Celebrating Music and Books in a Beautiful City
13–21 May 2022
Official Partner:
www.thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
Principal Partner:
PA RT N ER S Festival Partners:
Supported by:
Official Book Seller:
Official Media Partners:
Official Travel Partner:
Official Hotel Partner:
Official Ticket Agent:
Official Print Partner
Trusts:
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The Roper Family Charitable Trust
The Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust
The Coles-Medlock Foundation
Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
WELCOME TO THE BATH FESTIVAL 2022 We are delighted to return with our annual celebration of music and books in the historic buildings, city streets and open spaces of our beautiful city. Party in the City is back for our opening night with free events performed across pubs, venues and outdoor stages (p5). And the fun will continue throughout the first weekend at Queen Square with our new festival hub (p4)! Discover our irresistible music programme featuring intimate performances, brightest musical talents and acclaimed artists across jazz, folk, electronic, percussion, opera and classical. Explore new ways of seeing the world with our book programme filled with conversations, lectures, walks and workshops. Festivals create unique moments, and we hope to inspire, delight and entertain you with over 130 events in 15 venues. Read on to discover the line-up!
MAP
INFO
P5
BOOKS
P4
MUSIC
PA R T Y
See p29-32 for our handy pull-out diary in the centre for a quick view of the programme.
EXPERIENCE
Look out for our tabs at the top of each page to navigate your way through the brochure.
P6-16 P17-53 P54-57 P58-59
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EXPERIENCE
THE BATH FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE From the minute you arrive in the city we invite you to immerse yourself in the festival. Embrace the beauty of Bath Whether resident or visitor you can’t fail to be wowed by this beautiful city with breathtaking architecture on every corner. Shops, cafes and restaurants enter into the festival spirit by creating imaginatively themed window displays – there’s even a competition, so look out on our social media for how to vote for your favourite! Festival Hub at Queen Square For the first time a new Festival Hub will be set up in historic Queen Square over the first weekend of the festival. This will provide a welcoming gathering space with a music stage, food and drink traders, hands-on activities for families and live entertainment. And Mr B’s bookshop is just around the corner! Sponsored by
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Pop-Up Jazz Lounge From Friday to Tuesday, you’ll hear live music pouring out from our pop-up jazz lounge. Make sure you visit for free performances from international jazz band Empirical. Look out on our social media for the times and location. Surprise performances from our resident festival chamber orchestra From 14–17 May Bath Festival Orchestra will have residency at the festival. They will be popping up around the city over the weekend, visiting local schools as well as performing at the Roman Baths.
After a two-year gap we are certainly ready to party! Start your festival experience with a bang as you’re invited to join Bath’s biggest FREE party as the city centre bursts into life for one night only. Join the fun and follow the Party in the City trail from park to pub, from church to museum, to hear the best from the local creative scene. Musicians, poets, bands and choirs will perform in venues across the city. There will be outdoor stages in Queen Square and Parade Gardens. Bring the whole family along to an evening of live music and enjoy food and drink from pop-up stalls. You will be able to find the full programme of events closer to the time online and pick up a programme flyer in venues across the city.
KEEP PARTY IN THE CITY FREE Help us to keep Party in the City Free by looking out for donation pots and contactless donation points during the night or donate online at bathfestivals.org.uk/make-a-donation THANK YOU A big thanks to all the venues who take part in Party in the City and to all the musicians, singers and performers who give their time and talent. Date: Friday 13 May Time: From 5pm – late Venue: Various venues in Bath city centre Price: FREE Supported by
F REE OP ENING NIGHT PARTY
Sponsored by
PA R T Y
PARTY IN THE CITY: FRIDAY 13 MAY
5 BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
MUSIC
BACH: THE GREAT PASSION
SATURDAY 14 MAY
The St Matthew Passion is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. But what was it like to play, sing and hear it for the first time? James Runcie talks about the imaginative research involved in writing his new novel The Great Passion, the story behind the inspiration, composition, rehearsal and first performance of Bach’s masterpiece in April 1727. This is an illustrated talk with music by Bach performed by brilliant violinist Irène Duval. ‘A richly rewarding contribution to our understanding of one of the great figures of the 20th century.’ The Guardian ★★★★★ Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 11am – 12.15pm Venue: St Swithin’s Church Price: £15* Event Code: A6
SHOSTAKOVICH, LIFE, LETTERS AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE CARDUCCI QUARTET Music from Shostakovich’s String Quartets Nos 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 15 with readings from the composer’s letters. Carducci String Quartet Stephen Johnson, narrator
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Experience the intense emotional power of Shostakovich’s string quartets as the Carducci Quartet paints an intimate portrait of the great composer through music and spoken word. Take a journey deep into Shostakovich’s psyche, as he walked a delicate tightrope, balancing political pragmatism with personal expression. Historical sources and letters from the composer to one of his closest confidantes, read by Stephen Johnson, are paired with extracts from contemporaneous quartets, painting a fascinating picture of how music offered a much-needed emotional outlet in the most difficult of times.
‘The Carduccis maintained astonishing intensity’ The Guardian Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 5pm – 7pm Venue: St Swithin’s Church Price: £20 – £25* Event Code: A17
MUSIC
SEAN SHIBE
Sean Shibe has been hailed as the most exciting guitarist of his generation. He offers a kaleidoscopic programme ranging from South America to Spain and from Scotland to Germany. His performances of Bach led him to win his most recent Gramophone Award. ‘Shibe’s music-making is masterful, beautiful and convincing in every way’ The Times Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 5pm – 6.30pm Venue: St Swithin’s Church Price: £15 – £20* Event Code: B12
KARINE POLWART AND DAVE MILLIGAN Seven-time winner at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Karine Polwart’s latest project is a collaboration with renowned jazz/folk pianist Dave Milligan. Piano and voice isn’t a combination you hear often in the folk idiom, and yet it can be just as potent, if not more so, than a full band, and the duo’s new album is just this – an intimate, stripped-back collection of songs performed entirely with voice and grand piano.
S UN DAY 15 MAY
Dowland Fantasie Scottish Lute Manuscripts Villa-Lobos Four Etudes Barrios Julia Florida Barrios La Catedral Bach Suite in E minor, BWV 996
‘Milligan and Polwart achieve nothing short of magnificence. Exquisite’ Morning Star ★★★★★ ‘One of the finest singer-songwriters in Britain’ The Guardian ★★★★★ Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 7.30pm Venue: Komedia Price: £20* Event Code: B16
IF OPERA PRESENTS
TALES FROM CHEZ BULLIER If Opera, born of Iford Arts, comes to the Bath Festival with a very special new show. Chez Bullier’s, a faded Parisian speakeasy, is home to characters with tales of love and laughter, tragedy and loss; stories that sadden the heart, or even break it. Featuring music by Puccini, Verdi, Léhar and others, Oliver Gooch conducts a small salon band alongside the 2022 If Opera ensemble. A unique and ravishing evening of stories and beautiful music. *Ticket price excludes booking fee
Date: Time:
Sunday 15 May Performance 1 at 5pm Performance 2 at 7:30pm Running time approx. 1:20mins Venue: The Guildhall Price: £36 – £65 Event Code: B17 Sponsored by
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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MUSIC
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
LAURA VAN DER HEIJDEN, CELLO
M ON DAY 16 MAY
Bach Cello Suite No. 3 in C major BWV 1009 Imogen Holst Fall of the Leaf Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Lamentations Black/Folk Song Suite Bach Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor BWV 1008 ‘The beauty of Laura van der Heijden’s playing lies in the fact that she has a wonderful expressivity, but never, ever overdoes it.’ Bachtrack
Supported by
Date: Monday 16 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £15* Event Code: C2
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
Six hour-long concerts, in partnership with The Holburne Museum, introducing some of the brightest musical talents who will light up our concert halls in future years. All have genuine star quality and an hour in their company is the perfect way to start your festival day.
LA VOIX HUMAINE A co-production between Wales Millennium Centre and Welsh National Opera commissioned for Festival of Voice.
Claire Booth Elle David Pountney Director Mathilde Lopez Assistant Director Christopher Glynn pre-recorded piano / sound operator
La Voix Humaine Lyrics: Jean Cocteau Music: Francis Poulenc © Ed. Ricordi S.A. English translation by Richard Stokes
A woman is on the phone to her lover who is ending their relationship. Her devastation unfolds before our eyes as we, the audience, eavesdrop on her despair in the confines of her home. Director David Pountney has taken a 20thcentury opera classic and created an intense theatrical experience which will take place in an apartment in Bath. La Voix Humaine is opera up-close, intimate and unrestrained. Bookers will receive confirmation of the venue prior to the festival. Date: Monday 16 May – Thursday 19 May Time: Various Times Venue: Secret Location Price: £33* Event Code: LVH
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Monday’s performance is wheelchair accessible.
MUSIC
GIRLS SUPPORT GIRLS An all female line up curated by Girls Support Girls.
The Bath Festival 2022 Girls Support Girls at Komedia! Bringing a safe space for EVERYONE to support and engage with a female-led creative collective. We are pushing for more opportunities for local artists and providing larger promotional platforms to celebrate individuality for marginalised genders. ‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GIRL GANG’ Date: Monday 16 May Time: 7.45pm Venue: Komedia Price: £7* Event Code: C9
BATH FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA AT THE ROMAN BATHS
M ON DAY 16 MAY
Juju Damsels Athena Clemencie
Takemitsu Toward the Sea Daniel Temkin Ocean’s Call Grace Williams Sea Sketches Joey Roukens Visions at Sea Bath Festival Orchestra Peter Manning, conductor Maren Bosma, leader An ocean-bound journey: four countries – all separated by water – bring forth a composer each, with four different sea-inspired musical pieces. The journey starts in Japan with Toru Takemitsu, after which we travel across the Pacific Ocean to the United States and upcoming composer Daniel Temkin. Next we cross the Atlantic Ocean, to arrive in the UK, home of 20th-century composer Grace Williams. The final destination is found across the North Sea: The Netherlands, ending with work by Dutch composer Joey Roukens. Generously supported by Edward Horesh. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 8pm – 9.15pm Venue: The Roman Baths Price: £10 – £25* Event Code: C11 *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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MUSIC
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
JENEBA KANNEHMASON, PIANO
TUES DAY 17 MAY
Bach Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major Mozart Piano Sonata No. 18 in D major K.576 Scriabin Piano Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor Liszt Vallée D’Obermann Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 ‘This was a fantastic performance that had everything.’ The Courier Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £15* Event Code: D2
Supported by
JESS GILLAM ENSEMBLE Programme includes music by CPE Bach, John Harle, James Blake, JS Bach, Piazzolla and Will Gregory Jess Gillam is a musical force of nature. Passionate about inspiring and bringing joy to people through music, Jess invites audiences on journeys of musical discovery through her electrifying performances and eclectic programming. The Jess Gillam Ensemble is made up of an incredible group of musicians from a wide range of musical backgrounds but with roots in classical music. This promises to be an explosive concert designed to showcase the diversity, dynamism and versatility of the saxophone, and to inspire audiences to reflect, dance and smile! ‘Not just one of Britain’s most virtuosic instrumentalists, but also an unstuffy, inspiring personality.’ The Times Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 8pm – 10pm Venue: Komedia Price: £15 – £25* Event Code: D14
LA VOIX HUMAINE Date: Monday 16 May – Thursday 19 May Time: Various Times Venue: Secret Location Price: £33* Event Code: LVH
Please see page 8 for more details
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Sponsored by
ARIEL LANYI, PIANO Schumann Kinderszenen, Op. 15 Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier) “This special talent is based on two qualities: innate intelligence and a sense of flawless rhythm” CultuurPakt Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £15* Event Code: E2
Supported by
Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: E5
WEDNES DAY 18 MAY
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
Patrick Mackie’s Mozart in Motion allows us to look at this extraordinary composer anew. The biographical narrative is illuminated by examination of the composition and social environment of a series of masterpieces through Mozart’s life which reveal a musician in dialogue with culture at its most sweepingly progressive, when Europe was caught between two historical worlds. Alistair Hogarth performs musical examples to set Patrick’s beautiful writing in context.
