Cambridge Literary Festival Spring 2020 16-19 April
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Cambridge
Literary
Festival
Spring 2020
16–19 April
In partnership with
Highlights include
Mike Berners-Lee
Michael Cashman
Anne Enright
Hadley Freeman
Marian Keyes
David Lammy
Caroline Lucas
Eimear McBride
Feargal Sharkey
Tom Watson
Robert Webb
Jacqueline Wilson
Jude Yawson
Book at
cambridgelive.org.uk
01223 357851
Picture by Martin Bond www.acambridgediary.co.uk
Director’s welcome Festival team
Director
Cathy Moore
Guest Director
Caroline Lucas MP
Children’s Programmer
Sabine Edwards
Manager
Mo Soper
Fundraising & Marketing
Manager
Angela Martin
Administrator
With unprecedented fires in Australia barely out and our Marina Scott
divided country having left the European Union, I found it Finance Manager
impossible not to place these themes at the centre of the Jackie Latham
festival. It has been a privilege to work with Caroline
Programme Support
Lucas MP on our Climate Emergency strand, asking the Alex Clark
question: can the arts reach people in ways that politics Mary Nathan
has not (see page 4)? And, with the help of our friends at Anna Millward
the New Statesman, we examine our Disunited Kingdom
Company Secretary
and invite key thinkers, journalists, and politicians –
Kevin Jones
including Fintan O’Toole, Polly Toynbee, and A. C. Grayling –
to share their insights. Board
Julia Collins
Thank heavens for books, and there are many crackers Karen Duffy
being published right now. I am over the moon to welcome Jeremy Newsum
some fabulous writers to the festival for the first time, Sian Reid
including the joyous Marian Keyes with her latest cracker, Andrea Reiner
Grown Ups. The first Laureate for Irish Fiction Anne John Stanton
Enright discusses Actress – might this be another Booker Katie Taylor
contender for one of our greatest living novelists? And the Peter Taylor
exceptional and brave Michael Cashman whose memoir Honorary Patrons
One of Them is simply wonderful. I’m also thrilled to Dame Gillian Beer
welcome back old festival friends, including the Melissa Benn
remarkable Maggi Hambling, to present her praise-song to Jill Dawson
her father, Harry Hambling, in A Suffolk Eye; the Sophie Hannah
irresistible Robert Webb sharing his moving debut novel Dame Margaret Drabble
Come Again; and former Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman, Robert Macfarlane
who will discuss her engaging part-memoir, part-social- Robert McCrum
history Clothes and Other Things That Matter. Allison Pearson
Join us for a packed festival and create some space to Rowan Pelling
think, engage, laugh and learn. Come with friends, meet David Reynolds
new ones, and leave feeling hopeful and inspired as we David Runciman
Ruth Scurr
embrace the new decade together.
Ali Smith
Cathy Moore, Festival Director Frances Spalding
Preti Taneja
Cover photography © Martin Bond from his project A Cambridge Diary where Martin Anna Whitelock
takes a picture every day in and around the streets and public places of Cambridge. For
more information please visit: acambridgediary.co.uk Bee Wilson
cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 03
Guest Director’s welcome The Climate Emergency I’m honoured and excited to have been asked to Guest Direct the Climate Emergency theme at this spring’s festival. From the Arctic to Australia, the world is on fire. The next 10 years will be critical in determining whether we prevent the worst of climate chaos, yet still global leaders fail to act at the scale and speed the science demands. Can the arts reach people in a way that politics so far has not, and help generate the political will to act? In a session on Culture Declares Emergency with writers Jude Yawson, Selina Nwulu and Anna Hope, we’ll be examining the role of the arts and imagination in generating climate action. We’ll also explore how to deal with the profound sense of loss and grief that accompany the deepening climate and nature crises with Transition Town Founder Rob Hopkins and scientist Emily Shuckburgh. But our focus is on solutions. Mike Berners-Lee will set out his handbook of inspiring ideas both to tackle the climate emergency and, in the process, live more fulfilling lives, while a major session led by Ann Pettifor, one of the seminal thinkers who influenced the campaign of US Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation, will present the Green New Deal – a bold programme of decarbonisation, with the potential to transform an economic model that is failing the majority of people. And of course we’ll be celebrating nature too, with Mary Colwell, author of the acclaimed Curlew Moon and award-winning author and naturalist Mark Cocker. Political failure is, at heart, a failure of the imagination. But with the help of the arts and literature, we can rekindle our imaginations and rediscover the power to act. Caroline Lucas MP, Guest Director 04 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851
Events at a glance
Event Times Venue Page Event Times Venue Page
Children’s Programme events Children’s Programme events
Monday 16 March Craig Brown 7-8pm Palmerston Room 30
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 6-7:30pm West Road Concert Hall 9 Climate Cabaret 9-11pm TTP Stage 31
Thursday 9 April Sunday 19 April
David Wallace-Wells & Caroline Lucas MP 6:30-7:30pm TTP Stage 9 Caroline Lucas MP & Daniel Zeichner MP 10-11am TTP Stage 32
Thursday 16 April Helen Lewis 10-11am Palmerston Room 32
Rob Hopkins & Emily Shuckburgh 4:30-5:30pm TTP Stage 11 Susan Golombok 10-11am Baillie Gifford Stage 32
Our Disunited Kingdom 6-7:30pm TTP Stage 11 A M Howell 10-11am McCrum Lecture Theatre 50
Judy Reith & Adrian Reith 6-7pm Baillie Gifford Stage 11 Being Part of the Solution 11am-1pm David Attenborough Seminar Room 33
Mike Berners-Lee 8-9pm TTP Stage 12 Michael Cashman 11.30am-12:30pm TTP Stage 34
