Marlborough literature festival - 30 September - 3 October 2021
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Marlborough
marlborough
literature festival
30 September – 3 October 2021
S p o n s o rs & Fr i e n d s o f L i t Fe s t
Marlborough Literature Festival is support: Bath Spa University, We could not run LitFest without
supported by lead sponsor Sarah Fingal-Rock Wines, Haine & Smith those who give their time. If you
Raven, livestream sponsor Hiscox Opticians, Katharine House Gallery, are interested in getting involved
Graphics: Insurance and event sponsors Marlborough Library, Ramsbury please contact us at
Aly Storey 07787 500590 William Golding Limited, Adam Estates, St John’s Academy, general@marlboroughlitfest.org
Print:
Thoroughbred Design
Matthew Digital, marlborough.news, Waitrose, Gazette & Herald,
& Print 01460 240773 Marlborough College, St Francis BBC Wiltshire and Wiltshire Life. The White Horse Bookshop is our
Website: School, Hamilton Trust and The Arts bookselling partner for LitFest.
Ghost (Digital) Limited
www.ghostlimited.com Society Kennet & Swindon. Thank you too to our Golden Many thanks to Angus MacLennan
Livestreaming: Friends Susie Fisher and Philip and his team for all their work over
StreamWorks
www.stream-works.co.uk
We are also very grateful to the and Tanya Cayford and to our the festival weekend and support
Sound: following for their generous anonymous donors. during the year.
JHA Entertainment www.
jhaentertainment.co.uk
PR:
Fran Del Mar
07950 558683
Photography:
Ben Phillips
www.bphillips.co.uk
Marlborough LitFest
Registered Charity
No.1149252
Registered Company
No. 07070372
2 marlboroughlitfest.org
We lco m e
LitFest is back, two years on from events in the Town Hall to make We look forward to seeing you in
our tenth anniversary in 2019. And sure that they can reach an person and online for Marlborough
we’re delighted to be bringing you online audience too. Several of LitFest 2021.
an exciting line-up of big literary our evening events will be filmed
names, first-time novelists, hard- remotely but we hope you will come The LitFest Committee
hitting non-fiction, workshops and to view them on the big screen with
children’s activities – something glass of wine in hand – see details
for everyone we hope. We also against each session. K ey t o ev e n t s
have an exclusive finale featuring
our patron Sir Simon Russell Beale This is a big year for the festival Author on stage in person. Live
– see page 27. as we take some of it online as events taking place in the Town
well as using our venues around Hall on Saturday and Sunday
Thank you for your patience while
we have kept the Covid situation
Marlborough. We are able to do
this thanks to the support of local
Live will also be livestreamed and
available online.
under review. We have held back partners, a fleet of volunteers,
our full programme until August including our own committee
with tickets going on sale at the members, and new and existing These are interviews with the
start of September. sponsors. author filmed ‘as live’ except
Big for the event with Sir Simon
We are thrilled that most of our
authors are planning to come
We are particularly grateful to
our new lead sponsor Sarah Screen Russell Beale which has been
pre-recorded. They can be
to Marlborough. Thanks to a Raven whose head office is in viewed on the big screen in the Town Hall or online.
partnership with StreamWorks, Marlborough. And to Hiscox
a creative video agency based in Insurance who are supporting our Please see page 29 for how to book tickets.
Swindon, we will be livestreaming livestreamed events.
Box Office 0333 6663366 3
Inua Ellams Po e t r y
Inua Ellams has a challenge
for you: pick a word, any word.
Whatever – and however
outrageous – your suggestion, he
will delve into his extensive archive
of work and perform a “reactive and
spontaneous selection”. Prepare
for Search Party, a poetry evening
like no other.
Born in Nigeria, Ellams is an
award-winning poet, playwright,
Live performer, graphic artist and
designer. His first play, The 14th
Tale, told in mellifluous verse the
play, Barber Shop Chronicles, played
two sell-out runs at the National
and toured the world.
displacement and destiny. And
when not creating, he is often to be
found pounding the streets at night:
Memorial Hall
Marlborough College story of how Ellams, “a natural- join him and fellow artists in cities
£10 born mischief-maker”, moved from Whether in verse, prose, graphic across the globe on The Midnight
Friday 1 October the clay streets of Nigeria to the art or design, Ellams mixes the old Run, a walking tour with art and
7.30pm rooftops of Dublin and London. with the new: traditional African attitude.
It won a Fringe First award at storytelling with contemporary
Edinburgh and transferred to the poetry, pencil with pixel, with an For now, however, let the Search
National Theatre. His most recent emphasis on themes of identity, Party begin…
4 marlboroughlitfest.org
E l i f S h a fa k The Golding Speaker
It is a dangerous time to be a writer West are ever present in her books,
in Turkey, particularly if you like to whether it is her bestselling The
champion women’s and minority Forty Rules of Love, The Bastard of
rights and lace your novels with Istanbul or 10 Minutes 38 Seconds
politics. One reason, perhaps, why in This Strange World, which was
Elif Shafak, the Turkish-British shortlisted for the 2019 Booker
author, has made Britain her home Prize.
for the past 12 years. But Istanbul’s
loss is London’s gain – LitFest’s Her new novel, The Island of Missing
too, as Shafak, who has written 12 Trees, tells the magical tale of two
novels to date, will be this year’s teenagers who meet in secret in Big
online Golding Speaker. And she a divided Cyprus. He is a Greek Screen
has plenty of experience to draw Christian; she is Turkish Muslim.
