BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Dorchester Literary Festival - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Dorchester Literary Festival
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Dorchester Literary Festival
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/London
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20220327T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20221030T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20230326T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20231029T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20240331T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20241027T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:BST
DTSTART:20250330T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20251026T010000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T161657Z
UID:10000071-1729180800-1729184400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:The Oldie Event – Giles Wood and Mary Killen – Country Life – in conversation with Harry Mount
DESCRIPTION:Former townies Giles and Mary swapped city life for rural Wiltshire over thirty years ago\, and they’ve each embraced it in their own very different ways.Mary has happily traded sophisticated London salons for monthly lectures at the Farmers’ Club\, competitive school quizzes\, church interactions and local Auction House sales. While Giles has immersed himself in the catastrophic consequences of conventional farming\, his organic no-dig veg-patch\, the increasingly disproportionate response by local landlords to harmless trespassers and the strange death of the village house martins.For recent city escapees and indigenous country folk alike\, Giles and Mary sift through the unhelpful dreamy myths and offer a practical reality\, with robust back and forth on every aspect of life in rural outposts\, including but not limited to planning wars\, class wars\, dog thefts\, tree-felling fights\, misunderstandings between incomers and natives and the role of the Heron Appreciation Society.The much-loved Wiltshire couple share their combined\, hard-earned lessons\, so we can learn the secret skills of grumbling and bumbling our way towards a new contented country life. \n\n\n\nGiles Wood Giles Wood is an accomplished artist\, and is also a published writer\, with columns in The Telegraph and The Oldie. In the podcast space\, he can be heard on Giles and Mary’s Oldie Newsround with Harry Mount.  \n\n\n\nMary Killen is a busy journalist\, with a weekly column in The Spectator\, and regular contributions in many other national publications. She has been appearing on Channel 4’s hit show Gogglebox since 2015 with her husband Giles\, sitting together in their cottage in Wiltshire. This is Mary’s seventh book. \n\n\n\nGiles and Mary will be in conversation with Harry Mount\, editor of The Oldie Magazine. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/the-oldie-event-giles-wood-and-mary-killen-country-life-in-conversation-with-harry-mount/
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/Giles-Mary-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T150000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241007T152326Z
UID:10000069-1729173600-1729177200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Victoria Hislop – The Figurine
DESCRIPTION:In her irresistible new novel\, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people – and countries – will pay to cling on to them. \n\n\n\nOf all the ancient art that captures the imagination\, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors – and looters – alike. \n\n\n\nWhen Helena inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens\, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child\, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote\, cruel grandfather was one of the regime’s generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms\, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them? \n\n\n\nHelena’s desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology\, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth – and to understand the origins of her grandfather’s collection. \n\n\n\nHelena’s attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather’s actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of ‘home’\, both in relation to looted objects of antiquity … and herself. \n\n\n\nBest-known for her evocative and thoroughly researched historical novels\, set against the backdrop of southern Europe – particularly Greece – Victoria Hislop is one of the UK’s bestselling novelists. She worked as a journalist and in publishing before writing her first novel\, The Island\, inspired by her love of Greece. Widely considered a modern classic\, the novel – which follows four generations of a family on the leper colony island of Spinalonga\, off the coast of Crete – was an instant hit with Waterstones booksellers and became an international bestseller. Since then she has continued to dominate bestseller lists\, with books including The Return\, The Thread\, The Sunrise and Carte Postales from Greece and Those Who Are Loved. \n\n\n\nVictoria Hislop will be in conversation with Lulu Taylor \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Dorchester Town Council \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Dorchester BID \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/victoria-hislop-the-figurine/
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-FIGURINE-HB-JACKET-FINAL-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T130000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240916T153733Z
UID:10000070-1729166400-1729170000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:James Holland – Cassino ’44
DESCRIPTION:It should have an easy victory. After triumph in Tunisia\, the sweeping success of the Sicilian invasion\, and with Italy finally knocked out of the war\, the Allies were confident that they would be in Rome before Christmas 1943. \n\n\n\nAnd yet it didn’t happen. Hitler ordered his forces to dig in\, thus setting the stage for one of the grimmest and most attritional phases of the Second World War. Even though they were short of supplies and support\, even in retreat\, the German troops made the Allies fight for every bitter yard. By early 1944\, they had created a formidable defensive position across the Italian peninsular: the Gustav Line\, a barrier of bunkers\, minefields\, booby traps\, dug-outs and strategic artillery positions. This\, and the combination of dogged defence and utterly debilitating conditions\, ground the Allied advance to a standstill some sixty miles south of Rome\, at the foot of the hill on which stood the thousand-year-old abbey of Monte Cassino. \n\n\n\nThe battle for that rock was one of the most brutal of the entire war\, would last more than four long winter months and cost the lives of over 75\,000 soldiers and civilians. The abbey and the landscape around it were decimated\, leaving the large local population homeless and their centuries-old community annihilated. Following a rich cast of characters and with access to new information from all sides of the battle\, both military and civilian\, James Holland has written the definitive account of one of the most pivotal battles of the war and created a thrilling reconstruction of what it was really like to be at the centre of the maelstrom of war.James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian\, writer\, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently Brothers In Arms and Normandy ’44\, he is also the author of nine works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts. He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year\, and he has presented – and written – many television programmes and series for the BBC\, Channel 4\, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels. With Al Murray\, he has a successful Second World War podcast\, We Have Ways of Making You Talk\, which also has its own festival\, and is a research fellow at St Andrew’s University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by H K Law
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/james-holland-cassino-44/
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/Cassino-44-HB-cover-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241017T113000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241008T103143Z
UID:10000067-1729161000-1729164600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Nusrit Mehtab – Off the Beat
