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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251112T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251112T183000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250513T084507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250915T095015Z
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SUMMARY:Martin Clunes – Meetings With Remarkable Animals
DESCRIPTION:Please note that this event has been rescheduled for 12th November. Existing ticket holders can email contact@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com if they are unable to make this date and wish to request a refund.  \n\n\n\nInspired by Martin Clunes’ own adoption of a former guide dog\, Meetings With Remarkable Animals celebrates the fascinating\, moving and sometimes astonishing ways animals have enriched our lives. From search and rescue dogs to mine-sniffing rats\, and life-saving dolphins\, to therapy horses and medal-winning cats and pigeons\, the stories brought to life will charm\, surprise and astonish in equal measure. \n\n\n\nTogether with his own life-changing encounters with animals around the world\, Martin has celebrated the intelligence\, loyalty\, and companionship of some truly extraordinary creatures whose lives have been entwined with our own.  \n\n\n\nMartin Clunes has been a familiar and much-loved face on our television screens since the 1990s. Alongside appearing in hit shows like Men Behaving Badly and Doc Martin\, he has presented numerous documentaries from around the world including Lemurs of Madagascar\, Islands of the Pacific and A Dog Called Laura. He was awarded the OBE in 2015 for his contribution to drama\, charity and the community in Dorset where he lives with his family and lots of animals. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/martin-clunes-meetings-with-remarkable-animals/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Meetings-with-Remarkable-Animals-PB-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T193000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250513T084732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T111332Z
UID:10000135-1761417000-1761420600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Jeremy Vine – Murder on Line One
DESCRIPTION:Darkness looms over sunny Sidmouth\, when an unsolved murder comes to the attention of late-night radio talk show host Edward Temmis. \n\n\n\nRecently sacked from his beloved job after a devastating tragedy\, Edward is cast adrift – until he meets Stevie\, whose grandmother\, a devoted listener\, died in a suspicious fire last year. Well\, nobody hurts his listeners and helping Stevie might just give him the purpose he needs. \n\n\n\nJoined by his old fling\, Kim\, they discover Stevie’s grandmother wasn’t the only one of his listeners targeted – this is just the tip of the iceberg. \n\n\n\nBut who is pursuing his ageing audience and why? And can Edward\, Stevie and Kim get to the bottom of this mystery before it’s too late? \n\n\n\nJeremy Vine is a journalist and broadcaster who reaches millions of listeners and viewers per week. He hosts a daily breakfast show on Channel 5 and a peak slot on BBC Radio 2 every lunchtime\, presenting news\, views\, interviews and popular guests on Britain’s most listened-to radio news programme. He has previously hosted Eggheads\, Points of View\, Crimewatch and Panorama among others\, and presents the general election infographics. His early obsession was with Agatha Christie\, after his mum gave him Hercule Poirot’s Christmas when he was eleven. By eighteen he had read all sixty-six Agathas\, but he waited forty years to write about his first murder. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time\, he rides a penny farthing. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jeremy-vine-murder-on-line-one/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T143000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T153000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250513T083549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T111107Z
UID:10000126-1761402600-1761406200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Jonathan Sumption – The Challenges of Democracy
DESCRIPTION:Across the globe\, democracy is in crisis – in the UK it has been rocked by Brexit\, the pandemic and successive attempts by governments to bypass legal norms. But how did this happen\, and where might we go from here? In a  provocative series of essays\, former Supreme Court judge and Sunday Times-bestselling author\, Jonathan Sumption cuts through the political noise with acute analysis of the state of democracy today – from the vulnerabilities of international law\, to the deepening suppression of democracy activism in Hong Kong\, and from the complexities of human rights legislation to the defence of freedom of speech. \n\n\n\nTimely\, incisive and wholly original\, The Challenges of Democracy applies the brilliance of the ‘cleverest man in Britain’ to the most urgent and far-reaching political issue of our day. \n\n\n\nJonathan Sumption is a British judge and historian\, who served as a Supreme Court Justice from 2012 – 2018. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Trials of the State\, Law in a Time of Crisis\, and Divided Houses\, which won the 2009 Wolfson History Prize. \n\n\n\nJonathan Sumption will be in conversation with Jo Durrant. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jonathan-sumption-the-challenges-of-democracy/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Jonathan-sumption-Jacket-image-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T140000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250513T083215Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250730T105327Z
UID:10000132-1761397200-1761400800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Gyles Brandreth – Somewhere a Boy and a Bear – A Biography of A A Milne and Winnie-the- Pooh
DESCRIPTION:Next year marks the centenary of the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh\, one of the best-selling children’s books of all time. Best-selling biographer Gyles Brandreth knew the real Christopher Robin and his new book is both an intimate and revealing biography of A A Milne (to whom there was so much more than Pooh) and a fascinating exploration of fathers and sons\, children and their parents and the nature of childhood itself.   \n\n\n\nGyles Brandreth is a writer\, broadcaster\, actor\, former MP and Lord Commissioner of the Treasury\, now Chancellor of the University of Chester and one of Britain’s most sought-after award ceremony hosts and after-dinner speakers. A star of Celebrity Gogglebox\, a veteran of QI and Have I Got News For You\, a reporter on The One Show\, a presenter on Pointless\, a guest on Would I Lie to You? and Sunday Brunch\, a regular on This Morning\, and since the 1980s one of the mainstays of Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4\, his recent books include a biography of Queen Elizabeth II: Elizabeth: an intimate portrait – an immediate Sunday Times No 1 best-seller. \n\n\n\nTickets £32 including a copy of the book. £46 for two tickets including one book. Friends discount applies to ticket only.