Town Hall
on, as anyone who has seen her £12
inspiring TED talks will testify. As the Sunday Times says: “Shafak includes glass of wine
is passionately interested in Friday 1 October
Photo: Oliver Hess
Shafak still considers herself to dissolving barriers, whether of 7.30pm
be an Istanbulite at heart, but race, nationality, culture, gender,
she is also a Londoner and the geography or a more mystical Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
contrasting influences of East and kind.”
Box Office 0333 6663366 5
Charlie English
T h e G a l le r y o f M i ra c le s a n d
M a d n e s s : I n s a n i t y , A r t & H i t le r ’s
F i rst M a s s - M u rd e r P ro g ra m m e
The story of Hitler’s war on modern art was at
art and the mentally ill takes him odds with
into similarly engrossing, yet surely the purity of
darker, terrain. It begins in the the Aryan
Former newspaper editor early 1920s with the pioneering soul, and he
Charlie English likes to get his German psychiatrist Hans was quick to
teeth into big, complex stories. Prinzhorn, whose fascination with brand it – and
In his acclaimed 2017 book The his patients’ art led him to exhibit its creators – “degenerate”. Thus
Live Book Smugglers of Timbuktu, he
recounted how the librarians of
their work. Visitors marvelled at
how these raw, emotional paintings
began a terrible persecution: by
1941, 70,000 psychiatric patients
St Mary’s Church Hall the ancient Malian city saved tens “opened windows on a different had been murdered in killing
£10 of thousands of historic volumes reality” and they had a profound units that paved the way for the
Saturday 2 October from the barbarism of al-Qaida. effect on modernist artists from Holocaust.
10am But what was on the surface a Max Ernst to Salvador Dalí.
straightforward tale became a In The Gallery of Miracles and
more profound journey into history, One failed artist was less Madness, English shines a light on
imagination and myth. impressed. For Adolf Hitler, such one of humanity’s darkest episodes.
6 marlboroughlitfest.org
Gill Hornby
M i s s A u st e n
Hungerford, and more specifically
the old vicarage, where she has
lived for nearly 30 years. It was here
that Cassandra came in 1840, 23
years after the death of her famous
sibling, to embark on a secret quest
to seek out Jane’s letters.
What were Cassandra’s motives?
What did the letters reveal? And
what should she do: take action
to protect Jane’s reputation, or
leave the contents of the cache to
“Behind all great men or women Jane Austen and the heroine of this
be pored over by the prying eyes of
posterity? Live
there is always a sister, a wife or book. Town Hall
a mother who is promoting them As Cassandra delves into the £10
and doing everything for them. The While Miss Austen is a novel, much correspondence, she is transported Saturday 2 October
enablers.” So said Gill Hornby in of it is rooted in facts - facts that back to the youth she shared with 10am
an interview with the Cambridge Hornby knows better than anyone, Jane, and the imagined life of one
Independent. She was talking for at the heart of the action of the world’s best-loved novelists Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
about Cassandra, the sister of is the village of Kintbury, near is brought thrillingly to the page.
Box Office 0333 6663366 7
S a ra h W i n m a n
S t i l l L i fe
an exquisite dissector of family
relationships, friendships and sex.
And now her new book, Still Life,
looks set to be another huge hit.
Billed as a big-hearted story of
people brought together by art, love
and fate, it begins in the Tuscan hills
of Italy in 1944, where a young British
soldier, Ulysses Temper, shares an
unforgettable evening in a wine cellar
A bestselling debut novel can with an elderly stranger, Evelyn
often be a curse for novelists. How Skinner, an art historian. As bombs
to follow that? Not so for Sarah fall all around them, Evelyn speaks
Winman, a former actress who has of truth and beauty and an encounter
managed to repeat the worldwide
success of her first book, When
with E.M. Forster. As we soon
discover, it is a discussion that will go Live
God Was a Rabbit, with several on to shape the rest of Ulysses’s life. St Mary’s Church Hall
bestsellers, including The Tin Man. £10
Photo: Patricai Niven
Fellow authors are full of praise Saturday 2 October
Shortlisted for the 2017 Costa for Winman’s new tale. “Sheer joy,” 12pm
Novel Award, the book cemented according to Graham Norton.
Winman’s reputation as one of “A bear-hug of a book,” says
our most cherished authors, Rachel Joyce.
8 marlboroughlitfest.org
L u k e H a rd i n g S h a d o w S t a t e : M u rd e r , M a y h e m
a n d R u s s i a ’s R e m a k i n g o f t h e We st
This event is being held in memory Russia report? These and many
of Sir John Sykes, one of LitFest’s other questions form the basis of
founders, who died in October Luke Harding’s riveting Shadow
2020. State, the fourth of his books that
investigate the nefarious ways in
It is still shocking – and bizarre which Putin’s Russia is infiltrating
and scandalous and downright Western politics. The book was
weird – to think that one of the published in summer 2020, but
most brazen, state-sanctioned Faber has just released an updated
assassination attempts of recent version, featuring new material
times took place barely 30 miles on Putin’s arch-enemy, Alexey
down the road from Marlborough, Navalny, the downfall of Trump and
in Salisbury. It was here, in March the Russia report.
