SUNDAY 10 MARCH
THIS LIFE
1913
HISTORY
FICTION
JON RONSON: LOST AT SEA
POETRY AND FASCISM WITH LUCY HUGHESHALLETT
THE PHANTOM ARMY OF ALAMEIN
GEORGINA HARDING AND MICHÈLE ROBERTS
6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £9 (£8) J14 Jon Ronson has been on patrol with America’s real-life superheroes and to a UFO convention in the Nevada desert with Robbie Williams. He’s interviewed a robot and asked her if she has a soul. He’s fascinated by madness, strange behaviour and the human mind, and has spent his life meeting extraordinary people. Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining, these compelling stories of the chaos that lies on the fringe of our daily lives will have you wondering just what we’re capable of. Supported by Picador Sponsored by
6.15 – 7.15pm Guildhall £7.50 (£6.50) J15 In September 1919 Gabriele D’Annunzio, successful poet and occasional politician, declared himself Commandante of the city of Fiume in modern day Croatia. His intention - to establish a utopia based on his protofascist and artistic ideals. It was the dramatic pinnacle to an outrageous career. Lucy HughesHallett charts the controversial life of a debauched artist who became a national hero: a figure as deplorable as he is fascinating. Supported by Jonathan Cape
6.15 – 7.15pm Masonic Hall £8 (£7) J16 In 1940 a group of artists, sculptors, film makers, theatre designers and set painters came together to form the Camouflage Unit. Led by Major Geoffrey Barkas and including the internationally renowned magician Jasper Maskelyne, the unit’s projects became a crucial battlefield weapon, most famously at El Alamein where they made 600 tanks seem to disappear and reappear fifty miles away. Rick Stroud (The Phantom Army of Alamein) tells the amazing story of how the stage effects of some of Britain’s most creative men played a vital role in winning the war.
6.15 – 7.15pm Holburne Museum £7.50 (£6.50) J17 Two great novelists describe the effects of war. Georgina Harding’s A Painter of Silence was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2012 and is an intimate and devastating portrait of Romania during and after the Second World War. Ignorance is a mesmerising exploration of guilt, faith, desire and judgment set in war-time France from Booker-shortlisted author Michèle Roberts. Both writers have a consummate understanding of how to be lyrical and shocking at the same time. Supported by Bloomsbury
Supported by Bloomsbury
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