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/gyles-brandreth-somewhere-a-boy-and-a-bear-the-extraordinary-story-of-a-a-milne-christopher-robin-and-winnie-the-pooh/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Somewhere-A-Boy-A-Bear-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251025T120000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250513T082545Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T111000Z
UID:10000124-1761390000-1761393600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Christopher Summerfield – These Strange New Minds
DESCRIPTION:In the first authoritative book to explain how AI works and what it means\, the Research Director at the UK government’s AI Safety Institute explains how advances in digital technology have given us a new wave of disarmingly human-like AI systems\, set to upturn our economies\, challenge  democracies\, and refashion society in unpredictable ways. These systems will soon be making autonomous decisions on the user’s behalf\, transforming everything we do.  \n\n\n\nChristopher Summerfield shows you how AI actually works in language anyone can understand\, explaining how ChatGPT and Bard have set off a meteoric rise in interest surrounding AI but all we’re talking about are techno-utopias or predictions of doom. Can AI systems ‘think’\, ‘know’ and ‘understand’? Could they manipulate or deceive you\, and if so\, what might they make you do? Whose interests do they ultimately represent? And when will they be able to move beyond words and take actions for themselves in the real world? Ultimately\, can we look forward to a technological utopia\, or are we in the process of writing ourselves out of history? \n\n\n\nChristopher Summerfield is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford\, and Research Director at the AI Safety Institute (AISI)\, the UK’s pioneering state-backed organisation dedicated to ensuring that advanced AI technology is both safe and beneficial for society. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/christopher-summerfield-these-strange-new-minds/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/these-strange-new-minds-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T200000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T150819Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T110835Z
UID:10000134-1761332400-1761336000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:John Agard and Philip Nanton – Caribbean Sensations
DESCRIPTION:Join us in a special event of poetry\, musicality and conversation to showcase the Caribbean culture that has helped to transform Britain. Featuring the acclaimed poet John Agard who has been a recipient of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and whose poetry has been enjoyed by many generations of the public through the national curriculum\, alongside poet and broadcaster Philip Nanton who created the spoken word CD and book Island Voices\, it celebrates wordplay\, crossing cultures and the art of liming (going with the flow).  \n\n\n\nJohn Agard is an internationally acclaimed poet\, playwright and short story writer who grew up in Guyana\, where his love of language stemmed from listening to cricket commentaries on the radio as well as books.  As an admired cross-cultural voice\, he is well known for his inspiring work with young people and adults\, particularly his visits to schools. His poems have been studied at GCSE for decades which means that thousands of intergenerational families have grown up with his words and writing.  Agard was the first Poet in Residence for the BBC and he has been featured in numerous poetry and Windrush seasons on TV and radio.  A recipient of many prizes\, including the Smarties Book Prize and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry\, he was in 2021 awarded the prestigious BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to children’s literature. His poems have been studied at GCSE for decades which means that thousands of intergenerational families have grown up with his words and writing.  \n\n\n\nPhilip Nanton is a poet\, a spoken word artist who often incorporates humour within his practice and a broadcaster who has presented programmes for BBC Radio 3 and 4. He was born in St.Vincent and the Grenadines and after spending substantial time in the UK\, has been based in Barbados since 2000. His career began in British local government policymaking and he has been an overseas consultant in many regions including Britain\, the Caribbean and Africa. Nanton has taught poetry to teachers across the Caribbean countries. He is the author of various books and cds including Island Voices from St. Christopher and the Barracudas has been widely acclaimed and has been performed at many literary festivals and shows including Miami International Book Fair\, Bocas Literary Festival. In 2021\, his biography of the  jazz virtuoso and award winning poet Shake Keane Riff: The Shake Keane Story was published by Papillote Press. \n\n\n\nThis event is presented and sponsored by Renaissance One\, co-produced by Wey Valley Academy\, supported by funding by Arts Council England and sponsorship from Authentic Education. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/john-agard-and-philip-nanton-caribbean-sensations/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/John-Agard-courtesy-of-Renaissance-One.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T180000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250715T155848Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250819T081625Z
UID:10000153-1761325200-1761328800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Sarah Vine – How Not To Be a Political Wife
DESCRIPTION:An unflinching account of life at the heart of politics\, and what it’s like to have politics rip the heart out of your life. This is a story of high hopes and dirty tricks\, broken friendships and divided loyalties\, laughter and glamour.  \n\n\n\nRecollections\, as a great woman once said\, may of course vary\, but\, Sarah says: ‘this is my story\, the way I remember it\, written with no fear\, no favour – and no f…s left to give. Buckle up!’ \n\n\n\nI thought long and hard about writing this memoir. I’ve done so not to settle old scores or plead my case\, but more because I hope it’s a tale worth telling\, not just for those who are interested in the political events of the past few years\, but also because it’s about the people and characters behind those events\, and why things ended up the way they did. For nearly 20 years I was inside the rooms of government\, a sanctioned eavesdropper on the rise – and fall – of the Cameron style of Conservatism. At the same time I was building a career in journalism\, raising two children and doing my best to support my own husband\, Michael Gove\, on his political journey. I was both an insider and an outsider; an observer – via my journalism – as well as a participant in the cut and thrust (mainly cut\, if I’m honest) of frontline politics. \n\n\n\nAfter my divorce from Michael and the demise of the Conservatives’ Old Guard\, that all came to an end. I’m no longer officially a Westminster WAG\, but you won’t find me mourning. Politics trampled my health\, my happiness\, my marriage\, my sanity; it placed intolerable pressure on my loved ones\, especially my children; it twisted my sense of self\, and others’ sense of me; it tainted everything I did or said. I can’t say I miss it. I do\, however\, miss the life and the relationships I had before it all. These are the recollections of a survivor\, but they are also a love letter to all that was lost in the wreck.’Born in Wales in 1967\, Sarah grew up in Italy\, returning to the UK as a teenager. She read modern languages at UCL before moving into journalism\, starting at the Daily Mirror before joining The Times. Sarah is now an award-winning columnist for the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday. She lives in London with the kids and (too many) animals. \n\n\n\nSarah Vine will be in conversation with Jo Durrant \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/sarah-vine-how-not-to-be-a-political-wife/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/How-Not-to-be-a-Political-Wife-jacket.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T160000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T145725Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250730T102226Z
UID:10000123-1761318000-1761321600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Rev Richard Coles – A Death on Location
DESCRIPTION:In the spring of 1990\, we return to Champton\, where the characters we’ve come to love are all aflutter as a glamorous Hollywood movie takes over Champton House as its set location. \n\n\n\nAs the actors and extras hired from the village don their farthingales\, gowns and crowns for a masque set in the 1600s\, a murder interrupts filming on set – and it’s an ingenious one… \n\n\n\nCan Daniel solve the mystery with help from his sidekick Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo – even when things are so sticky between them? \n\n\n\nRichard Coles is a writer\, broadcaster and an Anglican priest. He co-presented Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 for a number of years and appears\, from time to time\, on QI\, Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You? He has won Christmas MasterChef\, Celebrity Mastermind twice\, and captained Leeds to victory in Christmas University Challenge in 2019. A contestant on Strictly Come Dancing (2017) and a third place finalist on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (2024). \n\n\n\nHe writes regularly for the Sunday Times\, and is the author of half a dozen books\, including a bestselling autobiography\, Fathomless Riches\, and the bereavement bestseller The Madness of Grief\, written after the death of his partner\, David Coles. The first three books in the Canon Clement series have all been No.1 Sunday Times bestsellers. \n\n\n\nTickets £29 including a copy of the book. £43 for two tickets including one book. Friends discount only applies to ticket cost.