MUSIC
MOZART IN MOTION: PATRICK MACKIE AND ALISTAIR HOGARTH
THE SISTINE CHAPEL – A MUSICAL INSPIRATION Works by Palestrina, Allegri, Josquin and Carpentras
as well as other ravishing works of Renaissance polyphony.
The Tallis Scholars Peter Phillips, director
‘The rock stars of Renaissance vocal music’ The New York Times
Peerless in this repertoire, The Tallis Scholars offer us a fascinating programme of music by composers who worked in the Sistine Chapel and wrote for the choir there. Wonderful mass settings by Palestrina interleave a programme which includes Allegri’s unforgettable Miserere
Generously Supported by Brian Woodford. Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 7pm – 8.30pm Venue: Bath Abbey Price: £15 – £30* Event Code: E10
*Ticket *Ticketprice priceexcludes excludesbooking bookingfee fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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MUSIC
EMPIRICAL
WEDNES DAY 18 MAY
Empirical are one of the most admired and individual bands in contemporary jazz. They will be bringing their award-winning sounds to this year’s festival. The ensemble comprises of Nathaniel Facey alto sax, Tom Farmer double bass, Lewis Wright vibraphone and Shane Forbes drums. ‘Empirical are exactly what top-class modern jazz should be – trailblazing yet wholly respectful of tradition.’ TIME OUT Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 7.30pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: E11
MUSIC FOR TRUMPET AND ORGAN IN BATH ABBEY Aaron Akugbo, Trumpet John Kitchen, Organ
LA VOIX HUMAINE Date: Monday 16 May – Thursday 19 May Time: Various Times Venue: Secret Location Price: £33* Event Code: LVH
Please see page 8 for more details
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Tomasi Sainte Semaine a Cuzco Damase Trois prières Messiaen Apparition de l’Eglise éternelle Telemann Methodische Sonate Callaerts Toccata in E minor Friedman Solus Cecilia McDowall Celebration Florence Price Adoration Bach Trumpet & Organ Concerto in D major Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 9.30pm – 10.30pm Venue: Bath Abbey Price: £15* Event Code: E14
MUSIC
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
IRENE DUVAL, VIOLIN AND SAM ARMSTRONG, PIANO
‘Dozens of bravos rang out for Duval’ Freie Presse Generously supported by Andrew Fletcher.
Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £15* Event Code: F2
Supported by
SNAZZBACK AND LYDIAN COLLECTIVE A night of explosive genre-crashing jazz. Snazzback are a Bristol-based collective, focused on creating collaborative compositions tied together through a constant stream of improvisation and an infectious looseness. London-based instrumental jazz/fusion four-piece Lydian Collective are proving themselves a musical tour de force with their hypnotic rhythms. ‘An explosive sense of energy… buzzing and fizzing with fresh ideas’ Clash Magazine on Snazzback
TH URS DAY 19 MAY
Hahn Romance in A major Poulenc Sonata for violin and piano Fauré Andante, Op. 75 Fauré Berceuse, Op. 16 Saint-Saens Berceuse, Op. 38 Enescu Sonata No. 2 in F minor, Op. 6
Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 7.30pm Venue: Komedia Price: £16.50* Event Code: F11
CONCERT FOR THE PEOPLE OF BATH Copland Fanfare for the Common Man Mozart Horn Concerto No 4 in E flat major Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E flat major Janáček Sinfonietta Ben Goldscheider, horn Matilda Lloyd, trumpet The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines School of Music Bath Philharmonia Jason Thornton, conductor We are delighted to present the fourth annual concert dedicated to the memory of Brian and Margaret Roper; a concert that encourages future generations to develop their love of classical music.
The Band of the Royal Marines School of Music joins Bath Philharmonia in Janáček’s astonishing Sinfonietta with its 25 brass players and Copland’s iconic Fanfare for the Common Man. Our sparkling evening is completed by two concertos performed by two of today’s most brilliant young brass soloists. Generously supported by the Roper Family Trust. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm Venue: The Forum Price: £12 – £22* Event Code: F13 *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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MUSIC
F RIDAY 20 MAY
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
DRUMMING WITH COLIN CURRIE GROUP AND SYNERGY VOCALS
Bach Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 Scarlatti Sonata Nagaev Sonata No. 1, Op. 13 Tchaikovsky Romance in F minor, Op. 5 Feld Konzertstück Heath Take To the Sky Mendelssohn Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14
Drumming is a percussion epic! Led by Colin Currie, the hand-picked ensemble was formed in 2006 for a performance of Drumming at the BBC Proms to celebrate the 70th birthday of Steve Reich.
RYAN CORBETT, ACCORDION
‘His sound world, phrasing and musicality mark him out as a very special musician.’ Royal Overseas League
‘The world’s finest and most daring percussionist’ Spectator
Generously supported by Andrew Fletcher. Date: Friday 20 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £15* Event Code: G2
Supported by
MAD DOG MCREA PLUS OLD SEA LEGS Mad Dog Mcrea blend a unique mixture of folk rock, pop, gypsy jazz, bluegrass and ‘shake your ass’ music. From self-penned songs of adventure, drinking, love and life, to traditional songs of gypsies, fairies, legless pirates and black flies – Mad Dog never fail to capture their audience with their infectious songs. Old Sea Legs are crawling with vivid imagery and colourful characters, a timeless tangle of tongue-twisting, brainburrowing lyrics that can swing from a breathless barrage to a lilting lament.
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Date: Friday 20 May Time: 7.30pm Venue: Komedia Price: £19.50* Event Code: G11
The ensemble specialises in the music of Steve Reich. In Drumming, Reich is deeply motivated by African drumming traditions and you can feel this in every thunderous beat of the hour-long piece.
Date: Friday 20 May Time: 7.30pm – 8.45pm Venue: Bath Abbey Price: £15 – £30* Event Code: G10
MUSIC
RISING CLASSICAL MUSIC STARS
JONIAN ILIAS KADESHA, VIOLIN
‘He had the audience hanging on every note.’ Bachtrack Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £15* Event Code: H5
Supported by
PHOTO CREDIT: KAUPO KIKKAS
JEREMY DENK: BACH’S WELL TEMPERED CLAVIER AND EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE Bach Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 Jeremy Denk is one of today’s most stimulating musicians – a pianist of remarkable brilliance, he is also a superb writer. In this event, specially curated for The Bath Festival, he performs the first book of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier. He interleaves the music with readings from his new book Every Good Boy Does Fine which describes his personal and musical growth from precocious child musician to major international musical performer
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Telemann Fantasia No. 1 in B-flat major Kurtág Signs, Games and Messages Enescu ‘Menétrier’ (The Fiddler) Helena Winkelman Ciaccona Schnittke Fuga Bach Partita No. 2 in D minor
including remarkable insights on how music and performance work at the highest level. ‘A superb solo recital … crystalline in the clarity of his pianist vision, the pellucid beauty of each phrase breathing with rich magic’ The Times Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 2.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: St Swithin’s Church Price: £20 – £25* Event Code: H11
Sponsored by
*Ticket *Ticketprice priceexcludes excludesbooking bookingfee fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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MUSIC
CONSONE QUARTET WITH JOHN CROCKATT, VIOLA
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Haydn String Quartet Op 71 No 2 in D major Mendelssohn String Quartet No 5 in E flat major Op 44 No 3 Mozart String Quintet in G minor K516 Mozart’s G minor string quintet contains some of his most emotionally charged music with a slow movement which bares the composer’s innermost feelings of anguish. It is preceded with one of Haydn’s most sparkling quartets and a work by Mendelssohn which places him squarely in the first rank of string quartet composers. ‘This is a musical, emotional, stylistic and technical bullseye.’ The Strad Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 8pm – 10pm Venue: St Swithin’s Church Price: £15 – £20* Event Code: H20
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING PLUS SUPPORT
There’s a strong thematic concept to Public Service Broadcasting’s fourth album, Bright Magic; possibly their most ambitious undertaking yet, it brings the listener to the heart of the largest cultural hub in Europe – Berlin, exploring the cities post-war journey. An album in three parts – Building A City / Building A Myth / Bright Magic – it’s not just about one city, but all centres of human interaction and community which allow the free exchange and crosspollination of ideas. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 7.30pm Venue: The Forum Price: £25 – £29* Event Code: H19
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*Ticket price excludes booking fee
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
WALKING TOURS 1
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BATH BLITZ: A STORY OF DESTRUCTION AND REBUILDING
BATH ON SCREEN: THE OTHER STAR OF THE SHOW
2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Bath. On two moonlit nights in April 1942 more than 400 people in the city were killed and thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed. Join Bath Walking Tours to discover why the Georgian city was identified as a target by the Luftwaffe. See reconstructed and restored buildings, bomb craters and shrapnel damage, and hear about air raid shelters, child evacuees and the aftermath.
Bath has long been used as a scenic backdrop for films and TV shows. This entertaining tour by Bath Walking Tours covers recent large-scale filming, including for Season 1 and 2 of Bridgerton, a new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Wonka, a prequel to the famous Roald Dahl story. It also takes in filming locations for classic older movies such as The Duchess and Les Miserables, and a 1960s thriller about a smallpox epidemic in Bath.
Venue: Meet at Orange Grove Price: £15* Event Code: WT1
Venue: Meet at No.1 Royal Crescent Price: £15* Event Code: WT2
Saturday 14 May
10am – 12pm
Saturday 14 May
2pm – 4pm
Sunday 15 May
2pm – 4pm
Sunday 15 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Monday 16 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Monday 16 May
10am – 12pm
Tuesday 17 May
10am – 12pm
Tuesday 17 May
2pm – 4pm
Wednesday 18 May
2pm – 4pm
Wednesday 18 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Thursday 19 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Thursday 19 May
10am – 12pm
Friday 20 May
10am – 12pm
Friday 20 May
2pm – 4pm
Saturday 21 May
2pm – 4pm
Saturday 21 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Start: Orange Grove, by the obelisk (BA1 1LP) Finish: Bath War Memorial, entrance to Royal Victoria Park, Queen’s Parade (BA1 2NJ) Duration: Two hours Distance: Around two miles Gentle-paced walking, on pavements, with frequent stops. Suitable for wheelchair users 18
Start: Outside No.1 Royal Crescent (BA1 2LR) Finish: Outside the Holburne Museum (BA2 4DB) Duration: Two hours Distance: Around 1.5 miles Gentle-paced walking, on pavements, with frequent stops. Suitable for wheelchair users
HARRIET EVANS 3
In 2021 Bath gained a second UNESCO World Heritage Site listing as one of The Great Spa Towns of Europe. This walking tour by Fred Mawer Tours focuses on Bath’s fascinating spa history. Learn about the city’s naturally hot springs and how rich and poor came to Bath seeking cures from bathing in and drinking the thermal waters. The tour also explores historic hospitals linked to the baths, and looks at après-spa attractions designed to keep Georgian visitors entertained. Venue: Meet at Kingston Parade Square Price: £15* Event Code: WT3 Saturday 14 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Sunday 15 May
10am – 12pm
Monday 16 May
2pm – 4pm
Tuesday 17 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Wednesday 18 May
10am – 12pm
Thursday 19 May
2pm – 4pm
Friday 20 May
5.30pm – 7.30pm
Saturday 21 May
10am – 12pm
Start: Kingston Parade square (directly on the south side of Bath Abbey) Finish: The Circus (BA1 2EW) Duration: Two hours Distance: 1.2 miles Gentle-paced walking, on pavements, with frequent stops. Suitable for wheelchair users
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 10am – 11am Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: A2
SATURDAY 14 MAY
BATH: THE GREAT SPA TOWN
Harriet Evans has written 13 bestselling novels and worked for many years as an editor with authors such as Marian Keyes and Sue Townsend. In early 2020 she moved to Bath, where her family has lived for 200 years. Harriet will be talking to writer and broadcaster Francesa Beauman about her latest novel, The Beloved Girls, the sometimes strange life of being labelled a ‘women’s fiction’ author, the secrets of a long writing career, and living and writing in Bath.
