
Thursday 21 November Litfest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story My Name Is Why - In Conversation with Lemn Sissay
Friday 22 November Baby Rhymetime Litfest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story Baby Rhymetime Relish Reading Group
Uni at the Fest: Writing Literary Fiction Today Imtiaz Dharker & Friends Blodeuwedd Untold
Saturday 23 November Family Book Crafts Litfest Elevenses Phoenix Get to Know Your Library The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah Four O’Clock Story
Sunday 24 November Family Book Crafts Litfest Elevenses Hollie Hughes: The Girl and the Dinosaur Four O’Clock Story Andrew McMillan Your Voices: Celebrating Local Writers
10.15am 11am 7.30pm 11.15am 7.30pm 4pm 9pm Time
11am 4pm 7.30pm Time
Tuesday 26 November Scrabble Club Book Folding Workshop Litfest Elevenses Experience Audiobooks Chester Library Book Group Four O’Clock Story
Wednesday 27 November Rhymetime for under 5s Litfest Elevenses Rhymetime for under 5s Four O’Clock Story
10.15am 11am 4pm 11.15am 6pm 2pm 7.30pm 8.30pm Time
11am 11am 6pm 2pm 7.30pm 4pm Time
11am 11am 11.30am 4pm 6pm 8pm Time
Thursday 28 November Reading Group for the Visually Impaired Litfest Elevenses Four O’Clock Story James Sills: Do Sing Luke Wright: Poet Laureate
Friday 29 November Baby Rhymetime Litfest Elevenses Baby Rhymetime Relish Reading Group Four O’Clock Story Cheshire Prize for Literature 2019
Saturday 30 November Family Book Crafts Litfest Elevenses Human Library Professor AC Grayling: The History of Philosophy Four O’Clock Story The Gypsy, the Poet and the Dancer, with David Morley Festival Finale Poetry Party
Saturday 9 November
Michael Morpurgo has written over 130 books, including The Butterfly Lion, Kensuke’s Kingdom, Private Peaceful and War Horse, which was adapted for a hugely successful stage production by the National Theatre and then, in 2011, for a film directed by Steven Spielberg.
But what about the real-life story of Michael Morpurgo? How did a boy supremely uninterested in books, who dreamed of becoming an army officer, become a bestselling author and Children's Laureate? What stories in Michael's own life motivated him to write more than a hundred books for children?
To celebrate his 75th birthday, Morpurgo will be interviewed by award-winning actor and comedian Katy Brand.
Terrible Tudors 5 – 8 November Awful Egyptians 6 – 8 November
We all want to meet people from history. The trouble is everyone is dead! So it’s time to prepare yourselves for two amazing shows with Horrible Histories live on stage! Using actors and ground-breaking 3D special effects, these two astounding shows are guaranteed to thrill you and your children. Historical figures and events will come alive on stage and hover at your fingertips!
Storyhouse Stage | Various times £13.50-£18.50 ‘The auditorium seems fit to combust spontaneously in an explosion of joy and excitement!’ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Times
Storyhouse Stage | 7.30pm £25
Sunday 10 November Screening with Q&A
Official Secrets tells the true story of British Intelligence whistle-blower Katharine Gun (Keira Knightly) who, during the immediate run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation against
members of the UN Security Council. At great personal and professional risk, journalist Martin Bright published the leaked document in The Observer newspaper in London, and the story made headlines around the world.
We will be joined by journalist Martin Bright for a Q&A following the screening of the film.
Cinema | 6pm £9.50 / £7 Under 26
Saturday 9 November
A Young Storyhouse curated event. Why does someone choose to write YA fiction? How do they decide what to write about? Why do we read it? And does YA fiction really reflect our everyday lived experiences? Join the discussion as members of Young Storyhouse chat with Sara Barnard, author of Beautiful Broken Things, A Quiet Kind of Thunder, Goodbye, Perfect and Fierce Fragile Hearts; and emerging YA author Ava Eldred.