Henry Hemming 8-9pm Baillie Gifford Stage 12 Venki Ramakrishnan 11.30am-12:30pm Palmerston Room 34
Friday 17 April Ali Smith’s Debut Writers 11.30am-12:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 35
The Unsustainable Whiteness of Green 1-2pm Baillie Gifford Stage 14 Hidden Tales 11.30am-12:30pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 50
Beth Lynch 2:30-3:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 14 Anne Enright 1-2pm TTP Stage 35
A Celebration of Nature 4-5pm TTP Stage 14 Culture Declares Emergency 1-2pm Palmerston Room 36
Hadley Freeman 4-5pm Baillie Gifford Stage 15 Talking Politics Podcast Live Recording 1-2pm Baillie Gifford Stage 36
Oliver Letwin 5:30-6:30pm TTP Stage 15 Vashti Hardy 1-2pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 51
Lucy Jones 5:30-6:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 15 Maggi Hambling 2:30-3:30pm TTP Stage 37
Ann Pettifor & Miatta Fahnbulleh 7-8pm TTP Stage 16 Hashi Mohamed 2:30-3:30pm Palmerston Room 37
Licence to Thrill 7-8pm Baillie Gifford Stage 16 The Story of a Magazine and British Politics 2:30-3:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 38
Marian Keyes 8:30-9.30pm TTP Stage 17 Love Our Planet 2:30-3:30pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 51
Saturday 18 April Edward Platt 2:30-3:30pm David Attenborough Seminar Room 38
Robin Stevens 10-11am Palmerston Room 45 Orlando Figes 4-5pm Baillie Gifford Stage 38
Polly Toynbee & David Walker 10-11am TTP Stage 19 Dieter Helm 4-5pm TTP Stage 39
The Future of Food 10-11am Baillie Gifford Stage 19 Eimear McBride 4-5pm Palmerston Room 39
Isabel Thomas 10-11am McCrum Lecture Theatre 46 Patience Agbabi 4-5pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 51
Tom Watson 11:30am-12:30pm TTP Stage 20 David Lammy MP 5:30-6:30pm TTP Stage 40
Tony Juniper 11:30am-12:30pm Palmerston Room 20 Future of the Arts 5:30-6:30pm Palmerston Room 40
Evie wyld & Kiran Millwood Hargrave 11:30am-12:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 21 Lennie Goodings & Linda Grant 5:30-6:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 41
Dr Max 11:30am-12:30pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 46 Helen McCarthy 5:30-6:30pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 41
Fiona Lumbers 11:30am-12:30pm David Attenborough Seminar Room 46 Mark O’Connell 7-8pm Baillie Gifford Stage 41
Jacqueline Wilson 1-2pm TTP Stage 47 Alexandra Shulman 7-8pm TTP Stage 42
Gill Hornby 1-2pm Palmerston Room 21 Robert Webb 8:30-9:30pm TTP Stage 42
Joan Smith 1-2pm Baillie Gifford Stage 22
Smriti Prasadam-Halls & Robert Starling 1-2pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 47
Jeremy Mynott 1-2pm David Attenborough Seminar Room 22 Cambridge Literary Festival Follow us Join as a Friend
Our Gorongosa – Free Film Screening 2:30-3:30pm David Attenborough Seminar Room 22 Wellington House @camlitfest 01223 515335
Michael Frayn 2:30-3:30pm TTP Stage 24 East Road
Cambridge Literary Festival Diary Dates 2020
Celia Paul 2:30-3:30pm The Fitzwilliam Museum 24 Cambridge CB1 1BH
camlitfest Tayari Jones
James Scudamore 2:30-3:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 25
2 June
Robin Stevens’ Thriller Writers 2:30-3:30pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 48 camlitfest
Kes Gray 2:30-3:30pm Palmerston Room 48 Winter Festival
Maya Goodfellow 4-5pm Palmerston Room 25 27–29 November
New Statesman Debate 4-5:30pm TTP Stage 26
The Cambridge Literary Festival is a charity registered in England and Wales,
Richard Layard 4-5pm Baillie Gifford Stage 27 no. 1153944.
Robin Scott-Elliot 4-5pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 48
Sinclair McKay 5:30-6:30pm Palmerston Room 28
Esther Rutter 5:30-6:30pm Baillie Gifford Stage 28
Fitzbillies 5:30-6:30pm McCrum Lecture Theatre 28
A C Grayling 6-7pm TTP Stage 27
Tessa Hadley & Lucy Hughes-Hallett 7-8pm Baillie Gifford Stage 29
Feargal Sharkey 7:30-8:30pm TTP Stage 29
06 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 07
Programme by theme Preview events
CLIMATE EMERGENCY NEW FICTION MEMOIR
Rob Hopkins & 11 Marian Keyes 17 Beth Lynch 14
Emily Shuckburgh Evie Wyld & 21 Hadley Freeman 15
Mike Berners-Lee 12 Kiran Millwood Hargrave Michael Cashman 34
Guppi Bola, 14 Gill Hornby 21 Lennie Goodings & 41
Priyamvada Gopal & James Scudamore 25 Linda Grant
Lola Olufemi Tessa Hadley & 29 Alexandra Shulman 42
Mark Cocker, 14 Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Mary Colwell & Ali Smith’s Debut 35 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Benedict Macdonald Writers: Oliver Letwin 15
Lucy Jones 15 Naomi Ishiguro, Susan Golombok 32
© Blake Ezra
Ann Pettifor & 16 Derek Owusu & Venki Ramakrishnan 34
Miatta Fahnbulleh Julianne Pachio
Carolyn Steel, 16 Anne Enright 35 STATE OF THE NATION
Dee Woods & Eimear McBride 39
Joan Smith 22
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Morality: Restoring the Common Good
Kath Dalmeny Lennie Goodings & 41
Talking Politics Podcast 36 16 March | 6-7:30pm | West Road Concert Hall | £12–40
Tony Juniper 20 Linda Grant
Live Recording Join us for a thought-provoking evening in the company of this profound and original thinker. As
Jeremy Mynott 22 Robert Webb 42
Jason Cowley, Chief Rabbi for over two decades and with a lifetime’s experience of writing about morality,
New Statesman Debate 26
Stephen Bush & Jonathan Sacks is uniquely placed to guide us through these divided times. In his new book, he
Feargal Sharkey 29 ART & CULTURE
Helen Thompson asks how we can interact with one another humanely and fruitfully in a world beset by division
Climate Cabaret 31 Michael Frayn 24 Mark O’Connell 41 and toxic public discourse; how we build a set of core values in a society dominated by the
Caroline Lucas & 32 Celia Paul 24 institutions of the state and the marketplace; and how we create communities in a time of change.