BOOKS
FICTION
FICTION
JANICE HALLETT Author of The Appeal – Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 2021 – Janice Hallett has been described as the modernday Agatha Christie. Scala Radio’s Penny Smith talks to Hallett about her phenomenal success, how she creates her ingenious and twisty plots, and introduces The Twyford Code, her dazzling and addictive new novel. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 10am – 11am Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10 Event Code: A1
Supported by
19 BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
BOOKS
POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD
PJ HARVEY WITH MAX PORTER – ORLAM: A CONVERSATION
SATURDAY 14 MAY
LIFE EXPERIENCES
WE ARE FAMILY A trio of wise, warm and wonderful writers together in discussion about family – what we inherit, the stories that every family holds at its heart and how our relationships influence our health and happiness. Join bestselling psychotherapist Julia Samuel (Every Family Has a Story) and Clover Stroud, who writes movingly about the death of her sister Nell Gifford in The Red of My Blood, in conversation with acclaimed writer Cathy Rentzenbrink (Write It All Down). Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 10.30am – 11.30am Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A3
WRITING WORKSHOP
SAYING MORE WITH LESS Huma Qureshi introduces you to the short story form, what she loves so much about it and what she learned in the process of writing her own. Explore how to make an emotional impact, by adding depth and layers rather than length, in order to create a short story that resonates with readers long after the story has ended. Expect lively discussion about favourite short story writers, such as Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri and Lucy Caldwell and write your own opening scenes with Huma’s guidance. Ticket includes tea or coffee.
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Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 11am – 12.30pm Venue: Persephone Books Price: £20* Event Code: A4
In this spoken-word event PJ Harvey will recite poems from her new book, and join in conversation with renowned English writer Max Porter. Orlam reveals PJ Harvey as a gifted poet whose formal skill, transforming eye and ear for the lyric line has produced a strange and moving poem like no other. Orlam is not only a remarkable coming-of-age tale, but the first full-length book written in the Dorset dialect for many decades. Please note this is not a music performance. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 12pm – 1pm Venue: Komedia Price: £15* Event Code: A7
BOOKS
BE CREATIVE
SHARE YOUR STORY WITH CATHY RENTZENBRINK AND NIKESH SHUKLA
Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 12.30pm – 1.30pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A8
CURRENT AFFAIRS
EATING, EMPATHY AND THE FUTURE OF MEAT We care for animals. We eat them. We struggle to make sense of the contradiction. Climate campaigners, beleaguered farmers and media commentators insist our meat consumption is either good or bad. Writer and campaigner Rob Percival (The Meat Paradox) brings us an even-handed and nuanced exploration of our complex moral relationships with other animals. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Forum Ballroom Price: £8* Event Code: A5
SATURDAY 14 MAY
Telling stories helps us make sense of ourselves. Would you like to write but aren’t sure where to start? This special festival event brings together two bestselling authors Cathy Rentzenbrink (Write it All Down) and Nikesh Shukla (Your Story Matters) to inspire and steer you through the philosophical and practical challenges.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
EAST SIDE VOICES Helena Lee, founder of the East Side Voices cultural salon and acting deputy editor of Harper’s Bazaar, presents this bold, first-ofits kind anthology, that explores a dazzling spectrum of experience from the East and Southeast Asian diaspora living in Britain today. She is joined by two anthology contributors: writer and musician Claire Kohda (Woman, Eating), and award-winning poet Will Harris (RENDANG). Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 12.30pm – 1.30pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: A9
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
LIFE EXPERIENCES
EXPLORING MALE POWER AND PRIVILEGE
SATURDAY 14 MAY
Broadcaster Justin Webb (The Gift of a Radio) and bestselling author Richard Beard (Sad Little Men) were both sent away from home as young boys to boarding school. Join them for a candid and deeply insightful discussion with broadcaster Mark Lawson, about the formative experiences of boyhood, the realities of British elite all-male boarding school life and its longreaching consequences on the psyche of the men who often end up leading the country. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A10
CURRENT AFFAIRS
DEALING WITH DISASTER Professor Lucy Easthope is the UK’s leading disaster recovery authority. Her book When the Dust Settles is the gripping story of a life spent inside major disasters from Hillsborough and 9/11 to Grenfell and Covid. Anna Kent has delivered babies in war zones across the world and Frontline Midwife shares her extraordinary experiences as a nurse, midwife and mother. They talk to Claire Armitstead, The Guardian journalist and editor, about life, loss and hope. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 1.30pm – 2.30pm Venue: The Forum Ballroom Price: £8* Event Code: A11
CURRENT AFFAIRS
FEMALE OF THE SPECIES Join two brilliant women – broadcaster and journalist Mary Ann Sieghart and award-winning broadcaster and filmmaker Lucy Cooke – as they consider what it means to be female. The Authority Gap provides a fresh, provocative take on how to address systemic sexism to benefit everyone while Bitch blows sexist myths right out of biology. They talk to writer and comedian Viv Groskop (How to Own the Room) about overturning outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, 2 2 biology and behaviour.
Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 3pm – 4pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A12
HOMELANDS AND HEARTLANDS
LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE Huma Qureshi talks to journalist Natasha Lunn (Conversations on Love) about Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love, her breathtaking collection of stories about our most intimate relationships: the misunderstandings between families, the silences between friends and the dissonance between lovers.
This event has been programmed by guest curator Arifa Akbar. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A15
SATURDAY 14 MAY
FICTION
A conversation between two literary giants, this festival highlight features the Tanzanian-born Nobel Prize winner, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and the eminent Turkish-British novelist and activist, Elif Shafak. They form this unique pairing to discuss their prolific body of work alongside notions of home, Britishness, international fiction and post-colonial legacies. Chaired by journalist and editor, Boyd Tonkin.
BOOKS
FICTION
Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 3pm – 4pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: A13
WRITING WORKSHOP
HOW TO MAKE WRITING PART OF YOUR LIFE Kick start your creativity with this encouraging and enjoyable workshop led by author and memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink (Write It All Down) on how to develop a writing practice that will enrich your life and help you to write pretty much anything at all. All writing levels welcome Ticket includes tea or coffee. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 3pm – 4.30pm Venue: Persephone Books Price: £20* Event Code: A14
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
23
BOOKS
PSYCHOLOGY
THE LIFE INSIDE: ANDY WEST
SATURDAY 14 MAY
Andy West teaches philosophy in prisons, listening as the inmates explore new ways to think about their situation. He also confronts his own inherited guilt: his father, uncle and brother all spent time in prison. He talks to Caroline Sanderson about The Life Inside, his wise and frequently funny debut book that blends memoir, storytelling and gentle philosophical questioning. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 4pm – 5pm Venue: The Forum Ballroom Price: £8* Event Code: A16
NEW TALENT
MEN ON LOVE Two exceptional voices in contemporary British fiction. Award-winning author Okechukwu Nzelu’s latest novel, Here Again Now is a spellbinding, tender and immensely uplifting tale about lovers, fathers and sons. Kasim Ali’s captivating debut, Good Intentions, is a powerful modern love story that deftly explores family obligation and racial prejudice alongside the flush of first love. They talk to Nikesh Shukla. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: A19
FICTION
PITCH PERFECT: MARIAN KEYES, NINA STIBBE AND LUCY MANGAN Three witty, wise and wickedly funny writers Marian Keyes (Again, Rachel), Nina Stibbe (One Day I Shall Astonish the World) and Lucy Mangan (Are We Having Fun Yet?) explore female friendship, old flames, family chaos and the absurd pitfalls of modern life with Claire Armitstead, The Guardian journalist and editor.
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Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A20
BOOKS
NATURE
ALI SMITH: TREASURED COMPANIONS
This event has been programmed by guest curator Arifa Akbar. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.45pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A18
SPEAKING VOLUMES ON IDENTITY AND TRANSFORMATION Two trailblazers come together to talk about identity, imagination and human rights. Jay Bernard, Ted Hughes Award winning poet (Surge), performs their spoken word poetry and talks to Shon Faye, a former lawyer and bestselling author (The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice). The event showcases the groundbreaking live literary platform, Speaking Volumes, which supports under-represented voices. Chaired by The Guardian journalist and editor, Claire Armitstead. This event has been programmed by guest curator Arifa Akbar.
ENTERTAINMENT
LITWITCHURE WITH ABIGAIL BERGSTROM Join author Abigail Bergstrom as she has her tarot read by Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt (Wild Card) who also perform together as Litwitchure. The cards will guide the conversation as they explore the many captivating themes of Abigail’s new book What a Shame, including friendship, consent, relationship breakdown and love. Expect the unexpected! There’s no way of knowing what the cards will reveal. Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 8pm – 9pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: A22
CURRENT AFFAIRS
SATURDAY 14 MAY
One of the nation’s most accomplished living novelists, Ali Smith will be in conversation with journalist and author, Arifa Akbar, about the inspiration for her latest book, Companion Piece, and the seasonal quartet of novels that wove fiction from life following Brexit. Accompanied by short readings selected by Smith, the event also explores her love of music, her life and work, as well as the value of hospitality in society and the importance of openness in our age.
Date: Saturday 14 May Time: 8pm – 9pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: A21
KRATER COMEDY CLUB (see website for weekly line-up details)
Doors: 6:30pm Show: 8:00pm £10.00 – £17.50 Kick-off your weekend with some proper good laughs and discover the best in live comedy, featuring three top stand-ups and one of the best comperes in the business! Includes FREE entry to The Big Disco or Motorcity afterwards! *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
25
BO O K S BATH THE S UNFDAY ES TIVA 15 LMAY 2022
LIFE EXPERIENCES
MARK HADDON: A WRITER’S LIFE A multi award-winning and bestselling author who has achieved international acclaim (The Porpoise, The Pier Falls, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time), Mark Haddon reflects on the writer’s life in a candid conversation with journalist and author, Arifa Akbar (Consumed: A Sister’s Story). After depression robbed him of the ability to write for 18 months, he talks about mental illness, heart surgery, working for the Samaritans, the joy and horror of social media, and the consolations of papier mâché. This event has been programmed by guest curator Arifa Akbar. Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 10am – 11am Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B1
BE CREATIVE
WRITING LIVES WITH STACEY HALLS AND CATHY RENTZENBRINK First meeting as journalists over ten years ago, while working for The Bookseller magazine, writing about other people’s books, these two wonderful writers, Stacey Halls and Cathy Retzenbrink, have now published eight books between them. In this lively event, they will interview each other about how they made the leap into their writing careers, what they wish they’d known, and the highs and lows of writing life. Prepare to be inspired! Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 10am – 11am Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: B2
CURRENT AFFAIRS
MARTIN BELL: WAR & PEACEKEEPING Over six decades, Martin Bell, (War and Peacekeeping: Personal Reflections on Conflict and Lasting Peace) the finest war reporter of his generation, has stood in 18 war zones as a soldier, a reporter and a UNICEF ambassador. He looks back on our efforts to keep the peace since the end of the Second World War and considers the current darkening political landscape with broadcaster and journalist Mark Lawson.
