The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2019 Brochure

4–13 October 2019 Box Office 01242 850270 cheltenhamfestivals.com #cheltlitfest

Investment managers

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS Title Partners

Principal Partners

Investment managers

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

Major Partners

Strategic Partner

Official Hospitality Partner

CONTENTS Page 4–5 Festival Village: Site & Venue Map Page 6–9 Food & Drink, Free Activities & Bookshops Page 10–20 Behind The Programme

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Page 21 Lit Crawl & Free Events …around town Page 22–24 Schools Programme & Spotlight Page 30–119 Festival Programme: Day-by-day Event Guide

Page 125 Acknowledgements Page 126–129 Index Page 130 Visit & Booking Information

WELCOME A very warm welcome to this special year for The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival as we celebrate the Festival’s 70th birthday.

Back in 1949, post-war Britain was hungry for culture and the ‘Cheltenham Festival for Contemporary Literature’ was the first of its kind in the world. Some 7,000 seats were filled with an audience described as ‘good-humoured and appreciative’.

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

That spirit is as relevant and alive today as it was then. It’s thanks to you, our wonderful audience, that the Festival has grown to become the most eagerly anticipated celebration of writing and the spoken word in the literary calendar. It has also become the Festival with the largest and deepest year-round education programme. This year we are delighted to announce the national expansion of Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils, the programme which develops children’s reading for pleasure, the single most important indicator of a child’s future success.

I’d like to thank all our partners for their continued and invaluable support, the dedicated Cheltenham Festivals team and the publishing industry who bring such exceptional participants to the stage for your enjoyment. It’s a privilege to work with people who know the value of feeding the human spirit with words. Enjoy!

Need help deciding?

We’ve picked some events not to miss at this year’s Festival. Discover the full programme from page 30 and find out how to book on page 130.

Family Events

70th Anniversary

LF07 Cressida Cowell: Dragons And Wizards page 44 LF26 I Believe In Unicorns page 56 LF57 Danny Wallace And Jamie Littler page 105 LF61 Malorie Blackman page 106 LF67 The Boy At The Back Of The Class page 107

L004 70th Anniversary Festival Lunch page 31 L023 Hurrah For Books! page 34 L260 7 At 70 International Showcase page 96 L261 70 Years Of The Times page 96 L324/332 Leafing Through The Decades pages 114–15

Fiction Greats

Unique Experiences

L041 Celeste Ng page 38 L254 Tessa Hadley page 95 L262 Ian McEwan page 97 L279 The Booker Shortlist page 100 L286 Colm Tóibín page 101

Lit Crawl page 21 L060 An English Soundwood page 42 L093 An Evening Of Joni Mitchell page 54 L121 Game Of Thrones Quiz Night page 67 L135 Flavours Of Russia page 81

The Best For First-Timers

Current Affairs

L052 David Nicholls page 40 L083 They F*ck You Up, Your Mum And Dad page 52 L112 Liam Charles Afternoon Tea page 65 L309 Nadiya Hussain And Tan France page 110 L327 Debbie Harry: Face It page 114

L021 Stories Of Statelessness page 33 L077 The Sunday Times Debate page 50 L271 The Times Debate page 98 L281 Politics Tamed: Spin Class page 100 L318 India Now page 112 03

FESTIVAL VILLAGE

Free entry The Woodland Trust Wild Wood Daily, 10am–4pm

Meet your favourite book characters, hear storytellers and visit the Woodland Trust hut for games, activities and more.

Waterstones Children’s Bookshop Drop in to browse the bookshelves, meet authors and get your books signed.

More on page 7.

Secret Seven Mystery Trail Daily, 10am–4pm

We’re celebrating 70 years of the world’s favourite detective club! Pick up a quiz sheet at the John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent and follow the trail around The Woodland Trust Wild Wood.

The Chatterbox

MONTP ELLIER WALK

Site open from Friday 4 October, 9am

Parabola Arts Centre, Hotel du Vin, Town Hall, No.131, Queens Hotel: The Centaur, Lit Crawl ...around town

Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, GL50 1UW

Picnic Area

The Hive

The Woodland Trust Wild Wood

Buggy Park

Woodland Trust

The Nook

John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent The Inkpot Waterstones Children’s Bookshop The Den Box Office

Main Entrance

First Aid

The Sky Arts Studio

Playground Skate Park

The Sky Arts Studio With live coverage, interviews and events, Sky Arts will be broadcasting from the Festival across the week. Pop in to be part of the filming or take part in other creative activities.

John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent On either Festival weekend, take part in our wonderful Bedtime Story sessions (more on pages 47, 59, 107 & 119) and get your trail sheets for the Secret Seven Mystery Trail here!

The Chatterbox Daily, 10am–4pm

Pop in and become a secret agent, decoding mysterious messages. Create your own detective mask and then head out on a secret kindness mission.

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The Den 5–6 Oct & 12–13 Oct 10am–4pm

Free craft activities for ages 4–12 and their families. Become part of our living library, create antiquarian book creatures or join the Mad Hatter’s table to fashion a fabulous Festival hat!

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.

MONTPEL LIER SPA R OA

Other Venues

D

Cheltenham Town Hall

GL50 1QA Incl. Baillie Gifford Stage, Pillar Room, Waterstones Bookshop and Festival Box Office 0.3 miles / 5 minute walk VIP Lounge

Baillie Gifford Prize Draw

in association with Cunard

Drinking Water

Pick up a copy of Trust Magazine in Town Hall, the Festival Box Office or Feast Café in the Festival Village and use the competition entry form enclosed for your chance to win a luxury break to Edinburgh.

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum

Feast Café Waterstones Bookshop

Investment managers

The Huddle Festival Bar

The Bookstand

Picnic Area a

The Gardens ardens Ga Gallery

GL50 3AA 0.2 miles / 3 minute walk

No.131

GL50 2AE 0.3 miles / 5 minute walk The Daffodil

The Garden Theatre

Hotel du Vin

The Daffodil

Drinking Water

Street Food

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre

The Centaur

GL50 3AH 0.3 miles / 5 minute walk

GL50 1NW 0.1 miles / 2 minute walk

Queens Hotel GL50 1NN 0.1 miles / 2 minute walk

GL50 4SH 1.9 miles / 10 minute drive

MONTPELLIER TERRACE The Times & The Sunday Times Pick up your free copy of The Times and The Sunday Times each weekend from various locations across the Festival site.

The Huddle

The Bookstand

The place to grab a cuppa and continue those thought-provoking discussions or enjoy free pop-up performances and brain teasers. More on page 9.

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

Waterstones Bookshop Come along to book signings with your favourite authors and celebrities or lose yourself among the bookshelves. More on page 7.

The Gardens Gallery Daily, 10am–6pm

The Gloucestershire Guild is showing an exciting and varied range of contemporary crafts throughout the Festival. All work will be for sale.

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Food & Drink Whether you fancy a quick bite from our street food traders to refuel in between Festival events, want to tuck into a three-course meal cooked by renowned chefs in one of our delectable food events or look forward to a good chat with friends over a drink (or two), we’ve got you covered.

Feast Café & Festival Bar At the heart of the Festival, enjoy a selection of hot and cold food, pastries, cakes and more. A great place for your morning coffee with the newspaper, afternoon tea or a relaxed drink to round off your Festival experience.

Continue the discussions from our events and enjoy free pop-up performances in The Huddle (more on page 9).

Street Food All around our vibrant Festival Village you will find delicious treats and tasty snacks from around the world brought to you by a range of food traders.

Soak up the Festival atmosphere and have a picnic underneath our canopy, no matter what the weather.

The Daffodil A hidden gem tucked away inside an Art Deco former cinema, this venue is home to some of our most scintillating events. Go on culinary adventures around the globe, discuss current affairs with The Times leaders over breakfast or have a grand night out over delicious dinners with some of Britain’s best chefs.

Late Nights at No.131 Situated in the heart of Cheltenham, No.131’s townhouses boast eclectic and contemporary interiors complemented with the best of British produce. Why not try out Gin & Juice with over 350 gins to choose from, making No.131 the top destination for food and drink in the Cotswolds.

To book a bedroom or table, call 01242 822939

Official Hospitality Partner

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IS PROUD TO SUPPORT

Waterstones Bookshop

Waterstones Bookshop In Cheltenham Town Hall

Situated at the heart of the Festival Village and with the very best selection of new books alongside classics and bestsellers, our Waterstones Bookshop is curated especially for this year’s Festival and the visiting writers. Browse the bookshelves between your Festival events, meet your favourite authors and celebrities and get your books signed.

You can also find us in Cheltenham Town Hall’s Drawing Room, where we invite you to browse the selection of Festival titles or have your book signed following events on the Baillie Gifford Stage and in the Pillar Room.

Waterstones Children’s Bookshop Especially for the Festival’s younger visitors, our Waterstones Children’s Bookshop invites you to discover and rediscover the works from all your favourite children’s writers and illustrators – meet your hero at a signing or be entertained at one of our regular storytimes.

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

Daily

The Woodland Trust Wild Wood Meet your favourite book characters, enjoy storytelling and visit the Woodland Trust hut for games, activities and more.

Family Fun Buzzing with free activities and pop-up events, our Festival Village guarantees fun for the whole family!

Daily

Daily

Secret Seven Mystery Trail

The Chatterbox

Take part in our Secret Seven Mystery Trail celebrating 70 years of the world’s favourite detective club!

Just pick up a quiz sheet from the John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent and follow the trail through The Woodland Trust Wild Wood.

The Secret Seven®, Enid Blyton® and Enid Blyton’s signature are registered trade marks of Hodder & Stoughton Limited, all rights reserved.

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Drop into the Chatterbox and become a secret agent, decoding mysterious messages. Create your own detective mask and then head out on a secret kindness mission.

5–6 Oct & 12–13 Oct, 10am–4pm

The Den Join in with our free craft activities for ages 4–12 and their families.

Become part of our living library, create antiquarian book creatures or join the Mad Hatter’s table to fashion a fabulous Festival hat!

The Huddle Whether you’re after stimulating talks during the day or fancy great entertainment and music in the evening, you’ll find a host of free events in The Huddle in our Feast Café.

7–11 Oct, 4.30–5pm

7–11 Oct, 11am–12pm

Cheltenham Writes!

The Times Crossword

To celebrate the incredible talent of our local authors, we’ve invited five of the best to read from their books and talk about their experiences as writers.

Settle in 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.

7–11 Oct, 11.30am–12pm & 2.30–3pm

A Very Short Introduction To… Big topics, short talks. Join experts for bite-size intros to mind-expanding subjects: from poetry and reading to secularism, Charles Dickens and emotion.

In association with Oxford University Press

Also Don’t Miss...

The Bookstand Grab a book and get comfortable in our cosy outdoor lounge. Swap some books, enjoy the morning paper and plan your day at the Festival.

The Sky Arts Studio As our new official broadcast partner, Sky Arts will be broadcasting from the Festival across the week, with live coverage, interviews and events. Pop in to be part of the filming or take part in other creative activities.

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FESTIVAL THEME: 7 AT 70

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

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In 2019, we wanted to celebrate our incredible heritage whilst looking forward and challenging ourselves to be more relevant, more diverse and more innovative as we contemplate the future of the written word.

The Cheltenham Literature Festival is 70 this year – the longest running Literature Festival in the world, and the first ever. Set up by G.A.M. Wilkinson, the council’s Spa and Entertainments manager, this small but perfectly formed town in the heart of the rolling Cotswold countryside gave birth to an idea that has taken hold all over the world, to the enormous benefit and joy of readers and writers everywhere.

70 years! With some very rough back-of-the-envelope calculations that’s about 20,000 speakers, well over 10,000 events and around 700 days of literary festivities, and, of course, countless audience members young and old from all over the world. From a handful of events in the ornate Cheltenham Town Hall, the Festival has grown into a lively tented village in beautiful Montpellier Gardens, thronging with excited crowds and famous literary faces, but always with a quiet spot to sit and read…

In 2019, we wanted to celebrate our incredible heritage whilst looking forward and challenging ourselves to be more relevant, more diverse and more innovative as we contemplate the future of the written word. And so – our 7 At 70 project came into being. Seven is a number that has always had cultural significance (the Seven Wonders of the World, the Magnificent Seven, the seven deadly sins, the seven basic plots of storytelling), and according to research it is the most-named favourite number when people are asked to choose. Neatly, it is also the number of decades the Festival has been in Cheltenham.

In this very special anniversary year, whether you are a seasoned visitor or new to our wonderful Festival, we hope you enjoy every minute!

Our 7 At 70 are: – Seven extraordinary Guest Curators to provide unique insights, create brilliant events and help us shape our anniversary programme. See pages 17–19 for our fantastic line-up.

– A unique partnership with seven key international festivals, celebrating the next generation of writers. We are delighted to announce our exciting collaboration with festivals from around the world – each of whom has nominated a rising star from their programme who has never appeared at Cheltenham before.

These brilliant writers are flying in to be with us for the second weekend of the Festival and we can’t wait!

Read all about them on pages 14–15.

– Events discussing seven decades of British history – and seven critics debating the seven most important novels since 1949.

– Seven events showcasing the very best new writing, including our ever-popular proof parties – get ahead with your reading for 2020!

– Seven ‘Celebrate With...’ events, in which a well-known author looks back at their break-out novel.

– ‘Read the World’ – a unique reading list. Seventy festivals from across the world have recommended just one must-read book for you to try. Find out more on page 16 and on our website.

– An event with The Times celebrating the Festival’s 70th anniversary and highlighting the biggest, most intriguing stories from the paper since 1949 (page 96).

– Seven birthday book events for our younger readers and events and activities celebrating 70 years of The Secret Seven (see page 21 for details) and 70 years of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (page 74).

To celebrate 70 years of bringing the world’s greatest writers and brightest minds to Cheltenham, we’re opening up the Festival’s incredible archive and bringing audio from past events to life! To find out how you can hear from speakers including Allen Ginsberg, Iris Murdoch, Seamus Heaney, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Hillary Clinton and more, visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature

Follow our theme badge through the Festival programme to discover anniversary events – from page 30.

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70 YEARS OF CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL 1949

1950

The first Cheltenham Festival of Contemporary Literature takes place in Cheltenham Town Hall. It is the first festival of its kind in the world, and it’s not until the 1980s that the majority of literary festivals appear across the country.

Local author and countryside preservationist John Moore becomes the Festivals’ first honorary vice-president, later Chairman of the Advisory Panel. Moore stayed affiliated with the Festival for the next 13 years.

Nine events held over five days in early October, including addresses by authors Emma Smith and Compton Mackenzie, script writer Nigel Balchin and historian Arthur Bryant. The final event, ‘Hurrah for Books!’, was an iconic performance

by Joyce Grenfell and Stephen Potter (see page 34 for our celebratory event of this performance). Emma Smith wrote in 1953: ‘I’m sure every year it gets better and better. But all the same, nothing could be nicer or more fun than that first time of all. O youth! O joy! O Cheltenham Literary Festival 1949!’

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1997

1994

1993

We take the Festival to the streets of Cheltenham for the first time, with performances, readings and music in various venues across town.

Writer and performer Humphrey Carpenter takes on the Festival Director position and adds science writing as a theme, including speakers such as James D. Watson, Douglas Adams and Richard Dawkins. The popular, annual ‘Cheltenham Booker’ event – still on the bill today – is introduced (see page 98 for details).

A North American theme brings Kurt Vonnegut and other US and Canadian writers to the Festival.

1998

2000

2004

2005

Shortly after publishing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in the UK, J.K. Rowling speaks at the Festival for the first time.

Festival Director Sarah Smyth introduces the first ‘Spring Weekend’, presenting events in April in addition to the usual, longer October Festival for a few years in the early ‘00s.

Dame Judi Dench becomes President of Cheltenham Arts Festivals, which Cheltenham Literature Festival is part of.

The Times become the Festival’s title sponsor.

2019

2017

2016

We’re celebrating 70 years of Cheltenham Literature Festival! 10 days of over 400 events and 800 speakers.

Ian George becomes Festival Director. Hilary Clinton speaks at the Centaur – one of the fastest selling events we’ve ever had.

‘Lit Crawl’, taking a host of quirky literary events and performances around town, is founded in Cheltenham by Lyndsey Fineran, Programme and Commissions Manager.

Our primary schools education project ‘Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils’ launches with three Gloucestershire groups and is growing quickly.

1952

1953

1962

Author Robert Henriques becomes Deputy Chairman of the Advisory Panel. A year later, he writes: ‘Our Festival aim […] must be an interchange of views between platform and audience, writer and reader, critic and publisher and librarian and bookseller and buyer of books. This would make a real festival of contemporary literature.’

The first poetry competition takes place at the Festival.

Shortly after, to support new literary talent, the Advisory Panel introduced a competition for ‘a first novel of high literary merit’ with a first prize of £50.

Elizabeth Jane Howard, author of The Long View, becomes the first paid Artistic Director of the renamed Cheltenham Festival of Literature.

Edna O’Brien and Lynne Reid are Guest Writers, among others.

1980

1978

1975

1965

Antiquarian bookseller and collector Alan Hancox becomes Festival Director, growing the Festival from 15 events in 1980 to 65 events in 1990, the audience increasing almost sevenfold.

The children’s and young adult strand, later known as ‘Book It!’, is introduced to the programme.

British novelist and playwright A.C.H. Smith starts directing the Festival. He brings Tom Stoppard to Cheltenham and makes Allen Ginsberg poet-in-residence. Two writers-in-residence, Eva Figes and Adrian Mitchell, bring literature to Gloucestershire schools, colleges and prisons.

The award-winning author Doris Lessing appears at the Festival for the first time.

The young poet and literary editor Ian Hamilton takes on the role of Artistic Director and introduces talks and entertainment about and from pop culture, crime literature and sci-fi.