Daniel Zeichner Craig Brown 30 CHILDREN’S
Cambridge Residents 33 In conversation with Professor Rae Langton, Knightsbridge Professor of Philosophy and Chair of
Maggi Hambling 37 Robin Stevens 45 & 49 University of Cambridge Faculty of Philosophy
Anna Hope, 36 Future of the Arts : 40
Selina Nwulu & Isabel Thomas 46
Johnathan Reekie, Dr Max 46
Jude Yawson Sarah Hopwood &
Edward Platt 38 Fiona Lumbers 46
James Graham Jacqueline Wilson 47
Dieter Helm 39
Smriti Prasadam-Halls 47
HISTORY
DISUNITED KINGDOM & Robert Starling
Henry Hemming 12 Robin Scott-Elliot 48
Fintan O’Toole, 11
Sinclair McKay 28 Kes Gray 48
David Reynolds,
Esther Rutter 28 Thriller Writers; 48
Catherine Barnard &
Helen Lewis 32 Sharna Jackson,
Robert Saunders
Orlando Figes 38 Serena Patel &
Polly Toynbee & 19
Helen McCarthy 41 Roopa Farooki
David Walker
Joan Smith 22 A M Howell 50
James Scudamore 25 LIFESTYLE Mark Wells & 50
Maya Goodfellow 25 Jennifer Bell
Judy & 11
A C Grayling 27 Vashti Hardy 51
Adrian Reith David Wallace-Wells in conversation with Caroline Lucas MP
Hashi Mohamed 37 Love Our Planet 51
Tom Watson 20
David Lammy 40 Richard Layard 27
Patience Agbabi 51 The Uninhabitable Earth
Tim Hayward & 28 9 April | 6:30-7:30pm | TTP Stage | £15/12
Alison Wright Join us at the launch event of our Climate Emergency series, where we ask the question 'Can the
arts reach people in a way that politics so far has not?’ Festival Guest Director Caroline Lucas MP
invites you to join the discussion with the author of The Uninhabitable Earth which paints a terrifying
portrait of the changes that warming will wreak on our planet before the end of the century and
which has already provoked an unprecedented debate on the global climate emergency.
08 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 09
Main programme Thursday 16 April
Rob Hopkins & Emily Shuckburgh
Coping with Climate Grief
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
4:30-5:30pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
As the climate and nature crises deepen, more and more
people are feeling a sense of profound loss and grief. This
session will start by exploring how those who work most in
this area – the scientists – cope with the emotional impact of Rob Hopkins
their investigations and go on to examine the evidence that
things could change rapidly and dramatically for the better if
we have the courage to unleash the power of imagination to
create the future we want. Founder of the Transition Town
Movement and author of From What Is to What If, Rob
Hopkins, with Dr Emily Shuckburgh, climate scientist,
mathematician and Director of Cambridge Zero.
Emily Shuckburgh
Fintan O’Toole, David Reynolds,
Catherine Barnard & Robert Saunders
Our Disunited Kingdom
DISUNITED KINGDOM
6-7:30pm | TTP Stage | £14/10
Don’t miss this stellar line-up of speakers who launch one of our
major festival themes, our Disunited Kingdom. New Statesman
editor Jason Cowley presides over a panel featuring Fintan
O’Toole (Heroic Failure and new book Three Years in Hell: The
Brexit Chronicles), David Reynolds (Emeritus Professor of
International History and author of Island Stories), Robert
Saunders (Yes to Europe! The 1975 Referendum and Seventies
Britain) and Catherine Barnard (Professor of European Union and
Labour Law).
Chaired by Jason Cowley, Editor-in-Chief of the New Statesman
Judy Reith & Adrian Reith
Act 3: The Art of Growing Older
LIFESTYLE
6-7pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
We’re living longer, in better health, with higher expectations than
any generation in human history. With an extra chapter of life to
look forward to, what will you do? Who else could you be?
Drawing on their decades of experience helping people see hidden
possibilities, Judy and Adrian Reith will suggest practical steps to
enable you to clarify your goals and achieve life-changing results –
for a happy and successful third act.
Chaired by Leigh Chambers, writer and presenter of
Bookmark, Cambridge 105 Radio
10 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 11
Thursday 16 April
Mike Berners-Lee There is No Planet B
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
8-9pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
In a world in ecological crisis, with plastic use, antibiotic resistance and food security all
major concerns, how do we decide what to prioritise? And do our individual actions really
count anyway, or is it only fundamental political and systems change that can seriously
make a difference? With refreshing and candid advice, environmental expert Mike Berners-
Lee helps us understand the big picture and how we can respond to it in our everyday lives.
In conversation with Caroline Lucas MP, Guest Director
Henry Hemming Fake News From 1941
HISTORY
7:30-8:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
A gripping, interactive talk inspired by Henry Hemming’s new book Our Man in New York –
the eye-opening story of how the British used ‘fake news’ to help bring the United States
into the Second World War. Using storytelling, music, props, and an audience game,
Hemming will show how, in the months leading up to Pearl Harbour, a first-time MI6
spymaster, a failed American politician, a love-struck lyricist, and the President of the
United States used a fake Nazi map to trick the American people. Come and discover the
remarkable and surprising effect this had on world history.
12 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851
Friday 17 April Friday 17 April
Guppi Bola, Priyamvada Gopal & Lola Olufemi Hadley Freeman
The Unsustainable Whiteness of Green The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-
CLIMATE EMERGENCY Century Jewish Family
1-2pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £10/8 MEMOIR
The climate conversation has a problem: a race problem. 4-5pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
Environmental movements are too often whitewashed and When Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman chanced on a
indigenous activists erased in favour of their white shoebox filled with her French grandmother’s treasured
counterparts. Climate justice should be at the heart of the belongings, she began the unravelling of a fascinating family
green movement, so why is it often left out of the conversation? story that had remained hidden for decades: that of her
Join this panel of inspirational speakers as they explore the grandmother Sala and her three brothers’ lives in France and
continued colonialism of the climate emergency. beyond, their struggle for survival during the Second World
War and their thrilling associations with the likes of Picasso,
Chagall and Dior. Immensely moving, her family memoir House
Beth Lynch A Journey in Search of a Garden of Glass delves not only into the past, but into those
MEMOIR connections that lie just beneath the surface of everyday life.
2:30-3:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
When Beth Lynch moved to Switzerland, she felt out of place Oliver Letwin
and lonely, and quickly realised that she needed to put down
roots – literally. She knew that tapping into her love of
Technology and the Threat of Disaster
gardening would ease the transition, and so began the SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
fascinating process of getting to know the meadows and 5:30-6:30pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
mountain paths around her, filling her new patch with Former minister and Conservative MP turned independent,
hellebores, aquilegias and Japanese anemones, and forging Oliver Letwin has seen power up close and knows how fragile
unexpected links with her past. Join her to explore the it is. In his ground-breaking book Apocalypse How?, he imagines
transformative power of gardening. a future when the complexity and interdependence of our
Chaired by Leigh Chambers, writer and presenter of technology mean that the national grid, GPS, electric cars and
Bookmark, Cambridge 105 Radio law and order itself are all vulnerable to disruption and collapse.
In addition, argues Letwin, that future is just a whisper away.
Join him to hear how we can, and should, face up to it.
