Cheltenham Literature Festival Main Programme Brochure 2017

6–15 October 2017 Box Office 01242 850270 cheltenhamfestivals.com @cheltlitfest #cheltlitfest

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS Title Partners

Principal Partners

Major Partners

Official Festival Hotel

Strategic Partner

CONTENTS Page 4–5 Festival Village: Site & Venue Map Page 8–11 Free Activities on site and …around town 2

Page 12–27 Behind the Programme Page 28–103 Festival Programme: Day-by-day Event Guide Page 110–113 Index

Back Cover Booking Information & Directions

Go to cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature to create your Wish List for quicker, easier booking

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WELCOME

A very warm welcome to The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2017 – what an exceptional ten days of diverse events lie within the pages of this programme!

It is thanks to our inspirational speakers, valued sponsors and dedicated team behind the scenes that the Festival comes to vibrant life. By sharing ideas, provoking debate, opening young and old eyes to new worlds, the Festival is one of the gems of the UK’s cultural scene in one of our most beautiful towns. Thank you for coming and enjoy every moment.

Caroline Hutton Chair, The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Behind The 2017 Festival Programme The Festival Village

NEW!

The Daffodil

NEW!

Lit Crawl

We have transformed Montpellier Gardens into a lively festival village with food, drink, live performances and free family activities to keep you entertained from breakfast until late – more on pages 4/5

Fabulous themed events and fine dining in a sumptuous 1920s style venue – more on pages 16/17

Turning a bar crawl into a fastpaced night of free literary delights – more on page 11

Leaders In Their Field

Lit Crawl supported by bottlegreen and Cheltenham BID

Who Do We Think We Are?

The most exciting and brightest minds bring you the latest thinking from the UK and beyond – more on pages 18/19

Festival Club @ Hotel du Vin

New Perspectives

After hours comedy, spoken word and music to round off your Festival day – more on page 11

We’re asking key questions about British identity in our 2017 Festival Theme and celebrate Britain’s rich literary and cultural heritage – more on pages 12/13

Off The Page Keeping true to our aim of supporting fresh voices and providing a vibrant Festival experience – more on pages 14/15

Meet our Guest Curators: Will Gompertz, Nikesh Shukla, Robin Niblett, Jess Phillips & Sarah Moss – more on pages 27, 43 , 53, 85 & 95

Education Projects We welcome more than 7,000 students on site and many more take part in our year-round education projects – more on pages 22/23

Free Family Fun

NEW!

NEW!

Have a magical time in our new, free family hubs on site, The Den and The Woodland Trust Wild Wood – more on pages 8/9

Young Adults View our family brochure for amazing events and follow our Young Adult badge throughout the programme – from page 28

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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Festival Village

Box Office 01242 850270

(Baillie Gifford Stage, Pillar Room and Waterstones Bookshop) Imperial Square, Cheltenham GL50 1QA A six minute walk from Montpellier Gardens and home to some of our exciting Festival events.

Take part in the Baillie Gifford competition here for your chance to win a luxury break to Edinburgh!

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre Parabola Road, Cheltenham GL50 3AA

A short ten minute walk from Montpellier Gardens, this off-site venue is home to many of our events.

MONTP ELLIER WALK

The Town Hall

Picnic Area & Street Food

The Hive

The Woodland Trust Wild Wood

The Nook

Waterstones Children’s Festival Bookshop The Inkpot

The Famous Five story trail

Beyond Words The Den

Main Entrance

The Times & TLS

Box Office

Stree Food

Hotel du Vin

Parabola Road, Cheltenham GL50 3AH A ten minute walk from Montpellier Gardens, head over to Hotel du Vin for glamorous daytime events and free late-night Festival fun.

Waterstones Children’s Festival Bookshop Join us in our Children’s Festival Bookshop to meet the visiting authors and have your books signed, browse the bookshelves and join in with story times and a host of other fun activities.

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The Times, The Sunday Times & TLS Pick up your FREE daily copy of The Times, The Sunday Times and special Festival edition of The Times Literary Supplement.

The Bookstand

A cosy outdoor lounge, featuring book swaps and pop-up events.

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Montpellier Gardens becomes home to the Festival Village, a hub of lively literary activities for all ages.

MONTPEL LIER SPA R OA

D

The Huddle

The place to grab a cuppa and continue those thoughtprovoking discussions or enjoy free pop-up performances and brain teasers. More on page 10.

NEW FOR 2017 – FREE FUN FOR FAMILIES

Hospitality Lounge

The Times Forum Feast Café Waterstones Bookshop The Huddle

The Woodland Trust Wild Wood Daily Spend some quality family time in the Festival’s lively Woodland Trust Wild Wood and start our new The Famous Five story trail here!

The Den 7–8 Oct and 14–15 Oct 10.30am–5pm The Bookstand

Street Food Bonne Maman

et d

Brimming with drop-in activities for families every weekend during the Festival.

More on page 8.

Picnic Area

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre

The Gardens Gallery

MONTPELLIER TERRACE Bonne Maman

Try Bonne Maman’s Madeleines, crafted from natural ingredients to a generations-old French recipe.

Waterstones Bookshop Pop along to meet your favourite authors and celebrities and lose yourself among the shelves.

Our * Plusbooking transaction fees fee: are charged chargedper perorder, order,not notper perticket. ticket.£2.50 £2.50for foronline onlineand andtelephone telephonebookings, bookings, £1.50 £1.50for forininperson personbookings bookingswith withcredit/debit credit/debitcards. cards.No Nofee feefor forcash cashbookings. bookings.

Food & Drink

Relax and refuel with snacks and drinks in the Feast Café or grab some treats from our street food traders. More on page 6.

The Daffodil

18–20 Suffolk Parade, Cheltenham GL50 2AE A five minute walk from Montpellier Gardens lies one of the Festival’s hidden treasures – meet your favourite Festival guests with drink in hand and delicious food on your plate. More on page 16.

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Food & Drink Take time out from your busy Festival day to relax and refuel in between events or sit down for a meal to finish the day in style. Grab a snack in our Feast Café, quench your thirst at one of the Festival bars, or tantalise your taste buds at one of our many new street food traders.

FEAST CAFÉ At the heart of the Festival Village, drop in and enjoy a scrumptious selection of sandwiches, wraps, BBQ food, pastries, cakes and more…

A great place for your morning coffee and croissant with the newspaper, a light lunch or afternoon tea with a friend. Continue the discussions from our events and enjoy free pop-up performances in The Huddle.

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STREET FOOD Take your pick of cuisine from around the world brought to you by a wide range of food traders – open until late across the Festival Village.

Soak up the Festival atmosphere and relax underneath our brand new picnic canopy, no matter what the weather.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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Fun For All The Family Two NEW spaces for families buzzing with activities and pop-up events – perfect for a FREE family day out!

Daily, 10.30am–5pm

NEW!

The Woodland Trust Wild Wood Build dens, dress up, start The Famous Five story trail (supported

by Dean Close School), go on a teddy bear’s picnic, listen to storytellers, meet favourite book characters and more – enjoy the picnic area too, all completely free! For a full schedule of activities visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature

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7–8 Oct and 14–15 Oct, 10.30am–5pm

NEW!

The Den Dive into The Den, brimming with drop-in activities every weekend.

Help Lucy Cousins create a big bird mural, make a wishing fish, join a panto-workshop, draw some surprising animals and loads more free family fun.

Daily, opposite The Den

Beyond Words: Once Upon A Place Come along to a free exhibition of poetry and photography from students participating in Beyond Words, a Cheltenham Festivals outreach programme. Students are from Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service and the University of Gloucestershire.

Daily, 11am–3pm

Where’s Wally? Trail Wow! Wally-Watchers! Follow our Where’s Wally? trail around town and search out scenes created by local schools. Pick up your trail sheet from Waterstones on The Promenade or any of the participating venues – see cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature for details.

Where’s Wally? © 1987 – 2017 Martin Handford, published by Walker Books Ltd. “Where’s Wally?”™ © Classic Media Distribution * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings,Limited. All rights reserved.’ £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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Free Activities In The Festival Village On top of our packed programme of events, there’s plenty more to discover on site – and for FREE!

The Huddle Throughout the Festival, join us in The Huddle in our Feast Café for fun pop-up events, brain teasers and to listen to locally sourced live music and readings.

9–13 Oct, 11am–12pm

The Times Crossword Get your thinking cap on as you make your way through the most tantalising crossword puzzle with the help of The Times Crossword Editor Richard Rogan.

9–13 Oct, 11.30am–12.30pm and 2.30–3.30pm

A Very Short Introduction To… Grab a coffee and settle in to hear about the most fascinating topics at our daily instalment of brainy, soapbox style talks with top authors and specialists. In association with Oxford University Press.

Also visit...

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Gardens Gallery

The Bookstand

Head over to the Gardens Gallery to discover their Literature Festival inspired art.

Come and put your feet up in our cosy outdoor lounge at the heart of the Festival Village: Swap some books, read the morning paper or enjoy pop-up performances throughout the Festival.

NEW!

cheltenhamfestivals.com Lit Crawl supported by

Lit Crawl Returns...

Saturday 7 October 5pm–late

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For one night only we take over the streets of Cheltenham for a fast-paced evening of pop-up events and quirky literary happenings. This is literature done differently.

Join us and get drunk on words. All completely FREE. Look out for our …around town flyer and check cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature for our Lit Crawl schedule and participating venues.

Lit Crawl also supported by Cheltenham BID

Festival Club @ Hotel du Vin

NEW!

Fri 6–Sun 8 & Fri 13–Sat 14, 10pm–1am

When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at the Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late night literary revelry. You never know who you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with...

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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Who Do We Think We Are? What does being British mean in 2017?

This year sees Cheltenham host a national conversation about ourselves.

What makes us, well... us?

We shine a light on a nation confronting a new reality and ask, are we really divided as never before, or do 65 million people still have plenty in common?

Bringing the brightest and best thinkers to our stages we ask how we can solve the problems that divide us, debate the opportunities that lie ahead, and ponder Britain’s place on the world stage post Brexit and in the Trump era.

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In a celebratory mood, we reflect on the enduring role of Britain as a cultural superpower and ask which novels, plays, films and poems have been the most influential both here and across the globe. We give voice to our diverse communities, celebrate our rich cast of eccentrics and national treasures, and as ever host an extraordinary cast of writers, young, old, established, new, starry and surprising.

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Some of the greatest chroniclers of Britishness in its many guises including Edward St Aubyn, Alan Hollinghurst and Sarah Waters and many others join us to discuss their fiction. Razor sharp poetic insights are provided by Jackie Kay, Lemn Sissay and Luke Wright amongst other stars of the UK’s extraordinary poetry and spoken word scene.

From Gainsborough to Grime, our five Guest Curators (of whom more later) have done a fantastic job putting together a crop of events that delve into subjects as diverse as Britain’s role as a cultural superpower, the Europe we are leaving, and the story of British art in all its exuberant variety.

NEW FOR 2017 – CHELTENHAM LECTURES Five influential and thoughtprovoking cultural figures reflect on aspects of this year’s theme in a series of specially-commissioned talks. Paul Johnson signals the urgent economic choices our society needs to make, Peter Hennessy explains how we are governed, Harriet Walter reflects on a Shakespeare for our times, June Sarpong calls for us to embrace the true nature of diversity and Marcus Brigstocke defends the much-derided liberal metropolitan elite.

Britain is an extraordinarily diverse country and this year we celebrate the fantastic contribution of British Muslims to our culture with a series of events including food and music in The Daffodil and a powerful polemic from young Muslim women.

History fans will enjoy our interrogation of key moments in British history, including the Reformation, the turmoil of the Stuart century and the founding of the RAF. We also look at the Union Jack and how identity is forged by flags.

In this year of unprecedented political turmoil there is plenty for our outspoken and opinionated cast of journalists and politicians to ponder – much of it Brexit-related.

Come and add your voice to the discussion at events such as The Times Debate: A Good Brexit for All?, 260 Days of Trump, and What Should Remainers Do Now?

In a lighter vein, we celebrate British fashion, give you the opportunity to “dine at Claridge’s”, laugh with some of our funniest comedians and our most astute observers about our quirks and foibles, or revel in those muchloved icons of British life, BBC Radio 4’s The Archers and Just a Minute…

So – who do we really think we are?

Join us to find out in October.

Nicola Tuxworth Head of Programming, The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Follow our Theme badge through the Festival programme – from page 28!

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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Off The Page Moving and entertaining, provocative and vibrant, join us for the very best of poetry and spoken word, interactive quiz nights, live podcasts and performances galore. Grab a drink and jump in…

Moving and entertaining, provocative and vibrant, join us for the very best of poetry and spoken word, interactive quiz nights, live podcasts and performances galore. Grab a drink and jump in…

Pushing the boundaries of spoken word and poetry, join the OutSpoken and Burning Eye collectives featuring poets Anthony Anaxagorou, Sabrina Mahfouz and Kate Fox; or light up the night with individual performances by leading names of the scene including Luke Wright, Hollie McNish, Rob Auton, Vanessa Kisuule and Inua Ellams.

The American storytelling sensation The Moth are here to wow with their remarkable evening of true life tales; join the live podcast experience with No Such Thing As A Fish and Science(ish); get quizzing with brain teasers at our Hogwhats, QI and Pundemonium nights; and delve into classic literature with leading experts at the Paradise Lost Study Day. If you want music, don’t miss the gigs from the genre-hopping Tongue Fu Band, travel writer and musician Malachy Tallack, Joanne Harris’ #Storytime Band and Inua Ellam’s specially-curated club night.

And for a night of truly off-the-page experiences, be sure to join our FREE Lit Crawl on Saturday 7 October. Find out more on page 11…

Lit Crawl supported by bottlegreen and Cheltenham BID 14

8–10.30pm Monday 9 October

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Hogwhats Quiz Night Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* Over 18 only So you think you know Harry Potter?

For one night only muggles are invited to enter the wizarding world! Hogwhats is more than a quiz. It’s a night of wizardly cavorting. It’s fancy dress, potions, quidditch, getting told off by Hogwarts teachers, unfogging your future, exchanging owl post, meeting other potterheads and sneaking hugs from Hagrid. Points and prizes will be available for the cleverest costumes, best team names, and of course for the best Potter knowledge. Come alone or with a team (6 people max per team).

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8.30–11.30pm Friday 13 October

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Inua Ellams’ Club Night Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* Start your weekend right with Inua Ellams’ Rhythm and Poetry Party – a nostalgic, no-clutter, no-fuss, straight-up evening of hip-hop-inspired poems and favourite hip-hop songs, featuring live performances by Caleb Femi, Arielle John, Paul Cree, Malaika Kegode, Anna Freedman, Craft-D, Pete The Temp and Theresa Lola. Expect your head to nod and your heart to move.

Doors from 8pm. The bar will be open throughout the event.

6–8.15pm L221 Saturday 14 October

9–11pm L293 Saturday 14 October

The Moth

Tongue Fu

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10*

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10*

Recalling sultry summer evenings in the Deep South, when moths fluttered to lit porches as friends gathered to spin spellbinding yarns, this is a live experience like no other. From modest origins in New York, The Moth is now an international phenomenon dedicated to celebrating the power of unscripted, first-person storytelling. From ordinary folk to celebrities and cultural giants, the stage is open to anyone with flair for the telling of tales. Join us for one special night of true live stories.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings,£1.50 for bookings in person with bookings credit/debit with credit/debit cards. No fee cards. for No cash feebookings. for cash bookings.

Fresh from the stages of Glastonbury, The Roundhouse and a five-star run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Tongue Fu makes its Cheltenham debut. One of the UK’s leading spoken word shows, it brings together the sharpest poets, storytellers, rappers and comedians to perform with improvised soundtracks from the genre-hopping Tongue Fu Band: a riotous experiment in live literature, music and improvisation. Featuring special guests Soweto Kinch, Jan Blake and Maxwell Golden.

“It’s poetry, but not as you know it... amazing” The Guardian

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Delicious Dining Experiences At The Daffodil

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This hidden gem, tucked inside an Art Deco former cinema, is situated in the heart of Cheltenham and is the new venue for our most delectable Festival strand. Here you will find Hollywoodesque props, a sweeping staircase and a programme of scintillating events and conversations with bestselling authors, top chefs, big thinkers and even British royalty.

Join us on culinary adventures around the globe: explore the tastes of Japan with Scott Hallsworth, take a round-trip of Pakistan with Sumayya Usmani, enjoy Spanish tapas with José Pizarro and travel to Nigeria with Hibiscus author Lopè Ariyo.

Have lunch with the likes of Kirstie Allsopp, Miles Jupp and Henry Blofeld, come for afternoon tea with HRH Princess Michael of Kent or have dinner with Thomasina Miers.

Victoria Moore will bring her unfailing wine guide, and you can find out which cocktail joints to seek out in our travel guide for drinks with Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley.

In our new Brexit Breakfast series you will stay on top of current affairs and find out more about the winners and the losers of Brexit, what Europe wants and whether it’s a boomtime for business.

And don’t miss the fun that is Robert Crampton’s legendary quiz night – a returning Festival favourite!

Whether you are a foodie, philosopher, political expert or experience seeker – there’s something for everyone at The Daffodil this October!

The Daffodil (5 minute walk from the Festival Village) 18–20 Suffolk Parade, Cheltenham, GL50and 2AEtelephone bookings, * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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A FEAST OF FICTION This year is a perfect example. So, readers coming to Cheltenham over its 10 days will be able to see double Booker-winner Salman Rushdie talk about his urgent new novel, The Golden House. They can catch fellow Booker winner Roddy Doyle, looking back 30 years to his signature debut, The Commitments, and talking about his new novel, Smile.

They can hear Man Booker shortlistee Edward St Aubyn discuss his contemporary re-imagining of King Lear. And they can catch the great historical thriller writer Robert Harris in conversation with Mary Beard about this autumn’s Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of his highly acclaimed Cicero trilogy.

The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival offers the fiction lover an unrivalled opportunity to explore. One of the festival’s great strengths is the way it showcases new and emerging writers alongside some of the world’s greats.

But there are other, quieter treats – in the daily “Fiction at 7” slots, for instance, which introduce readers to vibrant voices they may not have heard before; and Cheltenham’s unique “proof parties”, which allow festival goers to meet and be the first to hear about new writers for NEXT year that some of Britain’s best publishers are particularly excited about. Highly recommended.

My own favourites this year? Three in particular stand out. Alan Hollinghurst is one of the great British writers of recent decades, and I shall be fascinated to hear about his brand new novel The Sparsholt Affair. Adam Thorpe, who burst onto the literary stage in 1995 with his debut Ulverton, will be talking about his outstanding new book, Missing Fay, which The Sunday Times called “a tour-deforce of depth and nuance”. And I can’t wait to see Sarah Waters, whose every novel wins or is shortlisted for a fistful of prizes, and who is coming to Cheltenham this year to receive The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. Her interview with The Sunday Times chief fiction reviewer Peter Kemp is my highlight of the whole festival.

Andrew Holgate Literary Editor, The Sunday Times

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THE BEST OF HISTORY, CULTURE AND CURRENT AFFAIRS We can look forward to a particularly good-humoured Festival this year. Matt Lucas of Little Britain fame, Robert “Peep Show” Webb and Sarah Millican will be talking about their lives and career.

Nicholas Parsons will be in town to play Just A Minute. The superb Times cartoonist, Peter Brookes, will demonstrate his talents and show how with a swish of his pencil he can reduce public figures to a laughing stock.

There is also intellectual heft. Will Gompertz, the BBC Arts Editor, will bring to life the history of British art, from Turner to Banksy.

Richard Rogers, who designed the Pompidou Centre and the Lloyd’s building, will talk about his life in architecture.

Britain in 2017 feels like a land inhabited solely by fractious, furious trolls. It doesn’t have to be like this. Vote Chexit – for the ten days of the Cheltenham Literature Festival we can leave behind all the shouting and overheated rhetoric for sweetness and light and intelligent conversation.

Simon Schama will introduce the second part of his trilogy about the story of the Jews. The past and future of the army will be explored by Richard Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff, and Tracy Borman will delve into the private lives of the Tudors.

The biographer Jenny Uglow will be talking nonsense. Her latest book is on Edward Lear, the man who gave us Jabberwocky and The Owl and the Pussycat. Robert Macfarlane will be talking “polly dish-washers” and “tommy noddies”: our disappearing words for describing the flora and fauna of these islands.

And have you ever wondered what surgeons think about as they slice away at the human brain? Ask Henry Marsh, the witty and candid recipient of this year’s Times prize, The William Howard Russell Prize for excellence in non-fiction writing.

Of course, there is politics too. The panjandrum Chris Patten has plenty to say about public life. Watch Times leader writers discuss what the next morning’s editorial should say. Nicky Morgan, Craig Oliver and Tim Shipman will debate what remainers should do next. Jess Phillips, the outspoken young Labour MP, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the MP for the 18th century, will discuss friendship across the political divide with our own Hugo Rifkind. See, politics doesn’t have to be bad tempered.

Robbie Millen Literary Editor, The Times 19

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Love a good read?

Be well informed every day.

Our diverse team of journalists provide in-depth news and insight with balanced views to keep you well informed.

Read the stories that matter in The Times and The Sunday Times.

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Every October in Cheltenham there is a mini-invasion of journalists from The Times and The Sunday Times. Both newspapers are proud to be sponsors of Cheltenham Literature Festival and our writers enjoy the chance to take part in ten days of debate and discussion.

President Trump’s first year in office will be dissected by an expert panel comprising, Sarah Baxter, Adam Boulton and the BBC’s Jon Sopel, fresh from Washington. Sharing his experience of a life beyond politics will be Tristram Hunt, new Director of the V&A and a former Labour MP.

For 2017, as we grapple with the fallout from Brexit and a snap election, our journalists explore the central questions at the heart of national debate through a new series of “Brexit Breakfasts” alongside our annual Times debate and Leaders Live sessions.

Our literary editors Andrew Holgate and Robbie Millen have curated a cultural feast including Sarah Waters and guest speakers for our “Must Read” and Crime Club strands. The TLS will host its own series featuring Robert Harris and Mary Beard on Cicero, Sarah Moss on gender, Rowan Williams on tragedy, John Carey on Paradise Lost, Jenny Uglow on Lear and Michael Rosen on Zola to name but a few.

John Witherow, Editor of The Times, will take part in a wide-ranging one-on-one interview, bringing to bear his experience as a national newspaper editor for more than two decades. Philip Collins, David Aaronovitch and Peter Brookes provide their customary wry look at political life, as does Robert Crampton with his now legendary quiz night.

Further Times events include Anna Murphy on autumn style, Henry Marsh on non-fiction, crosswords masterclasses and a chance to meet the Sunday Times travel team.

It’s a programme not to be missed – see detailed listings for all our events in the brochure.

We look forward to welcoming you to The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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Beyond the Festival:

Year-Round Education Programmes

The children were still buzzing with excitement when we got back to school and lots of them have decided that they would like to become authors.

Teacher

Children and young people are the heartbeat of the Literature Festival. Over the ten Festival days, more than 7,000 pupils will find ideas and inspiration from meeting writers and illustrators including Tanya Landman, Michael Rosen, Piers Torday and Alexis Deacon.

Throughout the rest of the year, Cheltenham Festivals reaches out to even more students through a host of education programmes, impacting students, teachers and parents alike.

Find out more about our education projects at cheltenhamfestivals.com/education/take-part 22

Reading Teachers Beyond = Reading Pupils Words It’s vital that initiatives such as Beyond Words continue to support those who are unable to attend school. There is a world of rich and highly original imagination that needs to be nurtured and championed so without a space for that to happen, we jettison a considerably large element of British literature’s potential.

Reaching out to young people unable to attend school due to severe mental or physical illness; empowering students to find their voice through a writer-in-residence programme. See the exhibition of their work on site at the Festival.

Anthony Anaxagorou, award-winning poet and short-story writer

Beyond Words is a fantastic scheme which really works: feedback shows that these intensive sessions boost the confidence of the participants as they’re given access to literature teaching that they might not otherwise have. They’re empowered by their words and their words gain power and readers.

What’s not to love?

Once Upon A Place

Creating spaces for primary teachers to share and discuss children’s books; developing their knowledge, confidence and inspiration to build a reading community in their schools.

An Anthology by the Cheltenham Festivals’ Beyond Words Group at Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service

A l e x O ’ C o n n e l l , a r t s e d i t o r, T h e T i m e s a n d c h i l d r e n ’s b o o k c r i t i c

I am a huge supporter of any project which helps young people find their voice, gives them confidence and helps them feel good about themselves. Beyond Words is such an opportunity. The students should all feel incredibly proud of their work.

K a t i e P i p e r, p r e s e n t e r a n d c h a r i t y c a m p a i g n e r

ISBN 978-0-9954749-1-8

Published by Cheltenham Festivals www.cheltenhamfestivals.com Cover illustration by Luke Instone-Hall Designed by Emma Evans

It’s changed my class. It’s changed me as a teacher. It is so refreshing, and is inspiring us all to read more.

Teacher

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Edited and introduced

by Miranda Walker 2017

It’s helped me to break through this barrier of anxiety and depression.

I feel like I’m finally Louis again.

Participant

PLEASE MAKE A DONATION WHEN YOU BOOK This project is launched by Amnesty International UK and The Poetry Hour in a private event in partnership with Cheltenham Festivals.

