Dartington 2018 brochure by Stephen Bristow

FESTIVAL

dartington

s y a W h t i W rds o W 6/16 july 2018

Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Introduction Sometimes it seems that there is an announcement of a new literary festival every week. But Dartington remains unique. No where else in Britain is it possible to enjoy such a superb quality of talks and discussions in such idyllic surroundings. This year, as always, Dartington offers a programme in which the events are as eclectic as the speakers are distinguished. And Dartington is a community in which speakers and their audiences rub shoulders. All this and the flowers of an English summer. Dartington is not to be missed!

Roy Hattersley Festival President

Ways With Words – Some Developments We have been lucky over the last few years to have a team of staff in place who are all immensely important to the smooth running of the festivals. Over the next few years we plan to increase the responsibility that Leah Varnell (Festival Curator and General Manager) takes within the business, enabling both Kay and Stephen to take a few steps back from the day-to-day running of things. Kay will continue to take an advisory / consultation role and Stephen will concentrate mainly on the financial aspects of the business. We confidently expect that there will only be positive consequences from these

Leah Varnell writes . . . Whether you are a visitor or a speaker, a first time guest or a long-standing and loyal friend of the festival, one thing is certain – you will find much to delight, challenge and amuse at Ways With Words. Sprinkled throughout the ten days of the festival there are diverse talks, challenging discussions, a poetry pharmacy, writing workshops, comedy events, a poetry breakfast and theatrical performances.

wayswithwords

@ways_with_words

developments; an injection of new energy and enthusiasm will help to ensure that everyone’s enjoyment of the festivals, the stimulation and sense of community that they provide will continue and grow. So whilst Stephen is keeping an eye on the pennies (and hoping the pounds will behave themselves too), Kay will spend more time attending the talks, reading the books, chatting to writers and visitors, sitting in a deck chair in the courtyard at Dartington. As Kay says, “It’s time to slow down a bit and enjoy the view.” See you at Dartington Hall for this year’s Ways With Words! Kay Dunbar, Stephen Bristow Chloë and Videl Bar-Kar

You will come away relaxed and rejuvenated by the beautiful environment at Dartington Hall and stimulated by the multitude of ideas and discussions that will take place in the companionship of like-minded people. Welcome to the lively literary community of the 2018 Ways With Words festival at Dartington. Hold on to your hat – it’s going to be a blast.

#www2018

wayswithwordsfestival

Friday 6 July – Great Hall

Ferdinand Mount

Gordon Corera

1 Ferdinand Mount Great Thinkers 2pm Human history has been moulded by £10 great thinkers, orators and politicians. Great Hall Ferdinand Mount explores political theory from the differing perspectives of these influential individuals, providing colourful insights into the lives of pivotal historical figures, such as Rousseau, Muhammad Iqbal and Thomas Jefferson. Prime Movers (Simon & Schuster)

Gordon Corera 2 Wartime Espionage 3.30pm and Secret Agents £10 Between 1941 and 1944, sixteen Great Hall thousand plucky homing pigeons were dropped over occupied lands to bring back intelligence from those living under Nazi occupation. The BBC’s Security Correspondent Gordon Corera celebrates the remarkable people who took the decision to resist. Secret Pigeon Service: Operation Columba, Resistance and the Struggle to Liberate Europe (William Collins)

John Lister-Kaye

3 5pm £10 Great Hall

4 8pm £10 Great Hall

Day Ticket: £32 (including event 90 – additional event with John Crace at 6.30pm, but not including event 4)

Adam Feinstein

John Lister-Kaye Looking Back One of Britain’s best-known conservationists, Sir John Lister-Kaye describes a boy’s awakening to the wonders of the natural world. His evocative memoir depicts joyous images of a child filled with awe at the glimpse of a fox at the garden end, or a pigeon housed in the loft. A glorious tribute to Britain’s wildlife. Dun Cow Rib: A Very Natural Childhood (Canongate)

Adam Feinstein Casablanca’s Michael Curtiz – The Man Who Knew Too Much Michael Curtiz made more than 170 films but was still regarded as a journeyman director. Adam Feinstein argues Curtiz was a master of nearly every kind of picture: swashbuckler, Western, horror, musical, detective story, social realism from ‘Mildred Pierce’, ‘Angels with Dirty Faces’ and then, of course, there was ‘Casablanca’!

Today’s events in the Great Hall are sponsored by

Friday 6 July – Barn

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough

5 2pm Barn £10

Lucy Mangan

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough Ice and Fire Lecturer in Medieval Literature Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough has explored the Old Norse world on horseback in Greenland, travelled with a caribou hunter in Sweden and retraced the footsteps of Nordic pilgrims in Rome. She illuminates the saga accounts and traces the extraordinary influence of the Vikings from Byzantium to America. Beyond the Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas (Oxford University Press)

Day Ticket: £24

Tom Whipple

6 3.30pm Barn £10

7 5pm Barn £10

Lucy Mangan Childhood Reading From Narnia to Judy Blume and ‘Charlotte’s Web’, Guardian columnist Lucy Mangan’s childhood was coloured by the stories she read. She revisits her best-loved books and their authors, and discusses the different ways in which childhood reading shapes our awareness. Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading (Square Peg)

Tom Whipple The Rules of Attraction Gender is shifting. But is it disappearing? Science Editor of The Times, Tom Whipple gives an entertaining insight into the emerging science behind sexuality. He unpacks the psychology of relationships and delves into the subconscious to explain the inner workings of character and desire. X and Why (Short Books)

Saturday 7 July – Great Hall

Bryony Gordon

8 10am £10 Great Hall

9 11.45am £10 Great Hall

Oggy Boytchev

Bryony Gordon Taking The First Step Telegraph journalist, Bryony Gordon, talks about her transformation from a drinker and a dawdler into a runner, and how she started to see more clearly the limitations she had imposed on her life. During this time she formed a bond with the young Royals and convinced Prince Harry to speak openly in public for the first time about his own mental health. Eat Drink Run: How I Got Fit Without Going Too Mad (Headline)

Oggy Boytchev Treason and Espionage Journalist and independent producer, Oggy Boytchev was born in Bulgaria. He has travelled extensively and worked for many years as a producer for the BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson. Boytchev’s novel draws on life behind the Iron Curtain and explores Cold War paranoia and intrigue in 1963. The Unbeliever (Quartet Books)

Day Ticket: £48 (not including event 14)

Tariq Ali

10 1.30pm £10 Great Hall

11 3.15pm £10 Great Hall

Frank Gardner

Tariq Ali 1968: 50 Years On 1968 is remembered as a tumultuous year of protest that witnessed mass social uprisings and popular rebellions across the globe. Journalist, historian, film-maker and political activist, Tariq Ali, revisits the events of 1968 and maps the effects of that radical time still evident in today’s society and political landscape. The Extreme Centre: A Second Warning (Verso)

Frank Gardner Iran: Secrets, Lies and Prying Eyes BBC Security Correspondent and radio and TV presenter Frank Gardner is also a best selling author. He draws on his experiences as a Gulf correspondent and Middle East expert to explore the background of his latest thriller set in an Iranian military complex. Ultimatum (Bantam Press)

Saturday 7 July – Great Hall

Timothy Bentinck

12 5pm £10 Great Hall

13 6.30pm £10 Great Hall

Robert McCrum

Alice Roberts

Timothy Bentinck Behind the Scenes of The Archers

14 8pm £10 Great Hall

For five million loyal listeners of BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Archers’, Timothy Bentinck, the Earl of Portland, has the been voice of David Archer since 1982. He offers a behind the microphones glimpse of the longest running drama series in the world. Being David Archer: And Other Unusual Ways of Earning a Living (Constable)

Robert McCrum Ted Hughes Memorial Lecture Communing with the Dead In this lecture, Robert McCrum, the former editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber, will draw on his memories and reading of Hughes to explore the poet’s lifelong fascination with William Shakespeare. McCrum’s reevaluation of Hughes’ seminal prose writing will investigate a dramatic moment in the life and work of the former poet laureate in his prime.