Mark Cocker, Mary Colwell & In conversation with George Eaton, Assistant Editor of the New
Benedict Macdonald Statesman
A Celebration of Nature
CLIMATE EMERGENCY Lucy Jones Rewilding the Mind
4-5pm | TTP Stage | £12/10 CLIMATE EMERGENCY
The climate emergency can sometimes seem only dispiriting 5:30-6:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
and enraging so join our panel of experts to celebrate the
Lucy Jones believes that nature is crucial to our health and
beauty of our natural environment! Mark Cocker is a
happiness. In her rigorously researched new book Losing
naturalist, environmental activist, and author of Our Place
Eden she makes the case for why our minds need the wild,
and A Claxton Diary, which captures the intricate flora and
and issues a compelling plea for a richer, wilder world. She
fauna of the Norfolk countryside. Joining him will be Mary
is joined in conversation by Anya Doherty, co-founder of
Colwell, producer and writer for the BBC specialising in
youngwilders, who are focussed on accelerating the
© Gemma Brunton
nature, whose Curlew Moon takes us on a 500-mile journey
wilding of Britain.
tracking one of the UK’s most endangered birds, plus
Benedict Macdonald, naturalist, wildlife filmmaker and
author of Rebirding: Rewilding Britain and its Birds and
Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden.
Chaired by Hawa Newell-Sydique, Cambridge Conservation
Research Institute
14 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 15
Friday 17 April Friday 17 April
© Dean Chalkley
Ann Pettifor Caroline Lucas Miatta Fahnbulleh
Ann Pettifor, Miatta Fahnbulleh & Caroline Lucas MP
The Burning Case for a Green New Deal Marian Keyes Grown Ups
CLIMATE EMERGENCY NEW FICTION
7-8pm | TTP Stage | £12/10 8:30-9:30pm | TTP Stage | £17/12
How do we put the environment at the heart of our political, social and economic agenda? For over 25 years, Marian Keyes has enchanted readers with warm and witty books that
Ann Pettifor, author of The Case for the Green New Deal, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, CEO of the tackle the full range of human experience, from addiction and relationship break-up to
New Economics Foundation, know better than most. Pettifor has been working closely with depression and domestic violence – and her latest, a sparkling family saga, is no different.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the US Green New Deal campaign, and Fahnbulleh has been at She talks to long-time fan and journalist Alex Clark about the wonderful world of Grown
the forefront of generating new ideas on reshaping our economy. They will be joined by ups, her writing life and her irrepressible love of social media, Strictly Come Dancing and
Green MP Caroline Lucas to discuss how decarbonisation, social justice and a new vision of everything in between.
the international monetary system are not only possible, but critical, for our future. In conversation with Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster
© Bill Waters
© Onur Pinar
Sophie Hannah Christobel Kent Gytha Lodge
Sophie Hannah, Christobel Kent & Gytha Lodge
Licence to Thrill
NEW FICTION
7-8pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
If you love a thriller that grips and teases, keeping you guessing to the very last page,
you’re in for a treat with our cornucopia of crime writers Sophie Hannah (Haven’t They
Grown), Christobel Kent (A Secret Life) Gytha Lodge (Watching From the Dark) join us to
introduce their latest novels and share the secrets of writing suspense and intrigue.
Chaired by Leigh Chambers, writer and presenter of Bookmark, Cambridge 105 Radio
16 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851
Saturday 18 April
Polly Toynbee & David Walker The Lost Decade and Beyond
DISUNITED KINGDOM
10-11am | TTP Stage | £12/10
Acclaimed journalists Toynbee and Walker survey the last ten years and find a scene of
devastation: austerity, political paralysis and disharmony sowed the ground for a rebellious
Brexit, while institutions crumbled, and national tragedies such as Grenfell, a housing crisis,
and the rise of food banks contributed to our sense of a country in dangerous decline. How
do we recover, and build on hopeful change such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage,
the rise of renewable energy and the power of the creative industries, to face forward?
Join them to find out.
In conversation with Jackie Ashley, journalist and broadcaster
Jones
Onur Pinar
© Errol
Carolyn Steel Dee Woods Kath Dalmeny
Carolyn Steel, Dee Woods & Kath Dalmeny The Future of Food
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
10-11am | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
According to the UN, 14-18% of global emissions come from livestock agriculture alone.
The structure of the food industry is wildly unsustainable. What might the future of food
look like? Join Carolyn Steel, architect and author of Sitopia, Kath Dalmeny, CEO of Sustain,
and Dee Woods, award-winning cook and Food Ethics Council member to discuss possibilities.
Chaired by Dr Shailaja Fennell, University of Cambridge
cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 19Saturday 18 April Saturday 18 April
© Tom de Freston
Evie Wyld Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Evie Wyld & Kiran Millwood Hargrave World of Witches
NEW FICTION
11:30am-12:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
Tom Watson Downsizing Two brilliant storytellers explain why their new novels have lured them into the world of
LIFESTYLE witches and the past both distant and near. In The Bass Rock, Wylde (one of Granta’s Best of
11:30am-12:30pm | TTP Stage | £14/10 Young British Novelists) transports us to the Scottish coastline, and in The Mercies, acclaimed
children’s writer Kiran Millwood Hargrave journeys to a remote Norwegian island in 1617.
When the former deputy leader of the Labour Party and MP turned 50 a couple of years ago, he
weighed 22 stone, was struggling with type 2 diabetes and his fitness levels were so poor he Chaired by Jo Browning Wroe, writer and teacher
could barely play with his children. A radical change of lifestyle saw him shed 8 stone and With thanks to
reverse his diabetes diagnosis – and with it has come a determination to use his life post-politics
to help other people achieve the same turnaround (as well as writing a political thriller). Lit Fuse (funded by the ARU Arts Council) inspires creative writers through practical
workshops, retreats, meet-ups, and competitions.
In conversation with Bee Wilson, food writer, journalist and Festival Patron
© Angus Muir
Gill Hornby Claire Tomalin
Gill Hornby The Other Miss Austen
Tony Juniper Rainforest: Earth’s Most Vital Frontline NEW FICTION
CLIMATE EMERGENCY 1-2pm | Palmerston Room | £14/10
11:30am-12:30pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10 We think we know Jane Austen – but we’d know a great deal more if her sister Cassandra
Environmental campaigner Tony Juniper has spent over 30 years battling to save tropical forests – hadn’t burned her letters after her death. Why did she do it? In her daring and original novel
which regulate temperature and weather, store carbon and yield countless life-saving medicines. Miss Austen, Gill Hornby imagines what fuelled that act of destruction carried out by a
Hear what we can do in the fight to preserve the areas of rainforest that are left before it’s too late. devoted sibling, and to venture into the closed world of the Austen family. She’s joined by
In conversation with Hettie O’Brien, Online Editor of the New Statesman celebrated critic and biographer Claire Tomalin to discuss all matters Austen.