Authors including Patricia Highsmith, Anthony Burgess and Brian Aldiss visit Cheltenham.

2006

2007

2008

2009

Cheltenham Festivals, by now producing the Literature, Jazz, Science and Music Festivals, becomes its own charity.

Introduction of the ‘Big Read’. From Love in the Time of Cholera and The Great Gatsby, to Catch-22 and The Color Purple, we’ve covered many literary classics across the years in pre-Festival book groups.

Toni Morrison appears at the Festival.

‘Time Will Tell’: Working with author Philip Ardagh and dramatist Fiona Ross, year 7–8 students from six Gloucestershire secondary schools each bring a different decade from the 1950s to the 2000s to life on stage to celebrate the Festival’s 60th anniversary.

2015

2013

2011

‘Beyond Words’ is introduced. The creative writing programme for students in the Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service gives young people a voice at a challenging time in their lives.

Nicola Tuxworth takes on the role of Head of Programming.

The idea of the Festival Village takes flight – we are setting up tented venues in both Imperial and Montpellier Gardens, growing the Festival to a total of 17 venues across Cheltenham.

Some content from Speaking Volumes: A History of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature by Nicola Bennett (1999).

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Seven Writers/ Seven Festivals Continuing our 7 At 70 celebrations, we’ve partnered with seven leading international literature festivals to nominate seven outstanding writers to join Cheltenham’s 70th programme. Hailing from New Zealand, Nigeria, Japan, USA, Ireland, Canada and Argentina, these talented authors are a must for your reading list.

Chris Tse Verb Festival (Wellington, New Zealand)

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Wana Udobang Aké Arts and Book Festival (Lagos, Nigeria)

Chris Tse is the author of two poetry collections, How to Be Dead in a Year of Snakes (finalist at the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and winner of the Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry) and He’s So MASC. He has been involved with some of Wellington’s leading arts and cultural events, including being Lit Crawl Wellington’s inaugural Guest Curator in 2018.

A Nigeria-based poet, journalist and documentary filmmaker, Wana Udobang’s work has been featured at the British Library’s Word, Symbol and Song exhibition and CNN African Voices. Her acclaimed poetry albums Dirty Laundry and In memory of forgetting explore trauma, memory, womanhood and self-renewal, with the latter hailed as a reminder of our ‘collective humanity’. Wana’s performances are celebrated for being visceral, honest and vulnerable.

L252 Ben Norris And Chris Tse page 94 L260 International Showcase page 96 L296 Tongue Fu page 103

L260 International Showcase page 96 L296 Tongue Fu page 103 L319 New Daughters Of Africa page 112

Kanako Nishi International Festival of Literature Tokyo (Japan) Born in Tehran in 1977, Kanako Nishi grew up in Cairo and Osaka. She made her debut in 2004 with short story collection Aoi (Blue). Her novel Tsutenkaku (Osaka Tower) won the Sakunosuke Oda Prize in 2007, and in 2012 she received the first Hayao Kawai Prize for her novel Fukuwarai (Funny Face). Her masterpiece Saraba! won the prestigious Naoki prize in 2015.

L260 International Showcase page 96 L274 Kanako Nishi page 99

Nicole Flattery International Literature Festival Dublin (Ireland)

Esme Wang Litquake (San Francisco, USA)

Nicole Flattery’s work has been published in The Stinging Fly, White Review, The Dublin Review, BBC Radio 4, Irish Times, Winter Papers and the 2019 Faber anthology of new Irish writing, Being Various.

Her story ‘Track’ won the 2017 White Review Short Story Prize.

L244 The Art Of The Short Story page 92 L260 International Showcase page 96

Sarah Henstra Toronto International Festival of Authors (Canada)

Novelist and essayist Esmé Weijun Wang is the author of The New York Times-bestselling essay collection The Collected Schizophrenias, for which she won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize. Her debut novel The Border of Paradise was called a Best Book of 2016 by NPR and one of the 25 Best Novels of 2016 by Electric Literature. Granta named her as one of the Best of Young American Novelists.

Among Sarah Henstra’s publications count Mad Miss Mimic, a historical tale for young adults, her new YA novel We Contain Multitudes and latest novel The Red Word. She is a professor of English Literature at Ryerson University, where she teaches courses in Gothic Horror, Fairy Tales & Fantasies, Psychoanalysis & Literature and Creative Writing.

L260 International Showcase page 96 L273 Life With Schizophrenia page 99 L305 A Body Of Work page 110

L260 International Showcase page 96 L289 Seeing Red page 102 L326 Things We Say In The Dark page 114

Hernán Ronsino FILBA (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Hernán Ronsino is an Argentine writer, professor and sociologist. The author of three novels, among them Glaxo and Lumbre, Ronsino is a professor at the University of Buenos Aires and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). His first collection of short stories obtained the honorable mention of the Argentine National Fund of the Arts in 2002. Hernán is also a co-publisher of the culture magazine Carapachay, and is a founding member of the magazine En Ciernes. In 2011, he was selected by the Guadalajara International Book Fair as one of the new leading authors in Latin America.

L260 International Showcase page 96 L300 Fire And Fury page 109

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Read The World To celebrate our position as the world’s first literary festival, we’ve asked 70 book festivals from around the globe to each nominate a book they’d love Cheltenham audiences to add to their shelves in our 70th anniversary year.

Browse a selection of these must-reads below and check cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature for the full list.

Thando Mgqolozana

Ingo Schulze

A Man Who Is Not A Man

Munich Literature Festival, Germany

Simple Stories

Abantu Book Festival, Soweto

Einar Kárason Storm Birds Reykjavík International Festival, Iceland

Rishi Reddi Karma and Other Stories

Ishion Hutchinson

Stan Grant Talking To My Country

House of Lords and Commons Calabash International Literary Festival, Jamaica

Melania Mazzucco Vita

Boston Book Festival + Lit Crawl, USA

Letterature – Festival internazionale di Roma, Italy

Jonny Appleseed

Using Life

Wordfest, Calgary, Canada

PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, USA

Nujeen Mustafa & Christina Lamb The Girl From Aleppo Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, Dubai

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Tina Makereti The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke WORD Christchurch, New Zealand

Witi Ihimaera and Whiti Hereaka (editors)

Joshua Whitehead Ahmed Naji

Sydney Writers Festival, Australia

Purākau: Maori Myths Retold by Maori Writers

Catherine Dunne

Auckland Writers Festival, New Zealand

The Years That Followed

Barbara Else

Pisa Book Festival, Italy

Go Girl Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival, New Zealand

Guest Curators Lending us their wealth of expertise, our seven Guest Curators have created thought-provoking and boundarypushing events, including a unique set of discussions exploring some of the key social and cultural touchpoints from the past seven decades as well as identifying the novels that have defined our times.

Yomi Adegoke & Elizabeth Uviebinené Award-winning journalist and author Yomi Adegoke has worked at ITN, Channel 4 News and is the women’s columnist at The Guardian. Yomi was awarded Journalist of the Year by the Woman In Africa awards and was listed as one of the most influential people in London by the Evening Standard.

Max Porter An author and editor, Max Porter is best known for his multi-award-winning first novel Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, which has been translated into 27 languages. His second novel Lanny arrived earlier this year and has been celebrated as a strange and wonderful tale and a tribute to difference, imagination, friendship, youth and love.

‘I’m honoured to be given a chance to curate events at Cheltenham. The openmindedness of the Festival, their energy for collaboration and experimentation is thrilling. I’ll be bringing events to Cheltenham which use improvisation, music and play.

We are planning to get the text up off the page, walking, talking, singing into the Festival and into the world. We want to ask difficult questions, unpack things, plant strange language seeds, and give visitors to the Festival unusual and beautiful experiences to take away with them.’

L022 Lanny page 33 L060 An English Soundwood page 42 L076 Blacklisted page 50 L224 The Odyssey: A Study Day page 89 L295 Ali Smith And Max Porter page 103

Elizabeth Uviebinené is an award-winning marketing manager and strategist who previously worked in the City for a global brand producing campaigns that spark conversations and stay ahead of the curve.

She was recognised by The Dots as a woman ‘redefining the Creative Industry’ and awarded a Rising Star in the PR, Communication and Marketing Industry

by WeAreTheCity.

‘We’re so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Cheltenham to curate a vibrant and innovative series of events. We always maintain that Slay In Your Lane is not just a book, but a movement, and we cannot wait to bring our ethos of flourishing in spite of the limitations to life through a number of accessible, practical and inspirational sessions. We look forward to bringing talks that celebrate the power of books and journaling to help to navigate all of the different ways to thrive and stay well.’

L034 Eat Well, Live Well page 37 L045 Slay In Your Lane page 39 L080 Black Faces, White Spaces page 51

[The Festival’s] energy for collaboration and experimentation is thrilling.

Max Porter

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GUEST CURATORS Tessa Hadley Author of highly praised novels including Clever Girl, The Past, The London Train and Accidents in the Home, which was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Tessa Hadley is also Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Her stories appear regularly in The New Yorker.

‘My idea is, for this 70th year of the Festival, that alongside the rich crop of the year’s new fiction, we should also celebrate re-reading: revisiting the old novels and stories which are like the mulch, the earth out of which our new reading grows – and our selves.

What is it that we do when we re-read? We know what’s coming at the end of Jane Eyre, or Madame Bovary, or Huckleberry Finn. Yet each time we read these books the story unfolds suspensefully as if it were happening freshly all over again.’

I’m thrilled to be involved with the oldest book festival in the world.

L254 The Sunday Times Must Reads: Tessa Hadley page 95 L269 Returning To The Books We Love page 98 L301 The Personal Is Political page 109

Dominic Sandbrook

Dominic Sandbrook Dominic Sandbrook is nearing completion of his great multi-volume history of post-war Britain from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s, which began with Never Had It So Good. He has written and presented a number of highly successful BBC television series, on subjects as diverse as the joys of the Volkswagen and the history of science fiction.

‘I’m thrilled to be involved with the oldest book festival in the world, especially as it marks its 70th anniversary.

Cheltenham Literature Festival might have begun life in a battered, bombed-out Britain, but today it’s the ultimate book-lovers’ paradise. And as a historian, I’m especially excited about this year’s events marking the last 70 years, including two landmark events in which panels of critics and writers will be discussing the novels that have really defined our times.

I can’t wait.’

L291 Dominic Sandbrook: Who Dares Wins page 102 L324 Leafing Through The Decades 1949–1979 page 114 L332 Leafing Through The Decades 1980–2019 page 115

My idea is, for this 70th year of the Festival, that alongside the rich crop of the year’s new fiction, we should also celebrate re-reading: revisiting the old novels and stories...

Tessa Hadley

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GUEST CURATORS Robin Stevens Award-winning author Robin Stevens was born in California and grew up in an Oxford college, across the road from the house where Alice in Wonderland lived. Her bestselling children’s book Murder Most Unladylike was the biggest middle-grade debut of 2014, winning the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the Young Fiction category.

Anthony Anaxagorou Anthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher, poetry educator and honorary fellow of the University of Roehampton. His poetry and fiction have appeared on television, radio and in printed publications including BBC Newsnight, Channel 4, The Poetry Review, Granta and Oxford Poetry. Anthony is artistic director of Out-Spoken, a poetry and live music night in London, and publisher of Out-Spoken Press.

‘I began my festival-going career at Cheltenham as a teenager, and even volunteered for the 2006 Festival, so it’s very special to be back as not only an author, but a curator! Children’s mysteries is a genre I feel passionately about – I hope I can bring the sense of excitement I feel when I discover a great new mystery author to the audiences of the events I’m presenting.’

LF11 Top Marks For Murder page 45 LF19 How To Be A Crime Writer page 47 LF59 Mysterious Places page 105

‘My hope is that these shows will help broaden the current conversation around the role of poetry, as well as the importance of literature at such a tenuous time. My aim is to bring books and writers to the Festival who are engaging today’s issues with intellect and innovation. To consider the role of the polemic and how over the last five years it’s managed to successfully push back against populist rhetoric, fascist movements and harmful journalism seems both pertinent and vital. These are discussions I feel we need to have; queries we must walk towards with the intention of widening our perspectives and strengthening social cohesion.’

L245 Anthony Anaxagorou’s Debut Showcase page 93 L253 Art And Activism page 94 L268 Anthony Anaxagorou page 98 L284 Anthony Anaxagorou’s Poetry Dream Team page 101

Leslie Vinjamuri Leslie Vinjamuri is Head of the US & the Americas Programme and Dean of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Leslie writes and speaks about America’s role in the world, international security, intervention and geopolitics. She is an editor of Human Rights Futures and has published numerous articles in leading journals.

‘Global affairs is a central part of Cheltenham’s programme and so I am delighted to be working with the Festival in its 70th anniversary year. International relations are being unsettled by China’s rise, populist fervour in Europe and Latin America, Britain’s exit from the European Union and, not least, an American

President who rejects many long-established diplomatic norms and taken the US out of multiple multilateral frameworks. At this moment in history, it is critically important to foster an open forum for discussion and debate. I look forward to bringing together leading international policy experts, writers and thinkers to examine the most important political issues of our time.’

L037 Populism: The Death Of Democracy? page 37 L051 Has The Rest Of The World Been Trumped?

America’s (New) Role In The World page 40 L077 The Sunday Times Debate: Who’s Next For The White House? page 50

19

Off The Page Eclectic, vibrant and bursting with spoken word, comedy, gigs and performances, our Off the Page collection shakes up what you might expect a literature festival to look like…

Guest Curator Max Porter will get the written word up off the page and ‘walking, talking, singing into the Festival’ with his performances: An English Soundwood and Lanny.

Be transported to Laurel Canyon in our celebration of the words and music of Joni Mitchell, sample the ancient world with Natalie Haynes’ comedy/classics mash-up Troy Story or journey to Westeros with your team for our Game of Thrones Quiz Night.

Cheltenham is renowned for bringing the best and brightest stars of poetry and spoken word to its stages and this year is no different.

Don’t miss two poetry showcases devised by Guest Curator Anthony Anaxagorou, the vibrant music and word mash-up experience that is 20

Tongue Fu, raucous spoken word night Bang Said The Gun plus performances from Lemn Sissay, Hannah Sullivan, Ben Norris, Chris Tse, Nadine Aisha Jassat, Paul Muldoon and Young People’s Laureate Theresa Lola.

Elsewhere, you can join New York storytelling sensation The Moth for one night of incredible true life tales, experience character comedy from ‘village-renowned novelist and son of two’ Lit Crawl hit Christopher Bliss or try out a gig from crimewriting’s very own super-group, The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, fresh from the stages of Glastonbury.

Find all of our Off The Page events in the Festival’s day-by-day guide, from page 30.

Podcast-InResidence: Literary Friction We’re proud to have been the first major Literature Festival to create a Podcast-in-Residence role. Our inaugural resident podcast in 2018, Mostly Lit went on to win Books Podcast of the Year at London Book Fair and this year we welcome the brilliant Literary Friction to Cheltenham.

Follow them for exclusive behind the scenes Festival content @LitFriction

...around town

in association with Cheltenham BID

Lit Crawl Returns...

Saturday 5 October, 5pm–late FREE No ticket required We’re back to take over the streets of Cheltenham for a fast-paced 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 staged in surprising locations. Drop in for one session or crawl your way through the whole evening of events. This is literature done differently. Join us and get drunk on words.

Look out for our …around town flyer in September or visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/around-town for all participating venues and programme.

Daily 11am–3pm

Elmer And Friends Trail FREE No ticket required. Pick up

a trail sheet from our Starting Point at Regent Arcade.

To celebrate 30 years of David McKee’s Elmer, ten primary schools from across the county have created their own friends for the much loved patchwork elephant. Pick up a quiz sheet to follow the trail around town and find their artwork in participating shops, cafés and libraries.

Elmer © David McKee 2019, published by Andersen Press.

Fri 4–Sat 5 & Fri 11– Sat 12 Oct, 10pm–1am

Festival Club @ Hotel du Vin FREE No ticket required Saturday 5 October

After Party @ Bottle of Sauce

When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late-night literary revelry.

Round off your night on the Crawl at the coolest literary house party in town with music and spoken word to keep you going late into the night…

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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Schools Programme

Box Office 01242 850270

Year-Round Programmes Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils A network of teachers’ book groups, providing the ideas and inspiration to ignite children’s reading for pleasure.

Now rolled out to four regions of the country, in partnership with Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, Just Imagine, Peters and Seven Stories The National Centre for Children’s Books.

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Words That Burn This national human rights poetry project was developed in partnership with Amnesty International and enables young people to discover that their words really do make a difference.

I Know, I Wish, I Will

Beyond Words

We are looking forward to working with local schools to create the world’s longest, youth-led spoken word poem in partnership with Eastside Educational Trust and arts organisations across the country. Don’t miss the live stream from the Criterion Theatre on World Poetry Day, 21 March 2020.

Our creative writing programme for students in the Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service gives young people a voice at a challenging time in their lives. Look out for our anthology on sale in the Waterstones Bookshop.

Welcoming Schools To The Festival We can’t wait to welcome over 9000 pupils to the Festival Village, for inspirational explorations of the written and spoken word. This year’s writers include Cressida Cowell, Patrice Lawrence, Robin Stevens and Anthony Anaxagorou.

Students will be taking to the stage in two public events:

Battle Of The Books Wednesday 9 October, 10–11.15am Join this lively debate to determine which dystopia is the most relevant for our time (see page 74).

Young Writers’ Showcase Friday 11 October, 11.30am–12.30pm Be inspired by the word-power of our best young writers from programmes Words That Burn, Write Now and Beyond Words at this celebratory event compered by spoken word artist Sophia Thakur (see page 90).

The David Vaisey Prize 2019 The David Vaisey prize will be awarded at this year’s Festival on Sunday 6 October

by Chris Riddell. The £5000 prize is for a Gloucestershire library that has increased the reading of books for all ages through an outstanding initiative. It is the third year of this special prize which celebrates the vital role of libraries in society.