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/rev-richard-coles-a-death-on-set/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T140000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T145511Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T160807Z
UID:10000120-1761310800-1761314400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Anne Sebba – The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz
DESCRIPTION:In 1943\, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls from eleven nations were drafted into a hurriedly assembled band that would play marching music to other inmates\, forced labourers who left each morning and returned\, exhausted and often broken\, at the end of the day. While still living amid the most brutal and dehumanising of circumstances\, they were also made to give weekly concerts for Nazi officers\, and individual members were sometimes summoned to give solo performances of an officer’s favourite piece of music. It was the only entirely female orchestra in any of the Nazi prison camps and\, for almost all of the musicians chosen to take part\, being in the orchestra was to save their lives. \n\n\n\nWhat role could music play in a death camp? What was the effect on those women who owed their survival to their participation in a Nazi propaganda project? And how did it feel to be forced to provide solace to the perpetrators of a genocide that claimed the lives of their family and friends? In The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz\, award-winning historian Anne Sebba traces these tangled questions of deep moral complexity with sensitivity and care. \n\n\n\nFrom Alma Rosé\, the orchestra’s main conductor\, niece of Gustav Mahler and a formidable pre-war celebrity violinist\, to Anita Lasker-Wallfisch\, its teenage cellist and last surviving member\, Sebba draws on meticulous archival research and exclusive first-hand accounts to tell the full and astonishing story of the orchestra\, its members and the response of other prisoners for the first time. \n\n\n\nAnne Sebba is a historian and an award-winning biographer who began her career as a Reuters correspondent based in London and Rome. She has written eleven works of non-fiction\, mostly about iconic 20th century women\, that have been translated into a variety of languages including French\, Polish\, Czech\, Japanese and Chinese. Anne makes regular television and radio appearances and has presented two BBC radio documentaries about musicians. She is the author of the international bestseller That Woman\, an acclaimed biography of Wallis Simpson\, Duchess of Windsor\, and the prize-winning Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived\, Loved and Died Under Nazi Occupation. Her most recent book was Ethel Rosenberg\, the Short Life and Great Betrayal of an American Wife and Mother\, shortlisted for the Wingate award. Anne is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature\, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and trustee of the National Archives Trust. She lives in London.  \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/anne-sebba-the-womens-orchestra-of-auschwitz/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/WOMENS-ORCHESTRA-OF-AUSCHWITZ-cover-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T120000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T145044Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T160532Z
UID:10000119-1761303600-1761307200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Dr Lucy Pollock – The Golden Rule – Lessons in Living
DESCRIPTION:Today\, we are living longer lives\, and have choices now as never before about how we will age. What will make us happy? What are we frightened of? What might allay those fears? What changes\, made right now\, will help us to flourish as we age? This book contains lessons learned from thirty years of working with older people and those close to them. It looks at problems that can be fixed with tests and tablets\, and problems that require a different sort of medicine. Dr Lucy Pollock explains what she has been taught about loss\, about impossible families\, about becoming older without children\, and the things she has learned about sexuality\, race\, love\, and living with uncertainty. \n\n\n\nLucy believes the power has been in the wrong place for too long – medical teams have not always heard the voices of older people or those who love them. But if we are given power to influence the lives of our future selves\, how best shall we use it? What do we want? What difference can we make? This is the moment for us to act\, to set in place a better society for older people\, and to build the future we want for ourselves. \n\n\n\nLucy Pollock trained at Cambridge and at Bart’s Hospital and is now a Consultant Geriatrician in Somerset. She has been working with older people for 30 years\, and has learned useful things about life from a great many older people. She is the author of The Book About Getting Older. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/dr-lucy-pollock-the-golden-rule-lessons-in-living/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/The-Golden-Rule-Jacket.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T193000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T115158Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T164106Z
UID:10000128-1761244200-1761247800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Sir Graham Brady – Kingmaker – Secrets\, Lies and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers
DESCRIPTION:An explosive memoir from the heart of Westminster\, lifting the lid on some of the leadership battles that have defined British politics for a decade and a half during the eras of five Conservative prime ministers – Cameron\, May\, Johnson\, Truss and Sunak. From coalition to Brexit\, Covid to Partygate\, Trussonomics to the 2024 election\, prime ministers came and went\, while one man was at the heart of every leadership challenge\, seeing all\, saying nothing. Until now. \n\n\n\nSir Graham Brady became Chairman of the 1922 Committee in 2010. As leader of the group with power to choose a new leader of the Conservative Party\, his hand held the axe over five Conservative prime ministers’ heads. Elected to parliament in 1997 as the youngest Conservative MP in the house\, Brady comes from a lower middle-class background and fell into politics age 16 when he joined a campaign to save his grammar school. This book is the story of how a boy from Salford came to be the definitive Tory insider\, offering insights into the character and choices of successive Prime Ministers and the administrations they led. Ultimately\, it reveals where our most recent leadership failures originate\, and asks hard questions about who will be fit to lead us tomorrow.Born in Salford in 1967\, Sir Graham Brady served as a Shadow Minister under four Conservative leaders before resigning in 2007 in protest at David Cameron’s opposition to grammar schools. He has been Chairman of the 1922 Committee\, the group which selects the leader of the Conservative Party\, since 2010. During his tenure\, Brady has overseen the election of three Prime Ministers – Theresa May\, Liz Truss\, and Rishi Sunak – as well as votes of no confidence in May and Boris Johnson. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/sir-graham-brady-kingmaker-secrets-lies-and-the-truth-about-five-prime-ministers/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T173000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T114310Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T160232Z
UID:10000118-1761237000-1761240600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:The Oldie Event: When Harry met Andrew – Harry Mount in conversation with A N Wilson