Garret Theatre | 4.30pm £5
You're in a Bad Way
Sunday 10 November
What happens when you find out your dad has dementia? Writer, Radio 4 regular and creator of cult theatre show John Peel’s Shed John Osborne returns to Chester with a brand-new storytelling show. You're in a Bad Way is a funny, sad theatre show about family and the role music plays in our lives. Just because something is diagnosed doesn't mean it's the end.
Garret Theatre | 8pm £12.50
Monday 11 November
Armistead Maupin has been blazing a trail through US popular culture since the 1970s, when his iconic and ground-breaking series Tales of the City was first published as a column in the San Francisco Chronicle. The novel series has been taking the literary world by storm ever since and was recently adapted by Netflix into a critically acclaimed new series, starring Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis and Ellen Page.
Joined by award-winning author Bernadine Evaristo, don’t miss the chance to join America’s ultimate storyteller, as he recounts his favourite tales from the past four decades, offering his own engaging observations on society and the world we inhabit.
Storyhouse Stage | 7.30pm £18.50-£27
Finding My Voice
Wednesday 13 November
Born on Christmas Day to parents who had emigrated to Britain from Bangladesh, Nadiya Hussain grew up in a Muslim family with five siblings. She entered an arranged marriage aged twenty, becoming a wife and mother herself; suffers with panic disorder; and had never been on a train on her own until she travelled to audition for The Great British Bake-Off.
Nadiya will be interviewed live on stage by Celebrity MasterChef champion and celebrated broadcaster Angellica Bell to celebrate the publication of her brand-new book Finding My Voice. Join the TV presenter, cook and bestselling author, as she considers her roles as mother, Muslim, working woman and celebrity, and questions the barriers which many women must cross to be accepted or heard. In her own warm, honest and humorous way, Nadiya highlights how, at the core of it all, we are essentially tackling the same issues despite our cultural, social and religious differences.
Toussaint To Move
Thursday 14 November
Choreographed and performed by Akeim Toussaint Buck, Windows of Displacement is an autobiographical solo; blending dance, song and spoken word to explore ancestral memory and the shifting, increasingly urgent politics around the movement of people. Born in Jamaica and now residing in the UK, Akeim explores imperialism, colonialism and displacement to create a captivating story of the past, present and future of humanity.
Windows of Displacement takes its audiences on a journey galvanising people power and reclaiming our collective responsibility.
Garret Theatre | 8.30pm £12.50
Thursday 14 November
Novelist and historian Mary Chamberlain, dance-storyteller Akeim Toussaint Buck and historian Peter Gatrell discuss the theme of displacement in fiction and storytelling.
Mary Chamberlain is emeritus professor of Caribbean History at Oxford Brookes University. Her second novel, The Hidden, is about lives changed forever by the Nazi Occupation of Jersey in World War 2. She is the author of six acclaimed non-fiction books on women’s history and Caribbean history.
Akeim Toussaint Buck is a multifaceted performing artist. His focus is to combine expressive skills such as dance, writing and poetry, beat-box, singing and acting through performance and telling new stories that reach beyond existing dance audiences.
Peter Gatrell teaches modern history at the University of Manchester. His books include the prize-winning A Whole Empire Walking: Refugees in Russia during World War 1; Free World? The Campaign to Save the World's Refugees, 1956-1963; and The Making of the Modern Refugee. His latest book is The Unsettling of Europe: the Great Migration, 1945 to the Present, a new history of Europe seen through the lens of migration.
The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places
Wednesday 13 November
Writers learn from other writers. In this workshop, we will look at a selection of very short stories (each no more than 360 words) published in Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine and discuss what they teach us about writing flash fiction. Peter Blair and Ashley Chantler are the editors of Flash and teach in the Department of English, University of Chester.