Day Ticket: £48 (not including event 14)

Alice Roberts The Beginning of Civilisation For hundreds of thousands of years, our hunter-gatherer ancestors survived on wild plants and animals. Then a revolution occurred – humans tamed other species. Palaeopathologist, television presenter and author Alice Roberts uncovers the history of familiar species with wild pasts: from dogs and cattle, to apples and wheat, she investigates the impact of human intervention. Tamed: Ten Species that Changed Our World (Hutchinson)

Saturday 7 July – Barn – Politics and Power 15 10am Barn £10

16 11.45am Barn £10

17 1.30pm Barn £10

Angus Roxburgh From Russia ... Former BBC Moscow correspondent Angus Roxburgh witnessed first hand the darkest days of Communism and the rise of Putin. He gives an incisive account of this quirky, exasperating, beautiful world that in 40 years seems to have changed completely, yet not at all. Moscow Calling: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent (Birlinn)

Rory Cormac Secret Operations Intelligence historian Rory Cormac tells the story of Britain’s scheming against its enemies and reveals hitherto secret operations, the slush funds that paid for them, and the battles in Whitehall that shaped them. Disrupt and Deny: Spies, Special Forces, and the Secret Pursuit of British Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press)

Nicola Temple

18 3.15pm Barn £10

Alex Perry Blood Mothers You are born in or marry into The Family. Loyalty is absolute. You go to prison, to your grave or kill your own family before considering betrayal. This code of silence is how the ‘Ndrangheta – a Calabrian mafia group – became uniquely powerful. Through access to court documents and key protagonists, Alex Perry, Contributing Editor of Newsweek recounts how three courageous women broke that silence and explains the difficulties he faced investigating this clandestine world. The Good Mothers (William Collins)

Day Ticket: £40

19 5pm Barn £10

Sarah Corbett

Nicola Temple The Future of Processed Food Long before ‘ready meals’, humans processed food to preserve it and make it safe. This has made us one of the most successful species on the planet. Nicola Temple explores how processing methods have evolved in response to Big Business, consumer demand, waste and even war. She asks “Have we gone too far?” Best Before: The Evolution and Future of Processed Food (Bloomsbury Sigma)

Sarah Corbett Quiet Activism Founder of the Craftivist Collective, Sarah Corbett, shows how to tackle injustice with gentle, effective protest using the process of ‘making’ to effect change. With practical examples and honest stories from her own experience, ‘burnt-out’ activist Corbett discusses how activism through craft can produce long-lasting, positive change. How to be a Craftivist: The Art of Gentle Protest (Unbound)

Saturday 7 July – Dukes Room – Word School

Caspar Walsh

Anna Smith Spark

20 Caspar Walsh 10.30am – From Shame to Grace. Toxic Masculinity, the Crisis and Cure 12pm How do we transform a toxic £6 masculinity into a healthy one? Caspar Dukes Walsh, retreat leader, journalist and Room author of the acclaimed memoir, ‘Criminal’ discusses the crisis of male identity in the 21st Century in his latest book, ‘The Mindful Man: Words from the Earth’ (Leaping Hare Press). (See Wed. 11 July for Caspar Walsh’s creative mindfulness workshop.) 21 12.30pm £6 Dukes Room

Anna Smith Spark But What Happens in Book Two? The Problems of Writing a Sequel Novels are often written as a series. Indeed, agents and publishers will often ask for a series outline when a novel is pitched. Anna Smith Spark is currently writing book three of a trilogy, while thinking about books four, five, six… She will discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of writing a sequel. The Tower of Living and Dying (Harper Voyager)

Day Ticket: £22

Natasha Carthew

22 2 - 4pm £12 Dukes Room

Michael Elsmere Masterclass A Darkling Road – Helen and Edward Thomas

23 4.30pm £6 Dukes Room

Natasha Carthew Writing – Where and How

Edward Thomas’s writing is increasingly recognised as pivotal in the development of modern English poetry. Throughout his career he was sustained by his devoted wife Helen whose loyalty is often dismissed. We will consider their lives, the poems and the maturation of Thomas into a great poet.

Natasha Carthew spends most of her time writing outdoors in all weathers earning her an identity as a country writer. She tells a tale of marginalisation and motherhood in prose that crashes like waves on rocks: rough, breathless and beautiful. All Rivers Run Free (Quercus)

Sunday 8 July – Great Hall

Philip Lymbery

24 11am £10 Great Hall

Anthony Seldon

Philip Lymbery Chemical Crops and Factory Farms For 25 years Philip Lymbery has worked extensively on animal welfare issues, wildlife and the environment. He explores the effect of consumer demand for cheap meat, and argues that we need to confront this problem if we are to stand a chance of reducing its effect on the world around us. Dead Zone: Where The Wild Things Were (Bloomsbury)

Day Ticket: £32

25 12.45pm £10 Great Hall

Anthony Seldon Educational Revolution: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, former Master of Wellington College, and education expert, Anthony Seldon, explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the educational sector and argues that it is a revolution which will provide huge benefits to education. The Fourth Education Revolution: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Face of Learning (The University of Buckingham Press)

Sunday 8 July – Great Hall

Luke Harding

26 2.30pm £10 Great Hall

27 4.15 5.45pm £10 Great Hall

Natalie Bennett

Guy Watson

Luke Harding The Biggest Political Scandal of the Modern Era Drawing on sources from across the intelligence community, awardwinning journalist Luke Harding shines a light on the true nature of Donald Trump’s decades-long relationship with Russia and offers the inside story of the offshore money, sketchy real-estate deals, a Miss Universe pageant, mobsters, money laundering, hacking and Kremlin espionage. All of which led to Trump moving into the White House. Collusion (Faber & Faber)

Martin Owen, Natalie Bennett, Philip Lymbery and Guy Watson Environmental Debate Panel: Food security or food safety – can we find a balance that will feed the world? The world’s population is now over 7.5 billion, with around a billion having insufficient or inadequate

Day Ticket: £32

Mark Oakley

food. How do we feed the world’s growing population? Intensive farming has produced high yields at low cost, but with environmental consequences. Organic food may be better for the environment but cannot meet the demand. So, should we embrace GM? Martin Owen is Chair of Exeter Salon. Philip Lymbery is author of Farmageddon (Bloomsbury). Natalie Bennett was Leader of the Green Party (2012 -16). Guy Watson is founder of Riverford Organic. 6.30pm Free Great Hall

Service of Celebration All are welcome at the Ways With Words Celebratory Service. The address will be given by

the Reverend Canon

Mark Oakley, Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, writer, broadcaster, and visiting lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College, London.

Sunday 8 July – Barn – Elemental 28 11am Barn £10

29 12.45pm Barn £10

30 2.30pm Barn £10

Iain Gately Sea Change Riding the wave of a midlife crisis (and hip surgery), and on a quest for the perfect tube, Iain Gately travels from Devon to Galicia to reflect on a sport that attracts loners and eccentrics. He analyses the tribal divides between long, short, knee and body-boarders; explains how obsessive weather-watching can rule a surfer’s life and asks if it’s a sport or a way of life. The Secret Surfer (Head of Zeus)

Barry Cunliffe How We Became Seafarers The human impulse to conquer the sea stems from an inbuilt urge to explore. Looking at the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean from prehistory to AD 1500, archaeologist Barry Cunliffe explores evidence that reveals ancient shipbuilding techniques and accounts for the first circumnavigation of Africa. On The Ocean (Oxford University Press)

Richard Hamblyn Reading Clouds Clouds have always been more than merely meteorological phenomena: they have rich cultural and emotional associations that extend beyond their fleeting lives. Master of clouds, Richard Hamblyn, scuds through the skies in art, literature, science and natural history and contemplates the clouds of the future. Clouds: Nature and Culture (Reaktion)

Day Ticket: £40

Sean Borodale

31 4pm Barn £10

32 5.30pm Barn £10

Barry Cunliffe

Sean Borodale Subterranean Writer and artist Sean Borodale makes topographic and documentary poems written on location. He discusses and reads from his new collection, ‘Asylum’ which was written on-site – within the caves, mines, quarries of the Mendip Hills. Asylum (Jonathan Cape)

Susan Taylor and Simon Williams Song Lines Love and music have one main thing in common: they both release the happiness chemical, dopamine into our brains. Newcastle poet and editor Marie Lightman recently published on this combination of themes in The Writers’ Café Magazine, online. Poets Susan Taylor, Simon Williams, Marie Lightman and musician Julia Thomas together celebrate this relationship in poems and songs.

