Southwold Literature Festival 10 – 14 November 2016
Ways With Words
Festival Facts
All of the festival events (except 19 and 20) take place in St Edmund’s Hall which is situated on Cumberland Road, IP18 6JW. There is on-road parking around the Hall and the town’s car parks are no more than a 10 minute walk. There will be a small café running upstairs at the Hall during the festival serving hot drinks, cakes, soup, quiches, salads.
WELCOME TO ALL WHO VISIT SOUTHWOLD FOR WAYS WITH WORDS How many years have we been coming to Southwold for our literary festival? Many. This summer we celebrated our 25th annual festival at Dartington Hall in Devon and Ways With Words in Southwold started very soon afterwards. We have repeated many times that our longevity is thanks to the enthusiasm, curiosity and appreciation that our audiences show. Many of our visitors and speakers return again and again. It is gratifying to see familiar faces while enjoying new people also. So whether you have visited Southwold Ways With Words many times, or if it is your first time, we feel sure that you will have a wonderful time. Adnams’ hotels, beer and wine, the charm of this lovely seaside town and the stimulating talks from many of the leading thinkers of this country make a great combination. We look forward to welcoming everyone to Ways With Words this November. Kay Dunbar, Stephen Bristow, ChloÍ and Videl Bar-Kar Festival Directors With thanks to: Adnams Hotels Official Bookselling Partner
Southwold Books is proud to support
Ways With Words
We look forward to seeing you at our festival bookshop.
The Grain and Texture of a Broadcaster’s & a Parish Priest’s Life 1) 1.30pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 The Reverend Richard Coles is the presenter of Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 and appears regularly on Have I Got News For You. He tells stories about his life as a broadcaster as well as his experiences of ten years of ministry. His latest book, Bringing in the Sheaves, follows the liturgical year and ponders whether it is possible to be the servant of two masters.
Thursday Day Ticket : £30
Shirley Williams
Politics – The UK and the US 2) 3.15pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 After a lifetime of service in politics the Rt. Hon. Shirley Williams discusses the UK’s place in the world and the US elections. She is currently Professor Emerita of Electoral Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, among numerous other activities. We are very lucky to have this eminent politician and academic with us.
John Crace and John Sutherland
Shakespeare – An Unusual View 3) 5pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, John Crace the Guardian’s parliamentary sketch writer and author of the ‘Digested Reads’ columns and John Sutherland, who currently teaches at the California Institute of Technology, have written a new collection of the Bard’s greatest plays. Funny and clever, these parodies are a joy.
THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER
Richard Coles
FRIDAY 11 NOVEMBER
John Sutherland
Peter Hennessy
Alan Powers
4) 10am St Edmund’s Hall £12 Orwell’s obsession with smells, often offensive (shag tobacco and the BO he emitted himself) inspired his finest work. In 2012 John Sutherland permanently lost his sense of smell at the time he embarked on a re-reading of George Orwell’s works, and his lack of olfactory sense cast a new light on the work. Prof. Sutherland explains how acutely attuned to scent Orwell was.
5) 11.45am St Edmund’s Hall £12 Lord Hennessy’s new book is based on a series of conversations with some of the most eminent politicians of our age. His talk takes us inside their heads and combines entertaining verve with immense knowledge. Compelling stuff!
6) 1.30pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Alan Powers (author of the bestselling Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer and Professor of Architecture and Cultural History at the University of Greenwich) has written a biography of Edward Ardizzone drawing on the artist’s archives and conversations with those who knew him. Whether familiar with Ardizzone’s work or encountering it for the first time, Alan Powers will enchant all festival-goers.
Orwell and Smell
Friday Day Ticket : £50
Interviews to Make You Think
Ardizzone and His Work
On Friday 11 November from 6.30pm - 8pm Adnams invites all festival-goers to call in to the Cellar & Kitchen Store on Victoria Street for a drinks reception and a chance to browse round the store. Perfect for Christmas shopping.
David Owen
Churchill’s Cabinet
Maggi Hambling talks to James Cahill
7) 3.15pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Former Foreign Secretary, Lord Owen gives a new history of the pivotal British War Cabinet meetings of May 1940. The minutes of these meetings reveal just how close Britain came to seeking a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany. David Owen, who led the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and now sits as an Independent Social Democrat in the House of Lords, explores Churchill’s powers of persuasion and the strengths of Cabinet run government.
8) 5pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 One of Britain’s foremost figurative artists, Maggi Hambling is celebrated for her portrait paintings and controversial sculptures. Less familiar, however, are her lively drawings and sensuous monotype prints. This event will focus specifically on the range and power of Maggi Hambling’s more intimate works on paper. In conversation with the author James Cahill, Hambling discusses her new book, Touch.