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Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 10.30am – 11.30am Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B3
BRIAN BILSTON
Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B7
S UN DAY 15 MAY
The unofficial Poet Laureate of Twitter, Brian Bilston comes to Bath to share some of his brilliant, touching and hilarious poems. His book Alexa, What Is There To Know About Love? features everything from romantic to familial love, as well as poems about reading and literature and the odd one about the subject causing many of us heartbreak: politics.
BOOKS
POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD
ENTERTAINMENT
MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE’S SUNDAY PAPERS Comedian Marcus Brigstocke brings his popular event to The Bath Festival for the first time! He will be joined by panellists, author and campaigner Dr Rachel Clarke, Channel 4 News journalist Symeon Brown and comedian Rachel Parris to review the news stories of the week. Listen as they tear apart the tabloids, play havoc with the headlines and blast the broadsheets; picking out the topical, heartwarming and funny stories of the day. Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: Komedia Price: £12* Event Code: B4
WALKING TOURS Don’t forget to check out the walking tours daily at 10am, 2pm and 5.30pm. See page 18 for more details.
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
27
BOOKS
S UN DAY 15 MAY
FICTION
ENTERTAINMENT
Award-winning author Charlotte Mendelson’s new novel The Exhibitionist is a dazzling exploration of art, toxic family politics and queer desire. Careering is award-winning journalist and broadcaster Daisy Buchanan’s blisteringly funny and perceptive look at work, self-worth and womanhood. Claire Armitstead, The Guardian journalist and editor talks to them about exploring the hot mess that lies just beneath the surface of life.
Over the course of a year, award-winning comedian and presenter Rachel Parris asked members of her live audiences for advice. Her new book, Advice from Strangers explores the resulting random gems of wisdom in ways that are both hilarious and heartbreaking. She talks to writer and comedian Viv Groskop (How to Own the Room) about the peculiarly human habit of giving and asking for advice. They consider the essentials of living in the modern world; dealing with everything from Tampons to Tories and from #hashtags to Staying Hydrated.
CHARLOTTE MENDELSON AND DAISY BUCHANAN
Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 12.30pm – 1.30pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: B5
RACHEL PARRIS IN CONVERSATION WITH VIV GROSKOP
Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: Komedia Price: £12* Event Code: B8
HISTORY
MONARCHY: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE There has never been a more apposite moment to consider the history and evolution of the British Monarchy – one of the most iconic and enduring institutions in the world, surviving centuries of rebellion, revolution and war as well as the shaping of our religious, political and cultural identity. Leading historian and joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces Tracy Borman (Crown & Sceptre) considers this extraordinary survivor at a pivotal point in British history.
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Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B6
*Ticket price includes booking fee
KEY TO EVENTS: Event code
Music
Event
PULL OUT
Books
DI ARY
EVENT CALENDAR Time
Venue
5pm – late
Various
5
10am – 12pm WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz 10am – 11am A1 Janice Hallett 10am – 11am A2 Harriet Evans 10.30am – 11.30am A3 We Are Family A4 Writing Workshop: Huma Qureshi 11am – 12.30pm 11am – 12pm A5 The Future of Meat 11am – 12.15pm A6 Bach: The Great Passion 12pm – 1pm A7 PJ Harvey A8 Cathy Rentzenbrink & Nikesh Shukla 12.30pm – 1.30pm 12.30pm – 1.30pm A9 East Side Voices 1pm – 2pm A10 Exploring Male Power & Privilege 1.30pm – 2.30pm A11 Dealing with Disaster 2pm – 4pm WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen 3pm – 4pm A12 Female of the Species 3pm – 4pm A13 Let’s Talk About Love A14 Writing Workshop: Cathy Rentzenbrink 3pm – 4.30pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm A15 Homelands and Heartlands 4pm – 5pm A16 The Life Inside: Andy West 5pm – 7pm A17 Carducci Quartet 5.30pm – 6.45pm A18 Ali Smith 5.30pm – 6.30pm A19 Men on Love 5.30pm – 6.30pm A20 Pitch Perfect WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town 5.30pm – 7.30pm Krater Comedy Club 6.30pm 8pm – 9pm A21 Identity and Transformations A22 Litwitchure with Abigail Bergstrom 8pm – 9pm
Meet at Orange Grove Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms Persephone Books The Forum Ballroom St Swithin’s Church Komedia Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms The Forum Ballroom Meet at No.1 Royal Cres Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Persephone Books Assembly Rooms The Forum Ballroom St Swithin’s Church Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms Meet at Kingston Parade Komedia Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge
18 19 19 20 20 21 6 20 21 21 22 22 18 22 23 23 23 24 6 25 24 24 19 25 25 25
WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town 10am – 12pm 10am – 11am B1 Mark Haddon B2 Cathy Rentzenbrink & Stacey Halls 10am – 11am 10.30am – 11.30am B3 Martin Bell B4 Marcus Brigstocke’s Sunday Papers 11am – 12pm B5 Charlotte Mendelson & Daisy Buchanan12.30pm – 1.30pm 1pm – 2pm B6 Monarchy: Tracy Borman 1pm – 2pm B7 Brian Bilston 1pm – 2pm B8 Rachel Parris
Meet at Kingston Parade Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms Komedia Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms Assembly Rooms Komedia
19 26 26 26 27 28 28 27 28
FRIDAY 13 MAY
Party in the City
SATURDAY 14 MAY
SUNDAY 15 MAY
Page
29 BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
DI ARY
Event code
Event
SUNDAY 15 MAY (CONTINUED)
Venue
Page
2pm – 4pm WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz 3pm – 4pm B9 My Family and Other Memoirs 3pm – 4pm B10 Internet Influencers 3.30pm – 4.30pm B11 Monica Ali 5pm – 6.30pm B12 Sean Shibe If Opera Presents Tales from Chez Bullier 5pm – 6.20pm B17 5.30pm – 7.30pm WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen 5.30pm – 6.30pm B13 Building a Meaningful Life 5.30pm – 6.30pm B14 Georgia Pritchett & Abi Morgan 6pm – 7pm B15 John Crace 7.30pm B16 Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan B17 If Opera Presents Tales from Chez Bullier 7.30pm – 9.15pm
Meet at Orange Grove Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms St Swithin’s Church The Guildhall Meet at No.1 Royal Cres Assembly Rooms Literature Lounge Assembly Rooms Komedia The Guildhall
18 33 33 33 7 7 18 34 34 34 7 7
WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen C1 Writing Workshop: Jason Hewitt C2 Laura van der Heijden C3 Young Bloomsbury WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town C4 Muse: Ruth Millington C5 The BBC at 100 WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz C6 Fake History: Otto English C7 Alison Macleod on D.H. Lawrence C8 Persephone Books Comes to Bath C9 Girls Support Girls C10 Julia Armfield C11 Bath Festival Orchestra LVH La Voix Humaine
10am – 12pm 10am – 12pm 11am – 12pm 1pm – 2pm 2pm – 4pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 5.30pm – 7.30pm 6pm – 7pm 6pm – 7pm 6.30pm – 7.30pm 7.45pm 7pm – 8pm 8pm – 9.15pm 8pm – 9pm
Meet at No.1 Royal Cres BRLSI The Holburne Museum BRLSI Meet at Kingston Parade The Holburne Museum BRLSI Meet at Orange Grove BRLSI The Holburne Museum Persephone Books Komedia Mr B’s Emporium Roman Baths Secret Location
18 35 8 35 19 35 35 18 36 36 36 9 36 9 8
WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz D1 Writing Workshop: Carrie Etter D2 Jeneba Kanneh-Mason D3 The Joy of Science WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen D4 The Empress and the English Doctor D5 English Garden Eccentrics D6 Regenesis: George Monbiot WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town D7 Kris Hallenga: CoppaFeel! D8 Butler to the World: Oliver Bullough D9 Iconicon
10am – 12pm 10am – 12pm 11am – 12pm 1pm – 2pm 2pm – 4pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 5pm – 6pm 5.30pm – 7.30pm 5.30pm – 6.30pm 6pm – 7pm 6pm – 7pm
Meet at Orange Grove BRLSI The Holburne Museum BRLSI Meet at No.1 Royal Cres BRLSI The Holburne Museum Komedia Meet at Kingston Parade Walcot House BRLSI The Holburne Museum
18 37 10 37 18 37 37 38 19 38 38 39
MONDAY 16 MAY
TUESDAY 17 MAY
30
Time
Event
TUESDAY 17 MAY (CONTINUED)
Time
Page
The Francis Hotel Dorothy House Bookshop Secret Location Mr B’s Emporium Walcot House Komedia
38 39 8 39 39 10
WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town 10am – 12pm 10.30am – 11.30am E1 Katherine Rundell: John Donne 11am – 12pm E2 Ariel Lanyi 1pm – 2pm E3 Latitude: Nicholas Crane 2pm – 4pm WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz 3.30pm – 4.30pm E4 Greek Myths Retold 3.30pm – 4.30pm E5 Mozart in Motion 5.30pm – 7.30pm WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen 6pm – 7pm E6 In Search of Mary Seacole 6pm – 7pm E7 The Literary Almanac 6pm – 7pm E8 Bath Spa Anthology 6.30pm – 7.30pm LVH La Voix Humaine E9 Bath Arts Workshop: Before We Go 6.30pm – 7.30pm E10 The Sistine Chapel: The Tallis Scholars 7pm – 8.30pm 7.30pm E11 Empirical 7pm – 8pm E12 Susan Stokes-Chapman 8pm – 9.15pm E13 Lyra Comes to Bath 9.30pm – 10.30pm E14 Aaron Akugbo & John Kitchen
Meet at Kingston Parade BRLSI The Holburne Museum BRLSI Meet at Orange Grove BRLSI The Holburne Museum Meet at No.1 Royal Cres The Holburne Museum Persephone Books Forum Coffee House Secret Location Dorothy House Bookshop Bath Abbey Walcot House Mr B’s Emporium Forum Coffee House Bath Abbey
19 40 11 40 18 40 11 18 42 41 41 8 41 11 12 42 42 12
WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen F1 Writing Workshop: Stephen Moss F2 Irene Duval and Sam Armstrong F3 Tutenkhamun at 100 WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town LVH La Voix Humaine F4 Delusions & Diagnosis F5 John Constable: A Portrait F6 Nick Butter: Running the World WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz F7 British Democracy on Trial F8 Letters to Gwen John F9 The Picador Proof Party F10 History of Cleveland Pools LVH La Voix Humaine F11 Snazzback & Lydian Collective
Meet at No.1 Royal Cres BRLSI The Holburne Museum BRLSI Meet at Kingston Parade Secret Location BRLSI The Holburne Museum Walcot House Meet at Orange Grove BRLSI The Holburne Museum The Francis Hotel Dorothy House Bookshop Secret Location Komedia
18 43 13 43 19 8 43 43 44 18 44 44 44 45 8 13
D10 D11 LVH D12 D13 D14
Penguin Michael Joseph Proof Party 6pm – 7pm Bath to Fleet Street 6.30pm – 7.30pm La Voix Humaine 6pm – 7pm Luke Healy 7pm – 8pm Rugby, Dementia & the Fight of My Life 8pm – 9pm Jess Gillam Ensemble 8pm – 10pm
Venue
WEDNESDAY 18 MAY
THURSDAY 19 MAY
KEY TO EVENTS:
Music
Books
10am – 12pm 10am – 12pm 11am – 12pm 1pm – 2pm 2pm – 4pm 3pm – 4pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 5.30pm – 6.30pm 5.30pm – 7.30pm 6pm – 7pm 6pm – 7pm 6pm – 7pm 6.30pm – 7.30pm 7pm – 8pm 7.30pm