20 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 21Saturday 18 April
Joan Smith Terrorism Begins in the Home
STATE OF THE NATION
1-2pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
What constitutes and motivates terrorism has been a
subject of keen debate for some time, but one factor has
been consistently overlooked: domestic violence. Joan Smith,
author of the feminist classic Misogynies and Co-Chair of the
Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board
since 2013, explores how men with a history of domestic
abuse - as both victims and perpetrators - become embroiled
with terrorist organisations. Her new book, Home Grown,
sets forth a course of action that could transform our
approach to domestic abuse and save countless lives.
In conversation with Helen Lewis, author and staff writer at
The Atlantic
Jeremy Mynott
Birds in the Ancient World
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
1-2pm | David Attenborough Seminar Room | £10/8
Pets and entertainments; indicators of weather and seasons;
omens and intermediaries between the gods and humankind
– birds have played myriad roles in culture over the
centuries. Join Jeremy Mynott as he discusses his
fascinating new book that highlights the ways that birds
pervaded the ancient world and the similarities and often
surprising differences between ancient conceptions of the
natural world and our own.
Exclusive Free Film Screening
Our Gorongosa
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
2:30-3:30pm | David Attenborough Seminar Room | Free
In celebration of Earth Optimism, a global movement bringing
attention to conservation successes as a means for motivation
and action, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative is screening
Our Gorongosa: A Park For The People. Fronted by Dominique
Gonçalves, a young Mozambican elephant ecologist, it’s the
inspiring story of Gorongosa National Park and its innovative
conservation model that’s as committed to benefiting the
communities around the park – and in particular the girls and
women who live in them – as it is to the animals and wild
ecosystems. Come and be inspired by this story of Earth Optimism!
22 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851Saturday 18 April Saturday 18 April
© Alun Callender
James Scudamore English Monsters
Michael Frayn Mobile Magic With thanks to DISUNITED KINGDOM NEW FICTION
ART & CULTURE
2:30-3:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
2:30-3:30pm | TTP Stage | £14/10 English Monsters is an explosive, but beautifully evocative story exploring the hidden
Irrepressibly creative playwright, novelist and short-story writer Michael Frayn returns to horrors of the English school system. It explores what happens when care is outsourced in
the festival with a brilliant new book, or ‘no-fuss, non-digital entertainment system’, as he the name of building resilience and character and presents an exquisite and moving portrait
likes to call it. Pre-loaded with 35 new text files, Magic Mobile brings you cutting-edge, of male friendship. Join James Scudamore to discuss this breath-taking novel. James won
entirely non-analogue stories to set alongside his Matchbox Theatre and Pocket Playhouse. the Somerset Maugham Award with his first novel The Amnesia Clinic.
Don’t miss the chance to quiz the author of Noises Off, Copenhagen and Headlong on his In conversation with Jo Browning Wroe, writer and teacher
new comic masterpiece.
In conversation with Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster
© Gautier Deblonde
Celia Paul Self-Portrait Maya Goodfellow
ART & CULTURE Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats
2:30-3:30pm | The Fitzwilliam Museum | £15/10 DISUNITED KINGDOM
‘The precision and intimacy of Celia Paul’s writing is as impressive as the empathy and power of 4-5pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10
her painting. I feel that this book will be important to many readers,’ Frank Auerbach While a government keen to tell voters that it could control immigration created the ‘hostile
Celia Paul is one of the most important painters working in Britain today, and her memoir is environment’, our television screens showed us refugees drowning in the Mediterranean and a
a vivid and precise distillation of her art, ranging from her student days at the Slade and country riven with discord unleashed by the EU referendum. When studies show the benefits of
her relationship with Lucien Freud to the struggles that she faced and the determination immigration and refute the idea that it strains public services, where does this scapegoating
that she needed in order to make her way as an artist. come from? Maya Goodfellow marshals the latest research in this sharp-eyed investigation.
In conversation with Frances Spalding, art historian, critic, biographer and Festival Patron In conversation with Anoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor of the New Statesman
24 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 25Saturday 18 April Saturday 18 April
Richard Layard How to Create Happiness
LIFESTYLE
New Statesman Debate 4-5pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
This house believes that capitalism needs to fail in order for the Economist Richard Layard first proposed the idea of happiness as a way of measuring the
success of a country 15 years ago, and now he feels it’s an idea whose time has really
planet to survive come. In his rousing new book Can We be Happier?, he lays out the evidence, principles and
CLIMATE EMERGENCY science behind initiatives for teachers, managers, health-workers and politicians to
4-5:30pm | TTP Stage | £12/10 increase happiness in their spheres of influence – and argues that with measures such as
It is now widely agreed that we face a global climate crisis, and we are already seeing the these, we can turn away from destructive competition and transform our society.
effects: rising temperatures and sea levels, species extinction and extreme weather. There In conversation with Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster
is consensus that carbon emissions need to start falling fast. But there is less agreement
on how this should be achieved. Is capitalism the problem or the solution? Can our current
economic model have a role to play, with companies and consumers modifying their
behaviour and investing in clean technologies? Or does the whole system of ownership,
work and capital need a radical overhaul in order to create a sustainable society? We know
where we need to be, but this debate will address the world’s most pressing issue: how do
we get there?
Speakers include
Professor Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity Without Growth and Director of the Centre
for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey
Noga Levy-Rapoport, climate justice advocate at the UK Student Climate Network
Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party and MP for Brighton Pavilion
Baroness Verma, Conservative peer and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Energy and Climate Change
Dimitri Zenghelis, former Head of Economic Forecasting at HM Treasury and Senior
A C Grayling The Good State
Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership DISUNITED KINGDOM
6-7pm | TTP Stage | £14/10
Chaired by Alona Ferber, Special Projects Editor at the New Statesman There is a ticking time-bomb at the heart of our representative democracy and in more than
fifty countries around the world. The problem is as large and widespread as it is serious. Politics
is too often the enemy of government – at least of good government. We need proportional
representation. We need to lower the voting age to 16. We need a written constitution. We need
to separate the functions and powers of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. In this
typically provocative talk, A C Grayling will argue that democracy is for all, not some.
