2011 programme
Andrew Martin: The Somme Stations
Saturday 24 September
Join Andrew Martin as he introduces his latest novel, The Somme Stations, and talks about his Jim Stringer series of detective books in the appropriate surroundings of the Locomotion railway museum. During the battle of the Somme, Jim’s unit operate the trains that carry munitions to the front but it’s soon clear that there is an enemy working within and the finger of suspicion points at Jim himself. A bookstall of Andrew's books will be available from 12pm till 4pm. Andrew Martin is a journalist and novelist whose books include seven Jim Stringer novels and Ghoul Britannia.
Locomotion is part of the National Railway Museum and is located in Shildon in County Durham. For more information see www.nrm.org.uk/locomotion.
Saturday 24 September at 1pm and 3pm
Pitmen Poets & Rural Writers Re-jigged
Sunday 2 October
Join poets from Colpitts Poetry and folk musicians for a special day of poetry and music from the North East, performed in costume, in the unique surroundings of Beamish. Writers and musicians will be performing around different venues on the Beamish site throughout the day. Poets Jo Colley and Ian Horn will be joined by folk musician Bob Fox, the creator of the acclaimed Pitmen Poets, a project that celebrates the songs of the region’s coal mining heritage.
This event is part of Beamish’s Harvest Home celebrations, making this day a very special day out at the North’s living museum. To find out more, see www.beamish.org.uk.
Sunday 2 October from 11am-5pm
Wendy Moore & Caroline Chapman
Wednesday 12 October
Join us for an afternoon event at the sumptuous Bowes Museum to explore the heritage of this extraordinary family. In her biography, Wedlock, Wendy Moore tells the remarkable story of Mary Eleanor Bowes. One of Britain’s richest heiresses, on the death of her father, Mary Eleanor endured unhappy marriages and deception which reduced her to a wretched and starved version of her former self. Her life was a barely credible tale of survival and triumph and reveals an 18th century world of sexual intrigue, terrifying adventure and courtroom drama.
Wendy will be joined by Caroline Chapman, whose book, John and Josephine: The Creation of the Bowes Museum, takes us from the sparsely populated Teesdale countryside of the 1860s to fashionable Parisian society.
The Bowes Museum is located in Barnard Castle. The museum houses an internationally significant collection of fine and decorative arts. If you are planning to come to the event please make time in your schedule to visit the charming and vibrant market town and this exceptional museum. Find out more at www.bowesmuseum.org.uk.
Wednesday 12 October at 2pm
Adele Parks: About Last Night
Wednesday 12 October
We are delighted to welcome Adele Parks, one of the best-loved and biggest selling fiction writers in the UK, who returns to her roots in the North East. Since she began writing in 2000, Adele has published ten books, all of which have been bestsellers. Her novels include Husbands, Still Thinking of You, Game Over and Men I’ve Loved Before. She will be talking about her writing life and introducing her new novel, About Last Night. With cocktails on arrival, this event will be a great girls’ night out!
The Bowes Museum is located in Barnard Castle. The museum houses an internationally significant collection of fine and decorative arts. If you are planning to come to the event please make time in your schedule to visit the charming and vibrant market town and this exceptional museum. Find out more at www.bowesmuseum.org.uk.
Wednesday 12 October at 7pm
Sir Rodric Braithwaite: Afgantsy
Monday 17 October
As a former Ambassador to Moscow, Rodric Braithwaite brings a unique insight to a story obscured by cold war propaganda and the myths of the great game. For his book, Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-89, he spent seven years talking to those who had served in Afghanistan and returned. His previous work includes Moscow 1941: A City and its People at War. Chaired by Paul Blackett of Waterstone’s Durham.
Monday 17 October at 6pm
Reading by Don Paterson
Monday 17 October
Join us for a reading by our Book Festival Laureate, Don Paterson, in the atmospheric surroundings of the Monks’ Dormitory at Durham Cathedral. Don Paterson was born in 1963 in Dundee, Scotland. He works as a musician and editor, and is Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews. His collections of verse include God’s Gift to Women, Landing Light and the award-winning Rain. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010. Introduced by Corinne Saunders.
