Birmingham Book Festival - October 2009

read•write•think••• 6 - 29 October 2009

m a h g n i Birm l a v i t s e F Boo k

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Literary flair with urban spirit…

Our Thanks Our Thanks Go To:

Partner Organisations:

Arts Council England BCU Conservatoire Yellow Jersey Design ClarkePrint Rewired PR

Tindal Street Press RSA Birmingham Libraries Waterstone’s Sampad Writers’ Guild of Great Britain West Midlands Readers’ Network National Academy of Writing South Birmingham College The Drum Completely Novel Fazeley Studios

Birmingham Book Festival Board Roz Goddard Lorraine Francis Danielle Fuller Philip Monks Amy Seton Tim Thackaberry

Special Thanks to our Artist Supporters and Festival Volunteers Festival Friends and Supporters help the Birmingham Book Festival and the work it does encouraging reading, writing and thinking.

For information on becoming a Friend or Supporter visit www.birminghambookfestival.org Festival PR by Rewired www.rewiredpr.com

Box Office 0121 303 2323 or www.birminghambookfestival.org

a warm welcome to the tenth anniversary

Birmingham Book Festival

We reach our first decade with our best ever Birmingham Book Festival. Writers, poets, performers and many others come to the Festival to share their love of writing. Many names will be familiar, but we also feature writers other Festivals overlook: the new, the challenging, the gloriously undiscovered. There are many opportunities to participate. Workshops for those interested in developing their writing and Seminars are a chance to learn more about particular writers. Other events are made complete by audiences asking questions, joining in discussions and becoming part of the Festival. We are grateful for the support of Arts Council England and our many partners and sponsors, including Birmingham Libraries and South Birmingham College. Our sincere thanks go to all those writers and others who will travel to Birmingham to share their work, and to the publishers and agents who offer so much support.

We h ope you enjoy th e Festival Jonathan Davidson - Artistic Director Sara Beadle - Programme Director

Wh at’s On events

workshops, seminars & surgeries

Box Office 0121 303 2323 or www.birminghambookfestival.org

page date

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8 9 9 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 16 44-46 17 18 19 6-7 20 21 22 23 24 25 46-47 6-7 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 32 33 34 6-7

7.30pm 7pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7pm 7.45pm 8pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 6pm 7.30pm 7pm From 10am 10 - 4pm 6.30pm 7pm 6.30pm 7.30pm 7.15pm 7pm 7.30pm 8.15pm 7pm From 10.30am 7pm 7.30pm 7pm 6.45pm 6.45pm 8pm 7pm 7.15pm 7.30pm 7pm 1pm 7pm

Sadie Jones & Kate Pullinger BBC Radio 4: Poetry Slam Final Let Me Tell You Poetraits Exhibition John Boyne & Janette Jenkins Tristram Stuart: Waste Tindal St Press: The Booker Trio Write On Sister Kate Mosse: Giant Reading Group Postgraduate Poetry Platform Birmingham Poet Laureate Inauguration Difficult Teenagers Workshop and Surgery Saturday The Writers Toolkit Write On! Awards Helen Cross & Tommy Wierenga Learned Poetry Performance David Edgar: How Plays Work Paint A Vulgar Picture Lindsey Davis Brian Keenan Nick Hornby & Lynn Barber The Art of Living Series Seminar Saturday BCU Concert: Trio Sonata Tour BBC Radio 4: A Good Read Honouring Samuel Johnson Surreal In The City Beyond The Bubble Anthology Launch A L Kennedy Robert Goddard: The NAW Lecture Chisholm Book Launch Fourpenny Circus The English Journey Readers Afternoon BCU Concert : Robert Birchall

Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Festival Fringe Lounge (Library Foyer) Conservatoire Conservatoire Library Theatre The Drum Conservatoire Conservatoire Library Theatre Fazeley Studios South Birmingham College South Birmingham College Conservatoire Conservatoire Festival Fringe Lounge (Library Foyer) Conservatoire Fazeley Studios Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire South Birmingham College Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Library Theatre Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire



7pm 7.15pm 8pm 7pm 6pm 7.15pm 7.30pm 7.45pm 7.30pm 7.30pm

A Pint For The Ghost Extraordinary Clouds Postcard Poets Writing The Archers Emerging Talent: NAW Showcase Festival Keynote: George Monbiot R J Ellory Some Girls’ Mothers Karen Armstrong Beyond Words

Library Theatre Conservatoire Library Theatre Conservatoire Conservatoire Conservatoire Library Theatre Conservatoire Conservatoire The Drum

6 Oct 6 Oct 7 Oct 7 Oct 7 Oct 8 Oct 8 Oct 8 Oct 8 Oct 8 Oct 9 Oct 9 Oct 10 Oct Nov 12 Oct 13 Oct 13 Oct 13 Oct 14 Oct 14 Oct 14 Oct 15 Oct 15 Oct 17 Oct 19 Oct 20 Oct 20 Oct 20 Oct 21 Oct 21 Oct 22 Oct 22 Oct 22 Oct 23 Oct 24 Oct 26 Oct



35 36 37 38 38 39 40 41 42 43

27 Oct 27 Oct 27 Oct 27 Oct 28 Oct 28 Oct 28 Oct 28 Oct 29 Oct 31 Oct

The RSA is delighted to support the 2009 Birmingham Book Festival. _ For more than 250 years the RSA has provided platforms for leading public thinkers to explore new ideas and to offer innovative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing society. Today we combine thought leadership with social innovation to further human progress and our work is supported by 27,000 Fellows, an international network of influencers and innovators from every field and background.