Sunday 8 July – Dukes Room – On Our Doorstep 33 10.30am

Andy Christian Lodging with Winifred Nicholson In 1975 Andy Christian went to live at the artist Winifred Nicholson’s house on the Roman Wall. This talk is woven around his book ‘In the North Wind’s Breath’. Andy Christian will share objects and mementos from that era with the audience.

£6 Dukes Room

Winifred Nicholson

North Wood A play created by Joe Richards

£6 Dukes Room

Dartington has been for many a place of refuge. North Wood tells the story of another group. During the Second World War RAF aircrew came to Dartington Hall to recuperate from their wounds, undergoing reconstructive plastic surgery for burns. Dorothy Elmhirst arranged for a number of these patients to work in the forestry, farm, sawmill and garden departments at Dartington. There they could begin to renegotiate a working life away from staring eyes before returning to hospital for further operations. The text of North Wood is composed from correspondence between Dorothy Elmhirst and the Air Ministry and Joe Richards. Cast: Stephen Groves, Penny Groves, Jonathan Mason, Joe Richards

36 3.30pm £6 Dukes Room

Pamela Sandry Gorman My Life Growing Up on the Dartington Hall Estate 1945-54

Dorothy Elmhirst

All this afternoon’s events are directly related to Dorothy Elmhirst and the Dartington Hall estate. 34 12pm £6 Dukes Room

35 2pm

Martin Broadbent Inscriptions in a Landscape: Old St Mary’s Churchyard, Dartington Hall Martin Broadbent describes the opportunity he was given by Dartington, in June 2016 His talk will focus on the research, fieldwork and site-based art work that developed during the following six months.

Day Ticket: £16

Pamela Sandry Gorman will talk about how the Hall, the Gardens and swimming in the River Dart, influenced her life, her love of poetry and the Arts.

Monday 9 July – Great Hall

Mark Oakley

Rosie Millard

FE1 10am - 12pm £16 Dukes Room

37 10am £10 Great Hall

Christopher North Word School – Writing Workshop Having New Eyes… Proust claimed writing is the product of a ‘real voyage of discovery’ and this workshop seeks the inner circuitry of place and people with both wideangle and zoom approaches, evocations, memories prompted, reactions explored and encounters captured.

Mark Oakley Why Be Poetic? Canon Mark Oakley will speak and take questions on the theme of ‘The Contemporary Curse of Literalism’: exploring our need for poetry. He is currently working on a book about Shakespeare and Faith. The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry (Canterbury Press)

Rachel Trethewey

38 11.45am £10 Great Hall

39 1.30pm £10 Great Hall

Francis Pryor

Rosie Millard Sun, Scandal and Celebrity Following her celebrated comedy of manners, ‘The Square’, Rosie Millard introduces her side-splitting sequel brimming with larger-thanlife characters. A family holiday to Ibiza, the explosive escapades of her protagonists and the promise of reality TV stardom combine in this fast-paced, witty social commentary. The Brazilian (Legend Press)

Rachel Trethewey The Making of a Pearl Necklace Journalist and biographer Rachel Trethewey relates the story of Lady Northcliffe who, in 1918 decided to raise funds for the British Red Cross by collecting enough pearls to make a necklace. Over 4,000 pearls poured in from the public, ranging from priceless heirlooms – one had survived the sinking of the Titanic – to treasured trinkets. Pearls Before Poppies: The Story of the Red Cross Pearls (The History Press)

Day Ticket: £40 (not including event 42)

Monday 9 July – Great Hall

Lynne Truss

40 3.15pm £10 Great Hall

41 5pm £10 Great Hall

David Owen

Francis Pryor Lost Treasures and Unseen Gems: England’s Landscape Landscapes bear witness to the shifting patterns of human life. Time Team’s Francis Pryor delves into England’s hidden urban and rural landscapes, from Tintagel to Tottenham’s Broadwater Farm arguing that if these lands yield up their secrets, they will inspire us to maintain and shape them for future generations. Paths to the Past: Encounters with Britain’s Hidden Landscapes (Allen Lane)

Lynne Truss Massacre and Mystery On one fateful day in 1951, the majority of Brighton’s criminals were involved in a vicious battle that wiped out all but a select few. Lynne Truss explores the mysterious events following the ‘Middle Street Massacre’ with her characteristic laugh-out-loud humour. A Shot in the Dark (Raven Books)

Day Ticket: £40 (not including event 42)

42 8pm £10 Great Hall

David Owen After Brexit David Owen was an MP for 26 years, co-founder of the Social Democratic Party, and its leader from 1983-87. Lord Owen argues that post-Brexit Britain’s global role and influence can be enhanced, rather than diminished. He examines what lies ahead. British Foreign Policy After Brexit: An Independent Voice (Biteback Publishing)

Monday 9 July – Barn – Life Lessons 45 1.30pm Barn £10

Ziyad Marar

Lara Feigel

43 10am Barn £10

Susannah Walker The Mess We Leave Behind

44 11.45am Barn £10

Raynor Winn Walking Forward

After Susannah Walker’s mother died she discovered what a hoarder she had become. Sorting through a dilapidated house filled with rubbish and treasures, she began to piece together the woman she never really knew in life. These fragments and discoveries led to the writing of a deeply personal memoir. The Life of Stuff: A Memoir About The Mess We Leave Behind (Doubleday)

Raynor Winn was made bankrupt and lost her home just as her husband was diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. With nowhere else to go the pair decided to walk the 630 mile South West Coast Path. She talks about the tests, encounters, the stigma of homelessness and the curative power of long distance walking. The Salt Path (Michael Joseph)

Day Ticket: £40

46 3.15pm Barn £10

47 5pm Barn £10

Ziyad Marar Standing in Judgement Judgement is inescapable in modern day society, particularly in an age where so much significance is placed on one flawed image, or one hasty tweet. Ziyad Marar proposes that whilst judgement is often feared, it is necessary for true moments of connection between humans, and to satisfy our insatiable desire to be understood. Judged: The Value of Being Misunderstood (Bloomsbury)

Lara Feigel Vision of Freedom Cultural historian and literary critic Lara Feigel explains how Doris Lessing’s writing perfectly captured her experiences as a woman writer and mother. At a time when Feigel was dissatisfied with the constraints she felt she and her generation blindly accepted, Lessing offered an enticing vision of freedom. Free Woman: Life, Liberation and Doris Lessing (Bloomsbury)

Christina Patterson Picking Up Pieces What do you do when you feel you have messed it all up and your friends seem to be doing just fine? Journalist Christina Patterson decided to ditch the self-help books and her expectations; talk to people about their losses and disappointments, eat far too many crisps, raise a glass, try to pick up the pieces of her life, and prepare for a rocky ride. The Art of Not Falling Apart (Atlantic Books)

Tuesday 10 July – Barn – Particular Worlds 48 10am Barn £10

James Bloodworth Undercover in Low-Wage Britain Journalist James Bloodworth spent six months taking on Britain’s worst jobs from a taxi-driver for Uber to working in an Amazon warehouse. He uncovers horrifying employment practices and witnesses how traditional working class communities have been decimated by the move to service jobs with no security, advancement or satisfaction. Hired (Atlantic Books)

49 11.45am Barn £10

Martin Dorey A Slow Road Adventure

50 1.30pm Barn £10

Anthony Adeane An Icelandic Mystery

What is it about campervan living that is so good? “It’s about dawdling”, says wild camper, surfer and environmental campaigner Martin Dorey who follows the slow road to Scotland where he goes out of his way to climb high mountain passes and to saunter alongside stunning lochs and laze on lonely beaches. Take the Slow Road: Scotland (Bloomsbury)