An exciting new three-year project, Words That Burn will support teachers and secondary students to explore human rights and express themselves through poetry. Young people will discover that their voice matters and their words can make a difference.

Cheltenham Festivals relies on donations, ticket sales, sponsorship and gifts in wills to deliver four world class festivals and a year-round education programme which seeks to inform, educate and inspire.

Donations help us to: – Provide a vibrant schools and family programme – Work with young people all year to increase their reading and writing ability and ambition – Programme unique events – Give opportunities to emerging talent

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The David Vaisey Prize 2017

2017 sees the inaugural award of this special £5000 prize for a Gloucestershire library that has increased reading of books for all ages through an outstanding initiative, and recognises the essential contribution of volunteers.

A distinguished panel of judges chaired by the broadcaster and journalist Anne Robinson has judged submissions from 20 libraries, with a shortlist of four announced on 1 August. The trustees and supporters hope that the Prize will become an established part of the literary landscape, marking and celebrating the vital role of libraries in public life.

The Literature Festival promotes reading through a year-round programme of community and outreach projects, and is delighted to be supporting this prize. We are proud to announce that the award will be made at this year’s Festival on Sunday 8 October by Alan Bennett.

David Vaisey was born in 1935 and is the son of a Gloucestershire gardener who won scholarships to Rendcomb College and Exeter College, Oxford and dedicated his professional life to libraries, becoming the Bodley’s Librarian in 1986.

Libraries are for all ages, it is how my reading began and how my friend David Vaisey’s did too.

Alan Bennett

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cheltenhamfestivals.com

XX XX OCTOBER Join us on 6–15 October to celebrate stories, creativity and imagination with a host of amazing children’s authors and illustrators, big stars of Young Adult literature and familiar names from the realms of culture and entertainment.

Featuring Lauren Child The Famous Five at 75 Jim Field Miranda Hart Ali-A Frank Cottrell-Boyce Nadiya Hussain Robin Stevens The Harry Potter Show Michael Morpurgo Gemma Cairney Harry Hill Lizzy Stewart Michael Grant Adrian Edmondson Lucy Cousins King Flashypants Matt Haig Lucy Worsley and many more...

To see the full line-up and book tickets for the Family programme, visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/ literature or view our family brochure. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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XX XX OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

An Evening With Nobel Prize-Winning Author Orhan Pamuk

7–9pm LPS01 Tuesday 19 September

An Evening With Orhan Pamuk Pittville Pump Room £10* Hailed by The New York Times as ‘one of the essential and enduring writers that both East and West can gratefully claim as their own’, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Orhan Pamuk makes his first ever Cheltenham appearance in this special Festival preview evening.

Join us at the stunning Pittville Pump Room for a night with one of the world’s literary greats as he launches his new novel, The Red Haired Woman in conversation with broadcaster Mark Lawson plus followed by programme picks and insights from the Festival Team and Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate.

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*Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings,£1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

XX XX OCTOBER WILL GOMPERTZ GUEST CURATOR

cheltenhamfestivals.com

“ To be able to bring all three together in my role as Guest Curator at the Literature Festival is an honour and a delight. As it is to have the opportunity to explore Britain’s rich history and culture with some of our leading artists and critics.”

Will Gompertz, BBC Arts Editor, was a director at the Tate Gallery for seven years. He has interviewed some of the finest modern artists and curators – including Damien Hirst, Ai Weiwei, Yoko Ono, David Hockney and Tracey Emin.

11.15am–12.15pm Friday 6 October

L001

The PreRaphaelites Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage For full information see page 29.

6.15–7.15pm Friday 6 October

L016

Banksy And The Street Art Revolution The Inkpot For full information see page 32.

4.15–5.15pm L042 Saturday 7 October

Hockney At 80 The Sunday Times Garden Theatre For full information see page 38.

6–7pm L048 Saturday 7 October

Tracey Emin And The YBAs Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre For full information see page 39.

I love art.

I love books.

I love Cheltenham. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

5.45–6.45pm Monday 9 October

L118

Martin Parr: Britain Through A Lens The Inkpot For full information see page 58.

F or the full ten-part series of The Story Of British Art, follow our Art badge through the Festival programme.

27

FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY DAYPLANNER PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

L003

L007

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room Cheltenham Before The Spa

L010

The Ghost: A Cultural History

L017

Life In The Grey Zone

L024

Transgender Politics Today

Out-Spoken

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L001

The Pre-Raphaelites

L005

Peter Hennessy: Britian’s Prime Ministers

L009

L014

Victoria Derbyshire

L21

Blood And Words: The Poetry Of War

Tom Kerridge

Hotel du Vin L026

Festival Club (10pm–1am)

The Hive L018

Luke Wright: The Toll

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L004

L008

Alexander McCall Smith

Loneliness: Time To Talk

L011

L015

Robert Macfarlane And Jackie Morris

L022

Fifty Things That Made The Modern Economy

Four Mums In A Boat

The Times Forum L002

History In Schools: Time For Change?

L006

LB02

Andrew Marr

L019

Miranda Hart’s Magical Adventure

L301

The Europe We Are Leaving

Andy Hamilton

The Nook L012

L020

Two Roads Proof Party

Fiction At 7: Searching For Lost Love

The Inkpot LS02

Young Writers Showcase

28

L013

True Crime Tales: Emma Flint And Denise Mina

L016

Banksy And The Street Art Revolution

L023

Randall Munroe

FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

11.15am–12.15pm

L001

The Story Of British Art

The PreRaphaelites

11.30am–12.30pm L002

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

History In Schools: Time For Change?

In 1848, seven inexperienced young artists became one of the first and most distinctive group movements in modern art. Elizabeth Prettejohn explores how, a century and a half later, their art still has the power to shock and fascinate.

The first in the ten-part ‘The Story of British Art’ series co-curated with BBC Arts Editor, Will Gompertz. He provides an introduction and gives a preview of what’s to come over the next ten days.

History

The Times Forum £10* Can we gain from a different way of looking back at our past? What are the repercussions of “colonial amnesia” on the curriculum, and would a more shared story help us understand each other? To discuss how we prioritise what is taught we’re joined by acclaimed historian David Olusoga (Black and British), Martin Spafford who campaigns for a more diverse approach to history in schools, and the poet and BAME historian Louisa Adjoa Parker. Chaired

by Libby Purves.

12–1pm

L003

Locally Sourced

Cheltenham Before The Spa Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* What was Cheltenham like before the discovery of the waters that transformed it into an affluent spa? As research proceeds on a comprehensive history of the town John Chandler reveals a fascinating tale of the enchanting history of Cheltenham.

12–1pm

L004

Fiction

Alexander McCall Smith The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* Caroline Sanderson joins the bestselling author as he discusses his new novels published this Autumn including The House of Unexpected Sisters, A Time of Love and Tartan and A Distant View of Everything. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

29

FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER 1.15–2.15pm

L005

The Cheltenham Lectures

Peter Hennessy On Britain’s Prime Ministers Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* How are we governed? What are the networks of influence and patronage that surround the highest office in the land? With his customary wit and razorsharp insights, our foremost constitutional historian, Peter Hennessy examines the nature and function of the job and how various incumbents in No 10 have brought their own style to the premiership and the structures of government.

1.45–3.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270 LS02

3.15–4.15pm

L009

Locally Sourced

Psychology

Young Writers Showcase

Victoria Derbyshire

The Inkpot £2*

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

Award-winning performance poet and writer Anthony Anaxagorou chairs this celebratory event which showcases talent unlocked through Cheltenham Festivals’ year-round outreach programme. Anthony will share the stage with students from Cheltenham Festivals First Story schools: All Saints’ Academy, Gloucester Academy and Severn Vale School; and the Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service. Be inspired by the students as they perform highlights of their professionally-published anthologies.

In 2015, the much-loved and respected BBC journalist received a devastating breast cancer diagnosis. With honesty and openness she shares her experiences with Libby Purves as documented in the heartwarming and moving Dear Cancer, Love Victoria.

2–3pm

L007

Classic Literature

The Ghost: A Cultural History Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* From our haunted villages to the spectral presence in much of our classic literature, art, folklore and film, ghosts are woven into the fabric of British life. Susan Owens explores their power to fascinate, terrify and inspire.

2–3pm

1.30–2.30pm

L006

Art & Design

Andrew Marr The Times Forum £10* Drawing on his experience of learning to paint again following his stroke in 2013, Marr tackles the subjects of inspiration, creativity, politics, beauty and form.

How does an artist make good work?

What constitutes ‘good’ art? Chaired by Tim Hubbard.

30

L008

4–5pm

L010

Psychology

Science & Technology

Loneliness: Time To Talk

Life In The Grey Zone

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

On our crowded island and in our hyperconnected society, why do over nine million adults in the UK describe themselves as being ‘always’ or ‘often’ lonely? Marisa Bate unpicks the problem and discusses remedies for these feelings of isolation with Labour MP Rachel Reeves, who helped to launch the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness earlier this year, and Gail Honeyman who tackles themes of isolation in her bestselling debut novel Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

Alex Clark talks to the renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen who has dedicated his career to working with patients in the ‘grey zone’ between full consciousness and brain death.

Often the victims of severe brain trauma or degenerative disease, they are the remarkable 20% who – often dismissed as vegetative – are in fact fully intact minds adrift deep within damaged bodies. Together with academic Jim Byatt, whose work looks at the liminal narratives used by authors such as JG Ballard and Iain Banks, they discuss this fascinating shadowy realm of the borderlands between life and death.

FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 4–5pm

L011

Nature

5–6pm

LB02

Family

5.45–6.45pm

L015

Current Affairs

Robert Macfarlane Miranda Hart’s Fifty Things And Jackie Morris Magical Adventure That Made The Modern Economy The Sunday Times Garden Theatre The Times Forum £9*

£20*

Dandelion, Otter, Bramble, Acorn... The Lost Words is a magical celebration of nature words and the world they invoke. The awardwinning author Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris talk to Tim Hubbard about the disappearance of words representing the natural world from our children’s vocabulary; can we re-wild our language, and is the idea of a wild childhood disappearing?

4–5.30pm

Ticket includes a signed copy of The Girl With The Lost Smile. Ages 9+ and the whole family.

Join award-winning actress and Queen of Comedy Miranda Hart as she introduces young readers to her debut children’s book The Girl With The Lost Smile. Chloe has a big imagination and an even bigger heart… until the day she loses her smile and embarks on an extraordinary adventure to find it.

L012

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* From the diesel engine and the iPhone to IKEA’s Billy bookcase, join The Undercover Economist Tim Harford for a whistle-stop tour of the inventions, ideas and innovations that have helped to shape the world we live in today.

Long-term investment partners

Fiction

Two Roads Proof Party

5.15–6.15pm

The Nook £15*

Blood And Words: The Poetry Of War

The Bookseller’s Associate Editor Caroline Sanderson presents three distinctive authors for 2018 from Two Roads – a new imprint of John Murray Press. The Sealwoman’s Gift, set in 17th century Iceland, is the debut novel from Sally Magnusson, bestselling author of Where Memories Go. Twitter superstar Aaron Gillies’ The Anxiety Survival Guide is a funny, reassuring and helpful book for when your brain is your worst enemy, and Sarah Haywood introduces the prickly heroine of her sparkling debut The Cactus.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

Ticket includes refreshments and a goody bag of limited edition proofs.

4.15–5.15pm

L014

Poetry

L013

Fiction

True Crime Tales: Emma Flint And Denise Mina

Following the incredible success of 2014’s love poetry event with Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory, Allie Esiri returns with a powerful new show of poems taken from A Poem For Every Day of the Year. Joined by Harry Enfield and Alison Steadman, with live drawing by Charlie Mackesy, Esiri takes us on a journey through the poetry of war: from Shakespeare on the eve of Agincourt to Tennyson on The Charge of the Light Brigade, Wilfred Owen in the trenches to Simon Armitage’s contemporary take on conflict.

The Inkpot £8* Haunting, intoxicating and heart-poundingly suspenseful, we take a look at two of this year’s most gripping true crime novels. Emma Flint (Little Deaths) and Denise Mina (The Long Drop) talk to Barry Forshaw about their compelling new thrillers and consider why the truth is often the most complicated fiction of all.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER 6.15–7.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L016

The Story Of British Art

Banksy And The Street Art Revolution The Inkpot £10* ‘When I first met this scruffy guy back in 1997 I would never have guessed that 20 years on he would be the most famous artist of his generation.’ Banksy’s former manager and urban art dealer Steve Lazarides with curator and author of Lonely Planet: Street Art Ed Bartlett and Bristol 24/7 Culture Editor Steve Wright (Banksy’s Bristol) talk to BBC Arts Editor, Will Gompertz about the stillanonymous Bristol boy whose blend of art and activism has reached all the corners of the globe.

6.30–7.30pm

L017

Psychology

Transgender Politics Today Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* ‘It’s a boy!’ or ‘It’s a girl!’ are usually the first words we hear when we enter the world.

Before we have names, personalities or have even opened our eyes, we’re placed firmly into one of two categories–whether we feel we fit them or not. Two leading voices in transgender issues, Juno Dawson (The Gender Games) and CN Lester (Trans Like Me) discuss how to strive for authenticity in a world preoccupied with labels. In conversation with Elizabeth Peel.

7–8pm

L018

Festival Lates

The Hive £8* After the Fringe First-winning success of What I Learned From Johnny Bevan, Luke Wright returns to perform from his new collection, The Toll. Spend an hour with a raconteur at the top of his game, as he spits out visceral, inventive verse that sweats, bleeds and sings. “ Visceral, poignant, and riotously funny.”

The Scotsman “ Cool poems.”

Patti Smith

The Nook £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine.

Polly Clark (Larchfield) and Annalena McAfee (Hame) have written stunning novels set on the west coast of Scotland where their modern-day protagonists are seeking a fresh start. These beautiful stories are set between the past and present day; Clark’s features poet W.H. Auden recovering in Helensburgh after suffering a broken engagement, and McAfee’s is the fictional cantankerous and elusive poet Grigor McWatt. Chaired by Alex Clark.

7.15–8.15pm 7–8pm

L020

Fiction

Fiction At 7: Searching For Lost Love

Luke Wright: The Toll

L019

Current Affairs

The Europe We Are Leaving The Times Forum £10* Does Spain want a different Brexit from Poland? What about France and Germany?

As the Brexit negotiations continue our Guest Director Robin Niblett of Chatham House brings together an expert panel to cast a knowledgeable eye over the European political scene. Who are the key players and personalities in the 27?

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7–8.15pm

L021

Lifestyle

Tom Kerridge Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Thanks to his Dopamine Diet, the Michelinstarred chef and presenter has shed eleven stone in three years. He talks to Tim Hubbard about how this new approach is easy and guaranteed to make you feel happier.

FRIDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

7.45–8.45pm

L022

Travel & Adventure

Four Mums In A Boat The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* Four Mums in a Boat is the incredible true story of four ordinary working mums from Yorkshire who took on an extraordinary challenge: rowing across the North Sea and breaking a world record in the process. Helen Butters and Frances Davies tell the story of how they, along with Janette Benaddi and Niki Doeg, had the audacity to go on a wild, terrifying and beautiful adventure, not to escape life, but for life not to escape them. Chaired by Libby Purves.

8.30–11pm

L024

Festival Lates

Out-Spoken Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* From the acclaimed Out-Spoken events – known as one of London’s leading literary nights–came Out-Spoken Press, a publisher of fearless, wild and exuberant poetry that’s not afraid to shake things up. Join their incredible poets Anthony Anaxagorou, Sabrina Mahfouz, Ray Antrobus, Hibaq Osman, Bridget Minamore, Fran Lock and host Joelle Taylor for an evening of knock-out performances that will change how you see poetry and spoken word.

8.45–9.45pm

L301

Fiction

Andy Hamilton The Times Forum £10* 8.15–9.15pm

L023

Science & Technology

Randall Munroe The Inkpot £8*

10pm–1am

L026

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at the Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late night literary revelry. You never know who you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with...

The comedian (QI, Have I Got News For You), screenwriter and director presents his debut novel The Star Witness; a hilarious and brilliant story of one self-regarding man’s descent into disgrace and his journey back again.

Creator of the globally adored web comic xkcd and former roboticist at NASA, Randall Munroe (Thing Explainer) talks to Lliana Bird about his brilliantly simple explanations and diagrams to describe mind-bogglingly complicated inventions.

Long-term investment partners

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room LB13

LB16

Realms Of Fantasy Fiction

LB17

The Awesome World Of YA

Gemma Cairney And Laura Dockrill

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L027

L031

Jeremy Vine

L037

Katie Piper

L043

Salman Rushdie

L050

To Be ‘Other’ Brittain Today

L057

June Sarpong

The Election Generals

The Daffodil L033

L044

Scott Hallsworth’s Japan

L054

From Bacchus To Brexit

An Evening Under The Tamarind Tree

Hotel du Vin L263

L039

Ultimate Autumn Style With Anna Murphy

L060

Celebrate With...Roddy Doyle

Festival Club (10pm–1am)

The Hive L046

L053

Life Death And The End Game

Andrew O’Hagan

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L030

L036

Roddy Doyle

Paula Hawkins

L042

Hockney At 80

L049

Award For Literary Excellence

L056

Mike Brearley And Matthew Syed

The Times Forum L032

L028 China: The Year Of Living Dangerously

L045

260 Days Of Trump

L038

Nadiya’s British Food Adventure

L051

Jim Chapman

Tom Daley

The Nook L034

Writing Place With Anthony Anaxagorou

L040

L052

Helen Mort

Fiction At 7: An Alternative Reality

The Inkpot L029

Things I Would Tell You

L035

Tristram Hunt

L041

Another Day In The Death Of America

L047

Jon Sopel

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre LB11

Michael Grant: GONE

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L048

Tracey Emin And The YBAs

L094

Robert Webb

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 10.30–11.30am

L027

11.45am–1.15pm

L263

Stage & Screen

Lifestyle

Jeremy Vine

Ultimate Autumn Style With Anna Murphy

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Over the last 15 years, the BBC Radio 2 presenter has learnt a thing or two about the wisdom of his listeners. Often hilarious, he shares anecdotes from What I Learnt and explains why we should listen to what they have to say.

Hotel du Vin £25

Ticket includes two glasses of fizz and nibbles.

Join Anna Murphy, Fashion Director at The Times and Prue White, ​Style Editor on the Saturday Magazine, as they talk through how to make the key new-season trends work in the real world, and share with you their favourite ever-after styling tips.

12–1pm

LB11

Michael Grant: GONE Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Join Michael Grant as he presents his latest novel Monster, set four years after the end of the gripping GONE series. Meet a whole host of new characters and reconnect with some familiar faces–dystopian fiction at its best.

12.15–1.15pm

L030

Fiction

10.30–11.30am

Roddy Doyle

L028

Current Affairs

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

China: The Year Of Living Dangerously

30 years since The Commitments was published, the renowned Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle introduces Smile: a razor-sharp, haunting novel about the uncertainty of memory and how we contend with the past. In conversation with broadcaster Mark Lawson.

The Times Forum £10* Autumn 2017 sees the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Bejing with the next generation of the ruling cadre presented to the world. Taking place every 5 years this minutely-choreographed gathering is keenly anticipated by Chinawatchers across the globe. HSBC’s economic adviser Stephen King (Grave New World) Kerry Brown of the Lau China Institute and Dr Chun-Yi Lee of Nottingham University examine Chinese domestic pressures, including growing debt, a renewed centralisation of power, pollution and widening income disparities.

12–1pm

L029

Lifestyle

Things I Would Tell You The Inkpot £8* Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write brings together literary heavyweights and emerging spoken word artists who challenge the narrow image of the ‘Muslim Woman’. These stories transcend time and place revealing just how varied the search for belonging can be. Two of the authors Asma Elbadawi and Nafeesa Hamid discuss the collection with editor Sabrina Mahfouz.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER 12.30–1.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270 1.30–3pm

L031

Psychology

Poetry

Katie Piper

Writing Place With Anthony Anaxagorou

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* In 2008, presenter and campaigner Katie Piper suffered a horrific attack that left her facially disfigured. Since then she has worked with thousands of survivors to help them through their own experiences. In Confidence: The Secret she shares her advice on how we can all become braver and more confident.

In conversation with The Pool’s Marisa Bate.

L034

The Nook £15*

1.30–3pm

L033

Calling all budding poets and performers!

Join poet Anthony Anaxagorou for an inspiring session where he’ll help you hone powerful imagery and create poignant poetry that captures the fleeting moments of everyday life and experience.

Lifestyle

Scott Hallsworth’s Japan The Daffodil £30*

Ticket includes two course lunch and a glass of wine.

12.30–1.30pm

L032

Current Affairs

260 Days Of Trump The Times Forum £10* On 9 November 2016 we woke to the news that a billionaire and former reality TV star would soon be the most powerful man in the world. As Donald Trump’s presidency approaches its 1st anniversary our panel of experienced Americawatchers reflects on an extraordinary year in Washington and tries to predict what President Trump might do next.

The Sunday Times columnist Adam Boulton, Deputy Editor Sarah Baxter and BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel (If Only They Didn’t Speak English) join The Cook Report’s Amy Walter.

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As former Head Chef of the legendary Nobu, Scott Hallsworth is renowned for his wild and inventive style and his passion for pushing gastronomic boundaries at Kurobuta, his restaurants inspired by the culture of the Japanese ‘izakaya’ drinking dens. Junk Food Japan features flavour-filled Japanese classics with a twist and showcases Kurobuta’s ‘insanely delicious delicacies’ (Jay Rayner). Relax over a two-course lunch featuring recipes taken from the book as Scott discusses his career and inspirations with food writer Julia Leonard.

2–3pm

L035

Art & Design

The Sunday Times Culture Interview: Tristram Hunt The Inkpot £10* The historian, former politician and writer Tristram Hunt is the new Director of the V&A. One of our best-loved and most idiosyncratic museums, its extraordinary collection is devoted to design, innovation and craftsmanship.

He joins The Sunday Times columnist Bryan Appleyard to discuss the pleasures and challenges of his role.

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 2–3pm

LB13

Realms Of Fantasy Fiction Pillar Room £6* Phenomenal fantasy writers, Alice Broadway (Ink), Philip Reeve (Railhead), Melinda Salisbury (The Scarecrow Queen) and chair Philip Womack (The Darkening Path) discuss their outstanding fantasy novels, weaving wondrous new worlds, strange yet familiar, with scenes, images and ideas that are brilliantly inventive. Find out how they do it.

2.15–3.15pm

L036

Fiction

Paula Hawkins The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* The author of the no. 1 bestseller and global phenomenon The Girl on the Train talks to The Bookseller’s Sarah Shaffi about her exciting new novel, Into the Water, a twisty and chilling thriller with a ghostly edge.

2.30–3.30pm

L037

Fiction

Salman Rushdie Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* The Golden House is the acclaimed novelist’s compelling new work, set in Manhattan and spinning the story of the American zeitgeist over the last eight years. He discusses identity, terror and alternative truths with the journalist Alex Clark.

2.30–3.30pm

L045

Lifestyle

Nadiya’s British Food Adventure The Times Forum £10* Nadiya Hussain, 2015’s Great British Bake Off winner travelled the country in search of food heroes, growers and producers who are changing the face of modern British food. She discusses how they have inspired her latest recipes with Tim Hubbard.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

3.30–4.45pm

L039

Fiction

Celebrate With...

Roddy Doyle Hotel du Vin £25*

Ticket includes 2 glasses of fizz and nibbles.

Roddy Doyle burst onto the scene with his crackerjack debut The Commitments, a brilliantly funny tale of an unlikely bunch of amateur musicians and their mission to bring soul music to Dublin. The first volume of what became The Barrytown Trilogy, the book spawned a smash-hit film, classic soundtrack and, eventually, a West End show. We raise a glass to toast the 30th anniversary of this original and iconic novel, as Roddy reflects on his writing.

37

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER 4–5pm

L040

Poetry

Helen Mort: Mother Tongue The Nook £9*

LB16

The Awesome World Of YA Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Ticket includes a cupcake.

Award-winning poet Helen Mort joins us to discuss her work on the Radio 4’s new globe-trotting poetry series, Mother Tongue, in which she travels to all corners of the world exploring the rich variety in different forms of poetry in translation.

4–5pm

4–5pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L041

YA fans assemble! Join four Young Adult authors, Anna Day (The Fandom), Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison (Freshers) and Gemma Fowler (Moondust), an editor and a publicist for an interactive conversation about the unique world of YA publishing. There will be buckets of bookish chat: how they write, finding a publisher, why they love social media and loads more.

Current Affairs

Another Day In The Death Of America The Inkpot £9* On Saturday, 23rd November 2013 in the USA, ten children and teens were killed by gunfire.

Gary Younge searched for their families and tells their individual stories in conversation with journalist Hannah MacInnes.

4.15–5.15pm

L042

The Story Of British Art

Hockney At 80: From Yorkshire To California The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* From bright blue pools in LA to rolling Yorkshire landscapes, we take a look back at the extraordinary career of David Hockney in his 80th year. In this beautifully illustrated event, Tate Head of Displays and curator of this year’s record-breaking Hockney exhibition, Chris Stephens and filmmaker Bruno Wollheim, who had unprecedented access to Hockney for the documentary A Bigger Picture, join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz to cast an expert eye over the life and work of one of Britain’s leading creative icons.