2018, that two Russian agents
poisoned former spy Sergei Few are better qualified than
Skripal. He and his daughter
survived but an unconnected local
Harding to tackle the subject:
among many stints as a foreign Live
woman, Dawn Sturgess, did not. correspondent, he spent four years Town Hall
in Moscow, where his apartment £10
Why has Vladimir Putin never was bugged (“My wife and I talked Saturday 2 October
been brought to account? Was in the garden next to a plum tree,” 12pm
Donald Trump somehow involved? he said in an interview). Harding
And why did it take four years for was deported in 2011; his books Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
the UK government to release its are, he says, “literary revenge”.
Box Office 0333 6663366 9
B e n e d i c t M a cd o n a l d
O rc h a rd : A Ye a r i n E n g l a n d ’s E d e n
England’s ancient orchards are particular orchard deep in the
places of rare beauty: a man-made Malvern Hills. Based on four years
habitat where wildlife thrives. And of field work, the book follows the
yet, according to the acclaimed turning seasons, culminating in
nature writer Benedict Macdonald, the harvest and homespun cider-
they are on the verge of being making in the autumn.
grubbed over for ever – or sprayed
into oblivion. If anyone can save Macdonald’s first book, Rebirding:
them it is Macdonald, a passionate Restoring Britain’s Wildlife,
conservationist and rewilder who championed the need for
produces and directs TV wildlife widespread nature restoration
programmes such as Springwatch across the UK. It won the inaugural
Live and Our Planet when he is not
writing award-winning books.
Wainwright Writing on Global
Conservation Prize in 2020 and
St Mary’s Church Hall the Richard Jefferies Society and
£10 Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden, White Horse Bookshop Literary
Saturday 2 October co-written with his good friend Prize in 2019. And now Macdonald
2pm Nicholas Gates, celebrates the and Gates have won the same prize
abundance of wildlife – bumble again this year with Orchard which
bees, spotted flycatchers, makes it doubly fitting that he is
hedgehogs and redstarts – in one coming to Marlborough.
1 0 marlboroughlitfest.orgJ o n a t h o n Po r r i t t & J e s s i e G re e n g ra s s
C l i m a t e C h a n g e : G e t t i n g t h e M e s s a g e A c ro s s
This pairing of authors presents a rare
treat: a chance to hear about the defining
issue of our time from two people who care
passionately about the future of our planet,
yet who portray that future in markedly
different ways.
Jonathon Porritt has been at the forefront
of the environmental movement for
decades: director of Friends of the Earth,
key member of the Ecology Party
and its successor, the Green Party,
founder of Forum for the Future,
sustainability advisor on too many Earth through the characters of The High
business boards to mention. In House: young siblings Pauly and Caro and
Hope in Hell: A Decade to Confront
the Climate Emergency, he argues
villagers Sally and her “Grandy”, all four
thrown together in a seaside home that Live
that we can avert catastrophe, but Pauly and Caro’s mother, a climate scientist, Town Hall
only if we act now and work as had built as a shelter from the coming £10
one, harnessing the twin powers of storm – the storm that will change their Saturday 2 October
youth and technology. world for ever. 4pm
Photo: S. Daly
As a novelist, Jessie Greengrass Porritt and Greengrass: two voices; one Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
highlights the dangers of a heating clarion call.
Box Office 0333 6663366 1 1H a f s a Z a y y a n & N a t a s h a B ro w n
H i s cox D e b u t A u t h o r s
It is hard to believe Assembly tells
that neither of our the story of an
debut novelists unnamed black
has written books woman as she
before, such is the prepares to attend
sureness of their a lavish garden
touch. We Are All party at the
Birds of Uganda country estate of
by Hafsa Zayyan her boyfriend’s
and Assembly by family. Is it time for
Natasha Brown her to dismantle
have caught the eye of fellow authors and the carefully assembled pieces of herself
critics alike, who have hailed the arrival of and take control of her life? Skewering the
two exciting new voices in fiction. inherent racism of corporate culture, it
debunks the myth of social mobility, casting
Live We Are All Birds of Uganda won the
inaugural #Merky Books New Writers’
a wry look at smug liberals along the way.
Ouch. “A stunning new writer,” according to
St Mary’s Church Hall Prize, set up by Stormzy, the British Bernardine Evaristo.
£10 grime rapper. Moving between troubled
Photo Left: Bhavin Bhatt
Saturday 2 October 1960s Uganda and present-day London, Brown has spent the past decade in
4pm it explores racial tensions, generational financial services, after studying maths
divides and what it means to belong. “A at Cambridge. Zayyan, whose day job is
remarkably accomplished, polished debut,” a dispute resolution lawyer in London,
according to Malorie Blackman. studied law at Cambridge.