Monday 17 October from 6.15pm-7pm
Hilary Spurling: Burying The Bones
Monday 17 October
In Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China, Hilary Spurling, one of the country’s most distinguished biographers, rediscovers writer and civil rights campaigner Pearl Buck. Pearl was the first person since Marco Polo to open China up to the West. She recreated the lives of ordinary Chinese people in her book, The Good Earth, a worldwide bestseller in 1932 that transfixed a whole generation of readers and won her the Nobel Prize for Literature. This event takes place at Prior’s Hall, Durham Cathedral.
Monday 17 October at 7.30pm
John Spurling: A Book of Liszts
Monday 17 October
The extraordinary career of Franz Liszt (1811-86), whose incomparable skill and personal charisma as a composer, conductor, and virtuoso pianist dazzled audiences all over Europe, made him the 19th-century equivalent of a modern international pop star. In the spirit of Liszt’s own innovative compositions, John Spurling has taken on the ambitious task of writing a fictionalised biography of Liszt’s life. Inspired by his fascination with Liszt’s music, A Book of Liszts is a highly original, imaginative, and multi-faceted portrait of a humorous and romantic genius whose work and life is still not as well known as it deserves to be.
Our special guest, pianist Richard Kenwood Heriott, will play extracts to accompany this presentation at the Chapter House,
Durham Cathedral.
Monday 17 October at 7.30pm
Marcus Brigstocke: God Collar
Monday 17 October
“Are you there, God? It’s me, Marcus.” The sudden and tragic loss of his best friend James, who was in his thirties, changed the way that Marcus Brigstocke felt about the world. It didn’t stop him being an atheist – if anything it increased his suspicion that we are, in fact, alone in the universe. But it did make him think. Who could he talk to now that James was gone? Based on his award-winning Edinburgh and West End show of the same name, his new book, God Collar, explores religion, our need for it, his lack of it, the myths surrounding it and the bits that he whole-heartedly disagrees with within it. God Collar is a scathing look at modern faith that will leave you both laughing out loud and examining your own beliefs in equal measure.
Marcus Brigstocke is one of the UK’s favourite comedians. He regularly appears on television and radio and at festivals around the country.
Monday 17 October at 8pm
John Hegarty: The Real 'Mad Man'
Tuesday 18 October
John Hegarty is one of the world’s most famous advertising creatives. He is the man who put Nick Kamen into a laundrette for Levi’s jeans and introduced the phrase Vorsprung durch Technik to our collective consciousness. In Hegarty on Advertising, he brings together an overview of all that he thinks and all that he knows about the medium of advertising. From how to build brands and how to use words to how to build international business. John Hegarty is worldwide creative director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and has offices in London, New York, Shanghai, Mumbai, São Paulo and Singapore.
Tuesday 18 October at 1pm
Sir Christopher Ondaatje: The Last Colonial
Tuesday 18 October
Sir Christopher Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka, educated in England and built a highly successful career in finance and publishing in Canada. In 1988 he sold all of his business interests and has since devoted his life to literature, philanthropy and travel. His new book, The Last Colonial, which he's presenting at the Chapter House,
Durham Cathedral, is a collection of essays and stories that together conjure up a unique portrait of a ‘colonial’ world that is vanishing forever. The book covers Ondaatje’s childhood in Ceylon, his lifelong pursuit of elusive leopards and his fascination with inexplicable events and local superstitions, including those of Exmoor where he now lives.
Tuesday 18 October at 6.30pm
Meet Richard T Kelly
Tuesday 18 October
The culmination of our Durham Reads project. Meet the author of The Possessions of Doctor Forrest at a special event at which he’ll talk about his inspirations for the novel. Actors will read extracts from classic gothic fiction alongside readings by Richard from the novel. You’ll also get the chance to ask any questions that you have about the book and find out what other readers thought.
Richard T Kelly is a novelist, biographer and journalist. His debut novel, Crusaders (2008), was set in Newcastle. He has written extensively about filmmakers, including the acclaimed authorised biography Sean Penn: His Life and Times (2004). For more information, go to www.doctorforrest.co.uk.
Tuesday 18 October at 7pm
Writing Freedom
Tuesday 18 October
Writing Freedom, English PEN’s 90th Anniversary Roadshow, comes to the Durham Book Festival to celebrate one of our most fundamental freedoms: the right to write. This special spoken word show at the Chapter House, Durham Cathedral, traces the history of the establishment of English PEN, the charity that works to promote literature and human rights, and draws on the words of those writers who have led PEN’s fight over the last century, from HG Wells to Monica Ali. It will be performed by a special line-up of guest writers and PEN supporters, including Booker-winning novelist Pat Barker and acclaimed performance poet Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze.