DESCRIPTION:Over the course of her 30 year long career in the Metropolitan Police\, Nusrit Mehtab was subjected to and witnessed a host of racist and sexist behaviour. This included fellow officers refusing to use her name\, being sent out alone on nighttime foot patrols\, witnessing male officers make lewd and derogatory comments about women leaving night clubs\, seeing female officers being physically groped by male colleagues\, and being instructed by a senior officer not to report a newly graffitied swastika on a wall inside the secure area of a London police station.  \n\n\n\nIn Off the Beat she recounts what it was like for a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage to work in the Met\, and she proposes solutions to bring about real change and overcome the deep\, cultural problems that continue to plague the force today.   \n\n\n\nWhen Nusrit Mehtab joined the Metropolitan Police in the late 80s\, she entered an organisation that was rife with racism\, misogyny and homophobia. She had grown up in East London not trusting the police and had never seen a police officer who looked like her – a woman with brown skin – but she wanted to change that from the inside. Nusrit stayed in the force for 30 years\, battling both for herself and for other officers facing discrimination to get fair opportunities and be treated equally.  \n\n\n\nFrom the very beginning\, Nusrit was marked as an outsider. Fellow officers refused to patrol with her and she was subject to frequent\, demeaning ‘pranks’. As her career progressed\, things didn’t get easier\, instead her attempts to get promoted were met with hostility and ridicule. Her experience was not unique: it was also the experience of many of her black and Asian colleagues. \n\n\n\nAfter spending 30 years on the frontline and having risen from PC to superintendent\, Nusrit decided that she had no alternative but to resign from the Met\, initiating an employment tribunal against them for racism and misogyny in the process. \n\n\n\nNow a lecturer in policing law and criminology at the University of East London\, she is involved in training the next generation of police officers. She is confident that it is possible to create a more inclusive police force that is safer for both officers and the public. \n\n\n\nNusrit Mehtab was born in Pakistan and came to the UK with her family as a baby.  During her 30 year career in the Met she worked in some of the most challenging areas of policing\, including Serious and Organised Crime\, Counter Terrorism\, Clubs and Vice.  She was the first Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage to become an undercover officer in the UK.In January 2020\, after a career spanning 30 years\, Nusrit left the Met and instigated an employment tribunal against them. At that time\, she was one of the highest-ranking Asian women in the force.  Nusrit is now a lecturer in policing law and criminology at the University of East London.  By teaching police recruits she now hopes she can change the force for the better from the outside. \n\n\n\nNusrit Mehtab will be in conversation with Jenny Devitt \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/nusrit-mehtab-off-the-beat/
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/Nusrit-jkt-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T190000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T162113Z
UID:10000074-1729101600-1729105200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Alan Hollinghurst – Our Evenings
DESCRIPTION:Both dark and luminous\, poignant and wickedly funny\, Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel gives us a portrait of modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed and often unnerving experience. It is a story of race and class\, theatre and sexuality\, love and the cruel shock of violence\, from the finest writer of our age. \n\n\n\nDid I have a grievance? Most of us\, without looking far\, could find something that had harmed us\, and oppressed us\, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it\, thought it healthier not to\, though I’d lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice. \n\n\n\nDave Win is thirteen years old when he first goes to stay with the Hadlows\, the sponsors of his scholarship at a local boarding school where their son Giles is his contemporary. For Dave this weekend\, with its games and challenges and surprising encounters\, will open up heady new possibilities\, even as it exposes him to Giles’s envy and violence. As Our Evenings unfolds over half a century\, the two boys’ careers will diverge dramatically\, Dave a gifted actor struggling with convention and discrimination\, Giles an increasingly powerful and dangerous politician. \n\n\n\nOur Evenings is Dave Win’s own account of his life as a schoolboy and student\, his first love affairs\, in London\, and on the road with an experimental theatre company\, and of a late-life affair\, which transforms his sixties with a new sense of happiness and a perilous security; but it is also\, very movingly\, the story of his hard-working widowed mother\, whose own life takes an unexpected new turn after her son leaves home. \n\n\n\nAlan James Hollinghurst is an English novelist\, poet\, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award\, the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize\, and for his novel The Line of Beauty the 2004 Booker Prize. Hollinghurst is credited with having helped gay-themed fiction to break into the literary mainstream through his six novels since 1988. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/alan-hollinghurst-our-evenings/
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/Our-Evenings.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T162154Z
UID:10000066-1729094400-1729098000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Rachel de Thame – A Flower Garden for Pollinators
DESCRIPTION:With bees\, butterflies and other pollinators threatened by climate change and habitat loss\, it’s now more important than ever to support and nurture pollinators in your garden. In this practical and beautiful guide\, expert horticulturalist and regular Gardener’s World presenter Rachel de Thame shows you how to create a garden that provides an abundant resource of plants rich in nectar and pollen.Arranged by season and illustrated with exquisite hand-painted watercolours and glorious photography\, this book provides a captivating look at supporting nature. Whether you have a courtyard garden or a large country garden\, A Flower Garden for Pollinators will tell you what to plant and when in order to attract and sustain a host of pollinators all year round. \n\n\n\nRachel de Thame is a horticulturalist\, broadcaster\, designer and writer. A familiar face on our screens since 1999\, Rachel is perhaps best known for presenting on BBC’s flagship series Gardeners’ World andthe hugely popular series Countrywise for ITV1. Rachel’s passion for plants and gardens emerged in early childhood and is now the cornerstone of a varied career \n\n\n\nRachel de Thame will be in conversation with Mike McCarthy \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Summer Lodge Hotel \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/rachel-de-thame-a-flower-garden-for-pollinators/
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/Flower-Garden-for-Pollinators.-Hi-Res-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T150000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T162234Z
UID:10000065-1729087200-1729090800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Scotty Mills – Never Give In
DESCRIPTION:Former Royal Marine\, Major Scotty Mills\, blends personal experiences from his remarkable life with inspirational advice and insights to provide his 12 Commando Rules for Life that could help anyone to do better and reach their targets. \n\n\n\nA sudden downpour while Scotty Mills was walking down a street in South London sent him diving for cover into the nearest shop. It turned out to be a recruitment centre for the Royal Marines and\, after a few minutes’ conversation while waiting for the rain to stop\, Scotty was hooked and signed up to join the elite force. It changed his life and set him in a new direction that would end up with him leading the Marines on operations around the world\, becoming an Olympic flag bearer in 2012 and dining at Buckingham Palace with the Queen and the royal family. Scotty shares his lessons of performance and resilience with the reader\, inviting them into the secrets of elite culture. His compelling story is one that combines tragedy with remarkable insight about the power of human inspiration. Scotty has worked with many of our nation’s top sports teams\, helping them to achieve their goals\, and he shares his methods with his readers\, to guide them to peak performance in all aspects of their life and career.Scotty Mills was born and raised in south London\, joining the Royal Marines in his teens. He went on to become the highest-ranking commissioned black officer in Marines history. During his time in the Marines\, he not only served numerous tours of duty overseas\, but also worked with the England rugby World Cup-winning squad of 2003\, the GB women’s Olympic hockey team and Gareth Southgate’s England football squad. His reputation as an inspirational leader and team builder led to him being described as Gareth’s secret weapon on television. \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Hall & Woodhouse. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/scotty-mills-never-give-in/
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/Never-Give-In-cover.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T130000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240828T180521Z
UID:10000062-1729080000-1729083600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Anne Somerset – Queen Victoria and her Prime Ministers
