Buxton Festival 2011 - Literature

BUXTON FESTIVAL LITERATURE 9—27 July 2011 www.buxtonfestival.co.uk Tickets: 0845 12 72190 Full brochure: 01298 70395

’a happy marriage of music, opera and books’ The Observer

Dame Ellen MacArthur speaking on 9 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre

MIRANDA SEYMOUR Being a Biographer 11 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6 The discoveries, decisions and dilemmas of biography writing

VIRGINIA NICHOLSON

9 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10

14 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10

Ellen’s inspiring story of triumph over adversity

An appreciation of the culture, religion and former glory of the lost cities

Ancient Worlds

CHRISTOPHER ANDREW & KEITH JEFFREY 12 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10

ROBIN HANBURY-TENISON ROBERT SACKVILLE-WEST BETSY TOBIN The Great Explorers Aristocracy: The Story of 12 July, 5pm (3pm talk sold out) Lee Wood Hotel, £6 A vivid and intimate portrait of the house at Knole and its ancestors

MICHAEL BROADBENT

ANTONY PENROSE

The Boy who bit Picasso – The story behind the bite 15 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6 A charming memoir and introduction to the spirit of Picasso

Crimson China, a gripping tale of illegal migrants in Britain 14 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6 A novel that illuminates a tragic, hidden world that runs in parallel to our own

PATRICK FRENCH

in converstaion with

KATHERINE FRANK

Why is India changing so fast?

18 July, 5pm (3pm talk sold out) Lee Wood Hotel, £6

SALLEY VICKERS

A richly stimulating enquiry into modern India, raising many new questions

16 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10

SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

On novel-writing and her recent collection of off-beat stories about love

Discoveries and debate on the unpublished records of MI5 and MI6

On the ambition, courage and spirit of enquiry of the world’s greatest explorers

On creating fiction from life and the modern bubble of celebrity and stardom

Aphrodite’s Hat and other stories

The Secret Histories of MI5 & MI6

Knole and the Sackvilles

20 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6

Celebrating a generation of women whose deeds are quickly passing into history

RICHARD MILES

10 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10

Lucky Break

13 July, 3pm (sold out) Lee Wood Hotel, £6

DAME ELLEN MACARTHUR Full Circle

ESTHER FREUD

Millions like Us – Women’s Lives in War and Peace 1939-49

WILL HUTTON

Them and Us: Politics, Greed and Inequality 17 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10 A powerful and brilliantly argued call for a fair society

Tasting Notes

JANE BROWN

The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown

Jerusalem

21 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10

19 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10

A lively portrait of the life of the famous landscape architect

Jerusalem – an epic account of this universal city’s 3,000 years of history

ALEXANDRA HARRIS

KATHERINE SWIFT

Romantic Moderns

The Morville Year

21 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6

19 July, 5pm (3pm talk sold out) Lee Wood Hotel, £6

A fascinating re-evaluation of the arts in Britain between the wars

A journey through the surprises and seasonal pleasures of a beloved garden

10 July, 2.15pm Palace Hotel, £6 Michael’s wine-tasting diaries inspired the opera The Lovely Ladies

FROM SCORE TO STAGE chaired by

RUPERT CHRISTIANSEN 11 July, 10.30am Palace Hotel, £10 Buxton Festival opera directors discuss how they bring a score to life

ORWELL PRIZE DEBATE Politics and the English Language 13 July, 10.30am Palace Hotel, £10 A lively debate – Is politics corrupted by a corrupted language?

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD

In Search of a Masterpiece 15 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10 Christopher shares the excitement of encountering a masterpiece

MELVYN BRAGG

The Book of Books

COLIN THUBRON

To a Mountain in Tibet 18 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10 Discussing a profoundly personal journey trekking from Nepal to Mount Kailas

GENERAL LORD DANNATT

22 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10

20 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10

Revealing the Bible’s political, linguistic and religious influences over the centuries

Leading from the Front

The ‘Soldiers’ General’ reflects on his military service

MARTIN GAYFORD

Man with a Blue Scarf: Sitting for a portrait by Lucian Freud 22 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6 The critic produces his own portrait of the notoriously private artist

DAVID GILMOUR

The Pursuit of Italy 23 July, 10.30am Pavilion Arts Centre, £10 Italy 150 Years On: Was Unification a Mistake?

MATTHEW PARRIS in converstaion with

ANDREW BRYSON Parting Shots

25 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10 Wit and venom from the world of diplomacy

RICHARD TAMES

England’s Forgotten Past

DOWAGER DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE in converstaion with

ALAN TITCHMARSH Wait for Me!

27 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10 Revelling in the family stories and friendships of a long and colourful life

25 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6 A rich feast of amusing anecdote about our island’s history

A.C. GRAYLING The Good Book

26 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10 Discussing his thoughtful, secular alternative to the world’s religions

ROY HATTERSLEY

Lloyd George: The Great Outsider 24 July, 10.30am Opera House, £10 Why was Lloyd George’s fall from power in 1920 so sudden and final?

KATHERINE FRANK The Crusoe Myth

26 July, 3pm Lee Wood Hotel, £6

MATTHEW RICE

The Lost City of Stoke on Trent 27 July, 1pm (3pm talk sold out) Lee Wood Hotel, £6 A fanfare for one of the great cities of the world’s first industrial revolution

Exploring the intertwined lives of two real men: Daniel Defoe and Robert Knox

See the full programme of opera, music and literature at www.buxtonfestival.co.uk or call 01298 70395 for a brochure Tickets: 0845 12 72190 or www.buxtonfestival.co.uk

Series Sponsor

Supported by: Bookstore Brierlow Bar Best Western Lee Wood Hotel