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4.30–5.30pm

L043

Current Affairs

To Be ‘Other’ In Britain Today Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £8* Last Autumn, Britain saw a shocking spike in race-related hate crimes, some reports indicating a 60% increase.

Festival Guest Curator and the force behind last year’s ground-breaking anthology, The Good Immigrant, Nikesh Shukla is joined by Reni Eddo-Lodge (Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race) and June Sarpong (Diversify) for a frank and urgent discussion about race in post-Brexit Britain: the reality of being considered ‘other’ in your home country and the steps we can take together to repair the rifts.

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 4.30–6pm

L044

Lifestyle

From Bacchus To Brexit The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes wine tasting. Over 18s only.

Why was 18th century Edinburgh knee-deep in Bordeaux? And did a Brit really invent champagne? Britain has long been one of the world’s leading wine markets, with imports continuing despite war and conflict. Now, British wine producers are making their mark across the world. Explore our relationship with Europe through food and drink in this unique, immersive blend of short talks and tastings, guided by master of wine Tim Atkin, and philosopher and flavour expert Barry Smith.

6–7pm 5.45–6.45pm

L046

Psychology

Life, Death And The End Game The Hive £9* Since his near-fatal stroke in 1995, Robert McCrum has lived in the shadow of death.

Now, twenty-one years on, he is noticing a change: his friends are joining him there and death has become his contemporaries’ every third thought. The question is no longer ‘who am I?’ but ‘how long have I got?’ In this unique conversation he is joined by neuroscientist Henry Marsh to discuss what it really means to face the end.

4.30–5.30pm

L038

Lifestyle

Jim Chapman The Times Forum £10* YouTube superstar Jim Chapman (147 Things) takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the best bits of everything, from the mind-blowing to the ridiculous. Whether belly buttons or first kisses, no subject is off-limits. Chaired by Emma Gannon.

L048

The Story Of British Art

6–7pm

Tracey Emin And The YBAs Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10* The Young British Artists stormed onto the contemporary art scene in 1988 with their attention-grabbing, ironic art; exploding art-world conventions and ushering in one of the most thrilling periods in British art. Elizabeth Fullerton (Artrage!: The Story of the BritArt Revolution) and Jonathan Jones, art critic and close collaborator of Tracey Emin (Tracey Emin: Works 2007–2017) talk to BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz about an electrifying era of unmade beds and formaldehyde sharks.

L047

Current Affairs

Jon Sopel: Notes From Trump’s America The Inkpot £10* A country that once stood for the grandest of dreams, for all we think we know the USA, it is–now more than ever–a truly foreign land.

BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel (If Only They Didn’t Speak English) offers an insightful portrait of American life and politics and reflects on a turbulent 18 months.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

39

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER 6.30–7.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L050

The Cheltenham Lectures

June Sarpong On Unlocking The Power Of Diversity Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* 6.15–7.15pm

L049

Fiction

The Sunday Times Award For Literary Excellence: Sarah Waters

In this passionate call to arms, the campaigner and broadcaster June Sarpong (Diversify) illustrates how we could solve the most stubborn challenges we face as a society and reap huge rewards by overcoming our prejudices and embracing our most marginalised groups.

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* The highly acclaimed, bestselling author talks to Sunday Times chief fiction reviewer Peter Kemp about the rich and evocative novels that have shaped her career and for which she accepts The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. She joins a list of greats with previous recipients of this prestigious award including Anthony Burgess, Muriel Spark, Seamus Heaney, John le Carre and Anne Tyler.

6.30–7.30pm

L051

Sport

Tom Daley The Times Forum £12* The champion diver has learned from the best about how to stay fit and healthy as detailed in his new book, Tom’s Daily Plan. He joins broadcaster Jill Douglas to share his secrets on staying strong and positive both in everyday life and in the run up to competitions.

6.45–7.45pm

LB17

Open Up With Gemma Cairney And Laura Dockrill Pillar Room £6 Heartbreak, body image, love, friendship, mental health… growing up can be tough and amazing. Broadcaster and writer Gemma Cairney (Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be) and author and poet Laura Dockrill (Aurabel), open up with journalist Anna James about their writing for young adults. Open your hearts and minds and join the conversation.

40

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 7–8.15pm

8.15–9.15pm

L052

L056

Fiction

Psychology

Fiction At 7: An Alternative Reality

Mike Brearley And Matthew Syed The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

The Nook £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine.

In a year where reality felt more dystopian than any fiction, Sarah Shaffi talks to Omar El Akkad and Megan Hunter about their debut novels that present powerful visions of the future. Hunter’s beautiful The End We Start From is a story of new motherhood in a terrifying setting: a familiar world made dangerous and unstable, its people forced to become refugees. El Akkad’s haunting American War asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.

8–10.30pm

L054

Lifestyle

An Evening Under The Tamarind Tree The Daffodil £50*

Ticket includes a three course dinner and drink on arrival.

With its diverse land, climate, cultures and people Pakistan has one of the most sophisticated cuisines in the world. To share the distinctive culinary styles of her home, chef Sumayya Usmani brings a sumptuous selection of dishes to a beautiful evening interspersed with poetry performances by Asma Elbadawi and Nafeesa Hamid and music by acoustic Muslim duo Pearls of Islam.

7.45–8.45pm

How do we become the best that we can be, as individuals and as organisations? Sport, with its innate sense of drama, competitive edge and psychological pressures provides the answers. Mike Brearley (On Form), the retired first-class cricketer who captained Middlesex and England and The Times columnist Matthew Syed (The Greatest) talk to Georgina Godwin about how we can bring the on-form feeling from the pitch into the rest of our lives.

L053

Current Affairs

Andrew O’Hagan: Stories From Cyberspace And The Real World

8.30–9.30pm

L057

Current Affairs

The Election Generals Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* The Generals are back in town by popular demand... Political sages Peter Hennessy and John Sergeant, and broadcaster Paddy O’Connell, take a witty and irreverent look at the latest headlines and breaking political news.

Join the BBC Radio 4 Broadcasting House trio as they map the twists and turns in what has been another extraordinary year for British politics.

The Hive £10* From observing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange first-hand, to borrowing the identity of a dead man, in The Secret Life the Booker-nominated author explores how the internet shapes our sense of self, and blurs boundaries between the real and the invented. In conversation with broadcaster Mark Lawson. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

41

SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER

8.30–9.30pm

L094

Stage & Screen

Robert Webb The Times Forum £12* The Peep Show star joins journalist Alex Clark to discuss the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life, as explored in his book How Not to be a Boy.

Box Office 01242 850270

10pm–1am

L060

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at the Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late night literary revelry. You never know who you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with...

5pm–late

Lit Crawl ...around town FREE Lit Crawl returns! For one night only we take over the streets of Cheltenham for a fastpaced evening of pop-up events and quirky literary happenings. All completely FREE. Created in San Francisco in 2004 and now in Boston, Brooklyn, Portland, Chicago, New Zealand and beyond, Lit Crawl blends a bar crawl with bookish content – a riotous evening of the written and spoken word in some surprising spots around town.

This is literature done differently. Join us and get drunk on words.

Visit cheltenhamfestivals.com for the full line up, schedule and participating venues.

Lit Crawl supported by bottlegreen and Cheltenham BID

42

NIKESH SHUKLA GUEST CURATOR

cheltenhamfestivals.com

“ I’m looking forward to curating Festival events that talk about the state of our country as we head into the great unknown.

I’m also excited about bringing acts, voices and people you wouldn’t normally expect to the Festival.”

Author, editor and campaigner, Nikesh Shukla’s novels include Meatspace and Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award). He hosts The Subaltern podcast and is the editor of The Good Immigrant, an essay collection with contributions from 21 British writers of colour discussing race and immigration in the UK.

4.30–5.30pm Saturday 7 October

L043

2–3pm Sunday 8 October

To Be ‘Other’ In Britain Today

A Change Is Gonna Come

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage

Pillar Room

For full information see page 38.

For full information see page 47.

LB36

8–9pm Sunday 8 October

L092

How Grime Shutdown UK Culture Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre For full information see page 51.

43

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room LB36

A Change Is Gonna Come

L074

Kayo Chingonyi And Andrew McMillan

L082

L089

Bitch Doctrine

Mark Billingham And Chris Brookmyre

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L062

The Cicero Trilogy: From Page To Stage

L064

L070

The Boy Who Lived

Alan Hollinghurst

L076

L085

Chris Patten

The British Stiff Upper Lip

The Daffodil L068

L077

David Hepworth’s Rock And Roll Brunch

L090

Meet The Pukkas

Robert Crampton’s Quiz Night

Hotel du Vin L097

Festival Club (10pm–1am)

The Hive L083

L091

Vanessa Kisuule And Malaika Kegode

John Burnside

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L067

L073

Microadventures

L080

How To Read A Latin Poem

L088

The Times William Howard Russell Prize

L096

Maggie O’Farrell

Peggy Seeger

The Times Forum L063

Brexit Britain On The Global Stage

L065

L071

L078

L086

L066

L072

L079

L087

Mary Berry

Making America Great Again?

Louise Pentland

L095

The Crown

Judy Murray

The Nook L061

An Introduction To Travel Writing

Thom Gunn: A Celebration

A Woman’s Place

Amit Chaudhuri

Celebrate With…Alan Hollinghurst

The Inkpot LB28

Judith Kerr And Matthew Kneale

L069

A Road Of One’s Own

L075

L084

The Modern Nomads

Robert Harris

L093

Allison Pearson

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre L081

Philippe Sands

44

L092

How Grime Shutdown UK Culture

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 10–11am

LB26

Classic Literature

Judith Kerr And Matthew Kneale The Inkpot £8*

10–11.30am

L061

Travel & Adventure

An Introduction To Travel Writing

Children’s author and illustrator Judith Kerr, creator of the Mog books and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and her writer son Matthew Kneale (best known for his 2000 novel English Passengers) talk with Alex O’Connell of The Times about the inspirations for their work, emigration, creating a home in another country and their highly creative family.

The Nook £15* We all love to travel, but how do you turn your experiences into words that people want to read? Award-winning travel writer, author and Wanderlust Editor, Phoebe Smith guides you on how to get started.

10am–12pm

L068

10.30–11.30am

L062

Ancient World

The Cicero Trilogy: From Page To Stage Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* This November, Robert Harris’ bestselling Cicero Trilogy will hit the Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage in a thrilling two-part adaptation by Mike Poulton, who adapted Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for the RSC’s award-winning productions.

In this exclusive conversation, they discuss with Mary Beard the adaptation process and the resonance of the plays in a time of political turmoil.

“No one delivers thrilling yet timeless games of power, sex, fame and Rome like Robert Harris.”

Sunday Telegraph

Stage & Screen

David Hepworth’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Brunch The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes a cooked breakfast.

The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief.

A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. Music journalist and Festival favourite David Hepworth (Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars) fronts a rock and roll brunch celebrating the defining moments and turning points in the lives of key rock figures, taking us on a journey to burst a hundred myths and to create a hundred more.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

45

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER 10.30–11.30am

L063

Box Office 01242 850270

12.30–1.30pm

L065

12.30–1.30pm

Current Affairs

Lifestyle

Poetry

Brexit Britain On The Global Stage

Mary Berry

Thom Gunn: A Celebration

The Times Forum £10* How will Brexit influence Britain’s foreign policy? Membership of the EU helped to shape the UK’s international priorities for more than 40 years – so what now? Where can we forge new alliances and what opportunities lie ahead? Our Guest Curator Robin Niblett of Chatham House discusses the possible scenarios with the former diplomat and NATO representative Mariot Leslie and former Foreign Secretary David Owen (British Foreign Policy After Brexit).

The Times Forum £25*

Ticket includes a copy of Mary Berry’s new book (RRP £20).

The much-loved former Great British Bake Off judge has been teaching the nation to cook on TV and in her books for over 40 years. She joins us to reflect on a long and successful career from the Cordon Bleu to Cookery Magazine editor, the Bake Off tent to being awarded a CBE – and everything in between. She joins Steven Gale to discuss her remarkable career and launch her brand new book, Mary’s Household Tips and Tricks: Your Guide to Happiness in the Home.

Long-term investment partners

L066

The Nook £8* Thom Gunn’s poetry thrives on contrast and contradiction: English tradition and American idiom; strict form and free verse; the physical hedonism of his accounts of 1960s California and the AIDs epidemic and the intellectual discipline of deep-running themes shared by Shakespeare, Baudelaire and William Carlos Williams are all held exquisitely in balance. To mark Faber’s publication of Selected Poems, close friend and editor Clive Wilmer and poet Andrew McMillan, who cites Gunn as one of his formative influences, join Helen Mort to discuss a remarkable body of work.

12.45–1.45pm

L067

Travel & Adventure

Microadventures The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9*

12.30–1.30pm

L064

Classic Literature

The Boy Who Lived: Growing Up With Harry Potter Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* “You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart...”

Don your House colours and join us to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the generation of readers that became spellbound by the series.

Discussing the elements that made the series so magical and how it has stayed in our hearts, YA expert and author Anna James shares the stage with publisher Barry Cunningham, who discovered J.K. Rowling and edited The Philosopher’s Stone and Julian Harrison, curator of the upcoming British Library exhibition, Harry Potter: A History of Magic. Chaired by Sarah Shaffi.

46

Many of us yearn for adventure but work, family and, well, life can take over. Our inspiring panel: adventurer and Microadventures author Alastair Humphreys and Wanderlust Editor, wild camping expert and author of Wilderness Weekends and Extreme Sleeps, Phoebe Smith offer practical tips about creating short adventures around the commitments of the ‘9 to 5’ – often right on your doorstep and at minimal cost. Chaired

by YesTribe founder Dave Cornthwaite.

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 2-3pm

2.30–3.30pm

LB36

L071

Fiction

Current Affairs

A Change Is Gonna Come

Making America Great Again?

Foreign Policy Under Trump

Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Published in recognition of the lack of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) voices in UK publishing, A Change is Gonna Come is an anthology of short stories and poetry for young adults featuring award-winning authors and newly discovered writers. Join contributors Nikesh Shukla, winner of the YA Book Prize Patrice Lawrence and new voice Phoebe Roy as they discuss the reasons behind the volume and their responses to the theme of change.

The Times Forum £10*

Alan Hollinghurst

As Donald Trump vows to pull out of the Paris climate accords and threatens protectionist trade barriers, will he reboot US foreign policy as he has promised? Or will the realities of America’s superpower status constrain his ability to change direction? Our Guest Director Robin Niblett of Chatham House joins Dr Leslie Vinjamuri of SOAS, the former adviser at the US State Department Jeremy Shapiro and the National Editor of The Cook Political Report Amy Walter to reflect on the new political order.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

2.30–3.30pm

2.30–3.30pm

L070

Fiction

2.15–3.15pm

L069

Travel & Adventure

A Road Of One’s Own The Inkpot £8* Lois Pryce (Revolutionary Ride), who motor-biked solo around Iran at the height of tensions between the British and Iranian governments and Antonia Bolingbrooke-Kent, author of Land of Dawn-Lit Mountains: A Journey across India’s Forgotten Frontier join Lynds Fineran to share tales of their latest incredible journeys and discuss the highs and lows of being a solo woman on the road.

The bestselling and Man Booker Prize winning author introduces his hotlyanticipated new novel, The Sparsholt Affair, an exploration of shifting taste, class and human interaction – characteristically witty, tender and rich in observation. In conversation with The Times Literary Editor Robbie Millen.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

L072

Fiction

A Woman’s Place The Nook £8* Look pretty; be nice; have babies – three graphic novelists delve into the social expectations of womanhood. Paula Knight’s book The Facts of Life is a funny and moving autobiographical account of the expectations of women to procreate, and why life doesn’t always go to plan. Livestock by Hannah Berry is a dark satire about a young pop star whose life in the public eye is carefully orchestrated to best satisfy a salacious media. In conversation with comics scholar and author of Billy, Me & You Nicola Streeten.

47

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

4–5pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L074

Poetry

Kayo Chingonyi And Andrew McMillan Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* 2.45–3.45pm

L073

Ancient World

How To Read A Latin Poem The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* Back by popular demand, our fearless panel – the Classics dons Mary Beard, Llewelyn Morgan and author and classicist Peter Stothard – give a masterclass on Virgil, focusing on Eclogue 9. Join us for a chance to take a fresh look at ‘pastoral poetry’, and to go beyond the lovesick shepherds to find some tougher messages. Translations are provided and only minimal knowledge of Latin is required.

48

A chance to hear two generationdefining voices in British poetry.

Translating as ‘initiation’, Kayo Chingonyi’s collection Kumukanda explores this passage: between two worlds, ancestral and contemporary; between the living and the dead; between the gulf of who he is and how he is perceived. Andrew McMillan’s Physical – the first poetry collection ever to win the Guardian First Book award – are hymns to the male body: to male friendship and male love; sometimes shocking, but always deeply moving.

4.15–5.15pm

L075

Travel & Adventure

The Modern Nomads The Inkpot £8* Is it possible to make a living and a life without being tied to a mortgage and a desk? Is it a sustainable lifestyle or just an Instagram dream? Calum Creasey and Lauren Smith, publishers and creators of the phenomenally successful alternative living account The Rolling Home and adventurer, filmmaker and founder of the YesTribe Dave Cornthwaite join Lynds Fineran to discuss those who’ve eschewed bricks and mortar and an office, and share their own experiences of life on the road.

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 4.30–5.30pm

4.30–5.30pm

L076

Current Affairs

L079

Amit Chaudhuri

Louise Pentland

The Nook £8*

The Times Forum £10*

The celebrated writer talks to Georgina Godwin about his powerful new work, Friend of My Youth; a remarkable tale about geographical, historical and personal change that sees Chaudhuri challenging the form of the novel, bringing something fresh.

Award-winning lifestyle and beauty blogger, fashion designer and author Louise Pentland, aka Sprinkle of Glitter, joins us to discuss her number one bestselling debut novel Wilde Like Me. Heartfelt and hilarious, it follows single mum Robin Wilde on her search for an adventure that will change her life.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

5.45–6.45pm

The Sunday Times Must Read: Philippe Sands Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £9*

4.45–5.45pm

L080

Lifestyle

Science & Technology

Meet The Pukkas

The Times William Howard Russel Prize: Henry Marsh

The Daffodil £15*

Ticket includes a glass of wine or a beer.

Mother Pukka (aka Anna Whitehouse) and Papa Pukka (aka Matt Farquharson) began blogging and vlogging their parenting experiences two years ago and have become a lifeline for parents everywhere. They reveal their new book Parenting the Sh*t Out of Life, sharing their highs and lows including the heartbreaking loss of miscarriage, their campaign for flexible working for parents, picking your partner and the realities of ‘splashdown’ (childbirth...!). Join digital consultant and author Emma Gannon as they share the humour, and cold reality, of sharing a house with tiny humans.

L081

History

As a leading Conservative Politician, European Commissioner, Governor of Hong Kong, Chairman of the BBC and Chancellor of Oxford University, Chris Patten has held great offices of state both at home and abroad. Introducing First Confession, a wise and funny memoir reflecting on his time in office, he explores the relationship between politics and identity that has shaped his life with historian Peter Hennessy.

L077

L078

Fiction

Chris Patten

4.30–6pm

4.30–5.30pm

Fiction

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* The Times William Howard Russell Prize celebrates excellence in non-fiction writing. This year’s recipient, leading British neurosurgeon and author Henry Marsh (Admissions) has spent a lifetime operating on the surgical frontline. In conversation with Philip Collins he reflects on what forty years handling the human brain has taught him.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

On receiving an invitation to lecture in Ukraine, the international lawyer discovers an astonishing series of coincidences that shed light on his family’s secret history. A meditation on the way memory and guilt leave scars across generations, East West Street is one of Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate’s Must Reads of 2017.

Chaired by Caroline Sanderson.

6–7pm

L082

Current Affairs

Bitch Doctrine: Essays For Dissenting Adults Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Smart and provocative, witty and uncompromising, this collection of Laurie Penny’s essays establishes her as one of the most urgent and vibrant feminist voices of our time. The youngest ever Orwell Prize nominee talks to Sarah Shaffi.

49

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER 6–7pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L083

6.30–7.30pm

Poetry

L086

Stage & Screen

Vanessa Kisuule And Malaika Kegode

The Crown The Times Forum £10*

The Hive £8* Roundhouse Slam champion Vanessa Kisuule stormed last year’s Lit Crawl finale of riotous spoken word. She returns to perform new work including excerpts from her Bristol Old Vic produced show, Sexy. Joined by Malaika Kegode, founder of Bristol’s Milk Poetry, whose ‘much anticipated debut from one of the brightest lights of performance poetry’ Requite is a love letter to the patchwork of people that make up our lives.

This is one double bill you don’t want to miss.

Netflix’s lavish royal drama paints a unique and intimate portrait of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, following her life from the 1940s to modern times. Join renowned historian Robert Lacey author of The Crown: The Inside History, Production Designer Martin Childs, Director Philip Martin and Head of Research Annie Sulzberger as they discuss the show’s roaring success and divulge what happens behind the scenes. They will be joined by a much-loved actor from the cast – watch this space!

6.15–7.15pm

See cheltenhamfestivals.com for further announcements.

L084

Fiction

Robert Harris The Inkpot £9* The bestselling author of Fatherland and The Cicero Trilogy introduces his electrifying new spy thriller Munich, a tale of treason, conscience, loyalty and betrayal, set against the backdrop of the fateful Munich Conference of September 1938.

6.30–7.30pm

L085

Psychology

The British Stiff Upper Lip Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Traditionally, the British have been proud of remaining resolute and unemotional in the face of adversity. Elite schools and other institutions have promoted the values of stoicism and self-discipline above all others. But in an era of mindfulness, therapy and male crying – is our stiff upper lip starting to tremble? And is that actually a good thing? The outspoken columnist Rod Liddle, the author Alex Renton (Stiff Upper Lip) and journalist, writer and comedian Viv Groskop join The Sunday Times Executive Editor Eleanor Mills in conversation.

50

*Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 6.30–7.45pm

L087

Fiction

8–9pm

L091

Fiction

Celebrate With...

John Burnside Alan Hollinghurst The Hive £8*

The Nook £20*

Ticket includes a glass of fizz.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize, Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty is a decade-defining masterpiece about class, politics and sexuality in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

He joins Steven Gale to raise a glass to its enduring success.

The acclaimed writer joins us to celebrate the release of two new publications: his profound and deeply moving novel, Ashland & Vine and his new poetry collection, Still Life with Feeding Snake. Chaired by Georgina Godwin.

John will also be doing a reading from Still Life with Feeding Snake on Mon 9th Oct at 4pm.

8–9.30pm

L089

Fiction

Mark Billingham And Chris Brookmyre Town Hall, Pillar Room £12*

6.45–7.45pm

L088

Fiction

Maggie O’Farrell The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* The Sunday Times bestselling and Costa Novel award-winning author joins Cathy Rentzenbrink to discuss I AM, I AM, I AM, her electric and shocking memoir about the near death experiences that have punctuated her life.

L092

Stage & Screen

Like a dog to its vomit, these two notorious crime writers return to the scene of a past atrocity, bringing down the tone of the entire festival once again with their unflinchingly sweary two-man show. Eschewing articulate and high-minded literary discussion for filth, smut and unconscionable depravity, Billingham and Brookmyre offer something to offend everybody in an event guaranteed to utterly undermine your faith in the written word. Expect very strong language and an extremely disturbing story about a chicken.

The bar will be open throughout this event.

8–10.30pm

8–9pm

L090

Lifestyle

Robert Crampton’s Quiz Night

How Grime Shutdown UK Culture Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £8* Grime pushed rock music off the main stage at Glastonbury this year, gave Corbyn’s campaign an enormous boost and even Drake is featuring grime artists.

Festival Guest Curator Nikesh Shukla chairs Jeffrey Boakye, the author of Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials and the Meaning of Grime, Kayo Chingonyi, whose poetry was written listening to beats and bars, and grime artist Elijah to discuss grime’s emergence as Britain’s most significant cultural movement since punk.

The Daffodil £60* for a team of 4.

Ticket includes a fish and chip supper.

And he’s back! The ever popular The Times columnist Robert Crampton returns to the Festival for his evening of frivolity and general knowledge (with a few drinks on the side…).

Who will win this year?

51

SUNDAY 8 OCTOBER

8.15–9.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L093

Fiction

Allison Pearson 8.45–9.45pm

The Inkpot £10*

L096

Stage & Screen

Peggy Seeger

The author and journalist returns to present her new novel, How Hard Can It Be, the sequel to the bestselling book and film starring Sarah Jessica Parker, I Don’t Know How She Does It. Chaired

by Sunday Times Editorial Director Eleanor Mills.

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* The legendary folk singer discusses a rich life at the forefront of folk and protest, as documented in her memoir, First Time Ever.

10pm–1am

L097

Festival Club 8.30–9.30pm

L095

Sport

Judy Murray The Times Forum £12* From the community courts of Dunblane to Centre Court at Wimbledon, leading tennis coach and mother of champions Judy Murray shares her story, one that makes us all believe great things are possible. Chaired by Jill Douglas.

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Hotel du Vin FREE When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at the Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late night literary revelry. You never know who you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with...

ROBIN NIBLETT GUEST CURATOR

cheltenhamfestivals.com

“ International affairs have rightly taken a more prominent role at the Festival in recent years. Now, the uncertainty about Britain’s future outside the EU is compounded by an unpredictable America, a bullish Russia and evermore self-confident China. I look forward to delving into these questions with some of the super writers and top-quality experts for which the Festival is known.”