_

www.theRSA.org _

Festival Fringe

Poetraits Exhibition

Conservatoire Concerts

A variety of fringe events are taking place during the Festival in the Festival Fringe Lounge which can be found in the foyer of the Central Library.

LAunch - In the Central Library foyer at 7.30pm WEDNESDAY 7 October

The Festival is proud to be hosting several concerts accompanied by selected readings by Birmingham Conservatoire staff in the Recital Hall.

Learned Poetry Performance Tuesday 13 October 6.30pm Fringe Lounge: Central LibrarY See the results of David Calcutt’s Poetry By Heart workshop - a short performance of much loved and learned words by participants of the workshop. (see page 45)

Look out for other Fringe Events that may be announced during the course of the festival 6

The exhibition runs throughout the festival in Birmingham Central Library An innovative series of animated portraits by local portrait artist Graham Kershaw inspired by poets. The portraits feature six of the Midlands’ leading performance poets, including Dreadlockalien, Polar Bear and Jo Bell. The development of each portrait is revealed through animations set to audio of each poet reading a specially commissioned poem. Why not come and meet the artist and some of the featured poets at the launch?

The Trio Sonata Tour

Robert Birchall

MonDAY 19 October 7pm

MonDAY 26 October 7pm

Featuring Annabel Knight - baroque flute and recorder Ross Winters - recorder Robin Bigwood - harpsichord

Robert Birchall (piano) performs two of Olivier Messiaen’s magical depictions of birds and nature from his epic cycle, Catalogue of Birds, followed by Mussorgsky’s fairytale-like evocation of Russia, Pictures at an Exhibition.

Join us in travelling around some of the cities of Europe, with music by Corelli, Handel, Telemann and more.

Tickets (both events) - £5.50 (£3) Available only at the door

WEDNESDAY 28 October 11am - 3pm

Readers’ day with Library Services at Home Unit 14, Gravelly Hill Industrial Park, Tyburn Road, Birmingham B24 8HZ Please contact Nikki Bi for details on 0121 303 2895 or email [email protected]

Blogging and other digital things: The Festival blog is a good place to keep up with news and reviews of events and books we like. Follow it at http://birminghambookfestival.blogspot.com/. We are also on Twitter (@bhambookfest) and Facebook (Birmingham Book Festival).

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Tuesday 6 October 7.30pm

TUESDAY 6 October 7pm

WEDNESday 7 October 7.30pm

Poetry Slam Let me Sadie Jones and Kate Pullinger Final

Tell You

In Conversation

BBC Radio 4

Ophelia in her own words

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

We are launching the Festival in slam style with this dynamic and exciting evening of people performing their work, battling it out for the top spot. All those competing have won heats around the UK and come to Birmingham to stake their final claim… Sadie Jones wrote screenplays for fourteen years before producing The Outcast, her first novel. Her writing credits are an eclectic mix, everything from episodes of BBC TV shows to a feature film in 2004. Her current project is a pilot for the BBC series Disorder. The Outcast won The Costa First Novel Award in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in the same year. Small Wars is her second, eagerly awaited, novel.

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Kate Pullinger is the author of several novels including When the Monster Dies, Weird Sister and A Little Stranger. She has also published two collections of short stories: Tiny Lies and My Life as a Girl in a Men’s Prison. Kate also writes for radio, film and for digital media. Her digital work includes The Breathing Wall, an experimental fiction. Her latest novel is The Mistress of Nothing.

Compered by former Birmingham Poet Laureate and renowned performance poet Dreadlockalien, this event promises to be a storm of activity and creativity. Please note this event will be recorded to be broadcast on National Poetry Day, Thursday 8th October.

Tickets are free but book early to avoid disappointment.

Author Paul Griffiths comes to Birmingham to discuss his unusual novel - Ophelia’s story told entirely with words she uses in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Paul will be in conversation with Paul Edmondson of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and the event will be punctuated by readings from the text, performed by A former Ophelia. An extraordinary evening of well known words as you’ve never heard them before.

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

or www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Wednesday 7 October 7pm

Thursday 8 October 7.45pm

John Boyne and Janette Jenkins

Tristram Stuart

In Conversation

Waste: Uncovering The Global Food Scandal

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

John Boyne is the author of the international bestselling book The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, now a major feature film.

Janette Jenkins is the author of the novels Angel of Brooklyn, Columbus Day and Another Elvis Love Child.

He has published seven novels, two short novellas aimed at improving adult literacy, and over seventy short stories. His latest novel, The House of Special Purpose was published in 2009.

Her short stories have appeared in newspapers and anthologies, including Stand Magazine, and have been broadcast on Radio 4. In 2003 she was awarded an Alumni Fellowship by the University of Bolton.

John and Janette will be in conversation with Richard Beard, author of Becoming Drusilla.