In 1974 – a time when residents of Reykjavik weren’t allowed to keep dogs as pets, own lizards or watch TV on Thursdays, Gudmunder Einarsson and Geirfinnur Einarsson mysteriously disappeared. Through a detailed exploration of the strangerthan-fiction story Anthony Adeane paints a gripping picture of Iceland – its history, landscape, law and geopolitical importance. Out of Thin Air (Quercus Books)

Day Ticket: £40

Anthony Adeane

51 3.15pm Barn £10

52 5pm Barn £10

Nino Strachey

Robin Ravilious James Ravilious – A Legacy By confining himself to a radius of ten miles from his home in North Devon, photographer James Ravilious was able to develop a rare intimacy with his subjects. Now 1,700 of his images form the Ravilious Archive at the Beaford Centre. Robin Ravilious, who was closely involved in her husband’s work, draws a picture of an engaging, eccentric, gifted man. James Ravilious, A Life & The Recent Past (Wilmington Square Books)

Nino Strachey Interior Lives Linked by an intimate web of relationships, Virginia Woolf, Eddy and Vita Sackville West created domestic spaces that challenged contemporary conventions. Head of Research for the National Trust, Nino Strachey explores the homes of these three members of the Bloomsbury Group. Rooms of their Own (Pavilion Books)

Tuesday 10 July – Great Hall FE2 10.50 11.45am £7 Green Table Café

Poetry Breakfast Coffee, Croissants and Poetry Bring a poem to read – one of your own or one you admire. (Advance booking essential)

54 11.45am £10 Great Hall

55 1.30pm £10 Great Hall

Raymond Tallis

53 10am £10 Great Hall

Penelope Lively

Raymond Tallis Making Sense of the World Philosopher, poet, novelist, cultural critic and clinical neuroscientist, Raymond Tallis, steps into the gap between mind and world, and grapples with Einstein’s idea that “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.” Logos: The Mystery Of How We Make Sense of the World (Agenda Publishing)

Day Ticket: £48 (not including event 59)

56 3.15pm £10 Great Hall

Penelope Lively Gardens of Memory and Imagination Award-winning author Penelope Lively shares rich and vivid memories of the gardens of her life. These memories are interwoven with an engaging exploration of literary gardens both fictional and real, from her childhood in Cairo, to Alice in Wonderland, to Paradise Lost, and culminating in her North London garden of today. Life in the Garden (Fig Tree)

Terry Waite The Power of Solitude It is hard to conceive Terry Waite’s experience as a hostage, enduring four years of forced isolation. Reflecting upon this incomprehensible experience, he has compiled a fascinating, multi-layered collection of interviews and encounters with individuals who live in isolation across the world. Solitude (SPCK)

Jonathan Fenby One Year That Shaped the World We Know Today Nineteen Forty Eight saw the world plunged into a Cold War between the two superpowers, The British Empire began its demise, the Indian and Pakistan republics were born and the long civil war in China ended. The world order would never be the same again. Jonathan Fenby explores this pivotal moment in time. Crucible: Twelve Months that Changed the World Forever (Simon & Schuster)

Tuesday 10 July – Great Hall

Terry Waite

57 5pm £10 Great Hall

Jonathan Fenby

Jessica Fellowes and Andrew Wilson Blending Fact and Fiction: Crime Writing Agatha Christie and the Mitford Sisters have had many biographies written about them over the years. Now they are enjoying a new lease of life as characters in crime fiction. Biographer and novelist Andrew Wilson is in conversation with journalist and author Jessica Fellowes about the trials of blurring the line between fact and fiction. The Mitford Murders (Sphere) A Different Kind of Evil (Simon & Schuster)

Roy Strong

58 6.30pm £10 Great Hall

59 8pm £10 Great Hall

Jessica Fellowes

Andrew Wilson

Day Ticket: £48 (not including event 59)

Paul Kildea

Roy Strong A Short History of Britain There can rarely have been a time when public concern about history and its teaching has caused so much controversy and debate. Author, broadcaster, and former Director of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir Roy Strong guides the audience on a tremendous journey from Celtic Britain to the era of Margaret Thatcher. The Story of Britain (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Paul Kildea The History of Chopin’s 24 Preludes Conductor and writer and former artistic director of Wigmore Hall in London, Paul Kildea, explores the story of the handmade pianino on which Chopin composed 24 Preludes. Paul Kildea will play parts of the Preludes during this event. Chopin’s Piano: A Journey Through Romanticism (Allen Lane)

Food at Ways With Words The Green Table Café · The White Hart Bar The Roundhouse Café · Street Food

Open all day - and late for drinks! Before, during and after every event. For more information go to www.dartingtonhall.com

Gin, Pimms, Craft Beer & Chai

TICKET SALES

Name Address

• ONLINE www.wayswithwords.co.uk (from 23 May)

• BY PHONE Tel: 01803 867373 Telephone lines are open from 10am - 5pm, Monday - Friday. Please have your event numbers and your payment card ready before phoning. We accept Visa and Mastercard.

• BY POST Please complete this form and send with cheque and stamped s.a.e. to: Ways With Words Festival Box Office, Droridge Farm, Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6JG Please make cheques payable to ‘Ways With Words’.

• IN PERSON During the festival the box office, on-site at Dartington Hall, will open 30mins. before the first event of the day and will close after the start of the last event of the day. Please note: Before the festival starts the box office operates off-site and is open for telephone, postal and online sales only. (See above)

Postcode Tel. E-mail BOOKING FOR FRIENDS STARTS WEDNESDAY 16 MAY - max. 4 tickets per event. - for phone and postal bookings only. GENERAL BOOKING STARTS WEDNESDAY 23 MAY CONCESSIONS: People aged 24 or under and people on benefits can buy tickets normally priced at £10 or less for just £5 if purchased in person during the festival. We operate a ‘carers go free’ policy for people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance. Proof of entitlement for the above will be required. DATA PROTECTION: Ways With Words will not pass on your details to any other organisation. TERMS & CONDITIONS: The right is reserved to substitute speakers and vary the advertised programme if necessary. All information is correct at the time of going to press. Please refer to our website (wayswithwords.co.uk) for full details of our policy on cancellations, ticket refunds and exchanges, and on lost tickets.

event

no.

total

A.N. Author

FRIDAY 6 JULY 1

Ferdinand Mount

Andy Christian

Martin Broadbent

North Wood

Gordon Corera

John Lister-Kaye

event 33

Aileen Pamela Gordon

Dukes Day Ticket (33 - 36)

MONDAY 9 JULY

Adam Feinstein

GH Day Ticket (1, 2, 3, 90)

Mark Oakley

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough

Rosie Millard

Lucy Mangan

Rachel Trethewey

Tom Whipple

Francis Pryor

Barn Day Ticket (5 - 7)

Lynne Truss

SATURDAY 7 JULY

Bryony Gordon

David Owen

GH Day Ticket (37 - 41)

Oggy Boytchev

Susannah Walker

Tariq Ali

Raynor Winn

Frank Gardner

Ziyad Marar

Timothy Bentinck

Lara Feigel

Robert McCrum

Christina Patterson

Alice Roberts

Barn Day Ticket (43 - 47)

GH Day Ticket (8 - 13)

Angus Roxburgh

James Bloodworth

Rory Cormac

Martin Dorey

Alex Perry

Anthony Adeane

Nicola Temple

Robin Ravilious

Sarah Corbett

Nino Strachey

TUESDAY 10 JULY

Barn Day Ticket (15 - 19)

Barn Day Ticket (48 - 52)

Caspar Walsh

Raymond Tallis

Anna Smith Spark

Penelope Lively

Michael Elsmere

Terry Waite

Natasha Carthew

Jonathan Fenby

Dukes Day Ticket (20 - 23)

Fellowes & Wilson

Roy Strong

Paul Kildea

GH Day Ticket (53 - 58)

SUNDAY 8 JULY 24

Philip Lymbery

Anthony Seldon

WEDNESDAY 11 JULY

Luke Harding

Owen, Bennett, Lymbery & Watson

Chris Stephens

GH Day Ticket (24 - 27)