Robin Niblett, Director of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs), is an expert on UK foreign policy, European political and economic security and transatlantic relations. He is a Special Adviser to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on International Security.

7–8pm Friday 6 October

L019

10.30–11.30am Sunday 8 October

L063

The Europe We Are Leaving

Brexit Britain On The Global Stage

The Times Forum For full information see page 32.

The Times Forum For full information see page 46.

10.30–11.30am Saturday 7 October

2.30–3.30pm Sunday 8 October

L028

Long-term investment partners

L071

China: The Year Of Living Dangerously

Making America Great Again?

Foreign Policy Under Trump

The Times Forum For full information see page 35.

The Times Forum For full information see page 47.

53

MONDAY 9 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

L102

L106

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room Anna Karenina

Translating Cultures

L113

L121

John Burnside And Daljit Nagra

Hogwhats Quiz Night

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L098

L104

Michael Portillo

Charles I: A Toxic Legacy

L111

L123

WWII Women: Fight And Flight

Austentatious

The Daffodil L103

L114

The Greedy Queen

HRH Princess Michael Of Kent: Memories Of Mozambique

Hotel du Vin, Sinners Enclosure L099

L109

Modern Calligraphy With Quill London

Modern Calligraphy With Quill London

Feast Café L100

The Times Crossword

The Hive L120

Adventureman: Giving Back While Never Giving In

The Huddle L101

L110

Introduction To...

Translation

L116

Introduction To...

Translation

Chelt Writes

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L107

Gainsborough: A Portrait

L115

L119

A.C. Grayling: The Future Of War

Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall

The Times Forum L108

L117

The Mitford Sisters

L125

Philippa Gregory

Armando Iannucci / Clemency Burton-Hill

The Inkpot L105

Travel Team

54

L112

Michael Rosen

L118

Martin Parr: Britain Through A Lens

L124

Speeches That Shape The World

10pm

11pm

MONDAY 9 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 11am–12pm

L100

The Times Crossword Feast Café Bar FREE 11am–12pm

L098

Travel & Adventure

Michael Portillo’s Great American Railway Journeys Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* The popular broadcaster recounts his awe-inspiring journeys on the railroads of America: from New York and Boston through the Deep South, Chicago, Colorado, New Mexico and ultimately finishing in San Francisco, all guided by his trusty Appleton’s.

11am–1pm 2.30–4.30pm

L099 L109

Make yourself comfy as The Times Crossword Editor Richard Rogan takes you through the mysteries of the day’s crossword puzzles with a helping hand or a tantalising hint where needed!

11.30am

L101

A Very Short Introduction To...

Translation The Huddle FREE Translation doesn’t only give us foreign news, dubbed films or microwave manuals: without it, there would be no world religions and our literatures, cultures and languages would be unrecognisable. Matthew Reynolds gives a thought-provoking introduction.

12–1pm

L102

Classic Literature

The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons From Russian Literature Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* From trying to figure out who you really are (Anna Karenina) to dealing with unrequited love (Turgenev’s A Month in the Country), comedian Viv Groskop has long looked to the Russian classics for answers to life’s big questions. She discusses her unique brand of literary self-help with Cathy Rentzenbrink.

Lifestyle

Modern Calligraphy With Quill London Hotel du Vin, Sinners Enclosure £60*

Ticket includes a copy of Modern Calligraphy

by Lucy Edmonds and refreshments.

Quill’s Beginners Modern Calligraphy workshop, taught by founder Lucy Edmonds, is the perfect thing for those wanting to learn a new creative skill. You’ll work on basic exercises, working up to letter forms and by the end of the class you’ll put it all together to write phrases, as well as starting to develop your own lettering style. Modern Calligraphy takes lots of practice to make perfect but is great fun and rewarding.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

12.30–2.30pm

L103

History

The Greedy Queen The Daffodil £30*

Ticket includes a two course lunch and a glass of wine.

Voracious and adventurous in her tastes, Queen Victoria’s relationship with food bordered on the obsessive. Join resident food historian on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet Annie Gray (The Greedy Queen) as she serves up a slice of untold royal history. Charting the diminutive monarch’s extraordinary eating habits, she reveals how the queen presided over a seismic culinary evolution in 19th century Britain. Enjoy a lunch fit for royalty as we celebrate Victoria’s appetite both for food and, indeed, for life.

55

MONDAY 9 OCTOBER 1.45–2.45pm

L104

2–3pm

Box Office 01242 850270 L106

L108

Fiction

Classic Literature

Charles I: A Toxic Legacy

Translating Cultures

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

The Mitford Sisters: A Lasting Legacy

The 1649 execution of Charles I demonstrates the astonishing dissenting power of Parliament in their successful plot to overthrow the monarchy. Steven Gale talks to Charles Spencer (To Catch A King) and Linda Porter (Royal Renegades) about what this meant.

Do translators translate words, or ideas? And what of rhythm, cadence, humour and the vast cultural hinterland that underpins every text? As translated literature grows in popularity with British readers we join Jen Calleja (AHRC Translator in Residence at the British Library), Maureen Freely (Orhan Pamuk) and Frank Wynne (Michel Houellebecq and Pierre Lemaitre) to discuss their working methods and the many-layered challenges of translating across cultures as well as language.

1.45–2.45pm

L105

Travel & Adventure

The Sunday Times Travel Team The Inkpot £9* Join The Sunday Times travel experts as they reveal their top ten travel experiences to try next year. From short-hop to long-haul, splurge to spend – something for every taste and budget. Chaired by The Sunday Times Travel Editor Stephen Bleach.

The Times Forum £10* Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo – why does the story of the six aristocratic Mitford girls, who scandalised 1930’s society, continue to fascinate? Two were friends with Hitler, one eloped with her cousin, another attempted suicide, while the eldest wrote two of the best-loved novels of the 20th century.

We are joined by Decca’s son Ben Treuhaft, The Lady’s Juanita Coulson and biographer Laura Thompson (Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters) to discuss their enduring appeal.

2.30–3.30pm 2–3pm

L107

The Story Of British Art

Gainsborough: A Portrait The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* Gainsborough’s double portrait Mr and Mrs Andrews (1749-50) went rapidly from oblivion to world fame when it was bought by the National Gallery in 1960.

Its late public appearance in the canon of British art threw new light on Gainsborough and has altered the perspective by which he is seen, as leading art historian, James Hamilton discusses.

56

2.15–3.15pm

History

L110

A Very Short Introduction To...

Translation The Huddle FREE For full information see page 55.

MONDAY 9 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

3.45–4.45pm

L111

History

WWII Women: Fight And Flight Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* From the pioneering test pilots of Hitler’s Third Reich to the fearless British agents supporting the Resistance in Nazioccupied France, historians Clare Mulley (The Women Who Flew For Hitler) and Rick Stroud (Lonely Courage) share stories of the extraordinary women on either side of the war effort who defied convention and were prepared to sacrifice everything in the service of their countries.

3.45–4.45pm

L112

4–5.30pm

L114

Classic Literature

Nature

Michael Rosen: The Disappearance Of Émile Zola

HRH Princess Michael Of Kent: Memories Of Mozambique

The Inkpot £8*

The Daffodil £20*

J’accuse…! In 1891, French novelist Émile Zola caused international scandal with his intervention in the Dreyfus Affair.

Michael Rosen tells the little known story of Zola’s year in exile in London.

Chaired by Steven Gale.

4–5pm

Ticket includes afternoon tea with finger sandwiches.

Join HRH Princess Michael of Kent (A Cheetah’s Tale) for afternoon tea as she shares her fond childhood memories of Mozambique. She tells of the incredible bond that can exist between people and animals and shares the tale of how, in the midst of an astonishing African landscape, she found and hand-reared Tess, an orphaned cheetah. Chaired by Adrian Phillips.

L113

Poetry

John Burnside And Daljit Nagra Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Two of our leading poets read from their new work. John Burnside, the only poet ever to be awarded both the Eliot and the Forward prize for the same collection, presents Still Life With Feeding Snake: poems that live at the edge of loss, or on the cusp of epiphany.

Daljit Nagra, poet-in-residence at BBC Radio 4 and one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary English poetry reads from British Museum: a series of meditations and reflections upon our heritage, our legacy and the institutions that define them. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

4–5pm

L115

Current Affairs

A.C. Grayling: The Future Of War The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £8* A future without warfare seems almost inconceivable. Philosopher A.C. Grayling (War: An Enquiry) examines, tests and challenges the concept of war, proposing that a deeper understanding could reduce its frequency, mitigate its horrors and lessen the burden of its consequences.

57

MONDAY 9 OCTOBER 4.30–5pm

Box Office 01242 850270 6.30–7.30pm

L116

Locally Sourced

Stage & Screen

Cheltenham Writes!

Armando Iannucci And Clemency Burton-Hill

The Huddle FREE To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Jo Brown reads from her book Helter Skelter and talks about her experience as a writer.

The Times Forum £10* 6.30–7.30pm

L119

Lifestyle

4.30–5.30pm

L117

Fiction

Philippa Gregory

£10*

The international number one bestselling author of the Tudor and Plantagenet series joins us to mark 30 years of writing by celebrating her debut novel, Wideacre.

Reflecting on her career she shares her experiences from page to screen.

5.45–6.45pm

L118

The Story Of British Art

Martin Parr: Britain Through A Lens The Inkpot £10* With his unmistakable style and unique vision, Martin Parr has been skewering the nation’s eccentricities with his acclaimed photographs for the past four decades. In this special conversation, he discusses his unerring eye for the quirks of British life and shares work from his remarkable career with BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz.

58

Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall The Sunday Times Garden Theatre

The Times Forum £10*

L125

In his new book River Cottage Much More Veg! the broadcaster, campaigner and chef presents recipes that are not only foolproof and delicious but use natural, unprocessed ingredients to create the healthiest meals. Chaired by Tim Hubbard.

Have you ever wanted to discover more about classical music but had no idea where to begin? Armando Iannucci (Hear Me Out), creator of Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and Veep and award-winning violinist and BBC Radio 3 presenter Clemency Burton-Hill (Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day) passionately believe that the genre is for everyone. Together with Viv Groskop they discuss how it can inspire, nourish and enrich our lives in unexpected ways and share their favourite pieces.

MONDAY 9 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

7.45–9pm

L123

Festival Lates

Austentatious 6.45–7.45pm

L120

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12*

8–10.30pm

L121

Festival Lates

Travel & Adventure

Adventureman: Giving Back While Never Giving In

Back by incredible demand, the Edinburgh Fringe smash hit return with their entirely improvised comedy play in the style of Jane Austen. Based on audience suggestions (from “Mansfield Shark” to “Strictly Come Darcy”) the show is never the same twice, but always hilarious.

Hogwhats Quiz Night

The Hive £8*

“Ridiculously silly…wickedly funny” ★★★★★ The Times

Having spent the first nine years of his life in hospital with a rare spinal condition, Gloucestershire-born Jamie McDonald decided to repay the hospitals that saved his life by embarking on the biggest challenge of his life: running the equivalent of 200 marathons back-to-back, solo and unsupported. He joins us to share his remarkable story and unveil his next awe-inspiring adventure.

★★★★ “A joy to behold” The Guardian

7.45–8.45pm

So you think you know Harry Potter? For one night only muggles are invited to enter the wizarding world! Hogwhats is more than a quiz. It’s a night of wizardly cavorting. It’s fancy dress, potions, quidditch, getting told off by Hogwarts teachers, unfogging your future, exchanging owl post, meeting other potterheads and sneaking hugs from Hagrid.

Points and prizes will be available for the cleverest costumes, best team names, and of course for the best Potter knowledge. Come alone or with a team (6 people max per team).

Supported by Life Patrons Steve and Linda Jones.

The Inkpot £8*

L124

Current Affairs

Speeches That Shape The World

Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* Over 18 only

The bar will be open throughout this event.

The story of great speeches is the story of democracy. Join The Times Philip Collins (When They Go Low We Go High) as he travels across continents and centuries, reminding us how great oratory can change the world. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

59

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room L332

L133

Christopher Somerville

L148

Paradise Lost: Study Day

L153

The Letters Of Sylvia Plath

Pandemonium!

A Live Game Show

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L131

L136

100 Years Of The RAF

L145

The Story Of Alzheimer’s

L152

Turner And The Sea

Kirstie Allsopp

The Daffodil L126

L132

The Times Brexit Breakfast: The Winners And Losers

L143

Lunch With Kirstie Allsopp

L157

The Husband Hunters

Good Food, Good Wine With Victoria Moore

Feast Café L127

The Times Crossword

The Hive L156

Natalie Haynes: Stand-Up Classicist

The Huddle L128

L138

Introduction To...

Modern China

L146

Introduction To...

Modern China

Chelt Writes

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L137

L144

What Don’t We Know About The Tudors?

L151

Just A Laugh A Minute

L158

60 Years Of Jump Racing

Knackered Mums’ Night Out

The Times Forum L129

Peter Bazalgette And Nicky Morgan

L134

What Can Remainers Do Now?

L141

L149

Social Mobility: A Stalled Ambition?

L159

Vince Cable And Stanley Johnson

Brian May Presents...

Queen In 3D

The Nook L130

L139

Public Speaking With Philip Collins

L147

Vintage Proof Party

Curious Travellers

The Inkpot L135

Rogues’ Gallery: A History Of Art and Its Dealers

60

L142

Rewriting The Ancients

L150

How Creativity Can Change The World

L155

Fiction At 7: Love And Obsession

L154

You Heard It Here First

11pm

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 8.30–10am

L126

Business

The Times Brexit Breakfast: The Winners And Losers The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes cooked breakfast.

Who in Britain stands to gain from Brexit?

And who is vulnerable? Young and old, north and south, in business and in politics, there is much at stake. Join the columnist Philip Collins and the Economics Editor Philip Aldrick of The Times as they discuss the likely scenarios.

11.30am

L128

A Very Short Introduction To...

Modern China

L130

Lifestyle

Public Speaking With Philip Collins The Nook £20*

The Huddle FREE From international finance to human rights controversies, global coverage of its rising international presence to the Chinese ‘economic miracle’, China is rarely out of the news. Rana Mitter gives an accessible introduction to the world’s most populous nation.

11.30am–12.30pm

12–1.30pm

L129

Find out how to write and deliver a great speech with one of the best. Be it presentations to colleagues or speeches on big occasions we all want to shine (or at least get through it with our dignity intact). Luckily The Times columnist Philip Collins works as a speechwriter to senior politicians and business leaders, and will share his practical advice on how to get it right.

Psychology

Peter Bazalgette And Nicky Morgan The Times Forum £9*

10–11am

L332

Locally Sourced

Christopher Somerville Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Month by month, season by season and region by region, The Walking Correspondent for The Times, Christopher Somerville (The January Man) walks the British Isles, following routes that continually bring his father to mind.

11am–12pm

L127

The Times Crossword Feast Café Bar FREE Make yourself comfy as The Times Crossword Editor Richard Rogan takes you through the mysteries of the day’s crossword puzzles with a helping hand or a tantalising hint where needed!

In our complex world, beset with division, can we learn to understand each other and create a more civil society? The former head of Arts Council England, Peter Bazalgette (The Empathy Instinct) argues that arts and popular culture can bridge the empathy gap.

The former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (Taught Not Caught) believes that schools can and should play an essential role in building the characterful and resilient adults of the future. They join the barrister and broadcaster Hashi Mohamed and ask: How can we be better humans?

12–1pm

L131

History

100 Years Of The RAF Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* To salute the upcoming centenary of the Royal Air Force, military historians Patrick Bishop (Airforce Blue), Saul David (After Dunkirk), and Air Vice-Marshall Edward Stringer, celebrate the rich history and achievements of an institution that has helped to shape the modern world.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

12.30–2.30pm

L132

Lifestyle

Lunch With Kirstie Allsopp The Daffodil £30*

Ticket includes a two course lunch and a glass of wine.

The queen of home-making shares delicious dishes from her new book, Kirstie’s Real Kitchen. With her characteristic warmth and style, she shows how to make something special out of the everyday.

In conversation with Steven Gale.

61

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270 2–3pm

Classic Literature

Paradise Lost: Study Day

The Story Of Alzheimer’s

Town Hall, Pillar Room Milton’s epic poem telling the story of the fall of man celebrates its 350th anniversary this year. Join us for a special day of events with leading Milton experts.

Esteemed literary critic and Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford John Carey presents The Essential Paradise Lost, accompanied by actor readings, he reveals insights into Milton’s inspiration for the work.

12–4pm

L133

John Carey On Paradise Lost £20* Ticket includes afternoon refreshments.

There will be a short break for lunch (not included in ticket price). Please see cheltenhamfestivals.com for the accompanied reading list.

1.45–2.45pm

L135

Art & Design

Rogues’ Gallery: A History Of Art And Its Dealers The Inkpot £8* For centuries, art dealing has been about identifying what is intangible but infinitely desirable. Sotheby’s director Philip Hook takes the lid off the world of art dealing to reveal the brilliance, cunning, greed and daring of its practitioners. Chaired by James Long.

62

L136

Psychology

From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Nick Cave to Neil Gaiman, Joe Moshenska traces the influence of Milton’s magnum opus on our popular culture.

With its rolling vistas of Eden to the flaming subterranean crags of hell, Paradise Lost has fired the imagination of artists across the centuries. Taking in Gustave Doré and William Blake, Hannah Crawforth reflects on the imagery of the poem and the remarkable art it has inspired.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* What do we know about dementia? And how can the creative process help sufferers? As the search for effective treatment goes on, we look at the work being done by specialist practitioners both to understand the disease itself and to allow patients to feel heard and validated through creative projects. The novelist and community arts practitioner Jan Carson (Malcom Orange Disappears) the neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli (In Pursuit of Memory) and Susanna Howard, founder of Living Words, a charity encouraging creative communication about dementia, join Cathy Rentzenbrink in this fascinating and timely discussion.

2–3pm

L137

History

What Don’t We Know About The Tudors?

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9*

.1.45–2.45pm

L134

Current Affairs

What Can Remainers Do Now? The Times Forum £10* Are Remainers in fact unpatriotic “Remoaners”? As the Brexit negotiations continue, how can Remainers influence the outcome for the UK, and what is left to play for? Could Brexit be reversed? The Times columnist Philip Collins joins David Cameron’s campaign director Craig Oliver (Unleashing Demons), the former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (Taught Not Caught) and The Sunday Times Political Editor Tim Shipman (All Out War) to discuss the options.

Historical sources show that we know a lot about the busy lives of the Tudors – but which mysteries remain? Tracy Borman (The Private Lives of the Tudors) uncovers the secrets of Britain’s greatest dynasty.

2.30pm

L138

A Very Short Introduction To...

Modern China The Huddle FREE For full information see page 61.

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 2.30–4pm

L139

3.45–4.45pm

L142

4–5pm

L144

Fiction

Ancient World

Stage & Screen

Vintage Proof Party

Rewriting The Ancients

Just A Laugh A Minute

The Nook £15*

The Inkpot £8*

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £15*

Join Kamila Shamsie (Home Fire) and Natalie Haynes (Children of Jocasta) as they discuss how their works have reimagined Antigone and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Their retellings of these tales are just as exciting and provocative as the Classics, but with a fresh perspective they reveal a new side to an ancient history. Chaired by Cathy Rentzenbrink.

Join Nicholas Parsons for a nostalgic journey through his eventful life with his one-man comedy show. He sees the funny side of every situation as he highlights with superb and hilarious observation the events that have shaped his career.

Ticket includes refreshments and a goody bag of limited edition proofs.

Join Caroline Sanderson as she introduces Vintage’s freshest new talent for 2018.

Vintage seeks to publish some of the greatest writers and thinkers from around the world.

Meet Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, the stunning debut novel about sex, ambition and obsession, set in Georgian London. Emily Koch will introduce her unforgettable, gripping debut mystery If I Die Before I Wake and Mary Lynn Bracht presents White Chrysanthemum, a riveting, redemptive debut about two sisters.

3.30–4.30pm

L141

Current Affairs

Social Mobility: A Stalled Ambition?

The Times Forum £8* Alan Johnson (The Long and Winding Road) worked his way from a Wandsworth council flat to the corridors of Westminster. Hashi Mohamed came to the UK as a child refugee, attended underperforming inner-city state schools and is now a top barrister. Yet their journeys remain exceptional in today’s Britain. Together with Sylvia Arthur (Know Your Place) and David Goodhart (The Road To Somewhere) they explore the factors affecting class mobility and ask whether Theresa May’s vision for a truly meritocratic Britain is doomed. Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

4.15–5.15pm 4–5.30pm

L143

History

The Husband Hunters The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes afternoon tea with finger sandwiches.

The end of the nineteenth century saw young American heiresses marry into the British upper class, bringing with them all the fabulous wealth, glamour and sophistication of the Gilded Age. Join Anne de Courcy for tea as she sets the stories of these women and their families in the context of their times.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

L145

The Story Of British Art

Turner And The Sea Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Voted Britain’s favourite painting in a BBC poll, Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire captured a key moment in British naval history and revolutionised maritime art.

Christine Riding, from the Royal Museums Greenwich and author of Turner & the Sea, and James Hamilton, art historian and author of Turner: A Life – the major source of inspiration for Mike Leigh’s biopic – join James Long to discuss Turner’s great passion, the sea, and the masterpieces inspired by it.

63

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER 4.30–5pm

L146

L149

6–7pm

L151

Locally Sourced

Fiction

Sport

Cheltenham Writes!

Vince Cable And Stanley Johnson

60 Years Of Jump Racing

The Huddle FREE

The Times Forum £10*

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Alex Clark reads from Coming To Town and talks about her experience as a writer.

Curious Travellers

Get the inside scoop on two of this year’s hottest political thrillers. In his electrifying debut novel, Open Arms, Lib Dem leader Vince Cable propels us into a post-Brexit world in a story that combines unrivalled political insight with international intrigue whilst in his latest thriller, Kompromat, former politician Stanley Johnson explores the skulduggery that might just have gone on behind the scenes of the Brexit campaign.

From Arkle to McCoy, The Spectator’s turf columnist Robin Oakley, the former Director of Cheltenham Racecourse Edward Gillespie and the hugely successful trainer Martin Pipe bring alive the colourful world of those who ride and train jump horses. Reliving famous rivalries and memorable races, they paint a rich picture of the owners, jockeys and trainers who have dominated the sport.

Chaired by Jill Douglas.

The Nook £8*

5.45–6.45pm

6.15–7.15pm

5–6pm

L147

Travel & Adventure

The British have always been amongst the most-travelled nationalities, keen both to explore each corner of our windswept archipelago and to venture further abroad.

The travel expert Adrian Phillips talks to historian Nigel Leask about the 18th century writer Thomas Pennant who inspired public interest in the ‘peripheries’ of Britain, and to Chloe Chard (Pleasure and Guilt on the Grand Tour), who documents the adventures of the young aristocrats who set out to explore Europe as a rite of passage.

5.15–6.15pm

L148

Poetry

The Letters Of Sylvia Plath Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Literary critic Erica Wagner (Ariel’s Gift) and poet Clare Pollard join Faber Poetry Editor Matthew Hollis to discuss the landmark publication of Volume One of The Letters of Sylvia Plath. With correspondence spanning 1940–1956, the letters follow Plath’s adolescence; her successful but turbulent undergraduate years at Smith College; the move to England and Cambridge University; and her meeting and marrying Ted Hughes along with her extraordinary literary development, including the genesis of some of her most-admired poems.

64

5.30–6.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L150

L152

Psychology

Lifestyle

How Creativity Can Change The World

Kirstie Allsopp

The Inkpot £10*

Whether it’s locating the perfect property or beautifying interiors, Kirstie Allsopp has a reputation for finding and creating dream homes. Now, she moves into the kitchen with her first cookbook Kirstie’s Real Kitchen. She talks to Tim Hubbard.

Our relentless drive to create makes us unique among living creatures. What is special about the human brain that enables us to innovate?

Why don’t animals choreograph dances, build escalators or invent speedboats? Join composer Anthony Brandt and neuroscientist David Eagleman (The Runaway Species) as they explore the need for novelty, what possible futures may bring and look at how, through understanding our ability to innovate, we can meet the challenge of remaking our constantly shifting world.

Long-term investment partners

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

6.30-7.30pm

L156

Festival Lates

Natalie Haynes: Stand-Up Classicist The Hive £9* Natalie Haynes, the Radio 4 star of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, brings her unique combination of stand-up and ancient history to the Festival. History has never been such fun!

*Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

TUESDAY 10 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 7–8.15pm

L155

8–10pm

Fiction

Lifestyle

Fiction At 7: Love And Obsession

Knackered Mums’ Night Out

The Nook £10* Ticket includes a glass of wine.

From two of the hottest writers in the contemporary fiction scene come provocative novels of obsession and love.

One of India’s boldest young writers, Meena Kandasamy’s When I Hit You tells a story where passion is overcome by power and turns to violence. 2017 Bailey’s Women’s Prize shortlisted author Gwendoline Riley’s First Love tells of hopelessness and hostility and an ongoing conflict between husband and wife. Are both of these nonetheless stories of love? Chaired by Steven Gale.