1 2 marlboroughlitfest.orgM a t t h e w D o o le y
Flake
Consider this. There are four types At the heart of this wry, warm, The language of Flake is joyfully
of vehicle that play a sound as they affectionate graphic novel is ice playful – who could resist a double
drive: police cars, fire engines, cream - or rather, the men who 99 from an ice-cream van named
ambulances… and ice-cream vans. purvey it. Shy Howard is happy with Walt Whipman? – and critics have
his lot, half-heartedly selling his compared his work with that of
Live
Photo: Adrian Lourie Writer Pictures
“It’s so incongruous,” says Matthew wares while doing the crossword. Alan Bennett. Dooley bats off such
Dooley, author and illustrator of Enter brash Tony, intent on comparisons, but said in a recent St Mary’s Church Hall
Flake, the book that won the 2020 expanding his ice-cream empire interview that he was drawn, £10
Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse out from the fictional Dobbiston Bennett-like, to “a mix of the absurd Saturday 2 October
Prize for Comic Fiction, the first (loosely based on Dooley’s home and the mundane”. Perhaps that 6pm
time a graphic novel has scooped town of Ormskirk, Lancashire) and would explain his other job: working
(pun intended) the prestigious across the north-west. Who will in the education department of the
award. enjoy the sweet taste of success? House of Commons…
Box Office 0333 6663366 1 3M i c k H e r ro n
S lo u g h H o u s e
Jackson Lamb, protagonist of the flatulent Jackson Lamb in a
Mick Herron’s bestselling series of television adaptation.
detective novels, is “the Falstaff of
the spying world”, wrote Charlotte In Slough House, the seventh full-
Higgins in the Guardian. “Obese length novel in the series, Lamb
in body; revolting in personal and co are in disturbing territory:
habits; gratuitously insulting in populist MPs are running amok in
manner.” Hardly hero material, you Brexit Britain and Russian agents
would think. But you’d be wrong. have poisoned a British citizen
Lamb and his fellow spooks, the with Novichok. One strangely
“slow horses” – a motley crew of familiar politician seems to
oddballs and misfits who have
been exiled from MI5’s swanky
have the answer but, with the
initials PJ, a floppy haircut and a Live
offices in Regent’s Park to a penchant for bicycles and “archaic Town Hall
downbeat, far-flung corner of the expostulations”, how much is he to £10
spying world, Slough House – are be trusted? To cap it all, members Saturday 2 October
magnetic in their appeal. The Daily of the slow horses keep winding 6pm
Photo: M. Buck
Mail has acclaimed Herron as up dead in a series of bizarre
“the new king of the spy thriller” accidents. Or is something more Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
and Gary Oldman is to star as sinister afoot?
1 4 marlboroughlitfest.orgC o l m Tóibín
The Magician
Colm Tóibín is one of Ireland’s beset Mann’s life. The father equally complex. “The stories are
greatest living writers, the author of six children, he kept his sad and then there’s this ebullient
of such modern classics as The homosexuality hidden. Winner of reaffirmation of life,” says his
Blackwater Lightship, Brooklyn the Nobel Prize in Literature, he agent, Peter Strauss. “Like Colm
and The Testament of Mary. And never returned to Germany, the himself, there’s a duality, within Big
for his latest book, he has turned country that inspired his writing. him and these other great writers.” Screen
to another literary giant for A cheerleader for the German
Town Hall
inspiration: the German novelist army in the First World War, he What is not in any doubt is Tóibín’s £12
Thomas Mann. anticipated the horrors of Nazism literary reputation, which seems includes glass of wine
Photo: Reynaldo Rivera
in the Second World War. to grow with every book. Rumour Saturday 2 October
In The Magician, described as a has it he writes in the most austere 8pm
sweeping novel of unrequited The Magician has echoes of Tóibín’s of conditions, perched on a hard,
love and exile, war and family, 2004 novel, The Master, about uncomfortable chair. Thankfully for Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
we learn of the contractions that Henry James, whose life was the rest of us, the pain is worth it.
Box Office 0333 6663366 1 5reeE v
Our children’s events are sponsored by St Francis School, marlborough.news and Hamilton Trust.
C h i l d r e n ’s L i t F e s t
Prizes for our children’s competition are donated by Haine & Smith Opticians.
Fre e E ve n t s fo r S c h o o l s
Every year we are proud to offer free events
E i le e n B ro w n e
with popular authors for invited local H a n d a ’s N o i s y N i g h t
primary schools. This year, Tom Palmer,
award-winning author of D-Day Dog and Bring your little ones along for a fun and
After The War, will be sharing valuable tips enjoyable hour with this bestselling author
for research, planning, writing and editing, and illustrator. Everyone will hear animal
as well as introducing his new book Arctic sounds from Eileen’s latest book, Handa’s
Star to children in Marlborough. Noisy Night, find out where Handa lives,
do some drawing and take part in music
Natasha Farrant, author of The Children of and movement from Handa’s Surprise and
Castle Rock, will be talking to children in Handa’s Hen.
Pewsey about her latest book Voyage of the
Sparrowhawk - a thrilling adventure story Eileen has written and illustrated many
set in the aftermath of WWII. books for children including Handa’s
Surprise and Handa’s Hen, both of
which have been translated into over 20
S i x t h Fo r m D e b a t e
Live “All that glisters is not
languages.