Tuesday 18 October at 8pm
Carina Rodney: Wounded
Wednesday 19 October
In Carina Rodney’s new play, Wounded, a damaged soldier returns from Iraq to face the realities of the life he left behind. Betrayed by his closest friends and struggling to adjust back to life at home, he reawakens a strange relationship with a neighbour. In this evocative new play, the writer explores both the desire to serve and the difficulties of coming home. Carina Rodney is the author of Pub Quiz and is currently writing a new play that will tour the North East in 2012. Wounded will be performed as a script-in-hand performance and is directed by Tess Denman-Cleaver.
Wednesday 19 October at 6.30pm
Paul Farley & Michael Symmons Roberts: Edgelands
Wednesday 19 October
Two well-known poets turn geographers to explore the richly mysterious terrain of out of town gravel pits, business parks and landfill sites, and do for our wild places what Coleridge and Wordsworth once did for our mountains and lakes.
The result, Edgelands, presented this evening at St Chad’s College Chapel, explores a wilderness that is much closer than you think: a debatable zone, neither the city nor the countryside, but a place in-between – so familiar it is never seen for looking. Edgelands forms a critique of what we value as ‘wild’, and allows our allotments, railways, motorways, wasteland and water a presence in the world, and a strange beauty all of their own.
Paul Farley is the author of four collections of poetry and has won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Whitbread Poetry Award. Michael Symmons Roberts has published two novels and four collections of poetry, including Corpus, which won the Whitbread Poetry Award.
Event supported by St Chad’s College
Wednesday 19 October at 7.30pm
Richard Dawkins: The Magic of Reality
Thursday 20 October
What are things made of? What is the sun? Why is there night and day, winter and summer? Why do bad things happen? Are we alone?
Throughout history people all over the world have invented stories to answer profound questions such as these. Have you heard the tale of how the sun hatched out of an emu’s egg? Or what about the great catfish that carries the world on its back? Has anyone ever told you that earthquakes are caused by a sneezing giant? These fantastical myths are fun – but what is the real answer to such questions?
In his new book, The Magic of Reality, Richard Dawkins answers all of these questions and many more. In stunning words and pictures, the book presents the real story of the world around us, taking us on an enthralling journey through scientific reality, and showing that it has an awe-inspiring beauty and thrilling magic which far exceed those of the ancient myths. We encounter rainbows, earthquakes, tsunamis, shooting stars, plants, animals, and an intriguing cast of characters in this extraordinary scientific voyage of discovery. The event will be accompanied by projections of Dave McKean’s stunning illustrations from the book.
Richard Dawkins is the former Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University (1995-2008). His many bestsellers include The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion.
The event is suitable for all ages. Check out our special family ticket offer.
Thursday 20 October at 7pm
Sold Out
Jon Ronson: The Psychopath Test
Thursday 20 October
The Psychopath Test tells a story about madness. It all starts when a leading neurologist contacts journalist Jon Ronson. She and several colleagues have recently received a cryptically puzzling book in the mail, and Jon is challenged to solve the mystery behind it. As he searches for the answer, Jon soon finds himself, unexpectedly, on an utterly compelling and often unbelievable adventure into the world of madness.
He meets a Broadmoor inmate who swears he faked a mental disorder to get a lighter sentence but is now stuck there, with nobody believing he’s sane. He meets some of the people who catalogue mental illness, and those who vehemently oppose them. He meets the influential psychologist who developed the industry standard Psychopath Test and who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are in fact psychopaths. He learns from him how to ferret out these high-flying psychopaths and, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, heads into the corridors of power…
Combining Jon Ronson’s trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is a deeply honest book unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges.
Jon Ronson is the author of Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats.