7.30–10pm

L158

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £15*

8-10.30pm

Book the babysitter, leave your partner at home and join our feisty panel as they share their funniest mum experiences providing uncensored advice for all mums! Join TV presenter and journalist Cherry Healey and settle in with a large glass of vino for a journey through the emotional highs and lows of motherhood with midwife and author of How To Grow a Baby and Push It Out Clemmie Hooper, Hurrah for Gin’s Katie Kirby and The Unmumsy Mum Sarah Turner.

L157

The Daffodil £50*

Ticket includes a three course dinner with matched wines.

Want to pick the perfect wine for dinner?

Wondering what to eat with a special bottle? Let Victoria Moore, awardwinning wine writer and weekly drinks columnist for the Telegraph be your guide as she shares tips from The Wine Dine Dictionary, a unique handbook which will help you make more informed choices about what to eat and drink.

Enjoy a delicious dinner with matched wines and let Victoria take you through not only what goes together, but why the combination works.

Pundemonium!

A Live Game Show Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Into innuendo? Dabble in doubleentendre? Then be pun-ctual for a literary Cheltenham special of London’s competitive cult comedy hit, Pundemonium! Guest pundits including writers, performers, comedians and poets compete alongside members of the public in a hilarious game show full of punishing linguistic challenges.

A live game show by Rachel Mars and Daniel Pitt for compulsive punners and their carers.

Interested in competing?

Email pundemoniumlive@gmail.com in advance with ‘Cheltenham’ in the subject line.

Lifestyle

Good Food, Good Wine With Victoria Moore

L153

Festival Lates

8–9pm

L159

Stage & Screen

Brian May Presents…

Queen in 3D

9–10.30pm

The Times Forum £15*

The Nook FREE

A unique opportunity to view the legendary guitarist’s personal snapshots of over four decades with Queen.

Moments from backstage, on the road and on stage are presented in stunning in 3D, accompanied by Brian’s recollections.

3D glasses will be provided.

Our popular open-mic session returns to the Festival, hosted by Caroline Sanderson.

Poetry, prose or fiction–bring along a five minute excerpt of your work to perform live on stage.

L154

Locally Sourced

You Heard It Here First

Submissions from 8.45pm.

65

WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room L168

L175

Death: A Dialogue

Michael Symmons Roberts

L180

L329

Ghosts Of The Tsunami

A QI Quiz With John Lloyd

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L162

L166

Lorenz: Breaking Hitler’s Code

L173

A Tale Of Three Cities: Istanbul

L179

The Archers

L187

The Great Partition

Robert Crampton And Andy McNab

The Daffodil L165

L176

Lunch With Miles Jupp

L186

Journeying Through Scotland’s Islands

Andina: Stories From The Andes

Feast Café L161

The Times Crossword

The Hive L188

Burning Eye Presents…

The Huddle L163

L172

Introduction To...

Voltaire

L178

Introduction To...

Voltaire

Chelt Writes

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L167

Patrick Barkham: Islander

L174

The Russian Revolution

L183

Chris Bonington: Ascent

L190

A Night Out For Knackered Dads

The Times Forum L164

Cecil Beaton

L169

L169 Can We All Be SuperAgers?

L217

Alastair Campbell

L182

L189

No Such Thing As A Fish

Ian Rankin: 30 Years Of Rebus

The Nook L170

L185

Cheltenham 300

Fiction At 7: First On The Scene

The Inkpot L171

Rachel Joyce And Sarah Winman

66

L177

Back In The Saddle

L184

Deaths Of The Poets

L191

Malachy Tallack

10pm

11pm

WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 11am–12pm

L161

The Times Crossword

11.30am

L163

A Very Short Introduction To...

Voltaire

Feast Café Bar FREE Make yourself comfy as The Times Crossword Editor Richard Rogan takes you through the mysteries of the day’s crossword puzzles with a helping hand or a tantalising hint where needed!

The Huddle FREE Arguably the defining personality of the European Enlightenment, Nicholas Cronk explores Voltaire’s remarkable career and demonstrates how his thinking is pivotal to both our understanding of the Enlightenment and modern French politics.

12–1pm

L164

Art & Design

Cecil Beaton

L162

History

Lorenz: Breaking Hitler’s Code Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Lorenz was Hitler’s top secret code machine. It was said to be even more complex and secure than Enigma. It was said it could never be broken. Betty O’Connell who worked at Bletchley Park talks to her son Paddy O’Connell about the secrets and ciphers of World War II, paying tribute to the crucial work of the codebreakers and the late Jerry Roberts.

In conversation with Steven Gale.

A whirlwind of talent, the fashion, portrait and war photographer and Academy award-winning costume designer was also was a sparkling diarist and lover of both men and women, including Greta Garbo. We join Joanna Ling, head of the Cecil Beaton archive at Sotheby’s, the curator Robin Muir (Vogue 100: A Century of Style) and Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Love Cecil: A Journey With Cecil Beaton) to discuss his extraordinary life and celebrate the beauty of his work.

12.30–2.30pm

L166

Ancient World

A Tale Of Three Cities: Istanbul Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

The Times Forum £10*

11.30am–12.30pm

1.30–2.30pm

L165

Lifestyle

Award-winning author and broadcaster Bettany Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations – Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul – of one of the world’s greatest cities. In conversation with Nicolette Jones.

1.45–2.45pm

L167

Nature

Patrick Barkham: Islander

Lunch With Miles Jupp

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9*

The Daffodil £30*

The nature writer recounts his journey around the smaller islands of the British Isles, meeting inhabitants – from nuns to puffins – as he discovers what it means to be an islander and how this defines British identity.

Ticket includes two course lunch and a glass of wine.

Miles Jupp’s alter-ego Damien Trench, cookery writer and star of BBC Radio 4’s comedy In and Out of the Kitchen takes us on a journey through his childhood and his early inspirations – both culinary and otherwise – with occasional diversions to the present.

Join him for a delicious lunch using his own favourite recipes from his new memoir, Eggs and Soldiers, as he shares stories... in characteristic detail.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2–3pm

L168

Psychology

2–3pm

Box Office 01242 850270 L170

Locally Sourced

Death: A Dialogue Cheltenham 300 Town Hall, Pillar Room £9*

The Nook £8*

Death, the one inevitability thing in life–yet we still struggle to discuss it. Through their latest books, Cathy Rentzenbrink (A Manual for Heartache) and Julia Samuel (Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death and Surviving) are bringing the subject of grief to the conversational forefront and, by offering compassion, experience and coping mechanisms, are teaching us that life does, indeed, go on.

Poets from Cheltenham Poetry Society read from their new anthology, Cheltenham 300; poems and photographs to celebrate 300 years of the town as a spa.

2.30pm

L172

A Very Short Introduction To...

Voltaire The Huddle FREE For full information see page 67.

3.30–4.30pm

L173

Stage & Screen

The Archers Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

2.15–3.15pm

L171

Fiction

Rachel Joyce And Sarah Winman The Inkpot £9* 2–3pm

L169

Lifestyle

Can We All Be Super-Agers?

The Times Forum £9* As they ease into their 70s and 80s the impressive and intrepid Super-Agers continue to challenge themselves by proving their mental and physical agility. We are joined by Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, Ray Matthews who, starting on his 75th birthday, ran 75 marathons in 75 days, and the Green Goddess Diana Moran (Sod Sitting, Get Moving).

68

The two bestselling novelists discuss their heartwarming and beautiful new works and the creation of enduring characters with Caroline Sanderson.

Author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce’s The Music Shop is about learning to listen, learning to feel and choosing to be brave despite the odds. Known for When God Was a Rabbit, Sarah Winman’s Tin Man is a love letter to human kindness and friendship, loss and living.

For millions in the UK, The Archers is an indispensable part of daily life – but why exactly does it have us in its grip? We go behind the scenes of the world’s longest running drama series, a British institution with a theme tune that Billy Connolly wants to be the National Anthem. The actor Tim Bentinck (Being David Archer) and Cara Courage, co-founder of the annual Academic Archers conference, join the broadcaster Paddy O’Connell to discuss the radio soap, its characters and its most iconic storylines.

3.45–4.45pm

L174

History

The Russian Revolution: October 1917 The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* To mark the centenary of the October Russian Revolution, writer, journalist and political activist Tariq Ali (The Dilemmas of Lenin) and renowned historians Robert Service (Last of the Tsars) and Yuri Slezkine (The House of Government) delve into the royal and political conflicts that resulted in Bolshevik rule. Chaired by Steven Gale.

WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 4–5pm

L175

Poetry

4.15–5.15pm

L177

Fiction

Two of our leading poets read from their new work: In Mancunia, Michael Symmons Roberts’ first collection since the Forward and Costa Award-winning Drysalter, he creates both a real and an unreal city – partly rooted in Manchester, partly an imagined fallen utopia. In Mama Amazonica, four-time TS Eliot shortlisted poet Pascale Petit celebrates the beauty of the wild in a powerful collection set between a psychiatric ward and the Amazon rainforest, named as the Poetry Book Society’s Choice for Autumn.

4–5.30pm

L176

The Inkpot £8* Jockey Declan Murphy (Centaur) was at the height of his career when he fell at the final hurdle at Haydock Park – incurring injuries so severe that his last rites were read and the Racing Post prepared his obituary. Clover Stroud’s idyllic Cotswold childhood was shattered when a horrific riding accident left her mother permanently brain-damaged, as she powerfully documents in The Wild Other.

Together with Caroline Sanderson, they discuss coping with immense trauma, the catharsis of memoir and their unshakeable love of riding.

Travel & Adventure

4.15–5.15pm

Journeying Through Scotland’s Islands

Current Affairs

The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes Scottish afternoon tea.

Islay, Skye, Orkney, Shetland… the names alone conjure images of wind-whipped beauty and romantic isolation. Steeped in Gaelic traditions, Scotland’s quietseeming islands boast rich histories and their magnificent land and seascapes have touched generations of travellers, artists and writers. Enjoy a traditional Scottish tea as singer-songwriter Malachy Tallack (60 Degrees North and The Un-Discovered Islands) plays music inspired by the islands and, with author Madeleine Bunting (Love of Country) reflects on the magnetic pull of these remote corners of our land. Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

L178

Locally Sourced

Michael Symmons Declan Murphy Roberts And And Clover Pascale Petit Stroud: Back In The Saddle Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

4.30–5pm

Cheltenham Writes!

The Huddle FREE To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Amanda Reynolds reads from her new novel Close To Me and talks about her experience as a writer.

L328

Alastair Campbell: The Diaries Volume 6 The Times Forum £10* In this candid interview the writer and influential political strategist recalls the end of the Blair years and the transition to Gordon Brown’s troubled premiership. Aside from politics, he reflects on his continuing mental health struggles, his attempts to rebuild a normal family life, and working with elite sportsmen including the British and Irish Lions.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

5.45–6.45pm

L179

History

The Great Partition Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* To commemorate the 70th anniversary of The Great Partition and the formation of Pakistan, writer, journalist and political activist Tariq Ali joins acclaimed historians Yasmin Khan (The Great Partition) and Barney White-Spunner (Partition) to discuss the seismic events of 1947 and the experiences of those that lived through them.

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WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER 6–7pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L180

Current Affairs

Ghosts Of The Tsunami Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

6.30–7.30pm

L183

Travel & Adventure

In March 2011, an earthquake sent an enormous tsunami smashing into the coast of Japan. In conversation with Julia Wheeler, The Times journalist Richard Lloyd Parry shares his heart-breaking account of an epic tragedy and how a nation faced a catastrophe.

Chris Bonington: Ascent The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* Still climbing and trekking in his eighties, the renowned mountaineer recounts his greatest challenges: both the incredible physical climbs he is known for and the personal obstacles he has had to overcome.

7–8.15pm

L185

Fiction

Fiction At 7: First On The Scene The Nook £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine.

6.15–7.15pm

L182

Stage & Screen

No Such Thing As A Fish Live The Times Forum £12* With 1.2 million downloads a week, a spin-off BBC2 TV series, and having been named one of iTunes’ top ten most downloaded podcasts of 2016, this has been a thrilling three years for the No Such Thing a Fish team. Join them for a special live version of the show, as they premiere content from their first book which is, quite literally, The Book of the Year. From the bizarre to the hilarious, Dan Schreiber, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and James Harkin will entertain with extraordinary facts from 2017. “...knowledge-packed and riotously funny” The Times

Long-term investment partners

70

6.30–7.30pm

L184

Poetry

Deaths Of The Poets The Inkpot £8* Can a great poem only come when its creator’s life is on an emotional knife-edge?

From Chatterton’s Pre-Raphaelite demise to Sylvia Plath’s desperate suicide, the deaths of poets have frequently cast a shadow on their work, and have helped to create an image of them as melancholic and self-destructive.

Poets Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley set out to examine this myth and question what, ultimately, is the price of poetry.

Suspenseful, dark and atmospheric, we take a look at two of this year’s most exciting crime fiction debuts. Joseph Knox (Sirens) and Ali Land (Good Me Bad Me) join Cathy Rentzenbrink to present their extraordinary new works and discuss characters, tension and creating the ultimate plot twist.

7.45–8.45pm

L187

Lifestyle

Robert Crampton And Andy McNab Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Bestselling author Andy McNab (Line of Fire) commanded the famed SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero during the Gulf War. On leaving the SAS, he was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier. By anyone’s standards, McNab is an alpha male. Journalist Robert Crampton (How to Be a Beta Male) is not. For 16 years his column in The Times has contemplated modern masculinity and charted his efforts to make his wife admire him. They discuss what being a man means to them.

*Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

WEDNESDAY 11 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 7.30–9.30pm

L186

8–10pm

L329

8.30–10pm

L190

Travel & Adventure

Festival Lates

Lifestyle

Andina: Stories From The Andes

A QI Quiz With John Lloyd

A Night Out For Knackered Dads

The Daffodil £50*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £10*

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £12*

John Lloyd, creator of the fact-fuelled phenomenon that is QI, launches this year’s book 1,423 QI Facts to Bowl You Over with a fiendish and witty quiz that will get your brain cells tingling. John will also take you behind the scenes at QI – and answer your questions about the BBC2 programme, hosted by Sandi Toksvig, due on your screens with a new series this autumn.

You’ve dealt with a poonami, read Fox in Socks four times and picked dried spinach off the wall… and you’ve only been home for twenty minutes. Come and unwind as our panel share fatherhood anecdotes and dispense well-meaning but possibly useless advice: Matt Coyne’s hilarious blog Man vs Baby speaks to imperfect dads everywhere (Dummy); Stuart Heritage (Don’t Be a Dick, Pete) detailed his son’s first year in his column, Man with a Pram, and Tim Dowling tackles the subject with candour and the driest humour in Dad You Suck. Chaired by comedian Miles Jupp.

Ticket includes a three course dinner and a drink on arrival.

Join us for an exclusive event, as awardwinning chef and author Martin Morales brings his new cookbook, Andina: The Heart of Peruvian Food to life. Enjoy the coming together of an exquisite multi-sensory dinner and a biographical one-man show from the pioneer of Peruvian food. With a specially created three-course-menu full of flavours, stories, live cooking and Latin vibes we travel deep into the Andes to celebrate its magnificent cuisine, culture, people and stories.

The bar will be open throughout this event.

Teams of 4–6 are ideal.

8.15–9.15pm

L189

Fiction

Ian Rankin: Thirty Years Of Rebus The Times Forum £10*

8–10pm

L188

Festival Lates

Burning Eye Books Presents...

John Rebus is one of crime fiction’s greatest and best-loved characters. His creator joins us in conversation with James Naughtie to salute the irascible old rogue,his legacy and his taste in music on this special anniversary.

9–10pm

L191

Festival Lates

Malachy Tallack The Nook £12* Back by popular demand... Shetland author and singer-songwriter Malachy Tallack returns to Cheltenham to perform folk-rock from his five albums, as well as more recent material.

The Hive £10* Burning Eye are to Spoken Word what City Lights were to the Beat Generation: indispensable champions of a literary movement that is changing the world of poetry. Publishers Jenn Hart and Clive Birnie introduce a lively poetry showcase featuring Kate Fox, Deanna Rodger, Megan Beech and Keith Jarrett to launch Burning Eye’s new anthology marking five years in the business: The Best Slam-Stand Up-PerformanceSpoken Word Poetry Book in the World plus their poets’ individual collections.

The bar will be open throughout this event.

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THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room L194

The Yorkshire Shepherdess

L198

L206

The Great War: Passchendaele

Richard Beard

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L195

Paul Nash: Visions Of War

L201

The Secret Gardeners

L208

Richard Dannatt

L215

L220

Flags: The Power And The Politics

London To London Via The World

The Daffodil L209

Afternoon Tea With Alastair Sawday

Feast Café L193

The Times Crossword

The Hive L202

L218

El Andaluz: The Golden Age Of Spain?

Rob Auton And Elvis McGonagall

The Huddle L196

L205

Introduction To...

Clinical Psychology

L212

Introduction To...

Clinical Psychology

Chelt Writes

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L197

Peter Stanford: Martin Luther

L203

L121

Claire Tomalin: A Biographer’s Life

L216

Roy Hattersley: The Catholics

L222

Roger Scruton

Hunted In Sudan

The Times Forum L199

Jeremy Bowen: Our Man In The Middle East

L210

L224

Welcome To Just A Minute!

Al Murray The Pub Landlord: Let’s Go Backwards Together

The Nook L192

Hidden Truths

L204

L213

Canongate Proof Party

L219

Anna Saunders And Tania Hershman

Fiction At 7: Is This The Real Life?

The Inkpot L200 Roam Alone

72

L207

Blake And The Romantics

L214

Sibling Rivalries

11pm

THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 10.30–11.30am

11.30am

L192

Hidden Truths The Nook £8* The characters in What Was Rescued are haunted by a childhood trauma; when a past betrayal is revealed, the impact threatens to shatter their lives. In Dare to Remember, a victim struggles to make sense of a brutal attack, and realises a truth she can’t escape from. Jane Bailey and Susanna Beard reveal how shockwaves from a single event ripple through the lives of their characters and discuss the emotional fallout when buried secrets finally surface. In conversation with Nicolette Jones.

11am–12pm

L193

The Times Crossword Feast Café Bar FREE Make yourself comfy as The Times Crossword Editor Richard Rogan takes you through the mysteries of the day’s crossword puzzles with a helping hand or a tantalising hint where needed!

L196

A Very Short Introduction To...

Clinical Psychology

Locally Sourced

The Huddle FREE

11.15am–12.15pm

L194

Susan Llewellyn introduces the world of clinical psychologists and their patients, exploring how the discipline differs from psychiatry, why some critique it as an instrument of social control and whether it can be considered a science.

Nature

The Yorkshire Shepherdess Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* The bestselling author Amanda Owen describes her farming year and the challenges that come from living at Ravenseat, the remote Yorkshire hill farm she shares with husband Clive, nine children and 1,000 sheep. Chaired

by Cathy Rentzenbrink.

12–1pm

Martin Luther The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £8* To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Peter Stanford (Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident) discusses the political and religious upheaval that changed the course of history.

1.15–2.15pm 11.30am–12.30pm

L195

The Story Of British Art

Paul Nash: Visions Of War Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* ‘I am no longer an artist, I am a messenger to those who want the war to go on for ever…and may it burn their lousy souls’. Paul Nash’s haunting depictions of the battlefield brought home to a nation the horrors of war and changed the course of landscape painting. Art historian David Boyd Haycock reflects on a pioneering life and a powerful legacy.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

L197

Faith

L198

History

The Great War: Passchendaele Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* Allan Mallinson (Too Important for the Generals: How Britain Nearly Lost the First World War) is chronicler of the Great War for The Times. He examines Passchendaele and the turning point of the war.

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THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER 1.45–2.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270 2–3pm

L199

Classic Literature

Jeremy Bowen: Our Man In The Middle East

Claire Tomalin: A Biographer’s Life The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £8*

The Times Forum £10*

The acclaimed biographer of Austen, Dickens and Hardy turns her critical eye to another fascinating literary life: her own. With Caroline Sanderson she remembers moments of national literary history as well as intense personal tragedy.

One of our most distinguished and courageous war reporters, Jeremy Bowen has dealt with death, his own depression and near constant danger. He discusses his recent BBC Radio 4 series with the former BBC Gulf Correspondent Julia Wheeler.

2–3pm 1.45–2.45pm

L200

Travel & Adventure

Roam Alone The Inkpot £8* Have you ever stayed at home when a travel companion dropped out, but cursed your lack of courage? From cycling in Shetland to power cuts in Laos, Roam Alone is a celebration of inspiring writers who went it alone and lived to tell the tale. Leading travel publisher and author Hilary Bradt is joined by contributors Jan Leeming and Hannah Stuart-Leach for a session to inspire you to go and see the world, whatever your age and whatever your circumstance.

L202

History

2–3.30pm

El Andaluz: The Golden Age Of Spain?

Fiction

The Hive £8* Islamic Spain saw a golden age of innovation, learning and religious harmony between Muslims, Christians and Jews. Giles Tremlett (Isabella of Castile) and Amira Bennison, Middle Eastern specialist at the University of Cambridge discuss the events that led to the expulsion of the Moorish population under the reign of Isabella of Castile.

2–3pm

L201

Lifestyle

The Secret Gardeners Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* From Anish Kapoor to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jeremy Irons to Julian Fellowes, journalist Victoria Summerley reveals the private gardening passions of some of Britain’s foremost creatives in this beautifully illustrated tour of their private sanctuaries.

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L203

Current Affairs

L204

Canongate Proof Party The Nook £15*

Ticket includes refreshments and a goody bag of limited edition proofs.

Meet three of 2018’s most promising authors from one of the country’s most exciting independent publishers – and leave with early copies of their books! Sal is the perfectly crafted debut of English teacher Mick Kitson; Costa Short Story Award-winner Jess Kidd has “imagination to die for” (Guardian) and uses it to gripping effect in The Hoarder; and The Half Sister is the intense second novel from Catherine Chanter, author of Richard and Judy pick The Well. Chaired by Cathy Rentzenbrink.

THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

3.45–4.45pm

L207

The Story Of British Art

Blake And The Romantics The Inkpot £10* Poet, painter, engraver and visionary.

Considered mad by his peers and largely disregarded at the time of his death, Blake’s contribution to the British cultural landscape now goes unquestioned.

Academic David Fallon (Blake, Myth and Enlightenment) and Tate Liverpool’s Darren Pih, curator of the recent joint William Blake and Tracey Emin exhibition take a closer look at the work of an artist who gave us Jerusalem, key illustrations of Milton and Dante and the remarkable Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

2.30pm

L205

A Very Short Introduction To...

Clinical Psychology The Huddle FREE For full information see page 73.

3–4pm

4–5pm

L208

History

Richard Dannatt Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* Former Chief of the General Staff, General Lord Richard Dannatt (Boots on the Ground) in conversation with The Times contributor Allan Mallinson about the British Army yesterday, today and tomorrow.

L206

4–5.30pm

Afternoon Tea With Alastair Sawday The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes afternoon tea with finger sandwiches.

Campaigner, publisher and explorer Alastair Sawday has spent his life travelling. With Julia Wheeler he discusses his memoir, Travelling Light, a charming account of his stories from the road and the pleasures of slow travel.

Psychology

4–5pm

The Sunday Times Must Read: Richard Beard

Stage & Screen

Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate joins the author to discuss The Day That Went Missing, a heart-rending memoir about a life unspoken after the sudden death of Richard’s younger brother and how he is beginning to make sense of it all.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

L209

Travel & Adventure

L210

Welcome To Just A Minute!

The Times Forum £15* Without repetition, deviation or hesitation, join Nicholas Parsons as he presents a special festival edition of the BBC Radio 4 show that has broadcast over 900 episodes, the first on 22nd December 1967. Writer and broadcaster Pam Ayres, journalist Paul Blezard and comedian Marcus Brigstocke battle it out to win the JAM crown!

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THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER 4.15–5.15pm

L211

5.45–6.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270 L214

6.15–7.15pm

L216

Faith

Psychology

Psychology

Roy Hattersley: The Catholics

Sibling Rivalries

Roger Scruton: On Human Nature

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £8* Prosecuted, persecuted and penalised, the survival of the Catholics in Britain is the triumph of more than simple faith. As the former Labour politician and historian Roy Hattersley explains, it is the victory of moral and spiritual unbending certainty.

4.30–5pm

L212

Locally Sourced

The Inkpot £8* Relationships with siblings are often the longest of our lives, bringing with them conflict as much as comfort. Bickering, squabbling and fighting over possessions is commonplace... and that’s just the grownups. Journalist Stuart Heritage, author of the hilarious and revealing Don’t Be A Dick, Pete and psychologist Linda Blair (Birth Order) reflect on the complications of this deeply bonded relationship with author Cathy Rentzenbrink (The Last Act of Love).

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £8* In an original and radical defence of human uniqueness, emphasising the importance of freedom, value and accountability in our shared world, acclaimed writer and philosopher Roger Scruton (On Human Nature) argues that we are not simply human animals.

Cheltenham Writes!

The Huddle FREE To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Tony Whelpton reads from A Change of Mind and talks about his experience as a writer.

4.30–5.30pm

L213

Poetry

Anna Saunders And Tania Hershman The Nook £8* Anna Saunders (‘a poet of quite remarkable gifts’ – Bernard O’Donoghue) reads from Burne Jones and the Fox – the true story of the Pre-Raphaelite artist’s love affair with muse Maria Zambaco, alongside new poems from the spine-tingling Ghosting for Beginners. Award-winning short story writer, scientist and poet Tania Hershman joins us to read from her recent Nine Arches Press collection Terms & Conditions and her shorter fiction from Some of Us Glow More Than Others, in a remarkable genre and form-hopping performance.