DESCRIPTION:Anne Somerset masterfully traces Victoria’s political evolution\, from headstrong teenager to seasoned octogenarian. This book demonstrates her passionate involvement in state affairs\, and casts fresh light on her relationships with her ten prime ministers. \n\n\n\nVictoria herself acknowledged that when it came to ‘likes and dislikes’ of her prime ministers\, ‘she had them very strongly’. She showed girlish adoration for her first Prime Minister\, the worldly-wise Lord Melbourne\, whose delightful conversation and kindly guidance enchanted her. Later in her reign\, Benjamin Disraeli – who flattered her shamelessly\, tirelessly praising her sagacity and judgement and filling her life with ‘poetry\, romance and chivalry’ – became her favourite. While she developed a powerful bond with several of her Prime Ministers\, in other cases the relationship fell little short of mutual detestation. Victoria’s keenest antipathy was reserved for Disraeli’s great rival\, the Liberal William Gladstone. When he became prime minister for a fourth time at the age of 82\, Victoria declared it ‘a bad joke’ that this ‘dangerous old fanatic’ should be ‘thrust down her throat’. Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers charts the bitter clashes and affectionate interactions Victoria had with her ten premiers in often hilarious detail. Drawing extensively on unpublished sources such as material from the Royal Archives and never-before-seen prime ministerial papers\, it casts a fresh and highly illuminating perspective not just on Victoria\, but on the exceptionally able politicians who served her in government. \n\n\n\nAnne Somerset was born in 1955 and read History at King’s College\, London. Her first book\, ‘The ‘Ladies-in-Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day’\, an acclaimed biography of Elizabeth I in 1991\, then ‘Unnatural Murder: Poison in the Court of James I: The Overbury Murder’ in 1998 and ‘The Affair of the Poisons: Murder\, Infanticide and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV’. Her most recent work is Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/anne-somerset-queen-victoria-and-her-prime-ministers/
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/Queen-Victoria_Cover-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241016T113000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T162413Z
UID:10000064-1729074600-1729078200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Christina Hart Davies and Vanessa Berridge – A Herbal Year and Garden Heaven
DESCRIPTION:Drawing on writers\, storytellers and poets through the centuries\, botanical illustrator Christina Hart-Davies examines the long history of herbal remedies\, how plants have been used for healing and the beliefs that surround them\, including simple recipes for use at home\, in an enchanting\, illustrated guide to the seasonal plants used as herbal remedies over the ages fully illustrated by the author. \n\n\n\nThis is a joint panel event with Vanessa Berridge\, who will discuss her latest book that takes us on a unique tour of thirty of Britain’s most beautiful gardens\, classic and modern. Packed with photographs\, many specially commissioned\, and evocative and entertaining text\, telling the stories of the gardens and the people who created them. The gardens range from legendary romantic gardens like Sissinghurst and Great Dixter to dramatic locations like Bodnant and Overbecks. The book includes information on visiting all the gardens\, and suggestions for the best times of year. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristina Hart-Davies is a renowned botanical illustrator and writer. Her watercolours have featured in prestigious collections worldwide and have won many awards\, including six RHS Gold Medals. She has illustrated many books and field guides most notably The Collins Wild Flower Guide\, and is the author of A Wild PLant Year\, The Greenwood Trees and The Whole Story. \n\n\n\nVanessa Berridge is an acclaimed garden writer. She launched The English Garden magazine in 1997\, and her books include The Princess’s Garden: Royal Intrigue and the Untold Story of Kew\, Great British Gardeners and Kiftsgate Court Gardens: Three Generations of Women Gardeners\, which won the 2019 Garden Media Guild’s Garden Book of the Year. \n\n\n\nChristina Hart-Davies and Vanessa Berridge will be in conversation with Paul Atterbury. \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Hall & Woodhouse. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/christina-hart-davis-and-vanessa-berridge-a-herbal-year-and-garden-heaven/
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/the-herbal-year.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T190000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241007T162124Z
UID:10000073-1729015200-1729018800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Tracy Chevalier – The Glassmaker
DESCRIPTION:A vivid\, inventive\, spellbinding virtuoso portrait of a woman\, a family and a city that are as everlasting as their glass by a master of her craft. \n\n\n\nVenice\, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here – like the glass the island’s maestros spend their lives learning to handle. \n\n\n\nWomen are not meant to work with glass\, but Orsola Rosso flouts convention to save her family from ruin. She works in secret\, knowing her creations must be perfect to be accepted by men. But perfection may take a lifetime. \n\n\n\nSkipping like a stone through the centuries\, we follow Orsola as she hones her craft through war and plague\, tragedy and triumph\, love and loss. \n\n\n\nThe beads she creates will adorn the necks of empresses and courtesans from Paris to Vienna – but will she ever earn the respect of those closest to her? \n\n\n\nTracy Chevalier is the author of 10 novels\, including the international bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring\, which has sold over 5 million copies and been made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. American by birth\, British by geography\, she lives in London with her husband and son. Tracy is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature\, and has honorary doctorates from her alma maters Oberlin College and the University of East Anglia. \n\n\n\nTracy Chevalier will be in conversation with Lulu Taylor \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Blanchards Bailey \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/tracy-chevalier-the-glassmaker/
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/glassmaker.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140716Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240702T143814Z
UID:10000060-1729008000-1729011600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Sir Robin Niblett – The New Cold War
DESCRIPTION:How the contest between the US and China will shape our century \n\n\n\n\n\nAn urgent and essential assessment of the global contest between the US and China\, and how looking to history will help us to navigate it\, from former Director of Chatham House \n\n\n\nWe have entered a new Cold War\, even if most people choose not to admit it. The contest between America and China is global and unbridgeable\, and it encompasses all major instruments of statecraft: diplomacy\, technology\, military power\, intelligence\, trade and investment. It has its tinder box: Taiwan. And both protagonists are working hard to draw allies and friends to their side from east and west\, north and south. \n\n\n\nWe stand at its beginning. But this Cold War is nothing like the last\, which defined the second half of the twentieth century. We need new ideas to navigate its risks and to avoid a globally devastating war. \n\n\n\nIn this short\, urgent book\, Robin Niblett argues that only by looking back can we heed the warnings and learn the necessary lessons to guide us through this new reality: he goes through the ten ways in which the new cold war is different\, and offers five new rules for navigating it. How we manage this contest will determine not only whether there is still space for international cooperation to deal with our many global challenges\, from the climate emergency to the technological revolution\, but also who gets to dominate the twenty-first century and\, quite simply\, the course of all our futures. \n\n\n\nSir Robin Niblett is a leading expert on international relations. He is a distinguished fellow at Chatham House\, after spending 15 years as its director and chief executive until 2022\, and senior adviser at Hakluyt\, the British strategic advisory firm. He is also engaged by the Asia Society Policy Institute and the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC\, where he was Executive Vice President for ten years. He has served as chair of several World Economic Forum councils\, and advises governments and private institutions. His writing has appeared in many publications and books\, but this is his first solo book. \n\n\n\nSir Robin Niblett will be in conversation with Jo Durrant \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Michael and Eve Bonham Cozens \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/sir-robin-niblett-the-new-cold-war/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/new-cold-war-cover_updated.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T150000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240604T150306Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240702T143537Z
UID:10000096-1729000800-1729004400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Tim Spicer – A Suspicion of Spies