She is a local Live
gold: Is there still a place author who White Horse Bookshop
Town Hall for Shakespeare in a champions £5
Thursday 30 September 21st-century curriculum?” female Saturday 2 October
4-5.30pm Sixth formers from St representation 10.30am
John’s Academy battle it and diversity
Tickets required but free out in front of a public audience. Prepare to in children’s Free for under 5s
have your views challenged. picture books.
1 6 marlboroughlitfest.orgC h i l d r e n ’s L i t F e s t
E m m a C a r ro l l
T h e We e k a t Wo r l d ’s E n d
Join Emma Carroll, the Queen After working as a news reporter,
of Historical Fiction and award- an avocado picker and the person
winning author of Letters from the who punches holes into Filofax
Lighthouse and Secrets of a Sun paper, Carroll was a secondary
King, as she shares tips for writing school English teacher for many
and introduces her enthralling new years before becoming a full-time
historical adventure, The Week at writer, which she describes as “a
World’s End. dream come true”.
Inspired by her mum’s account of
living through the terrifying days
when the Cuban Missile Crisis
Carroll’s debut Frost Hollow Hall
won the North East Book Award,
her second was nominated for the
Live
Town Hall
became public knowledge, Carroll’s Carnegie Medal and numerous £5
hotly anticipated new thriller awards have followed. The Week at Saturday 2 October
explores life in the 1960s under the World’s End is her 12th book and is 2pm
threat of war. Set over seven days in tipped to be her best yet. According Suitable for age 9+
World’s End Close, where nothing to Waterstones, Carroll is “the
much usually happens, this tense, finest practitioner of historical Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
clever and touching thriller unfolds. fiction for children writing today”.
Box Office 0333 6663366 1 7Fo r B o o k
L ov e r s
Photo: Giola Cassar
B o o k b i n d i n g Wo r k s h o p
with Lori Sauer
Learn the art of creating beautiful bindings in
Live this workshop suitable for all skill levels. Lori
Sauer is a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders
C o l le c t a b le B o o k
Roadshow Live
White Horse Bookshop and teaches masterclasses in the UK and Katharine House Gallery
£25 abroad, specialising in contemporary design. Our local rare book expert Chris Gange is The Parade
Friday 1 October once again at Katharine House Gallery to Saturday 2 October
10am and 2pm This two-hour workshop will teach you value and discuss your rare and collectable 11am – 1pm
simple binding techniques and you will books. Whether you have a first edition on
Limited places create a piece to take home. All materials your shelves, or just something out of the Tickets not required
supplied. ordinary, bring it along and find out more.
1 8 marlboroughlitfest.orgFo r W r i t e rs
I s T h e re a B o o k i n Yo u ?
P r a c t i c a l Wo r k s h o p o n
Getting Published with
Dr Alison Baverstock
Lockdown has been a great opportunity Poetry in the Pub
for many to start writing a book. But how
can you make sure your magnum opus gets Join Alex Hickman, writer and poet, at The
Live finished? At what stage should you approach
a publisher and what should you send
them? Come to a practical workshop on how
Green Dragon for our popular open mic
poetry event. All poets of any age are invited
to bring poems about ‘Choice’ which is the Live
Quaker Meeting House
The Parade to keep going and get published. A former theme for this year’s National Poetry Day The Green Dragon,
£25 publisher, Alison Baverstock is Professor of on 7 October. You can submit your poems in High Street
Friday 1 October Publishing at Kingston University. She has advance to general@marlboroughlitfest.org Saturday 2 October
2-4.30pm researched and written widely about the and these will be read first. Or just turn up 5pm
processes of preparing and finalising work. on the day. Hickman has run our Poetry in
Limited places Her How to Market Books is now in its the Pub sessions for several years and blogs Tickets not required
sixth edition. at stuff-happens.org
Box Office 0333 6663366 1 9Charlie Corbett
B i rd s o n g Wa l k s
You don’t get many better
bedfellows than birdsong and a
book. That’s just what LitFest has
lined up for you in the shape of
Charlie Corbett, who will be leading
two walks into the North Wessex
Downs around Marlborough to
listen to the trills, warbles and
tweets of our native birds and to
tell you about his book, 12 Birds to
Save Your Life: Nature’s Lessons in
Happiness.
To take part, you will need outdoor
Live clothes, a car and, ideally, a pair of
binoculars.
Meet outside the
White Horse Bookshop Charlie Corbett will meet you His book was born out of sadness: countryside on our doorstep.
£10 outside the White Horse Bookshop when his mother died, he turned to
Sunday 3 October at 9am or 4pm and brief you on the nature and wildlife to help anchor He explores the place of birds
9-11am and 4-6pm exact location. You will then drive to him. Through 12 characterful birds, in our history and culture, and
the spot and follow Corbett as he from solitary skylarks to squabbling ultimately shows us just how
Limited places seeks out the sights and sounds of sparrows, Corbett reveals that life-changing his decision was to
some of our best-loved birds. there is joy to be found in the reconnect with the natural world.