6–7pm

Flags: The Power And The Politics Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* Flags represent the politics of high power as well as those of the mob. They are symbols that unite and divide, emblems that some rally round or even die for.

What does ours mean and how is it brandished today? Journalist Tim Marshall (Worth Dying For) and author Nick Groom (The Union Jack) explore the history and identity of our Union Jack with broadcaster Dharshini David, and reveal how political and national identities are forged by our flags.

Long-term investment partners

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L215

Current Affairs

6.45–7.45pm

L218

Festival Lates

Rob Auton And Elvis McGonagall The Hive £8* Known for his absurd brand of stand-up and poetry, Rob Auton is one of the Edinburgh Fringe’s most consistently successful acts, with a run of five-star reviewed, sell-out shows. He performs from Petrol Honey and In Heaven the Onions Make You Laugh alongside standup poet, armchair revolutionary and World Slam Champion Elvis McGonagall whose new collection Viva Loch Lomond! collects together the greatest hits of an acclaimed performance career, covering everything from Scottish independence to William Wallace’s taste for cheese.

THURSDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 7–8.15pm

L219

Fiction

8–9pm

L220

Travel & Adventure

Fiction At 7: Is Sarah Outen: This The Real Life? London To London Via The World The Nook £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine.

To what extent does fiction reflect reality?

Douglas Board and Amanda Craig are among the first novelists to tackle the EU referendum and its implications. Board’s Times of Lies is a darkly comic political thriller and a terrifyingly believable portrait of an alternative Britain. Craig’s The Lie of the Land is a satirical take on the disparity between town and country which highlights the emotional levers that led to the Brexit vote.

They join Steven Gale to discuss their novels.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* British adventurer Sarah Outen is known for her bold journeys by land and sea. She discusses her latest challenge: 4.5 years to row, kayak and cycle around the Northern Hemisphere – a journey of some 25,000 miles.

8.30–10.30pm

L224

Festival Lates

Al Murray The Pub Landlord: Let’s Go Backwards Together The Times Forum £25* Publican. Politician. Other thing beginning with P. Philosopher, yeah, that. The nation’s critically acclaimed bar-based-braveheart embarks on a common sense campaign to re-Great Britain. Watch the one man who will answer the call of destiny even though it’s an unlisted number. The one man who isn’t afraid to say no to women ordering anything other than a glass of white wine (or fruit based drink).

8.15–9.15pm

L222

Current Affairs

Hunted In Sudan

“A supremely polished performer” ★★★★★ Mail on Sunday This event includes an interval.

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* “They are going to kill us,” Daoud said to me in a whisper… In December 2016 the film-maker Phil Cox and his translator Daoud Hari were kidnapped, beaten, tortured and held prisoner in various locations in Sudan. At home, his wife Giovanna and his family were leading the huge efforts to get him released. Phil Cox and Giovanna Stopponi join Jeremy Bowen to discuss their traumatic experience, the resilience they both needed and the film that Phil made for Channel 4 News on his release.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

77

FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room L228

L233

The Art And Drama Of Renaissance

L239

Nicci French: Partners In Crime

L252

Sasha Dugdale And Sandeel Parmar

Inua Ellams’ Club Night

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L225

L232

Peter Snow And Ann Macmillan

L242

Britain’s Best Railway Stations

L249

Alison Weir

Science (ish)

The Daffodil L327

L230

The Times Brexit Breakfast: Boomtime For Business

L240

Claridge’s: Luxury In The Heart Of Mayfair

L253

What Larks!

The Boarding School Tea

No. 131 The Promenade

Thomasina Miers

Hotel du Vin L331

L258

Liz Earle

Festival Club (10pm–1am)

Feast Café L226

The Times Crossword

The Hive L246

Inua Ellams: An Evening With An Immigrant

L254

Explorers’ Sketchbooks

The Huddle L227

L236

Introduction To...

Branding

L243

Introduction To...

Branding

Chelt Writes

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L234

Rowan Williams And Salley Vickers

L238

L248

Fergal Keane: Wounds

Paul Johnson On Making Choices

L256

Interesting Times

The Times Forum L231

L237

The Spy In Fact And Fiction

L244

Simon Schama

L250

Who Really Runs Russia?

L257

Richard Osman

Matt Lucas

The Nook L245

L251

Islamic Design Workshop

Fiction At 7: Muslims In Love

The Inkpot L229

The Times Live

78

L235

William Morris And Islamic Design

L241

Confessions Of The Bolton Forger

L247

Edward Lear: A Life Of Art And Nonsense

L255

Brendan Cox And Jess Phillips

FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 8.30–10am

L327

Current Affairs

Brexit Breakfast: Boomtime For Business The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes a cooked breakfast.

Is Brexit an opportunity or a threat for British business? As Britain readies itself for life outside the EU we debate how the economic landscape might change. How will trade deals be made, and with who? Will brand Britain survive and thrive? The Times business columnist and Sky presenter Ian King joins branding expert Robert Jones (Branding: A Very Short Introduction) in conversation with business expert Dharshini David to consider the options and answer your questions.

11am–12pm

L226

The Times Crossword

11.30am

L227

A Very Short Introduction To...

Branding The Huddle FREE Coca-Cola, Nike, Google, Harry Potter… every day we’re exposed to more than 3500 brand messages. Robert Jones discusses the rising omnipresence of brands and analyses how they work their magic.

11.45am–12.45pm

L228

Fiction

The Art And Drama Of Renaissance Italy Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

Make yourself comfy as The Times Crossword Editor Richard Rogan takes you through the mysteries of the day’s crossword puzzles with a helping hand or a tantalising hint where needed!

12–1pm

L229

Current Affairs

The Times Live The Inkpot £9*

11am–12pm

L225

History

Peter Snow And Ann Macmillan Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

L230

Lifestyle

Claridge’s: Luxury In The Heart Of Mayfair The Daffodil £30*

Sarah Dunant’s renaissance novels bring to life the beauty and corruption of Italian history. This sumptuously illustrated lecture shows the paintings and places that inspired her latest novel, In The Name of the Family, from enclosed convents to the bedrooms of courtesans and Borgia popes.

Feast Café Bar FREE

12.30–2.30pm

In a fascinating debate now firmly established as a popular fixture at Cheltenham, Deputy Editor Emma Tucker and The Times leader writing team, including columnists David Aaronovitch, Philip Collins, Daniel Finkelstein and Raphael Hogarth discuss the hot topics of the day and decide the subjects of the famous leading articles for the next edition.

Ticket includes a two course lunch and a glass of wine. “...not that I intend to die, but when I do, I don’t want to go to heaven, I want to go to Claridge’s” Spencer Tracy.

Claridge’s has long been known for exceptional dining. Executive Chef Martyn Nail’s Claridge’s: The Cookbook celebrates that heritage sharing their best-loved dishes. He brings the extraordinary experience of dining at Claridge’s to Cheltenham and is joined

by Julia Leonard, Food and Beverage Manager, to share what happens behind the scenes at one of the world’s most famous luxury hotels.

Historians Peter Snow and his wife Ann MacMillan (War Stories) share stories of ordinary people caught up in the turmoil of war; stories that span four centuries across four continents and focus on those who have pushed the boundaries of love, bravery, suffering and terror beyond the imaginable. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

79

FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER 12.30–1.30pm

L231

1.45–2.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270 L233

Fiction

Fiction

The Spy In Fact And Fiction

Nicci French: Partners In Crime

The Times Forum £10*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

From George Smiley to James Bond, from Richard Hannay to Carrie Mathison, the spy has forever been a character to capture the imagination on the page and screen. But what reality do these fictional worlds portray?

Allan Mallinson is joined by BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera, author and The Times columnist Ben Macintyre as well as author and former Director General of MI5 Stella Rimington to discuss how true to life spy novels and films really are and whether secret agents take their martinis shaken, not stirred.

Intense and atmospheric, dark and mysterious, the bestselling titles of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French have gripped audiences around the world. These partners in crime share the secrets behind their unique and successful co-writing partnership.

1.45–2.45pm

L234

Psychology

Rowan Williams And Salley Vickers The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* Former Archbishop of Canterbury, poet and critic, Rowan Williams (The Tragic Imagination) and writer and critic Salley Vickers (Cousins) discuss the versions of tragedy explored in their new books. Through experience and reflection, can we come to find out more about ourselves and the world we live in?

1–2pm

L232

Travel & Adventure

Britain’s Best Railway Stations Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* From Waterloo to Whitby, St Pancras to Stirling, these are the marvellous, often undersung places that link our nation.

Simon Jenkins tells the story behind the development, triumphs and follies of these very British creations.

80

2–3pm

L235

Art & Design

William Morris And Islamic Design The Inkpot £10* Broadcaster Navid Akhtar talks to Qaisra Khan, Islamic Arts curator, and Rowan Bain, curator at William Morris Gallery, about what influence Islamic design and Islamic values had on the life of Victorian designer, poet and craftsman William Morris.

4.30–5.30pm

L245

Art & Design

Islamic Design Workshop The Nook £10* Eric Broug (Islamic Geometric Design) explains how the rules and design principles of Islamic design make beautiful and complex compositions.

Only the ability to draw lines and circles is required.

2.30pm

L236

A Very Short Introduction To...

Branding The Huddle FREE For full information see page 79.

FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2.30–3.30pm

4–5.30pm

L237

History

What Larks!

The Boarding School Tea

Simon Schama The Times Forum £10*

The Daffodil £20*

Distinguished historian Simon Schama introduces Belonging: The Story of the Jews; a magnificent cultural history navigating miracles and massacres, wandering, discrimination, harmony and tolerance.

Ticket includes afternoon tea with finger sandwiches.

3.45–4.45pm

L238

Current Affairs

Fergal Keane: Wounds The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* How do people live with the act of killing?

In Wounds, BBC Foreign Correspondent Fergal Keane tells the devastating history of murder and betrayal that tore an Irish town apart. He joins us in conversation with Julia Wheeler.

4–5pm

L331

4–5pm

Lifestyle

Poetry

Liz Earle

Sasha Dugdale And Sandeep Parmar

No. 131 The Promenade £25*

Ticket includes a glass of Prosecco and a selection of light nibbles.

Join us for an exclusive opportunity to meet Liz Earle, founder of the beauty company Liz Earle Beauty Co. in the intimate surroundings of Lucky Onion’s No.131, Cheltenham’s most luxurious boutique hotel. One of the world’s most respected authorities on natural health, wellbeing and beauty, Liz now reveals a brand-new plan to detox, cleanse and nourish the digestive system to improve your inner health and outer beauty. The Good Gut Guide provides practical advice on how best to address your needs and goals – whether these be specific to life stage, a longstanding health issue or weight loss.

L240

Lifestyle

L239

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* A chance to hear two acclaimed poets read from their recent collections. In Eidolon, partly a modern revision of the Helen myth, Sandeep Parmar’s poems meditate on the visible and invisible forces of Western civilisation from classical antiquity to present-day America. In Joy, (the titular piece of which was awarded the prestigious Forward Prize for Best Single Poem), Sasha Dugdale demonstrates an urgent approach to historical and current geopolitics in a collection that has been named as The Poetry Book Society’s Winter Choice.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

In this wonderfully entertaining, evocative and sometimes eye-opening conversation authors Ysenda Maxtone Graham (Terms & Conditions) and Julie Welch (Too Marvellous For Words) recall the eccentric world of girls’ boarding schools in the post-war decades.

While their brothers at Eton and Harrow were doing quadratic equations, girls were learning how to lay the table for lunch.

From taking your pony to school, to midnight feasts in freezing dorms – they look back with a mixture of horror and humour with Paul Blezard.

4–5pm

L241

Art & Design

Confessions Of The Bolton Forger The Inkpot £8* Working out of a shed in his parents’ garden and with no formal art training, Shaun Greenhalgh (A Forger’s Tale) fooled the art world with his remarkable forgeries. He discusses his extraordinary story with Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak.

4.15–5.15pm

L242

History

Alison Weir Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* No damsels in distress here! Historians Alison Weir (Queens of the Conquest) and Sarah Gristwood (Game of Queens) introduce queens throughout history who fought to secure power and succeeded in wielding it to their advantage.

81

FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER 4.30–5pm

L243

L246

Locally Sourced

Festival Lates

Cheltenham Writes!

Inua Ellams: An Evening With An Immigrant

The Huddle FREE To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Andrew Bate reads from his work Two Spiders and talks about his experience as a writer.

4.30–5.30pm

L244

Current Affairs

Who Really Runs Russia?

The Times Forum £10*

6–7pm

The Hive £8*

L247

Classic Literature

Edward Lear: A Life Of Art And Nonsense The Inkpot £8* A genius of nonsense, Edward Lear was also a fine artist and a lifelong traveller. Acclaimed biographer Jenny Uglow brings us a joyful and moving appreciation of his extraordinary life and work.

6.15–7.15pm

L248

The Cheltenham Lectures

Paul Johnson On Making Choices

Born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother in what is now considered as Boko Haram territory, at 12 Inua Ellams left Nigeria for England. In his acclaimed solo show, Ellams recounts his funny, poignant and sometimes ridiculous story – one that has seen him escape fundamentalist Islam, perform at the National Theatre and drink wine with the Queen, all the while without a country to belong to, or a place to call home.

6.30–7.30pm

Is Vladimir Putin still an unassailable force in Russian politics? As Russia heads to the polls in 2018, what can these elections tell us about where Russia is going, Russian foreign policy and future relations with the West?

Alicky Denton, an expert on Russian business, Richard Connolly, economics specialist at Chatham House and Andrew Monaghan from Oxford University discuss politics and power inside Russia with Rodric Braithwaite, former British Ambassador to Moscow and author of Armageddon and Paranoia (2017)

82

6–7.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* In general you can’t both have your cake and eat it. The Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies looks at some of the economic choices we will have to make soon. From social care to immigration, the single market, and levels of taxation – what are the costs as well as the upsides of policy choices?

L249

Stage & Screen

Science(ish): The Peculiar Science Behind Movies Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Just like you, Rick Edwards and Michael Brooks have watched movies and been sucked into those fictional worlds. Unlike you, they’ve written an amusing book unpicking these much-loved stories to reveal the science within. From the dream to bring back extinct species or the uncertainty of whether we’re living in a computer simulation, the popular podcasters address some of your most burning questions from Jurassic Park to The Matrix, live on stage.

6.30–7.30pm

L250

Stage & Screen

Richard Osman: The World Cup Of Everything The Times Forum £12* Best sitcom ever? Hmmm, ‘Only Fools And Horses’ or ‘Blackadder’ Best animal? Dog! No wait, cat! No wait, dog!

Do you disagree? Play along with Richard Osman as he brings The World Cup Of Everything to Cheltenham! You will be arguing about and voting on the most important questions of our time...

Who wins? You decide!

FRIDAY 13 OCTOBER 8.30–11.30pm

L252

Festival Lates

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £12*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £12*

7–8.15pm

L251

Fiction At 7: Muslims In Love The Nook £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine or a soft drink.

Ayisha Malik (Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, The Other Half of Happiness) and Shelina Janmohamed (Love in a Headscarf) discuss the importance of writing Muslim women as the protagonists in popular romance. Chaired

by Alex Clark.

Start your weekend right with Inua Ellams’ Rhythm and Poetry Party – a nostalgic, no-clutter, no-fuss, straightup evening of hip-hop-inspired poems and favourite hip-hop songs, featuring live performances by Caleb Femi, Arielle John, Paul Cree, Malaika Kegode, Anna Freedman, Craft-D, Pete The Temp and Theresa Lola. Expect your head to nod and your heart to move.

L255

Current Affairs

Brendan Cox And Jess Phillips The Inkpot £10* ‘We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.’

Jo Cox’s murder in June 2016 shocked the world. In this moving and inspiring conversation, her husband Brendan Cox (Jo Cox: More in Common) talks to his friend Jess Phillips (Everywoman) about life without her, the values she embraced of togetherness, inclusion and compassion and gives a very human portrait of an extraordinary woman.

Join Britain’s greatest living cartoonist, Peter Brookes (Interesting Times) as he reflects with his colleague David Aaronovitch on an extraordinary year in politics, his work satirising those who profess to lead us and holding the mighty to account. Peter will be live drawing in this event.

Doors from 8pm. The bar will be open throughout this event.

8–10.30pm

L253

Lifestyle

Thomasina Miers The Daffodil £50*

8–9pm

L256

Current Affairs

Interesting Times

Inua Ellams’ Club Night

Fiction

8.15–9.15pm

8.30–9.30pm

Ticket includes a three course dinner and a drink on arrival.

Stage & Screen

Join the founder of Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca for a delicious three course dinner, bursting with imagination, big flavours and personality. Sharing her most-loved recipes from her new book Home Cook, Thomasina Miers shows that home cooking is all about having fun with great ingredients and enjoying good food any day of the week.

The Times Forum £16*

8.15–9.15pm

L254

L257

Matt Lucas

The beloved and side splittingly hilarious star of Little Britain, Bridesmaids and Doctor Who is back. The comedian in conversation with Damian Barr shares tales from his autobiography Little Me: My Life From A–Z... and all in alphabetical order?!

Travel & Adventure

Explorers’ Sketchbooks

10pm–1am

The Hive £8*

Festival Club

Despite huge advances in equipment, one vital piece of kit in most explorers’ pockets hasn’t changed: the journal. Polar explorer Huw Lewis-Jones gives an incredible insight into the sketchbooks of intrepid adventurers throughout the ages.

L258

Collection:

Hotel du Vin FREE When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at the Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late night literary revelry. You never know who you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with...

83

Box Box Office Office 01242 01242 850270 850270 cheltenhamfestivals.com

Box Box Office Office 01242 01242 850270 850270 cheltenhamfestivals.com cheltenhamfestivals.com

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JESS PHILLIPS GUEST CURATOR

cheltenhamfestivals.com

“ As politics gets more unpredictable and different voices are being heard, the Festival gives a great platform to discuss where this different beat is coming from.

We will explore how modern platforms and an age of heightened security risks are threatening our democracy.

Hearing some of the voices of those crossing the divide, we will look at how and who can break down barriers.”

Jess Phillips was re-elected as the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley at the 2017 Election. She is an equalities campaigner, a mum and a community activist, and was a manager at a charity supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence before being elected.

8–9pm Friday 13 October

L255

Brendan Cox And Jess Phillips The Inkpot For full information see page 83.

12.30–1.30pm Saturday 14 October

L266

3–4pm Sunday 15 October

The Odd Couple?

Jess Phillips and Jacob Rees Mogg

Jess Phillips: Everywoman

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage

For full information see page 99.

L309

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre

For full information see page 88. * Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

85

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room LB57

LB65

What Is Fake News?

Spot It And Stop It!

L282

Stories: Agents Of Change

L294

Nasty Women

Joanne Harris And The #Storytime Band

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L260

L266

No Country For Young Men?

L271

Jess Phillips And Jacob Rees Mogg

L278

The Cheltenham Booker: 1937

L286

The 2017 Man Booker Prize Shortlist

Michael Whitehall And Nick Hewer

The Daffodil L259

L268

The Times Brexit Breakfast: What Does Europe Want?

L276

Tapas With Jose Pizarro

L289

Straight Up

L289 The Scent Of Hibiscus: A Night Of Nigeria

Hotel du Vin L280

L295

Celebrate With...

Joanne Harris

Festival Club (10pm–1am)

The Hive L283

L290

Hollie McNish

My Tutu Went AWOL

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L261

L267

Charley Boorman: The Long Way Back

L272

Richard Rogers: A Place For All People

Addiction: Everybody Hurts

L277

L285

Jackie Kay And Lemn Sissay

Matt Haig

L291

Alice Temperley

The Times Forum LB52

L265

Harry Hill’s Hilarious Kid’s Book

L270

Marcus Brigstocke: The Liberal Metropolitan Elite

L275

The Times Debate: A Good Brexit For All?

L284

Emma Freud Meets...

Twiggy

L282

Nigella Lawson

Sarah Millican

The Nook L264

John Witherow: Editing The Times

L269

Modest Fashion In A Modern World

L274

Meet The Literary Editors

L281

L287

Adam Thorpe

Fiction At 7: Who Are We?

The Inkpot L262

The Writing Life

L273

Public Art

L279

L288

Brits Abroad: Our Cultural Exports

Jackie Kay

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre L221

The Moth

86

L293

Tongue Fu

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

10–11am

LB52

Harry Hill’s Hilarious Kids Book 9–10.30am

L259

Current Affairs

The Times Brexit Breakfast: What Does Europe Want?

The Daffodil £20*

Ticket includes a cooked breakfast.

What does a successful Brexit look like from across the Channel? For all the grandstanding and non-negotiable red lines, EU countries have differing priorities. Join The Times Deputy Editor Emma Tucker, Berlin Correspondent David Charter (What Has the EU Ever Done for Us?) and Diplomatic Correspondent Catherine Philp as they give an insider’s guide to the key European players and personalities in the countdown to Brexit.

10.30–11.30am

and the whole family

Award winning comedian and star of TV Burp Harry Hill is back with his new children’s book Matt Millz, The Youngest Stand Up Comedian In The World. Expect family friendly fun, lots of laughs, audience participation and bring along your questions for the much anticipated Question and Answer session.

10.30–11.30am

L260

Current Affairs

The Times Forum £6* Ages 9+

L261

Travel & Adventure

Charley Boorman: The Long Way Back The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

No Country For Young Men? Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £8* Widening generational rifts, Brexit anger, a hostile housing market, zero hours contracts… it’s a tough time to be growing up in contemporary Britain.

Young People’s Laureate for London, Caleb Femi, editor of Rife: Twenty Stories from Britain’s Youth, Sammy Jones and 95-year-old WWII veteran and political campaigner Harry Leslie Smith (Harry’s Last Stand) talk to Rick Edwards (None of the Above) about the landscape our young people are facing and – following the remarkable youth turnout in the summer’s General Election – how we can best harness the desire for change.

The popular motorcycle explorer talks to Julia Wheeler about a life on two wheels: the highs of travel, his passion for the open road and the tough journey to recovery following a major accident in 2016.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

87

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 10.45–11.45am

Box Office 01242 850270

L262

12.30–1.30pm

Classic Literature

The Writing Life

The Odd Couple?

Jess Phillips And Jacob Rees-Mogg

The Inkpot £8* Virginia Woolf famously wrote: ‘A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.’ Does that mean women who don’t have money can’t write fiction?

And in today’s housing market, few writers under 50 have rooms of their own; they write in cafés, trains and kitchen tables between the school run, putting the wash on and work. Festival Guest Curator Sarah Moss, travel writer Huw Lewis-Jones and poet and academic Sandeep Parmar join Alex Clark to examine the life of the contemporary writer.

12–1pm

L265

The Cheltenham Lectures

Marcus Brigstocke On The Liberal Metropolitan Elite The Times Forum £12* What’s wrong with living in cities, being open-minded and doing well in life?

The tabloid press love to sneer at the so-called liberal metropolitan elite, but in this typically trenchant and provocative rallying cry the comedian Marcus Brigstocke argues that their values should be the ones we all aspire to.

11am–12pm

L264

Current Affairs

88

L266

Current Affairs

12–1pm

LB57

John Witherow: Editing The Times

What is Fake News? Spot It And Stop It!

The Nook £8*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Ages 14+

What are the daily pressures, problems and pleasures of being in charge of the paper of record? In this exclusive interview, the Editor of The Times since 2013 talks about his role with the journalist Beth Rigby.

At Donald Trump’s first press conference the term “fake news” was catapulted into the mainstream but what is it, where do the stories come from and how can we tell fake stories from real? Join leading journalists from The Times and The Sunday Times to hear more about the issue and get practical advice on what you can do to spot it and stop it.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Everyone knows that opposites attract, but what does an Old Etonian, Conservative Brexiteer have in common with an outspoken, Brummie, feminist Remainer? Find out as they share anecdotes from their unlikely friendship across the green benches with The Times columnist Hugo Rifkind.

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 1–3pm

L268

Tapas With Jose Pizarro

The Times Debate: A Good Brexit For All? The Times Forum £12*

Ticket includes a tapas lunch with dessert and a glass of wine.

L267

Art & Design

Richard Rogers: A Place For All People

L270

Current Affairs

The Daffodil £30*

12.30–1.30pm

2–3.15pm

Lifestyle

Join award-winning chef and bestselling author Jose Pizarro (Catalonia: Recipes from Barcelona and Beyond) on a culinary tour of Catalonia. From buzzy Barcelona to gorgeous Girona and the secluded beaches of the Costa Brava, be transported to this special area of Spain as you enjoy a delicious tapas lunch. Showcasing the best recipes from the region and giving expert advice on creating them at home, Jose will inspire you to get into the kitchen at once. Chaired by food writer Julia Leonard.

As our membership of the EU draws to a close we ask: how has being in Europe changed us?

Can we achieve a Brexit that reconciles young and old, north and south and town and country? Will Britain be looking forward to a golden future with opportunity for all? The Times Berlin Correspondent David Charter (What Has the EU Ever Done for Us?) and columnist Jenni Russell join the outspoken political commentator Douglas Murray (The Strange Death of Europe) and the director of The Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson, to search for a consensus with BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Justin Webb.