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Most people would admit that wasting food is not good. But surely, they’d say, the problem can’t be that serious? Isn’t rooting around in rubbish bins a somewhat extreme - and unpleasant - reaction? Tristram Stuart would disagree. In his new book, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, he sets out in forensic detail exactly why we should all be worried by the problem. In his view, food waste is the big unspoken environmental crisis of our times, right up there with more familiar concerns such as deforestation, water scarcity, even global warming. Combining front-line investigation with startling new data, Waste shows how the way we live now has created a global food crisis - and what we can do to fix it. Presented in association with the RSA

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £6 (4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Thursday 8 October 8pm

ThursDAY 8 October 7.30pm

Tindal Street Press

Write on Sister

The Booker Trio: Catherine O’Flynn, Gaynor Arnold and Claire Morrall

Discussion and Performance Venue - The Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, Birmingham, B6 4UU

Venue - The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ.

Catherine O’Flynn

Local Artist Pauline Bailey hosts an exciting evening of discussion and performances with two tour-de-forces of black female literature worlds Bonnie Greer and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze. Exploring Black African-Caribbean female presence and influences in contemporary literature, Write on Sister opens this discussion which is rounded off with a series of performances and readings.

Tindal Street Press is famous for the frequency of its Man Booker Prize listings. Here, as part of its tenth anniversary celebrations, they present three women novelists who all live in Birmingham - and who have all reached the Booker Prize shortlist or long list with their debut novels. The authors will read from their extraordinary debuts and discuss how their lives changed as a result of their prize-listed works.

This event is set to be a highlight of the Drum’s Black History Month season as well as the Birmingham Book Festival.

This is a Drum event supported by the Birmingham Book Festival

Gaynor Arnold

www.the-drum.org.uk

Claire Morrall

Tickets - £5 ( £3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £8 (£6) Box Office 0121 333 2444 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.thedrum.org.uk

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Thursday 8 October 7.30pm

Thursday 8 October 6pm

Friday 9 October 7.30pm

Kate Mosse

Postgraduate

Birmingham

The Giant Reading Group

Poets in Performance

Inaugural Reading

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ

Join Kate Mosse for this reading group to discuss Labyrinth and Sepulchre and hear extracts and inspirations from her latest novel,

Poetry Platform Poet Laureate The Winter Ghosts, a haunting 1920’s ghost story from the French mountains, returning to the Languedoc so loved by Kate’s readers. Kate Mosse is the author of two non-fiction books and three novels. Labyrinth was a multimillion international bestseller, translated into 35 languages and published in 40 countries It won Richard & Judy’s Best Read and was chosen as one of Waterstone’s Top 100 novels of the past 25 years. A guest presenter for BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Review and Open Book, Kate is also is a book reviewer for BBC Breakfast News and for Simon Mayo, the Co-Founder & Honorary Director of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Kate was named European Woman of Achievement for Contribution to the Arts in 2000.

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We are fortunate in Birmingham to be surrounded by some of the country’s best postgraduate creative writing programmes. This event celebrates National Poetry Day by bringing together students from the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the Birmingham City University’s National Academy of Writing to perform the very best of their poetics. Entry to this event is free if you show a ticket to any other Book Festival event at the box office or on the door. Please book a seat even if you are claiming FREE entry, the box office will have a record of your other bookings.

Join us at the first reading of the brand new Poet Laureate for the city. The new Laureate will be announced on National Poetry Day, Thursday 8th October and then will perform at the Festival in their first official capacity. With special guest appearance by poet, Hugo Williams

Tickets for this event are free but please reserve with the box office.

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Friday 9 October 7pm

Difficult Teenagers Writing For The Teenage Market Venue - Fazeley Studios, 191 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SE Presented in association with the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain The teenage audience is a notoriously difficult one to write for, yet across all media is often seen as one to target. In fact, many writers, publishers and producers see teenagers as an exacting but rewarding audience with their own distinct demands and requirements. Three practitioners with strong track records in this field share their experiences and discuss the issues around writing for teenagers.

Chris O’Connell from Theatre Absolute, Coventry, author of the award-winning Street Trilogy and the recent plays Hang Lenny Pope & Zero, will talk about the connections the company’s work has made with teenage audiences.

David Calcutt has recently written two critically-acclaimed novels for young people, Crowboy and Shadow Bringer and will talk about his writing for this age group. Marcus Romer of Pilot Theatre Company (winner 2008 TMA Best Show For Young People Award for Looking For JJ), will look at the use of digital media alongside theatre to appeal to a teenage audience.

Tickets - Free to Guild Members or £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or 16

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Saturday 21 November 10am - 4pm Venue - South Birmingham College, High Street, Deritend, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SU

The Writers’ Toolkit A Conference

for the Writing Industry

This is our second annual gathering for emerging or established writers and anyone working in the writing industry The conference offers a unique opportunity to learn about aspects of the business of being a writer and to network with others writing and working in literature development through a mixture of panel discussions and Q&A sessions.

Subjects covered include...

Understanding Publishing, Pitching Ideas, Social Networking for Writers, Working with the BBC, Writing with Communities, Promoting Poetry, Working with Agents and Writing in the Digital Age.

Other individuals and organisations involved include... Arts Council England, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Arvon Foundation, National Association of Writers in Education, BBC Radio Four, The National Academy of Writing and Bloodaxe Books.