Thursday 20 October at 9pm
General Lord Richard Dannatt: Leading from the Front
Friday 21 October
Leading from the Front is General Lord Richard Dannatt’s fascinating reflection on a life of military service that has seen him serve in many different theatres of conflict from Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo to Iraq and Afghanistan. As Chief of the General Staff, he was in overall command of the British Army for the three years from 2006. This period saw some of the fiercest fighting yet in Afghanistan, and new and increased pressures and expectation placed on the army. More than any leader in recent times, Dannatt has used his position of command to argue for improved pay and conditions for British soldiers, a greater dialogue between the army and the country, the right equipment for the troops to do the job asked of them, and greater welfare and support back home for the wounded.
Friday 21 October from 10.30am-11.30am
Tracy Borman: Matilda
Friday 21 October
Matilda: Queen of the Conqueror is the first English biography of the thrilling, tempestuous life of the ‘first’ Queen of England. Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, was the first woman to be crowned Queen of England and formally recognised as such by her subjects. Beyond this though, little is known of her life. In this first major biography, Tracy Borman transports us from the courts of Flanders and Normandy to the opulence of royal life in England and elegantly sifts through the shards of evidence to uncover the remarkable story of the queen who had an extraordinary amount of influence over her king. Chaired by Rebecca Jenkins.
Friday 21 October at 12pm
James Aitcheson: Sworn Sword
Friday 21 October
James Aitcheson’s first novel, Sworn Sword, is set in the years following the battle of Hastings. In the depths of winter, 2,000 Normans march to subdue the troublesome province of Northumbria. Tancred a Dinant, an ambitious knight, is among them, hungry for battle, for silver and for land. But at Durham the Normans are ambushed in the streets by English rebels. In the battle that ensues, their army is slaughtered almost to a man. Chaired by Giles Gasper of Durham University.
Friday 21 October at 12.30pm
Bob Beagrie: The Seer Sung Husband
Friday 21 October
A wyrd tale of witchcraft, love, loyalty, rebellion and royal retribution set during the reign of Henry VII and his dissolution of the monasteries. Bob Beagrie’s magical realist verse epic tells the tale of Tobias Shipton, husband to the notorious soothsayer Old Mother Shipton, and the ill-fated Northern rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Working with musicians Andy Broderick, Mimi O’Malley and Kev Howard, Bob Beagrie has created an hypnotic enchantment that will take audiences on a voyage back to the dark days of Tudor England, a time of radical social, religious and political crisis.
Friday 21 October at 1.30pm
Jane Shilling & Catherine Hakim
Friday 21 October
In her intelligent and endearingly frank collection of essays, The Stranger in the Mirror, Jane Shilling explores what it means to be a no-longer-youthful female in a world obsessed with staying young, and puts the aging process under the microscope. Jane writes about books for the Telegraph and has been described as ‘a latter-day Jane Austen’ by the New Statesman.
In her explosive new book, Honey Money, Catherine Hakim reveals how erotic capital is just as influential in life as how rich, clever, educated or well-connected we are. She calls for us to recognise the economic and social value of erotic capital, and to truly acknowledge beauty and pleasure, as doing so would change the role of women in society, getting them a better deal in both public and private life.
Chaired by Caroline Beck.
Friday 21 October at 3pm
Read Regional fiction writers
Friday 21 October
Read Regional is an annual campaign to promote writers who live and work in the north east of England. Join us for a special event with Dan Smith, Carolyn Jess-Cooke, Danielle Ramsay and Beda Higgins for new fiction inspired by angels, crime and travel in exotic locations. Find out more at www.readregional.com. Free Read Regional goodies for event attendees!
Friday 21 October at 3.30pm
Michael Chaplin: Inside My Father's Head
Friday 21 October
Michael Chaplin’s father, Sid Chaplin, was one of the best-known North East writers in the 1960s and this year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of his novel, The Day of the Sardine. Michael’s adaptation of the novel will be broadcast as a Radio 4 Book at Bedtime this October. At this event he will talk about adapting his father’s work and the legacy of Sid’s writing, and actors from Live Theatre will read extracts.
Friday 21 October at 4.30pm
Read to Write: Suspending Disbelief (CANCELLED)
Friday 21 October
Using extracts from novels such as Richard T Kelly’s acclaimed The Possessions of Doctor Forrest and Stephen King’s classic The Shining, we will consider both the appeal and the craft of the horror genre. Join other readers to discuss how horror works
for you. Led by writers Wendy Robertson, Avril Joy and Gillian Wales.