On Paper
Friday Day Ticket : £50
FRIDAY 11 NOVEMBER
Adnams’ Cellar & Kitchen Store
© Georgina Stewart
SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER
Juliet Barker
Richard Fortey
9) 10am St Edmund’s Hall £12 The story of the Brontës is well documented as a doomed family of genius. Biographer and historian Juliet Barker sheds new light on this literary family, challenges some commonly held misconceptions and shares her first-hand research from Brontë manuscripts and historical documents previously overlooked.
10) 11.45am St Edmund’s Hall £12 From his observations of a four-acre beech and bluebell woodland in the Chiltern Hills, former senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, Richard Fortey maps a wider story of the changing British landscape, the human influence on the countryside over centuries and interactions between flora, fauna and fungi.
Demolishing the Myth of the Brontës
Saturday Day Ticket : £50
Biography of a Woodland
© Stuart Clarke
© John Swanell
Diaries: 1988 - 2003 11) 1.30pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Sir Roy Strong’s talk is based on his diary. This volume is an unmissable record of the times. It includes accounts of lunch with the Queen Mother, Elton John’s fiftieth birthday and weekends with the Versaces, interspersed with reflections on his garden, pets and life with his late wife, Julia Trevelyan Oman. Expect gossip, wit and a perceptive analysis of contemporary events.
Saturday Day Ticket : £50
Richard Holmes
Footsteps and Other Memories of a Romantic Biographer 12) 3.15pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Richard Holmes calls biography writing the vital “handshake across time, cultures, beliefs, disciplines and genders.” By referring to a diverse range of material (testimony to his empathy, his erudition and his enquiring spirit) he explores his lifetime study of his subjects.
Salley Vickers
Love’s Demands 13) 5pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Salley Vickers talks about her new book, Cousins. It is a novel weaving darkness and light which takes us from the outbreak of World War II to the present day. Salley Vickers explores the recurrence of tragedy, the nature of trangression, and the limits of morality and love.
SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER
Roy Strong
© Peter Eason
SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER
Anna Pasternak
The Inspiration Behind Dr Zhivago 14) 10am St Edmund’s Hall £12 Anna Pasternak tells the heart-breaking story of the passionate love affair between Boris Pasternak and Olga Ivinskaya – the tragic true story that inspired Doctor Zhivago. Anna Pasternak has had unprecedented access to family sources, providing insight into one of the greatest literary love affairs of the 20th Century. Anna Pasternak’s book, Lara, is being developed for a six part TV series.
Nicholas Crane
Look Around You! 15) 11.45am St Edmund’s Hall £12 Nicholas Crane is best known for presenting the series ‘Coast’, ‘Map Man’, ‘Great British Journeys’ and ‘Nicholas Crane’s Britannia and Town’. Since 2004 he has been the lead presenter on more than 80 BBC films. His new book, The Making of the British Landscape is the subject of his talk and covers 12,000 years of the history of the landscape.
Sunday Day Ticket : £50 (not including event 19)
Ben Fogle
The Iconic British Land Rover 16) 1.30pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 As quintessentially British as a plate of fish and chips, the Land Rover Defender mirrors many of our national traits: stiff upper-lipped and slightly eccentric. Ben Fogle, author of a new book called Land Rover, is a television presenter, writer and adventurer. Funny, entertaining, inspiring; he tells of his journeys to understand the national love affair with the Land Rover.
© Nigel Sutton
The Inside Story of Alexander Litvinenko 17) 3.15pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Alexander Litvinenko was brutally poisoned by polonium – a lethal and highly radioactive substance – in London in 2006. Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding, who spent nearly a decade reporting on the Litvinenko case, sheds light on the man who made some powerful enemies in Russia.
Pamela Holmes
Penelope Lively
18) 5pm St Edmund’s Hall £12 Suffolk history is brought beautifully to life through the story of Mildred Holland, a Vicar’s wife, who painted the ceiling of their church in Huntingfield in the middle of the 19th Century. It can be marvelled at today and many will want to make the pilgrimage to see it after they hear this inspiring story.
19) 7 for 7.30pm The Swan Hotel £50 (to include a copy of Penelope Lively’s new book – a collection of short stories, The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories)
The Painted Church
Literary Dinner
What makes a good short story? How is the writing of shorter fiction different to writing longer? Penelope Lively talks on this art: a treat for us all to hear one of our finest and most thoughtful English writers.
Sunday Day Ticket : £50 (not including event 19)
SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER
Luke Harding
Dates for your Diary:
MONDAY 14 NOVEMBER
Words by the Water in the Lake District 3 – 12 March 2017
Ways With Words Holiday Courses Writing and Art Courses and Discussion Groups in Italy Villa Pia, Umbria, Italy Week one: 24 Sept. – 1 Oct. 2016 Week two: 1 – 8 Oct. 2016
Ways With Words at Dartington Hall, Devon 7 – 17 July 2017
Alan Johnson
In Government 20) 10.30am St Edmund’s Church £12 Alan Johnson, one of the country’s favourite politicians, has spoken at Southwold on the first two volumes of his autobiography. These books each cover roughly a 20-year span. The third is about his time in government. It stops in 2010 when the last Labour government was voted out of office. It will be particularly prescient to hear his views on the current political position. Please note: This event takes place in St. Edmund’s Church.