A distinguished panel of judges has considered the submissions from 18 libraries, with a shortlist of four announced on Monday 2 September. 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 Oxford Bodley’s Librarian in 1986. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

We need libraries and librarians more than ever: places to discover the joy of reading for pleasure, places of quiet sanctuary and places to acquire the skills of guided research.

Chris Riddell 23

Spotlight is Cheltenham Festivals’ year-round talent development programme. It offers a wide range of opportunities for all ages to engage with literature and provides an invaluable platform for up-and-coming talent, supporting writers and performers throughout their career.

Cheltenham Writes!

Debuts And Cocktails

Celebrating the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham.

Our pick of the year’s best first novels, showcased as part of our big opening night.

Locally Sourced Bringing local talent to the stage and addressing a diverse range of topics.

Lit Crawl Proof Parties Introducing upcoming novelists pre-publication. Audiences get a copy of the novel in proof form.

Fiction at 7 Focusing on debut or early career authors.

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A diverse programme of events across Cheltenham town centre, giving a platform to comedians, authors, performers and poets.

Write Now The creative writing project for talented young writers aged 16–17 in Gloucestershire. Students are supported through mentoring, workshops and networking opportunities before performing at the Festival.

The Moth From ordinary folk to celebrities, everyone with a flair for the telling of stories is invited to share the stage in this special event.

To get regular updates about how you can get involved or support our talent development programmes, register for e-news at cheltenhamfestivals. com/register

Make A Difference One Membership supporting four extraordinary Festivals and year-round education, community and talent development programmes Join online today and enjoy: BRONZE £25 per year ✓ Priority booking Buy up to two full price tickets per event during priority booking.

SILVER £50 per year ✓ Priority booking ✓ Discounted ticket ✓ Third party offers Buy up to four tickets per event during priority booking (one discounted, three at full price).

GOLD £75 per year ✓ Priority booking ✓ Discounted ticket ✓ Third party offers Buy up to six tickets per event during priority booking (two discounted, four at full price).

16–25 Free ✓ Priority booking ✓ 50% discount on walk up tickets one hour before the event

cheltenhamfestivals.com/membership Terms and conditions apply – see cheltenhamfestivals.com

Safeguard the future of Cheltenham Festivals Please consider a gift in your Will By remembering Cheltenham Festivals in your Will you can ensure that future generations are as inspired by the Festivals as you are today.

Every year our charity relies on the generosity of our audiences, supporters and sponsors to enable us to craft our richly diverse programmes to bring the best from the worlds of arts and literature, create unique experiences, invest in and develop new talent and inspire young people through our year-round outreach programmes.

To talk in confidence about gifts in wills please contact Fiona Magowan on 01242 537263, or email fiona.magowan@cheltenhamfestivals.com Charity No. 251765

25

A FEAST OF FICTION There are the on-form Booker winners – Ian McEwan, here to talk about his bestselling novel about an alternative, cyborg-filled 1980s, Machines Like Me; and Howard Jacobson, whose tale of late love, Live a Little, was called ‘life-affirming’ by our Sunday Times reviewer.

There are several seriously significant writers back with new books – Robert Harris, Ali Smith and Tessa Hadley, whose Late in the Day, about the decades-long friendship between two couples, is one of my favourite reads of 2019.

For anyone wanting to take the temperature of modern fiction, this year’s The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival has pretty much everything. The 10-day programme is packed with treats.

There are much-loved novelists, such as David Nicholls, Deborah Moggach, Tracy Chevalier (here to celebrate her classic Girl with a Pearl Earring and also talk about her new one, A Single Thread) and Jessie Burton (doing likewise with The Miniaturist and her latest, The Confession).

And there are the young guns, chief among them Max Porter, past winner of The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, who will be leading a ‘performance’ of his wonderful second novel, Lanny.

The short story, and The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, are celebrated in a power-packed panel discussion featuring three high-class performers – Nicole Flattery, Sarah Hall and Chris Power.

And we have a clutch of fine Irish writers – including Joseph O’Connor (one of four The Sunday Times Must Reads) and the magnificent Colm Tóibín, who is accepting this year’s Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence.

Add to that some fine international writers (from Elif Shafak and Celeste Ng to Herman Koch), crime writers such as Patricia Cornwell, the Cheltenham Booker (appropriately in this 70thanniversary year looking back to 1949), the regular and very exciting Fiction At 7 and publisher proof party slots, and a round-table discussion by shortlisted authors from this year’s Booker prize, and, really, there’s nowhere else you need go to get your fill of modern fiction.

Andrew Holgate Literary Editor, The Sunday Times

26

THE BEST OF HISTORY, CULTURE AND CURRENT AFFAIRS Don’t ask me, I’m only a journalist who writes about books.

Luckily, at this year’s Cheltenham Literature Festival there are smart thinkers who know about this stuff. People such as Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, who is not afraid of taking a stab at answering those big questions. (Richard Dawkins does exist but he’ll be arguing for the nonexistence of God.)

Will robots destroy our jobs?

Will we be ruled by hyperintelligent AI machines?

Will there be olive groves in Cheltenham because of climate change? Does Richard Dawkins exist?

Cheltenham once again shows that literary festivals are now a vital part of the intellectual eco-system, a place where the big issues are explored, especially as the old party political conferences have faded to insignificance. The Times debate this year asks a good question: is the party over? The unspun politicians Rory Stewart and Jess Phillips join Philip Collins to discuss whether the two main parties will disappear. Anthony Seldon, Matt Chorley and Daniel Finkelstein answer another lively question: Who’s Britain’s worst PM? Enough about the news, what about the people who bring it to us?

The irreverent Emily Maitlis and pugnacious John Humphrys will give us a witty insight into what they have learnt on the media frontline. Ed Stourton and Nick Robinson will tell us about the joys and mishaps of working on Radio 4’s Today programme.

An important part of civilised life is laughter. The comedians Richard Ayoade and Lenny Henry discuss their careers. Dick Clements and Ian La Frenais, the men who gave us Porridge, The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet may give us a clue to how to be funny. And if you ever wanted to know how to write award-winning musicals, you can ask Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I haven’t even mentioned sexist algorithms, what it’s like to hold a heart in your hand, the dastardly behaviour of the East India Company, the truth about the rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, or how to solve the The Times crossword.

There’s a lot here to give your brain a decent workout. We look forward to seeing you.

Robbie Millen Literary Editor, The Times 27

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But compensation came when the TLS called. That’s validation for you.”

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Call 0800 048 4236 and quote RT19 or go to the-tls.co.uk/RT19

For full terms and conditions, visit tlssubs.imbmsubs.com

Guest speakers from The Times and The Sunday Times The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival is back to celebrate its 70th anniversary with a host of stellar talent.

Highlights of this year’s Festival include: 70 Years of The Times The Times Editor John Witherow and Deputy Editor Emma Tucker discuss the biggest and most intriguing stories in The Times since 1949 (see page 96 for details).

The Sunday Times Culture interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber See one of the most successful musical theatre composers of all time in conversation with Richard Curtis. The two will be talking about Andrew’s life, music tastes and his astonishing career (page 111).

Marie Colvin: In Extremis Marie Colvin reported from the most dangerous, extreme places in the world. She bore witness to the horrifying truths of war and covered the major conflicts of our time, up until her tragic death in 2012. Fellow foreign correspondent Lindsey Hilsum and war photographer Paul Conroy reflect on the extraordinary life of a daring war reporter who defied convention (page 75).

Peter Brookes and David Aaronovitch Much-loved cartoonist Peter Brookes is joined by his colleague David Aaronovitch to present his brand-new collection Critical Times and draw live on stage (page 97).

In keeping with the all the political drama within Westminster, this year’s Festival also features a number of big names from the political world. Hear from Daniel Finkelstein, Matt Chorley, Rachel Sylvester, Rory Stewart, Jess Phillips and more.

Love reading? Be well informed every day. Visit thetimes.co.uk 29

FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER

11am–1.30pm

Walking In The Footsteps Of Laurie Lee

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum

The Garden Theatre

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage

Town Hall, Pillar Room

The Inkpot

The Hive

The Nook

Hotel Du Vin

Queens Hotel

Feast Café Bar & The Huddle

Meet at The Woolpack, Slad

9am 10am

LF01

Baby Goes To Market

11am

L001

12pm

Walking In The Footsteps Of Laurie Lee

1pm

L002

Meet at The Woolpack, Slad £12* Walk in the footsteps of Gloucestershire’s much loved author Laurie Lee, in a very special guided tour of the village entwined in so much of his work. Explore the Slad Valley with historian David Parker, who spent the summer of 1994 recording interviews with Laurie in and around the village. He leads a walk through the village, showcasing these recordings.

Terrain is uneven under foot and there are some gradients. Please dress for the weather and wear sturdy footwear.

L005

Tales Of Survival

L006

2pm

L007

Dominion

Out Of The Woods

The Art Of Love

L003

Howard Jacobson

L004

70th Anniversary Festival Lunch

L335

3pm

L008

L011

4pm

L012 L014

5pm

L016

L017

6pm

L019 L020

7pm

L021

Stories Of Statelessness

L022

L024

L027 9pm

Richard Ayoade On Top

L026

Victoria Hislop

8pm

Forensics

Max Porter: Lanny

L023

L025

Paul Muldoon

Hurrah For Books!

Sam Warburton

A Nurse’s Story

L018

Debuts & Cocktails

Elif Shafak

Walking With Levison Wood

Richard Dawkins

LF02

Lesser Spotted Animals

200 Years Of George Eliot

Dark Side Of The Mind

Erdogan’s Turkey

L009

L010

L013

L015

Conscious Creativity

Celebrate With...

Howard Jacobson

Vintage Proof Party

As I Walked Out...

Art Of Mindful Reading

10pm

L029

Festival Club

11pm 12am

Family Event 30

L001

Locally Sourced

1–2pm

L002

Art & Design

The Art Of Love Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Passionate and tender, loving and tragic: from Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to Gilbert and George, romantic relationships have led to some of the world’s most famous artworks. Curator and broadcaster Kate Bryan shares the dazzling and explosive stories behind some of art’s most influential duos.

FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

1–2pm

L003

Fiction

L005

The Holocaust: Tales Of Survival

Howard Jacobson The Inkpot £10* This event will be live captioned.

The Booker Prize-winning author joins Georgina Godwin to discuss Live a Little, his tender and witty new novel about finding love at the end of your life and examining whether it’s ever too late to change course.

1–3pm

1.30–2.30pm History

L004

History

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* The tragedy and trauma of the holocaust gave rise to astonishing stories of courage and survival. Bart Van Es (The Cut Out Girl) gives a powerful account of the ‘hide-away’ children and the families who sheltered them, and Jeremy Dronfield (The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz) chronicles the harrowing story of the Kleinmann family and the unbreakable bond between father and son. Jeremy and Bart will be joined on stage by surviving sibling Kurt Kleinmann.

Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

The 70th Anniversary Festival Lunch

Nature

Queens Hotel £30*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £9*

Ticket includes a three-course lunch and a drink on arrival.

70 years ago, a lunch was held at the Queens Hotel to celebrate the first ever Cheltenham Literature Festival. Join us for a delicious contemporary interpretation of the original menu, and a fascinating discussion about the history of the Festival with current Head of Programming Nicola Tuxworth and former Artistic Director Sarah Smyth.

Also featuring surprise guests and highlights from the Festival’s extraordinary archive. Hosted by Paul Blezard.

1.30–2.30pm

L335

The Art Of Mindful Reading The Huddle FREE No ticket required If reading is our daily nourishment, how best should it be consumed? Bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud explores how reading mindfully can shape the person you are, give you your moral backbone and teach you to empathise with others.

L006

Out Of The Woods

Following a devastating break-up, the demons Luke Turner had been battling since childhood returned – it’s among the trees he sought refuge. He joins author of The Wild Remedy Emma Mitchell, who has found her encounters with nature to be as medicinal as any therapy, to discuss how nature has helped them to find peace in the grey areas of life. Chaired by Zakiya McKenzie.

2–3pm

L007

Faith & Philosophy

Dominion: The Making Of The Western Mind The Garden Theatre £10* Author and historian Tom Holland joins Hannah MacInnes to explore Christianity’s transformative legacy on western thought.

From the Persian invasion of Greece in 480BC to the migration crisis in Europe today, what made Christianity so revolutionary and disruptive?

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

2.15–3.15pm

3–4pm

L008

Current Affairs

Erdogan’s Turkey: What’s Next?

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* President Erdogan’s divide-and-rule politics inspire both devotion and division and have seen a drift towards authoritarianism in this young democracy. Once he seemed unstoppable, but will recent electoral setbacks and crippling national debt loosen his hold on this strategically vital country? And what happens then? The Times journalist Hannah Lucinda Smith (Erdogan Rising) and the novelist Elif Shafak (10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World) discuss the battle for the soul of Turkey with The Times war correspondent Anthony Loyd.

31

FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER 3.30–4.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L011

Psychology

Dark Side Of The Mind Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* 3–4pm

L009

Travel & Adventure

As I Walked Out… The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

Laurie Lee’s iconic journey on foot from the Cotswolds through Spain is one that travel writer Alastair Humphreys credits with inspiring his life of adventure. Almost a century after Lee set out, Humphreys decided to retrace the author’s trip by busking his way across Europe. Author and film-maker Jacki Hill-Murphy recreated Victorian nurse Kate Marsden’s journey across Siberia, as well as the journeys of numerous early female explorers. Together with Julia Wheeler they discuss travel inspiration and the appeal of travelling in another’s footsteps.

Seated across the table from murderers and violent criminals, forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes (Dark Side of the Mind) and criminologist David Wilson (My Life With Murderers) spend their days delving into the minds and behaviour of some of society’s most dangerous and disturbing individuals.

Enthralling and terrifying, they reveal what it’s like to come face-to-face with the darkest side of human nature with Cathy Rentzenbrink.

L010

Fiction

Vintage Proof Party The Nook £15* Ticket includes refreshments and a goody bag of limited-edition proofs.

Join us for an exclusive first look at Vintage’s unmissable fiction coming in 2020. In conversation, The Bookseller’s Caroline Sanderson shines a light on C.C. MacDonald’s twist-filled debut Happy Ever After, set to be the thriller of the year; Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, a novel based on a true story of a child detective investigating ominous disappearances from an Indian slum; and Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock, a multilayered time-slip novel of three women’s lives, hundreds of years apart.

32

L013

Fiction

Celebrate With…

Howard Jacobson Hotel du Vin £30* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

A rare chance to be in an intimate book-group setting with author Howard Jacobson as he revisits his 2010 Booker Prize-winning novel The Finkler Question, a funny, furious and unflinching tale of friendship and loss.

4.30–5.30pm

L015

Conscious Creativity 4–5pm

3.30–4.30pm

4–5.15pm

L012

Classic Literature

200 Years Of George Eliot The Garden Theatre £10* To celebrate the bicentenary of the remarkable George Eliot, Kathy O’Shaughnessy (In Love With George Eliot), Juliette Atkinson (editor of Silas Marner and Mill On The Floss) and Rebecca Mead (The Road to Middlemarch) delve into her fascinating life and work. They discuss her enduring legacy in the literary world and how, as dissenter, novelist, editor and a woman ahead of her time, she has had an impact on their own lives.

The Huddle FREE No ticket required Flow, that enviable condition of complete creative absorption, is hard to achieve in everyday life. Philippa Stanton offers us the key to the door in a guide to unlocking your creative potential.

5–6pm

L016

Travel & Adventure

Walking With Levison Wood Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Levison Wood burst onto our screens in 2014 with his series Walking the Nile. Since then he has walked the Himalayas, large chunks of South America and most of the Arabian Peninsula specialising in postconflict zones and some of the world’s most hard-to-reach places. He talks about his adventures with Julia Wheeler.

FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

4.30–5.30pm

L014

5.45–6.45pm

L018

Science

Fiction

Richard Dawkins

Debuts And Cocktails

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10*

The Nook £12*

Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to be good? The brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to explain to Clare Clark why we don’t.

It’s been a remarkable year for debuts; join us as we raise a glass to three of our favourites. Jessica Andrews’ Saltwater is a ‘luminous’ (The Observer) feminist coming-of-age novel that examines shifting class identity; Ronan Hession’s Leonard and Hungry Paul is a deliciously offbeat story that celebrates the wonder of everyday lives; and Season Butler’s Cygnet is an atmospheric island-set novel with a captivating teenage narrator who has been compared to Holden Caulfied by Blake Morrison. Chaired by Lyndsey Fineran.

L021

Current Affairs

Stories Of Statelessness Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

Ticket includes a cocktail on arrival.

6–7pm

7–8pm

With nationalism and the far right on the rise across Europe and North America, there has never been a more important moment to face up to what we are doing to those who seek sanctuary. Jérôme Tubiana (Guantánamo Kid) and David Constantine (Refugee Tales) join Hashi Mohamed to explore astounding accounts of human endurance and faith against overwhelming odds and terrible injustice. They discuss the importance of telling these stories and how their works of graphic novel and poetry capture them.

L019

Memoir & Biography

A Nurse’s Story The Garden Theatre £9* Christie Watson (The Language of Kindness) talks to Libby Purves about her incredible 20-year career as a nurse, in an astounding account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness.

5.30–6.30pm

L017

Fiction

Elif Shafak The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

Studies suggest that brain activity may continue for minutes after death. Such is the intriguing premise behind the new novel of British-Turkish bestselling writer Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World. She discusses it with Sam Baker.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

6.30–7.30pm

L020

Sport

Sam Warburton The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* In Open Side, the titan of Welsh rugby reflects on a career that pushed him to the edge of his physiological and mental limits. He discusses successful leadership, the torment of injury and the pain of retirement.