*Ticket price includes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
DI ARY
Event code
31
DI ARY
Event code
Event
Time
Venue
F12 Tade Thompson F13 Concert for the People of Bath F14 The Birth of Pop
7pm – 8pm 7.30pm – 9.30pm 8pm – 9pm
Mr B’s Emporium The Forum Walcot House
45 13 45
WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz G1 Writing Workshop: The Art of Pitching G2 Ryan Corbett G3 A History of Books WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen G4 Joseph Johnson: Daisy Hay G5 English Art: Frances Spalding WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town G6 Understanding Our History G7 Mythical and Modern Greece G8 Natasha Brown G9 Women on Top – The Big Night Out G10 Colin Currie Group & Synergy Vocals G11 Mad Dog Mcrea
10am – 12pm 10am – 12pm 11pm – 12pm 1pm – 2pm 2pm – 4pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm 5.30pm – 7.30pm 6pm – 7pm 6pm – 7pm 7pm – 8pm 7.30pm – 9.15pm 7.30pm – 8.45pm 7.30pm
Meet at Orange Grove BRLSI The Holburne Museum BRLSI Meet at No.1 Royal Cres BRLSI The Holburne Museum Meet at Kingston Parade BRLSI The Holburne Museum Mr B’s Emporium The Forum Bath Abbey Komedia
18 46 14 46 18 46 47 19 47 47 48 48 14 14
WT3 Walking Tour: The Great Spa Town H1 Adam Rutherford & David Olusoga H2 Elizabeth Day H4 Memoirs of a Working Class Reader H5 Jonian Ilias Kadesha H6 Kat Farmer H7 Phil Wang H8 Lizzie Damilola Blackburn & Jendella Benson H9 First Casualty: Toby Harnden WT1 Walking Tour: Bath Blitz H10 Claire Fuller & Sarah Moss H11 Jeremy Denk H12 Bella Mackie H13 Poor Little Sick Girls H14 Raymond Antrobus H15 Belle Nash H16 Torrey Peters WT2 Walking Tour: Bath on Screen Krater Comedy Club H17 Andrea Elliott: Invisible Child H18 Around the World in 10 Books H19 Public Service Broadcasting H20 Consone Quartet
10am – 12pm 10am – 11am 10am – 11am 11am – 12pm 11am – 12pm 12.30pm – 1.30pm 1pm – 2pm 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Meet at Kingston Parade Komedia Walcot House The Forum Ballroom The Holburne Museum Walcot House Komedia The Forum Ballroom
19 49 49 49 15 50 50 50
1.30pm – 2.30pm 2pm – 4pm 2.30pm – 3.30pm 2.30pm – 4.30pm 3pm – 4pm 4pm – 5pm 4pm – 5pm 4.30pm – 5.30pm 5.30pm – 6.30pm 5.30pm – 7.30pm 6.30pm 6.30pm – 7.30pm 6.30pm – 7.30pm 7.30pm 8pm – 10pm
BRLSI Meet at Orange Grove The Holburne Museum St Swithin’s Church Walcot House The Forum Ballroom BRLSI The Holburne Museum Walcot House Meet at No.1 Royal Cres Komedia BRLSI The Holburne Museum The Forum St Swithin’s Church
51 18 51 15 51 52 52 52 53 18 52 53 53 16 16
THURSDAY 19 MAY (CONTINUED)
FRIDAY 20 MAY
SATURDAY 21 MAY
32
KEY TO EVENTS:
Multi-Arts
Family
Page
Music
Books
BOOKS
LIFE EXPERIENCES
MY FAMILY AND OTHER MEMOIRS
This event has been programmed by guest curator Arifa Akbar. Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 3pm – 4pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B9
Sponsored by
CURRENT AFFAIRS
THE IMPACT OF INTERNET INFLUENCERS In the ‘attention economy’, influencers are royalty and everyone from mumfluencers to governments want to build their online influence. But what murky secrets lurk behind the filtered selfies? Channel 4 reporter Symeon Brown (Get Rich or Lie Trying) and digital strategist Olivia Yallop (Break the Internet) talk to Marisa Bate about influencer bootcamps, fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes and whether our digital rat race is costing us too much.
S UN DAY 15 MAY
What are the rigours and rewards of writing about the darker side of family life? How does an author navigate its ethics? Journalist and broadcaster, Christina Patterson (Outside, The Sky is Blue: A Family Memoir), talks to The Guardian critic and Costa Prize shortlisted author, Arifa Akbar (Consumed: A Sister’s Story), about grief, catharsis and pinning life and love on the page. Chaired by writer and broadcaster, Mark Lawson.
Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 3pm – 4pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: B10
FICTION
MONICA ALI IN CONVERSATION WITH DR RACHEL CLARKE The bestselling Brick Lane author, Monica Ali, returns with Love Marriage, a heartbreaking and gripping new novel that tells the story of two junior doctors trying to understand each other. She talks to author and campaigner Dr Rachel Clarke (Breathtaking) to explore the questions the questions of who we are and how we love in today’s Britain with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family.
Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B11 *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
33
BOOKS
PSYCHOLOGY
BUILDING A MEANINGFUL LIFE WITH OLIVER BURKEMAN AND EMMA GANNON
S UN DAY 15 MAY
We live in an era of online distraction, overload and seemingly constant uncertainty. Join writer Oliver Burkeman (Four Thousand Weeks) and writer and podcaster Emma Gannon ((Dis)connected) as they share refreshing and insightful perspectives on productivity, mortality and balance with Daisy Buchanan. Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B13 LIFE EXPERIENCES
GEORGIA PRITCHETT AND ABI MORGAN Two Emmy award-winning writers Georgia Pritchett and Abi Morgan talk to Francesca Beauman about their joyful, tender and brutally honest new memoirs. Succession screenwriter and co-executive producer Georgia Pritchett (My Mess is a Bit of a Life) knows a thing or two about living with and sometimes thriving (sometimes not) with anxiety whilst The Iron Lady and Suffragette screenwriter Abi Morgan (This is not a Pity Memoir) returned home one June morning to find the man she loved lying on the bathroom floor. Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Literature Lounge Price: £9* Event Code: B14
34
CURRENT AFFAIRS
JOHN CRACE IN CONVERSATION WITH ZOE WILLIAMS A Farewell to Calm: The New Normal Survival Guide sees the brilliantly acerbic parliamentary sketch writer John Crace present an infectiously funny selection of his finest recent pieces. Join him in conversation with fellow columnist at The Guardian, Zoe Williams, as they reflect on 18 months of bluster and bedlam, Brexit blithering and Covid confusion. Not to be missed. Date: Sunday 15 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: Assembly Rooms Price: £10* Event Code: B15
CREATING COMPELLING CHARACTERS WITH JASON HEWITT
Ticket includes tea or coffee. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 10am – 12pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £20* Event Code: C1
A limited number of 50% off tickets are available for concessions. ART AND DESIGN
MUSE
Meet the unexpected, overlooked and forgotten models of art history. Far from the prevailing perception as passive, powerless models posing silently, muses have often played influential and active roles in the lives of the artists who immortalised them. Art historian and critic Ruth Millington talks to The Holburne Museum director Chris Stephens about the compelling true stories featuring incredible women who have inspired art history’s masterpieces across the centuries. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: C4
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
is a group of stimulating and illuminating talks delivered by experts in their fields, held at the beautiful BRSLI building as part of the Collection for A Curious Mind series. Come and put your lunchtimes to good use! LUNCHTIME LECTURE
YOUNG BLOOMSBURY Little has been written about the second-generation figures who, in the 1920s, tantalised the original Bloomsburies with their cross-dressing, captivating looks and provocative ideas. Head of Research for the National Trust, Nino Strachey (Young Bloomsbury), descended from a family at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group, shines a light on this extraordinarily colourful cast of talented and complicated characters. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: C3
M ON DAY 16 MAY
Stories cannot exist without the people that inhabit them, and yet creating strong, believable characters can be a challenge. Acclaimed novelist Jason Hewitt (The Dynamite Room) will provide practical steps to help you create complex and fully formed characters that not only bring your story to life but also drive the narrative in fresh and exciting ways. All are welcome.
THE LUNCHTIME LECTURES
BOOKS
WRITING WORKSHOP
Sponsored by
HISTORY
THE BBC AT 100 From the Great War to the culture wars, this global institution has helped define Britain. Professor and historian David Hendy (The BBC: A People’s History) talks to Greg Ingham about his captivating and compelling book that traces the BBC from its maverick beginnings through war, the creation of television, changing public taste, austerity and massive cultural change. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: C5
35 BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
BOOKS
HISTORY
FAKE HISTORY: 10 GREAT LIES AND HOW THEY SHAPED THE WORLD
M ON DAY 16 MAY
From the myths of the Second World War to the self-serving legends of ‘great men’, fake history is everywhere. Journalist and author Otto English tears apart the lies propagated by politicians and think tanks, grand narratives spun by populists and the media as well as the stories on your friends’ Facebook feeds. He talks to Greg Ingham about reclaiming the truth from those who have perverted it. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: C6
ENTERTAINMENT
PERSEPHONE BOOKS COMES TO BATH The founder of publishing company Persephone Books, Nicola Beauman, will give an informal talk looking back at what will soon be 25 years of rediscovering and reprinting 20th-century women writers; she will also explain why, a year ago, the Persephone Bookshop came to Bath. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: Persephone Books Price: £8* Event Code: C8
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FICTION
ALISON MACLEOD ON D.H. LAWRENCE Lady Chatterley’s Lover, once entitled Tenderness, was banned as obscenity on its publication in 1928. Alison MacLeod talks to Richard Owen about her own novel, Tenderness, based around the creation of D.H. Lawrence’s ‘scandalous’ story, from the wet ink of its creation to its trials and surprising aftermath. A Book of the Year for The New York Times and The Spectator. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: C7
MR B’S PRESENTS
JULIA ARMFIELD When a submarine voyage goes wrong, Leah is lost thousands of feet under the ocean for weeks. The woman that emerges is a grotesque shell of her former self. Join us as we chat to Julia Armfield (Our Wives Under the Sea) about her unique, part-horror, part-love debut novel that embeds itself under your skin and refuses to leave. Date: Monday 16 May Time: 7pm – 8pm Venue: Mr B’s Emporium Price: £8* Event Code: C10
Ever wanted to publish your poems in magazines but didn’t know where to start? Or perhaps you’ve published some and are interested in publishing a pamphlet or book of your poems? In this two-hour session, widely published poet Carrie Etter will address how to analyse magazines to find the best fit for your work, writing cover letters, keeping records, and much more.