Garret Theatre | 2pm
Thursday 14 November
Neil was born to love Great Britain. During his 20 years travelling to every corner, and whilst filming BBC2’s Coast, he’s fallen in love all over again. From north to south, east to west it cradles astonishing beauty. The human story here is a million years old, and counting. Hear in his amusing and entertaining way what it all means to him, and why we need to cherish and celebrate our wonderful countries.
Storyhouse Stage | 7.30pm £25.50
Bullet Journaling Workshop
Tuesday 12 November
Learn step by step how to set up and keep a bullet journal, and help to organise and streamline your life in a fun and practical way! You will need to bring your own notebook, any blank notebook will work. Pens, washi tape etc will be provided for you to use on the day, with a handwriting pen to take home! Renew Sewcials is led by teacher and crafter Jenny Thomas.
Meeting Room | 7.30pm £10
Friday 15 November
Everyone wants to be a travel writer, right? But most people are doing it wrong. Travel stories are a great way to break into freelance writing but forget about that trip to The Maldives. Pitching ideas closer to home is a much better way to start. This one-hour travel writing workshop will cover generating ideas, writing pitches.
Meeting Room | 12.30pm £15
Book to Screen - Shapeshifting
Friday 15 November
A Young Storyhouse curated event. Who gets to decide which books get adapted for film? Does great literature always make a great movie?
Join producer Diane Napper for a roundtable Q&A session to find out about the literature to film/tv process. An informal session open to under 26s and recommended for anyone looking to find out more about turning books into moving image.
Diana Napper worked for 15 years with John Calley and produced The Jane
Austen Book Club with him and Julie Lynn. Prior to working with John Calley Productions, Diana held the position of Vice President of Creative Affairs at Columbia Pictures in the UK. During this period she was the production supervisor on Still Crazy, S Club, Circus and Layer Cake feature films.
She was also Managing Director of distribution for Samuel Goldwyn’s UK office supervising the distribution of Truly, Madly Deeply, The Playboys, Object of Beauty and The Waterdance. Most recently Diana has been involved as producer on Half Broken Things and The Poison Tree for television.
Garret Theatre | 5pm £5
joinedupwriting
Friday 15 November
Roger McGough, one of Britain’s best-loved poets, is the author of over seventy books of poetry and editor of numerous anthologies. Exuberant new collection joinedupwriting ranges from forgotten friendships and the idiosyncrasies of family life to the trauma of war and contemporary global politics. These poems explore the human experience in all its shades of light and dark but always with McGough’s signature wit, irreverence and vivacity. This is the nation’s favourite poet at his finest.
President of the Poetry Society, Roger has been honoured with a CBE for services to literature and the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
Storyhouse Stage | 7.30pm £17.50-£22.50 ‘Brilliantly entertaining, a legend’ Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6 Music Presenter ‘The patron saint of poetry’ Carol Ann Duffy ‘one of those absolutely magical gigs’ Teignmouth Poetry Festival
Mark Grist
Friday 15 November
Teacher, poet, comedian and 'internet sensation' (Sun), Mark Grist wants to learn how to rap. His students can do it, so it should be easy, right? Based upon the hit podcast series, this show invites you to join Mark as he travels the country, interviewing MCs and stumbling his way through his own unique rap syllabus. Packed full of acerbic wit and wordplay, laugh-out-loud revelations and the most bizarre music video you've ever seen, this is a show that celebrates all that rap can (and perhaps shouldn't) be.
Garret Theatre | 8pm £12.50 ★ ★ ★ ★ Guardian, Scotsman
Mark Grist
Saturday 16 November
Award-winning silliness and choose-yourown-adventure poems as you work to transform your writing skills. Featuring odes to stinky pirates, murderous sheep and deadly mouthwash. You'll be surprised by what you learn along the way! This show is jam-packed full of audience interaction, with a narrative that's shaped by you.