26 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 27Saturday 18 April Saturday 18 April
Sinclair McKay Dresden
HISTORY
5:30-6:30pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10
In February 1945, Allied forces obliterated Dresden, dropping
bombs weighing over 1000lb every seven and a half seconds. An
estimated 25,000 people were killed. And ever since, debate has
raged: was Dresden a legitimate military target, or a savage act
of mass murder? To mark the 75th anniversary, historian
Sinclair McKay, author of The Secret Life of Bletchley Park and
The Mile End Murder, has recreated the night of the attack
minute by minute in his new book Dresden. In today’s
illuminating talk, he will draw on individual testimony and never-
before-seen sources to guide us through the deeply moving
story of this terrible night. Tessa Hadley Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Tessa Hadley & Lucy Hughes-Hallett Genre-Crossing Wordsmiths
Esther Rutter NEW FICTION
Unravelling Britain’s Knitted History 7-8pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
HISTORY Join two writers at the top of their game for an enlightening foray into fiction. Hadley is
the author of novels including Clever Girl, The Past and, most recently, Late in the Day, and
5:30-6:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
her short stories frequently appear in The New Yorker. Hughes-Hallett has written
Perhaps Esther Rutter was always destined to be a knitter – biographies including a prize-winning life of Gabriele D’Annunzio, the novel Peculiar Ground
she grew up on a sheep farm, and learned how to spin and and her new story collection, Fabulous. They talk about working in different genres and the
weave early on. But in This Golden Fleece, her eye-opening thrill of literary creation with Jo Browning Wroe.
history, she explains why so many of us feel connected to
the craft of knitting – and takes us on a journey around the
British Isles, from the Shetlands to the Channel Islands, via
funeral stockings and fishermen’s jumpers, to bring us a
wonderful yarn.
In conversation with Anna Leszkiewicz, Culture Editor of the
New Statesman
Tim Hayward & Alison Wright
100 Years of Fitzbillies
LIFESTYLE
Feargal Sharkey Tony Juniper
5:30-6:30pm | McCrum Lecture Theatre | £10/8
Chelsea buns! Chocolate eclairs! Almond macaroons! Feargal Sharkey State of our Rivers
Fitzbillies, which this year celebrates its centenary, is not the CLIMATE EMERGENCY
place to go if you’re cutting back on the treats – but we say
7:30-8:30pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
life’s too short not to indulge from time to time. Join
proprietors Alison Wright and Tim Hayward, who saved this A clean river these days is hard to find so former Undertones lead singer and keen fly-
Cambridge institution from closure in 2011, to celebrate its fisherman is taking on the water companies and Environment Agency in an attempt to
continuing appeal, and to hear about their favourite stories stop the pollution of the UK’s chalk streams. Believing that the Environment Agency has
and recipes in their new book Fitzbillies. allowed water companies to repeatedly ignore their ecological responsibilities and
continue decimating our precious rivers, Feargal will be discussing this and other issues
In conversation with Dr Annie Gray, historian, author and
with Tony Juniper, one of our best-known environmental campaigners and an award-
broadcaster
winning writer.
28 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 29Saturday 18 April Saturday 18 April
Climate Cabaret
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
9-11pm | TTP Stage | £14/10
Join us for an unmissable evening! Will Attenborough, actor, advocate for Fossil Free UK, and
great-nephew of Sir David Attenborough, will welcome a wide range of speakers to respond to
the ongoing climate emergency through prose, poetry, and art.
Caroline Lucas MP, Guest Director of the Climate Emergency strand of the festival
Claire Tomalin, Vice-President of the Royal Literary Fund, Royal Society of Literature and
English PEN
Selina Nwulu, writer, poet, essayist and social researcher, Young Poet Laureate for London
2015-16
Rebecca Stott, author and professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of
East Anglia
Ali Smith, award-winning author and Honorary Festival Patron
Craig Brown 1, 2, 3, 4: The Beatles in Time
Paul Kindersly, artist based between London and Cambridge
ART & CULTURE
Jude Yawson, editor and co-author alongside the rapper Stormzy of Rise Up
7-8pm | Palmerston Room | £14/10
Momtaza Mehri, award-winning poet, essayist, meme archivist, Young People’s Laureate for
Twist and shout! Craig Brown, the award-winning, bestselling author of Ma’am Darling: 99
London 2018
Glimpses of Princess Margaret brings us his hilarious, fascinating celebration of the Fab Four.
Despite it being the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ break-up, they continue to occupy a Tamsin Blaxter, Research Fellow at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, historical linguist,
central position in our culture. Why is this? And how has their influence extended so far into and poet
fashion, politics, religion and ethics? In search of answers, Brown will delve joyfully into the JJ Lucyszyn, PhD student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and prize-winning poet
minutiae of their lives and careers in this magical, mystery tour of an event.
Momtaza Mehri Ali Smith Jude Yawson Selina Nwulu
With thanks to
Cambridge Environmental
Research Consultants
cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 31Sunday 19 April Sunday 19 April
Caroline Lucas MP & Daniel Zeichner MP
Has the Politics of Climate Change Finally
Reached a Tipping Point?
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
10-11am | TTP Stage | £12/10
As Parliament and Councils across the UK declare a
Climate Emergency, could politics be changing with the
climate? Or is this only greenwash – rhetoric and no
action? Join Green Party MP Caroline Lucas (author of
Honourable Friends: Parliament and the Fight for Change)
and Labour Party MP Daniel Zeichner, Shadow Minister for
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
for a discussion on the opportunities and challenges in
effecting change.
Helen Lewis Difficult Women
HISTORY
10-11am | Palmerston Room | £12/10
Acclaimed journalist and festival favourite Helen Lewis
presents her first book – a survey of the women who
refused to shut up and sit down. Including the working-
class suffragettes advocating bombings and arson, the
‘striker in a sari’ who terrified Margaret Thatcher and the
21st-century feminists fighting for access to abortion
services, Lewis’s funny, fearless and sometimes shocking
book is both celebration and call to arms. Being Part of the Solution
In conversation with Tom Gatti, Deputy Editor of the New Cambridge Residents Fight the Climate Crisis
Statesman
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
11am-1pm | David Attenborough Seminar Room | £5
Climate activism calls for rapid government action on reducing emissions. But as recent
Susan Golombok What really matters for events have shown, governments are still dragging their feet, and time is running out.
parents and children What can you, as an individual, do to combat climate breakdown and biodiversity loss?
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY This panel brings together some of the groups and organisations in Cambridge and
beyond that are taking action now, and which need volunteers and support. The panel
10-11am | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
will include members of Cambridge Carbon Footprint and Transition Cambridge, which
The ‘traditional’ family – mum, dad, 2.4 children – has long work to organise repair cafes, training workshops, and educational events, Cambridge
been complemented by other kinds of unit. Single parents, Sustainable Food, which earned our city a bronze award in the UK Sustainable Food City
co-parents, LGBT parents, children whose origins lie in awards, The Wildlife Trust, which is collaborating with city planners to ensure space
surrogacy or IVF have become not only more common, but for wildlife, Extinction Rebellion, the climate activist group, and more. With plenty of
more widely acknowledged. Pioneering Cambridge professor time to ask questions, and stalls from these and other environmental groups in the
Susan Golombok, a world authority on new family forms, area, this event will answer your questions about how you and your family can be part
brings us the latest news on how the family is changing, and of an environmental solution now.
celebrates the diversity that a loving family can nurture.