DESCRIPTION:Harry Mount\, the Editor of The Oldie\, will be talking to AN Wilson the award winning author of 60 histories\, novels and biographies on subjects ranging from Queen Victoria\, Charles Darwin and Jesus to John Betjeman\, Leo Tolstoy and Adolf Hitler\, and one of The Oldie’s regular columnists. His latest book\, Goethe: His Faustian Life\, reveals Goethe as a true polymath: the inventor of the psychological novel\, a pioneer scientist\, a great man of the theatre and a leading politician. \n\n\n\nAndrew and Harry are great conversationalists\, so you can be sure of a very lively hour. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/the-oldie-event-when-harry-met-andrew-harry-mount-in-conversation-with-a-n-wilson/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/a-n-wilson-pt-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T143000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T153000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250714T152852Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250715T183303Z
UID:10000152-1761229800-1761233400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Sir Tony Robinson – The House of Wolf
DESCRIPTION:In Rome Father Asser is waiting to die. His idealism has landed him in a papal prison on false charges of heresy\, but then salvation arrives in an unexpected form. Cardinal Balotelli also dreams of a better Europe\, free from the ravages of the Norlanders. He has an important job for Asser\, one that will take him home to Wessex\, where King Aethelwolf’s power is fading\, but none of his feckless children are fit to rule. \n\n\n\nHis eldest sons would rather fight each other than the blood-thirsty Norlander invaders. His daughter\, Swift\, is clever and cunning\, but sometimes blinded by her ambition. Finally there’s Alfred\, his once promising younger son\, whom nobody has seen in years. Then Wolf meets a young priest with a proposition from Rome that could change everything. \n\n\n\nMeanwhile in Lindisfarne Rhiannon is a slave who wants to see her Saxon captors punished for their crimes. So when she meets Guthrum\, a Norlander hell-bent on wiping Wessex from the map\, she sets out on a journey of destruction. So begins an epic struggle between greed and idealism\, ambition and betrayal\, freedom and tyranny. Because change always meets with resistance and\, on the path to power\, nobody can be trusted. \n\n\n\nSir Tony Robinson\, actor\, presenter\, historical expert and star of Blackadder and Time Team\, makes his adult fiction debut with this earthy\, entertaining and gloriously witty recreation of the Anglo-Saxons\, Alfred the Great\, and the making of England.Sir Tony Robinson is one of Britain’s foremost faces of popular history through presenting 20 seasons of Channel 4’s archaeology series Time Team and as the creator of the worldwide icon Baldrick in Blackadder. In a varied and international career\, he has won two RTS awards\, a BAFTA and the International Prix Jeunesse. He started out at the age of 13 in Oliver! and has gone on to enjoy a long acting career in theatre\, TV drama and sitcom\, and an acclaimed presenting career of documentary and factual television. He is the author of over 30 children’s books and several adult non-fiction books\, including an autobiography\, No Cunning Plan. An ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society since2008\, Sir Tony received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2013. The House of Wolf is his first novel. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/sir-tony-robinson-the-house-of-wolf/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/House-of-Wolf-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T123000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T133000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T114012Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T155759Z
UID:10000117-1761222600-1761226200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Helen Carr – Sceptred Isle – A New History of the Fourteenth Century
DESCRIPTION:In a thrilling narrative account\, Helen Carr sheds new light on a pivotal period of English history  in the first book to cover the whole of the fourteenth century in over thirty years. Beginning with the death of Edward I in 1307\, and ending with the deposition of Richard II in 1399\, Sceptred Isle is the story of the last Plantagenets. Through the epic drama of regicide\, war\, the prolonged spectre of the Black Death\, religious antagonism\, revolt and the end of a royal dynasty\, we encounter the human stories behind a fractured monarchy\, the birth of the struggle between Europeanism and nationalism\, social rebellion and a global pandemic.Helen Carr is a historian and writer specialising in medieval history and public history. Her bestselling first book\, The Red Prince\, was a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her second book\, an edited volume of essays titled What is History\, Now? has become primary reading for history students and enthusiasts globally. Helen also works in podcasting\, television and journalism and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a postgraduate researcher at Queen Mary University of London. \n\n\n\nHelen Carr will be in conversation with Jenny Devitt \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/helen-carr-sceptred-isle-a-new-history-of-the-fourteenth-century/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Sceptred-Isle-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T120000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250512T113044Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250821T105059Z
UID:10000122-1761217200-1761220800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Christopher Somerville – Britain’s Best Walks
DESCRIPTION:Christopoher Somerville has covered the length and breadth of the UK on foot\, and has written and broadcast about its history\, landscape\, wildlife and people for over 25 years. In this extensive new volume\, he selects his top 200 routes from his hugely popular Times column\, A Good Walk. \n\n\n\nMore than just a basic guidebook\, this is a meditation on our relationship with the landscape and a celebration of all that Britain has to offer. From Cornwall to Shetland via Pembrokeshire and Barrowdale\, this is the most comprehensive collection of walks in the United Kingdom available in one book\, and features trails to suit all skill levels and references\, whether you want a gentle ramble to the pub or something much more challenging. \n\n\n\nFeaturing stunning photography and using Christopher’s trademark wit and lyricism\, this is the perfect book for ramblers anywhere. \n\n\n\nChristopher Somerville is a Times journalist with 25 years’ experience of writing and broadcasting about country walks (and tougher hikes). He is the author of Somerville’s 100 Best British Walks\, Where to See Wildlife in Britain and Ireland and Best Wild Places. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/christopher-somerville-britains-best-walks/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Britains-best-walks-jacket.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T190000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250509T141224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T164547Z
UID:10000130-1761156000-1761159600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:David Walsh and Pippa York – The Escape: The Tour\, The Cyclist and Me