© Jessica Bracken
And back in Southwold, Suffolk for Southwold Ways With Words 9 – 13 November 2017
Inspiring landscapes • lovely local walks • delicious food All abilities are catered for. All activities are optional. www.wayswithwords.co.uk
Become a Friend of Ways With Words and receive hard copies of all our programmes. Many people use the Friends’ early booking scheme when applying for tickets. Call 01803 867373 or email admin@wayswithwords.co.uk TERMS & CONDITIONS Ways With Words (WWW) reserves the right without prior warning to alter the programme if circumstances dictate. For full details of our policy on event cancellations, ticket refunds, exchanges and re-sales please refer to the website www.wayswithwords.co.uk/terms LOST TICKETS: Please take great care of your tickets. WWW will not replace lost tickets. No unauthorised photographing or recording of events.
PACKAGES
Ways With Words offers half-board (dinner, B&B) packages inclusive of tickets at both the Swan Hotel and the Crown Hotel in Southwold. The Swan package is for 4 nights (Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun) and includes tickets for all events during the festival and the literary dinner. The Crown package is for : • 4 nights (as the Swan above) or, • First 3 nights (Thurs, Fri, Sat nights, including tickets for all events on Thurs, Fri, Sat) or, • Last 3 nights (Fri, Sat, Sun nights, including tickets for all events on Sat, Sun, Mon and the literary dinner). Packages can be booked at any time using the form opposite or by telephone - 01803 867373 (NB. The Ways With Words office will have limited opening during August.) Both hotels are offering a free dinner for guests wishing to stay on Wednesday 9th and/or Monday 14th November. Please phone the hotel where you are staying quoting ‘WWW 5th Night’. Swan Hotel: 01502 722186 Crown Hotel: 01502 722275 These must be booked in advance.
HOW TO BOOK Friends’ booking will start on Tuesday 13 September (post & phone only) (2 tickets per event limit). General booking will start on Tuesday 20 September Debit / Credit Card Payments Bookings using cards can be made by telephone: 01803 867373 and online: www.wayswithwords.co.uk (online ticket sales available from 20 Sept.) Cheque Payments The booking form opposite can be used to book packages and tickets for individual events by post. Please send with s.a.e. to: Ways With Words, Droridge Farm, Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6JG Please make cheques payable to ‘Ways With Words. Date and sign the cheque but leave the rest blank. On the crossed section (where it says A/C Payee) write: “not to exceed: (the amount of your order in words)”. This is in case some of your order is not available, in which case we shall complete your cheque for the lesser amount unless you tell us to do otherwise. Any postal bookings received before the above dates will be filed but will not be processed until booking opens.
If you are already a Friend please tick the following box.
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Becoming a Friend If you would like to join as a Friend of Ways With Words and benefit from the advance booking period as well as receiving programmes for all of Ways With Words’ festivals tick the box and add £15 to your order total.
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For individual tickets, please refer to our website wayswithwords.co.uk/terms for full details of our policy on cancellations, ticket refunds and exchanges, and on lost tickets.
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Terms and Conditions For package bookings, payment in full is required at the time of booking. Cancellations cannot be refunded. Customers are strongly advised to take out holiday insurance.
Event 1) Richard Coles 2) Shirley Williams 3) Crace and Sutherland All-day Thursday 4) John Sutherland 5) Peter Hennessy 6) Alan Powers 7) David Owen 8) Maggi Hambling All-day Friday 9) Juliet Barker 10) Richard Fortey 11) Roy Strong 12) Richard Holmes 13) Salley Vickers All-day Saturday 14) Anna Pasternak 15) Nicholas Crane 16) Ben Fogle 17) Luke Harding 18) Pamela Holmes All-day Sunday 19) Literary Dinner - P. Lively 20) Alan Johnson
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Prices are per person sharing twin / double. Please circle the package you would like. Swan Crown Crown 4 night 4 night 3 night Classic £722 £667 £500 single occ. £972 N/A N/A Superior £777 £715 £528 Premier £852 £762 £575 Single Room £792 £812 £600
INDIVIDUAL AND DAY TICKETS
Name
PACKAGES
Juliet Barker Richard Coles John Crace Nicholas Crane Ben Fogle Richard Fortey Maggi Hambling Luke Harding Peter Hennessy Pamela Holmes Richard Holmes Alan Johnson Penelope Lively David Owen Anna Pasternak Alan Powers Roy Strong John Sutherland Salley Vickers Shirley Williams
Tickets & Information 01803 867373 wayswithwords.co.uk