Damian Le Bas

Iain Gately

Nina Caplan

Barry Cunliffe

James Cahill

Richard Hamblyn

John Gray

Sean Borodale

Barn Day Ticket (60 - 64)

Taylor & Williams

Barn Day Ticket (28 - 32)

no.

total

event

Helen Rappaport

100

Jonny Benjamin

David Crystal

101

Williams & Zalasiewicz

William Sieghart

102

Jack Hartnell

Simon Heffer

103

Suzanne O’Sullivan

Adam Macqueen

104

Susan Blackmore

Sarah Churchwell

Barn Day Ticket (100 - 104)

no.

total

Cole Moreton

105

Oversteps - A Warm Welcome

GH Day Ticket (65 - 70)

106

Oversteps - Too Good to Lose

107

Oversteps - Once Upon a Time

108

Oversteps - Where on Earth

Dukes Day Ticket (105 - 108)

THURSDAY 12 JULY 72

Miranda Seymour

Paula Byrne

Sawday & Collacott

Alys Fowler

109

Julie Summers

Robert Rowland Smith

110

Fiona Sampson

Tim FitzHigham (1)

111

John Tusa

GH Day Ticket (72 - 76)

112

Caroline Moorehead

113

Michael Brooke

Lucy Bellamy

Patrick Barkham

114

Alex Beard

Nick Hunt

115

Alexander Langlands

Edwards & Berridge

116

Nicolette Perry

Barn Day Ticket (78 - 82)

117

Film: Young Frankenstein

Barn Day Ticket (114 - 116)

FRIDAY 13 JULY

Ben Okri

GH Day Ticket (109 - 113)

FESTIVAL EXTRAS

Nick Groom

Adam Greenfield

FE1

Christopher North

Henry Eliot

FE2

Poetry Breakfast

Adam Hart-Davis

FE3

Caspar Walsh

Film: Suffragette

FE4

Allan Jenkins

Barn Day Ticket (83 - 86)

FE5

Philip Collins

Matthew Dennison

FE6

Jane Feaver

Tim FitzHigham (2)

John Crace (on 6th July at 6.30pm)

Jane Robinson

event 91 & 87 - Talk & Film

John O’Farrell

Harvey & McGonagall

GH Day Ticket (88, 89, 91, 92)

total

SUNDAY 15 JULY

no.

TICKET TOTAL

Add Annual Friends’ Membership (£15)* TOTAL

SATURDAY 14 JULY 94

Diana Darke

Philip Collins

Salley Vickers

Blake Morrison

Tessa Dunlop

Kerry Godliman

GH Day Ticket (94 - 98)

* Friends receive, by post, a printed copy of each programme for Ways With Words in Dartington, Cumbria and Southwold, newsletters and an invitation to the launch party at Dartington.

Rover Tickets and Accommodation Packages ROVER TICKETS

ACCOMMODATION PACKAGES

Rover tickets give admission to the numbered events in the programme over a particular period. They can be bought separately or as part of an inclusive accommodation package.

Ways With Words offers 10-night accommodation packages (ranging from £960 - £1700 pp) and two 5-night packages (from £545 - £915 pp) in Higher Close or in the Courtyard at Dartington Hall. We also offer two 3-night weekend packages (from £351 pp) and a 4-night midweek package (from £489 pp) in Higher Close.

‘Festival Extras’, marked ‘FE’ must be purchased separately. A Rover ticket guarantees a seat for every event in the Great Hall. We hold a set number of seats for Rover ticket holders in the Barn and other, smaller venues. These are on a first come, first served basis. To purchase Rover tickets please write the number you require in the box and then make payment as indicated on the front of the booking form.

10-day Rover ticket (Price: £350) • admission to all numbered events (see above) 5-day Rover ticket (Price: £240) • 1st 5-day Rovers begin with event 1 on Friday 6 July and end at 12.45pm on Wednesday 11 July. • 2nd 5-day Rovers begin with the 1.30pm event on Wednesday 11 July until the end of Sunday 15 July. • Midweek 5-day Rovers run from Monday 9 July to Friday 13 July. Weekend Rover tickets (Price: £155) • 1st weekend Rovers begin with event 1 on Friday 6 July and end with the last event on Sunday 8 July. • 2nd weekend Rovers begin on Friday 13 July at 1.30pm until the end of Sunday 15 July.

Accommodation varies from comfortable, en suite bedrooms right in the heart of the festival site to single, student bedrooms (which share bathroom facilities) about 2 mins. walk from the main site. Along with your room and breakfast, packages include dinner, or lunch and dinner. All packages include a Rover ticket in the price. If you are interested in an accommodation package please phone 01803 867373 and we can advise on availability and give more details. BED & BREAKFAST Bed & Breakfast accommodation is available in Higher Close (single rooms sharing bathroom facilities) at £35 pp/pn. There is a 2-night and 2 tickets per night’s stay minimum purchase.

TO MAKE A RESERVATION for an accommodation / Rover package or for B&B please phone 01803 867373. Payment in full is required at the time of booking. Cancellations cannot be refunded. Customers are strongly advised to take out holiday insurance.

Wednesday 11 July – Barn – In Perspective: History and Culture 62 1.30pm Barn £10

Damian Le Bas

60 10am Barn £10

61 11.45am Barn £10

Nina Caplan

Chris Stephens Modern Art and St Ives For 25 years the seaside town of St Ives was home to avant-garde artists including Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth, Roger Hilton and Terry Frost. Holburne Museum Director and leading authority on St Ives artists Chris Stephens explores this cultural phenomenon and reflects upon the important role the artists have played in an international context. St Ives: The Art and the Artists (Tate Publications)

Damian Le Bas A Journey Through Gypsy Britain Born into a traditional Gypsy family, Damian Le Bas recounts his journey to discover the ‘atchin tans’ or stopping places known only to Travellers. Horse fairs, lay-bys and Gypsy churches feature on his quest to learn about his identity and Romany history in Britain. The Stopping Places (Chatto & Windus)

Day Ticket: £40

63 3.15pm Barn £10

64 5pm Barn £10

Nina Caplan Wine, the Romans and Me Impelled by a thirst for wine and for knowledge, food and travel journalist Nina Caplan follows the vine into the past, wandering from Champagne’s ancient chalk to the mountains of Campania to the slopes of Priorat in Catalonia. She learns (and drinks) a lot, meeting characters whose stubbornness and borderline craziness makes their wine great. The Wandering Vine (Bloomsbury)

James Cahill The Mythic Space James Cahill, expert on the influence of classical antiquity on contemporary art, shows how contemporary practitioners seem increasingly inspired by Greek and Roman myths. Cahill demonstrates how these tales, mirroring aspects of the human condition, are as relevant now as when the Greeks first imagined them. Flying too Close to the Sun (Phaidon)

John Gray Atheism and Ambiguity New Statesman and Guardian contributor John Gray explores the importance of atheism in the modern world. From the ‘new atheism’ of Richard Dawkins through the secular humanism of Russell, Nietzsche and Ayn Rand, John Gray investigates the ambiguities and contradictions of atheism that are so deeply entangled in the history of human existence. Seven Types of Atheism (Allen Lane)

Wednesday 11 July – Great Hall

Helen Rappaport

FE3 10.30am - 12pm £14 Meet at the entrance to the Barn under the archway

Caspar Walsh Word School – Writing Workshop Writing and Mindfulness A creative mindfulness workshop in the grounds of Dartington Hall.