Tickets - £29 (£23) Includes buffet lunch Box Office 0121 246 2770 or [email protected]

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Monday 12 October 6.30pm

Tuesday 13 October 7pm

Write On! Awards 2009

Spilt Milk & Speedboats

The Awards for 2009 Creative Young Writers

Helen Cross & Tommy Wierenga

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

The Birmingham Book Festival is proud to present the second annual Write On! Awards. Write On! is the Festival’s arts education programme. Since 2001 it has run over 450 creative writing projects in schools across Birmingham and the West Midlands. The programme has enabled more than 10,000 children and young people to develop their creative writing guided by professional writers. In order to celebrate the achievements of the children involved we are hosting a showcase of writing produced during the Summer 2009 term of activity. Those pupils who have demonstrated the greatest enthusiasm for creative writing will receive awards. Tony Howell, Strategic Director for Children, Young People and Families, will present this year’s awards.

Tickets for this event are free but please reserve with the box office.

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323 or 18

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Helen Cross’s first novel, My Summer Of Love won a Betty Trask Award and became a BAFTA award winning film. Her plays have been broadcast on Radio 4 and she has been writer in residence at the University of Mumbai. Spilt Milk, Black Coffee is her third novel.

Tommy Wierenga is the author of Joe Speedboat, his first novel to be translated into English after its huge success in his native Holland. He is a journalist, and the prize winning author of four other novels.

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Tuesday 13 October 7.30pm

wednesday 14 October 7.15pm

David Edgar

Paint A Vulgar Picture

How Plays Work

Short stories inspired by The Smiths

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Fazeley Studios, 191 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SE

David Edgar pioneered the teaching of playwriting in the UK, founding the first Playwriting Studies course at Birmingham University twenty years ago. He is a leading playwright, best known for his political plays - amongst them Destiny and Pentecost and for his adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby for the RSC. This event celebrates the publication of How Plays Work, a book that offers a masterclass for playwrights and playmakers and is a fascinating guide to the anatomy of drama. It also gives an opportunity to discuss the wider implications of teaching playwriting studies in terms of quality, quantity and the expectations of writers.

Catherine O’Flynn

Mil Millington

Mike Gayle

A charming man betrays friends in the name of celebrity. Love blooms by the cemetery gates. A sour rain falls on the new young Queen divine. Shoplifters of the world unite in order to tug a reluctant aardvark out of a hole. A sweet and tender hooligan swings a three-bar fire like it was a demolition ball. A naked birthday rendition of Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now is seen across the globe. Cranked up trannies tout their trade as long as there is light. Join contributors Catherine O’Flynn, Mil Millington and Mike Gayle for readings and discussion about this anthology and why The Smiths have influenced writers like no other band.

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Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Wednesday 14 October 7pm

Wednesday 14 October 7.30pm

Lindsey Davis

Brian Keenan

Rebels & Traitors

I’ll Tell Me Ma

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Lindsey Davis is best known for her Falco novels, of which she has written nineteen. Lindsey started writing about the Romans with The Course of Honour, the remarkable true love story of the Emperor Vespasian and his mistress Antonia Caenis. Her research into First Century Rome inspired The Silver Pigs, the first outing for Falco and Helena, which was published in 1989 and won the Authors’ Club Best First Novel award. Lindsey has since won the Crimewriters’ Association Dagger in the Library and Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, while Falco has won the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective. She comes to the Festival to introduce us to Rebels and Traitors.

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Brian Keenan’s Belfast memoir I’ll Tell Me Ma is an affectionate story of a disaffected childhood: that of an innocent, self conscious boy of unusual moral integrity, puzzled by religion and sectarianism. Capturing the vivid post-war atmosphere of 1950s Belfast, this story is told with remarkable heart and soul by the man who would become world famous as a Beirut hostage. A departure from the writing that experience produced, (Four Quarters of Light, An Evil Cradling) this memoir is no less well crafted or moving.

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Thursday 15 October 8.15pm

thursday 15 October 7pm

Nick Hornby andLynn Barber

The Art Of Living Series

In Conversation

In association with the RSA

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Nick and Lynn come to Birmingham to talk about their respective new works and a fascinating joint project…

We live in a world in which people are constantly searching for meaning. The Art of Living series aims to reinvigorate philosophy by asking ‘how should we live?’ Philosophy, it claims, is the great untapped resource of our generation….

Steve Fuller

Nick Hornby is one of our most successful novelists as well as an essayist and screenplay writer. His books include Fever Pitch, About a Boy and High Fidelity, all of which have been adapted for film.

Lynn Barber is an author and journalist, known for her groundbreaking interviews, currently working with the Observer. Her books include two collections of interviews, Mostly Men and Demon Barber.

His latest book Juliet, Naked takes place in the world of music and follows a reclusive 80s rock star with interesting consequences.

Her latest book, An Education, a memoir, has been adapted for film by Nick Hornby.

Ziyad Marar

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Mark Vernon

Faith: Theo Hobson unpacks the concept of faith, as religion, as individualism, as determined optimism…

Science: Steve Fuller asks how science is in our hands, how we are all scientists and what it might mean to live ‘scientifically’…

Deception: Ziyad Marar asks why we choose to deceive ourselves and others, and how we might seek a truly honest life in a world where face to face interaction is fast being replaced by technology that makes lying so easy…

Wellbeing: Mark Vernon explores the axis on which our propensity for happiness turns and our ability (or lack thereof) to find a sense of meaning or deeper purpose within ourselves...