DESCRIPTION:The compelling first biography of Wilfred ‘Biffy’ Dunderdale – a ruthless and effective spymaster whose career spanned the Russian Revolution to the Cold War and beyond. A Suspicion of Spies is filled with stories of adventure\, bravery\,and glamour\, revealing the complicated intrigues of the world of British intelligence. A lifelong friend of Ian Fleming\,Biffy is considered to be the blueprint for James Bond. \n\n\n\n1916\, Russia. A 16-year-old Wilfred ‘Biffy’ Dunderdale is working for his father\, taking submarines from Vladivostok to St Petersburg for the Russian Imperial Navy. He takes a submarine out for sea trials along with a naval dockyard crew he’d never met before. Spotting a group of German ships\, he gives the order to attack and sinks four of them. On returning to Kronstadt\, breaking free from an anti-submarine net with just 30 minutes of oxygen left\, he opens the hatch to find every gun in the port facing him and his crew. Fluent in Russian\, he quickly defuses the situation. For this action he is awarded by Tsar Nicholas II the Order of St. Stanislav and the Order of St. Anne\, imperial Russia’s highest knighthood for military valour and ‘bravery in battle’. \n\n\n\nBiffy\, born and raised in Odessa\, soon learnt to operate at all levels of Odessan society. Clearly highly intelligent\, by 16 he was studying Naval Architecture and Naval Engineering in St Petersburg-broadening his education further in the waterfront barsof both Odessa and St. Petersburg. \n\n\n\nAged 18\,he was engaged by Naval Intelligence as an interpreter on account of his language skills\,English\, Russian\, French\, Polish and German. He would soon grow into a buccaneering member of the British Secret Intelligence Service in a career spanning forty years which Biffy described as ‘40 years of licensed thuggery.’ Biffy appears in over 60 books and websites and yet no one has ever written the story of his life. As Tim Spicer says\,‘He was rather like a ghost one knew was there but the apparition never stood still long enough for a clear view.’ Biffy was a lifelong friend of Ian Fleming and many attribute his influence to the creation of Bond.The tales of action and intrigue found in this comprehensive biography could be taken straight fromthe pages of From Russia with Love\, for which Biffy acted as consultant. \n\n\n\nLieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer OBE has led a life filled with action and adventure. During his twenty years in the British Army\, he saw active service in NorthernIreland\, the Falklands campaign\, the Gulf War and the Balkans\, as well as serving in the Far East\, Cyprus and Germany. Key appointments have included Chief of Staff of an Armoured Brigade\, Staff Officer at the Directorate of Special Forces and Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards\, among many others.Over the course of his illustrious military career\, Spicer has developed extensive knowledge of intelligence\, counter terrorism\, complex relations and protective security. In 2001 he founded the private security company Aegis\, which has counted the UK\, US and Italian governments among its clients. He is the author of An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair\, a fast-moving account of his military life\, including the events surrounding his time in Papua New Guinea when he was captured and held at gunpoint\, as well as the notorious ‘Sandline Affair’ of 1996\, and A Dangerous Enterprise that charts the history of the little-known\, yet remarkable 15th Motor Gunboat Flotilla\, commanded directly by the Secret Intelligence Service. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/tim-spicer-a-suspicion-of-spies/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/A-Suspicion-of-Spies.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T130000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240702T143311Z
UID:10000059-1728993600-1728997200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Jim Down – Life in the Balance
DESCRIPTION:A Doctor’s Stories of Intensive Care \n\n\n\n\n\nDr Jim Down brings us to the very heart of the intensive care unit – the section of the hospital where the sickest patients are brought to be cared for until their condition improves. With honesty\, humility and a streak of dark humour\, Dr Down describes the quietly heroic work of doctors and nurses on the ICU\, a place which sits at the cutting edge of medical technology and where a split-second decision can make the difference between life and death. \n\n\n\nFrom headline-grabbing cases like that of Alexander Litvinenko\, poisoned by Russian agents and admitted to Down’s ward\, to the appalling aftermath of a train crash\, and the mundane daily struggle to simply find enough beds\, Jim Down provides a unique insight into life on The Unit\, and the critical medicine doctors and nurses perform there. \n\n\n\nLife in the Balance offers the first real glimpse of intensive care medicine\, its immense challenges\, deleterious effects on doctors’ mental health and enormous rewards. Its profundity will make you reconsider the fragility of life and reframe your understanding of what it means to care. \n\n\n\nDr Jim Down is a consultant in critical care and anaesthesia at University College London Hospitals. He chairs the ICU consultants’ group\, the department of anaesthesia weekly scientific meetings\, and the UCLH Trust guideline committee. During the Covid-19 pandemic he worked on UCLH’s busy ICU ward\, and was interviewed by the BBC for a groundbreaking report depicting medics on the frontline. His account of that period\, Life Support\, was published in 2021. \n\n\n\nDr Jim Down will be in conversation with Dr Helen Thomas \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jim-down-life-in-the-balance/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/LifeInTheBalance-High-Res-cover-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241015T113000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240702T142527Z
UID:10000058-1728988200-1728991800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Nigel Toon – How AI Thinks
DESCRIPTION:Those who understand how AI thinks are about to win big. Leading British AI entrepreneur Nigel Toon explains why it’s so exciting and how it can be controlled. \n\n\n\nHow AI Thinks shows us how we can harness the electrifying intelligence of machines. Unlike other books on AI which often scare us\, through storytelling that shows us how we think\, Nigel Toon helps us understand AI and its incredible possibilities. He explains that AI is a tool that we can control and how it will augment our own amazing human intelligence. ‘In my role running an AI company\,’ says Nigel Toon\, ‘I am often asked about artificial intelligence\, but people are prone to say that they don’t understand it and fear it. AI is complex and so\, like other powerful tools that have come before\, our lack of understanding can easily lead us to think that it might present a threat to humanity. We need to learn more\, not just about the risks but also about the benefits that this important new technology can deliver\, because it will end up changing our lives and\, perhaps more importantly\, the lives of the next generation.‘Over the course of a career spent at the forefront of technology\, I have been directly involved in developing the underlying technology that makes AI work\, and I understand how this story will play out. I want to help you learn how AI thinks’. \n\n\n\nNigel Toon is a leading figure in AI and is often called upon to speak at major industry events. He has been recognized with numerous industry awards including\, ranked #1 on Business Insiders ‘100 most influential people shaping British technology’ and as one of the ‘Top 100 entrepreneurs in the UK’ by the Financial Times. \n\n\n\nNigel has a background as a technology business leader\, entrepreneur\, and engineer having been CEO at three successful VC-backed processor companies\, including Graphcore which he co-founded and which developed a new type of microprocessor to accelerate Artificial Intelligence. He was previously a senior executive at a major Silicon Valley\, publicly listed semiconductor company. He has served as a Board Member and Chairman for several technology businesses and currently sits as a Non-Executive Director on the board of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) which is a non-departmental UK public body that directs over £8bn per year into research and innovation funding. He has also been a member of the UK Prime Minster’s Business Council. \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by C P Fry \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/nigel-toon-how-ai-thinks/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/How-AI-Thinks-HB-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T190000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240702T141443Z
UID:10000057-1728928800-1728932400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Jack Cornish – The Lost Paths
DESCRIPTION:A History of How we Walk From Here to There \n\n\n\n\n\nA journey across Britain’s millennia-old network of pathways\, revealing key moments throughout our history. \n\n\n\nHundreds of thousands of miles of paths reach into\, and connect\, communities across England and Wales. By 2026\, 10\,000 miles of undiscovered footpaths around Britain stand to be lost. Jack Cornish has dedicated the last five years of his life to walking these forgotten routes\, and this book\, The Lost Paths\, is the result. \n\n\n\nFootpaths\, tracks\, country lanes and urban streets illuminate how our ancestors interacted with and shaped their landscapes in the pursuit of commerce\, salvation\, escape\, war\, and leisure. Paths are an often overlooked part of our everyday life and our country’s history\, crucial to understanding the cultural and environmental history of us in the landscape. \n\n\n\nAfter dedicating his time and energy to fighting for their survival\, The Lost Paths is Jack’s personal journey and exploration of the deep history of English and Welsh footways. This narrative history takes us through ancient forests\, exposed mountainsides\, urban back streets and coastal vistas to reveal how this millennia-old network was created and has been transformed. \n\n\n\nThis is a celebration of an ancient network and a rallying cry to reclaim what has been lost and preserve it for future generations. \n\n\n\nJack Cornish is head of paths at the Ramblers\, Britain’s largest walking charity\, withover 100\,000 members. In 2017\, he walked across the country from Land’s End to John O’Groats\, and is ten years into a (probably futile) attempt to walk every street in London. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/jack-cornish-the-lost-paths/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/The-Lost-Paths-cover.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240517T090740Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240702T140711Z