DESCRIPTION:The first memoir from one of British cycling’s most enigmatic characters. \n\n\n\nIn the summer of 2020 sportswriter David Walsh asked Pippa York if she’d be his travelling companion for the Tour de France. The deal was that he would sort out the logistics beforehand\, the hotels\, the transport details and she would do the day-to-day tasks of getting them about and adding her insight occasionally. It would also mean she would return to the race she had ridden eleven times as Robert Millar. \n\n\n\nThis is the resulting book: a unique and entertaining sporting odyssey\, using the minutiae of Pippa and David’s trip\, and the iconic landmarks of the Tour de France\, to explore her early life growing up in working class Glasgow; her entry into racing; the psychological aspects of the sport and how that manifested itself in her personality; her ups and downs as a competitor; her post-career and her eventual transition from male to female in her 40s. \n\n\n\nTouching on doping\, gender in sport and the unique wonders and day-to-day challenges of the Tour\, The Escape is both an unforgettable travelogue through the world’s greatest cycling event and a one-of-a-kind memoir from arguably the sport’s most enigmatic and fascinating competitors. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/david-walsh-and-pippa-york-the-escape-the-tour-the-cyclist-and-me/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/The-Escape-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T170000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250509T143352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250527T161108Z
UID:10000144-1761148800-1761152400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Ray Mears – Outdoor Tracking Handbook
DESCRIPTION:Ray Mears has accumulated his tracking skills over 35 years of practice in the field\, all over the world\, and this book will be the first authoritative but accessible and practical manual. \n\n\n\nAn essential guide for enthusiasts who want to discover the outdoors in a new way\, and read the secret stories of animals and birds in the tracks they leave behind as well as a go-to reference for professionals\, from naturalists to police and military operatives\, the hand book is illustrated with clear instructions\, interlaced with Ray’s own inspiring first-hand experiences. \n\n\n\n In ITV’s landmark 2021 series Wild China\, Ray tracked the rare and elusive snow leopard\, enabling his film crew to capture in groundbreaking new footage. His work with the military and police\, meanwhile\, is often highly confidential. In this book\, he draws deeply from every avenue of an extraordinary life’s work\, and passes on his hard-earned expertise. \n\n\n\nRay Mears has become recognised throughout the world as an authority on the subject of bushcraft and survival. TV series including Ray Mears’ Bushcraft\, Ray Mears’ World of Survival\, Extreme Survival and Ray Mears goes Walkabout have made him a household name over the past two decades\, but he has spent his whole life learning these skills\, and founded Woodlore School of Wilderness Bushcraft over 35 years ago. He lives in Sussex with his family. \n\n\n\nRay Mears will be in conversation with Jenny Devitt. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/ray-mears-outdoor-tracking-handbook/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Outdoor-Tracking-Handbook.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T150000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250509T141110Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250818T094013Z
UID:10000116-1761141600-1761145200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Adam Nicolson – Bird School
DESCRIPTION:Close to Adam Nicolson’s home in Sussex\, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds – nightingales\, the occasional cuckoo\, ravens\, robins\, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods. \n\n\n\nAdam Nicolson wanted to look and listen\, to return to ‘bird school’ and see what it might teach him. He built a small shed amongst the trees with nesting boxes and bird feeders. Cocooned inside\, season after season\, he got to know the birds: where they nest\, how they sing\, how they mate and fight\, what preys on them\, what they are like as living things. \n\n\n\nBeautifully written and woven through with philosophy\, literature\, science and a sense of wonder\, always conscious that that this is an age in which the natural world is under siege\, Bird School pulls back thecurtain on seemingly ordinary birds\, taking a long\, careful and concerned look at our relationship with the wild. \n\n\n\nADAM NICOLSON is the prize-winning author of many books on history\, landscape\, and great literature. He is the winner of the Somerset Maugham Award\, the W. H. Heinemann Award\, the Ondaatje Prize\, the Wainwright Prize for nature writing and the Richard Jefferies Award. His books include Life Between the Tides and The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters. He lives on a farm in Sussex. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students) \n\n\n\nAdam Nicolson will be in conversation with Mike McCarthy \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Lulworth Estate\, Dorset
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/adam-nicolson-bird-school/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bird-School_jacket.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T130000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250509T140923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250818T091639Z
UID:10000115-1761134400-1761138000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Sonia Purnell – Kingmaker: Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction\, intrigue and power
DESCRIPTION:Born into an impoverished aristocratic family\, and raised on the family’s Minterne estate near Dorchester\, Pamela Churchill Harriman became Winston Churchill’s daughter-in-law and trusted confidante\, and American ambassador to Paris under Bill Clinton\, one of the most influential women in twentieth century politics\, dismissed by many as the greatest courtesan of the age. Bestselling author Sonia Purnell reclaims Pamela’s legacy and inserts her back into her rightful place in history. Full of sex\, intrigue\, scandal\, glamour and some of the biggest names in the second half of the twentieth century (from Hitler to JFK to Prince Aly Khan\, Jackie Onassis and Elie de Rothschild)\, this is a brilliant record of the power that women could – and couldn’t – wield. Sonia Purnell is a biographer and journalist who has written for the Guardian\, the Daily Telegraph\, and the Sunday Times. Her biography of Virginia Hall\, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall\, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy\, won the Plutarch Award for Best Biography and was a New York Times bestseller. Her book First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill was a book of the year in the Daily Telegraph\, the Independent and shortlisted for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography. Her first book\, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition\, was longlisted for the Orwell prize. \n\n\n\nSonia Purnell will be in conversation with Allan Mallinson. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/sonia-purnell-kingmaker-pamela-churchill-harrimans-astonishing-life-of-seduction-intrigue-and-power/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Kingmaker-PB.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251022T113000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250509T140357Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250527T152337Z
UID:10000114-1761129000-1761132600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Monica Macias – Black Girl from Pyongyang