Chaired by Dr Alison Greig, Director of Education for Sustainability and course leader for
In conversation with Terri Apter, writer, psychologist and critic MSc Sustainability at the Global Sustainability Institute, ARU Cambridge
With thanks to
32 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 33Sunday 19 April Sunday 19 April
© Nick Bradley
© Nikki Powell
Naomi Ishiguro Derek Owusu Julianne Pachico
Ali Smith’s Debut Writers New Voices, New Visions
Michael Cashman From Albert Square to Parliament Square NEW FICTION
MEMOIR 11:30am-12:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
11:30am-12:30pm | TTP Stage | £14/10 Taking time out from completing her exceptional quartet of novels, Ali Smith once again curates
Sir Ian McKellen calls it a book ‘unlike any other I’ve read’, Armistead Maupin says, ‘There a panel of outstanding first-time writers in one of the highlights of the festival. This time, her
are so many reasons to love this book’ and Sheila Hancock and Alan Johson are both fans. chosen writers are Naomi Ishiguro (Escape Routes), Derek Owusu (That Reminds Me) and
Why? Because Michael Cashman – actor, politician, campaigner, Lord – shares his story Julianne Pachico (The Anthill). Don’t miss seeing the stars of tomorrow on this afternoon’s stage.
with such candour that it’s impossible not to be affected. Join him as he tells Alex Clark
about his iconic role in Eastenders, how he co-founded Stonewall and his journey through With thanks to
grief after the death of his partner, in what promises to be a very special event. Lit Fuse (funded by the ARU Arts Council) inspires creative writers through practical workshops,
In conversation with Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster retreats, meet-ups, and competitions
© Hugh Chaloner
Venki Ramakrishnan Solving an Ancient Mystery of Life
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Anne Enright Actress: Fame, Sexual Power, & Hidden Truths
11:30-12:30pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10 NEW FICTION
‘Beyond superb,’ Bill Bryson 1-2pm | TTP Stage | £14/10
We all know about DNA and its fundamental importance to our understanding of human Winner of the Man Booker Prize and the first Laureate for Irish Fiction, Anne Enright is a
life, but fewer of us are aware of the machine that decodes it and makes it work – the storyteller of rare distinction, as witnessed in novels from The Gathering to The Green
ribosome. In this riveting book, structural biologist Venki Ramakrishnan describes the Road. And in Actress, she creates an unforgettable character – that of Katherine O’Dell,
tireless work behind our understanding of this crucial building block of life itself – work for star of the stage and mother to the long-suffering Norah, who tells her riveting, funny and
which he shared a Nobel Prize. often painful story. Enright talks about Katherine, Norah and her body of work to Alex
Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster.
In conversation with Hannah Critchlow, scientist and author
34 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 35Sunday 19 April Sunday 19 April
Anna Hope Selina Nwulu Jude Yawson
Anna Hope, Selina Nwulu & Jude Yawson Culture Declares Maggi Hambling A Purity of Vision
ARTS & CULTURE
Emergency: The Role of Arts & Imagination in Climate Action
2:30-3:30pm | TTP Stage | £14/10
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
We’re delighted to welcome back to the festival the celebrated artist Maggi Hambling, who
1-2pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10
has been central to the story of painting in this country for decades to the festival. She’ll be
For decades, scientists have told us that our climate is changing and that the consequences discussing the work of her father, the visionary Suffolk artist Harry Hambling (1902–98),
will be disastrous, yet those in power have continued to do far too little. What role can and the publication of a long-awaited, lavishly-illustrated book, A Suffolk Eye – written
culture play in inspiring climate action? How are the arts engaging with environment with Jamie Gilham and with contributions from Andrew Lambirth and George Melly –
breakdown, and importantly who, and how, can they mobilise? which brings together his works for the first time.
Join chair Caroline Lucas MP as she tackles these questions with three passionate and In conversation with Luke Syson, Director and Marlay Curator, The Fitzwilliam Museum
engaging artists and writers: Anna Hope, author of Expectation and editor of Letters to the
Earth; Jude Yawson, editor and co-author alongside the rapper Stormzy of Rise Up: The
#Merky Story So Far and teacher of the ‘Writing to Understand Climate Change’ course at
the Southbank Centre; and Selina Nwulu, Young Poet Laureate for London 2015–16 and
social researcher focused on social and environmental justice.
© Pellier
David Runciman Helen Thompson
David Runciman, Helen Thompson & guests Hashi Mohamed What It Takes to Make It in Modern Britain
Talking Politics Podcast Live Recording DISUNITED KINGDOM
STATE OF THE NATION 2:30-3:30pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10
1-2pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £10/8 Hashi Mohamed was nine when civil war in Somalia brought him to Britain, where he attended
The Talking Politics podcast launched in 2016 with the strapline ‘Corbyn! Brexit! Trump!’. In some of the country’s worst schools and was raised exclusively on social benefits. He grew up
2020 that should probably be ‘Cummings! Climate! Trump!’... but the fundamental questions to study at Oxford and become a successful barrister. But, he argues, his story is not typical –
about politics remain the same. What is going on? What might happen next? How bad could and in a hard-hitting examination of the systems and structures that act as obstacles to
it get? Democracy is feeling the strain everywhere... Join David Runciman, Helen Thompson society’s most disadvantaged, he explores why, and how these can change.
and guests for their first live podcast recording of the decade. In conversation with Anoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor of the New Statesman
36 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 37Sunday 19 April Sunday 19 April
Jason Cowley, Stephen Bush &
Helen Thompson
The Story of a Magazine and British Politics
HISTORY
2:30-3:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
Since its founding in 1913, the New Statesman has been at the
centre of British political and cultural life. And through writers such
as HG Wells, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf and John Gray, the new
anthology Statesmanship tells the story of modern Britain. To mark
its launch, the magazine’s editor-in-chief Jason Cowley and political
editor Stephen Bush are joined by Helen Thompson, Professor of
Political Economy at the University of Cambridge and New
Statesman columnist, to discuss the magazine’s journey through
more than a century of turbulent change. Dieter Helm Green and Prosperous Land
Chaired by Helen Lewis, Staff Writer at the Atlantic and former CLIMATE EMERGENCY
Deputy Editor of the New Statesman 4-5pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
Dieter Helm’s blueprint for rescuing the British countryside is a radical and realistic manifesto.