Tickets - £8 (£6) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or 24

Theo Hobson

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or Presented in association with the RSA

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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tuesday 20 October 7.30pm

TUESDAY 20 October 7pm

A Good Read

Now & In Time

BBC Radio 4

Birmingham City University Honours Samuel Johnson

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

One of BBC Radio Four’s best loved programmes, A Good Read, returns to the Birmingham Book Festival for a welcome second visit.

2009 marks the tercentenary of the birth of Dr Samuel Johnson - conversationalist, poet, maker of the first English dictionary, journalist, literary critic, textual scholar, biographer, author of travelogues and parliamentary reporter.

The format is straightforward: two guests and the presenter, Sue MacGregor, each recommend a favourite book and then discuss them. The books must be in print and out in paperback, but those are the only rules. It’s a chance for listeners to hear entertaining conversation about books they might like to read or might have read.

Profoundly influential in his own time, Johnson’s writings remain powerfully present. His comments on war, social justice, bereavement, ageing, slavery, politics and other subjects show how little some things have changed in 300 years. In honour of Johnson’s genius and example, Birmingham City University presents readings from the range of his works, recalling the combative wit, emotional depth, intellectual tenacity, humanity and durable moral courage of this exceptional son of the West Midlands.

Guests will be announced in advance of the event - check for the latest news on: www.birminghambookfestival.org

Tickets for this event are free but please reserve with the box office.

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Image courtesy of Dr Johnson’s House Trust

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Tuesday 20 October 6.45pm

Wednesday 21 October 6.45 pm

Surreal In The City A Nine Arches Press Showcase Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG Through their distinctive and bold poetry, these four poets re-imagine and re-interpret the digital age and the urban spaces in which we live. Their frequently surreal and wry poetry challenges language and poetic form to produce work that responds to the peculiarities of contemporary life and the ever-shifting landscapes it inhabits.

Tom Chivers’ first collection, How To Build A City, won the Crashaw Prize. He has also published a pamphlet, The Terrors and is associate editor Tears in the Fence. Matt Nunn is a freelance writer and workshop leader. He is the co-editor of Under The Radar and Nine Arches Press. Simon Turner’s collections include You Are Here. Difficult Second Album is due out in 2010. His work has been in Tears in the Fence, The Wolf, and The London Magazine.

Anthology Launch

Warwick MA Anthology Launch Introduced by A L Kennedy Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG A collection of works by the 2008-9 MA in Creative Writing students at the University of Warwick, including extracts from their new anthology Beyond The Bubble. Introduced by course tutor and author A L Kennedy.

Luke Kennard is an award-winning poet, critic and dramatist. His latest collection, The Migraine Hotel was published in 2009.

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Tickets for this event are free but please reserve with the box office.

Tickets for this event are free but please reserve with the box office.

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323

or www.birminghambookfestival.org

or www.birminghambookfestival.org

Live, love, read, it’s your library

wednesday 21 October 8pm

Thursday 22 October 7pm

A L Kennedy

Robert Goddard

What Becomes

The NAW Lecture: What History Does Not Tell Us

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

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The author of five previous novels, two books of non-fiction, and three collections of short stories, A.L. Kennedy’s novel Day, was the Costa Book of the Year in 2008. She has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won many prizes including the Lannan Literary Award, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Encore Award and the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year Award. She lives in Glasgow and is a part-time lecturer in creative writing at Warwick University. What Becomes is her latest novel.

Robert Goddard is a bestselling author whose twentieth novel, Found Wanting, has just been published. His novel Into the Blue was dramatized for television, starring John Thaw. It’s not what history tells us, but what it doesn’t tell us, that is his inspiration. Authors dealing with the past are often tempted to manipulate events to suit their fictional purpose. This is anathema to Robert Goddard, who aims for complete credibility and the total suspension of disbelief in his readers by seamlessly mixing fact and fiction. He wants to convince us that everything in his books could be real and believes that what history leaves unexplained provides endless opportunities for the sort of labyrinthine plots he specialises in.

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Join Robert and The National Academy of Writing for a lecture on the place of history in writing fiction and why the classic literary skills of plot and narrative drive, while still much in demand by readers, are seen as being less than essential in some quarters of the literary world.

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Thursday 22 October 7.15pm

Chisholm

Thursday 22 October 7.30pm

Fourpenny Circus

friday 23 October 7pm

English Journey

The Book Launch

Live poetry in the ring

Priestley’s Classic - 75 Years On

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Scottish composer/pianist Erik Chisholm is the subject of this new biography, commissioned by Birmingham Conservatoire and The Erik Chisholm Trust. Author, John Purser, will talk about the challenges of writing a biography of a man whose daughters and widow are still living, and whose music is scarcely known. Includes performances of some of his best works.

In 1934, JB Priestley published an account of his journey through England from Southampton to Coventry & Birmingham, to the North East & Newcastle, to Norwich and then home. In capturing and describing an English landscape and people hitherto unseen in literature of its kind, he influenced the thinking and attitudes of an entire generation. Prophetic, profound, humorous and as relevant today as it was 75 years ago, English Journey expresses Priestley’s deep love of his native country and teaches us much about the human condition and the nature of Englishness.