The Room to Write team will be blogging about the Durham Reads experience throughout September and October at their website at www.roomtowrite.co.uk.
Friday 21 October from 5pm-6.30pm
Evensong Commission
Friday 21 October
Durham University and the Book Festival have commissioned Don Paterson, the book festival’s Laureate this year, to write a new anthem that will be composed by Chris Totney and performed as part of the Cathedral’s Evensong. Join us tonight at Durham Cathedral Quire and Knave for the service when the work will be performed for the first time.
Don Paterson was born in 1963 in Dundee, Scotland. He works as a musician and editor, and is Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews. His collections of verse include God’s Gift to Women, Landing Light and the award-winning Rain. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010. Please note that this event will happen as part of Durham Cathedral’s Evensong.
Friday 21 October at 5.15pm
Ann Rachlin: Edy Was a Lady
Friday 21 October
In Edy Was a Lady, Ann Rachlin brings together the lost memoirs of Ellen Terry’s only daughter, Edith Craig (1869-1947), an illegitimate, lesbian suffragette and an extraordinary contributor to British theatre in her lifetime.
Friday 21 October at 6pm
Don Paterson & Tony Harrison
Friday 21 October
A very special event that brings together our Festival Laureate with one of his heroes, Tony Harrison. Tony Harrison is one of the leading poets of his generation, whose work includes poetic films for Channel 4; theatre productions for the National Theatre and many acclaimed published collections of poetry. He is a former Northern Literary Fellow and in 2004 was the recipient of the Northern Rock Foundation Writer’s Award for his work.
Don Paterson was born in 1963 in Dundee, Scotland. He works as a musician and editor, and is Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews. His collections of verse include God’s Gift to Women, Landing Light and the award-winning Rain. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010.
Friday 21 October at 7pm
David Miliband in conversation
Friday 21 October
David Miliband is one of the most respected politicians of his generation. He has worked at the top of UK government and politics for over 15 years and currently serves as a Member of Parliament for South Shields, a seat he has held since 2001.
David has served as Minister for Schools, for State for Communities and Local Government and as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where he spearheaded the Climate Change Bill – setting the world’s first legally binding framework for cutting emissions. In 2007 he was appointed Foreign Secretary, the youngest person in this post for 30 years. In this role he stood up for human rights in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.
Tonight he will be in conversation discussing the key political questions and challenges that face governments around the world.
Friday 21 October at 7.30pm
Don Paterson: Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets
Saturday 22 October
Shakespeare’s sonnets of 1609 are as thrilling and persuasive today as they were when they were first published. Join Don Paterson, an award-winning sonneteer in his own right, as he shares his tips and advice on the art and craft of the sonnets and how best to approach them as a reader.
Don Paterson was born in 1963 in Dundee, Scotland. He works as a musician and editor, and is Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews. His collections of verse include God’s Gift to Women, Landing Light and the award-winning Rain. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010.
Saturday 22 October from 10.30am-11.30am
Arab Spring
Saturday 22 October
Join Egyptian novelists Khaled Al Khamissi, Ahmed Mourad and Ahmed Khaled Towfik as they discuss contemporary Egyptian writing and publishing and reflect on what the Arab spring will mean for writers from the Middle East.
Event supported by the Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation
Saturday 22 October at 11am
Sold Out
Julia Triston & Rachel Lombard: How to Be Creative in Textile Art
Saturday 22 October - Sunday 23 October
Fowlers Yard, Durham
Join textile artists Julia Triston and Rachel Lombard in their open studio in Fowlers Yard as they host demonstrations throughout the day and display their work to celebrate the launch of their new book, How to Be Creative in Textile Art. The book explains the creative process of designing textiles, from where to find inspiration to techniques that will help you turn your design into something really special.
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October from 11am-4pm
Read Regional Poetry
Saturday 22 October
Join three wonderful North East poets as they read from their most recent collections. Sheree Mack, Anna Woodford and Marilyn Longstaff are all part of New Writing North’s Read Regional campaign this year. Please see event schedules in the Food Festival Cafe for information on events timings.
Throughout Saturday in the tent there will be a number of cooking displays and other free events. For more information on the Food Festival, see www.durhamfoodfestival.com.