Day Ticket: £48 (not including event 71)

William Sieghart Adam Macqueen

Linguist David Crystal explores how our feelings about pronunciation and class have their origins in the way our Victorian predecessors thought about the subject, as revealed in the pages of the satirical magazine, Punch. He explains which accents were the chief source of comedy. We Are Not Amused: Victorian Views on Pronunciation as Told in the Pages of Punch (The Bodleian Library)

Cole Moreton

David Crystal How We Speak

David Crystal

For a hundred years, the brutal murder of the entire Russian Imperial Family has remained shrouded in secrets and controversy. Historian Helen Rappaport shares her revelatory research surrounding this incredible family’s annihilation, and describes her quest to uncover the plans to rescue the Romanovs. The Race to Save the Romanovs (Hutchinson)

Simon Heffer

66 11.45am £10 Great Hall

Helen Rappaport Revelation and Rescue in Russia

Sarah Churchwell

65 10am £10 Great Hall

Wednesday 11 July – Great Hall 67 1.30pm £10 Great Hall

William Sieghart Prescribing Poems Sometimes only a poem will do. William Sieghart has contributed to the Guardian and BBC Radio 4. He has toured the length and breadth of Britain offering poetic prescriptions that offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all who suffer loneliness, hopelessness, heartbreak and lack of courage. His work communicates that special realisation: “I’m not the only one who feels like this.” The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul (Particular Books)

69 5pm £10 Great Hall

70 6.30pm £10 Great Hall

From 3pm (Dukes Room) William Sieghart’s Poetry Pharmacy will be open for 10-minute individual consultations. Whatever ails you – be it divorce, heartbreak, regret, loss of zest for life – William Sieghart will have a poem to ease the heart, mind or soul just for you. Buy the book and reserve your slot at the signing table after his event in the Great Hall. 68 3.15pm £10 Great Hall

Simon Heffer The Decadence of Victorian and Edwardian Britain Think of Britain before the Great War and a picture of power, contentment and order seems likely. Yet below the surface there was extensive decadence. Simon Heffer, author, journalist and renowned historian, exposes the contradictions and hypocrisies of Victorian and Edwardian Britain. The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914 (Random House Books)

Day Ticket: £48 (not including event 71)

71 8 - 10pm (inc. interval) £12 Great Hall

Adam Macqueen Whoppers, Fibs and Outright Lies: Politicians and the Truth In the post-truth era trust in our politicians is at an all-time low. Private Eye journalist Adam Macqueen dissects some of the biggest political lies and asks, “Do politicians lie more than they used to?” The Lies of the Land: A Brief History of Political Dishonesty (Atlantic Books)

Sarah Churchwell America’s Dream or America’s Nightmare Two of the most contentious phrases in the current American political playbook are: the ‘American Dream’ and ‘America first’. What do these phrases tell us about America’s idea of itself? Professor of American Literature and journalist, Sarah Churchwell, considers the consequences of a country in danger of losing touch with its own history. Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream (Bloomsbury)

Cole Moreton Broken Hearts After his award-winning series on Radio 4, storyteller Cole Moreton now uses words, imagery and music to perform the inspiring true-life tale of a miracle of love and medicine, involving two young lads and their mums. “So powerfully emotional I had to wipe my eyes.” Mail on Sunday. The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away (Harper Collins)

Thursday 12 July – Great Hall

Miranda Seymour

Allan Jenkins

FE4 8.30 - 10am £15 Green Table Café Prior booking essential

72 10am £10 Great Hall

Allan Jenkins How to Make Time: A Walk, Talk and Breakfast Join Editor of Observer Food Monthly and early riser, Allan Jenkins for a morning walk in Dartington gardens before a discussion about dawn and the pleasures of waking early, over a simple breakfast at the Green Table Café. Morning (4th Estate)

Miranda Seymour The Legacy of Byron One year after marrying the notorious Lord Byron, Annabella Milbanke fled taking with her their baby daughter, the future Ada Lovelace. Drawing on new archive material biographer, Miranda Seymour maps the lives of these two women, revealing how they were always haunted by the quicksilver spirit of Byron. In Byron’s Wake: The Turbulent Lives of Lady Byron and Ada Lovelace (Simon & Schuster)

Day Ticket: £40 (not including event 77)

Paula Byrne

73 11.45am £10 Great Hall

74 1.30pm £10 Great Hall

Alastair Sawday

Paula Byrne A Private Life Made Public In January 2015 Jonathan Bate, Professor of Eng. Lit. at the University of Oxford, received the first of many hateful poison-pen letters about his wife Paula Byrne. Biographer and founder of ReLit: The Bibliotherapy Foundation, Paula Byrne, discusses how she turned her troubling experiences into a work of fiction. Look To Your Wife (William Collins)

Alastair Sawday and Laura Collacott Off Piste Pit-stops Motorway services can be miserable, frequently crowded and uninspiring. Where to go then for a pit stop? Join author Alastair Sawday and journalist Laura Collacott as they swing into the British countryside to deliver an essential guide to bucolic locations in which to stretch your legs and delight in wonderful food. The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services (Printslinger)

Thursday 12 July – Great Hall

Alys Fowler

75 3.15pm £10 Great Hall

76 5pm £10 Great Hall

Robert Rowland Smith

Tim FitzHigham

Alys Fowler Unknown Horizons Horticulturist and former presenter of BBC’s Gardeners’ World, Alys Fowler, left her garden to the mercy of the slugs and set out in a kayak to explore Birmingham’s littleused waterways. What happens when someone who has learned to observe her external world in such detail decides to examine her internal world with the same care? Hidden Adventure: A Voyage of Discovery (Hodder & Stoughton)

Robert Rowland Smith Confronting Demons and Looking Out for Angels A former Oxford don, Robert Rowland Smith uses deeply personal experiences to generate philosophical insights: a double divorce, a love triangle, office politics, police raids and illegal drugs as well as the tragic fate of his father. Through his experiences,

Day Ticket: £40 (not including event 77)

with references from Shakespeare to Freud, he offers new models and ways into human psychology. AutoBioPhilosophy: an Intimate Story of What it Means to be Human (4th Estate) 77 8 - 10pm (inc. interval) £14 Great Hall

An Evening with Tim FitzHigham Conquering the Channel in a Piece of Plumbing A multi-award winning comedian and writer Tim FitzHigham tells the tale of the death-defying 200-mile journey he undertook in his antique Thomas Crapper bath and how this resulted in meeting the Queen. All At Sea: One Man. One Bathtub. One Very Bad Idea (Preface Publishing) “A very, very brave man” Sir Ranulph Fiennes “Tim FitzHigham is unhinged, he’s completely without hinges” Eddie Izzard

Thursday 12 July – Barn – Wild Words

Lucy Bellamy

78 10am Barn £10

79 11.45am Barn £10

Patrick Barkham

Michael Brooke The Secret Lives of Seabirds Seabirds spend large portions of their lives at sea, often far from land, and nest on islands that humans rarely visit. Using sophisticated devices to track their movement and behaviour Michael Brooke from the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge reveals some surprising facts. Far From The Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds (Princeton University Press)

80 1.30pm

Patrick Barkham Small Islands

Barn £10

The British Isles are an archipelago consisting of two large islands and 6,289 smaller ones. When nature writer Patrick Barkham set out on a journey to discover what it is like to be an islander he found places of freedom and imprisonment, party destinations and oases of peace. Islander : A Journey Around Our Archipelago (Granta)

81 3.15pm Barn £10

Nick Hunt Chasing Winds: from the Pennines to Provence

Lucy Bellamy A Community of Plants Horticulturalist and editor of Gardens Illustrated, Lucy Bellamy discusses a new approach to gardening – creating a garden from scratch in just a year with less watering, weeding and work. “It’s all about creating a community of plants”, she says. Brilliant and Wild: A Garden from Scratch in a Year (Pimpernel Press)

Day Ticket: £40

82 5pm Barn £10

Drawn by the romance of names and intrigued by their effects, Nick Hunt followed four wild winds. In Cumbria he chased the roaring Helm. Then he was knocked off his feet by the bitter northerly Brora. In the Swiss Alps he was struck by debilitating Foen sickness before tracking the Mistral along the banks of the Rhône. Where the Wild Winds Are: Walking Europe’s Winds from the Pennines to Provence (Nicholas Brealey Publishing)

Ambra Edwards and Vanessa Berridge Gardens and Gardeners Gardens tell us about how people lived, what they believed in, what they aspired to, how they saw the world, and how they wanted to change it. Garden historians Vanessa Berridge and Ambra Edwards debate these issues. Great British Gardeners (Amberley Books) The Story of the English Garden (Pavilion)