UID:10000084-1728921600-1728925200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Gavin Pretor-Pinney – Cloud Spotting For Beginners
DESCRIPTION:An introduction to the wondrous world of clouds\, by the internationally bestselling founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society and a prize-winning children’s book author and illustrator.Have you ever watched a cloud being born?Clouds come in all manner of shapes and sizes\, from low-lying Stratus to high-flying Cirrus via roll clouds\, banner clouds and tornados. This beautifully illustrated guide reveals the facts\, secrets and stories of all the major cloud types\, and how they shape the weather around them. We learn their fancy Latin names\, explore the parts of the sky where they like to hang out\, marvel at the ways they play with sunlight – and even visit them on other planets\, where they are sometimes made of acid.Cloudspotting for Beginners will inspire curious minds with a lifelong sense of meteorological wonder. \n\n\n\nGavin Pretor-Pinney is founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society\, which has more than 47\,000 members in 120 countries. He is the author of the internationally bestselling Cloudspotter’s Guide and Cloud Collector’s Handbook. His third book\, The Wavewatcher’s Companion\, won the prestigious Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. Gavin is a TED Global speaker with over 1.2 million views. He has presented television documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 and is a Visiting Fellow at the Meteorology Department of Reading University and winner of the Royal Meteorological Society’s Michael Hunt award. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/gavin-pretor-pinney-cloud-spotting-for-beginners/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cloud-spotting-for-beginners.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T150000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241001T162653Z
UID:10000056-1728914400-1728918000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Michael Peppiatt - Francis Bacon: a Self-Portrait in Words
DESCRIPTION:A new collection of letters\, statements\, studio notes and interviews reveals the innermost thoughts of Francis Bacon\, one of the 20th century’s most influential artists. Expertly annotated by Michael Peppiatt\, the documents selected for Francis Bacon: A Self-Portrait in Words illustrate Bacon’s sharp wit and ability to express complex ideas in highly personal\, memorable language. Split into four sections – Statements\, Letters\, Studio Notes and Selected Interviews – the book includes a large selection of letters to friends\, patrons and fellow artists\, as well as Bacon’s artist statements\, lists of paintings under way\, intriguing notes and interviews\, many of which have only come to light since his death. Bacon’s letters mirror and reveal his dominant preoccupations at different points throughout his long career\, with most of them having never been published before. Recipients range from Lucian Freud to Graham Sutherland\, and collectors Robert and Lisa Sainsbury to gangster Ronnie Kray\, as well as to many close friends and Peppiatt himself. Together with photographs\, archive material and works by the artist are numerous reproductions of Bacon’s characteristic handwriting\, from the briefest jottings and notes to more extensive letters and statements. Bacon frequently came up with memorable epithets and definitions. He delighted in doing with words what he set out to do in painting: ‘I like phrases that cut me.’ Michael Peppiatt explores the personal legacy of one of the 20th century’s most important painters\, presenting a compelling verbal self-portrait that reveals both man and artist. \n\n\n\nMichael Peppiatt is a well-known writer and curator\, who began his career as an art critic in London and Paris in the 1960s. Described by The Art Newspaper as ‘the best art writer of his generation’\, his previous books include Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma\, Francis Bacon in Your Blood and Francis Bacon: Studies for a Portrait. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/michael-peppiat-francis-bacon-a-self-portrait-in-words/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Francis-Bacon-jkt-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241014T130000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240604T145418Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241008T144011Z
UID:10000097-1728907200-1728910800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Martin Gayford – How Painting Happens (and why it matters)
DESCRIPTION:In the words of the late Gillian Ayres\, this is a book about “what can be done with painting.” Drawing on decades of conversations with practicing painters\, acclaimed author Martin Gayford offers intimate insight into the practice\, meaning\, and potential of this timeless medium. \n\n\n\nAs a way of making images\, pigment applied to any surface from cave wall to canvas\, painting has been around for tens of thousands of years. Yet it has proved capable of endless renewal. Now in the third decade of the twenty-first century it is once more at the forefront of contemporary art. How Painting Happens will consider how and why this is so\, examining this perennial medium through the eyes of its exponents past and present. \n\n\n\nMartin Gayford will draw on interviews carried out over more than two decades with\, among many others\, Frank Auerbach\, Gillian Ayres\, Georg Baselitz\, Frank Bowling\, Richard Estes\, Lucian Freud\, Katharina Fritsch\, Rebecca Horn\, Shirazeh Houshiary\, Lee Ufan\, Paula Rego\, Bridget Riley\, Jenny Saville\, Frank Stella\, Hiroshi Sugimoto\, Wayne Thiebaud\, Luc Tuymans\, and Zeng Fanzhi. \n\n\n\nThese diverse artists talk about how they work\, the different routes by which they came to be painters\, their contemporaries\, and predecessors. With painters’ insight they discuss such previous exponents of the brush as Titian\, El Greco\, Edward Hopper\, Suzanne Valadon\, Petrus Christus\, Van Gogh\, Degas\, Klee\, and Delacroix. \n\n\n\nAltogether\, this book presents a fresh\, multidimensional perspective on the medium—so ancient and yet simultaneously so modern\, and still capable of doing things no other art form can. \n\n\n\nPraise for How Painting Happens:Critic and art historian Martin Gayford’s How Painting Happens (And Why it Matters) (Thames & Hudson) was hailed by Stephen Smith at the Financial Times: “Stimulating and sumptuously illustrated\, How Painting Happens is really two books in one\, a double-sided canvas. The ‘recto’\, as art world types would dub the ‘front’ side\, depicts humankind’s steady upward progress\, from scratches on a cave wall to the glorious\, inexhaustible possibilities of paint and beyond.” The Irish Times’ Gemma Tipton wrote that “How Painting Happens succeeds in providing keys to unlocking the puzzles of painting”\, as both a “erudite and insightful” read. Writing for the New Statesman\, Andrew Marr noted: “This is as clear a piece of writing about the experience of looking at a great painting as I have ever read.’  \n\n\n\nMartin Gayford is a writer and art critic. His books include Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud; Modernists and Mavericks: Bacon\, Freud\, Hockney and the London Painters; A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen and Spring Cannot Be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy\, both with David Hockney; Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now\, with Antony Gormley; Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud\, 1939-1954\, with David Dawson; and Venice: City of Pictures. \n\n\n\nKindly sponsored by Duke’s Auctioneers \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/martin-gayford-how-painting-happens/
LOCATION:Dorset Museum\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1XA\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/How-Painting-Happens-jacket-revised-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241013T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241013T140000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240517T092037Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240819T143756Z
UID:10000086-1728820800-1728828000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Wessex Writers – A Literary Walk
DESCRIPTION:12 Midday Sunday 13 October 2024 \n\n\n\nDuring this walk the Chairman and Academic Director of the Thomas Hardy Society\, Mark Damon Chutter\, will guide you through Dorchester and Fordington to explore the world of architect\, writer and poet Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)\, the  Dorset dialect poet and philologist\, William Barnes (1801–1886)\, and the LGBT pioneer Sylvia Townsend Warner (1883–1978). All of these writers feature Dorchester in different ways from The Mayor of Casterbridge to The Geate A Vallen-To -alongside the Diaries and Journals of Sylvia Townsend Warner. \n\n\n\nMark Damon Chutter is a Drama and English specialist. He is a Head of Performing Arts and has been teaching for 30 years. Mark was shortlisted as one of the top six teachers in the country by The  Times in 2014 and 2015. He is a member of the committee of the  Dorchester Civic Society and also of the Dorchester Town Council Heritage Committee and STAND. Come and join Mark for a fascinating walk and tour around the literary aspects of Dorchester. \n\n\n\nMeet at the Thomas Hardy Statue at the Top 0’ Town. The walk will be from  12 midday until 2pm. At 2pm there will be a cream tea at a cost of £10 per person. Please book separately and directly with The Old Tea House for this on 01305 263719. \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by The Duchy of Cornwall