If you thought poetry was all daffodils and daydreams, think again. Fourpenny Circus is a spoken-word roadshow bringing you poems of laughter, loss and lust in a lively, friendly show. Poets Joy Winkler, Jo Bell, John Lindley and Andrew Rudd bring poetry to the stage, circus styled and performed with wit, humour and a touch of the bizarre.

J.B Priestley’s son Tom and writer and Broadcaster, Stuart Maconie come together to celebrate 75 years of this incredible book.

Fresh from their Bunch of Fives tour of 2008 these poets are back with their latest concoction, delivering new words in the same accessible, irresistible style.

Tickets - £5.50 (£3)

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323

Tickets available on the door only.

or www.birminghambookfestival.org

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or Stuart Maconie

Tom Priestley

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Saturday 24 October 1 - 5pm

TUESDAY 27 October 7.15pm

Readers Afternoon

Richard Hamblyn

Great Books for Autumn

Extraordinary Clouds

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Join a fantastic line up of authors for an afternoon of discussion and book talk. This event will take the form of several panel sessions, chaired by BBC Midlands presenter and Tindal Street Press Board Member, Sue Beardsmore.

Richard Hamblyn’s new book Extraordinary Clouds is a celebration of unusual cloud formations and atmospheric phenomena.

Tea and biscuits, talk and books - a perfect Saturday afternoon!

The collection demonstrates the most surprising and seemingly impossible patterns that can be created by the natural cycles of the weather, as well as man-made atmospheric effects.

Full line-up to be confirmed. Authors appearing include:

Some of the most spectacular images come from The Cloud Appreciation Society, a fast-growing group of cloudspotters who are dedicated to living more of their lives with their heads in the clouds. Join us for a fascinating and informative look at one of nature’s most intriguing and inspiring spectacles. Richard Hamblyn is the author of The Cloud Book and The Invention of Clouds. In 2002 he was awarded the LA Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. He is currently Writer in Residence at the Environment Institute at University College London.

Jenn Ashworth

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Mark Illis

Jeremy Page

Amanda Smyth

Presented in association with the RSA

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Group tickets 6 for £20 Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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Tuesday 27 October 7pm

Tuesday 27 October 8pm

A Pint For The Ghost

Postcard Poets

Helen Mort

Heroes and Heroines

Venue - Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ

Venue - Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ

Helen Mort is a former Foyle Young Poet of the Year and the author of two pamphlets published by Tall-Lighthouse Press. She received an Eric Gregory Award in 2007 and won the Manchester Young Writer prize in 2008. A Pint For The Ghost is a show set in a lonely bar after hours where strange characters come to introduce themselves; a night-time encounter with the ghosts of worked-out mines, smoky pubs and deserted highways.

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Take 20 poets, ask each of them to write a poem on the National Poetry Day theme of Heroes and Heroines, short enough to fit on a postcard, and accessible to all readers, select the best six - and you get the Postcard Poets. Their poems are available on attractive postcards at libraries throughout the West Midlands, but tonight all six will be reading in person. Featuring: Jo Bell, Julie Boden, Roz Goddard, Emma Purshouse Spoz, Catherine Whittaker

“An exciting collection from a writer who knows the value of the past, and how to set it against the present to illuminate them both.’ (Ian McMillan)

Free postcard for every audience member!

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323

Tickets - FREE Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

or www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

Tickets for this event are free but please reserve with the Box Office

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Tuesday 27 October 7pm

wednesday 28 October 6pm

wednesday 28 October 7.15pm

Emerging Talent

George Monbiot

Writing

The Archers BBC Radio 4 Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG As The Archers approaches its 60th year (2010) longstanding scriptwriter Jo Toye presents her book The Archers Miscellany. This bears resemblance to Schott’s Miscellany but is an amalgam of purely Archers facts sourced from the extensive Archers archive. Joined by Editor Vanessa Whitburn and chaired by longest serving scriptwriter Mary Cutler, Jo takes us behind the scenes at Birmingham’s favourite farm and discusses writing The Archers over the years.

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or www.birminghambookfestival.org

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National Academy of Writing Showcase

The Birmingham Book Festival Keynote Address

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

“One of the tasks of writers is to confront denial. They are the skulls in the corners of our paintings, the momento mori who remind us what lies beneath and what is to come. The novelists who help to define their era are those who break through the screens erected by society to shield itself from uncomfortable truths. Performing this task while remaining readable is fiction’s greatest challenge.” (George Monbiot, 2009)

The National Academy of Writing was set up in 2000 to create a school for aspiring writers with demonstrable talent based on the ‘conservatoire’ approach adopted in the performing arts. The programme, hosted at Birmingham City University since 2006, allows participants to develop their skills as novelists, poets, playwrights, screenwriters and non-fiction writers, supported by the active involvement of the Academy’s Patrons and Partners. This event showcases some of the best work from the last three years.

Tickets are free but please reserve a place with the box office.

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG George Monbiot is the author of the best selling books The Age of Consent: A Manifesto For A New World Order and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain; as well as investigative travel books Poisoned Arrows, and No Man’s Land. In 1995 Nelson Mandela presented him with a United Nations Global 500 Award for outstanding environmental achievement. He has also won the Sir Peter Kent Award and the OneWorld National Press Award. Original, distinctive and challenging the very bones of writing - an evening not to be missed. An abstract for this lecture will be available throughout the Festival to allow you to do some thinking in advance. See our website or Festival staff for details.