Garret Theatre | 4.30pm £8 'The English teacher you wish you had' ★ ★ ★ ★ Fest
Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders
Saturday 16 November
Come along and meet author Jim Whalley and illustrator Stephen Collins and find out all about Baby Frank. Frank's famous zoo is under threat from a new rival zoo, owned by Baby Bruce who mistreats all the animals! What's Baby Frank to do? Face his nemesis and stage an epic baby jail break, of course. Hold on, this is going to be one great escape! Join Jim and Stephen for storytelling, games and live drawing. Age 4+
Garret Theatre | 2pm £6
Saturday 16 November
Join illustrator, author and suffragette descendant Kate Pankhurst as she tells the stories of some of the most amazing women who blazed the trail for women in the world of work. Discover insects with naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, take action with The London Matchgirls and swim through pages of ground-breaking sports moments with Annette Kellerman and much, much more. There will be drawing, there will be dressing up and most importantly, there will be lots of inspiration to change the world!
Saturday 16 November
Austentatious is an improvised comedy play starring a cast of the country’s quickest comic performers. Every single show the cast conjures up a brand new ‘lost’ Jane Austen novel based on nothing more than a title suggested by the audience.
The show comes fresh from six sellout runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, a weekly residency in London’s West End and a BBC Radio 4 special to mark the bicentenary of Austen’s death. Now their show will be appearing at two dozen theatres across the country to entertain and astonish audiences in equal measure. Previous ‘lost’ masterpieces have included Sixth Sense & Sensibility, Double 0 Darcy and
The Art of Zine Making
Mansfield Shark, and no two shows are ever the same. Performed in period costume with live musical accompaniment, this is a Regency treat guaranteed to delight Austen novices and die-hard fans alike. Age 12+
Storyhouse Stage | 8pm £18.50 'Ridiculously silly…wickedly funny’ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Times
Chester Writers: An Introduction to Playwriting
Saturday 16 November Sunday 17 November
In this workshop led by local artist Nikki Pinder you will enjoy a fun, relaxed how to guide on how to make your own DIY magazine. Nikki will help you find ways on how to get inspiration plus a lesson in binding, folding techniques, how to mass produce and how to distribute. By the end of the 4 hours you will have your first original zine.
A taster for would-be playwrights. Chester Writers welcomes anyone with any degree of experience who writes, or wants to start writing.
Meeting Room | 2.30pm
James Rowland
Saturday 16 November
A few years ago, James’ best friends asked for his sperm – to start a family. An epic story about friendship, faith, life, death, foxes, snow buddies, and trying to do the right thing even when it involves taking all your clothes off.
From one of the UK’s most acclaimed storytellers, James Rowland’s Revelations combines story, comedy and song – accompanied by James’ own music live on stage. The follow-up to his multi-award-winning shows Team Viking and A Hundred Different Words for Love, now performed over 200 times across the world. Age 14+ (contains nudity)
Garret Theatre | 8pm £12.50 'Rapturous… flooded with love’ ★ ★ ★ ★ Stage
Queen Victoria – Daughter, Wife, Mother & Widow
Anna Mazzola & Zoe Gilbert
Sunday 17 November Sunday 17 November
Queen Victoria. a little old lady, spherical in shape, dressed in black, perpetually grumpy. Right? Historian Lucy Worsley wants to make you think again. Meet a complex, contradictory woman, who had a traumatic childhood, who loved dancing, who suffered calamity and bereavement, before coming out the other side as an eccentric, powerful and really rather magnificent old lady. Lucy’s illustrated talk takes you into the life, the palaces, and the rich colourful age of this woman who ruled a quarter of the globe. Presented by Clive Conway Productions.
Authors Anna Mazzola and Zoe Gilbert discuss what draws us to folklore and folk tales, and the influence these stories have had on their writing.
Anna Mazzola’s second novel, The Story Keeper, is out now. It follows a folklorist’s assistant as she searches out dark fairytales and stolen girls on the Isle of Skye in 1857. The Story Keeper has recently been longlisted for the Highland Book Prize.