7–8pm

L022

Off The Page

Max Porter: Lanny Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Guest Curator Max Porter’s first novel Grief Is the Thing with Feathers was published to widespread acclaim in 2015 and adapted into a sold-out stage run starring Cillian Murphy. This year he launches Lanny, a spellbinding tale that blends a compulsive account of the hunt for a missing child with a fantastical mix of folklore, myth and the voices of an English village. Join him for an immersive performance of the book with the musicians Alula Down.

33

FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER 8–9pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L025

Off The Page

Paul Muldoon The Nook £10* With the Pulitzer, T.S. Eliot and Griffin prizes to his name, Paul Muldoon is one of our most celebrated and prolific contemporary poets. Join us for readings from his new collection Frolic and Detour and wider work.

7–9pm

L023

Classic Literature

8.30–9.30pm

Hurrah For Books!

Richard Ayoade On Top

The Hive £12* The inimitable Joyce Grenfell, comedian, actress and scriptwriter, performed her specially written monologue Hurrah for Books at the first ever Cheltenham Literature Festival. Paul Blezard joins Joyce’s biographer and family friend Janie Hampton and the actress Maureen Lipman to remember this remarkable talent and read favourite monologues and extracts from her 1949 performance on the Cheltenham Town Hall stage.

7.30–8.30pm

L024

Science

Forensics: The Search For The Truth The Inkpot £8* Angela Gallop’s ability to reconstruct violent events in her mind and to see how forensic science can be used to reveal a suspect, would leave even Sherlock Holmes in awe. The author of When The Dogs Don’t Bark is one of the world’s most eminent forensic scientists and has solved many seemingly intractable cases, including those of Damilola Taylor and Stephen Lawrence. She speaks with Caroline Sanderson about her fascinating life spent searching for the truth.

34

L027

Stage & Screen

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* 8.15–9.15pm

L026

Fiction

Victoria Hislop The Garden Theatre £10* The multi-million-copy bestselling author of The Island and Cartes Postales from Greece speaks to Cathy Rentzenbrink about Those Who Are Loved, her captivating new novel set against the backdrop of Germanoccupied Greece.

Best known for his BAFTA-winning role in The IT Crowd, the comedian, actor, writer, director and television presenter Richard Ayoade takes Hugo Rifkind on a hilarious journey, attempting to rewrite cinematic history. He makes a case for perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed – View From the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow – and reflects on his own stellar career.

10pm–1am

L029

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE No ticket required When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up.

Join us after-hours at Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late-night literary revelry.

FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

Welcome to a world of bookish entertainment and delights for toddlers, children, teens and their families. From animation to information, comics to circuses, pirates to poetry, look out for performances, events and workshops.

As the Festival turns 70, we celebrate seven big book birthdays, and to mark The Secret Seven’s 70th anniversary, there’s a trail and a myriad of mystery events created in partnership with our Guest Curator Robin Stevens.

4.30–5.30pm

LF02

Lesser Spotted Animals The Hive £6* Ages 7+ Fed up with the same old animals? Got a thirst for nifty nature knowledge and a love of the unknown underdog? Join author and illustrator Martin Brown in discovering the wonderful wildlife we rarely get to see in this fact-tastic event with live illustration.

10–10.45am Find these icons on the family event pages:

Events dedicated to the Festival’s 70th anniversary

Birthday celebration events

Mystery themed events

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

LF01

Baby Goes To Market The Hive £6* Ages 2+ What happens when mama and baby go to market? Find out with spectacular storyteller Atinuke, author of Baby Goes to Market, B is for Baby and the Anna Hibiscus picture books. Full of warmth and colour, stories and bounce, Atinuke’s event will have little ones mesmerised.

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The Centaur The Times and The Sunday Times Forum The Garden Theatre Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Inkpot The Hive The Nook

10am

11am

L033

L034

L037

1pm

L039

Emily Maitlis

The Death Of Democracy?

12pm

LF11

Robin Stevens

L036

2pm

L041

L042

3pm

L043

James O’Brien

From Downton To Hollywood Celeste Ng

LF16

L049

4pm

L051

5pm

L052

David Nicholls

America’s (New) Role

David Cameron

L046

William Dalrymple

L048

6pm

L054

L057

7pm

L058

Memoir & Biography

9pm

L337

L067

Festival Club

10pm

11pm

When Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black came out to his Mormon mother, his home seemed destined to be divided. He shares the heartfelt story of what it took to remain a family with Georgina Godwin.

Helena Bonham Carter

Don’t Look Back In Anger

L063

L339

David Suchet

L064

8pm

L061

Ainsley Harriott

An English Soundwood

L060

Joseph O’Connor

Some Kids I Taught

Robert Harris

L062

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

L059

Desert Island Books

The Election Generals C. Gracie & J Gillard

L056

David Lammy

L055

Meet The Literary Editors

L047

Writing For Children

LF10

Skint Estate

L035

Raise Your Voice

LF21

Lemn Sissay

LF13

Killer Women

LF18

L053

Dialogue Proof Party How To Be A Crime Writer

LF19

My Little Pony

Jonny Duddle’s PirateAdventure

LF09

L044

T. Lola & N. A. Jassat

L045

Drawing Darkness

LF17

Egyptian Mummy!

LF06

Cressida Cowell & Friends

Taming The Black Dog

L038

Jackie Kay Presents

Amazing Africa

LF14

LF12

Opera ABC

L040

Make Your Own Picture Book

Zaitoun: Palestinian Kitchen

L050

Mama’s Boy

L031

10–11am

L030 10–11am Psychology

9am

LF07

Matthew Syed: Rebel Ideas

L031

Mama’s Boy

LF05

LF24

Bday Kipper

LF08

How A Book...

Kevin Barry

L032

Oi Puppies!

LF23

Bday Kipper

LF03

Horrid Henry

Where do the best ideas come from?

And how do we apply these ideas to the problems we face? Taking lessons from psychology, economics and anthropology, Matthew Syed shares his radical blueprint for creative problemsolving with Hashi Mohamed.

Surgery On The Frontline

Cressida Cowell

The Garden Theatre £10*

L030

Matthew Syed: Rebel Ideas Eat Well, Live Well

Slay In Your Lane Celebrate With...

Robert Harris

12am

Family Event

CLC, Parabola Arts Centre CLC, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio The Daffodil No. 131 Hotel Du Vin

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Box Office 01242 850270

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

DAY PLANNER

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

12–1pm

L035

Psychology

Taming The Black Dog The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

10.30–11.30am

L032

Fiction

Kevin Barry The Nook £8*

11.30am–1.30pm

L034

Lifestyle

The Goldsmiths Prize-winning writer of Beatlebone and City of Mohane brings his latest novel, Night Boat to Tangier, which tracks two fading Irish gangsters.

A biting black comedy with heart, he discusses it with Fiona Lensvelt.

Eat Well, Live Well No.131 £35* Ticket includes a glass of wine and a light lunch.

11am–12pm

L033

Science

Surgery On The Frontline Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* For more than twenty-five years, David Nott (War Doctor) has taken unpaid leave from his job as an NHS surgeon to volunteer on the frontline in the world’s most dangerous war zones. He discusses his remarkable memoir with Julia Wheeler.

In our increasingly busy lives, the pressure to juggle different commitments can feel overwhelming, often coming at the expense of our mental and physical wellbeing. From food to digital health, our Guest Curators authors Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené (Slay in Your Lane) are joined by vegan chef Rachel Ama (Vegan Eats), pilates and wellness coach Isa-Welly and others, to discuss how we can all strike the perfect balance. Following the event, enjoy a delicious lunch with recipes taken from Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats.

12–1pm

L036

Memoir & Biography

Skint Estate

As Ella Risbridger (Midnight Chicken) tried to explain to a psychiatrist why she wanted to throw herself under a bus, her thoughts turned to cooking. As she gradually recovered, cooking became her salvation and the antidepressant she needed. For Bella Mackie (Jog On), divorced and struggling with mental health problems, the answer was running. Unwittingly, she discovered that pounding the pavements kept the dark feelings at bay. They tell Abigail Bergstrom about how their alternative therapies brought them back to life.

12.30–1.30pm

L037

Current Affairs

Populism: The Death Of Democracy?

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Is the global resurgence of populism a fleeting phenomenon, a howl of rage from those who feel excluded from mainstream politics, or does it have the potential to change the face of the western political landscape indefinitely? Our Guest Curator, Chatham House’s Leslie Vinjamuri, is joined

by Latin America specialist Christopher Sabatini, politics and international relations expert Matthew Goodwin (National Populism) and former US deputy homeland security advisor Amy Pope to consider how much of a threat this wave of populism poses to our systems of liberal democracy.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Cash Carraway joins Cathy Rentzenbrink to talk about her debut memoir of poverty, motherhood and survival. This hard-hitting and brutally honest account of austerity Britain explores impoverishment, loneliness and violence, woven into a manifesto for change. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER 12.45–1.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270

2–3pm

L038

Lifestyle

Jackie Kay Presents

The Ultimate Guide To Writing For Children

The Nook £8* Get ready to extend your reading list: Scottish Makar, poet and novelist Jackie Kay reveals her selection of ten of the most exciting BAME writers working in the UK today. Jackie will be joined in conversation by three of her chosen writers.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

1–3pm

L040

Lifestyle

Presented by the National Centre for Writing and British Council as part of the International Literature Showcase with support from Arts Council England.

Zaitoun: Recipes And Stories From A Palestinian Kitchen The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes a two-course lunch and a glass of wine.

Enjoy the sumptuous flavours of the Middle East as Yasmin Khan shares mouth-watering recipes alongside stories of the people and the region from her travels through Palestine, telling Julia Leonard about the realities of their everyday lives along the way.

1–2pm

L039

Current Affairs

Emily Maitlis Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* Behind every interview is a backstory.

The compromises made. The regrets, rows and inappropriate comedy. Taking us behind the scenes, the broadcaster Emily Maitlis (Airhead) tells Emma Tucker, deputy editor of The Times, why making news rarely goes according to plan.

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LF16

Fiction

2–3pm

L041

Fiction

Celeste Ng The Garden Theatre £10* In a special visit from Boston, we welcome the American writer of the hugely popular and critically-acclaimed bestsellers Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, soon to be adapted for the screen featuring Reese Witherspoon and Julia Roberts. She joins Sam Baker to discuss her literary page-turners that tackle family dynamics, suburban life and race relations.

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition has launched the careers of several successful children’s authors. Could you be next to win their £10,000 publishing deal? Join Chicken House Managing Director – and original publisher of Harry Potter – Barry Cunningham, judges Nikesh Shukla (The Good Literary Agency) and Alex O’Connell (The Times), and previous winner Jasbinder Bilan (Asha and the Spirit Bird) as they share their top tips on how to get your children’s book in print and answer your publishing questions.

There is a chance to pitch your book to Chicken House at our Pitch And A Pint event during Lit Crawl the same evening. For details visit cheltenhamfestivals.com

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2.30–3.30pm

L042

Stage & Screen

From Downton To Hollywood The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* With the Downton Abbey film released in September and their forthcoming collaboration Belgravia set to hit the screen next year, writer Julian Fellowes and producer Gareth Neame reveal all to Julia Wheeler about this year’s most hotly anticipated film and what’s coming next.

3–4pm

L045

Lifestyle

3–4pm

L044

Off The Page

Theresa Lola And Nadine Aisha Jassat The Nook £8*

3–4pm

L043

Current Affairs

James O’Brien: How To Be Right Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* The LBC presenter, famed for his on-air takedowns of the ill-informed and ignorant, tells Hannah MacInnes how to survive the Daily Mail disciples as he shares his hilarious guide to talking to people with unchallenged opinions.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Young People’s Laureate for London Theresa Lola’s debut collection In Search of Equilibrium is an extraordinary and exacting study of death and grieving for a loved one.

Nadine Aisha Jassat’s Let Me Tell You This, described as a ‘powerful, punchy debut’ by Jackie Kay, is a vital exploration of racism, gender-based violence and the restorative bonds between women. Don’t miss this chance to hear these two dynamic young poets perform together.

Slay In Your Lane No.131 £15* With Slay In Your Lane, Guest Curators Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené started a national conversation, sharing the stories of some of the most successful black women in Britain and showing young women how to get ahead in everything from education, to work, to dating. They talk to presenter Tinea Taylor about its phenomenal success and introduce Slay In Your Lane: The Journal, an empowering and practical toolkit that will help you create a better and more visible future for yourself, whatever your goals.

4–5pm

L046

History

William Dalrymple The Garden Theatre £10* The multi-award-winning historian presents The Anarchy, a cautionary tale of the rise of the East India Company, a vast and ruthless private army, and perpetrators of one of the most supreme acts of corporate violence in world history.

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SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

4.30–5.30pm

L051

Current Affairs

4–5pm

Has The Rest Of The World Been Trumped?

America’s (New) Role In The World

L047

Fiction

Killer Women The Inkpot £9*

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10*

This event will be live captioned.

Sam Baker talks to three women at the top of the crime genre. Oyinkan Braithwaite’s blackly comic debut My Sister, The Serial Killer has been one of 2019’s biggest hits. Multi-awardwinner Denise Mina’s lauded new novel Conviction centres on a protagonist who takes her obsession with truecrime podcasts to dangerous new heights. Bestselling author of HE SAID/ SHE SAID, Erin Kelly’s new novel Stone Mothers is a gripping psychological thriller set in the shadows of a former mental institution.

4–5pm

L048

Lifestyle

Meet The Literary Editors Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* What does the average day of a literary editor look like? Join Robbie Millen and Andrew Holgate (Literary Editors of The Times and The Sunday Times respectively) as they share behind-the-scenes insights of life on the books pages, share some autumn reading tips and, in honour of the Festival’s 70th anniversary, look back at some of the major titles they’ve championed (or panned…) over the years. Chaired by Clare Clark.

4–5.15pm

L049

Current Affairs

David Cameron The Centaur £35* Ticket includes a signed copy of For the Record RRP £25.

The former Prime Minister joins us in conversation with the BBC’s Sophie Raworth, to discuss his extraordinary memoir For the Record. Revealing the battles and achievements of his life and career in intimate and frank detail, he will also provide, for the first time, his perspective on the EU referendum and his views on the future of Britain’s place in the world in the light of Brexit.

5–6pm

L052

Fiction

4–5.15pm

L050

Fiction

Celebrate With…

Robert Harris Hotel du Vin £30* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

First published 27 years ago, Fatherland was the book that cemented Robert Harris as one of our most popular novelists. Grab a glass of fizz and join this intimate celebration with Libby Purves and the author.

40

As Donald Trump stakes out a new course for America’s role in the world, many argue that the US is moving backwards. How does Trump’s disruptive approach to international relations inform and challenge the policy-making of other nations? Our Guest Curator, Chatham House’s Head of the US and Americas programme Leslie Vinjamuri, international relations specialist William Wohlforth, historian and political scientist Rana Mitter and Chatham House’s Head of the Middle East and North Africa programme Lina Khatib reflect on the changing shape of transatlantic relations.

David Nicholls Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Very few people write about teenage life as well as David Nicholls. He tells Cathy Rentzenbrink about his new novel, Sweet Sorrow, a tragicomedy about the rocky path to adulthood, the confusion of family life and that brief, searing explosion of first love.

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

5.15–6.15pm

L053

Fiction

Dialogue Proof Party The Nook £15* Ticket includes refreshments and a goody bag of limited-edition proofs.

Created by Sharmaine Lovegrove in July 2017, Dialogue Books shines a spotlight on stories for, about and by readers from the LGBTQI+, disability, working class and BAME communities. In its short history, this activist imprint has already created waves with its range of hard-hitting, political and cultural titles. Today, we take a first look at some of the ground-breaking titles for 2020: The Quarry by Ben Halls, Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez and Curandera by Irenosen Okojie.

Chaired by Fiona Lensvelt.

6–7pm

L055

Memoir & Biography

Lemn Sissay The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

British poet and national treasure Lemn Sissay talks to Georgina Godwin about his courageous memoir My Name is Why, which captures a childhood in care and a subsequent search for identity, family and the meaning of home.

6–7pm

L054

6–7pm

L056

Current Affairs

Current Affairs

Carrie Gracie And Julia Gillard

David Lammy

The Garden Theatre £8* Carrie Gracie was once best known for her China reporting, but in 2018 she hit the headlines for another passion: equal pay for women. As a result of this, Gracie publicly resigned her role as BBC China Editor. Equal tells her story and the story of every woman.

She is joined on stage by the former Australian Prime Minister and Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London Julia Gillard.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Exploring the rise of tribalism and the effects of our need to belong, the Labour MP talks to Hannah MacInnes about his memoir Tribes and his place as one of parliament’s most prominent and successful campaigners for social justice.

6.30–7.30pm

L057

Current Affairs

The Election Generals The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* Back on our biggest stage for this everpopular event, we welcome BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House regulars Peter Hennessy (Winds of Change) and John Sergeant, and their host Paddy O’Connell, as they give an expert overview of another tumultuous year in British politics – and try to predict what lies ahead.

6.30–7.30pm

LF21

Off The Page

Raise Your Voice The Hive £6* Ages 12+, teens and young adults Two passionate young voices from the spoken word scene, Matt Abbott and Rachel Nwokoro showcase their powerful poetry of identity, rebellion, friendship, bravery, love, truth and technology.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

7.30–8.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L060

Off The Page

An English Soundwood 7–8pm

L058

Fiction

Desert Island Books With Sebastian Faulks Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* A tough task for any bibliophile: if you could only take six books with you to a desert island, which would you choose?

The BBC’s Sophie Raworth talks to bestselling author Sebastian Faulks about his castaway reads.