2 0 marlboroughlitfest.orgI a n R i d le y
T h e B re a t h o f S a d n e s s : O n L ove ,
Grief and Cricket
For those of a certain age, the is through watching cricket that
first half of the title of Ian Ridley’s Ridley starts to put his wife’s death
moving, poignant and ultimately into some kind of perspective.
uplifting book will be familiar. It
is taken from the 1989 song ‘Sit Not just any cricket – Ridley
Down’ by the band James: “Those eschews the bish-bash of T20
who feel the breath of sadness, sit cricket and the international
down next to me.” The quotation glamour of Test matches in favour
formed part of a tweet by Ridley on of the county game, where unsung
the morning of 6 February 2019 to heroes perform in front of one
announce the death from cancer man and his dog, as the wind
of his wife, the pioneering sports howls across the greensward and
reporter Vikki Orvice, aged 56. crosswords are slowly filled in.
Shortlisted for the 2020 William Writes Ridley:
Hill Sports Book of the Year, The
Breath of Sadness recounts with
“Cricket
didn’t talk Live
searing candour how Ridley, also back to me Town Hall
a sports journalist, dealt with and it didn’t £10
Orvice’s illness and how, after her offer advice. Sunday 3 October
death, he coped with the mass of Like a best 10am
raging and, at times, frighteningly friend, it was
dark emotions. Counselling and just there for Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
conversation play their part but it me.”
Box Office 0333 6663366 2 1Lucy Jago
A N e t fo r S m a l l F i s h e s
If you think 21st-century gender
politics is complicated, it’s as
nothing compared with the court
of King James 400 years ago: men
were praised for their “womanish
beauty”; women wore men’s
feathers and doublets. Yet, while
female empowerment was gaining
ground – aristocratic women could
file for divorce and make their
voices heard in public – a husband
could still whip his wife on a whim
or accuse her of sorcery.
Live This is the febrile backdrop to A
Net for Small Fishes, the first novel the unlikely friendship between destined to propel both women to
Town Hall of Lucy Jago, a former TV producer two women: beautiful, powerful success and happiness. But, in the
£10 and winner of the National Frances Howard, married to the Tower of London, a courtier has
Photo: Jonathan Ring
Sunday 3 October Biography Prize with her first Earl of Essex, and Anne Turner, a allegedly been poisoned and the
12pm book, The Northern Lights. Based lowly seamstress with a genius for King seeks justice and retribution.
on a true story of a scandal that fashion. Frances and Anne come under the
Watch online £5 rocked Jacobean England, A Net spotlight. And so the witch-hunt
@marlboroughlitfest.org
for Small Fishes revolves around Their symbiotic relationship seems begins…
2 2 marlboroughlitfest.orgSathnam Sanghera
E m p i re l a n d : H o w I m p e r i a l i s m H a s S h a p e d M o d e r n B r i t a i n
Sathnam Sanghera is a journalist, surprising is that when he turned a first-class honours degree in
author and broadcaster who up for his first day at school in English Language and Literature.
possesses that rare combination Wolverhampton, where he was
of a fierce intellect and a warm born, he couldn’t speak a word of Empireland, written in clear-eyed,
humour. No surprise he is English. At home, his Sikh parents, often witty prose, argues that much
becoming a regular on our TV who had arrived in the UK in the of what we consider to be modern
screens and is the author of three Sixties, only spoke Punjabi. Fast Britain is rooted in our imperial
bestselling books, including his forward 15 years and Sanghera is past. Whether it is the foundation
latest, Empireland. Perhaps more graduating from Cambridge with of the NHS, the exceptionalism
of the Brexit campaign, or the
government’s early response to
Covid, the British Empire casts a
long shadow. And yet why isn’t it
taught about more in our schools?
“Lucid but never simplistic; Live
entertaining but never frivolous; Town Hall
intensely readable while always £10
mindful of nuance and complexity – Sunday 3 October
Empireland takes a perfectly 2pm
judged approach to its contentious
but necessary subject,” says Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
Jonathan Coe.
Box Office 0333 6663366 2 3T h e B i g To w n R e a d
Rosamund Lupton
As any self-respecting thriller headmaster is seriously wounded,
writer will tell you, the ultimate the school goes into lockdown
goal of a sometimes maligned as two armed gunmen prowl the
genre is to hit the sweet spot grounds in a snow storm. What
between commercial and unfolds is not so much a gory shoot
literary fiction. One author who out, more a ridiculously tense,
has managed to do just that is Shakespearean drama of human
Rosamund Lupton, whose most bravery, sacrifice, community
recent novel, Three Hours, has and, ultimately, love, as teachers
enjoyed brilliant sales and critical and students demonstrate untold
acclaim. “It’s early days but this courage.
could be one of the thrillers of the
decade,” according to the Daily Lupton, who graduated from
Live Mail. No wonder it is our Big Town
Read this year, the annual session
Cambridge in 1986, achieved
instant success with her first novel,
Photo: Vicki Knights Photography
Town Hall for which we encourage everyone to Sister, which was a Sunday Times
£10 come along with questions for and New York Times bestseller.
Sunday 3 October the author. She has written two other novels,
4pm including the acclaimed The Quality
The book plays out in real time and of Silence. As the Times says, “The
Watch online £5 charts a terrifying siege at a liberal immediacy of Rosamund Lupton’s
@marlboroughlitfest.org
school in rural Somerset. After the writing is extraordinary.”