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* From the Centre Pompidou to his inspirational Maggie’s Centre: by thinking his way from the outside in, Richard Rogers has turned architecture inside out. With Tom Dyckhoff he discusses the power buildings have in creating a better and fairer society.

1–2pm

L269

Lifestyle

Modest Fashion In A Modern World The Nook £8* Finally embracing modest fashion, the fashion industry has recently shown women dressed modestly in the most stylish clothes on catwalks and billboards alike. Shelina Janmohamed (Generation M) and Professor at London College of Fashion and Reina Lewis (Muslim Fashion) discuss how young Muslims have created a space online to embrace their faith through fashion.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 2.30–3.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270 3.45–4.45pm

L271

The Cheltenham Booker: 1937

Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Age 12+

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Which 1937 title deserves to win our very own Booker? Our all-star line-up of Damian Barr, Adam Kay, Jackie Kay, Adam Thorpe and Alex Wheatle discuss A.J. Cronin’s The Citadel, Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

They fight it out to determine which would have triumphed, had The Man Booker Prize existed eighty years ago. Chaired by James Walton, with an introduction by John Coldstream.

Dedicated to the memory of Ion Trewin.

2.30–3.30pm

L272

Psychology

Addiction: Everybody Hurts The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* In 2012, after years of struggling with drug addiction, publisher Sigrid Rausing’s sister-in-law was found dead from an overdose and her brother subsequently arrested. In her powerful memoir, Mayhem, Rausing attempts to make sense of what happened to them and explores the ramifications addiction has on the addict’s family. Joined by music journalist Barney Hoskyns (Never Enough), who shares his own experience of heroin addiction and hard-won recovery, together with Alex Clark they discuss the difficult questions those close to the world of addiction must face.

90

LB65

Stories: Agents Of Change

Classic Literature

2.45–3.45pm

L273

The Story Of British Art

Redefining Spaces: The Power Of Public Art

What are our human rights and how can fiction help us understand and embrace them? Nicky Parker (Amnesty International) talks with authors Sita Brahmachari and A L Kennedy (Here I Stand) along with Gill Lewis (A Story Like the Wind) about human rights under threat today, the role stories play in developing awareness and empathy and how we can all take a stand and make a difference.

The Inkpot £12* From Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North, Maggi Hambling’s Scallop to Trafalgar Square’s ever-changing Fourth Plinth, some of our greatest works of art never hang on a wall or see the inside of a gallery. The Courtauld Institute’s Martin Caiger-Smith, author of the major new monograph on Antony Gormley, and leading sculpture and installation artist David Mach discuss the power of art in the public realm.

3.45–4.45pm

L280

Fiction

3–4pm

L274

Lifestyle

Meet The Literary Editors The Nook £10* What do Literary Editors do all day? This is your chance to find out as Andrew Holgate and Robbie Millen (Literary Editors of The Sunday Times and The Times respectively) discuss their roles and share their favourite reads of the Autumn with Georgina Godwin.

Celebrate With...

Joanne Harris Hotel du Vin £25*

Ticket includes two glasses of fizz and nibbles.

The best-selling author joins James Long to raise a glass to Chocolat, the novel that captured the hearts and imaginations of book, film and chocolate lovers alike. When the exotic Vianne Rocher opens a chocolate boutique just before Lent, can the people of the little French village of Lansquenet resist the temptation of a chocolate truffle?

Is Father Reynaud right to fear for the moral danger to his congregation?

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

4.30–5.30pm

L277

Poetry

Jackie Kay And Lemn Sissay The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9*

4.15–5.15pm

L275

Stage & Screen

Emma Freud Meets... Twiggy

A rare chance to see two of the country’s best-loved poets in a powerful discussion about race, identity and what it really means to truly belong. Lemn Sissay joins Jackie Kay to talk about her lauded memoir, Red Dust Road – a moving account of growing up as a black girl to white adoptive parents in 1970s Glasgow and her journey to trace her birth parents – republished this October as a Picador Classic.

The Times Forum £12* An icon of the 1960s and immortalised

by Andy Warhol, Twiggy’s androgynous look redefined the concept of beauty.

In her sixties she continues to inspire; her campaigns have helped revive the fortunes of M&S. Broadcaster Emma Freud talks to the original supermodel.

4.30–5.30pm

L276

Lifestyle

Straight Up: Where And What To Drink On Every Continent The Daffodil £20*

4.45–5.45pm

L279

Lifestyle

Brits Abroad: Our Cultural Exports The Inkpot £10* Dr Who and James Bond are long-running worldwide successes. Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife have gone global.

Adaptations of our classic novels continue to thrive and British fiction sells around the world. We no longer have a political empire but there is still one area in which we can claim superpower status: our creative industries. Are we exporting only nostalgia?

Is there any global representation of the realities of modern Britain? Guest Curator Sarah Moss, Call the Midwife writer Heidi Thomas and historian Dominic Sandbrook (The Great British Dream Factory) discuss with Rosie Goldsmith.

4.45–6pm

L278

Fiction

The 2017 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Come and hear the authors on the 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist in a special panel discussion chaired by Gaby Wood, Literary Director of the Booker Prize Foundation, talking about their work and giving selected readings. The 2017 list features some powerful literary fiction and this event will bring you up close to the shortlisted authors, just days before the winner is announced on 17 October.

Ticket includes a selection of cocktails.

Over 18s only.

Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley are at the forefront of expertise and innovation in the spirits world. From whisky to gin, cognac to exotic drinks, the duo have a wealth of knowledge to share. Join them for a tasting of delicious cocktails from the best drinking spots around the globe and hear their insider tips on how to find the coolest bars wherever you may be.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

91

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 5–6pm

6–7pm

L281

L283

Fiction

Festival Lates

The Sunday Times Must Read: Adam Thorpe

Hollie McNish

The Nook £8*

Fresh from scooping the prestigious Ted Hughes award for Nobody Told Me, poems from the ‘frontline of motherhood’, Hollie McNish returns with Plum; a wise, rude, sharp collection encompassing a life from childhood to attempted adulthood. After two acclaimed, no-holds-barred performances at Cheltenham, you don’t want to miss her much-anticipated return.

The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate joins the author and poet to discuss Missing Fay, a novel of effortlessly elegant prose and forensic observation. It’s easy to see why this is one of 2017’s Must Reads.

5.45–7.15pm

L282

Current Affairs

Nasty Women Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* The weekend of Trump’s inauguration, two million people across seven continents marched against him. Nasty Women, the 370% crowd-funded essay collection hailed

by Margaret Atwood as ‘an essential window into many of the hazard-strewn worlds younger women are living in’ brought together dynamic and urgent voices that captured what it means to be a woman in the Trump era. Contributors Joelle Owusu, Kirsty Diaz and Zeba Talkhani discuss working class experience, racial divides, immigration, contraception, finding a voice online, role models and more.

92

Box Office 01242 850270

The Hive £9*

6–8.15pm

L221

Festival Lates

The Moth Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10* Recalling sultry summer evenings in the Deep South, when moths fluttered to lit porches as friends gathered to spin spellbinding yarns, this is a live experience like no other. From modest origins in New York, The Moth is now an international phenomenon dedicated to celebrating the power of unscripted, first-person storytelling. From ordinary folk to celebrities and cultural giants, the stage is open to anyone with flair for the telling of tales. Join us for one special night of true live stories.

“She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love and lets us see the world with fresh eyes.”

Kate Tempest “I can’t take my ears off her.”

Benjamin Zephaniah

6.15–7.15pm

L284

Lifestyle

Nigella Lawson The Times Forum £12* A champion of home cooks, Nigella shares her latest collection At My Table, filled with dishes as mouth-watering and inventive as ever, the food that makes people feel happy and welcome as they sit around your table. Chaired by Paul Blezard.

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 7–8.15pm

L287

Fiction

Fiction At 7: Who Are We? The Nook £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine.

6.30–7.30pm

L285

Fiction

Matt Haig

JJ Bola and Fran Cooper discuss their novels which tackle themes of identity and belonging and how where we live defines who we are. Bola’s No Place Like Home follows Jean and his family, seeking asylum and attempting to integrate and navigate modern British culture. Cooper’s These Dividing Walls looks at those living in an apartment block in Paris, unaware that everything they know is about to come crashing down around them.

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

7.15–8.15pm

The best-selling author of Reasons to Stay Alive introduces the life-affirming How to Stop Time, a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, the certainty of change and the lifetime it can take to really learn how to live.

The Inkpot £9*

7–8pm

L288

Poetry

L286

Jackie Kay

The Scottish Poet Laureate (or Makar) Jackie Kay reads from her stunning new work, Bantam; a collection of poems that crosses borders in time and place to sing of what connects us, and to lament what divides us.

Stage & Screen

Michael Whitehall And Nick Hewer Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* The witty agent father of Britain’s most popular young comedian, Jack Whitehall, presents his long-awaited memoir, Backing Into the Spotlight. He joins his friend and presenter of Channel 4’s Countdown Nick Hewer to share stories from his life, both in and out of show business.

8–10.30pm

L289

Lifestyle

The Scent Of Hibiscus: A Nigerian Night The Daffodil £50*

Ticket includes a three course dinner and a drink on arrival.

Join the rising star of African cooking Lopè Ariyo for an incredible evening of mouthwateringly fresh flavours and delicious dishes from her new cookbook Hibiscus. In an evening celebrating the best of Nigerian cuisine and culture, we welcome performances by JJ Bola and Chibundu Onuzo (Welcome to Lagos).

8–9.30pm

L290

Festival Lates

My Tutu Went AWOL The Hive £10* The international vaudeville star Iestyn Edwards recounts his misadventures as the only cross-dressing ballerina to have entertained the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and recalls how, after being looked after by a Royal Marine Commando called Stacks, an unlikely friendship was formed. Join us for a riotously funny evening with his alter ego, the eccentric Madame Galina.

‘His singing makes me cry every time.’

Joanna Lumley ‘He is essential viewing.’

Evening Standard ‘Spectacular and eccentric... More! More!’

Daily Mail

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

The bar will be open throughout this event.

93

SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 8.30–9.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L291

Lifestyle

Alice Temperley 9.15–10.45pm

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

L294

Festival Lates

Joanne Harris And The #Storytime Band

The iconic British fashion designer, whose creations have earned her a glamorous following, discusses her new book Alice Temperley: English Myths and Legends.

Highlighting the eclectic influences, inspirations and key moments in her career, she will talk about her life and work, all illustrated by captivating images of her designs.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* For those who love stories, Joanne Harris brings a fantastic new live show to the festival. The #Storytime Band use their original stories and songs to explore the different narratives of storytelling from traditional tales to Twitter.

10pm–1am

L295

Collection

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE 8.15–9.15pm

L292

9–11pm

L293

Festival Lates

Festival Lates

Sarah Millican

Tongue Fu

The Times Forum £16*

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10*

Part autobiography, self help, confession and celebration of being a normal woman, the comedian’s debut book, How To Be Champion, delves into her life with funny tales and proper advice on how to conquer life’s blips. Join her as she shares her favourite stories.

Fresh from the stages of Glastonbury, The Roundhouse and a five-star run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Tongue Fu makes its Cheltenham debut. One of the UK’s leading spoken word shows, it brings together the sharpest poets, storytellers, rappers and comedians to perform with improvised soundtracks from the genre-hopping Tongue Fu Band: a riotous experiment in live literature, music and improvisation. Featuring special guests Soweto Kinch, Jan Blake and Maxwell Golden.

‘It’s poetry, but not as you know it… amazing’ The Guardian

94

When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us afterhours at the Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late night literary revelry. You never know who you’ll end up rubbing shoulders with...

SARAH MOSS GUEST CURATOR

cheltenhamfestivals.com

10.45–11.45am L262 Saturday 14 October

The Writing Life The Inkpot For full information see page 88.

4.45–5.45pm L279 Saturday 14 October

Brits Abroad: Our Cultural Exports The Inkpot For full information see page 91.

10.30–11.30am Sunday 15 October

L297

Jane Austen: Britain’s Most Beloved Author?

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage For full information see page 97.

2.45–3.45pm Sunday 15 October

L308

Sarah Moss The Nook For full information see page 99.

6.15pm–7.15pm Sunday 15 October

L318

Can A Feminist Live Happily Ever After?

The Inkpot For full information see page 102.

“ Being a guest curator at Cheltenham is the most exciting project of my year.

It’s like playing a fantasy dinner party, only for real.”

Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Warwick, Sarah Moss is the author of five novels, most recently The Tidal Zone and Signs for Lost Children.

She also writes acclaimed non-fiction on subjects as diverse as travel, Romantic era British literature, food history and gender.

95

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER 8am

9am

10am

11am

12noon 1pm

2pm

3pm

4pm

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room L323

Picador 20th Anniversary Poetry Showcase

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage L297

L307

Jane Austen: Britain’s Most Beloved Author?

L306

W1A

Bernard Cornwell

L311

L319

Harriet Walter On Shakespeare’s Women

I’ve Never Read...

L325

Scarlett Moffatt

The Daffodil L296

L304

Marcus Brigstocke’s Big Sunday Brunch

L312

Sunday Lunch With Henry Blofeld

Book And A Bottle

The Hive L316

The Great Storm

The Sunday Times Garden Theatre L302

L309

Edward St. Aubyn: Reimagining Lear

L315

Jess Phillips: Everywoman

L321

Minette Walters

Jonny Bairstow

The Times Forum L298

L330

60 Years Of Today

Emma Freud Meets...

Bill Nighy

L313

Evan Davis: Post Truth

L320

Russell Brand

The Nook L299

L303

Lemn Sissay: Something Dark

L308

How To Get Your Novel Published

L314

Sarah Moss

L322

How To Read A Short Story

Gloucestershire Writers’ Network

The Inkpot L300

The Times Live

96

L305

David Lagercrantz

L310

Tales From North Korea

L318

Can A Feminist Live Happily Ever After?

L326

An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson

10pm

11pm

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 10–11.30am

L296

Lifestyle

Marcus Brigstocke’s Big Sunday Brunch The Daffodil £25*

Ticket includes a cooked breakfast.

Back by popular demand! Relax over a delicious breakfast while Marcus Brigstocke along with Countdown presenter Nick Hewer, Festival Guest Director Jess Phillips and poet Ian Duhig review the week’s big news stories as told by the Sunday papers.

They decipher the headlines, bash the broadsheets and tear through the tabloids, picking out the topical, funny and downright odd stories of the day.

10–11.30am

L299

10.30–11.30am

L297

Classic Literature

Jane Austen: Britain’s Most Beloved Author Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’

Few authors can capture hearts at first glance like Jane Austen. Join Caroline Sanderson in discussion with Jennie Batchelor (Women’s Writing), Sarah Moss and Lucy Worsley (Jane Austen at Home) in the bicentennial year of her death as they celebrate Austen’s impeccable work and remarkable legacy.

Poetry

Lemn Sissay: Something Dark The Nook £8* Lemn Sissay blew audiences away at the Festival last year. He returns to perform a rare reading of his acclaimed one-man play, Something Dark–the affecting story of his upbringing in children’s homes and foster care, and the search for his family and true identity.

Originally directed by John McGrath (National Theatre of Wales/MIF), the show has been performed throughout the world to great critical acclaim.

“It would be impossible to come away from this show unmoved and uninspired” Metro

10.30–11.30am

L298

Current Affairs

60 Years Of Today The Times Forum £12* BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme is 60 in October. We bring together the presenters Nick Robinson and Justin Webb, and senior Today producer Purvee Pattni for a rare peek behind the scenes at Broadcasting House as the programme is put together.

How do the team decide what to report?

What does the night editor do? How do the presenters prepare for the famous 8.10 interview? The broadcaster and radio critic Gillian Reynolds asks the questions in this fascinating discussion.

Long-term investment partners

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

97

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 12–1pm

Box Office 01242 850270 1–3pm

L300

Sport

The Times Live

Sunday Lunch With Henry Blofeld

The Inkpot £9* In a fascinating debate now firmly established as a popular fixture at Cheltenham, Deputy Editor Emma Tucker and The Times leader writing team, including columnists Philip Collins, Daniel Finkelstein, Jenni Russell and Giles Whittell discuss the hot topics of the day and decide the subjects of the famous leading articles for the next edition.

12.30–1.45pm

L303

Fiction

How To Get Your Novel Published The Nook £12* Could you be the next number one bestselling author? Hear from the judges of the new Cheltenham First Novel Competition – a panel of experts from The Borough Press and LBA Associates – as they give tips on what it takes to get your manuscript noticed. Join Publishing Director Suzie Dooré and literary agency MD Luigi Bonomi and hear their advice on how to get your manuscript to the right people, the rules of submission and what publishers are looking for.

The Cheltenham First Novel Competition will be launched on Sunday 15th October. The prize is a £10,000 book deal for publication on The Borough Press (an imprint of HarperCollins) list, plus representation by LBA Associates.

Keep an eye on boroughpress.co.uk for further updates!

98

L304

Current Affairs

The Daffodil £35* 12.30–1.30pm

L302

Fiction

Edward St Aubyn: Re-imagining Lear The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10*

Henry Blofeld’s voice is the sound of the summer to thousands of cricket lovers all over the world. ‘Blowers’ has been a commentator on Test Match Special for over forty years and cricket fans all over the world adore him. Join him for a special Sunday lunch as he shares his favourite moments in the sport and recounts behind the scenes anecdotes and stories in his unique style.

Chaired by Alex Clark.

2.15–3.15pm

Edward St Aubyn is renowned for his masterly Melrose novels, which dissect with savage precision the agonies of family life. He joins Robert Collins to discuss his new novel Dunbar, a reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear and a timely and devastating story of power, money and forgiveness.

12.30–1.30pm

Ticket includes a two course Sunday lunch and a glass of wine.

L307

Stage & Screen

W1A Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* W1A is back! So that’s all good. Series three airs this autumn as the foibles of our beloved Beeb are brilliantly skewered once again. The Times TV critic Hugo Rifkind is joined by the actors Monica Dolan (Senior Communications Officer, Tracey Pritchard) and Jason Watkins (Director of Strategic Governance, Simon Harwood) as they take us behind the scenes with writer and director John Morton (Twenty Twelve, People Like Us). They share favourite clips from the series and discuss the journey from script to screen.

L305

Fiction

David Lagercrantz The Inkpot £8* The author David Lagercrantz tackles his second Millennium novel, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, the thrilling fifth instalment in the bestselling series, which began with Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He talks to Georgina Godwin.

2.30–3.30pm

L306

Fiction

Bernard Cornwell Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Fresh off the plane to start his UK tour, the international bestselling author of the Sharpe series joins The Times Literary Editor Robbie Millen to discuss his new novel Fools and Mortals, a dramatic new departure which takes us into the heart of the Elizabethan era.

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 2.30–3.30pm

L330

Stage & Screen

Emma Freud Meets... Bill Nighy The Times Forum £12* His memorable comic turn as the fading rock star Billy Mack in Love Actually brought him to the attention of Hollywood, but Bill Nighy had already enjoyed a long and distinguished career on stage, radio and television. He is now one of our best-loved and best-dressed stars. He talks about acting and his love of great books in this exclusive interview.

2.45–3.45pm

L308

Fiction

Sarah Moss The Nook £8* Don’t miss the chance to hear the Festival Guest Curator discuss her own acclaimed work, including the lauded novels The Tidal Zone, Signs for Lost Children and Night Waking.

3–4pm

L309

Current Affairs

Jess Phillips: Everywoman The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* Smart, funny and gobby Labour MP Jess Phillips entered politics to prove that ordinary people can. She talks to The Times columnist Philip Collins about Everywoman; part memoir, part polemic and a clarion call to women to be heard and make a difference.

Bill Nighy???

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

99

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 4.30–5.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L311

The Cheltenham Lectures

Harriet Walter On Shakespeare’s Women Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* How should we view the Shakespearean canon in contemporary Britain? In this specially-commissioned lecture the distinguished actor Harriet Walter (Brutus and Other Heroines) discusses playing Shakespeare’s male and female leading roles and gives a remarkable account of an acting career unconstrained by tradition or expectations.

4.30–5.30pm

L313

Current Affairs

Evan Davis: Post Truth The Times Forum £16* Lies and deception, spin, flannel and waffle, Bull**** is everywhere you look.

Britain’s favourite intelligent broadcaster explores why lying is so rife, and why we all think we can get away with it.

4.30–6pm

L312

Fiction

A Book And A Bottle 4.15–5.15pm

L310

Current Affairs

Tales From North Korea The Inkpot £8* In 1989 a North Korean dissident writer, known to us only by the pseudonym Bandi, began to write a series of stories about life under Kim Il-sung’s totalitarian regime. Smuggled out of North Korea and recently published, The Accusation provides a unique and shocking window on the world’s most secretive of countries.

Do Hee-Yun, the South Korean activist responsible for bringing the manuscript to publication and Jieun Baek, author of North Korea’s Hidden Revolution join Rosie Goldsmith to discuss these remarkable tales – and their extraordinary journey to public view.

100

The Daffodil £12*

Ticket includes wine tasting.

A hit at last year’s festival, Damian Barr brings A Book And A Bottle back for a delicious hour of reading, wine-tasting and talking with the best-selling and beloved Rachel Joyce.

The Music Shop, her fourth novel, follows record-shop owner Frank, who has a talent for music therapy: from his great stack of vinyl he can find the very song to cure his customers of their emotional woes. Sample three wines from Corney & Barrow to match this gorgeous novel.

4.45–5.45pm

L314

Fiction

How To Read A Short Story The Nook £8* The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate joins short story authors Richard Lambert and Juliane Pachico (The Lucky Ones) to examine the art of writing a masterpiece in miniature. They consider The Dead by James Joyce, lauded by T.S. Eliot as one of the best short stories ever written and examine the literary techniques employed by Joyce to achieve his success. The prize nominated authors present their own works, giving readings and reflecting on their craft.

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 5–6pm

L315

Fiction

Minette Walters The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £9* The legendary crime author talks about ending her decade-long hiatus from writing and shifting genres with The Last Hours, a compelling and suspenseful tale of human ingenuity, unexplained murder and endurance against the Black Death.

5.45–6.45pm

L316

Nature

The Great Storm The Hive £8* Sunday 15 October 1987 saw The Great Storm tear apart the British landscape.

Thirty years on environmental lessons have been learned, trees have grown again and now Tamsin Treverton-Jones talks to James Long to share the personal stories that have yet to be told.

6.30–7.30pm

L320

Psychology

Russell Brand: Recovery The Times Forum £12* This is the age of addiction. Obvious addictions like drugs and alcohol, all the way to invisible and often endorsed addictions like work, stress, bad relationships and digital media. Recovery is a self-help book for everyone. With a powerful mix of honesty, humour and compassion, Russell Brand tells his intimate yet universal story and shares the practical advice and wisdom he has been taught through his fourteen and a half years of recovery.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

101

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER

6.15pm–7.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L318

Classic Literature

Can A Feminist Live Happily Ever After?

The Inkpot £9* What does a feminist happy ending look like? Austen and Brontë’s novels conclude with a walk down the aisle in a big white dress, but if a woman’s story doesn’t end on her wedding night and a man doesn’t much want to be Byronic, is there still a place for romance? Journalist Coco Khan, writer and popular Booktuber Jen Campbell join Festival Guest Curator Sarah Moss to discuss the compatibility of feminism and love stories. Chaired by Alex Clark.

6.30–7.30pm

L319

L322

Locally Sourced

I’ve Never Read...

Gloucestershire Writers’ Network

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Host of BBC Radio 4’s I’ve Never Seen Star Wars, Marcus Brigstocke holds the hands of our nervous panelists as they take a literary leap into the unknown. Join the BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Nick Robinson and other Festival guests as they tackle an unfamiliar book or genre, laying bare their reading likes and dislikes. Would they recommend the experience?! Come and find out.

7–8pm

L321

Sport

Jonny Bairstow The Sunday Times Garden Theatre £10* The Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper is a force to be reckoned with in the cricketing world. He talks to Jill Douglas about his emotionally rich and moving memoir, an incredible story of triumph over adversity.

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7–9pm

Lifestyle

The Nook £8* Local writers and winners of the Gloucestershire Writers’ Network competition present a collection of writing inspired by the Festival theme of Who Do We Think We Are? The entries are judged by author Dr Lania Knight and former Birmingham Poet Laureate Roy McFarlane.

SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com 8.30–9.30pm

L325

Stage & Screen

Scarlett Moffatt Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* From beloved Gogglebox breakout star, to winner of I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, achieving her dream of presenting with Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway and filling Davina’s shoes in the new series of Streetmate, Scarlett Moffatt is quickly fast-tracking to national treasure status. She joins us to reveal her new book, Me Life Story: Sofa, So Good, guaranteed to be the funniest of the year, as she charts her journey with her typical tenacity and trademark wit.

7.30–9.15pm

8.30–9.45pm

L326

Stage & Screen

An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson The Times Forum £20* Celebrate the life and career of a man who has interviewed over 2000 of the most important cultural figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. In conversation with his son Mike Parkinson and showing highlights from the Parkinson archive, this is a unique opportunity to get an entertaining and informative look at his remarkable journey from a pit village in Yorkshire to the top of those famous stairs whilst reliving the best moments from a show that for many defined their Saturday night.

L323

Poetry

Picador 20th Anniversary Poetry Showcase Town Hall, Pillar Room £10*

Ticket includes a glass of wine.

The Picador Poetry list turns 20 this year.