DESCRIPTION:In 1979\, aged only seven\, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father\, the President of Equatorial Guinea\, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally\, Kim Il Sung. \n\n\n\nWithin months\, her father was executed in a military coup led by her cousin (the still reigning leader)\, while her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned\, she and two siblings had to make their lifein Pyongyang. At military boarding school\, Monica learned to mix with older children\, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons in training exercises. \n\n\n\nReaching adulthood\, she went in search of her roots. Spending time in Madrid\, Malabo\, New York\, Seoul and finally London\, at every step she had to reckon with others’ perceptions of her and her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching\, Monica’s astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes. \n\n\n\nMonica Macias has lived in many countries around the world in search of her identity as a global citizen\, including: Equatorial Guinea\, Pyongyang\, Seoul\, Beijing\, Madrid\, New York City\, and now resides in south London. Black Girl from Pyongyang is her first book to be published in English\, and she will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary film. \n\n\n\nMonica Macias will be in conversation with Lulu Taylor. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/monica-macias-black-girl-from-pyongyang/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Black-Girl-From-Pyongyang-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T193000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250507T135848Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T105023Z
UID:10000139-1760812200-1760815800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Daisy Goodwin – Diva
DESCRIPTION:In this remarkable novel\, best-selling author Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent\, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. But it was only in confronting the heartbreak of losing the man she loved that Maria Callas found her true voice. \n\n\n\nIn the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera\, Maria Callas is known simply as La Divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice\, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty\, she’s the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. Yet her fame has been hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her\, Maria learned early in life how to protect herself. When she meets the fabulously rich shipping magnate\, Aristotle Onassis\, her isolation melts away. For the first time in her life\, she believes she’s found a man who sees Maria the woman rather than the legendary soprano. Desperately in love\, Callas follows Onassis into the world of International Café Society\, mixing with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor\, Richard Burton\, Princess Grace and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. And then\, suddenly\, it’s over. The international press announced that Onassis will marry the most famous woman in the world\, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy\, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces. \n\n\n\nDaisy Goodwin will discuss Maria Callas’s colourful life\, accompanied by live performances by Josephine Goddard\, a celebrated soprano\, and in conversation with Lulu Taylor. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/daisy-goodwin-diva/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Diva_Daisy-Goodwin_PB.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T163000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T173000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250507T135439Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T103822Z
UID:10000109-1760805000-1760808600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Gordon Corera – The Spy in the Archive
DESCRIPTION:How do you steal a library? Not just any library but the most secret archive in the world. The answer is to be a librarian. To be so quiet\, that no-one knows what you are up to as you toil undercover over decades and so low key\, that even after your escape\, aided by MI6\, no-one even notices you are gone. \n\n\n\nThe Spy in the Archive is the remarkable story of how Vasili Mitrokhin – an introverted archivist who loved nothing more than dusty files – ended up changing the world. \n\n\n\nAs the in-house archivist for the KGB\, the secrets he was exposed to inside its walls turned him first into a dissident and then a spy\, a man determined to expose the truth about the dark forces that had subverted Russia\, forces still at work in the country today. \n\n\n\nThis is the story of one man’s journey from the heart of the Soviet state to disillusion and then betrayal and his determination to take on the most powerful institution in the world. \n\n\n\nGordon Corera is a journalist and writer on intelligence and security issues. Since 2004 he has been a Security Correspondent for BBC News where he covers terrorism\, cyber security\, the work of intelligence agencies and other national security issues for the BBC. He co-hosts The Rest is Classified podcast with former CIA analyst and spy novelist\, David McCloskey. \n\n\n\nGordon Corera will be in conversation with Kate Adie OBE. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/gordon-corera-the-spy-in-the-archive/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/The-Spy-in-the-Archive-cover_-FINAL.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T143000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T153000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250507T084342Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250724T103631Z
UID:10000108-1760797800-1760801400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Max Hastings – Sword
DESCRIPTION:On 6 June 1944\, when the Allied armies landed on D-Day\, the Second World War had already lasted almost five years. Yet many of the British and American troops who invaded Normandy were virgin soldiers\, never before committed to battle. They quit summer England to face\, within hours\, a storm of machine-gun and mortar fire. They witnessed scenes\, above all of sudden death\, such as no exercise had prepared them for.    \n\n\n\nIn Sword\, veteran chronicler of war Max Hastings explores with extraordinary vividness the actions of the Commando brigade\, Montgomery’s 3rd Infantry and 6th Airborne divisions on and around a single British beach.  He describes their frustrations\, hopes\, loves and fears through the apparently interminable years training and preparing in England\, then their triumphs and tragedies on the beach and beyond. Here are the airborne assaults on the Caen Canal bridge and Merville Battery\, the battles on the shoreline and against the German strongpoints inland\, narrated and explained with all the insights that Hastings’ decades of study\, veterans’ interviews and new archive research enable him to deploy.   \n\n\n\nThe book offers a searching analysis of why British troops did not reach Caen on 6 June\, as Montgomery had promised Churchill that they would – and the story of the brigadier who was sacked for that failure. There is also a host of personal portraits of key figures from commando leader Lord Lovat\, famously brave but supremely arrogant\, to tank colonel Jim Eadie\, whose tanks of the Staffordshire Yeomanry repulsed a panzer division in the last hours of 6 June\, and some of the humbler participants to whom extraordinary things happened. This is D-Day as you have never read the story told before. \n\n\n\nMax Hastings is the author of more than thirty books\, many of them about 20th Century wars\, including All Hell Let Loose\, Catastrophe\, Vietnam and Abyss. In his early years as a correspondent\, he reported on eleven conflicts including Vietnam\, the 1973 Yom Kippur and 1982 Falklands wars for the BBC and various newspapers. A former editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph\, he has won many awards both for his journalism and books\, including Journalist of the Year\, Reporter of the Year\, Editor of the Year\, together with a Somerset Maugham Prize and two RUSI Westminster Medals. He contributes to The Times\, reviews books for the Sunday Times and writes a column for Bloomberg Inc. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/max-hastings-sword/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Sword-cover_FINAL.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T123000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T133000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250507T084207Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250515T151830Z