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/wessex-writers-a-literary-walk/
LOCATION:Thomas Hardy Statue\, The Grove\, Dorchester\, Dorset\, DT1 1UT
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/hardy-picture-2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T203000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240816T113919Z
UID:10000082-1728761400-1728765000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Ben Macintyre – The Siege
DESCRIPTION:Britain’s best-selling historian writes the first definitive account of the famous televised SAS storming of the Iranian embassy in London in 1980 \n\n\n\nOn April 30\, 1980\, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate\, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages\, including embassy staff\, visitors\, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history\, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff\, while the SAS – hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy – laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod. \n\n\n\nDrawing on unpublished source material\, exclusive interviews with the SAS\, and testimony from witnesses including hostages\, negotiators\, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist\, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes readers in his inimitably cinematic style from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides\, to the gripping minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue. \n\n\n\nFeaturing individuals from Margaret Thatcher to Abu Nidal\, The Siege recreates the dramatic conversations between negotiators and hostages\, the cutting-edge intelligence work happening behind-the-scenes\, and the media frenzy around this moment of international significance. This is the fast-paced story of what really happened on those fateful six days\, and the first full account of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS – and itself. \n\n\n\nBen Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz\, Agent Sonya\, SAS: Rogue Heroes\, The Spy and the Traitor\, Agent Zigzag\, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times\, and has worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in New York\, Paris and Washington. Several of his books have been made into films and television series\, including Operation Mincemeat\, A Spy Among Friends and SAS: Rogue Heroes. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/ben-macintyre-the-siege/
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-Siege-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T183000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T163427Z
UID:10000063-1728754200-1728757800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Kate Mosse – The Map of Bones
DESCRIPTION:A sweeping and epic story of adventure and courage\, injustice and triumph\, The Map of Bones by Kate Mosse is the sequel to the number one bestselling The Ghost Ship.Olifantshoek\, Southern Africa\, 1688. When the violent Cape wind blows from the south-east\, they say the voices of the unquiet dead can be heard whispering through the deserted valley. Suzanne Joubert\, a Huguenot refugee from war-torn France\, is here to walk in her cousin’s footsteps. Louise Reydon-Joubert\, the notorious she-captain and pirate commander\, landed at the Cape of Good Hope more than sixty years ago\, then disappeared from the record as if she had never existed. Suzanne has come to find her — to lay the stories to rest. But all is not as it seems… \n\n\n\nFranschhoek\, Southern Africa\, 1862. Nearly one hundred and eighty years after Suzanne’s perilous journey\, another intrepid and courageous woman of the Joubert family — Isabelle Lepard — has journeyed to the small frontier town once known as Oliftantshoek in search of her long-lost relations. A journalist and travel writer\, intent on putting the women of her family back into the history books\, she quickly discovers that the tragedies and crimes of the past are far from over. Isabelle faces a race against time if she is not only going to discover the truth but escape with her life… \n\n\n\nPainstakingly researched and beautifully told\, The Map of Bones is the fourth — and final — novel of The Joubert Family Chronicles\, following the bestselling The Burning Chambers\, The City of Tears and The Ghost Ship. \n\n\n\nKate Mosse CBE FRSL is an award-winning novelist\, playwright\, performer\, campaigner\, interviewer and non-fiction writer. The author of ten novels and short-story collections\, her books have been translated into thirty-eight languages and published in more than forty countries. Fiction includes the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy (Labyrinth\, Sepulchre\, Citadel)\, The Joubert Family Chronicles (The Burning Chambers\, The City of Tears\, The Ghost Ship\, The Map of Bones) and No 1 bestselling Gothic fiction including The Taxidermist’s Daughter and The Winter Ghosts. Her highly-acclaimed non-fiction includes An Extra Pair of Hands: A Story of Caring & Everyday Acts of Love and Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World\, which inspired her one-woman theatre touring show. \n\n\n\nA regular guest on radio and television for literature\, Kate hosts the pre-show interview series at Chichester Festival Theatre and is a regular interviewer for literary and arts festivals including Letters Live\, the Hay Festival\, the Edinburgh International Book Festival\, the British Library and the Royal National Theatre. Her new podcast\, The Matilda Effect\, will be launched in summer 2024. \n\n\n\nThe Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction – the world’s largest annual literary awards celebrating writing by woman – she is the founder of the global #WomanInHistory campaign and has her own monthly YouTube book show\, Mosse on a Monday. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature\, Kate is also an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Authors\, a Visiting Professor of Contemporary Fiction and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester and President of the Festival of Chichester. In the broader arts\, Kate is President of the Festival of Chichester\, Patron of the Chichester Cathedral Festival of Flowers 2024\, Vice-Patron of the Chichester Cathedral Platinum Music Trust and Patron of the Chichester Festival of Music\, Dance and Speech. She is also an Ambassador for Parkinsons UK. \n\n\n\nKindly sponsored by the Thomas Hardy Society \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/kate-mosse-the-map-of-bones/
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-Map-of-Bones-jkt-1-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T163510Z
UID:10000054-1728748800-1728752400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Saul David – Sky Warriors
DESCRIPTION:The legendary ‘Red Devils’ were among the finest combat troops of the Second World War. \n\n\n\nCreated at Churchill’s instigation in June 1940\, they began as a single parachute battalion of 500 men and grew into three 10\,000-strong airborne divisions: the 1st\, 6th and 44th Indian\, each composed of parachutists and glider-borne troops. \n\n\n\nWearing their distinctive maroon berets\, steel helmets and Dennison smocks\, they served with distinction in every major theatre of the conflict – including North Africa\, Sicily\, mainland Europe and the Far East. They played a starring role in some most iconic airborne operations in history: the Bruneval Raid of February 1942; the capture of the Primasole\, Pegasus and Arnhem Bridges in July 1943\, June 1944 and September 1944 respectively; and Operation Varsity\, the biggest parachute drop in history\, near Wesel in Germany in March 1945. \n\n\n\nThis is a stunning and gripping new history of the British airborne experience across the Second World War. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSAUL DAVID is a historian\, broadcaster and the author of several critically acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction\, including most recently Silent Warriors and Devil Dogs. His history books have been shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature and variously named a Waterstones Military History Book of the Year and an Amazon History Book of the Year. He is Professor of Military History at the University of Buckingham. \n\n\n\nThis event is kindly sponsored by Dorchester Town Council \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/saul-david-sky-warriors/
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/Sky-Warriors-cover.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T150000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240515T140718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240919T135856Z
UID:10000083-1728741600-1728745200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:John Suchet – In Search of Beethoven: A Personal Journey