2 4 marlboroughlitfest.orgJ o n M c G re g o r
L e a n Fa l l S t a n d
devastating storm and is the only
person on the field trip who knows
what happened. But on his return
to England, he is unable to speak,
suffering from aphasia, and has to
be cared for by his wife.
What follows is a Beckettian
exploration of language itself, as
Robert struggles to communicate
and the couple adjust to a life that
Jon McGregor gets better with perhaps sums up the new book neither had predicted.
every novel. His latest offering,
Lean Fall Stand, has received rave
best: “Jon McGregor has crafted
a unique narrative, encompassing No surprise that McGregor, who Big
reviews, building on the reputation frozen wastes and altered interior is Professor of Creative Writing Screen
of his previous book, Reservoir 13, landscapes. Sit. Read. Applaud.” at the University of Nottingham, Town Hall
and confirming his reputation as has already won the IMPAC £10
one of our most exciting voices in McGregor is a master of playing Dublin Literature Prize, Sunday 3 October
English literature. Fellow novelists on readers’ expectations and Lean the Costa Novel Prize and twice 6pm
have been falling over themselves Fall Stand begins like a regulation been longlisted for the
to praise McGregor’s writing but it thriller. Robert Wright, a veteran Booker Prize. Other awards Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
is the musician Jarvis Cocker who of the Antarctic, is caught in a surely await.
Box Office 0333 6663366 2 5With Hiscox Home Insurance there is no
need to accessorise with a second policy
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20016 07/21A Night at the Majestic:
S i r S i m o n R u s s e l l B e a le
LitFest is almost over. You have first performance of Stravinsky’s The account of the occasion
spent the weekend feasting on a Le Renard by Diaghilev’s Ballets and its principal subject, the
literary smorgasbord. You’re almost Russes. Joining the composer and great French writer Proust, are Big
sated. Not so fast! For here is the
finale to end all finales: one of the
the impresario at the private party
were Picasso and then, in the early
dear to the heart of our patron,
Sir Simon Russell Beale who,
Screen
world’s greatest actors reading hours, a drunken James Joyce exclusively for LitFest, has Town Hall
£12
about one of the world’s most and, even later, a dapper Marcel recorded a series of readings, includes glass of wine
extraordinary social gatherings. Proust. The evening has been both from the book and other
Sunday 3 October
Photo: Charlie Carter
immortalised by historian Richard sources to pay homage to one of 8pm
Almost 100 years ago, in May 1922, Davenport-Hines in his 2006 book, his literary heroes and the other Pre-recorded
five creative geniuses were guests A Night at the Majestic: Proust Modernist masters at that fabled
of honour at a glittering event in a and the Great Modernist Dinner soirée. Relax, sit back and enjoy Watch online £5
@marlboroughlitfest.org
grand hotel in Paris to celebrate the Party of 1922. a dinner party like no other.
Box Office 0333 6663366 2 7Love Books Competition
S h a r i n g t h e b o o k s yo u lov e
One of LitFest’s aims is to student volunteers sifted these
celebrate the power of reading following the deadline of 30 June. A
to shift perceptions, to open up shortlist was then passed to three
opportunities, literally to change judges: Jan Williamson, former
lives. As part of this we have been chair of Marlborough LitFest; Judy
working with the English Literature Golding, CEO of William Golding Ltd
Department at Bath Spa University and writer; and Ian Gadd, Professor
on an annual competition to in English Literature at Bath Spa
encourage people of all ages to University.
share their passion for a book they
love. They can do this either in a We will be announcing a winner and
piece of text of up to 750 words or in runner-up for each age category
a video up to four minutes in length. over the LitFest weekend. They will
Love Books is open to anyone across receive prizes of £300 and £100
the country in three age groups – respectively and their entries will be
13-16, 17-19 and 20 and above – but published on the website.
we are especially grateful to teachers
at local schools for encouraging their Please consider submitting your
classes to take part. own entry for the third year of the
competition which should launch
Now in its second year, our Love in early 2022. Keep an eye on
Books Competition attracted 111 lovebookscompetition.org and
entries in 2021. Bath Spa English marlboroughlitfest.org for more
lecturer Dr Nicola Presley and her information.
2 8 marlboroughlitfest.orgE v e n t I n fo r m a t i o n
Details in the brochure are correct available for seven days afterwards.
How to book tickets at the time of going to print. These online events are all
However, LitFest reserves the right available for £5 each or we have a
O n o u r w e b s i t e : marlboroughlitfest.org to make changes in the event of special offer of £50 for all 13 online
(no booking fee, postage charged at £1.80 if unforeseen circumstances. We events.
required) hope you will understand if we
have to alter or cancel an event Please keep an eye on our website
B y t e le p h o n e : 0333 666 3366 due to Covid-19. Our priority is at marlboroughlitfest.org
Mon – Fri 9am – 7pm; Sat 9am – 5pm to ensure that our audience and for updates or contact us at
(through TicketSource £1.80 telephone booking fee volunteers are as safe as possible general@marlboroughlitfest.org
applies) and we will take into account if you have any queries.
current Government guidelines
I n p e rs o n : The White Horse Bookshop, 136 High with regards to mask wearing, All events will run for approximately
Street, Marlborough, Mon – Sat 9.30am – 5pm, Sun
social distancing and audience one hour unless stated otherwise.