Box Office 0121 303 2323

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

or www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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wednesday 28 October 7.30pm

Wednesday 28 October 7.45pm

R J Ellory

Some Girls’ Mothers

The Anniversary Man Launch

New Stories by Women

Venue - The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ.

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Roger Ellory is one of Birmingham’s best kept secrets - a prize winning, Richard and Judy listed crime writer living and working in our city. He is best known for A Quiet Belief In Angels and is the author of seven novels, of which The Anniversary Man is the most recent.

The Anniversary Man is the story of the physical and psychological scarring endured by a survivor of the “Hammer of God” killer who terrorized New Jersey City throughout the summer of 1984.

Do daughters step into their mothers’ shoes? How does this central relationship colour women’s lives? The tales in this anthology address these questions with honesty and vigour, weaving humour and warmth into the telling of small but significant tragedies.

Celebrated poets, the writers showcased here explore daughterhood and motherhood in their own unique styles and offer a distinct set of insights. They speak out in prose that fizzes and crackles, throwing light on this most formative of relationships. You’ll find plenty to uncover in this irreverent but heartfelt take on an age-old subject. Writers performing: Suzanne Batty, Anne Caldwell & River Walton.

Sponsored by Orion Books

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Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets - £5 (£3.75) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

www.birminghambookfestival.org

www.birminghambookfestival.org

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THURSday 29 October 7.30pm

SATURDAY 31 October 7.30pm

Karen Armstrong

Beyond Words

What Religion Really Means

Apples & Snakes present Beyond Words

Venue - Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Venue - The Drum, 144 Potters Lane, Aston, Birmingham, B6 4UU

Karen Armstrong is one of the world’s leading commentators on religious affairs. A former nun, teacher and journalist, she is the bestselling author of over twenty books and a passionate campaigner for religious liberty. She has addressed the United States Congress, the Senate, and participated in the World Economic Forum. A UN Ambassador for the Alliance of Civilizations and a recipient of the Franklin J Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal, Karen is currently working on creating a Charter of Compassion, crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity and Islam which will be signed in 2009 by a thousand religious leaders. The Case For God: What Religion Really Means is an essential book for the modern age; it asks us to draw creatively on the insights of the past in order to build a faith that speaks to the needs of our troubled and dangerously polarized world.

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Five incredible South African poets tour the UK together for the first time. Brought together by the Poet Laureate and renowned exiled campaigner Keorapetse Kgositsile, this show features new work from voices of South Africa in the twenty first century. The poets are also collaborating with UK artists while visiting and will be showcasing this work as part of the event. Featuring: Keorapetse Kgositsile, Lebo Mashile, Donata Francisco Mattera, Lesego Rampolokeng and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers. This event will also be accompanied by a workshop with South Africa’s Poet Laureate, Keorapetse Kgositsile, running on Saturday 30th October. For further information and to book your place please contact the box office. Supported by The Drum and The Birmingham Book Fetival in association with Sustained Theatre. Funded by British Council South Africa, South African Government and Arts Council England.

Tickets - £6 (£4.50) Box Office 0121 303 2323 or

Tickets £7 (£5) Performance only £11 (£9) Workshop and Performance Box Office 0121 333 2444

www.birminghambookfestival.org

or

www.thedrum.org.uk

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Saturday 10 October

Saturday Worksh ops...

Venue - South Birmingham College, High Street, Deritend, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SU

10am - 12.30pm

1 - 3pm

1.30 - 4pm

10am - 3pm

Fiction Writing with Kate Long

Digbeth Family Writing Workshop with Mandy Ross

Kick-starting Ideas with Judith Allnatt

Poetry By Heart with David Calcutt

Kate Long looks at methods of generating fictional characters, and how they can be developed to create plots Kate is the author of four novels, including the number one bestseller The Bad Mother’s Handbook. Writing Freelance with Maria McCarthy Would you like to write articles for newspapers and magazines? This workshop will offer practical advice on researching your market, developing feature ideas, approaching editors and negotiating fees. Maria McCarthy is a freelance writer and journalist who teaches at Bristol University. Mirror Writing with Myra Connell What happens when the self that comes into being in front of the mirror meets the public world? Perhaps the very privateness, almost secrecy, of our relationship with the mirror, makes it the stuff of powerful writing. Join Myra Connell, writer and poet, to explore what poems or stories might be hiding in your mirror.

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Bring a young relative or friend and get inspiration from the street names, architecture and the city buzz of Digbeth. which is layered with history, secrets and surprises. Mandy Ross has written and edited over 40 books, mainly for children. Places sold in pairs: one adult & one 9-16 year old

1.30 - 4pm Marshalling Thoughts with Will Buckingham

Ever wished you could think more clearly? By what process do we drag our thoughts into some semblance of sense, and how does this affect our writing? Can we change the way we do it? Join writer and philosopher Will Buckingham to unstitch your thinking.

How can we stimulate our creativity and broaden the range of our ideas? This workshop will focus on techniques to spark new ideas using lateral thinking, experimentation and stimuli from other art forms. Judith Allnatt’s book, A Mile of River, was shortlisted for the Portico Prize. Suitable for all.