As smallpox ravaged her empire and threatened her court, Catherine the Great took the momentous decision to summon the Quaker physician, Thomas Dimsdale, from Hertford to St Petersburg to carry out a secret mission that would transform both their lives. Writer Lucy Ward talks to Caroline Sanderson about this extraordinary story of Enlightenment ideals, female leadership and the fight to promote science over superstition.
PUBLISHING YOUR POETRY WITH CARRIE ETTER
Ticket includes tea or coffee.
THE EMPRESS AND THE ENGLISH DOCTOR
Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: D4
Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 10am – 12pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £20* Event Code: D1
TUES DAY 17 MAY
HISTORY
BOOKS
WRITING WORKSHOP
A limited number of 50% off tickets are available for concessions. LUNCHTIME LECTURE
THE JOY OF SCIENCE Today’s world is complex and unpredictable and trying to make the best decisions is far from easy, so join physicist and bestselling author Jim Al-Khalili as he invites us to engage with the world as scientists do, exploring eight key features of the scientific method, such as the role of doubt, the pros and cons of simplification and the importance of evidence-based thinking. Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: D3 Sponsored by
NATURE
ENGLISH GARDEN ECCENTRICS Renowned landscape architect and author Todd Longstaffe-Gowan reveals a fascinating array of obscure and eccentric English garden-makers who, between the 17th and 18th centuries created intensely personal and idiosyncratic gardens incorporating miniature mountains, exotic animals, excavated caves and shaped topiaries. Come and be inspired to add some eccentricity to your own gardens! Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: D5
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
CURRENT AFFAIRS
GEORGE MONBIOT
TUES DAY 17 MAY
Regenesis is a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and humanity. Farming is the world’s greatest cause of environmental destruction – and the one we are least prepared to discuss. Writer and environmental campaigner George Monbiot talks to Max Porter about his inspiring vision of a new future for agriculture and how new discoveries could allow us to grow more food with less farming, transforming our relationship with the living planet. Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 5pm – 6pm Venue: Komedia Price: £12* Event Code: D6
BUTLER TO THE WORLD: BRITAIN’S NATIONAL DECLINE Moneyland author Oliver Bullough’s new book Butler to the World is a sizzling and incendiary story of our national decline. Join him as he reveals the devastating facts behind Britain’s dirty financial secrets, corrupt politics and moral guilt while directly challenging the UK to clean up its act. This event is a must for anyone who cares about our reputation in the world today. Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: D8
LIFE EXPERIENCES
NEW TALENT
Kris Hallenga founded breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel, following her untreatable stage 4 diagnosis at 23. She talks to cancer campaigner and author Emma Campbell, about her first book Glittering a Turd, their shared experiences and how despite dire adversity great things can follow difficult diagnoses.
Penguin Michael Joseph publishes some of the world’s most popular authors. Get ahead of the game at this special event where you’ll meet two of their biggest 2023 debut authors and take home proofs months ahead of publication. Writer and bookseller Francesca Beauman talks to Fran Littlewood and Katie Lumsden about their respective debuts: Amazing Grace Adams and The Secrets of Hartwood Hall.
KRIS HALLENGA: COPPAFEEL
Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: D7
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
PENGUIN MICHAEL JOSEPH PROOF PARTY
Ticket includes a glass of wine or soft drink and a goodie bag of limited edition proofs. Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: The Francis Hotel Price: £15* Event Code: D10
Sponsored by
ICONICON: CONTEMPORARY BRITISH BUILDINGS Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: D9
MR B’S PRESENTS
LUKE HEALY Luke Healy has shared a train with Serbian cheese-smugglers, hiked 2,660 miles from Mexico to Canada, and is conveniently talented at capturing his experiences in comic form. Join us as we chat about Luke’s incredible journeys and his dazzlingly funny and honest work as the graphic artist of new novel The Con Artists and brilliant works like Americana and How to Survive in the North. HISTORY
BATH TO FLEET STREET Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Geoff Ellis talk about his career as a press photographer, showcased in his book, Bath to Fleet Street, with images from his personal archive. A nostalgic look at life through Geoff’s lens with pictures and anecdotes from his time as a young press photographer in Bath in the 1950s, troubled times in Northern Ireland through to Fleet Street power struggles. Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: Dorothy House Bookshop Price: FREE Event Code: D11
Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 7pm – 8pm Venue: Mr B’s Emporium Price: £8* Event Code: D12
TUES DAY 17 MAY
Wimpey homes. Millennium monuments. Wind farms. Spectacular skyscrapers. Self-confessed architecture geek John Grindrod takes us on an enthralling, witty and engaging journey around the Britain we have created since 1980: the horrors and delights, the triumphs and failures.
BOOKS
ART AND DESIGN
SPORT & LIFE EXPERIENCES
RUGBY, DEMENTIA AND THE FIGHT OF MY LIFE Steve Thompson (Unforgettable) is a hero to many for his illustrious career, not least the part he played in England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup victory. Steve, however, remembers nothing of that win due to an early onset dementia diagnosis in his early 40s, largely attributed to the insane physical nature of the sport he owes so much to. He talks to Bath Rugby’s Club President John Hall about his life in rugby and his hopes and fears for the future. Date: Tuesday 17 May Time: 8pm – 9pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: D13 *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
HISTORY
KATHERINE RUNDELL ON JOHN DONNE
WEDNES DAY 18 MAY
In his myriad lives John Donne was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, a priest, an MP – and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. Join celebrated author and scholar Katherine Rundell as she introduces us to Super-Infinite, her sparkling and very modern biography that brings him and his poems to life. Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 10.30am – 11.30am Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: E1
LUNCHTIME LECTURE
LATITUDE
In 1735, 12 men boarded ships bound for South America with the mission to discover the true shape of the Earth. Beset by egos and disease, storms and earthquakes, mutiny and murder, they struggled for ten years to reach the single figure they sought. Award-winning writer, geographer and broadcaster Nicholas Crane presents this epic story of survival and science. Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: E3
FICTION
GREEK MYTHS RETOLD Myths have long held readers fascinated. Jennifer Saint’s Elektra is a lyrical retelling of the three women at the heart of the cursed House of Atreus and Sarvat Hasin’s The Dark Giant reimagines the story of Orpheus & Eurydice, exploring the consuming effects of using a lover as a muse. They talk to Judith Robinson about their fresh takes on ancient tales.
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Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: E4
Sponsored by
BATH SPA ANTHOLOGY READINGS Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: Forum Coffee House Price: FREE Event Code: E8
Sponsored by
ENTERTAINMENT
ENTERTAINMENT
Author and bookseller Francesca Beauman talks about her latest book, The Literary Almanac: A Year of Seasonal Reading. Hear her suggestions about what, and what not to read during the month of May and beyond, and then contribute your own. Because ‘to everything there is a season’ and books are no exception. The perfect way to help solve the dilemma of What To Read Next.
Bath Arts Workshop, Counterculture In The 1970s is a candid and hilarious account of how a rowdy, inventive counterculture exploded upon our 18th-century city. In the words of co-author Jennie Potter-Barrie: ‘It was outrageous to many, hilarious, irreverent, hard work and brilliant fun. Now we look back and ask if we changed anything other than ourselves.’ Come meet the authors, Victoria Forbes Adam and Phil Shepherd and join the conversation!
THE LITERARY ALMANAC
Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: Persephone Books Price: £8* Event Code: E7
WEDNES DAY 18 MAY
A stimulating evening brought to you by the diverse and tenacious 2020 cohort of Bath Spa University’s Creative Writing MA, whose work is gathered together in their self-produced anthology. Enjoy readings from a cross-section of poets, novelists, memoirists and experimental writers and also take the chance to talk to them about their experiences of the Bath Spa Creative Writing MA programme.
BOOKS
FICTION
BEFORE WE GO
Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: Dorothy House Bookshop Price: FREE Event Code: E9
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
MR B’S PRESENTS
SUSAN STOKES-CHAPMAN
WEDNES DAY 18 MAY
HISTORY
IN SEARCH OF MARY SEACOLE This wonderful, illustrated talk sees acclaimed writer Helen Rappaport describe her extraordinary discovery in 2003, of the lost painting of British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. She’ll explore just how modern the painting was for its time, unravel the enigma of the totally unknown artist and detail her journey to shine a light on the real Mary Seacole, largely forgotten following her death in 1881.
Join us in conversation with debut author Susan Stokes-Chapman as she talks about her instant bestseller. The year is 1799, and Dora is living under the thumb of her oppressive uncle, an antiques dealer who has just acquired an ancient Greek vase by questionable methods. Full of mystery, romance and rich with heady atmosphere, Pandora is the kind of book you put everything on hold to read. Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 7pm – 8pm Venue: Mr B’s Emporium Price: £8* Event Code: E12
Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: E6
POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD
LYRA COMES TO BATH Bristol’s exhilarating new poetry festival brings together local, national and international poets with the aim of showcasing poetry in the widest range of forms. Three of Lyra’s poets will delight and intrigue in a special Bath Festival performance: Tom Sastry (selected by Carol Ann Duffy as Laureate’s Choice poet), Rebecca Tantony, author of three collections and Beth Calverley, founder of The Poetry Machine. Hosted by the 42
Lyra Festival directors, Lucy English and Danny Pandolfi. Date: Wednesday 18 May Time: 8pm – 9.15pm Venue: Forum Coffee House Price: FREE Event Code: E13 Sponsored by
NATURE WRITING, AN INTRODUCTION WITH STEPHEN MOSS
Ticket includes tea or coffee. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 10am – 12pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £20* Event Code: F1
The revolutionary 19th-century landscape painter John Constable is one of Britain’s best-loved but perhaps least understood artists. Art and cultural historian James Hamilton (John Constable: A Portrait) reveals a complex, troubled man, explodes previous mythologies and establishes him in his proper context as a giant of European art. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: F5
SCIENCE & HISTORY
A limited number of 50% off tickets are available for concessions. LUNCHTIME LECTURE
TUTANKHAMUN AT 100 Acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson (Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: The Story of Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects) reevaluates the fascinating and fractious life of the young Pharaoh through the objects he was buried with. A wide-ranging exploration of ancient Egyptian culture, its extraordinary development, remarkable flourishing and lasting impact. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: F3
JOHN CONSTABLE: A PORTRAIT
TH URS DAY 19 MAY
How do we translate our experiences of the natural world onto the page? What techniques can we use to do so? And why do we want to do it in the first place? In this practical workshop, aimed at beginners, award-winning author and naturalist Stephen Moss, course leader of the MA Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University, looks at the different ways we can turn experience into prose, via a simple writing exercise which you will then share with the group.
ART & DESIGN
BOOKS
WRITING WORKSHOP
Sponsored by
DELUSIONS AND DIAGNOSIS: FROM MEDIEVAL TIMES TO PRESENT DAY In this special event writer and producer Victoria Shepherd (A History of Delusions) and writer and former consultant neurologist Jules Montague (The Imaginary Patient) explore the implications behind diagnostic labels, the stories of collective anxieties and traumas, the history behind illness and our current modern maladies. They speak to Judith Robinson. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: F4 *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
TH URS DAY 19 MAY
SPORT
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Athlete and adventurer Nick Butter is no ordinary runner having set himself the extraordinary challenge of running a marathon in every country in the world. 196 marathons, 5,130 miles in 674 days. He talks to Bex Band, adventurer and author of Love Her Wild, about their thirst for adventures, testing human endurance and the power of movement.