7.30–8.30pm

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10* In an exclusive Festival commission, Guest Curator Max Porter brings together the writers Kerry Hudson, Niven Govinden, Momtaza Mehri and Rachael Allen with musicians Alula Down to create an acoustic portrait of our complex and troubled country today. Dissolving hierarchies between different modes and genres, blending poetry with politics, the sacred with the mundane, the domestic with the mythic, An English Soundwood is a radical and immersive live performance you won’t want to miss.

L059

Fiction

The Sunday Times Must Reads: Joseph O’Connor The Nook £8* The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate talks to Star of the Sea author Joseph O’Connor, whose acclaimed atmospheric new novel Shadowplay imagines the inner life of Bram Stoker during his time in London’s theatres that provided fodder for his invention of Dracula.

L062

Fiction

Robert Harris The Garden Theatre £10* Master storyteller Robert Harris returns with The Second Sleep, a novel set in Exmoor in 1648. He talks to Robbie Millen about his new book, featuring a priest who arrives to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. But all is not as it seems, and as the story unravels so does the young priest’s faith in himself and everything he believes.

8–9pm

L337

Current Affairs

7.30–10pm

L061

Lifestyle

Ainsley Harriott The Daffodil £50 * Ticket includes a three-course dinner and a drink on arrival. Bar open until late.

Join the nation’s favourite TV cook on a food adventure. Ainsley Harriott takes us back to his roots, and tells us about the best-kept secrets of Caribbean home cooking, in this delicious and fun dinner.

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8–9pm

Some Kids I Taught & What They Taught Me Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Telling the stories of some of the kids she’s taught, as well as her own, Kate Clanchy offers a candid, funny and moving insight into life in British state schools today. She talks about the importance of giving children a voice through the power of poetry.

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

8.15–9.15pm

L063

History

Don’t Look Back In Anger The Inkpot £8* Relive the epic highs and crashing lows of one of the most eventful periods in British history. The nineties was the decade when Britain became Cool Britannia, enjoying a new renaissance in music, culture and fashion. But, flanked by the Gulf War and the tragedy of 9/11, it also saw the beginnings of spin and the first stirrings of celebrity culture. Musician turned author Daniel Rachel and historian Alwyn W.Turner (A Classless Society) discuss a remarkable decade with Georgina Godwin.

8.30–9.30pm

L064

Stage & Screen

5pm–late

David Suchet

Lit Crawl

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12*

Various venues across Cheltenham FREE No ticket required

David Suchet, best known for playing Poirot on our television screens, has spent as much of his career behind the lens as in front of it. He shares his lifetime of stories and photographs with Matthew Stadlen.

Lit Crawl returns! Charging into our fourth year, we’re back to take over the streets of Cheltenham for a fast-paced evening of pop-up events and quirky literary happenings – all completely FREE. See page 21 for details or check cheltenhamfestivals.com for programme updates in September.

9–10pm

L339

Stage & Screen

Emma Freud Meets… Helena Bonham Carter Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12*

10pm–1am

L067

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE No ticket required See page 34 for details.

Known for her roles in quirky independent films, as much as in the blockbuster movies, Helena Bonham Carter has rarely been far from our screens for close to thirty years.

Elegantly eccentric, Helena has a connection with her audiences in a way not many actors do. Emma Freud talks to her about her life and her incredibly varied career.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

10–11am

LF05

Oi Puppies!

The Inkpot £6* Ages 4+

10–10.30am 11–11.30am

LF23 LF24

Happy Birthday Kipper!

The Hive £6* Ages 3+ Everyone’s favourite little dog is turning 30! Join storyteller Liz Fost to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Kipper: The Blue Balloon with stories, songs, games and much more based on Mick Inkpen’s much loved Kipper stories. You might even see Kipper himself!

Event includes a character costume appearance.

10–11am

LF03

Horrid Henry: Number One For Fiendish Fun!

What happens when Oi Frog! and friends meet a group of adorable puppies who just… will not… SIT? Join the multiaward-winning duo Kes Gray and Jim Field to find out in this hilarious interactive event full of storytelling fun, live drawing, hilarious mishaps and, of course, lots of very silly rhymes.

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 6+ Celebrate 25 years of hilariously horrid fun with international bestselling children’s author Francesca Simon.

Whether it’s wreaking havoc on an aeroplane, sabotaging the school play or sneaking onto a forbidden rollercoaster, Horrid Henry’s totally brilliant adventures offer an irresistible introduction to reading for pleasure.

10.30–11.30am

LF07

Cressida Cowell: Dragons And Wizards The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £6* Ages 9+ Enter a world of wizards, warriors, mythical creatures and powerful magic with Blue Peter Book Award-winning author and new Waterstones Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell, creator of How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once. Find out what inspires Cressida to create stories, where she finds ideas for her drawings and what it’s like to have your books made into films in this fantastic family event.

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cheltenhamfestivals.com

11–11.30am

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

LF08

From Seed To Read! How A Book Is Made Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £3* Ages 7+ A fun fact-filled participative show with author Paul Harrison (Leonardo Da Vinci in 30 Seconds) that takes the audience through the book making process with the aid of helpful hats – from seedling, to trees, paper, printers, authors, editors and ending up with you, the reader.

12–1pm

12.15–1.15pm

LF14

Opera ABC Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £7* Ages 7+ Discover the thrilling story of opera with singer and author Mark Llewelyn Evans (ABC of Opera), soprano Victoria Joyce and pianist Meryn Williams. Travel back in time to Florence to meet Professor Peri, the inventor of opera, alongside Perfect Purcell, Too Hot to Handel and a host of other barmy composers.

Combining storytelling, facts and live music, this is a fabulously fun-filled introduction to opera for families.

12.30–1.30pm

LF09

Africa, Amazing Africa The Hive £6* Ages 7+ Did you know the first humans to walk the earth were African? That Africa had the first university in the world, or that the continent is as big as Europe, the USA, Mexico, India and Japan put together? Join spectacular storyteller Atinuke for a captivating event full of facts, stories, language and culture about the rich continent where she grew up.

LF11

Robin Stevens: Top Marks For Murder The Garden Theatre £6* Ages 9+ Calling all young crime enthusiasts!

Presenting her brilliant Murder Most Unladylike series, author and Guest Curator Robin Stevens shares tips on how to write a great mystery and reveals the people and places from her Cheltenham school days that inspired her books. Tap into your own detective skills to help Robin create and solve a mystery and bring along your deadliest questions.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER 12.30–1.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

LF12

Workshop Make Your Own Picture Book With Emily Haworth-Booth Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £10* Ages 6–10 All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Accompanying adults do not require a ticket.

A fun, interactive workshop for creative minds. Inspired by Emily HaworthBooth’s The King Who Banned the Dark, you will explore the theme of fears to get started on your very own story book. Emily will guide you in planning your own stories, sharing her top tips and tricks, and you will leave with a blank folded book so you can draw your finished artwork at home.

2–3pm

LF10

Jonny Duddle’s Pirate Adventure The Inkpot £6* Ages 5+ Yo ho ho! Ahoy there shipmates! Set sail with author and illustrator Jonny Duddle (The Jolley-Rogers and The Pirate Piper) and the Jolley-Rogers, everyone’s favourite pirate family.

There will be readings, live drawing, scurvy tales from the high seas of treachery and lots of rats! Pirate dress-up optional.

2–3pm

LF16

Children’s Books For Adults

The Ultimate Guide To Writing For Children Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition has launched the careers of several successful children’s authors. Who is the next to win their £10,000 publishing deal? Join Chicken House Managing Director – and original publisher of Harry Potter – Barry Cunningham, judges Nikesh Shukla (The Good Literary Agency) and Alex O’Connell (The Times) and previous winner Jasbinder Bilan (Asha and the Spirit Bird) as they share their top tips on how to get your children’s book in print and answer your publishing questions.

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2.30–3.30pm

LF06

You Wouldn’t Want To Be An Egyptian Mummy!

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 7+ Get ready…as you are about to drop dead! Enter the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians at the world premiere of Mr Dilly’s new production inspired by the global bestselling book. Laugh until your insides hurt in a hilarious burst of foul fun, fascinating facts and exciting entertainment for all the family.

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2.30–3.30pm

LF18

Cressida Cowell And Friends The Hive £6* Ages 8+

4.30–5pm

LF20

Bedtime Story John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent FREE Ages 4–7 Ticket required. One ticket holding accompanying adult per child.

Ticket includes a free sketchbook.

What might you find between the covers of an author’s or illustrator’s notebook?

Take a sneaky peak with Waterstones Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell as she invites special Festival guests to reveal their sketchbooks filled with thoughts, ideas, jokes and doodles. Bring along your sketchbook to share too!

Snuggle up for a cosy bedtime story with a special Festival guest. Names announced on the day.

Look out for more info on site and on cheltenhamfestivals.com

4.30–5.30pm

LF13

My Little Pony The Hive £6* Ages 4+ Discover your own pony name and join Rosie Tells Tales for an adventure in the land of Equestria. Step into the Golden Oak Library for a colourful celebration of imagination, self-identity and friendship in an interactive event for every pony.

Please note that there will not be a character meet and greet in this event.

2.45–4.15pm

LF17

Workshop Drawing Darkness With Pam Smy Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £15* Ages 12+ With author-illustrator Pam Smy explore the relationship between image and text in her graphic novel Thornhill, a sinister story of parallel lives. Then using dip pens and ink, draw your own haunted house applying illustration techniques that add atmosphere and drama to the imagery.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

4.30–5.30pm

LF19

How To Be A Crime Writer Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 10+ Using her best detective skills, children’s book critic and editorial consultant Imogen Russell Williams interviews children’s mystery authors Robin Stevens (Murder Most Unladylike) and Sharna Jackson about their writing and editing process. What was it like to work on Sharna’s debut High Rise Mystery together?

How did they plan their wicked plot twists and turns? Do they ever feel guilty for killing off a character? And what’s next for them both?

6.30–7.30pm

LF21

Raise Your Voice The Hive £12* Ages 12+, teens and young adults Poet and activist Matt Abbott (Hurricanes In My Head) and spoken word artist Rachel Nwokoro (Little You) showcase their powerful poems of identity, rebellion, friendship, love and technology. They may make you laugh, they may make you cry. An hour of words and verse with two passionate young voices from the poetry and spoken word scene.

47

L068 10–11am Fiction

DAY PLANNER

The Garden Theatre

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Inkpot

The Hive

The Nook

CLC, Parabola Arts Centre CLC, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio The Daffodil

9am

LF04

LF26

LF22

How A Book...

L069

11am

Women In The New China

L070

L071

L073

L074

1pm

LF30

Michael Rosen

The Italian Job

John Humphrys

12pm

LF28

Plastic Planet

LF29

L076

Blacklisted

LF36

LF58

Greatest Comic-Making

2pm

LF32

L077

3pm Who’s Next For TheWhite House?

L078

LF35

L079

4pm

L081

L084

L083

L085

Letters From Tove

L086

L087

L097

L088

L091

Will Boys Be Boys?

L092

Glos. Writer’s Network

L094

9pm

L089

Lenny Henry

Harper Lee

L096

An Evening Of Joni Mitchell

Bryony Frost

L095

8pm

10pm

11pm

12am

The pace of change in China in the 20th and 21st centuries has been dizzying – with unprecedented economic growth and bewildering social change. The former BBC China Editor Carrie Gracie (Equal) talks to the author and broadcaster Xinran (The Promise) and the young Bejing-based journalist Karoline Kan (Under Red Skies) about the reality of everyday life, breaking the chains of tradition and embracing choices and opportunities for women in China today.

An Adventure In Wine

Dr Zhivago

L090

Louise Doughty

L093

Whitehouse & Mortimer

7pm

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* What We’re Told Not To Talk About

LF40

Deep Dark Fantasy Adam Weymouth The History Girls

LF39

6pm

Women In The New China Alastair Cook

5pm

Current Affairs Literature’s Worst Parents

Life Off-Grid

L080

Black Faces, White Spaces

LF37

Kai & The Monkey King Feel-Good Fiction

L082

LF38

Celebrate With...

Jessie Burton

Comic Character Creations

LF27

Magical Creatures’ Hotel

LF31

Chris Riddell

Jojo Moyes

Magical World Of Harry Potter

LF33

I Bet I Can Make You Laugh

LF34

Royal Rabbits Of London

Writing Adventures Sunday Lunch With Ben Fogle

L075

Bear Moves!

Story Ideas

LF89

How To Read A Latin Poem

Peter Hennessy

I Believe In Unicorns

Sophie Johnson

Jessie Burton

L068

Helen Skelton: Wild Girl

LF25

10am

Jessie Burton, the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse, returns to Cheltenham with her luminous new novel The Confession. With Simon Savidge she delves into its themes covering secrets and storytelling, motherhood and friendship, and how we lose and find ourselves.

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum

Town Hall, Pillar Room £9*

No. 131

L069 10.30–11.30am Bedtime Story

Family Event

Jessie Burton John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent

48

Box Office 01242 850270

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

10.30–11.30am

12.30–1.30pm

L070

L074

History

Stage & Screen

Peter Hennessy

The Italian Job

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

With his inimitable wit and empathy, the respected historian discusses The Winds of Change, which covers the political, economic, cultural and social climate of Britain in the early sixties. He is joined on stage by Chris Patten.

11am–12pm

L071

Ancient Worlds

How To Read A Latin Poem The Inkpot £10*

12.30–1.30pm

L073

Current Affairs

John Humphrys The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* Famed for his tough interviewing, his deep suspicion of authority in all its forms and his ferocious intellect, the BBC Radio 4 Today presenter for 33 years discusses his riveting memoir A Day Like Today with Georgina Godwin.

‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off’ is one of the most iconic lines in British cinema. The Italian Job is 50 years old this year, the Mini is 60, and to celebrate Matthew Field (The Italian Job) is joined by the film’s producer Michael Deeley, widow of the director Peter Collinson, Hazel Collinson, and David Salamone, who drove the red Mini and sourced all the cars for the film. ‘Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea…’

Back by popular demand, the Classics dons Mary Beard and Llewellyn Morgan join author and classicist Peter Stothard to consider Lucretius’ poem ‘De Rerum Natura’ (‘On the Nature of Things’). Lucretius applied the sophisticated art of Roman poetry to the practical task of making people live well, using the resources of poetry to convince readers that his philosophical beliefs could transform human existence for the better. Translations are provided and only minimal knowledge of Latin required.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

49

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER 1–2pm

Box Office 01242 850270

LF30

Classic Literature

Michael Rosen: Speaking Of Children’s Books The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

12.30–3pm

L075

Lifestyle

Sunday Lunch With Ben Fogle The Daffodil £35*

Michael Rosen (We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book and Quick Let’s Get Out of Here) is one of the best-loved figures in the children’s book world, renowned for his work as a poet, performer, broadcaster and educational campaigner. Now Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths University of London, he talks with Emily Drabble (Booktrust) about his remarkable career, his experience as Children’s Laureate, the Laugh Out Loud Awards and offers advice on how to develop a love of reading in children.

1.15–2.15pm

L076

Current Affairs

Blacklisted The Nook £8* What is the experience of black men in Britain? In school, in the media, in their own families, in the conversations around mental health or in the LGBT community? Mostly Lit podcast host Derek Owusu (SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space) and Jeffrey Boakye (Black, Listed: Black British Culture Explored) discuss 21st-century black identity with Dialogue’s Sharmaine Lovegrove.

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

Ben Fogle’s passion for animals and wildlife has taken him far and wide. In this special interview with Caroline Hutton, he tells tales of his thrilling adventures – from rowing the Atlantic, to running across the Sahara and climbing Everest.

2.30–3.30pm

L077

Current Affairs

The Sunday Times Debate: Who’s Next For The White House?

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* With campaigning for the 2020 presidential elections in full swing, our panel of experienced America-watchers assesses the mood of the voters, the prospects for the Democrat front runners and the chances of a second term for President Trump. The Sunday Times journalists Adam Boulton and Sarah Baxter join the renowned US-based pollster John Zogby and our Guest Curator Leslie Vinjamuri for this expert insiders’ guide to a fascinating battle for power.

50

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

3.30–4.30pm

L079

Fiction

Feel-Good Fiction

4–5pm

Life Off-Grid

The Nook £8* 2.30–3.30pm

L078

Fiction

Jojo Moyes Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Inspired by a remarkable true story, The Giver of Stars features five incredible women who will stay with you just as much as Lou Clark, Jojo Moyes’ unforgettable heroine of Me Before You. The author talks to Sam Baker.

Between them, they’ve penned two of the year’s biggest feel-good books.

Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare has been described as a ‘Sleepless in Seattle for the 21st century’ and ‘the new Jojo Moyes’. Richard Roper’s Something to Live For blends the warmth of David Nicholls and the humour of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine to explore one man’s attempt to let go of the past and start his life afresh. They join Caroline Sanderson for conversation and readings.

4–5pm

L081

Travel & Adventure

The Garden Theatre £8* No running water, no phone, no electricity or any of the things it powers – just a wooden cabin on a smallholding by the edge of the forest. Intrepid traveller Mark Boyle and adventurer Ben Fogle explore the hard-won joys of life without modern technology and ask what it means to be human at a time when the boundaries between man and machine are blurred.

L080

Current Affairs

Black Faces, White Spaces Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* How does it feel to be a black woman in a predominantly white space? From universities to the workplace, how can we improve access and inclusivity? Our Guest Curators, authors Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené (Slay in Your Lane), Director at PwC Heather Melville and others celebrate the powerful women reshaping their industries and discuss the challenges black women face in every sphere of life, be it work or health, education, money or dating with writer Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff (Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children).

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

51

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

4.30–5.30pm

L083

Classic Literature

4–5.15pm

L082

Fiction

Celebrate With…

Jessie Burton No.131 £30* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist was a phenomenal No 1 bestseller, winner of the Waterstones Book of the Year and adapted into a major BBC TV series.

Don’t miss this chance to join Jessie in this intimate, book group-style session as she looks back on her breakthrough novel with Sam Baker.