Saturday 22 October throughout the day
Amuse-bouche
Saturday 22 October - Sunday 23 October
Join us to experience two newly commissioned pieces of interactive live literature created by some of the most exciting new writers and performers in the North East. Amuse-bouche will be performed in the café of the Food Festival tent. Devised by writers who have been working with Arc in Stockton on Tees and performance poetry agency Apples and Snakes, these short pieces of work will leave you with an appetite for more. The Amuse-bouche performers are Sky Hawkins, AJ McKenna, Degna Stone, Michael Hann, Aidan Clarke and Poetry Jack. Please check schedules within the Food Festival tent over the weekend for event performance times.
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October at 2.30pm each day. (Performance lasts 1 hour with a 10 minute interval)
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
Chris Mullin & Bob Marshall-Andrews
Saturday 22 October
A special event with two of New Labour’s most outspoken insiders. A Walk-On Part is the third and final volume of Chris Mullin’s acclaimed diaries. They begin on the night John Smith died in 1994 and continue until the moment of his assumption into government in 1999.
Bob Marshall-Andrews was one of Tony Blair’s least favourite colleagues and in Off Message he casts a mordant eye over whips and rebels, liberties and spin and expenses and legacies in a book that is both laugh out loud funny and very wise.
Chaired by Michael Chaplin.
Saturday 22 October at 12pm
Sold Out
Lucy Caldwell & Elizabeth Day
Saturday 22 October
Join us to explore novels by two young writers who the festival has specially selected. In Lucy Caldwell’s gripping novel The Meeting Point, the marriage of an idealistic young couple with religious beliefs is brought to breaking point in the atmospheric setting of Bahrain.
In Scissors, Paper, Stone, her delicate story about the chronic damage that a father, wife and daughter can do to one another, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Day has created a novel both as compelling and shocking as Zoë Heller’s Notes on a Scandal.
Chaired by Caroline Beck.
Saturday 22 October at 12.30pm
What's Left for the North East?
Saturday 22 October
With the abolition of many regional agencies we are at a moment of change in the North East. Our voice in Westminster is not as powerful as it used to be and the region needs to find new directions to create a new economically stable future. Earlier this year we commissioned writer and journalist Richard T Kelly to meet with figures from across the worlds of business, academia and politics in the region. Today we will launch his essay and debate his findings with a panel of speakers drawn from across the worlds of the public sector and business, as we ask what’s left for the North East?
Saturday 22 October at 1.30pm
Jane Harris: Gillespie and I
Saturday 22 October
In her highly-anticipated second novel Gillespie and I, Jane Harris weaves a skilfully plotted tale of manipulation and mystery that revolves around an account of a relationship as told by an old woman living in London with two greenfinches in a cage. The novel will not disappoint fans of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. Jane is the acclaimed author of The Observations.
Chaired by Angela Woods of Durham University.
Saturday 22 October at 2pm
Hannah Jane Walker: This Is Just to Say
Saturday 22 October
Poet and performer Hannah Jane Walker is a serial apologist. In her show, This Is Just to Say, she invites the audience to join her in an intimate participatory experience around a table with a glass of wine. This is an endearing and thought-provoking show about social etiquette, remorse and the need for apologies in life. The show will take place in an events space above the Empty Shop project in Durham City. Please note that due to the nature of the space, this venue does not have disabled access.
For more information on the Empty Shop project, see http://emptyshop.org.
Saturday 22 October at 2pm (NOW SOLD OUT) and 5pm
Sold Out
Gothic walking tours of Durham
Saturday 22 October - Sunday 23 October
The festival has created three special guided walks around the historic city of Durham. During the daytime walks, you can lose yourself on a journey of discovery, and marvel at our stunning architecture that boasts the embryonic beginnings of the gothic style, found in the city’s World Heritage Site, Durham Cathedral. As dusk falls, we will lead you through the medieval streets of the haunted heart of the North East. Join us as we reveal secret tales of murders, ghouls and hauntings, through the ancient art of storytelling.
For self-guided walks, click here.
Saturday 22 October at 3pm and Sunday 23 October at 3pm (meet outside Durham Town Hall)
Melanie Challenger: On Extinction
Saturday 22 October
Melanie Challenger travelled to the abandoned whaling stations of South Georgia, the melting icescape of Antarctica and the Inuit camps of the Arctic, to trace the links between human activities and environmental collapse. On Extinction is an account of Challenger’s journey that brings together ideas about cultural, biological and industrial extinction in a thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful book. From our destruction of the natural world to the human cultures that are dying out, this is a passionate exploration of these disappearances and why they should concern us.