Our media happily lies to us. Our politicians brazenly break the rules. Public law barrister Sam Fowles (Overruled: Our Vanishing Democracy in 8 Cases) has experience of holding the government to account at the highest level, including taking the Prime Minister to court with the Gina Miller case. He talks to writer and economic commentator Grace Blakeley about how we can and must fight for what’s ours.
NICK BUTTER: RUNNING THE WORLD
Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9 Event Code: F6
BRITISH DEMOCRACY ON TRIAL
Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: F7
NEW TALENT
ART & DESIGN
LETTERS TO GWEN JOHN Acclaimed painter, Celia Paul has felt a lifelong connection to the artist Gwen John. Letters to Gwen John is a unique combination of imagined correspondence and insightful artistic biography, interspersed with original artworks. She talks to The Holburne Museum director Chris Stephens about the extraordinary parallels in their lives and work.
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Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: F8
THE PICADOR PROOF PARTY To celebrate 50 years of Picador Books, join us at this exclusive proof event to hear about some of Picador’s most exciting upcoming releases and take home a goodie bag full of early copies. On the panel will be Booker-shortlisted author Jim Crace, debut novelist Nell Stevens, and acclaimed poet James Conor Patterson. This event will be chaired by Salma Begum from the Picador editorial team. Ticket includes a glass of wine or soft drink and a tote bag of books. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: Francis Hotel Price: £15* Event Code: F9
Sponsored by
BOOKS
HISTORY
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND POOLS
Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: Dorothy House Bookshop Price: FREE Event Code: F10
ENTERTAINMENT
THE BIRTH OF POP Musician and writer Bob Stanley talks to his friend, journalist Pete Paphides about Let’s Do It, his new book that tells the fascinating history of pop before rock and roll. They’ll bring this eclectic and evolving world to life – from ragtime, blues and jazz to Broadway, country and crooning – guaranteed to remind you why you fell in love with pop in the first place. Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 8pm – 9pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: F14
MR B’S PRESENTS
TADE THOMPSON Join pioneering sci-fi writer and Rosewater trilogy author Tade Thompson, as we discuss his triumphant new space opera thriller Far From the Light of Heaven. When colony ship Ragtime arrives from lightyears away, it is discovered that some of its sleeping passengers will never wake. This heart-pounding story of humanity’s interstellar future is told with imagination and immediacy.
TH URS DAY 19 MAY
Bath’s hidden jewel, built in the Georgian period, is a unique open air bathing facility on the river in the city. Join research historian for the Pools, Dr Linda Watts (Swimming Through History) as she explores the Pools’ 200 years of remarkable history and celebrates the fact that these wonderful heritage buildings are finally being restored for the community of Bath and beyond to enjoy.
Date: Thursday 19 May Time: 7pm – 8pm Venue: Mr B’s Emporium Price: £8* Event Code: F12
WALKING TOURS Don’t forget to check out the walking tours daily at 10am, 2pm and 5.30pm. See page 18 for more details.
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
F RIDAY 20 MAY
WRITING WORKSHOP
LUNCHTIME LECTURE
Writing a novel? Have a great idea for a memoir, or nonfiction narrative? How can you give your finished manuscript the best shot at publication with a winning pitch? Join three Blake Friedmann Literary Agency book agents as they take you through which elements of your story have the best pitching potential, how to pitch so your book appeals to publishers and agents, and how to define your USP as the author. A comprehensive and friendly workshop.
Bestselling author (This is Shakespeare) and academic Emma Smith is here to talk about Portable Magic, her illuminating book that reveals the unexpected and unseen consequences of our love affair with books. She’ll explore the rise of the mass-market paperback, dismantle the myth that print began with Gutenberg and propose new definitions of a ‘classic’ book.
THE ART OF PITCHING WITH BLAKE FRIEDMANN
Ticket includes tea or coffee. Date: Friday 20 May Time: 10am – 12pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £20* Event Code: G1
A HISTORY OF BOOKS AND THEIR READERS
Date: Friday 20 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: G3 Sponsored by
A limited number of 50% off tickets are available for concessions.
HISTORY
DINNER WITH JOSEPH JOHNSON Award-winning biographer Daisy Hay has captured an extraordinary portrait of a changing nation, focusing on publisher and bookseller Joseph Johnson whose weekly dinner gatherings in late 18th-century London saw guests including William Wordsworth, Mary Wollstonecraft, Samuel Coleridge and Joseph Priestley join him for brilliant, unpredictable and profound conversation. She talks to Caroline Sanderson about this radical age.
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Date: Friday 20 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8 Event Code: G4
ENGLISH ART BETWEEN TWO WORLD WARS Date: Friday 20 May Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: G5
HISTORY & CURRENT AFFAIRS
UNDERSTANDING OUR HISTORY Thomas Harding’s new book White Debt is both an interrogation into the choices of his ancestors, whom he discovered had made money from plantations, and a quest to learn more about Britain’s role in slavery. Uncommon Wealth is Kojo Koram’s blistering uncovering of the scandal of Britain’s cynical self-interest in the aftermath of decolonisation. They consider the cultural, financial, moral and political legacy we have been left with.
F RIDAY 20 MAY
Leading art critic and biographer, Frances Spalding (The Real and the Romantic) takes a fresh look at this richly diverse period in English art, focusing on artists including Stanley Spencer and Eric Ravilious as well as previously overlooked painters such as Winifred Knights and Evelyn Dunbar and illuminating the intriguing alliances that fed into the creativity of the interwar years.
BOOKS
ART & DESIGN
Date: Friday 20 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: G6
HISTORY & TRAVEL
TRAVELS IN MYTHICAL AND MODERN GREECE Join author and Time Out publisher Peter Fiennes (A Thing of Beauty) as he tells of his journeys on the trail of the Greek myths, exploring the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora and discovering what’s to be found now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled.
Date: Friday 20 May Time: 6pm – 7pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: G7
WALKING TOURS Don’t forget to check out the walking tours daily at 10am, 2pm and 5.30pm. See page 18 for more details. *Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
MR B’S PRESENTS
NATASHA BROWN
F RIDAY 20 MAY
Join Natasha Brown as we discuss her arresting debut novel, Assembly, a taut, elegant and unflinching study of race and privilege in modern Britain. Assembly’s young Black narrator is a high-flying city banker poised to marry into England’s elite – but over the course of a weekend garden party she’s forced to ask, is this version of herself worth the cost?
ENTERTAINMENT
WOMEN ON TOP – THE BIG NIGHT OUT Lockdown life has left us all in need of a big night out. Come and join five furiously funny women for a festival extravaganza packed with confessions, comedy and chaos. Anna Whitehouse (Underbelly) hosts Lucy Beaumont (Drinking Custard), Isy Suttie (Jane is Trying), Jessica Jones (Own It) and Helen Thorn (Get Divorced, Be Happy). Their brilliant books shine a light on the highs and lows of womanhood; from friendships and self-love to infertility, parenting small children and divorce.
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Date: Friday 20 May Time: 7pm – 8pm Venue: Mr B’s Emporium Price: £8* Event Code: G8
Bring your mates and prepare to get involved on the night! There will be an interval at this event and the bar will be open. Date: Friday 20 May Time: 7.30pm – 9.15pm Venue: The Forum Price: £18* Event Code: G9
BOOKS
CURRENT AFFAIRS & SCIENCE
ADAM RUTHERFORD IN CONVERSATION WITH DAVID OLUSOGA
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 10am – 11am Venue: Komedia Price: £12* Event Code: H1
Sponsored by
FUTURE PROGRAMMERS
MEMOIRS OF A WORKING CLASS READER Growing up with a single book meant that writer and publisher Mark Hodkinson (No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy) had to take care of every page. Now, with 3,500 books on his shelf, he reflects on his days when reading wasn’t encouraged, and what led him to create his own burrow of books. Join him and writer Joanna Nadin as they delve deeper into working classes voices and the power of storytelling for all.
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Eugenics is a little understood area of science that has seen attempts by the powerful throughout history to dictate reproduction. Adam Rutherford (Control) is joined by David Olusoga (Black and British) for an enlightening and important overview of the uses and abuses of gene editing as they unpick the scientific, political, moral and cultural strands, considering not only its dark history but its troubling present.
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 11am – 12pm Venue: The Forum Ballroom Price: £8* Event Code: H4 FICTION
ELIZABETH DAY Award-winning journalist, podcaster and broadcaster, Elizabeth Day talks to writer and bookseller Francesca Beauman about her exhilarating novel, Magpie, a tense, twisting, brilliantly written novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 10am – 11am Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: H2
*Ticket *Ticket price price excludes includes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
LIFESTYLE
KAT FARMER
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Kat Farmer is an Instagram style guru, stylist and TV star loved for her funny, self-deprecating style and fashion flair. Join Kat and Bath in Fashion’s Sarah Baker as they talk about Get Changed and enjoy some interactive styling fun where Kat will show you how to look instantly fabulous using a rail of clothes kindly supplied by the independent boutique Boho. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 12.30pm – 1.30pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: H6
ENTERTAINMENT
PHIL WANG ‘But where are you really from?’ – comedian Phil Wang has been asked this question so many times he’s finally written a book about it, Sidesplitter. Born in Stoke-on-Trent, raised in Malaysia, and educated in Bath – ‘a spa town for people who find Cheltenham too ethnic’ – he has an acutely perceptive take on what it means to be from two places at once. In conversation with comedian and podcaster Pierre Novellie this is guaranteed to be a wry, witty and candid reflection on race and belonging. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 1pm – 2pm Venue: Komedia Price: £12* Event Code: H7
Sponsored by
NEW TALENT
JENDELLA BENSON AND LIZZIE DAMILOLA BLACKBURN Hope and Glory and Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? have already received stunning endorsements from writers including Candice Carty-Williams and Marian Keyes. These two immensely talented authors talk to writer Joanna Nadin about their irresistible debut novels that delve into loss, love, friendship and family chaos. 50
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 1.30pm – 2.30pm Venue: The Forum Ballroom Price: £8* Event Code: H8
CLAIRE FULLER AND SARAH MOSS and hope, this is guaranteed to be a conversation full of empathy, insight and intelligence. They talk to Judith Robinson.
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 2.30pm – 3.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: H10
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Join two of our very best contemporary novelists in conversation. Claire Fuller (Unsettled Ground) won the Costa Award in 2021 and award-winning Sarah Moss’s latest novel, The Fell, asks probing questions about the place the world has become since March 2020. Tackling themes ranging from rural poverty, otherness and isolation to resilience, human connection
BOOKS
FICTION
FICTION
BELLA MACKIE Bella Mackie’s deliciously dark and funny debut novel, How to Kill Your Family, was partly inspired by her childhood love of true crime. She talks to Anna Whitehouse about her beguiling anti-hero, serial killer Grace Bernard – and discusses her scorchingly black satire about family dysfunction and the media’s obsession with murder.