They F*ck You Up, Your Mum And Dad: Literature’s Worst Parents Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* After last year’s storming success of ‘Heathcliff vs Darcy: Who’s the Bigger Sh*t?’, we return with another session that blends erudite bookish analysis with shameless swearing. This time it’s literary parents under the microscope, and our all star cast of classicist Mary Beard, The Times Deputy Books Editor James Marriott and novelists Nina Stibbe and Clare Clark join chair Sebastian Faulks to do battle over literature’s most monstrous mothers and deficient dads.

4.45–5.45pm

L084

Sport

Alastair Cook The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £32*

5–6pm

L085

Classic Literature

Letters From Tove The Inkpot £8 This event will be live captioned.

Creator of The Moomins and The Summer Book, Tove Jansson is one of the most beloved artists and authors of the 20th century. Spanning fifty years between her art studies and the height of Moomin fame, Letters from Tove offers a startlingly intimate portrait of Jansson’s life, in her own words, as it unfolds among Helsinki’s bohemian circles and her island refuge. Her niece Sophia Jansson discusses the literary life and loves of Tove Jansson with Nicolette Jones accompanied by readings of Tove’s letters.

Ticket includes a signed copy of Alastair Cook: The Autobiography RRP £20.

5.30–6.30pm

Alastair Cook is the greatest batsman to ever play for England. As the team reel from his dramatic retirement, Alastair tells the whole story behind an exceptional life and career for the first time.

The Sunday Times Must Reads: Adam Weymouth

L086

Travel & Adventure

The Nook £8* The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate talks to Adam Weymouth, a stunning new voice in nature writing whose captivating account of his four-month, 2,000-mile solo canoe odyssey along the Yukon River won him The Sunday Times/ University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award and Lonely Planet Adventure Travel Book of the Year.

52

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

6–7pm

L087

Current Affairs

What We’re Told Not To Talk About (But We’re Going To Anyway)

6.45–7.45pm

Paul Whitehouse And Bob Mortimer

The Garden Theatre £8* From periods to pooing after childbirth, when it comes to our own bodies, why is it that we’re ashamed rather than empowered to speak about topics that are familiar to us all? In an honest celebration of womanhood, campaigner and activist Nimko Ali (What We’re Told Not to Talk About), broadcaster and journalist Emma Barnett (Period) and others join Abigail Bergstrom to consider how we can break down taboos and remove the stigma and myths that continue to surround the female body.

L097

Stage & Screen

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* 6.30–7.30pm

L088

Fiction

Louise Doughty Town Hall, Pillar Room £9*

When Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse were both diagnosed with heart disease, they realised that life is short and needs to be enjoyed. Looking back on 30 years of friendship, they tell Julia Wheeler about having a laff and visiting some of the most beautiful parts of the UK, as the pair donned waders and went fishing.

The bestselling author of Apple Tree Yard and Black Water discusses her highly anticipated new novel, Platform Seven, a gripping thriller about a mysterious series of deaths on a deserted train platform. Chaired by Caroline Sanderson.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

53

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER 7.15–8.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L091

Lifestyle

Will Boys Be Boys?

The Inkpot £8* What does it mean to be a man today?

Jordan Stephens leads a discussion with authors Clementine Ford (Boys Will Be Boys), Inti Chavez Perez (Respect) and Casper Walsh (The Mindful Man) about the importance of redefining masculinity, demolishing the age-old assumption that superiority and aggression are natural realms for boys. They share enlightening insights into modern day masculinity and ask what it means to be a man.

7.30–8.45pm

L092

Locally Sourced

7–8pm

L090

Classic Literature

Dr Zhivago: Love And Secrets Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £9* Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago is one of literature’s greatest works and most memorable love stories. Lara Prescott’s historical novel The Secrets We Kept combines the legendary love story between Pasternak and his muse Olga, with a thrilling narrative of two American secretaries tasked with smuggling the banned novel out of the USSR. She joins Anna Pasternak, Boris’ great niece and author of Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago, the startling true story behind her great uncle’s most famous heroine.

Chaired by Cathy Rentzenbrink.

54

Gloucestershire Writers’ Network The Nook £8* Gloucestershire Writers’ Network competition winners present their work on the theme of ‘numbers’ to chime with the Festival theme of 7 At 70. The competition judges, novelist Amanda Reynolds and poet Stephen Daniels, will read a selection of their work.

7.30–10pm

L093

Stage & Screen

An Evening Of Joni Mitchell Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £15* Queen of California, Lady of the Canyon, First Lady of Folk… the incomparable Joni Mitchell celebrated her 75th birthday this year. As an exclusive launch event for Canongate’s publication of Morning Glory on the Vine – a reproduction of the handmade book of handwritten lyrics, poems and watercolour paintings made by Joni as a gift for her closest friends almost 40 years ago – join us as we celebrate all things Joni in a special night of conversation and music.

Line up to be announced on cheltenhamfestivals.com

7.30–10pm

L094

Lifestyle

An Adventure In Wine The Daffodil £60* Ticket includes a three-course dinner with matched wines.

How can you tell a good wine from a bad one? And what new innovations in the production process currently turn the world of wine upside down? Join wine experts Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson (The World Atlas of Wine) as they guide Tim Hubbard through some of the exciting changes happening right now, while enjoying a delicious three-course meal with matched wines.

cheltenhamfestivals.com

8–9pm

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

L095

Sport

Bryony Frost The Garden Theatre £12* At just 23, jockey Bryony Frost is taking her sport by storm, having recently made history by becoming the first woman to win a Grade One race at the Cheltenham Festival. She talks to Rachel Johnson about the joy of riding horses and her phenomenal career so far.

8.30–9.30pm

L096

Classic Literature

Harper Lee: From Mockingbird To Murder The Hive £8* Casey Cep reveals the incredible story of an Alabama serial killer that obsessed Mockingbird author Harper Lee in her last years and discusses why, despite years of work, Lee’s true crime book never saw the light of day. Chaired by Fiona Lensvelt. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

8.45–9.45pm

L089

Stage & Screen

Lenny Henry The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* Since his earliest appearance on Opportunity Knocks in 1975, Lenny Henry has rarely been off our screens.

Comedian, actor, writer, singer, television presenter and co-founder of Comic Relief, Lenny talks about it all with his co-writer and friend Jon Canter.

55

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

10–10.30am

Box Office 01242 850270

LF22

10–11am

From Seed To Read! How A Book Is Made Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £3* Ages 7+

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £12* Ages 7+ and the whole family.

10–11am

LF25

Helen Skelton: Wild Girl

See page 45 for details.

The Garden Theatre £6* Ages 9+ Calling all wild explorers! TV presenter and world-record breaker Helen Skelton talks with Anna McNuff about her amazing worldwide adventures from kayaking the length of the Amazon to cycling the South Pole. Be inspired by Helen’s incredible stories and find out how you can have your very own epic adventures closer to home.

10–11am

LF04

Sophie Johnson: Detective Genius The Hive £6* Ages 4+ Someone has stolen Lion’s tail! Get ready to crack the case and battle the baddies with author-illustrator Morag Hood and Sophie Johnson! Find out what it means to be a great detective, how to spot clues to solve the toughest of mysteries and make your own magnifying glass to help you round up those suspects.

56

LF26

I Believe In Unicorns

Award-winning storyteller Danyah Miller brings children’s author Michael Morpurgo’s treasured story to life. A tale about the power of words, the show is set in a library full of books that hold more than stories within their pages. An enchanting production which sparks the imagination in both young and old, we challenge you not to believe in unicorns after joining this spellbinding journey.

‘An utterly magical stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s enthralling children’s tale’ The Stage

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

1–2pm 12–1pm

LF28

Plastic Planet Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Ages 8+ 11.30am–12.30pm LF89

Workshop Story Ideas With John Dougherty Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £10* Ages 8–10

Dive in for a marine mission with author and TV presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff (The Sea), musician and environmental activist Dougie Poynter (Plastic Sucks!) and presenter Lucy Siegle (The One Show). Find out about our amazing seas and oceans, the latest news on the plastic problem and clean-up innovations. Bring along your questions and get lots of ideas about how you can join the plastic revolution and help to protect the planet.

LF36

The Greatest Comic-Making Show On Earth Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 7+ Families – get ready to be inspired!

In this utterly hilarious, high-energy comic-making show, Robin Etherington reveals the secrets to awesome storytelling through examples and exercises, many improvised straight from your suggestions.

Guaranteed to leave young and older minds whirring with creativity and enthusiasm, he’ll empower the storyteller and artist in us all.

All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Accompanying adults do not require a ticket.

How can you turn an idea into a book?

Find out how author John Dougherty generates ideas and what he does to turn them into stories like Mark & Shark, Stinkbomb & Ketchup-Face and There’s a Pig Up My Nose. Then have a go yourself as John guides you through some simple ways to come up with writing ideas of your own.

12–1pm

LF29

Bear Moves!

The Hive £6* Ages 3+ Show off your best dance moves and coolest rhymes with the awesome Ben Bailey Smith and Sav Akyüz as they tell you all about their hilarious books featuring a giant purple bear! Bear Moves will have you foxtrotting and even doing the ‘running bear’ in this energetic event for little ones.

1–2pm

LF30

Children’s Books For Adults

Michael Rosen: Speaking Of Children’s Books The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

See page 50 for details.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

57

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

1.30–2.30pm

LF58

Workshop Writing Adventures With Emma Carroll Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £10* Ages 9–12 All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Accompanying adults do not require a ticket.

Join author Emma Carroll (Letters From The Lighthouse, The Somerset Tsunami) on a writing adventure where you’ll be creating heroes and villains, planning journeys, drawing maps and plotting epic, magical stories all of your own!

2–3pm

LF33

I Bet I Can Make You Laugh Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Ages 8+ Following rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and being shortlisted for the Laugh Out Loud Award, Joshua Seigal brings his children’s poetry show back to Cheltenham. Come and enjoy this feast of rhyme, rhythm, rap and randomness as words are brought to life by this dynamic performance poet.

2–3pm

LF34

Royal Rabbits Of London The Hive £6* Ages 7+ Anything in the world is possible… with a moist carrot, a wet nose and a slice of mad courage! Burrow deep into the inspiration behind this beloved series with Sunday Times bestselling author Santa Montefiore and award-winning illustrator Kate Hindley. See how Kate comes up with her illustrations and draw along to create a brand new character. Bunkins, bucks, bunnies and hopsters all welcome!

LF32

The Magical World Of Harry Potter The Garden Theatre £6* Ages 8+ Still waiting for your letter from Hogwarts? Join Fleurble Laffalot for a family friendly journey through J.K. Rowling’s much-loved books. Discover fun facts about the series and take part in key elements of life at Hogwarts – the sorting ceremony, Quidditch, moving portraits, potions and much more. A funny, silly event for anyone who has ever wanted to explore the magical world of the Harry Potter books!

58

2–3pm

Box Office 01242 850270

3–4pm

LF35

Chris Riddell: Guardians Of Magic The Inkpot £6* Ages 9+ This event will be live captioned.

Chris Riddell, creator of the Goth Girl and Ottoline series, introduces his new book, Cloud Horse Chronicles: Guardians of Magic. In a stunning, fantastical world, the future of magic is under threat from powerful enemies: those who fear it and those who want to use it for their own ends. What can three ordinary children do to protect it? Find out in this spellbinding event.

SUNDAY 6 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

4.30–5pm

LF38

Bedtime Story John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent FREE Ages 4–7 Ticket required. One ticket holding accompanying adult per child.

See page 47 for details.

3–4pm

LF31

4–5pm

LF37

Magical Creatures’ Hotel

Kai And The Monkey King

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 9+

The Hive £6* Ages 6+

Award-winning duo, author Steven Butler and illustrator Steven Lenton, welcome you to the Nothing to See Here Hotel, the number one destination for magical creatures. Find out more about this fabulously funny series and learn to draw. All budding authors, illustrators, bookworms, thosesuspicious-of-reading and magical monsters are invited.

3.30–4.30pm

Welcome to Professor Brownstone’s vault, containing ancient relics from around the world collected by his famous ancestors. Join comic artist Joe Todd-Stanton (Kai and the Monkey King) to discover the story behind his fabulous comic book creations. From the Vikings, to ancient Egypt and China… where will the Brownstone family go next?

LF27

Workshop Comic Character Creations Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £10* Ages 7–12 Ticket includes a 12-page comic-making guide. All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Accompanying adults do not require a ticket.

Join comic book creator Robin Etherington in a hands-on comic drawing workshop, and bring your characters to life. Create monsters, misfits, monkeys and more...

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

5–6pm

LF39

The History Girls Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 9+ Time-travelling authors Emma Carroll (When We Were Warriors), Hilary McKay (The Skylarks’ War) and Lucy Strange (Our Castle By The Sea) talk with author and historian Janina Ramirez (Way of the Waves) about their journeys to the past, to write stories for today told through the eyes of their courageous characters.

6–7pm

LF40

Deep Dark Fantasy The Hive £6* Ages 12+ Plunge deep into the minds of phenomenal fantasy writers Rachel Burge (The Twisted Tree), Frances Hardinge (Deeplight) and Steve Feasey (Dark Blade). Enter their imagined worlds with Simon Savidge of Savidge Reads, hear about the myths and legends that inspired them and find out about the enduring allure of gods and monsters across the decades for writers in this enveloping genre.

59

Box Office 01242 850270

MONDAY 7

4.30–5.30pm

TUESDAY 8

LF41

Detectiving With Mark And Shark The Hive £6* Ages 7+ A sizzling session of stories, songs and silliness with John Dougherty, author of Stinkbomb & Ketchup-Face. Meet detective duo Mark (a boy) and Shark (a shark) who have been recruited by an enormous polar bear to save her ice cream business. Smiles and laughter guaranteed as John introduces his new mystery series.

10–10.45am

LF42

LF43

Maisy Mouse And Little Fish

The House With Chicken Legs

The Hive £6* Ages 2+

The Hive £6* Ages 9+

Maisy the lovable mouse has delighted young children and parents alike for more than 25 years. Join professional storyteller Liz Fost for a storytelling session all about Maisy and another Lucy Cousins favourite, Little Fish. Hear about their adventures – you may even meet Maisy Mouse!

Step into the wild imagination of author Sophie Anderson (The Girl Who Speaks Bear), filled with tales of magic and belonging. Explore her mystical universe complete with a girl who turns into a bear, a talking wolf and a House with Chicken Legs! Find out how to recreate folk stories and take part in an interactive storytelling session where you make up your own fairytale.

Event includes a Maisy costume character appearance.

60

4.30–5.30pm

cheltenhamfestivals.com

WEDNESDAY 9

10–10.45am

THURSDAY 10

LF44

Cat And Mouse The Hive £6* Ages 3+ Author-illustrator Lucy Freegard (Just Like Daddy and Just Like Mummy), presents her new book, The Big Stink. Join the fun and see if you can sniff out the notorious cheese thief! With storytelling, live drawing and mouse mask-making, this is a handson event for young ones and their grown-ups.

4.30–5.30pm

LF45

10–10.45am

FRIDAY 11

LF46

We Love You, Mr Panda

LF48 LF49

That’s Not My Puppy

The Hive £6* Ages 2+ What would Mr Panda’s friends do without him? Whether it’s learning to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, being patient or getting ready for bed, Mr Panda is always there with good advice. Join author and illustrator Steve Antony for a morning of friends, fun and stories, perfect for toddlers and their families.

4.30–5.30pm

10–10.30am 3–3.30pm

LF47

The Hive £6* Ages 2+ Celebrate the 20th birthday of That’s not my… with a sensory adventure. Join our storyteller as we hunt for the magical rainbow birthday party for our hero Puppy and meet lots of friends along the way. It’ll be a hands-on experience for little ones, with bubbles, snow and hail and fun, and songs along the way.

4.30–5.30pm

LF50

When Two Worlds Meet

The Lost Book Of Adventure

Ponies And Pirouettes

The Hive £6* Ages 9+

The Hive £6* Ages 8+

The Hive £6* Ages 8+

Be transported to the heart of a remote Filipino tribe in Candy Gourlay’s latest novel Bone Talk, a ripping adventure full of spirit and soul that asks big questions about community, colonialism and what it means to come of age. Find out about the photo that inspired the story, Candy’s travels to the book’s remote mountain setting and why she thinks ideas are like rabbit holes.

Deep in the Amazon jungle, author and illustrator Teddy Keen discovered the famous lost notebooks and treasure of an unknown adventurer. See Teddy bring his books to life, unveiling secrets with artefacts and spine-tingling stories. Who was this mysterious adventurer? What did he discover? Did he really use his finger as piranha bait?

A strange light, a missing mum, a dream pony and a ballet school for spies. What does it take to write a marvellous mystery?

Authors Tracey Corderoy (The Mystery at Stormy Point) and Helen Lipscombe (Peril en Pointe) share the ideas behind their new books, top writing tips and favourite mystery stories with Loraine Evans (Family and Schools Programme Manager). Bring along your questions too.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

61

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum The Garden Theatre

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Inkpot

The Hive

9am

10am

12pm

1pm

L103

The Lost Art Of Scripture

L100

tFiction From The Frontline

Chaucer: A European Life

L098

11am

Classic Literature

L099

L105

L107

2pm D-Day: The Soldiers’ Story

L106

Bridget Collins & Elizabeth Macneal Inside Kiftsgate

L102

3pm

L108

L110

L111

L114

4pm Patrick O’Brian: A Very Private Life

The Call Of The Wild

L113

LF41

5pm

L116

Laura Cumming

Detectiving With Mark & Shark

Contemporary Art

L112

Chelt.

Writes!

L115

Afternoon Tea With Liam Charles

Diary Of A Somebody

L109

Insomnia: A Modern Plague?