DESCRIPTION:John Suchet\, previously well-known TV news reporter and newscaster and now regular presenter on Classic FM\, is an acknowledged authority on Ludwig van Beethoven. He has written seven books on the subject and sold over 23\,000 copies of Beethoven: The Man Revealed. His latest release\, In Search of Beethoven\, stands apart as a deeply personal account of Suchet’s relationship with the great composer. Suchet charts a journey from Beethoven’s early years in Bonn to his life in Vienna\, following in the composer’s footsteps and interweaving his story with Suchet’s own. Suchet’s witty and insightful narrative offers a candid portrayal of Beethoven. “It’s not always easy to reconcile the genius with the deeply flawed individual\,” Suchet reflects. “Beethoven’s music has been my companion through the best and worst of times\, yet I find it difficult to forgive him for the pain he caused those around him. This book includes some truly surprising\, and not altogether welcome\, discoveries.”The book also sheds light on groundbreaking information about Beethoven’s health and ancestry. Drawing on the latest research from Cambridge University and the Max Planck Institute\, Suchet offers fresh insights into Beethoven’s heritage\, health struggles\, and pivotal life events\, such as his interactions with Mozart. “Beethoven scholarship does not stand still\,” remarks Suchet\, “and each new finding brings us closer to understanding the man behind the music.” \n\n\n\nJohn Suchet OBE is a bestselling author\, journalist\, radio and TV presenter. He was the voice of morning radio on Classic FM for almost a decade and before that\, he was one of the UK’s best-known television journalists and newscasters\, regularly presenting ITN’s flagship News at Ten for nearly 20 years. A recognised authority on Beethoven\, he is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Beethoven: The Man Revealed (2020)\, as well as biographies of Mozart\, Strauss\, Verdi and Tchaikovsky. To date John has written seven books on Beethoven. In Search of Beethoven will be his eighth. \n\n\n\nKindly sponsored by Battens Solicitors \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/john-suchet-in-search-of-beethoven-a-personal-journey/
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/InSearchOfBeethoven-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241012T130000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240521T115812Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240919T135346Z
UID:10000088-1728734400-1728738000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Rory Cellan-Jones – Sophie From Romania
DESCRIPTION:How do you welcome someone new into your home and heart? A week before Christmas 2022\, former BBC journalist and award-nominated podcaster Rory Cellan-Jones received a special delivery that changed the course of his life. This is the story of #SophieFromRomania\, told in full for the first time.In January 2022\, the Cellan-Jones-Coyle family said goodbye to their beloved elderly Collie Cross\, Cabbage. Newly retired\, Rory had become inseparable from her during daily pandemic walks which alleviated his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms. After a grief-stricken year\, Rory and his wife Diane contemplated opening up their hearts again and came across a dog listing for ‘a kind girl who loves everybody and is just looking for her forever home’.Bright-eyed\, big-eared and trembling\, Sophie arrives in London in a van from Central Europe on 17th December. Rory holds the Romanian rescue in his arms\, excited for their first walk together – unaware it is more than a year ahead. Sophie from Romania follows the journey of her adoption – from her battles with anxiety\, to the joys of play and her first foray outside – as Rory and Diane work with expert dog trainer Si to win Sophie’s trust\, and navigate Rory’s Parkinson’s diagnosis.This is a moving story of growing together through love\, kindness and a lot of patience\, revealing how adopting pets can be challenging but also full of rewarding moments. It’s also a celebration of rescue dogs\, and community as Rory uplifts fellow Romanian dog owners and his new friends from the #SophieFromRomania hashtag. \n\n\n\nRory Cellan-Jones is a journalist and former BBC News technology correspondent and has appeared on  many programmes including Breakfast Time\, Money Programme\, Newsnight\, and BBC News. He is the author of Dot Bomb\, The Secret History of Social Networking and Ruskin Park: Syliva\, Me and the BBC. He is also a member of Movers and Shakers a podcast discussion about life with Parkinson’s. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (students)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/rory-cellan-jones-sophie-from-romania/
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/sophie-from-romania.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20241002T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20241002T210000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20240517T094029Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240925T092612Z
UID:10000087-1727895600-1727902800@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Poetry Slam with Angie Porter
DESCRIPTION:An open mic event for local writers and poets \n\n\n\nJoin us to hear local poets and writers read and perform their work. To sign up to participate please contact us directly via contact@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com or just come along to listen. \n\n\n\nAngie Porter is a local poet\, performer and painter who brings creativity to the fore in whatever she does. Her monthly She Speaks poetry slams are hugely popular and Angie is actively involved in promoting new poetry work. Originally from Melbourne\, Australia\, Angie is currently researching her local roots and the immigration experience from rural Somerset to outback Australia in the early 1800s. \n\n\n\nThis event is sponsored by The Occasional Poetry Magazine (TOPM) a free publication produced by The Occasional Bookshop (Nangle Rare Books)\, 16 Durngate Street\, Dorchester DT1 1JP
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/poetry-slam-with-angie-porter-2/
LOCATION:Shire Hall Museum Cafe\, High West Street\, Dorchester\, DT1 1UY\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Adult
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/poetry-slam-poster-scaled.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Dorchester Literary Festival":MAILTO:contact@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T203000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20230531T162718Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230810T141159Z
UID:10000042-1697916600-1697920200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Lemn Sissay – Let The Light Pour In
DESCRIPTION:For the past decade\, Lemn Sissay has composed a short poem as dawn breaks each morning. Life-affirming\, witty and full of wonder\, these poems chronicle his own battle with the dark and are fuelled by resilience and defiant joy. Let the Light Pour In is a collection of the best of these poems\, and a book celebrating this morning practice. ‘How do you do it?’ said night ‘How do you wake up and shine?’ ‘I keep it simple\,’ said light ‘One day at a time.’ \n\n\n\nLemn Sissay OBE is a poet playwright\, memoirist performer and broadcaster. He has read on stage throughout the world\, from The Library of Congress in The United States to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia\, from the Opera House of Dubai to London Palladium.   Lemn was awarded The Pen Pinter Prize in 2019  when his memoir ‘My name Is Why’ reached number one in The Sunday Times bestseller list.  \n\n\n\nLemn was Chancellor of The University of Manchester until 2022 and is now Honorary Chair of Creative Writing. His Landmark Poems in public spaces can be seen throughout Manchester and London at venues such as The Royal Festival Hall as well as at The British Council in Addis Ababa.  \n\n\n\nLemn was the first poet commissioned to write for the London Olympics 2012. He has judged many literary competitions including 2020 Booker Prize\, The Gold Man Booker Awards\, and The National Poetry Competition.  \n\n\n\nLemn was named MBE for services to literature by The Queen in 2014 and in 2021 he received an OBE for services to Literature and Charity. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (student)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/lemn-sissay-let-the-light-pour-in/
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/2023/05/let-the-light-pour-in-jkt-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T183000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20230502T074400Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230810T141240Z
UID:10000032-1697909400-1697913000@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Cat Jarman – The Bone Chests
DESCRIPTION:In 1642\, William Waller and his Parliamentarian army came to Winchester with destruction on their minds. They forced entry to the magnificent cathedral that had stood on the site for over 600 years and began to smash things. \n\n\n\nIn the cathedral’s holiest place\, ten beautiful mortuary chests rested as they’d done since the 7th century. In search for treasure\, the soldiers ripped open the lids and when all they found were bones\, they flung them at the great West Window\, destroying the 14th-century-stained glass with its sacred images of the Virgin Mary and St Peter. The desecration was total – blood\, glass\, bayonets\, bones all scattered underfoot. The chests housed the mortal remains of West Saxon kings\, saints and bishops; of Queen Emma of Normandy\, William Rufus\, Harthacnut\, Edmund Ironside and Edward the Confessor. As the soldiers left\, local people picked through the damage\, gathering the glass and hiding the bone chests for safekeeping. \n\n\n\nSix chests remain today – with a jumble of the original bones. In 2014 they were opened for the first time to anthropologists and archaeologist\, photographed and catalogued so that the exact position of each individual item is a matter of record. Since then\, cutting edge science\, including isotope analysis\, carbon dating and DNA analysis has revealed astonishing new insights. In Bone Chests\, bestselling author of River Kings\, Cat Jarman builds on evidence from these bones of the men and women who witnessed and orchestrated the creation of England\, fuelled and fortified by the actions of invading and settling Vikings\, to tell an unforgettable new account of this early period of history. This is Anglo-Saxon history in technicolour\, with an important revisionist take on the role of women. \n\n\n\nDr Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist and field archaeologist specialising in the Viking Age\, Viking women\, and Rapa Nui. She uses forensic techniques like isotope analysis\, carbon dating\, and DNA analysis on human remains to untangle the experiences of past people from broader historical narratives. \n\n\n\nDr Jarman has contributed to numerous TV documentaries as both an on-screen expert and historical consultant\, including programmes for the BBC\, Channel 4\, History\, Discovery\, and more. \n\n\n\nDr Cat Jarman will be in conversation with Allan Mallinson. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (student)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/cat-jarman-the-bone-chests/