Chaired by Caroline Beck.
Saturday 22 October at 3.30pm
Lucy Worsley: If Walls Could Talk
Saturday 22 October
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit? All these questions are answered in Lucy Worsley’s If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home. Join us to find out how people really lived through the architectural study of the rooms they lived in. Lucy Worsley is chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the body that looks after the Tower of London and Kew Gardens. This book accompanies her acclaimed television series for the BBC.
Chaired by Rebecca Jenkins.
Saturday 22 October at 3.30pm
Sold Out
Geoff Dyer & Ali Smith
Saturday 22 October
We are delighted to welcome Geoff Dyer and Ali Smith to the festival to present new pieces of work that have been especially commissioned for this event. Their brief was to explore moments of extreme beauty.
Geoff Dyer is the author of four novels including Jeff in Venice and Death in Varanasi and many collections of essays including the recent Working the Room.
Ali Smith is one of the UK’s most exciting fiction writers. Her award-winning novels include Hotel World, The Accidental and, most recently, There but for the.
Chaired by Charles Fernyhough.
In association with the Centre for Medical Humanities
Saturday 22 October from 5pm-6pm
Linda Gillard & Valerie Laws
Saturday 22 October
New work from two writers who have developed their creative work in response to scientific inspirations. In All that Lives, poet Valerie Laws, inspired by residencies in pathology and neuroscience research institutes, explores the science of dying alongside more worldly urges.
Novelist Linda Gillard is the Celebrate Science Festival’s author in residence and will present a new piece of work inspired by her recent collaborations.
Chaired by Angela Woods of Durham University.
Saturday 22 October at 5pm
Criminal Women
Saturday 22 October
From Vera to Scott and Bailey, women detectives have been taking over our TV screens this year. Join screenwriter Sally Wainwright (Scott and Bailey), novelist Ann Cleeves, whose books were the basis of ITV’s recent series, Vera, and crime legend Val McDermid (whose novels were adapted into hit series Wire in the Blood) as they discuss how women are portrayed in TV crime drama and crime novels.
Chaired by Debbie Taylor, novelist and editorial director of Mslexia magazine.
Mslexia is the national magazine for women who write. Find out more at www.mslexia.co.uk.
Saturday 22 October from 6.30pm-7.30pm
Alistair Darling: Back From the Brink: 1,000 Days at Number 11
Saturday 22 October
In the summer of late 2007, shares in Northern Rock went into free-fall, causing a run on the bank – the first since the Great Depression. Northern Rock was only the first: in the ensuing months, Chancellor Alistair Darling stood firm in the eye of this perfect storm as all over the world financial institutions thought ‘too big to fail’ were falling prey to the lethal toxicity of the US sub-prime mortgage market.
In his book, Back from the Brink, Alistair Darling tells the gripping story of one thousand days of crisis. From all-night meetings at the White House, to confrontations with the titans of international banking and fractious relations with Gordon Brown, Darling places the reader in the rooms where the destinies of millions weighed heavily on the shoulders of a few. Back from the Brink is a gripping and immediate account of an unprecedented global financial catastrophe.
Alistair Darling is the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South West.
Chaired by Jonathan Blackie.
Saturday 22 October at 8pm
Sold Out
The Poetry Takeaway
Sunday 23 October
Free made-to-order poetry delivered and performed to the hungry yet discerning consumer within ten minutes or less. Modelled on a typical burger van, it is manned by a rotating cast of the UK’s best performance poets who write, perform and deliver a hand-written, carefully boxed, souvenir copy of every customer’s poem. No experience or knowledge of poetry is required – just a taste for mild adventure. Queue up and chat to one of our specially trained poetry chefs about what you’d like your verse to be about, wait for ten minutes or less, and you’ll receive a personal performance of your very own poem, along with a copy to take home (open or wrapped).