Creating Dialogue with Stephen May Creating convincing, snappy dialogue is one of the most difficult tasks a writer can face. In this fun and practical workshop awardwinning writer Stephen May will help you craft sharp and plausible dialogue that will add pace and power to your own writing.

Writing for Publication with Maria McCarthy

Maria McCarthy, journalist, author of The Girls’ Car Handbook and tutor at Bristol University offers advice on getting your novel or nonfiction book published. The workshop will cover getting an agent, the editing process, the importance of the right book jacket, how advances and royalties work and the chances of being able to give up the day job!

A thing of beauty is a joy forever…

And so is a poem learned by heart, as you’ll find out at David Calcutt’s workshop for all the family. The novelist, playwright and poet will lead participants through the adventure of learning, and performing a long (but not too epic!) poem by heart. This unique event will offer participants the chance to enjoy a series of lively exercises designed not only to help them memorise the poem, but also to perform it in chorus to a public audience.

A public performance of the poems learned on this day will take place on Tuesday 13 October in Birmingham Central Library Foyer at 6.30pm. Half day workshops £22 (£15) Full day workshops £30 (£25) Family workshop £10 per pair

Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or www.birminghambookfestival.org

Unless otherwise stated workshops are only suitable for adults.

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Saturday 10 October

Saturday 17 October

Surgeries... Seminars... South Birmingham College, High Street, Poetry Digbeth, Surgeries - various Deritend, Birmingham B5 5SU

times.

With Mimi Khalvati & Jane Holland Are you in need of some more specific, one to one help with developing your poetry? Presented in association with The Poetry School, these thirty minute intensive surgeries are designed to give you tailored advice and feedback from a professional poet and teacher.

When booking a slot you will be invited to send a short extract of your work in advance. Please note - Surgeries are offered on a first come, first served basis, and availability is limited. We recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.

Surgery tickets £28 (£20) call 0121 246 2792 or [email protected]

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South Birmingham College, High Street, Deritend, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SU

Different in tone to our workshops, these seminars do not demand that you do any writing, but instead are a chance to discover new depths to writers, or topics, you are curious about, guided by an expert.

10.30am - 12noon

2.30pm - 4pm

Angela Carter with Poppy James During her lifetime Angela Carter’s writing attracted many descriptions - magic realist, surrealist, gothic and fantasy. Poppy James looks at Carter’s legacy - which includes Wise Children, Nights at the Circus and The Bloody Chamber.

David F. Wallace with Luke Kennard American novelist David Foster Wallace’s epic novel Infinite Jest has beguiled readers since its publication in 1996. Luke Kennard, lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham, opens some doors into this brilliant, complex novel.

12.30pm - 2pm

10.30am - 12 noon

Philip Roth with Dr P. McDonald Dr Paul McDonald, novelist and academic, introduces the work of this most influential of contemporary American novelists. Philip Roth’s novels include Portnoy’s Complaint and American Pastoral.

Will Self with Heather Child Through his novels and journalism, Will Self has demonstrated a wonderful ability to reflect the age we live in with a glorious vividness. Writer Heather Child shares her enthusiasm for Self’s work, which includes Cock and Bull and The Book of Dave.

Raymond Carver with Dr P. McDonald Raymond Carver’s poetry and prose captures a version of American life. Dr Paul McDonald, novelist and Senior Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Wolverhampton, explores Carver’s work and its enduring appeal. British Asian Writing with Dr R. Ahmed From iconic novelists Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi, to new voices such as Monica Ali and Nadeem Aslam join Dr Rehana Ahmed for an introduction to British Asian writing.

Michael Donaghy with Can Sonmez The death of Michael Donaghy in 2004 at the age of only fifty robbed us of one of our most entertaining and skilful poets. Writer and academic Can Sonmez shares and considers some of Donaghy’s poems.

Tickets - £10 (£7) for one £17 (£12) for two

Roy Fisher with Simon Turner Birmingham born poet Roy Fisher writes with astonishing clarity, particularly about his native city. The poet Simon Turner introduces at some of Fisher’s poems and the extraordinary breadth of imagination they demonstrate.

Box Office 0121 303 2323 or www.birminghambookfestival.org

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How to book tickets Book events, workshops surgeries or seminars through the box office - Phone Online





0121 303 2323 www.birminghambookfestival.org www.birminghamboxoffice.com

In person In advance at the Ticket Office at Birmingham Central Library 9am to 5.30pm Mon - Fri, 10am to 4.30pm Sat.



In person On the door - From 1 hour before the event Please note payment by credit card will not be possible. Workshops, surgeries and seminars have limited availability so book in advance.



Tickets available in advance for most free events, please book to guarantee a seat.



All main venues have disabled access. Wheelchair access to Library Theatre is via the Central Library. Some workshop venues may have limited access. Call the Festival Office 0121 246 2770 for further access information.



The Festival reserves the right to refuse admission to events or request ticket holders to leave. Unless specifically stated Festival events are generally not suitable for children. The Festival reserves the right to alter or cancel the programme in the event of unavoidable cause, without prior notification. The use of Mobile phones, cameras, video and audio equipment at Festival events is prohibited.



The Birmingham Book Festival is managed by Midland Creative Projects Ltd Unit 116, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA Telephone - 0121 246 2770 or email - [email protected]