UID:10000137-1760790600-1760794200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Dr Julie Smith – Open When
DESCRIPTION:Million-copy bestselling psychologist Dr Julie Smith is back with the book for when being human starts to get complicated. When you feel overwhelmed\, pressure to perform\, are grieving\, are making big decisions\, when you get it wrong as a parent\, when you want to win the argument\, when you’re overthinking everything\, when you want to fit in\, and more. \n\n\n\nEach chapter begins with a letter from Dr Julie to the reader offering comfort and perspective and follows with her trademark simple and straightforward advice to help you see clearly how best to respond and act. \n\n\n\nDr Julie Smith is the nation’s favourite psychologist. An author\, online educator and Clinical Psychologist\, Julie has a combined following of almost nine million. She shot to fame with viral videos on social media\, and her drive to create accessible\, good quality mental health resources\, that were rooted in her decade of experience as a Clinical Psychologist led to her writing Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? A publishing phenomenon\, the book spent over 100 weeks in the UK Sunday Times bestseller charts with 23 of those at #1. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/dr-julie-smith-open-when/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Open-When-Jacket-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251018T113000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20250507T083835Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251014T101440Z
UID:10000131-1760783400-1760787000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Tim Spector – Ferment – The life changing power of microbes
DESCRIPTION:Tim Spector is on a mission to bring fermenting into our lives and kitchens. Drawing on the latest science and his own experiments\, Ferment is an accessible introduction to the life-changing benefits of fermentation – for beginners and enthusiasts alike. \n\n\n\nFermenting is one of the most ancient\, nutritious and cheap techniques for preparing and preserving food and drink. With little more than time\, patience and basic equipment\, the humblest of ingredients can be transformed into nutritious foods with an astonishing range of benefits for our gut health\, immunity and daily mood. Including practical tips and some of his favourite recipes\, Ferment cuts through myths and misunderstanding to help us navigate the fascinating world of ferments and shows how they can help improve our health\, our meal times and our planet.Tim Spector is Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London. He is the bestselling author of The Diet Myth\, Spoon-Fed\, Food for Life and The Food for Life Cookbook\, and scientific co-founder of ZOE\, the nutrition science company. With a focus on cutting-edge science and honoured with an OBE for his work in fighting Covid-19\, Tim stands at the forefront of his field. The original pioneer of microbiome research\, he is among the top 100 most cited scientists in the world. \n\n\n\nTim Spector will be in conversation with Jenny Devitt. \n\n\n\nPlease note there is an overlap between this event and the preceding one\, so you will not be able to attend both. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/tim-spector-ferment-the-life-changing-power-of-microbes/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T203000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20240704T100746Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241019T083949Z
UID:10000105-1729366200-1729369800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Mike Brearley – Turning Over the Pebbles
DESCRIPTION:Mike Brearley reviews his life with all its attendant emotions\, tensions and moves\, in what he calls ‘memoir of the mind’. This is book of his second thoughts and reassessments\, allowing him to understand more fully things that were obscure to him earlier. After all\, he says\, ‘captaining ourselves\, like captaining a team\, requires a willingness to allow thoughts and feelings their space’.Deeply thoughtful\, erudite and elegantly framed\, this book seamlessly blends all aspects of Brearley’s life into a single integrated narrative. With wide-ranging meditations on sport\, philosophy\, literature\, religion\, leadership\, psychoanalysis\, music and more\, Brearley delves into his private passions and candidly examines the various shifts\, conflicts and triumphs of his extraordinary life and career\, both on and off the field. \n\n\n\nMike Brearley was educated at Cambridge\, where he read classics and moral sciences\, and captained the university. He played for Middlesex County Cricket Club intermittently from 1961 to 1970\, and regularly from 1971\, captaining the side until his retirement in 1982. He first played for England in 1976 and captained the side from 1977 to 1980\, winning seventeen test matches and losing only four. He was recalled to the captaincy in 1981 for the Ashes home series\, leading England to one of their most famous victories. From 1981\, he trained and continues to work as a psychoanalyst\, and is a lecturer both on leadership and on psychoanalysis. He is the author of the bestselling The Art of Captaincy\, On Form\, On Cricket\, Spirit of Cricket and has written on cricket and the psychology of sport for the Sunday Times\, Observer\, The Times and Prospect. \n\n\n\nMike Brearley will be in conversation with Paul Atterbury. \n\n\n\nTickets £12/£6 (Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/mike-brearley-turning-over-the-pebbles/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T183000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20240605T150946Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T160727Z
UID:10000098-1729359000-1729362600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Jonathan Dimbleby – Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won The War
DESCRIPTION:June 1944. Operation Bagration: the greatest defeat ever suffered by the German Armed Forces. More than two million Red Army soldiers\, facing 500\,000 German adversaries\, finally avenged their defeat in Operation Barbarossa three years earlier. In the ensuing three weeks\, Hitler’s Army Group Centre lost 28 of its 32 divisions.While the same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy\, it was in fact the events on the Eastern Front in 1944 that were the knockout blow in the Second World War. Despite the myths that remain today\, it was this brutal struggle from the Baltic to the Black Sea that saw the Wehrmacht crucially defeated.Drawing on previously untranslated German and Russian sources – many from ‘ordinary’ soldiers – bestselling historian Jonathan Dimbleby describes and analyses with authority and panache this momentous year in the East. He illuminates the bloody battles that raged along the 2000 kilometres-long front\, while also explaining the unusual roles played by deception\, the partisans\, and the war within a war in Ukraine.Dimbleby’s gripping\, masterly narrative sets the drama of the relationships between the “big three” of Churchill\, Roosevelt and Stalin against the history being created on the battlefield\, and shows how his victories in 1944 enabled the Soviet leader to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement and lay the foundations for the Cold War. \n\n\n\nJonathan Dimbleby is the author of The Battle of the Atlantic and Destiny in the Desert: The Road to El Alamein\, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize and was followed by his BBC2 programme Churchill’s Desert War. His other books include\, Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People\, Richard Dimbleby: A Biography\, The Palestinians\, The Prince of Wales: A Biography and The Last Governor: Chris Patten and the Handover of Hong Kong. \n\n\n\nJonathan Dimbleby will be in conversation with Allan Mallinson. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jonathan-dimbleby-endgame-1944/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T153000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T163000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20240515T140712Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240816T105125Z