Sunday 23 October from 11am-4pm
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
The Milton Consort: Sonnets 400: A Shakespeare Celebration
Sunday 23 October
To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s sonnets, The Milton Consort have created a programme which presents 40 of Shakespeare’s finest sonnets for recital, interspersing the glorious verses with a selection of Anthony Holborne’s beautiful period music played on the orbo lute, flutes, and recorders. The chosen sonnets explore deeply personal statements of love and obsession, time and regeneration, both for Shakespeare’s first love – a man – and his second love – a woman at this special event at
The Monk’s Dormitory, Durham Cathedral.
Sunday 23 October at 12pm
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
Dan Lepard: Short and Sweet
Sunday 23 October
Dan Lepard is an award-winning baker who has worked for great chefs all over the world, including Giorgio Locatelli and Alastair Little. He is the author of several books on bread and cake making and writes a recipe column in the Guardian’s Saturday magazine. In his new book, Short and Sweet, he covers all the basics, from loaves to delicious caramel sweets. If baking is your therapy, Dan Lepard is the guru you’ve been waiting for all your life. Dan will be talking about his new book, his baking philosophies and cooking up some treats. You can check out some of Dan’s great baking at www.danlepard.com.
Sunday 23 October at 12pm
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
Edd Kimber: The Boy who Bakes
Sunday 23 October
Edd Kimber, winner of BBC2’s The Great British Bake Off, launches his mouth-watering new book, The Boy who Bakes, a rich confection of tasty recipes for those of us with a sweet tooth. With any luck, we’ll get to taste some fantastic treats too! You can follow Edd’s baking adventures on his website at http://theboywhobakes.co.uk.
Sunday 23 October at 2pm
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
Big Durham Book Swap
Sunday 23 October
What could be better than swapping an old book you’ve read for a new book you haven’t? Bring your books to the Cathedral on Sunday from 1pm-2pm, then return from 2pm-4pm and choose new ones. Everyone donating a book will receive a credit that can be redeemed at the swap. So bring your novels, cook books, children’s books and swap away. The more you bring, the more you get to take away. Books in good condition only please.
With thanks to the Friends of Durham Cathedal for their support of this event
Sunday 23 October from 2pm-4pm
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
John Mitchinson: The Man Behind QI
Sunday 23 October
Test your QI knowledge at an interactive event at The Monks’ Dormitory, Durham Cathedral, with John Mitchinson, Director of Research for QI, and co-author of the QI series of books, including The Second QI Book of General Ignorance. John has too many books, knows a lot about a lot of things (so much so that his wife refers to his brain as ‘the skip’) and is very entertaining. An event not to be missed.
Chaired by Charles Fernyhough.
Sunday 23 October at 2pm
For more information about Durham Food Festival, go to www.durhamfoodfestival.com
Hannah Jane Walker: The Oh F**K Moment
Sunday 23 October
In her show, The Oh F**k Moment, poet Hannah Jane Walker takes the audience on a voyage of discovery to unveil those moments when something is done that can not then be undone: the moment you send a naked photograph of yourself to the whole company by mistake, the day you made the reactor melt down. With examples from real life and business, the show will involve the audience in exploring what went wrong, which mistakes were the worst and how that Oh F**k Moment might have been avoided. This performance takes place in a real office environment. The Oh F**k Moment comes to Durham following an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Sunday 23 October at 3pm
Sold Out
Young Writers' Half-Term Writing Club
Tuesday 25 October - Thursday 27 October
If you are between the ages of 11-14 and love writing stories, poetry or scripts, why not join us for a writing club during the half-term holidays? Working with novelist and screenwriter Gavin Williams you will be able to get feedback on your writing, create new work and explore new ideas while meeting lots of other young writers and keen readers.
Tuesday 25 Thursday-27 October from 10am-4pm
Young Writers' Competition Announcement
Tuesday 25 October
Join us to meet the winning stories and poems from the Celebrate Science young writer’s competition. The winning young writers will read their work and receive their prizes from the Celebrate Science Festival’s Author in Residence Linda Gillard.
Celebrate Science runs from Tuesday 25-Thursday 28 October on Palace Green. For more information, see www.dur.ac.uk/celebrate.science.
Tuesday 25 October at 12pm
Young Writers' celebration
Friday 28 October
A celebration of writing by participants in New Writing North’s Young Writers’ programme. Come and hear the concerns and interests of young poets, playwrights, novelists and journalists aged 12-18 as they share their work.
Friday 28 October at 2pm