Zoe Gilbert is completing a PhD in Fiction
Storyhouse Stage | 2.30pm £25.50
and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, focusing on folk tales in contemporary fiction. Her debut novel Folk has been longlisted for the 2019 International Dylan Thomas Prize.
Garret Theatre | 6pm £12.50
Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, HoneyBee is a new play, which combines spoken word, physical theatre, stand-up comedy and a thumping festival-driven soundtrack. Written by the awardwinning poet Eleanor Dillon-Reams, this marathon feat of a show tells the story of Kate, as she flits and stumbles through her twenties fuelled on highs and hedonism. Having had her world turned upside down at a festival, Kate finds herself on a journey to rediscover her identity and self-worth. It’s Fleabag meets Kate Tempest with a dash of dirty bass. Monday 18 November
Chester Writers: An Introduction
Monday 18 November
A taster for would-be creative writers. Chester Writers welcomes anyone with any degree of experience who writes, or wants to start writing. With diverse members ranging from those just planning their first story, to professionally published authors. We are open to any genre, prose or poetry.
Meeting Room | 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Writing the Earth
Tuesday 19 November
Writing for Wellbeing can help with the challenges, stresses and strains of modern Life. In this workshop we will explore and express through writing any fears surrounding environmental change, as well as our shared hopes for our Earth. You will also take away tips and tools for writing in your own time. No previous experience of writing for Wellbeing is needed. Lisa Rossetti is an experienced writing for wellbeing practitioner, local community writer and published author.
Meeting Room | 6.30pm £20
My Name is Why
Thursday 21 November
2018’s Chester Literature Festival Artist in Residence, whose Morning Tweets have been displayed across the building, joins us for a celebratory evening to mark the end of his residency and the publication of his memoir. Lemn Sissay will be reading from My Name is Why. A Memoir, reflecting on a childhood in care, self
expression and Britishness, and in doing so exploring the institutional care system, race, family and the meaning of home.
Infused with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation’s best-loved poets, this moving, frank and timely event is the result of a life spent asking questions, and a celebration of the redemptive power of creativity. Lemn Sissay MBE is a poet, playwright and broadcaster.
Storyhouse Stage | 7.30pm £15
Brexit WIthout the Bullsh*t
Wednesday 20 November
Will Brexit boost jobs? Or wreck the NHS? And what about food shortages? From strawberries to passports, the broadcaster and journalist Gavin Esler presents a nobullshit guide to the most momentous change in British life for decades. From the food markets of Kent to NHS operating theatres to the boardrooms of big employers, Brexit throws up many surprises. Some are deeply unpleasant. Brexit Without the Bullsh*t is
not about the Brexit you were told you were getting. It’s about the one that is arriving.
Gavin Esler is journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter of the BBC current affairs show Newsnight for 12 years until 2014.
Friday 22 November
Unearth the unwritten Blodeuwedd (blodae-wuth), the Frankenstein of flowers. Captured in the pages of a medieval book, the ancient myth of Blodeuwedd describes a woman made out of flowers who was turned into an owl as punishment for adultery. But who was this woman before being confined to the page? Jo Blake, international contemporary storyteller, illuminates this figure of Celtic myth through word, movement and ritual.
Uni at The Fest: Writing Literary Fiction Today - Suspense, Mystery and Memory in Ruben’s Chambermaid
Saturday 23 November The Life and Rhymes
Friday 22 November
Cristina Pérez Valverde joins academics from the Modern Languages department to discuss the book publishing industry and how it influences what people read and write. In a discussion led by Mark Gant from University of Chester, Cristina will be sharing her own writing experience, focussing on the decisions
made while drafting La dama de Rubens, in which personal and collective memory intertwine and the co-presence of the past with the present is explored and fictionalised.