Friday 13 July – Barn – Out of the Box: Genius and Invention 83 10am Barn £10

84 11.45am Barn £10

85 1.30pm Barn £10

Nick Groom How Frankenstein Shaped Our Thinking As an iconic study of power, creativity, and what it is to be human, Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ remains as relevant today as when it was written 200 years ago. ‘Prof of Goth’ at the University of Exeter, Nick Groom reflects upon the literary and historical context of the iconic tale. Frankenstein or ‘The Modern Prometheus’. The 1818 Text (OUP)

Adam Greenfield Designs for Life Leading technology thinker Adam Greenfield argues that the new technologies transfiguring our lives come at a great cost. From smartphones, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality to cryptocurrency, 3D-printing and the ‘smart city,’ he urges us to reconsider our relationship with the networked objects, services and spaces that define us. Radical Technologies (Verso)

Henry Eliot The Art of Getting Lost Labyrinths are as old as humanity, the proving grounds of heroes, the paths of pilgrims, symbols of spiritual rebirth and pleasure gardens. Step inside the world of mazes with Henry Eliot who unravels our ancient, abiding relationship with them and explores why they continue to fascinate. Follow This Thread (Particular Books)

Day Ticket: £32 (not including film event 87)

Adam Hart-Davis

86 3.15pm Barn £10

87 5pm Barn £7

Henry Eliot

Adam Hart-Davis Heath Robinson – An Absurdly Ingenious World The definition of ‘Heath Robinson’ in the Oxford English Dictionary is ‘any absurdly ingenious and impracticable device’. Presenter Adam Hart-Davis, a long-standing Heath Robinson fan, considers the Edwardian artist’s work in its social and technological context and tells the stories behind his homespun mechanical fantasies. Very Heath Robinson (Sheldrake Press)

Film: Suffragette (12A) To coincide with Jane Robinson’s event in the Great Hall (today at 3.15pm) there will be a screening of the 2015 film ‘Suffragette’ written by Abi Morgan and starring Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff and Helena Bonham Carter. (Running time – 106 mins.) A joint ticket for both the film and Jane Robinson’s event (91) is available for £15.

Friday 13 July – Great Hall

Matthew Dennison

88 10am £10 Great Hall

89 11.45am £10 Great Hall

Tim FitzHigham

Matthew Dennison The Cleverest Queen Consort History has forgotten Caroline of Ansbach, yet in her lifetime she was compared to Elizabeth I. She was the intellectual superior of her buffoonish husband George II and is credited with hastening the Enlightenment. Matthew Dennison offers a portrait of an 18th century woman of great political astuteness and ambition. The First Iron Lady: A Life of Caroline Ansbach (William Collins)

Tim FitzHigham A Very British Eccentric Comedian, actor, writer and crash test dummy Tim FitzHigham has appeared on ‘Time Team’, ‘The Windsors’, ‘Paddington 2’ and BBC Radio 4. Tim tells how he has run across deserts in a suit of armour and inflated the world’s largest balloon. All At Sea: One Man. One Bathtub. One Very Bad Idea (Preface Publishing)

Day Ticket: £32 (not including events 90 or 93)

John Crace

90 £10 Great Hall

PROGRAMME CHANGE: This event will now take place at 6.30pm on Friday 6 July. John Crace Strong and Stable: Theresa May’s Annus Horribilis During her turbulent first year, Theresa May’s malfunctioning public appearances and misguided slogans have prompted John Crace’s coinage of the term ‘Maybot’. As parliamentary sketch writer for the Guardian, he has compiled a collection of his witty sketches to document May’s spell in power. I, Maybot: The Rise and Fall (Faber & Faber)

Philip Collins FE5 2 - 4pm Writing Workshop £16 The Art of Persuasion Dukes Former political adviser to Frank Room Field and chief speech writer to Tony Blair, Philip Collins explores various compositional techniques and offers tips on how to use language to inform, persuade or motivate.

Friday 13 July – Great Hall

Jane Robinson

91 3.15pm £10 Great Hall (or £15 to include event 87 at 5pm in the Barn today)

92 5pm £10 Great Hall

John O’Farrell

Jane Robinson Celebrating 100 Years Since Women Got the Vote In 1913, hundreds of impassioned women stepped out onto the streets of Britain, bridging cavernous gaps of class, age and status under one united belief. Jane Robinson tells the inspirational story of the six-week suffragists’ march on London, in which these crusaders transformed the lives of every British woman. Hearts and Minds: The Untold Story of the Great Pilgrimage and How Women Won the Vote (Doubleday)

John O’Farrell For the Love of Labour From New Labour’s landslide victory in 1997 to the unforeseen result of the 2017 snap election, the life of a long-standing Labour supporter has been tumultuous. John O’Farrell ponders 20 confusing years, including a host of frank and funny memories. Things Can Only Get Worse (Doubleday)

Day Ticket: £32 (not including events 90 or 93)

Elvis McGonagall and Matt Harvey

93 8 - 9pm £10 Great Hall

Matt Harvey and Elvis McGonagall Tour de Force Writer, poet, enemy of all that’s difficult and upsetting, Matt Harvey, performs with armchair revolutionary, stand-up poet and recumbent rocker Elvis McGonagall. Introduced by Helen Chaloner from Literature Works in support of Word on Tour celebrating libraries and local talent. “Matt’s poetry puts a smile on your face and leaves a little wisdom in your brain” Fi Glover Elvis McGonagall is “brilliantly anarchic, verbally agile, always a treat.” Joan Bakewell

Saturday 14 July – Great Hall

Diana Darke

94 10am £10 Great Hall

95 11.45am £10 Great Hall

Philip Collins

Diana Darke What Hope is There for the Future of Syria? Diana Darke explores the life and circumstances from the age of ten of the Syrian cloth merchant Abu Chaker (1921–2013). His story embodies the struggles of many young Syrians. Barely literate and supporting his family he built up his business before losing everything through political instability and war. The Merchant of Syria: A History of Survival (C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd)

Philip Collins Finding the Right Words at the Right Time Drawing on his global experience as speechwriter to senior politicians and business leaders, Philip Collins explores the key components to a great speech. He examines the inspirational words that have brought hope and progress in times of political disenchantment. When They Go Low, We Go High (Fourth Estate)

Day Ticket: £40 (not including event 99)

Salley Vickers

96 3.15pm £10 Great Hall

97 5pm £10 Great Hall

Blake Morrison

Salley Vickers The Joy of Reading At a time when libraries are under constant threat of closure Salley Vickers’ latest novel ‘The Librarian’ is timely. The story charts the consequences of a young woman who takes up the position of a children’s librarian in a quaint market town. The Librarian (Viking)

Blake Morrison A Literary Detective Story The literary detective story is poetically reimagined in Blake Morrison’s latest novel. When a man becomes the literary executor of a friend’s estate the discovery of unpublished material is potentially explosive. Blake Morrison exposes the frailty of human relationships in the face of moral dilemma, sexual obsession and scandal. The Executor (Penguin Random House)

Saturday 14 July – Great Hall

Kerry Godliman

Tessa Dunlop

98 6.30pm £10 Great Hall

Tessa Dunlop Their Story is Our Story Too This year Britain celebrates the centenary of some women getting the vote. Presenter of BBC’s ‘Coast’, Radio 4 reporter and historian, Tessa Dunlop, shares the stories of six centenarians from all walks of life but all born in 1918 and offers an eyewitness account of British history over the past 100 years. The Century Girls (Simon & Schuster)

Day Ticket: £40 (not including event 99)

99 8 - 10pm (inc. interval) £14 Great Hall

Kerry Godliman Stick or Twist Comedian and actor Kerry Godliman has appeared regularly on the BBC’s ‘Live At The Apollo’, ‘Mock The Week’, Radio 4’s ‘Now Show’ and ‘Just a Minute’ as well as Channel 4’s ‘Derek’. She will be examining some of life’s more perplexing anomalies. Why is there a Buddha at the garden centre? Why collect her children’s teeth? There’s loads to get sorted. Be there. She’ll do all the talking. With support act. “Intelligent, silly and – at all the right moments – laced with righteous ire.” the Guardian