Angels

Chaucer is renowned as the father of English Literature, yet perhaps more than any other canonical English writer he was also a great European writer and thinker. Biographer Marion Turner recounts Chaucer’s varied experiences on the continent, including being a prisoner of war in France and a diplomat in Milan, tracing his extraordinary journey from wine merchant’s son to author of The Canterbury Tales.

VSI: Emotion

L099 6pm

L117

L118

The People’s War

L119

7pm

Life On The NHS Frontline

8pm

L123

9pm

Clare Mackintosh

L125

Dom Joly

L124

Game Of Thrones Quiz Night

George Alagiah

10pm

Settle in 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 Age-Well Project

L065

Feast Café Bar FREE No ticket required

Valentine Warner

L122

Fiction At 7: History & Magic

L120

L121

The Times Crossword How To Survive

11am–12pm

L098 11am–12pm Times Crossword

L101

L104

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* Ways Of Looking: Old Masters

Chaucer: A European Life VSI: Emotion

11pm

12am

Family Event

The Nook

The Daffodil

Feast Café Bar

The Huddle

62

Box Office 01242 850270

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER

DAY PLANNER

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

11.30am–12.30pm

L100

Fiction

Fiction From The Frontline Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

1–2pm

We hear from two writers who have drawn upon their frontline experience as foreign correspondents to create fiction as thrilling as their day jobs. Tom Bradby’s latest novel Secret Service is a Russia-set race-againstthe-clock thriller, described as ‘atmospheric and richly entertaining’ by The Washington Post. Peter Hanington’s A Single Source is a brilliantly plotted, fast-moving tale of shifting loyalties and betrayal set amidst the Arab Spring.

11.30am–12pm 2.30–3pm

L104

Art & Design

L101 L102

A Very Short Introduction To… Emotion The Huddle FREE No ticket required Was love invented by European poets in the Middle Ages? Or is it part of human nature?

Will winning the lottery really make you happy? Just some of the questions Dylan Evans will explore in his journey around human emotions.

11.45am–12.45pm L103 Faith & Philosophy

The Lost Art Of Scripture The Garden Theatre £10* Scriptures all over the world have been misused and misinterpreted through years of extremist views. Author Karen Armstrong explores how rediscovering and openly engaging with these texts could curtail arrogance, intolerance and violence.

Ways Of Looking: Old Masters Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* The art of the past can seem far away, obscured both by time and academic theory. Whether looking at works for the first time or wishing to experience paintings with a fresh perspective, art critic Ossian Ward shares a new approach to help illuminate the Old Masters in all their dynamism and beauty.

1.30–2.30pm

L105

Fiction

Bridget Collins And Elizabeth Macneal Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* We bring together the authors behind two of the bestselling fiction books of the year.

Elizabeth Macneal’s The Doll Factory is an intoxicating story of desire, art and obsession set amongst the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood in Victorian London. Bridget Collins’ The Binding is a gothic love story that explores our darkest moments and morals, hailed as ‘spellbinding’ by Tracy Chevalier. The Bookseller’s Caroline Sanderson talks to them about their accomplished novels.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

63

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER

1.45–2.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L106

Lifestyle

Inside Kiftsgate 3–4pm

The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

To celebrate the centenary of Kiftsgate Court, one of the great gardens of England and home to the world-famous Kiftsgate climbing rose, current custodian Anne Chambers and Vanessa Berridge (Kiftsgate Court Gardens) explore the unique story of the three generations of women who have created and tended to it. They give a beautifully illustrated tour of the garden and its history.

L108

3–4pm

L109

Lifestyle

Off The Page

Insomnia: A Modern Plague?

Diary Of A Somebody

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

The Nook £8*

Are you stuck counting sheep? With 47 per cent of adults in the UK struggling to get a good night’s sleep, you’re not alone. ITV news anchor and insomniac Tom Bradby, author Marina Benjamin (Insomnia) and sleep scientist Nicola Barclay anatomise the cause, consequence and potential cures for the endless nights and red-eyed mornings that every poor sleeper knows too well. Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

Described as ‘the midlife… Adrian Mole’, Brian Bilston’s brilliant blend of diary entries and comic verse has earned praise from Dawn French, Adam Kay, Ian McMillan and John O’Farrell among others. He joins Alex Clark for readings and conversation.

3.30–4.30pm

L110

Faith & Philosophy

Angels: A Visible And Invisible History The Garden Theatre £10* 2–3pm

L107

History

D-Day: The Soldiers’ Story The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £9* Whether from Allied, German or French perspectives, the authentic human story of D-Day has never fully been told. Giles Milton’s powerful and gripping new history narrates the day’s events through the tales of survivors from all sides.

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In an increasingly secular society, why do so many of us still believe in angels?

Peter Stanford investigates this anomaly and delves into the fascinating history of angels and our own relationships with faith.

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

3.30–4.30pm

L111

3.45–4.45pm

L113

Travel & Adventure

Art & Design

The Call Of The Wild

Ways of Looking: Contemporary Art

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* The Summer Isles, a small island group off Scotland’s north-west coast, have captivated writer Philip Marsden (The Summer Isles) since his youth and, decades later, he set out to sail single-handedly from his home in Cornwall to find them. Dan Richards (Outpost) grew up among artefacts from his explorer father’s expeditions and as an adult started to search for the world’s most remote places. They discuss fulfilling life-long travel ambitions and why we remain drawn to the wild.

3.30–5pm

L112

Lifestyle

Afternoon Tea With Liam Charles The Daffodil £25* Ticket includes afternoon tea with a selection of finger sandwiches and cakes.

Join Bake Off’s Liam Charles for a delicious afternoon tea, as he talks to Tim Hubbard about his new book Second Helpings. With many new creations and flavour mash-ups, Liam has a quick and easy treat for you. Yum!

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

The Inkpot £10* Radical and obscure, contemporary art challenges the reassuringly familiar styles of traditional works. Art critic Ossian Ward shows how – with a clean slate and a fresh mind – we can experience the dramatic vibrancy of this often-daunting style.

4–5pm

L114

Classic Literature

Patrick O’Brian: A Very Private Life The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Francophile, biographer of Picasso, translator of Simone de Beauvoir and much admired for his bestselling Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels, far less is known about Patrick O’Brian’s personal life. Now, his stepson Nikolai Tolstoy draws upon his archives in a warm, truthful and revealing biography.

In conversation with the broadcaster James Naughtie and the historian and novelist Allan Mallinson, we celebrate the life and writing of this much-loved literary figure.

4.30–5pm

L115

Cheltenham Writes!

The Huddle FREE No ticket required To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Annie Stewart reads from her book Pickle and Lily and talks about her experience as a writer.

65

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER

4.45–5.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L116

Memoir & Biography

The Sunday Times Must Reads: Laura Cumming

6.30–7.30pm

How To Survive

The Nook £8* On Chapel Sands is The Observer Art Critic’s account of the mystery of her mother’s disappearance as a child.

Hailed as ‘a masterpiece of a memoir’, she discusses the remarkable story with The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate.

6–7pm

L117

History

The People’s War The Garden Theatre £9* In October 1944, the end of the war is in sight at last. While the Allied armies, navies and air forces largely consisted of men in uniform, what did the war really mean for people – and especially women – on the home front, and those caught up in the German Occupation of Europe? In conversation with Sonia Purnell (A Woman of No Importance), Anne Sebba (Les Parisiennes) and Dan Todman (Britain’s War 1942-1947), Allan Mallinson unearths extraordinary stories of individual courage and heroism.

66

L118

Psychology

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £9* John Hudson, Chief Survival Instructor to the UK Military, knows what it takes to survive. Through gripping first-hand accounts of near disaster, he shares his lessons for everyday life from the extreme world with Dominic Faulkner.

6.30–7.30pm

L119

Memoir & Biography

Life On The NHS Frontline Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* What is it like working for a struggling NHS? Join nurse Molly Case (How To Help People: A Nurse At Work), midwife Leah Hazard (Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story) and doctor Joanna Cannon (Breaking and Mending) as they share hilarious, heartbreaking and sometimes horrifying stories from the frontline of healthcare. Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

7–8pm

L120

Fiction

Fiction At 7: History And Magic The Nook £10* Ticket includes a drink on arrival.

Author of The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield, and Stacey Halls, author of one of the hottest debuts of 2019, talk about their incredible and beautifully written new historical novels, Once Upon a River and The Familiars with Cathy Rentzenbrink.

MONDAY 7 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

7.30–10pm

L121

Off The Page

Game Of Thrones Quiz Night Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* The bar will be open during this event.

While the jury may still be out on the show’s ending, we invite all true GoT fans to this very special evening of geekery, taking you to the farthest reaches of Westeros and beyond. If you know your direwolves and your house mottos then ready your arms and gather your army of up to six people.

Hosted by King of the Nerds alumna Yasmeen Ojeleye of Fly Fangirl Club, this exclusive one-off quiz comes with meme rounds, lewd bonus questions and themed cocktails!

8–9pm

L123

8.15–9.15pm

L124

Fiction

Travel & Adventure

George Alagiah

Dom Joly: The Hezbollah Hiking Club

The Garden Theatre £10* With a BBC career spanning over 30 years, and covering genocide in Rwanda, civil wars in Afghanistan and the 9/11 terror attacks, George Alagiah brings his experience from the frontline of world affairs to fiction for the first time. He joins Sophie Raworth to discuss his exhilarating debut political thriller The Burning Land, a powerful tale of violence, greed and corruption set in contemporary South Africa.

8.30–9.30pm

L065

The Inkpot £9* Three men. 470 kilometres. 21 days.

Dom Joly joins Caroline Sanderson to delve into The Hezbollah Hiking Club, a comedic travelogue in which he and his two best friends hike across Lebanon.

Armed with copious amounts of Vaseline and no walking experience, bar taking the dog for the occasional stroll, they set out on their journey of a lifetime meeting a variety of characters along the way.

Lifestyle

The Age-Well Project Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

7.30–10pm

L122

Lifestyle

Valentine Warner The Daffodil £50* Ticket includes a three-course dinner and a drink on arrival. Bar open until late.

When Valentine Warner’s father died, he found himself turning to food as a source of comfort and solace. He talks to Alex Clark about The Consolation of Food, which records his journey through grief, told in recipes full of love and memories. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Annabel Streets and Susan Saunders spent their 30s climbing the career ladder, having children and caring for elderly parents – all at the same time. By their 40s, they were exhausted, sleeping too little and rushing too much. They asked whether ill health was inevitable in their future, or whether they could avoid it? For five years they immersed themselves in the science of ageing to find what advice cutting-edge research can offer. They share experts’ tips to make the second half of your life the best half of your life – happy, healthy and disease-free.

8.30–9.30pm

L125

Locally Sourced

Clare Mackintosh The Hive £10* No 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Clare Mackintosh discusses her powerful new novel After The End, and dives into life as a local author with her book A Cotswold Family Life.

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TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

DAY PLANNER

8.30–10am

L126

Current Affairs The Garden Theatre

The Times & The Sunday Times Forum

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage

Town Hall, Pillar Room

The Inkpot

The Hive

The Nook

The Daffodil

No. 131

Feast Café Bar

The Huddle

Breakfast With The Times: The New News 8am

L126 9am

Breakfast: The New News

The Daffodil £20* Ticket includes a continental breakfast.

10am

LF42

Maisy Mouse

L127

11am

L130

A World Of Secrets

L196

Monk’s Guide To Happiness

Faber & Faber

L132

Times Crossword

L133

VSI: Reading

12pm

L195 L128

1pm

Faber Poetry

The Flavour Factory

How is AI changing the way that you read the news? Are we seeing the rise of the robot reporter? And how is traditional print media responding?

Join Emma Tucker, Deputy Editor at The Times, Alan Hunter, Head of Digital at The Times and The Sunday Times, and Ben Whitelaw of the European Journalism Centre, as they discuss news-gathering in the digital age.

L136 2pm

L137

Virginia Nicholson

Impressionism

L134

VSI: Reading

11am–12pm 3pm

L129 L138

4pm

L141

Socrates In Love

We Need To Talk About Putin

L139

Pam Ayres

Faber Proof Party

L140

LF43

5pm

The House With Chicken Legs

Mystery, Desire & Deceit

L142

Women Of Spirit

L144

The Cutting Garden

L143

The Glossy Years

L145

Chelt.

Writes!

L146 6pm

L148 L149

7pm

This Country

L150

Tom Kerridge’s Fresh Start

The History Of Philosophy

L147

Woman With The Iceberg Eyes

A Life Of Pliny

L151

L152

Time & How To Spend It

L153 8pm

L154

L155 9pm

Madness

L156

The Salt Path

Knackered Mums’ Night Out

L157

Science(ish)

The Artist In The Machine

Fiction At 7: Art & Obsession

10pm 11pm 12am

Family Event 68

L130

Current Affairs

A World Of Secrets The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Throughout history, governments have used covert methods to obtain political and military intelligence to outfox the enemy at home and abroad. The public needs and wants protection, but how far should secret intelligence be allowed to go in a democratic society?

Former Director of GCHQ David Omand (Principled Spying) and international security expert Richard Aldrich (The Black Door) explore the fascinating world of espionage past and present, and consider the everchanging relationship between spying and the state with Oliver Balch.

TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

Faber & Faber 2019 marks Faber’s ninetieth anniversary as a publisher of distinctive literature, shaping as well as reflecting our times through books and ideas. Join us for a day of Faber-related celebrations.

12.30–1.30pm

L128

Off The Page

Faber Poetry

11am–12pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room £10*

10.30–11.30am

L127

Classic Literature

Faber & Faber: The Untold Story Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* The names of Eliot, Golding, Hughes, Plath and Heaney are synonymous with the publishing house Faber & Faber, founded in Bloomsbury in 1929. But behind these stellar literary talents was a tiny firm that had to battle the Great Depression, wartime paper shortages and dramatic financial crises to retain its independence. Biographer and Faber family member Toby Faber reveals to reveal the untold stories behind some of the greatest literature of the twentieth century.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Three of the publisher’s acclaimed poets read from their work and that of Faber poets past. Julia Copus is the author of four collections, including Girlhood and the T.S. Eliot Prize and Costa Poetry Award-shortlisted The World’s Two Smallest Humans. Prize-winning novelist and poet Joe Dunthorne’s pamphlet was published on the Faber New Poets scheme in 2010 and his debut collection O Positive followed in 2019. Hannah Sullivan’s debut collection, Three Poems, won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2018.

3–4pm

L196

Lifestyle

L129

Fiction

Faber Proof Party

A Monk’s Guide To Happiness Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* What is the secret to being happy?

Can meditation help? Having spent his youth living a wild, extreme and unhappy lifestyle, Buddhist monk Gelong Thubten found himself at a Buddhist monastery where he chose a different path. Since then, he has worked with everyone from Ruby Wax to Benedict Cumberbatch. He explores the nature of happiness and helps to bust the myth that our 21st-century lives and minds are too busy for meditation.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £15* Ticket includes refreshments and a goody bag of limited-edition proofs.

As it celebrates its 90th year as the publisher of the most distinctive literature, Faber showcases two extraordinary fiction debuts for 2020. Born in Trinidad and winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award, Ingrid Persaud will discuss Love After Love, a love letter to family and friendships in all its forms. She will be joined by Julianne Pachico, whose dark and intoxicating novel The Anthill is set in Colombia. Pachico was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Chaired by Faber Publishing Director Louisa Joyner.

11am–12pm

L132

The Times Crossword Feast Café Bar FREE No ticket required Settle in 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.

69

TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER 11.30am–12pm 2.30–3pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L133 L134

A Very Short Introduction To...

Reading The Huddle FREE No ticket required We often take reading for granted, yet we remain some way off attaining literacy for the global human population. Belinda Jack explores the fascinating history of literacy, and the opportunities that reading opens.

1.30–2.30pm

L136

Art & Design

Masters Of Light: Impressionism Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

12–2pm

L195

Lifestyle

The Flavour Factory The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes a two-course lunch and a glass of wine.

Taste is one of our most evocative senses – certain flavours can transport you to far distant times and places in an instant. But it’s also a very individual sense, with some people loving what others hate. Julia Wheeler is joined by author Niki Segnit (Lateral Cooking), who explores the complexity of the human palette with The Kitchen Cabinet’s sensory expert Barry Smith and psychologist Charles Spence.

70

Their iridescent canvases dancing with light, the Impressionists reinvented the possibilities of colour with extraordinary depictions of landscapes and scenes of everyday life. From Monet’s Water Lilies to Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, some of art’s best-loved works were created thanks to Impressionism.

Chris Riopelle, curator of the National Gallery’s extraordinary Sorolla exhibition, and art historian Belinda Thomson illuminate this extraordinary period of creativity, painting a portrait of the artists and works that defined the movement with Gavin Plumley.

2–3pm

L137

History

Virginia Nicholson: How Was It For You? The Garden Theatre £9* It all began in the 1960s. Women were tearing up the world and starting again. But did the sexual revolution actually liberate men most of all? Join one of our foremost social historians Virginia Nicholson and the broadcaster Libby Purves as they discuss an era of peace and love but also of misogyny and discrimination.

3.30–4.30pm

L138

Current Affairs

We Need to Talk About Putin The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* How should we handle Russia? In recent years, an increasingly bullish approach by Moscow towards its global neighbours has led to soaring tensions with the West. Is the key to deciphering Russia’s motivations a deeper understanding of Vladimir Putin himself? Mark Galeotti (We Need to Talk About Putin), Peter Pomeranstev (This Is Not Propaganda) and BBC Newsnight International Editor Gabriel Gatehouse consider whether by understanding Putin the man, we can unravel his tactics and long-term strategy for Russia’s place in the world.

TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

3.30–4.30pm

L139

4–5pm

L141

Off The Page

Ancient Worlds

Pam Ayres

Socrates In Love: The Making Of A Philosopher

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* Join the poet and comedian who has been making the nation laugh for over 40 years as she performs poems from her new collection Up In The Attic, along with classic poems and stories.