Garret Theatre | 6pm
by Richard Marsh & Jessica Sharman
Saturday 23 November
The ultimate one-man band: guitarist, pianist, drummer... dad. A wannabe star unexpectedly becomes a father – and learns it's hard to make it big walking on Lego. One-man musical comedy played live by virtuoso rocktopus Andy Gallo. From No. 1 songwriter Jessica Sharman and Richard Marsh, Fringe First winner (Dirty Great Love Story) and BBC Audio Drama Award Best Comedy winner (Radio 4's Love & Sweets). Lucy Jane Atkinson directs this uplifting heartbreak banger: you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll rock.
Garret Theatre | 6pm £12.50
Sunday 24 November
He befriended Nelson Mandela, fought in the 1980s race riots and recorded radical reggae music with Bob Marley’s former band. Benjamin Zephaniah was unable to read and write at school but became one of Britain’s most remarkable poets. And now he’s back to continue his first tour in eight years, which coincides with his remarkable autobiography, The Life And Rhymes Of Benjamin Zephaniah.
In a compelling and inspiring show, Zephaniah will explain how he fought injustice and discrimination to lead a remarkable life, while sharing a selection of favourite stories and poems.
In a town by the seaside, Marianne is often seen foraging on the beach. But she isn’t playing with children her own age. Instead Marianne is alone, and digging for dinosaur bones to build a special sort of companion. Then, one night, she goes to sleep wishing with all her heart that her dinosaur might come to life. A very rare and special book where the words and pictures take you on a magical journey far beyond the page. Join author Hollie Hughes for a morning of storytime, as you follow Marianne’s journey in the recently published The Girl and the Dinosaur.
Garret Theatre | 11.30am £6
Your Voices: Celebrating Local Writers
Do Sing Thursday 28 November
Sunday 24 November
Storyhouse is proud to showcase local writers, poets and storytellers at Chester Literature Festival. Your Voices will be a celebration of established local talent, with readings/performances from five of our area’s finest wordsmiths.
If you would like to be considered to take part please email litfest@storyhouse.com with your name, availability, and a brief description of your book/writing.
Garret Theatre | 8pm £3
Book Folding Workshop: Adult Arts & Crafts
Tuesday 26 November
Join members of our library engagement team and discover different book folding techniques. Create a Christmas tree or festive star or perhaps a hedgehog or love heart. You will make lovely items to take home!
The Kitchen | 10am £5
Singing is one thing, but singing together is something else. Vocal leader James Sills believes that group singing is a joyful expression of our humanity and has the power to change lives. His new book, Do Sing: Reclaim your voice. Find your singing tribe, will help unlock your voice and reawaken a love of singing.
Join James Sills as he tells us why singing together is positive, uplifting and good for the soul — and that it’s for everyone, regardless of age or ability. Then grab a drink and find out for yourself as we form an impromptu choir! No training or preparation required. And rest assured there will be no solo performances, just one big happy crowd.
The Kitchen | 7.30pm £5 to guarantee your place, or take a chance on the night
Poet Laureate
Thursday 28 November There was a collective gnashing of teeth and beating of breasts across the land when Wrighty didn’t get the royal nod to take up the position of Poet Laureate this year. Still, he’s an irrepressible sort of chap, so he’s bought his own sherry and hit the road with a show the critics are calling his best yet. Luke Wright is on a mission to write poems to unite a nation divided by austerity and Brexit. Can it be done? Can one poet ever really represent an entire nation?
Big-hearted and quick witted, Wright’s poems have been lauded by everyone from Patti Smith to The Libertines. A Fringe First and Stage Award winner, Wright is truly a wordsmith and raconteur at the top of his game.