UID:10000081-1729351800-1729355400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Michael Mansfield – The Power in the People
DESCRIPTION:The internationally renowned human rights barrister shows us how the powerto change the world is in the hands of people\, not the people in power.‘I want this book to inspire people\, give them a blueprint for fighting their own battles\, and challenge the status quo. To see that together\, we are always stronger. To understand that those who stand in the way of change cannot do so forever.’ Michael Mansfield\, KC \n\n\n\nBarrister Michael Mansfield\, KC \, has spent his career fighting injustice\, persecution and corruption. And be it the Birmingham Six\, Bloody Sunday\, Stephen Lawrence\, the Marchioness\, Hillsborough or Grenfell\, he has come to learn one thing – that people power is unstoppable. Time and again he has witnessed governments\, police forces\, legal institutions and the establishment\, try to block change and maintain the status quo in order to protect their interests. But almost every time he has seen that passion\, perseverance\, collectivity and courage create a powerful momentum which is increasingly difficult to stop. \n\n\n\nIn this short but powerful book\, the veteran barrister draws upon his 50 years of fighting for justice and revisits his most important cases and clients\, proving without doubt that when people get together they can make lasting and positive change. The power is in the people – not the people in power. \n\n\n\nMichael Mansfield KC is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as “The king of human rights work” by The Legal 500 and as a leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/michael-mansfield-the-power-in-the-people/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-power-in-the-people.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T133000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T143000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20240515T140713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T160920Z
UID:10000080-1729344600-1729348200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Tom Baldwin – Keir Starmer\, The Biography
DESCRIPTION:This authoritative biography by Tom Baldwin provides answers by drawing deeply on many hours of interviews with the Labour leader himself\, as well as unprecedented access to members of his family\, his oldest friends and closest colleagues. \n\n\n\nTogether\, they tell an unexpectedly intimate story filled with feelings of grief and love that has driven him on more than any rigid ideology or loyalty to a particular faction. \n\n\n\nThe book tracks Starmer’s emergence from a troubled small town background and rebellious youth\, through a storied legal career as a human rights barrister and the country’s chief prosecutor\, to becoming an MP relatively late in life. \n\n\n\nBaldwin provides a vivid and compelling account of how this untypical politician then rose to be leader of his party in succession to Jeremy Corbyn\, then transformed it with a ruthless rapidity that has enraged opponents from the left just as much as it has bewildered those on the right. \n\n\n\nAbove all\, this is a book that should be read by anyone who wants to understand how someone who has too often been underestimated or dismissed as dull\, now intends to change Britain. \n\n\n\nThis will be the most important political book of the year’ MATTHEW D’ANCONA\, EVENING STANDARD \n\n\n\n‘The first serious and consistently readable biography of Starmer…It is a wonder that he has said so much to Baldwin’ PATRICK MAGUIRE\, THE TIMES \n\n\n\n‘Required reading for anyone who has an interest in who governs Britain’ ALASTAIR CAMPBELL \n\n\n\n‘Highly readable… Baldwin has peeled back more layers than anyone else’ ROBERT SHRIMSLEY\, FINANCIAL TIMES \n\n\n\n‘Tom Baldwin’s portrait is of a tough\, conscientious\, and kindly man with the right values’ ANDREW MARR\, NEW STATESMAN \n\n\n\n‘A highly informative\, illuminating and insightful biography… the most complete portrait we have yet been offered’ OBSERVER \n\n\n\nTom Baldwin is a journalist and writer who has worked for The Times and The Sunday Telegraph. He was a senior political adviser to Ed Miliband and the Labour Party’s director of communications and strategy. \n\n\n\nTom Baldwin will be in conversation with Danny Danziger. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/tom-baldwin-keir-starmer-the-biography/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Kier-Starmer-The-Biography.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241019T130000
DTSTAMP:20260429T235336
CREATED:20240515T140713Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240816T105417Z
UID:10000079-1729339200-1729342800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Mick Conefrey – Fallen
DESCRIPTION:On 6 June 1924\, George Mallory donned an oxygen set and set off for the summit of Everest with his young partner Andrew Irvine. Two days later they were glimpsed through clouds heading upwards\, but after that\, they were never seen again. Whether they died on the way up or on the way down no one knows.In the years following his disappearance\, Mallory was elevated into an all-British hero. Dubbed by his friends the ‘Galahad’ of Everest\, he was lionised in the press as the greatest mountaineer of his generation who had died while taking on the ultimate challenge. Handsome\, charismatic and daring\, he was a skilled public speaker\, an athletic and technically gifted climber\, a committed Socialist and a supremely attractive figure to both men and women. \n\n\n\nHis friends ranged from the gay artists and writers of the Bloomsbury group to the best mountaineers of his era. But that was only one side to him. Mallory was also a risk taker who according to his friend and biographer David Pye\, could never get behind the wheel of a car without overtaking the vehicle in front\, a climber who pushed himself and those around him to the limits\, a chaotic technophobe who was forever losing equipment or mishandling it\, the man who led his porters to their deaths in 1922 and his young partner to his uncertain end in 1924. \n\n\n\nSo who was the real Mallory and what were the forces that made him and ultimately destroyed him? Why did the man who denounced oxygen sets as ‘damnable heresy’ in 1922 perish on an oxygen-powered summit attempt two years later? And above all\, what made him go back to Everest for the third time? \n\n\n\nBased on diaries\, letters\, memoirs and thousands of contemporary documents\, Fallen is both a forensic account of Mallory’s last expedition to Everest in 1924 and an attempt to get under his skin and separate the man from the myth. \n\n\n\nMick Conefrey is an award winning writer and documentary maker. He made the landmark BBC series Mountain Men and Icemen and The Race for Everest to mark the 60th anniversary of the first ascent. His previous books include Everest 1953\, the winner of a LeggiMontagna award\, and The Ghosts of K2 which won a US National Outdoor Book award in 2017. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/mick-conefrey-fallen/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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