Assessing our ‘green assets’, exploring the challenges of sustainability and eschewing the
Edward Platt sterile opposition of economics and ecology, the environmental specialist and professor of
The Great Flood: Travels Through a Sodden economics proposes a bold and practical 25-year plan. Hear why, if we act now¸ Helm believes
Landscape there is hope and time.
In conversation with Fiona Reynolds, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
2:30-3:30pm | David Attenborough Seminar Room | £10/8
During the winter of 2013-14, the UK experienced the most
severe flooding ever recorded in these isles. At the same time,
award-winning writer Edward Platt travelled through marsh
and fen, town and village, documenting the destruction that the
waters caused, speaking to those most directly and painfully
affected. As such extreme weather events become increasingly
likely, these dispatches from the frontline mark a piece of
reportage that we ignore at our peril.
© Sophie Bassouls
Orlando Figes
The Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
HISTORY
4-5pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
A great French soprano, her impresario husband and a feted
Eimear McBride Attraction, Love and Grief
NEW FICTION
Russian writer, and their interwoven lives: it sounds like the
stuff of fiction. But in a fascinating group portrait, historian 4-5pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10
Orlando Figes brings us the very real lives of Pauline and ‘Strange Hotel already has the stamp of immortality on it,’ Sebastian Barry
Louis Viardot and Ivan Turgenev, showing how their devotion Women’s Prize for Fiction and Goldsmiths Prize winner Eimear McBride returns with a
to their art relates to a rapidly changing Europe, and how the stunning fiction based on a single conceit – that of a woman entering a series of hotel
middle of the 19th century saw the creation of a ‘European rooms, and therein grappling with her memories and desires. But McBride’s talent turns a
canon’ of culture. plain premise into a magical journey – and one that her many readers will be all too willing
In conversation with Michael Prodger, Associate Editor of the to accompany her on.
New Statesman In conversation with Tom Gatti, Deputy Editor of the New Statesman
38 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 39Sunday 19 April Sunday 19 April
Lennie Goodings & Linda Grant
Books, Writers and Virago
ART & CULTURE NEW FICTION
5:30-6:30pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
© Charlie Hopkinson
Lennie Goodings (A Bite of the Apple) has published some of
the greatest writers of the past few decades – Sarah
Waters, Marilynne Robinson, Margaret Atwood and Maya
Lennie Goodings
Angelou among them, and now writes her own memoir –
about Virago. As a very early member of the publisher, she
has continued to help lead the way for women writers in the
UK, and we’re delighted that she is joined by one of her
authors, Linda Grant (A Stranger City), who has been
published by Virago for eighteen of her bestselling and
© Charlie Hopkinson
award-winning writing years. A wonderful opportunity to
David Lammy MP Tribes see how a successful writer and publisher relationship can
DISUNITED KINGDOM lead to magnificent books.
Chaired by Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster Linda Grant
5:30-6:30pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
David Lammy, the first black Briton to attend Harvard Law School, and Tottenham MP since
2000, took a DNA test in 2007 to explore his own heritage. He found that his ancestors belonged Helen McCarthy
to several tribes across Niger, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. This prompted Lammy’s thinking
on tribalism and belonging: how should we navigate the positive aspects of belonging with the A History of Working Motherhood
pernicious problem of excluding and marginalising? How have digitisation and globalisation led to HISTORY
new, pernicious forms of tribalism? Join this inspiring politician to find out more. 5:30-6:30 | McCrum Lecture Theatre | £12/10
In conversation with Anoosh Chakelian, Britain Editor of the New Statesman Our attitudes towards mothers in the workplace have been
revolutionised over the last hundred years, since the time that
working mums were in a minority and excluded from many
occupations. In today’s Britain, three-quarters of mothers are in
paid work, and it is seen as an unremarkable fact of life. But
how far do we still have to go? Cambridge lecturer Helen
McCarthy ranges from the chimneys of 19th-century
Manchester to the towers of Canary Wharf to find out.
In conversation with Alice Wroe, founder of Herstory
www.herstoryuk.org
James Graham
Jonathan Reekie Sarah Hopwood Mark O’Connell Notes From an Apocalypse
Jonathan Reekie, Sarah Hopwood & James Graham STATE OF THE NATION
7-8pm | Baillie Gifford Stage | £12/10
Future of the Arts
Mark O’Connell, whose book To Be a Machine won the Wellcome
ARTS & CULTURE Book Prize, describes his new project as ‘a personal journey to
5:30-6:30pm | Palmerston Room | £12/10 the end of the world and back’ – in which his own worries about
The arts are facing a growing number of threats: dwindling audiences, funding controversy looming devastation feed into his travels among those who are
and the huge rise in easily accessible, mobile entertainment. But in this age of fake news, determinedly preparing to face the apocalypse. Ranging from
© Rich Gillingham
polarised politics and climate change, they are arguably more important than ever in mountains in Scotland and bunkers in South Dakota to the lush
helping us to make sense of a troubled world. Join Sarah Hopwood, MD of Glyndebourne, valleys of New Zealand, O’Connell’s encounters with
acclaimed playwright James Graham and Somerset House Director Jonathan Reekie as environmentalists, survivalists, entrepreneurs and conspiracists
they explore what the coming decade will mean for the arts. is essential reading for the end of days.
In association with
40 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851 cambridgeliteraryfestival.com 41Sunday 19 April
© Linda Brownlee
Alexandra Shulman Meanings of How We Dress
LIFESTYLE
7-8pm | TTP Stage | £12/10
Alexandra Shulman was British Vogue’s longest serving editor, and it’s safe to say that she
really understands clothes. But not just the latest fashions or styles – it’s what our clothes
mean to us and how they weave in and out of our lives that really interest her. Her
wonderful tour of the wardrobe – from Chanel jacket to crisp white shirt to little black
dress – is a must for all those interested in the secret language of clothes.
In conversation with Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster
© Matt Crockett
Robert Webb Time travelling, love and adventure
NEW FICTION
8:30-9:30pm | TTP Stage | £16/10
From the co-star of cult TV comedy Peep Show and the bestselling memoir-manifesto How
Not to Be a Boy comes a delightfully wry look at the perils of growing up. In his debut
novel, Webb asks what you would do if you woke up one day and found yourself, like his
heroine Kate, in the full flush of youth, middle age far away. Would you change everything?
Do it all the same? Try to save the ones you love?
In conversation with Alex Clark, journalist, critic and broadcaster
42 Book at: cambridgelive.org.uk 01223 357851You can also read