Garret Theatre | 8.30pm £12.50
Cheshire Prize for Literature 2019
Friday 29 November
The High Sheriff’s Cheshire Prize for Literature showcases the literary talents of writers with a connection to the Cheshire area. Now into its 16th year, the competition has introduced an exciting new category – Scriptwriting. The University of Chester is teaming up with Storyhouse for a unique event that will
see the top four entries to this year’s prize compete live on stage. Working with a team of directors, actors and producers, the top entrants will have their creations brought to life upon the Storyhouse stage during the awards evening. Alongside a panel of judges, including legendary screenwriter and producer, Phil Redmond CBE (Grange Hill, Brookside, Hollyoaks), the audience will help crown this year’s winner.
Garret Theatre | 7.30pm £3
Saturday 30 November The History of Philosophy
Saturday 30 November
The Human Library aims to break down stereotypes and ‘unlabel’ the labels that we put on people through a ‘library’ – each ‘book’ is a person, and the title of the book is the label they have been given (‘autistic’, ‘queer’, ‘depressed’, for example). A reader will drop in and choose a ‘book’, and then chat with that person about their label, ask questions, learn and discover the human being behind the label.
The Human Library™ aims to establish a safe conversational space, where difficult questions are expected, appreciated and hopefully answered by the Human Book on loan.
It was developed to challenge societal prejudices wherever and for whatever reasons they occur, and to help people form a better understanding of those with whom they share their communities. Find out how to become a 'book' on our website.
AC Grayling's aim in The History of Philosophy is to give a clear and comprehensive account of the great adventure of philosophy, mainly in the Western tradition but with overviews of the rich Indian, Chinese and Arabic-Persian traditions also. The story of philosophy is the story of most of the greatest minds in the world from classical antiquity to the present, and of the unending quest for an understanding of reality, truth and value.
Presented with Chester Humanists, a branch group of Humanists UK of which Professor Grayling is a patron.
Garret Theatre | 2pm £12.50
The Festival may be nearly over but we’re seeing it out with a bang! Poet Molly Naylor and singer Gavin Osborn take over the Garret theatre and bar for a night of boozefuelled poetry and song.
Saturday 30 November
Molly Naylor is a writer and performer who works across a range of mediums. She is the co-writer and creator of Sky One comedy After Hours.
Gavin Osborn is an acoustic singersongwriter. He's written and performed story shows with the award-winning Daniel Kitson at Regents Park Open Air Theatre and done a run of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Garret Theatre | 8.30pm £20
Every day Poet – Tree
Every Friday | 10.15am & 11.15am Baby Rhymetime
Book Crafts Saturday & Sunday 9, 16, 17, 23, 24 & 30 November / 11am-3pm
During the Literature Festival our weekend free drop-in crafts will be celebrating books, authors, characters and stories.
Young poets of Chester we need you! Living in Storyhouse during the Festival is our Poet-Tree. Research shows that talking to plants really can help them grow, so we’re asking you for your wonderful poems. Come and read your favourite poem or one you have written yourself, then add the poem to a leaf and watch the tree grow each week.
“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree” Joyce Kilmer
Find your tribe. Lots of book clubs meet regularly at Storyhouse. Drop in during the festival - newcomers welcome at all of the groups! You can find out more about each group at storyhouse.com
The Pick ‘n’ Mix Book Group Monday 11 November
Book for November. Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Meeting Room | 2pm
Relish Reading Group Every Friday
Book selected at the previous meeting, including some reading aloud
Meeting Room | 2pm
Storyhouse Book Club Wednesday 20 November
Book for November. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Garret Bar | 7.30pm
Storyhouse Women Book Club Wednesday 13 November
Book for November. The Guilty Feminist by Deborah Frances-White
Meeting Room | 7pm
Sci-Fi Reading Group Saturday 16 November
For the book list please visit chesterlibraryscifi.wordpress.com
Meeting Room | 2pm
Chester Library Book Group Tuesday 26 November
Books for November. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (Recommended Read)
In the Memory of the Forest by Charles T Powers (Other Reads)
Meeting Room | 1pm
The talking book will be selected at the previous meeting
Meeting Room | 10.30am