Saturday 14 July – Barn – Mind and Body 102 1.30pm Barn £10

Jonny Benjamin

100 10am Barn £10

101 11.45am Barn £10

Susan Blackmore

Jonny Benjamin The Kindness of a Stranger When Jonny Benjamin stood on Waterloo Bridge about to jump, a stranger saw his distress and stopped to talk. Not only was Jonny’s life saved, this was the start of his campaigning around mental health issues and suicide prevention. Later he launched an online campaign to find the stranger. He explains what happened next. The Stranger on the Bridge (Bluebird)

103 3.15pm Barn £10

Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewicz Frameworks Did you know that an Icelandic clam that lived for 300 years recorded the monstrous eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in its shell? Half a billion years ago, skeletons were already sophisticated, providing armour and support to organisms, and developing structures such as the crystal eyes of trilobites. Palaeobiologists Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewicz explore the history of skeletons and what the future could hold for human evolution. Skeletons: The Frame of Life (OUP)

Day Ticket: £40

104 5pm Barn £10

Jack Hartnell The Middle Ages: Life, Death and Art Art historian Jack Hartnell uncovers the complex and fascinating ways in which the people of the Middle Ages thought about, explored and experienced their physical selves. He brings together medicine, art, poetry, music, politics and philosophy to reveal what life was really like for the men and women who lived and died in the Middle Ages. Medieval Bodies (Wellcome Collection)

Suzanne O’Sullivan Unfathomable Intricacies The brain is the most complex structure in the universe and neurologists must puzzle out lifechanging diagnoses from the tiniest of clues. Eminent neurologist, Suzanne O’Sullivan takes a series of troubling case histories as starting points to examine the baffling nature of the human brain. Brainstorm (Chatto & Windus)

Susan Blackmore Science’s Last Great Mystery Psychologist Susan Blackmore tackles how the physical matter of the brain produces the psychological phenomenon of consciousness. She asks ‘Do we really have a free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press)

Saturday 14 July – Dukes Room – Oversteps Day

A day of events by OVERSTEPS POETS arranged and introduced by Alwyn Marriage 105 10am £6 Dukes Room

106 11.30am £6 Dukes Room

A Warm Welcome We welcome four new poets who have jumped successfully through all the hoops to be accepted as Oversteps poets. Paul Surman Denise McSheehy Ian Royce Chamberlain Melanie Branton

Too Good to Lose These poets are so good that they have now had second collections published by Oversteps, or are joining us because they were not able to be here to read last year. Rebecca Bilkau Hilary Elfick Sue Proffitt Jane Spiro

Day Ticket: £12

For our afternoon sessions, this morning’s poets will share poems on our chosen themes, and will be joined by Jennie Osborne, Christopher North, Susan Taylor, Simon Williams and Alwyn Marriage. 107 2pm £6 Dukes Room

Once Upon a Time

108 3.30pm £6 Dukes Room

Where on Earth

We all enjoy a good story, and in this session we will (metaphorically) sit at the feet of story tellers as they share poems with a clear and interesting narrative. ‘Are you sitting comfortably – then I’ll begin.’

Poetry sometimes helps us to ‘know the place for the first time’ (T. S. Eliot). In this final session of the Oversteps Day, our poets will shine a light on specific places, near and far, from a private room inside a house right up to the wide open spaces of Australia. ‘Come fly with us’.

Sunday 15 July – Great Hall FE6 11am 1pm Dukes Room £16

This workshop will explore how the furniture around us – chairs, tables, beds – can act as repositories for memories, and provide us with triggers for story. We’ll look at examples, from Thomas Hardy to Anne Enright, before testing the process for ourselves. Jane Feaver is a critically acclaimed novelist and short-story writer. She is a lecturer in creative writing at Exeter University.

110 12.45pm £10 Great Hall

John Tusa

Caroline Moorehead

Julie Summers

Fiona Sampson

in association with

109 11am £10 Great Hall

Jane Feaver Word School – Writing Workshop The Furniture of Stories: Unlocking the Story

Day Ticket: £40

111 2.30pm £10 Great Hall

Julie Summers The Secret Life of Britain’s Country Houses 1939-45 The dark days of World War Two saw thousands of Britain’s greatest country houses requisitioned for the housing of armed forces, secret services, children, the elderly and infirm. Social historian Julie Summers provides a glimpse of life in some of these monumental homes, as they opened their doors to spies, warriors and women. Our Uninvited Guests (Simon & Schuster)

Fiona Sampson Mary Shelley: The Woman Behind Frankenstein Mary Shelley is known for her Gothic novel ‘Frankenstein’. But her life and work are often eclipsed by the reputation of her parents – philosopher William Godwin and feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft – and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. Fiona Sampson uncovers Shelley’s complex and generous character. In Search of Mary Shelley (Profile Books)

John Tusa Fighting for the Arts As a distinguished journalist, broadcaster and leader of arts organisations, Sir John Tusa has campaigned for and sometimes against the major arts and political institutions in the country. He shares an abundance of entertaining memories from his sixty-year professional life. Making A Noise (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Sunday 15 July – Great Hall

Ben Okri

112 4.15pm £10 Great Hall

113 6 - 7.30pm £10 Great Hall

Caroline Moorehead One Family’s Fight Against Fascism Mussolini’s reign of terror scarred the lives of innumerable Italians. Caroline Moorehead discusses one remarkable family that was influential in turning the tide against Mussolini’s regime. Drawing on original sources she reveals the loyalty, duty and courage of the Roselli family. A Bold and Dangerous Family (Chatto & Windus)

Ben Okri Magical Tales and Political Poetry As a special festival finale there is an extended event with Booker Prizewinning author Ben Okri as he takes us on an enchanting journey exploring 25 fables and paintings in ‘The Magic Lamp’ and celebrates the many varied voices of political poetry in his most recent work, ‘Rise Like Lions’. Rise Like Lions: Poetry for the Many (Hodder & Stoughton) The Magic Lamp: Dreams of Our Age (Head of Zeus)

Day Ticket: £40

114 11am Barn £10

Alex Beard A Learning Revolution

115 12.45pm Barn £10

Alexander Langlands A Lost Knowledge

116 2.30pm Barn £10

Can the next generation overcome rising inequality, ongoing globalization and rapid automation? Education insider, Alex Beard says it can, but only if we make better use of our incredible capacity to learn. Beard takes a global spin around the future of learning, from crowded school corridors in South London to the inclusive classrooms of Finland. Natural Born Learners (Orion – W&N)

Alexander Langlands

Sunday 15 July – Barn – Change Makers: Skills and Learning

The Anglo-Saxon word ‘craeft’ suggested a sense of knowledge wisdom and power. Archaeologist, medieval historian and TV presenter Alexander Langlands investigates how traditional crafts are more than just making. He considers what it means to make things with your own hands, and how this experience re-connects us to ourselves and to the past. Craeft (Faber & Faber)

Nicolette Perry Brain-boosting Plants Discover plants that change the way you think and feel…European sage, used since the 16th century to improve memory, was recently tested in clinical studies which confirmed that it did indeed enhance memory, attention and mood. Nicolette Perry, director of Dilston Physic Garden, shares her extensive knowledge of plants and their wide benefits for the brain. Botanical Brain Balms: Medicinal Plants for Memory, Mood and Mind (Filbert Press)

Nicolette Perry

117 4.15pm Barn £7 (106 mins.)

Alex Beard

Film: Young Frankenstein (PG) To send you home screaming (with laughter) we thought we’d end with a screening of Mel Brooks’ 1974 classic film ‘Young Frankenstein’, starring Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman.

Day Ticket: £24 (not including event 117)

General Information – Travelling to Dartington

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Dartington is roughly 25 miles southwest of Exeter and about a four hour drive from London. By car, take the M5, A38 and A384, then follow yellow AA signs to the festival. From the west, take the A38 from Plymouth, the A385 and then follow the AA signs. By train – Paddington is the mainline station from London. Totnes is the station nearest to Dartington Hall. Dartington Hall is a five minute taxi ride from the station.

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