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/2023/04/Bone-Chests-jkt.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20230502T074442Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230804T141942Z
UID:10000030-1697904000-1697907600@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Adam Sisman – The Secret Life of John Le Carré
DESCRIPTION:Adam Sisman’s biography of John le Carré\, published in 2015\, provided a revealing portrait of this fascinating man; yet some aspects of his subject remained hidden. Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage\, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over five decades. To these relationships he brought much of the tradecraft that he had learned as a spy – cover stories\, cut-outs and dead letter boxes. These clandestine operations brought an element of danger to his life\, but they also meant deceiving those closest to him. Small wonder that betrayal became a running theme in his work. \n\n\n\nIn trying to manage his biography\, the novelist engaged in a succession of skirmishes with his biographer. While he could control what Sisman wrote about him in his lifetime\, he accepted that the truth would eventually become known. Following his death in 2020\, what had been withheld can now be revealed. \n\n\n\nAdam Sisman said: ‘There was much that I was obliged to withhold from my biography of John le Carré\, published in 2015 while my subject was very much alive and looking over my shoulder. I came to realise that his turbulent personal life\, which he wanted to keep private in his lifetime\, was key to an understanding of his work. His son Simon urged me to keep a secret annexe for publication after his father’s death. The Secret Life of John le Carré is based on that annexe. It shows how le Carré conducted his affairs like espionage operations\, running women as if they were agents. The tension involved became a necessary drug to his writing. The book illuminates a hidden life of secrecy\, passion and betrayal. In the process it reveals a different John le Carré. Now that he is dead\, we can know him better.’ \n\n\n\nAdam Sisman is the author of Boswell’s Presumptuous Task\, winner of the US National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography\, and the biographer of John le Carré\, A. J. P. Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper. Among his other works are two volumes of letters by Patrick Leigh Fermor. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. \n\n\n\nAdam Sisman will be in conversation with Danny Danziger. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (student)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/adam-sisman-the-secret-life-of-john-le-carre/
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/2023/04/The-Secret-Life-of-John-le-Carre-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T150000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20230216T105423Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230918T151225Z
UID:10000010-1697896800-1697900400@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Edward Stourton – Confessions
DESCRIPTION:The son of ex-pat parents in colonial Nigeria\, Edward Stourton was sent back to Britain to be educated by Benedictine monks at Ampleforth\, at the time when\, it was later revealed\, the school and monastery were the setting for serial abuse cases. He then went up to Cambridge\, where his life as an undergraduate gave him access to a network of future ministers\, judges and newspaper editors. As a young journalist\, he reported first from party conferences and picket lines and then from war zones\, witnessing the events making international headlines\, from Haiti to Hong Kong\, before returning home to join the infighting on BBC Radio 4’s Today. \n\n\n\nDuring this time\, the Empire has given way to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement\, men-only clubs have been replaced by Me Too\, and instead of a choice selection of voices on a handful of radio and television channels\, we have millions of voices on YouTube\, Instagram\, TikTok.The world has changed\, and so has Ed. Brought face to face with the author of his obituary and his own inevitable mortality\, Ed is prompted to reflect on the life he has led and the events that have shaped him. \n\n\n\nIn Confessions\, he describes this remarkable journey with candour\, humour and the insight that only forty years’ experience of writing and reporting can provide. \n\n\n\nEdward Stourton has worked in broadcasting for over forty years\, and regularly presents BBC Radio Four programmes such as The World at One\, The World This Weekend\, Sunday and Analysis. He has been a foreign correspondent for Channel Four\, ITN and the BBC and for ten years he was one of the main presenters of the Today programme. \n\n\n\nEdward Stourton will be in conversation with Kate Adie. \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (student)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/ed-stourton-confessions/
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/2023/02/confessions-jkt-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231021T130000
DTSTAMP:20260408T215038
CREATED:20230502T074559Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230810T141434Z
UID:10000013-1697889600-1697893200@dorchesterliteraryfestival.com
SUMMARY:Anna Murphy – Destination Fabulous
DESCRIPTION:From the Fashion Director of The Times comes a wise\, inspiring and invigorating guide to making the most of life as a grown-up woman – from the practical (how to dress your best) to the existential (how to feel your best). \n\n\n\nAt 50\, Anna Murphy feels more visible than at any point in her life to date. Her new book\, Destination Fabulous\, is the toolkit you need to embrace your age and celebrate the wisdom and inner beauty that comes with it. \n\n\n\nIt’s not about impossible goals. It’s not about running a marathon (unless you want it to be). It’s not about denying the ageing process\, nor attempting to erase its signs. It’s not about letting everything go\, either. It’s about balance. It’s about the possible and the present. And it’s about the future you want.How do you lift and smooth your face naturally? Should you go grey\, and\, if so\, how? How do you deal with menopause? \n\n\n\nAnna combines her knowledge from years of writing about fashion and beauty with her openness to the alternative ways of thinking found in disciplines such as yoga and Chinese medicine. For her natural is always best. \n\n\n\nAs a leading fashion editor\, Anna knows that clothing can be the ultimate route into surfacing the true you. She shares all her tricks for finding your way to a wardrobe that will transform not just the way you look but the way you feel. And she shares the highlights of her conversations over the years with super-stylish agers such as Iris Apfel and Miuccia Prada. \n\n\n\nHow have they got it right? \n\n\n\nDrawing on the wisdom of writers as diverse as Pema Chodron and Eckhart Tolle\, Dorothy Rowe and Osho\, Nora Ephron and Mary Oliver\, she writes about saying goodbye to what doesn’t serve you and welcoming what does; about forging relationships that work for you as well as others; and about finding your purpose\, whether in your personal or professional life. Discover how the bumps on her road havehelped her find her way to her true path. Her hope is that this book will help you to find yours\, too.As Fashion Director of The Times\, it goes without saying that Anna Murphy is passionate about what we wear. The author of How Not to Wear Black believes strongly that the supposedly superficial act of choosing what to put on every morning can have a profound impact not just on how we look\, but how we feel. Her years of writing and research\, plus her own life experience\, have also opened Anna upto fresh thinking around beauty\, diet and exercise\, and – overarching all of it – the best ways to live a life that is contented and fulfilled\, especially as you grow old. \n\n\n\nAnna Murphy joined The Times as fashion director in 2015\, having been the launch editor of Stella at The Sunday Telegraph. She has interviewed the industry’s biggest names and done everything from wearing a frock made of bin bags to attempting the Angelina leg pop. \n\n\n\nAnna Murphy will be in conversation with Lulu Taylor \n\n\n\nSponsored by Domvs \n\n\n\nTickets £12.00/£6.00 (student)
URL:https://dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/event/anna-murphy-destination-fabulous/
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/2023/03/Destination-Fabulous.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR