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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Dorchester Literary Festival
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T113000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193944
CREATED:20260605T104143Z
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SUMMARY:Anthony Seldon – The Path of Light
DESCRIPTION:In 2021\, Anthony Seldon\, inspired by a fallen First World War soldier who dreamed of a ‘Via Sacra’ tocommemorate the war dead and stand as a marker for the triumph of peace\, set out on a 1\,000km walktracing the historic route of the Western Front. He went on to recount that story in the widely acclaimedThe Path of Peace. But there wasn’t to be lasting peace\, with the continent falling into an even morehorrific war two decades later. \n\n\n\nIn The Path of Light\, Seldon sets out to walk a new 1\,300 km route from the same starting point atKilometre Zero to Auschwitz\, discovering in the towns and villages through which he walks stories ofwomen and men who bravely protected the vulnerable and stood up to evil in the face of unimaginablebrutality during the Second World War. \n\n\n\nAs he ruminates on these ‘figures of light’\, whose uplifting stories he encounters along his path\, a pattern begins to emerge about how we can draw on their lives to build a better and more peaceful world\, never more needed than now\, with the ominous and increasing drumbeat of belligerence globally that month by month is the constant backdrop of his walk between 2023 and 2025. It proved a harder book to write than The Path of Peace. But it was a project he knew he had to complete\, whatever the cost. \n\n\n\nSir Anthony Seldon is an educator\, historian\, writer and commentator. He is author or editor of over fortybooks on contemporary history\, politics and education\, including the Sunday Times bestsellers Johnsonat 10 and Truss at 10 \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/anthony-seldon-the-path-of-light/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T130000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193944
CREATED:20260605T104142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T104142Z
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SUMMARY:Jonn Elledge – 31 Inventions that Built Our World
DESCRIPTION:For over 10\,000 years\, the human race has been busy altering our environment and embracing ‘progress’\, evolving seamlessly from hunter gatherers to the modern urban sophisticates we seeourselves as today. But what are the ideas and inventions that enabled humanity to become\, by the early 21st century\, a majority urban species for the first time? How did the essential infrastructure of modern life – the innovations that we barely even notice\, but without which our world would fall apart – happen? \n\n\n\nWith his characteristic wit and boundless curiosity\, Jonn Elledge invites us to join him on a fascinating and often surprising tour of the ideas and technologies that made modernity possible. From elevators to electric lighting\, street numbering to sewers\, he guides us through the history of civilisation itself. \n\n\n\nJonn Elledge is the author of the number-one bestseller\, A History of the World in 47 Borders. A New Statesman and New World columnist\, he is a regular on the podcasts Oh God\, What Now? and the late\, lamented Paper Cuts\, and a frequent contributor to The i Paper\, the Guardian and assorted other publications. He was previously an assistant editor at the New Statesman\, where he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site\, spending six happy years writing about cities\, maps and borders and hosting the Skylines podcast. He has written three books\, as well as over 200 editions of the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything. He lives in London\, with the best dog in the world. \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jonn-elledge-31-inventions-that-built-our-world/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T150000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193944
CREATED:20260605T104141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T104141Z
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SUMMARY:Victoria Hislop – The Wine Dark Sea
DESCRIPTION:Beloved\, bestselling author Victoria Hislop explores the turbulence of the post-war era in Greece in this unforgettable and riveting new novel that will delight those fans who cherish The Island and The Figurine. \n\n\n\nDuring three years of brutal civil war in Greece\, thousands of children were caught in the chaos that swept across the country. Huge numbers were orphaned\, many found themselves imprisoned alongside their mothers and others were left to fend for themselves. The Wine-Dark Sea follows the travails of a mother\, searching for both a daughter who has been kidnapped and taken behind the Iron Curtain and a boy who\, unbeknown to her\, has been sold into adoption. \n\n\n\nVictoria Hislop said\, ‘I am excited about the publication of The Wine-Dark Sea\, which is my tenthbook. The post-war period in Greece has many untold stories\, buried through shame and a desireto forget. Research took me not just to obscure corners of Greece itself\, but also outside it\, to Hungary and the US. I continue to learn so much about Greece\, in particular the lesser-known parts of its history\, which are a source of great inspiration. The hidden stories of this country\, that has made me its own\, continue to fascinate me and provide rich material for fiction.ʼ \n\n\n\nVictoria Hislop’s debut novel The Island has sold over 6 million copies. Her books have been translated into forty languages and Victoria was executive producer on the adaptations of three of her novels for Greek television. She divides her time between England and Greece and in 2020 was granted honorary citizenship by the President of Greece. She is Vice President of the British School at Athens\, is on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles and also on the Advisory Board for the Parthenon Project. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Patra and Sheffield. In 2025\, she was awarded the Byron Medal for Philhellenism at the Athens Academy and became the first woman to become an honorary member of the Society of Greek Writers. \n\n\n\nTickets £16.00 (£12.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/victoria-hislop-the-wine-dark-sea/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T170000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193944
CREATED:20260605T104141Z
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SUMMARY:Blake Morrison –  Afterburn and On Memoir
DESCRIPTION:In Afterburn\, Blake Morrison returns to poetry\, his first calling\, to offer scenes from his own life and the lives of others. In psychology\, ‘afterburn’ refers to the time before a past event is assimilated – an idea that resonates through these poems (which themselves linger after reading) about memory and our attempts to articulate\, shape or contain it. \n\n\n\nThroughout the collection\, not least in two extraordinary sequences – one about his sister\, the otherabout Elizabeth Bishop – the poet sees with new eyes the turning points in a life’s accidental course.What holds his wise\, touching\, melancholy yet joyful poems together are the small intimacies that bindus to others\, under time’s lengthening shadow: ‘you moved too fast for me to catch you / and so didthe years.’ \n\n\n\nTickets £14.00 (£10.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/blake-morrison-afterburn-and-on-memoir/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261022T190000
DTSTAMP:20260608T193944
CREATED:20260605T104140Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260605T111902Z
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SUMMARY:Julian Fellowes – In Conversation: My Life and Work
DESCRIPTION:Julian Fellowes is a multi-award-winning actor\, writer\, director\, producer and Conservative peer.  In conversation\, Julian will talk about his early life\, acting and the writing career that made him a household name. As creator of  Downton Abbey\, he has won three Emmy awards as well as the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Gosford Park. Other writing credits for film include Vanity Fair\, Young Victoria\, and The Gilded Age. His books include the international bestsellers Snobs and Past Imperfect. Julian Fellowes became Baron Fellowes of  West Stafford in 2011. He lives in Dorset and London with his wife\, Emma. \n\n\n\nJulian Fellowes will be in conversation with Mark Chutter\, Creative Director of the Thomas Hardy Society. \n\n\n\nTickets £16.00 (£12.00 Students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/julian-fellowes-in-conversation-my-life-and-work/
LOCATION:The Dorford Centre\, 2 Bridport Road\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1RR\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
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