HISTORY & CURRENT AFFAIRS
FIRST CASUALTY
The Orwell Prize-winning author and war reporter Toby Harnden has written a gripping account of the six-day battle that began the War in Afghanistan following 9/11. He talks to Greg Ingham about his unprecedented access to the CIA, SBS and US Special Forces and how the haunting foretelling the battle contained – unreliable allies, ethnic rivalries and suicide attacks – was ignored, fuelling the 20-year conflict that was to come. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 1.30pm – 2.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: H9
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 3pm – 4pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: H12
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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BOOKS
FUTURE PROGRAMMERS
POOR LITTLE SICK GIRLS
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Ione Gamble interrogates the fetishisation of female illness, living with disability, fourth-wave feminism and our toxic preoccupation with self-love. Ione’s breathtaking debut memoir offers a confronting and honest account of her experience navigating our culture whilst living with chronic illness. She talks to Marisa Bate. POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD
RAYMOND ANTROBUS Join poetry sensation Raymond Antrobus as he reads from All the Names Given, a deeply evocative collection that explores language, miscommunication, place and memory. A special chance to see the winner of the Ted Hughes award, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbones Folio Prize. This event will be BSL interpreted. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 4pm – 5pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: H14
KRATER COMEDY CLUB (see website for weekly line-up details)
Doors: 6:30pm Show: 8:00pm £10.00 – £17.50 Kick-off your weekend with some proper good laughs and discover the best in live comedy, featuring three top stand-ups and one of the best comperes in the business! 52
Includes FREE entry to The Big Disco or Motorcity afterwards!
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 4pm – 5pm Venue: The Forum Ballroom Price: £8* Event Code: H13
FICTION
BELLE NASH AND THE BATH SOUFFLE Hailed by Matthew Parris as a work of ‘genius, part Dickensian, part modern; incisive, outlandish and hilarious’, Belle Nash and the Bath Soufflé is the first of The Gay Street Chronicles. Author William Keeling, a former Financial Times foreign correspondent, talks to Alasdair McWhirter about his entertaining new series of satirical historical novels set in Bath. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 4.30pm – 5.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: H15
BOOKS
FICTION
TORREY PETERS IN CONVERSATION WITH ELIZABETH DAY
SATURDAY 21 MAY
Groundbreaking US author Torrey Peters burst on to the literary scene last year with her original, provocative and witty debut novel, Detransition Baby, a modern comedy of errors following the lives of three trans and cis women living in New York. She joins Elizabeth Day to talk about her uniquely trans take on love, motherhood and families in the 21st century. Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Venue: Walcot House Price: £9* Event Code: H16
FICTION
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Publisher and writer Scott Pack and lecturer and writer Judith Robinson are back with their literary world tour, by now a firm festival favourite. Join them as they travel the globe, introducing you to international literary gems. Scott and Judith will discuss ten carefully selected books, many of them published in translation, helping you to discover amazing writers and stories from around the world.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Andrea Elliott of The New York Times makes a special festival appearance to talk to Marion Milne about Invisible Child: the riveting, unforgettable story of a girl, Dasani, whose indomitable spirit is tested by homelessness, poverty, and racism in an unequal America. Selected as an Obama Favourite Book of the Year 2021,
AROUND THE WORLD IN 10 BOOKS
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: The Holburne Museum Price: £9* Event Code: H18
INVISIBLE CHILD: POVERTY, SURVIVAL AND HOPE IN AN AMERICAN CITY
Date: Saturday 21 May Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: BRLSI Price: £8* Event Code: H17
*Ticket price excludes booking fee
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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THE BATH F ES TIVA L 2022
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND STAFF LIST BOARD OF TRUSTEES John Cullum DL Chair Suresh Ariaratnam, Denise Coughlan, Peter Medlock, Christopher Rogers, Alistair Singleton, Vicki Smith and Richard Turner Chief Executive Ian Stockley PROGRAMMING AND PRODUCTION Programme Director Kate Hall Literature Programmer Kate Abbey Music Programmer Sarah Dennehy Classical Music Programmer James Waters Guest Literature Curator Arifa Akbar Assistant Literature Programmer Sarah Baker Production Manager Elysia Collins Festival Officer Victoria Walters Volunteer Coordinator Fran Carroll CREATIVE LEARNING Head of Creative Learning Hazel Plowman MARKETING Head of Marketing and Comms Jasmine Barker Digital Marketing Officer Sophie Mayhew PR and Communications Officer Georgette McCready National PR Agency Cornershop PR DEVELOPMENT Development Manager Louisa Oldfield Development Assistant Vivien Simpson FINANCE Finance Officer Rebecca Wheeler
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THANK YOU Our patrons are playing a vital role in helping us develop our work with young people. We want to say a huge thank you to everyone below for their support. Paragon Patrons: Chris and Monique Bamford Lord Charles Brooke The Coles-Medlock Foundation Panda Sanctuaries James and Annette Drummond David and Karin Embleton The Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust Trevor Osborne Circus Patrons: John and Yvonne Cullum Andrew Fletcher Elaine Marson The Mayden Foundation Ian Tarr Crescent Patrons: Lucy Aspin Maurice Avent Anthony Avison and Fenella Barnard Rupert and Carol Baines Fiona Bell Chris and Alison Born Henry and Jane Brown Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios Martin and Dani Jeffries-Clarke Deborah Clements Ian and Morny Davison Gitte and Stephen Dawson Fenella Dyson Kenneth and Christine Fullalove
Lady Elizabeth Gass DCVO Charles Grimsdale Eric Grove Richard and Yasemin Hall William and Wera Hobhouse Paul and Claire Jackson Howard and Lyn Jacobs Conrad Jones Sandra Le Marchant Mark and Lucy Millar Bel Mooney and Robin Allison-Smith Rod and Karin Morgan Nigel and Stephanie Pollard Bob and Diana Potter Chris and Denise Rogers Chris and Jan Shepley Colin and Theresa Skellett Chris and Sue Kinchin-Smith Marcelle Speller Ian Stockley William and Wendy Jane Stockley Ian and Christa Taylor Richard and Maggie Turner Brian Woodford Lucy Woodroffe Nicholas Wylde Our anonymous Patrons Life Patrons: Lady Evelyn Strasburger Julie Peacock June Price Pam Twohig
PODCAST PARTNERS Niklas Aarre Nigel Fryatt
FESTIVAL BOOKSELLER Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights
WEBSITE AND DESIGN Brand and Festival Design So design. so-design.co.uk Website Touchpoint Design
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Visit thebathfestival.org.uk/ photo-credits for a full photo credit list Registered Charity No.801617
2022 is an another exciting year for the Creative Learning Programme, join us at The Bath Festival to enjoy: • The Schools Voices choir performing at Party in the City and at the Concert for the People of Bath (p13). This project brings young people from 11 Bath secondary schools together to work with Bath Philharmonia to write and perform their own songs. • Family Arts Activities at the Festival Hub on 14-15 May.
Our other brilliant projects happening in 2022: • Young Producers enables young people to work with arts professionals to curate and create their own event. • Routes through Music delivers music making activity for young people in Youth Hubs across B&NES as well as growing a network of music organisations to support young people facing challenges to develop and progress their music making skills.
CREATIV E L EA RNING
Our year-round Creative Learning Programme provides unique creative opportunities and life-enhancing experiences for children and young people. Our projects and events provide access to the arts, develop skills and confidence and introduce creative careers. Each year we reach 7000 children and young people with our events and projects and in 2020 and 2021, 300k children enjoyed our online Reading is Magic Festival.
• Bath Reads celebrates reading for pleasure through author visits for local primary schools and books for school libraries. News on our Children’s Literature Schools Programme coming in June – email education@bathfestivals.org.uk for more information. We would like to thank Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Baillie Gifford, Bath Recreation, Coles Medlock Foundation, Curo & Travis Perkins Community Pot and The Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust for their support.
Sponsored by
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BOOKING thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
BATH F ES TIVA L S
OUR HISTORY At Bath Festivals we are proud of our history. The Bath Festival is one of the UK’s longest running and top festivals in the country. Since 1948 the Bath Festival, later re-branded as Bath International Music Festival, has been bringing internationally acclaimed musicians to Bath, and introducing audiences to the rising stars of the music industry. In 1995 the first Bath Literature Festival was held and in 2017 the two became one as The Bath Festival, embracing both music and books. In 2010 the Bath Children’s Literature Festival joined the festival family and has been bringing the best of the wonderful world of children’s books to Bath. During 2020 and 2021 we managed to produce two online festivals, one hybrid festival and one in person festival including the brand new award-winning Reading is Magic Festival. Our inspirational creative learning and outreach programme runs year-round alongside the festivals.
17-26 MAY 2019
HELP US HELP OTHERS We are a charity that connects people through the power of the arts. By supporting us you can help us continue to: • Promote and celebrate the positive impact that music, books, and performance have on people’s lives. • Create innovative and diverse festival programmes for residents and visitors to B&NES. • Develop life-enhancing experiences for children and young people to grow their inner confidence and self esteem.
There are many different ways you can help us: become a patron, member, sponsor, volunteer or make a donation at visit bathfestivals.org.uk/support-us 56
In person at Bath Box Office 1A Forum Buildings, BA1 1UG By telephone on 01225 463362 Online at thebathfestival.org.uk Email: info@bathboxoffice.org.uk Box Office opening hours Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm Closed weekends and bank holidays
GETTING HERE Bath is easy to get to via train, bus, coach and bike! Park and Ride is recommended for those wishing to drive in. For more information visit: thebathfestival.org.uk/your-visit
Travel to Bath Spa by train. Book at GWR.com
INFO
HOW TO BOOK
TICKET INFORMATION 10% concessions discount are available for: • Full-time students • Universal Credit Receivers • Under 26s • Income Support Receivers • Deaf & disabled people • Job Seekers Allowance Receivers • Pension Credit Receivers ACCESSIBILITY Bath Festivals is keen to promote equality of opportunities for disabled people and to take the necessary steps to meet their requirements. Please see our map (P58) for facilities and more information please visit thebathfestival.org.uk/ your-visit/accessibility, email access@bathfestivals.org.uk or call Bath Box Office on 01225 463362.
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY Support us with membership and enjoy the benefits of being part of the festival community: • Priority booking for both The Bath Festival and Bath Children’s Literature Festival and other one-off events throughout the year. • Discounts off festival tickets (subject to membership level). • Quarterly e-newsletters with all the latest festival community news including our creative learning projects.
JOIN US FROM JUST £25 a year at bathfestivals.org.uk/support-us
Presenter and author Sara Cox with two festival volunteers
BOOKING thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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VENUE L IS T
MAP & VENUE INFORMATION 1. ASSEMBLY ROOMS Bennett Street, BA1 2QH
8. LITERATURE LOUNGE Alfred Street, BA1 2QX
2. BATH ABBEY BA1 1LT
9. MR B’S EMPORIUM John Street, BA1 2JL
3. BATH ROYAL LITERARY & SCIENCE INSTITUTION Queen Square, BA1 2HN
10. PERSEPHONE BOOKS Elgar Buildings, BA1 2EE
(Please let us know in advance if you need 11. QUEEN SQUARE to use the accessible entrance) BA1 2HX 4. THE FORUM AND FORUM COFFEE HOUSE St James Parade, BA1 1UG
5. FRANCIS HOTEL Queen Square, BA1 2HH
6. HOLBURNE MUSEUM Great Pulteney Street, BA2 4DB
7. KOMEDIA Westgate Street, BA1 1EP
12. ROMAN BATHS Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LZ
13. ST SWITHIN’S CHURCH The Paragon, BA1 5LY
14. WALCOT HOUSE Walcot Street, BA1 5BG
Wheelchair accessible Accessible toilets Hearing loop Assistance dog accessible
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Baby changing facilities
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MAP
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4 *Ticket price excludes booking fee © Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
BOOK TICKETS thebathfestival.org.uk 01225 463362
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