Since its inception, its mission has been simply to publish the very best work from across the art form. In this special celebratory event, Picador’s Poetry Editor Don Paterson presents a stellar evening of readings by acclaimed poets Ian Duhig, Hollie McNish, Rachel Boast, Annie Freud and winner of the 2016 T. S. Eliot Prize, Jacob Polley.

* Plus transaction fee: charged per order, not per ticket. £2.50 for online and telephone bookings, £1.50 for in person bookings with credit/debit cards. No fee for cash bookings.

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PATRONS

We would like to thank all our Patrons for their generous support including those who have chosen to remain anonymous: Life Patrons Mark and Sue Blanchfield Peter and Anne Bond Dominic and Jannene Collier Michael and Felicia Crystal Colin and Suzanne Doak The Eaton Family Charles Fisher David and John Hall Margaret Headen Diane and Mark Hill Jeremy and Germaine Hitchins Family Jonathan and Cassinha Hitchins Family Stephen and Tania Hitchins Family Jeff and Keren Iliffe Elizabeth and Michael Jones and Family Rick and Lisa Jones Steven and Linda Jones Hugh and Sue Koch The Kwintner Family Robert and Moira Leechman Hazel and Jeremy Lewis Graham and Eileen Lockwood The McKelvie Family Fiona McLeod The McWilliam family in loving memory of Ruth McWilliam Keith Norton and Piers Norton Mark and Elizabeth Philip-Sørensen John and Susan Singer Simon Skinner and Jean Gouldsmith Skinner Andrew Smith Phil and Jennifer Stapleton Liz and Neil Stewart Sharon Studer and Graham Beckett Chris and Bridgette Sunman Fiona and David Symondson Ludmila and Hodson Thornber The Walker Family Michael and Jacqueline Woof 104

Directors’ Circle Dr Lynda Albertyn and Pat Gallasch Mike and Kerry Alcock Heather Barrett Jack and Dora Black Richard Claridge Michael and Angela Cronk Nigel and Sally Dimmer Carol Farnell Paul and Caroline Feinson Jeremy and Alison Halliday Mark and Moira Hamlin Stephen Hodge Andrew and Caroline Hope Simon and Emma Keswick Andrew and Susanne Malim Lady Marychurch Hayden and Tracy McKinnes Chris Morgan The Oldham Foundation Michele Rodriguez-Wise and Dustin Wise Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust

Gold Patrons David and Hayley Ashley Geraldine and Jim Beaty Christopher Bence Stephen and Victoria Bond Charlie Chan Colin and Michele Cole Stuart and Gillian Corbyn Wallace and Morag Dobbin Peter and Sue Elliott Maurice Gran and Carol James Lord and Lady Hoffmann Anthony Hoffman and Dr Christine Facer Hoffman Elizabeth Jacobs Jocelyn and Dave McNulty Sir Michael and Lady McWilliam Janet Middleton Paul and Kathy Mottershead Dr Julia Pearson and Dr Keith England Martin and Susan Pickard Shelley and Paul Roberts Sharon and Toby Roberts Khal and Zoe Rudin Brenda Salters and Harold Longmate Elizabeth Saunders Esther and Peter Smedvig Andy and Ali Stalsberg Michelle Thorley Ian and Liz Topping Michael and Rosie Warner Sarah and John Watkins Anne Wood CBE Stephen Wood William Wyman

We would also like to thank all our Silver Patrons who are listed on the website: cheltenhamfestivals.com/ support-us/patrons/patronacknowledgements/

‘I have gained so much from the Festivals over the years that it is great to be able to give something back.’

Charlie Chan, Gold Patron

Get closer to the Festivals with Patronage Join this exclusive group of supporters and make a real difference to our work as a charity.

• Dedicated ticket line with advance booking • Access to hospitality areas at the Literature and Jazz Festivals • Invitations to special events and parties throughout the year From £75 per month*, your Patronage covers all four Festivals and will support our artistic programme and our education work. * With Gift Aid tax relief, becoming a Patron doesn’t cost as much as you might think and can make your donation go further. Please ask for details.

To find out more please contact Jessica Lowes, on 01242 537263, email jessica.lowes@cheltenhamfestivals.com or visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/patrons

is proud to support

our Festival Books n i s u ho p n i in o s J Montpellier Gardens and in

Cheltenham Town Hall

WIN A LUXURY BREAK TO EDINBURGH – UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE Subscribe to Baillie Gifford’s free Trust magazine and you could win a luxury break to Edinburgh, the first ever city to be designated City of Literature by UNESCO. Indulge your love of books with a literary tour or a visit to one of Edinburgh’s monuments or museums dedicated to literature. In August, you can attend the world-renowned Edinburgh International Book Festival, or try one of the many shows on offer at the International or Fringe festivals.

In December, Edinburgh’s city centre is transformed into a winter wonderland, with fairgrounds, Christmas markets and twinkling lights. Whatever the time of year you can enjoy a vast choice of historic attractions, galleries, shopping, live events and stunning gardens.

The prize is for two people and includes three nights’ accommodation in the majestic 5-star Balmoral Hotel, with breakfast each morning and access to the Balmoral Spa. Also included are first class return rail tickets, dinner one evening in the Michelin-starred Number One restaurant and two-day Royal Edinburgh bus tour tickets.

For your opportunity to win this fantastic prize, complete the reply paid card in Trust magazine, which can be found in the Baillie Gifford Festival Hub, or enter online now at www.bailliegifford.com/literaryprize Terms and conditions apply.

WIN *

A ÂŁ2,000 Travelbag Holiday Voucher

Enter at The Huddle, Montpellier Gardens

Travelbag are proud to support The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Visit your local Travelbag

shop 10 - 12 Pittville Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2LJ or visit travelbag.co.uk or call 0207 001 5875 *Terms and conditions apply. See competition entry form for details.

This is the story of human ambition

HSBC is proud to support Cheltenham Festivals.

www.hsbc.co.uk Issued by HSBC Bank plc AC32447

INDEX Aaronovitch David 79 83 Abdullah Rabiah 41 Adjoa Parker Louisa 29 Akhtar Navid 80 Aldrick Philip 61 Ali Tariq 68 69 Allsopp Kirstie 61 64 Anaxagorou Anthony 30 33 36 Antrobus Ray 33 Appleyard Bryan 36 Arthur Sylvia 63 Atkin Tim 39 Austentatious 59 Auton Rob 76 Ariyo Lopè 93 Ayres Pam 75 Baek Jieun 100 Bailey Jane 73 Bain Rowan 80 Bairstow Jonny 102 Barkham Patrick 67 Barr Damian 83 90 100 Bartlett Ed 32 Batchelor Jennie 97 Bate Andrew 82 Bate Marisa 30 36 Bazalgette Peter 61 Beard Mary 45 48 Beard Richard 75 Beard Susanna 73 Beech Megan 71 Bennison Amira 74 Bentinck Tim 68 Berry Hannah 47 Berry Mary 46 Billingham Mark 51 Bird Lliana 33 Birnie Clive 71 Bishop Patrick 61 Blair Linda 76 Blake Jan 94 Bleach Stephen 56 Blezard Paul 75 81 92 Blofeld Henry 98 Boakye Jeffrey 51 110

Boast Rachel 103 Bola JJ 93 Bolingbroke-Kent Antonia 47 Bonington Chris 70 Bonomi Luigi 98 Boorman Charley 87 Borman Tracy 62 Bowen Jeremy 74 77 Bracht Mary Lynn 63 Bradt Hilary 74 Brahmachari Sita 90 Braithwaite Rodric 82 Brand Russell 101 Brandt Anthony 64 Brearley Mike 41 Brigstocke Marcus 75 88 97 102 Board Douglas 77 Broadway Alice 37 Brookes Peter 83 Brooks Michael 82 Brookmyre Chris 51 Broug Eric 80 Brown Jo 58 Brown Kerry 35 Bunting Madeleine 69 Burnside John 51 57 Burton-Hill Clemency 58 Butters Helen 33 Byatt Jim 30 Cable Vince 64 Calleja Jen 56 Caiger-Smith Martin 90 Cairney Gemma 40 Campbell Alastair 69 Campbell Jen 102 Carey John 62 Carson Jan 62 Chandler John 29 Chanter Catherine 74 Chapman Jim 39 Chard Chloe 64 Charter David 87 89 Chaudhuri Amit 49 Cheltenham Poetry Society 68 Childs Martin 50

Chingonyi Kayo 48 51 Clark Alex 30 32 37 42 83 88 90 98 102 Clark Alex 64 Clark Polly 32 Coldstream John 90 Collins Philip 49 59 61 62 79 98 99 Collins Robert 98 Connolly Richard 82 Cooper Fran 93 Corera Gordon 80 Cornthwaite Dave 46 48 Cornwell Bernard 98 Coulson Juanita 56 Courage Cara 68 Coyne Matt 71 Cox Brendan 83 Cox Phil 77 Craft-D 83 Craig Amanda 77 Crampton Robert 51 70 Crawforth Hannah 62 Creasey Calum 48 Cree Paul 83 Cronk Nicholas 67 Cunningham Barry 46 Daley Tom 40 Dannatt Richard 75 David Dharshini 76 79 David Saul 61 Davies Frances 33 Davis Evan 100 Dawson Juno 32 Day Anna 38 De Courcy Anne 63 Denton Alicky 82 Derbyshire Victoria 30 Diaz Kirsty 92 Dockrill Laura 40 Dolan Monica 98 Dooré Suzie 98 Douglas Jill 40 52 64 102 Dowling Tim 71 Doyle Roddy 35 37 Dugdale Sasha 81 Duhig Ian 97 103

INDEX Dunant Sarah 79 Eagleman David 64 Earle Liz 81 Eddo-Lodge Reni 38 Edmonds Lucy 55 Edwards Iestyn 93 Edwards Rick 82 87 El Akkad Omar 41 Elbadawi Asma 35 41 Elijah 51 Ellams Inua 82 83 Ellen Tom 38 Enfield Harry 31 Esiri Allie 31 Fallon David 75 Farley Paul 70 Farquharson Matt 49 Fearnley-Whittingstall Hugh 58 Femi Caleb 83 87 Fineran Lynds 47 48 Finkelstein Daniel 79 98 Flint Emma 31 Forshaw Barry 31 Fowler Gemma 38 Fox Kate 71 Freely Maureen 56 Freeman Anna 83 French Sean 80 Freud Annie 103 Freud Emma 99 Fullerton Elizabeth 39 Gale Steven 46 50 56 57 61 65 67 68 77 Gannon Emma 39 49 Gerrard Nicci 80 Gillespie Edward 64 Gillies Aaron 31 Godwin Georgina 41 49 51 90 98 Golden Maxwell 94 Goldsmith Rosie 91 100 Gompertz Will 27 29 32 38 39 58 Goodhart David 63 Grant Michael 35 Gray Annie 55 Grayling A.C. 57 Greenhalgh Shaun 81

Gregory Philippa 58 Gristwood Sarah 81 Groom Nick 76 Groskop Viv 50 55 58 Haig Matt 93 Hallsworth Scott 36 Hamid Nafeesa 35 41 Hamilton Andy 33 Hamilton James 56 63 Harford Tim 31 Harkin James 70 Harper Sarah 68 Harris Joanne 90 94 Harris Robert 45 50 Harrison Joel 91 Harrison Julian 46 Hart Jenn 71 Hart Miranda 31 Hattersley Roy 76 Hawkins Paula 37 Haycock Boyd David 73 Haynes Natalie 63 64 Haywood Sarah 31 Healey Cherry 65 Hee-Yun Do 100 Hennessy Peter 30 41 49 Hepworth David 45 Heritage Stuart 71 76 Hermes Gowar Imogen 63 Hershman Tania 76 Hewer Nick 93 97 Hill Harry 87 Hogwhats 59 Hogarth Raphael 79 Holgate Andrew 75 90 92 100 Hollinghurst Alan 47 51 Hollis Matthew 64 Honeyman Gail 30 Hook Philip 62 Hooper Clemmie 65 Hoskyns Barney 90 Howard Susanna 62 HRH Princess Michael of Kent 57 Hubbard Tim 30 31 32 37 58 64 Hughes Bettany 67

Humphreys Alastair 46 Hunt Tristram 36 Hunter Megan 41 Hunter Murray Andrew 70 Hussain Nadiya 37 Iannucci Armando 58 Immordino Vreeland Lisa 67 Ivison Lucy 38 James Anna 40 46 Janmohamed Shelina 83 89 Januszczak Waldemar 81 Jarrett Keith 71 Jebelli Joseph 62 Jenkins Simon 80 John Arielle 83 Johnson Alan 63 Johnson Paul 82 89 Johnson Stanley 64 Jones Jonathan 39 Jones Nicolette 67 73 Jones Robert 79 80 Jones Sammy 87 Joyce Rachel 68 100 Jupp Miles 67 71 Kandasamy Meena 65 Kay Adam 90 Kay Jackie 90 91 93 Keane Fergal 81 Kegode Malaika 50 83 Kemp Peter 40 Kennedy A L 90 Kerr Judith 45 Kerridge Tom 32 Khan Coco 102 Khan Qaisra 80 Khan Yasmin 69 Kidd Jess 74 Kinch Soweto 94 King Ian 79 King Stephen 35 Kirby Katie 65 Kisuule Vanessa 50 Kitson Mick 74 Kneale Matthew 45 Knight Lania 102 111

INDEX Knight Paula 47 Knox Joseph 70 Koch Emily 63 Lacey Robert 50 Lagercrantz David 98 Lambert Richard 100 Land Ali 70 Lawson Mark 26 35 41 Lawson Nigella 92 Lawrence Patrice 47 Lazarides Steve 32 Leask Nigel 64 Lee Chun-Yi 35 Leeming Jan 74 Lenoir Sakinah 41 Leonard Julia 36 79 89 Leslie Mariot 46 Leslie Smith Harry 87 Lester CN 32 Lewis Gill 90 Lewis Reina 89 Lewis-Jones Huw 83 88 Liddle Rod 50 Ling Joanna 67 Llewellyn Susan 73 Lloyd John 71 Lloyd Parry Richard 70 Lock Fran 33 Lola Theresa 83 Long James 62 63 90 101 Mach David 90 MacInnes Hannah 38 Macintyre Ben 80 Mackesy Charlie 31 MacMillan Ann 79 Magnusson Sally 31 Mahfouz Sabrina 33 35 Malik Ayisha 83 Mallinson Allan 73 75 80 Marr Andrew 30 Mars Rachel 65 Marsh Henry 39 49 Marshall Tim 76 Matthews Ray 68 May Brian 65 112

Maxtone Graham Ysenda 81 McAfee Annalena 32 McCall Smith Alexander 29 McCrum Robert 39 McDonald Jamie 59 Mcfarlane Robert 31 McFarlane Roy 102 McGonagall Elvis 76 McMillan Andrew 46 48 McNab Andy 70 McNish Hollie 92 103 Miers Thomasina 83 Millen Robbie 47 90 98 Millican Sarah 94 Mills Eleanor 50 52 Mina Denise 31 Minamore Bridget 33 Mitter Rana 61 Moffatt Scarlett 103 Mohamed Hashi 61 63 Monaghan Andrew 82 Moore Victoria 65 Morales Martin 71 Moran Diana 68 Morgan Llewelyn 48 Morgan Nicky 61 62 Morris Jackie 31 Mort Helen 38 46 Morton John 98 Moshenska Joe 62 Moss Sarah 88 91 95 97 99 102 Muir Robin 67 Mulley Clare 57 Munroe Randall 33 Murphy Anna 35 Murphy Declan 69 Murray Al 77 Murray Douglas 89 Murray Judy 52 Nagra Daljit 57 Nail Martyn 79 Naughtie James 71 Niblett Robin 32 46 47 53 Nighy Bill 99 Oakley Robin 64

O’Connell Alex 45 O’Connell Betty 67 O’Connell Paddy 41 67 68 O’Farrell Maggie 51 O’Hagan Andrew 41 Oliver Craig 62 Olusoga David 29 Onuzo Chibundu 93 Osman Hibaq 33 Osman Richard 82 Outen Sarah 77 Owen Adrian 30 Owen Amanda 73 Owen David 46 Owens Susan 30 Owusu Joelle 92 Pachico Juliane 100 Parker Nicky 90 Parkinson Michael 103 Parkinson Mike 103 Parmar Sandeep 81 88 Parr Martin 58 Parsons Nicholas 63 75 Paterson Don 103 Patten Chris 49 Pattni Purvee 97 Pearson Allison 52 Peel Elizabeth 32 Penny Laurie 49 Pentland Louise 49 Pete The Temp 83 Petit Pascale 69 Phillips Adrian 57 64 Phillips Jess 83 85 88 97 99 Philp Catherine 87 Pih Darren 75 Pipe Martin 64 Piper Katie 36 Pitt Daniel 65 Pizarro Jose 89 Pollard Clare 64 Polley Jacob 103 Porter Linda 56 Portillo Michael 55 Poulton Mike 45

INDEX Prettejohn Elizabeth 29 Pryce Lois 47 Ptaszynski Anna 70 Purves Libby 29 30 33 Rankin Ian 71 Rausing Sigrid 90 Reeve Philip 37 Rees-Mogg Jacob 88 Reeves Rachel 30 Renton Alex 50 Rentzenbrink Cathy 51 55 62 63 68 70 73 74 76 Reynolds Amanda 69 Reynolds Gillian 97 Reynolds Matthew 55 Riding Christine 63 Ridley Neil 91 Rifkind Hugo 88 98 Rigby Beth 88 Riley Gwendoline 65 Rimington Stella 80 Robinson Nick 97 102 Rodger Deanna 71 Rogan Richard 55 61 67 73 79 Rogers Richard 89 Rosen Michael 57 Roy Phoebe 47 Rushdie Salman 37 Russell Jenni 98 Salisbury Melinda 37 Samuel Julia 68 Sandbrook Dominic 91 Sanderson Caroline 29 31 49 63 65 68 69 74 97 Sands Philippe 49 Sarpong June 38 40 Saunders Anna 76 Sawday Alastair 75 Schama Simon 81 Schreiber Dan 70 Scruton Roger 76 Seeger Peggy 52 Sergeant John 41 Service Robert 68 Shaffi Sarah 37 41 46 49

Shamsie Kamila 63 Shapiro Jeremy 47 Shipman Tim 62 Shukla Nikesh 38 43 47 51 Sissay Lemn 91 97 Slezkine Yuri 68 Smith Barry 39 Smith Lauren 48 Smith Phoebe 45 47 Snow Peter 79 Somerville Christopher 61 Sopel Jon 36 39 Spafford Martin 29 Spencer Charles 56 Stanford Peter 73 St Aubyn Edward 98 Steadman Alison 31 Stephens Chris 38 Stopponi Giovanna 77 Stothard Peter 48 Streeten Nicola 47 Stringer Edward 61 Stroud Clover 69 Stroud Rick 57 Stuart-Leach Hannah 74 Sulzberger Annie 50 Summerly Victoria 74 Syed Matthew 41 Symmons Roberts Michael 69 70 Tallack Malachy 69 71 Talkhani Zeba 92 Taylor Joelle 33 Temperley Alice 94 The Moth 92 Thomas Heidi 91 Thompson Laura 56 Thorpe Adam 90 92 Tomalin Claire 74 Tongue Fu 94 Tremlett Giles 74 Treuhaft Ben 56 Treverton-Jones Tamsin 101 Tucker Emma 79 87 98 Turner Sarah 65 Twiggy 91

Uglow Jenny 82 Usmani Sumayya 41 Vickers Salley 80 Vine Jeremy 35 Vinjamuri Leslie 47 Wagner Erica 64 Walter Amy 36 47 Walter Harriet 100 Walters Minette 101 Walton James 90 Waters Sarah 40 Watkins Jason 98 Webb Justin 89 97 Webb Robert 42 Weir Alison 81 Welch Julie 81 Wheeler Julia 63 69 70 74 75 81 87 Wheatle Alex 90 Whelpton Tony 76 White Prue 35 Whitehall Michael 93 Whitehouse Anna 49 White-Spunner Barney 69 Whittell Giles 98 Williams Rowan 80 Wilmer Clive 46 Winman Sarah 68 Witherow John 88 Wollheim Bruno 38 Womack Philip 37 Wood Gaby 91 Worsley Lucy 97 Wright Luke 32 Wright Steve 32 Wynne Frank 56 Younge Gary 38

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival is presented by Cheltenham Festivals, a company limited by guarantee, and is a member of the British Arts & Science Festivals Association (artsfestivals.co.uk).

Cheltenham Festivals Board of Trustees Dominic Collier – Chair Diane Savory OBE – Vice Chair Susan Blanchfield Lewis Carnie Prof Mark Lythgoe Edward Gillespie OBE Prof Averil Macdonald OBE Caroline Hutton (Chair of Literature Festival) Theresa Grech – Company Secretary Registered Office 28 Imperial Square Cheltenham GL50 1RH

Company No. 456573 Charity No. 251765 VAT Registration No. 100114013 Main Switchboard No. 01242 511211

The Times and The Sunday Times Literature Festival Festivals Director Ian George Head of Programming Nicola Tuxworth Programme Managers Loraine Evans (Family Programme) Lyndsey Fineran Sophie Hoult Madeline Toy Programme Co-ordinator Becca Di Francesco Admin, Executive and Finance Helena Bibby, Adrian Farnell, Angie Hawkins, Aline Imray, Pete Riley CF Productions Andrew Bate, Cathie Harris-Hawkins, Elaine Holt, Silvia Loi, Jo Marsh, Lara Wilson Education Philippa Claridge, Ali Mawle, Sharron Pearson, Rose Wood

Marketing and Partnerships Kathleen Barnhill, Amy Bates, Samantha Bonnes, Alex Booth, Susan Carslake, John Creedon, James Davis, Sue Dudley, Malcolm Dunn, Lily Fulvio-Mason, Hanna Goldschmidt, Jessica Lowes, Arlene McGlynn, Bairbre Lloyd, Jenna Marks, Martin Perks, Laura Popperwell, Sam Skillings, Operations Adrian Hensley, Anna Jukes, Aylin Ozkan, Mo Soper, Jessica Taylor Megan Watt With many thanks to our programming partners and the publishers, agents, staff and volunteers, all of whom provide invaluable support and help make the Festival a success.

Contact If you have specific comments about any aspect of the Festival, please email literature@ cheltenhamfestivals.com Artwork Credits Main programme illustration © 2017 illustrator Michelle Thompson Family illustration © 2017 Jim Field Photography Credits Visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/ photos for a full photo credit list.

With thanks to Beefcake Events, catering partner 2017.

If you require this brochure in large print format please call 0844 880 8094.

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This brochure is correct at time of going to press – find programme updates online at cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature

Festival Partners

Registered charity in England (No. 294344) and in Scotland (No. SC038885)

Associate Partners

Media Partners

Thank you to Life Patrons Steve and Linda Jones for their generous support.

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HOW TO BOOK Getting To The Festival

cheltenhamfestivals.com

01242 850270

efore the Festival: CF Ticketing Box Office, 15 Suffolk Parade, B Cheltenham, GL20 2AE Book in person or by phone from 1 Sept: Tues–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 10am-2pm. Please note that the Box Office is closed during the Festival and on the key priority booking days noted below.

During the Festival: Festival Box Office is located at the Festival Village site at Montpellier Gardens.

For full details about Box Office opening hours, in person and telephone ticket sales, booking fees, terms & conditions and Membership, visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/booking If you have any special access requirements, such as needing to book a wheelchair space, you can fill in our online form which will be available from 12 August at cheltenhamfestivals.com/booking The Daffodil bookings Our dining seating plans are pre-allocated on the day by our events team and tables may be shared. Please inform our Box Office about any special dietary or seating requirements.

For more information on public transport and car parks go to cheltenhamfestivals. com/your-visit

Postcodes Cheltenham Town Hall (including Main Hall and Pillar Room) GL50 1QA Festival Village in Montpellier Gardens (Including The Times Forum, The Sunday Times Garden Theatre, The Den, The Hive, The Nook, The Inkpot, The Huddle and Feast Café Bar) GL50 1UW The Daffodil GL50 2AE

Booking Dates Members Priority Booking

Public Booking

Wednesday 30 August, from 1pm Online booking (Wish Lists only).

Please note that our Box Office will be closed on this day.

Wednesday 6 September, from 1pm Online booking (Wish Lists only).

Please note that our Box Office will be closed on this day.

Thursday 31 August, from 10am Online and phone booking.

Please note that our Box Office will be closed for in person bookings on this day.

Thursday 7 September, from 10am Online and phone booking.

Please note that our Box Office will be closed for in person bookings on this day.

Friday 1 September, from 10am Online, phone and in person booking.

Friday 8 September, from 10am Online, phone and in person booking.

The dates for next year’s Festival: 5–14 October 2018

Cheltenham is easily accessible from all over the UK, by road and rail. Most events take place on the main Festival site, located in central Cheltenham in Montpellier Gardens (GL50 1UW) and Cheltenham Town Hall (GL50 1QA) – just a six minute walk apart. Most other venues are within walking distance.

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre GL50 3AA Hotel du Vin GL50 3AQ No. 131 The Promenade GL50 1NW

Quicker & Easier Booking with Wish Lists You must create a Wish List in advance to buy tickets on day one of Members or Public booking (30 August / 6 September).

Go to cheltenhamfestivals.com/ literature before booking opens.

Charity No. 251765