11am – 4pm and from the Town Hall Box Office over
capacity. We will require everyone to leave
the festival weekend from 6.30pm Friday 1 October.
a venue between events and have
Please note that the bookshop cannot take orders
If you cannot attend in person, or allowed time in the programme for
by telephone.
you miss out on tickets for live this.
We do not automatically exchange or refund tickets. If we have events, we are livestreaming all
to cancel an event, however, we will refund ticketholders. our Town Hall events. You can buy We welcome visitors with
Tickets can be collected from the Box Office in the Town Hall a ticket to see the event at home disabilities and our stewards will
over the festival weekend from 6.30pm on Friday 1 October. through our website which will be be able to direct you to step-free
Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult
for all events. streamed at the same time as the access and seat you in a suitable
live event and will then be place.
Box Office 0333 6663366 2 9Events at a Glance Memorial Hall,
Marlborough
THURSDAY SATURDAY 4pm SUNDAY College By car or foot
4pm 10am p11 JONATHON 9am
from the High Street,
p16 SIXTH FORM DEBATE p7 GILL HORNBY PORRITT & JESSIE p20 BIRDSONG WALK
Town Hall Town Hall/Online GREENGRASS Meet at White Horse head west on the A4.
Town Hall/Online Bookshop Pass under a brick
10am footbridge and the
7.30pm 10am
p6 CHARLIE ENGLISH p21 IAN RIDLEY
college is on the left.
p4 INUA ELLAMS St Mary’s Church Hall 4pm The venue will be
Memorial Hall, Town Hall/Online
p12 HAFSA ZAYYAN & signposted.
Marlborough College 10.30am NATASHA BROWN 12pm
p16 EILEEN BROWNE St Mary’s Church Hall p22 LUCY JAGO
White Horse Bookshop Town Hall/Online
FRIDAY
10am 2pm
11am 5pm p23 SATHNAM
p18 BOOKBINDING p18 COLLECTABLE
WORKSHOP p19 POETRY IN THE SANGHERA
BOOKS PUB Town Hall/Online
White Horse Bookshop Katharine House Gallery The Green Dragon 4pm
12pm p24 BIG TOWN READ
2pm Town Hall/Online
p18 BOOKBINDING p9 LUKE HARDING
Town Hall/Online 6pm
WORKSHOP p14 MICK HERRON 4pm
White Horse Bookshop Town Hall/Online p20 BIRDSONG WALK The Green Dragon
12pm Meet at White Horse
p8 SARAH WINMAN stands on the south
Bookshop
St Mary’s Church Hall side of the High Street,
2pm 6pm
p19 GETTING PUBLISHED 6pm 100 metres from the
2pm p13 MATTHEW DOOLEY p25 JON MCGREGOR Town Hall. Originally a
WORKSHOP Town Hall Big Screen/
Quaker Meeting House p17 EMMA CARROLL St Mary’s Church Hall coaching inn, it dates
Town Hall/Online Online
back to the 15th century.
8pm
7.30pm 2pm 8pm p27 SIMON RUSSELL
p5 ELIF SHAFAK p10 BENEDICT p15 COLM TÓIBÍN BEALE
Town Hall Big Screen/ MACDONALD Town Hall Big Screen/ Town Hall Big Screen
Online St Mary’s Church Hall Online pre-recorded/Online
3 0 marlboroughlitfest.orgThe Town Hall
A late Victorian building which dominates
The White Horse the east end of the High Street. The
Bookshop Assembly Room is the main festival venue.
is conveniently located The Court Room will be a bookshop and
within a minute’s walk from café for the weekend. Parking is available
the Town Hall on the north in the High Street or in Waitrose car park,
side of the High Street. between the High Street and George Lane.
P
White Horse
Bookshop
Marlborough
Library
Marlborough
College
The
Green
Dragon St Mary’s Church Hall is next door to the
church behind the Town Hall. Access is from
P Quaker the bottom of Kingsbury Street via Patten Alley.
Meeting From the church follow signs to the entrance
House Katharine
House of the hall up steps to the left of the church.
Gallery Step-free access is from Silverless Street.
Katharine House Gallery, The Parade. From the Quaker Meeting House, The Parade,
Town Hall, cross the pedestrian crossing opposite is on the right between the new Parade
The Bear and walk down The Parade. Katharine House Cinema and the Fire Station. It will be
is at the bottom of the road facing you. signposted.Our handpicked, top-quality range of bulbs, seeds,
and plants are tried and tested in Sarah’s garden
at Perch Hill in East Sussex, not only to look and
taste fantastic but to be highly productive.
In addition, we offer a well-crafted selection of garden
kit and accessories. Only those items that have stood
the test of time will make it into our range, so you
can be sure to enjoy them for years to come.
The Sarah Raven head office opened in
Marlborough in 2008, and we currently employ
70 people from the local community.
We are proud to sponsor Marlborough LitFest,
a brilliant local event that gets bigger and
better each year.
Join us
@sarahravensgarden
@sarahravensgarden
@srkitchengarden
listen: sarahraven.com/podcast
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