The Garden Theatre £10* What turned the young Socrates into a philosopher? Armand D’Angour takes us on a journey unravelling the formative years of the great thinker – from heroic warrior and wrestler to dancer and passionate lover.

4–5pm

L142

Locally Sourced

3.45–4.45pm

L140

Fiction

Mystery, Desire And Deceit The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

Jessica Fellowes’ The Mitford Murders novels are sumptuous golden-age mysteries set amid the lives of the glamorous Mitford sisters. Kate Weinberg’s The Truants is an Agatha Christie-inspired novel that’s earned comparisons with Donna Tartt and Christie herself. Together with Cathy Rentzenbrink they discuss how to plot a thrilling mystery and why they chose to turn to classic authors for inspiration. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

4–5.30pm

L144

Lifestyle

The Cutting Garden

Women Of Spirit

The Daffodil £25*

The Nook £8*

Ticket includes afternoon tea with a selection of finger sandwiches and cakes.

Join the founder of the Women Of Spirit movement Susie Mackie as she talks to online marketing consultant Carie Lyndene and branding and marketing consultant Sandra Kanfer Clarke about their inspiring stories of building their own successful brands and businesses. They share their advice, tips and tricks on how to succeed as a woman in business, helping women realise their value, reach their career potential and grow towards self-empowerment.

Would you love to grow beautiful blooms to brighten your home, but don’t know where to start? Clare Foster (The Flower Garden) has been experimenting with growing flowers from seed for years. Rowan Blossom (Living With Flowers) is a florist who specialises in natural arrangements using seasonal blooms. Bringing their favourite bouquets, they share tips and tricks with Caroline Donald, Gardening Editor of The Sunday Times, explaining how to sow, grow and show off a huge range of flowers from aquilegia to zinnia.

4–5pm

L143

Lifestyle

The Glossy Years No.131 £30* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

With relish and astonishing candour, chairman of Condé Nast Britain Nicholas Coleridge offers the inside scoop on the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. He shares anecdotes from his thirty-year career as editor and tastemaker with novelist Rachel Johnson.

4.30–5pm

L145

Cheltenham Writes!

The Huddle FREE No ticket required To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Madeleine Stanimeros reads from her book Parenting for Life, talks about her experience as a writer and shares her parenting tips.

71

TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

5.45–6.45pm

L147

Ancient Worlds

In The Shadow Of Vesuvius: A Life Of Pliny The Inkpot £10*

5.30–6.30pm

L146

Locally Sourced

Woman With The Iceberg Eyes Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* As the wife of explorer Edward Wilson, Oriana Wilson watched Captain Scott’s expedition from the sidelines. Later, however, she emerged as a scientist in her own right. Author Katherine MacInnes discusses Oriana’s incredible life with James Long.

What was life like in the aftermath of the devastating eruption of Vesuvius? Classicist Daisy Dunn explores the Roman Empire through one of its pivotal survivors – Pliny the Younger. Chaired by Andrew Rae.

6–7pm

L148

6.30–7.30pm

L150

Faith & Philosophy

Lifestyle

The History Of Philosophy

Tom Kerridge’s Fresh Start

The Garden Theatre £10*

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

The journey of philosophy is an epic one.

From Buddha, Confucius and Socrates to Mill, Nietzsche and Sartre, join A.C. Grayling to discover a vast philosophical history of both western and eastern traditions.

The Michelin-starred chef, known for his unpretentious style and pursuit of bold flavours, talks to Lisa Markwell about how to be the boss in the kitchen and shares his recipe for achieving a healthier, happier lifestyle.

6.30–7.30pm

L151

Lifestyle

Time And How To Spend It 6.30–7.30pm

L149

Stage & Screen

This Country The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, AKA Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe from BBC’s This Country, join Alice Jones to talk about their BAFTA-winning show, new book and the brilliantly observed residents of their claustrophobic Cotswold village.

72

The Hive £8* If the most precious thing we have is time, the most highly prized expertise should be knowing how to spend it well. Yet, busier than ever, do we really understand which experiences bring us joy and success, and which don’t? James Wallman tells Libby Purves how we can fill our free hours with exciting and enriching ones instead.

TUESDAY 8 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

7–8pm

L152

Fiction

Fiction At 7: Art And Obsession The Nook £10*

L154

Science

The Artist In The Machine The Inkpot £8*

Ticket includes a drink on arrival.

This event will be live captioned.

Cathy Rentzenbrink talks to two acclaimed writers whose new novels explore the passions, scandals and intrigue of the early 20th century art world. Bestselling author of Mrs Hemingway, Naomi Wood’s The Hiding Game is a gripping story of the dangerously fine line between love and obsession set in the 1920s Bauhaus school. Twice long-listed Women’s Prize for Fiction writer Clare Clark’s In the Full Light of the Sun is a meticulously researched portrait of Van Gogh set against the height of Weimar culture in Berlin and the Nazi party’s terrifying rise.

7.30–9pm

7.45–8.45pm

8.30–9.30pm

Today’s computers are composing music that sounds more Bach than Bach, turning photographs into paintings in the style of Van Gogh’s Starry Night and even writing screenplays. But are computers truly creative, or are they merely tools to be used by musicians, painters and writers to improve their art? Arthur I. Miller and Murray Shanahan take us on a tour of creativity and ask what it means to have original thought and consciousness in the age of machines.

Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

L153

L156

Travel & Adventure

The Salt Path Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* Raynor Winn’s powerful account of her and her husband’s 630-mile walk on the South West Coast Path after being hit by a terminal cancer diagnosis, job loss and homelessness has touched thousands of readers. She joins Festival Chair Caroline Hutton to revisit the lifechanging journey.

Lifestyle

Knackered Mums’ Night Out

8.30–9.30pm

Town Hall, Pillar Room £20*

Madness

Ticket includes a glass of wine or beer and bar snacks.

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £35*

Book the babysitter and join us to unwind with a large glass of vino in the company of our funny, feisty panel, as they chart the ups and downs of sharing life with tiny humans.

Comedian Jen Brister (The Other Mother), Christine Armstrong (The Mother of All Jobs) and Matt Coyne (Man Vs Toddler) chat to Robyn Wilder about how to maintain your identity and define your own imperfect (but perfectly fine) path through parenthood.

L155

Stage & Screen

Ticket includes a copy of Before We Was We, RRP £20 Welcome to the House of Fun. One of the most successful pop groups of all time, Madness join us to talk about their astonishing music career, and how it all started in 1970s Camden Town, with six of the original seven still in the line-up forty years later.

8.30–9.30pm

L157

Stage & Screen

Science(ish): Hollywood Wants To Kill You The Hive £10* Asteroids, killer sharks, nuclear bombs, viruses, deadly robots, climate change, the apocalypse – why is Hollywood so obsessed with death and the end of the world? And how seriously should we take the dystopian visions of our favourite films? With wit, intelligence and irreverence, creators of hit podcast Science(ish) Rick Edwards and Michael Brooks explore the science of death and mass destruction through some of our best-loved Hollywood blockbusters.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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Classic Literature

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum The Garden Theatre

11am

L159

12pm

L160

L163

L165

2pm

L167

Philippa Gregory

Charles Moore

L166

Marie Colvin: In Extremis

L168

L161

VSI: Secular.

Mothers In Crime

She-Merchants, Buccaneers...

Nina Campbell: A Life In Design

L164

Dishoom: From Bombay With Love

L162

1pm

L172

4pm

L173

5pm

L176

L158 L177

7pm Francis Rossi: I Talk Too Much

L182

Fiction At 7: Whispers...

8pm

L185

9pm

Nightwalking

L184

Adventures For Modern Pilgrims

L187

Decca Records

L186

10pm

Settle in 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.

Cricket Country

Dark Skies

L183

Feast Café Bar FREE No ticket required

A Guide To Idle Beekeeping

L181

The Pianist Of Yarmouk

L180

Steve Backshall

L178

L179

The Times Crossword 6pm

11am–12pm

The Art Of Trees

Threads Of Defiance When Two Worlds Meet

L175

Chelt.

Writes!

Pam ‘The Jam’ Corbin

L174

LF45

The Knife’s Edge

Saudi Arabia: What’s Next?

L171

Supported by our programme partner Gloucestershire Library Services.

Iris Murdoch At 100

Sunday Times Travel Team

L170

Gerald Scarfe

L169

3pm

Which dystopia is the most relevant for our time? To celebrate 70 years of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, twenty-five Gloucestershire schools have taken part in our reading challenge.

Now seven of these schools will take to the stage with writer Lisa Heathfield (I Am Not A Number) to defend their favourite dystopia in a battle of the books. Join our panel of judges to determine which title is the winner!

Bauhaus At 100

10am

9am

LS05

LF44

Cat & Mouse!

L158

This event will be live captioned.

Times Crossword

Battle Of The Books: Dystopia

The Inkpot £2*

LS05 10–11.15am Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Bookstand

The Inkpot

The Hive

Battle Of The Books: Dystopia VSI: Secular.

11pm

12am

Family Event

The Nook

The Daffodil

No. 131

Feast Café Bar

The Huddle

74

Box Office 01242 850270

WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER

DAY PLANNER

WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

1–2pm

L163

Current Affairs

Marie Colvin: In Extremis Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

11.30am–12.30pm L159 Art & Design

Bauhaus At 100

Marie Colvin reported from the most dangerous places in the world, bearing witness to the horrifying truths of war and covering the major conflicts of our time. Famous for the extreme lengths to which she went to tell her stories, she was smuggled into Syria where she was killed in 2012. Fellow foreign correspondent Lindsey Hilsum (In Extremis) and war photographer Paul Conroy (Under the Wire) reflect upon the extraordinary life and tragic death of a daring war reporter who defied convention.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* Established 100 years ago by visionary architect Walter Gropius, the founding of the Bauhaus school marked the birth of a radical new philosophy that spanned architecture, performance, design and visual art. Curator Grant Watson (Bauhaus Imaginista), author Naomi Wood (The Hiding Game) and writer and broadcaster Gavin Plumley join James Long to explore the fascinating cast of characters behind the Bauhaus movement and consider its continued influence on architecture and design.

11.30am–12pm 2.30–3pm

L160 L161

A Very Short Introduction To...

Secularism The Huddle FREE No ticket required Andrew Copson tells the story of secularism, the belief that religion should not be part of the affairs of the state or public education – a hot topic in global public, political and religious debates.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

12–2pm

L162

Lifestyle

Dishoom: From Bombay With Love The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes a two-course lunch and a glass of wine.

Chef Naved Nasir and co-founder of Dishoom Shamil Thakrar cook up a delicious sharing-platter lunch of Indian delights, based on recipes from the eponymous cookbook. With bold flavours and colourful stories, they will transport Alex Clark and you to their most treasured corners of Bombay.

1–2pm

L164

Lifestyle

Nina Campbell: A Life In Design No.131 £30* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

The doyenne of English interior design, Nina Campbell has spent her life creating relaxed, elegant rooms with quintessentially English style – vibrant colours, luxurious textiles and true comfort – for an international clientele.

She joins Giles Kime (Nina Campbell Interior Decoration), Interiors Editor of Country Life magazine, to impart her design wisdom and select highlights from an extraordinary career spanning nearly fifty years.

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WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER 1.30–2.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L165

History

Charles Moore: Margaret Thatcher, Herself Alone The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10*

3–4pm

The author discusses the final volume of his authorised biography of Britain’s most important peacetime Prime Minister.

Intimate and enthralling, this is a political and personal portrait of the iron will but surprising vulnerability of the woman who dominated in an age of male power. He is joined on stage by the author and columnist Simon Jenkins.

1.30–2.30pm

L166

History

She-Merchants, Buccaneers And Gentlewomen

They were milliners, bakers, actresses, portrait painters, shopkeepers, doctors, geologists and traders. In conversation with Libby Purves, novelist and travel writer Katie Hickman reveals the extraordinary lives of the British women who made their way to India and changed history, long before the days of the Raj.

L167

Fiction

Philippa Gregory The Garden Theatre £10* Tidelands, the first in a new series from one of our finest authors of historical fiction, is set in England, 1648.

Extensively researched and beautifully written, Philippa Gregory tells us about her new book.

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Mothers In Crime

The Sunday Times Travel Team

The Nook £8*

The Inkpot £10*

2.15–3.15pm

L168

Locally Sourced

Joining Steven Gale, local author Melanie Golding talks about her haunting debut novel Little Darlings, and former clinical psychologist Bev Thomas discusses her thrilling book A Good Enough Mother. They consider the role of the mother in these gripping stories and the mental health taboos that surround them.

3–4pm

This event will be live captioned.

Join The Sunday Times travel experts Susan d’Arcy, Chris Haslam and Cruise Editor Sue Bryant as they reveal their top travel experiences to try next year.

From short-hop to long-haul, save to splurge – there’s something for every taste and budget. Chaired by The Sunday Times Travel Editor Duncan Craig.

L169

Art & Design

Gerald Scarfe

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

2–3pm

L170

Travel & Adventure

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Spanning film, theatre, music, opera, animation and of course political cartoons, the work of Gerald Scarfe is instantly recognisable. He talks to Rosie Goldsmith about his memoir, Long Drawn Out Trip, and talks us through some of his extraordinary artwork.

3.30–4.30pm

L171

Current Affairs

Saudi Arabia: What’s Next?

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* The murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 caused the eyes of the international community to become firmly fixed on Saudi Arabia, adding to already existing concerns regarding the country’s poor human rights record, its leading role in the conflict in Yemen and influence over the global oil and arms industries. Channel 4’s International Editor Lindsey Hilsum is joined by defence and security expert Armida van Rij, LSE Middle East Centre’s Madawi Al-Rasheed and journalist Zahra Hankir (Our Women on the Ground) to examine the desert Kingdom’s complex political and cultural landscape and ask whether it can ever become a truly progressive, modern nation.

WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

5–6pm

L176

Art & Design

Threads Of Defiance The Inkpot £9* 3.30–4.30pm

L172

Classic Literature

Iris Murdoch At 100 Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the finest minds of her generation. An Oxford philosophy tutor for 15 years and the author of 26 novels including the Bookerwinning The Sea, the Sea, as well as The Bell and Under the Net, she wrote complex, literary novels that managed to sell like thrillers. Friend and biographer Peter J Conradi (Iris Murdoch: A Life), novelist Charlotte Mendelson and journalist Alex Clark mark her centenary year.

4–5.30pm

L174

Lifestyle

Pam ‘The Jam’ Corbin

Under house arrest, Mary Queen of Scots used needlework to communicate with the outside world. Scandinavian artist Hannah Ryggen made radical political statements against fascism through her spellbinding tapestries. In 1970s Argentina, mothers of the disappeared wore headscarves embroidered with the names of their lost children. Over centuries and across continents, people have used sewing to make their voices heard. Marit Paasche (Hannah Ryggen) and Clare Hunter (Threads of Life) weave a fascinating story of identity, protest, power and politics with Rosie Goldsmith.

The Daffodil £25* Ticket includes afternoon tea with a selection of finger sandwiches and cakes.

Pam Corbin is the go-to person for some of our best-loved chefs when it comes to jams and preserves. Pioneering reducedsugar recipes and fantastic flavours, enjoy an afternoon tea with pickles and preserves prepared and explained by Pam. Chaired by Tim Hubbard.

5.30–6.30pm

L177

Art & Design

The Art Of Trees 4–5pm

L173

Psychology

The Knife’s Edge The Garden Theatre £8* Psychologist Kevin Dutton (The Wisdom of Psychopaths), who first suggested that surgeons may be high on the psychopath spectrum, talks to leading cardiac surgeons Samer Nashef (The Angina Monologues) and Stephen Westaby (The Knife’s Edge) to reflect on the unique mindset of those who are drawn to this exhilarating profession.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

4.30–5pm

L175

Cheltenham Writes!

The Huddle FREE No ticket required To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Nima Cas Hunt reads from her poetry book Our Bittersweet World and talks about her experience as a writer.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* Trees have captured the imagination of some of Britain’s most important landscape painters, with artists including John Constable and Paul Nash inspired by their diversity of form, character and symbolic significance. Artist and author Angela Summerfield (The Arborealists) and art historian Christiana Payne (Silent Witnesses: Trees in British Art) celebrate the majestic beauty of our woodland and the role of trees in inspiring some of our greatest artworks with actor and Woodland Trust Ambassador David Oakes.

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WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER 6.30–7.45pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L180

Current Affairs

The Pianist Of Yarmouk Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

6–7pm

L178

Travel & Adventure

Steve Backshall The Garden Theatre £10* The popular naturalist and explorer joins Phoebe Smith to discuss Expedition: Adventures into Undiscovered Worlds, his unflinching account of his journeys to uncharted territories around the globe, as seen in the recent major ten-part BBC series.

6.30–7.30pm

L179

Stage & Screen

Francis Rossi: I Talk Too Much The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* Francis Rossi is one half of one of the most successful duos in rock history, Status Quo. He talks to music journalist Mick Wall about his memoir and new show, I Talk Too Much.

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On the outskirts of war-torn Damascus, a man pushes his piano into the street and begins to play; an act of defiance that will become a beacon of hope and resistance for the people of Syria.

Accompanied by a spellbinding live performance, Aeham Ahmad shares his extraordinary story of the healing power of music in the face of despair with international correspondent Lyse Doucet.

7–8pm

L181

Nature

A Guide To Idle Beekeeping The Inkpot £10* This event will be live captioned.

From building a hive to harvesting honey, urban beekeeper Bill Anderson (The Idle Beekeeper) and bee advocate Brigit Strawbridge Howard (Dancing with Bees) show aspiring beekeepers how to keep bees the simple, mindful way. Join them as they call upon years of applied curiosity as beekeepers to celebrate these underappreciated insects, explain what we can do to help them thrive and show how simple and rewarding beekeeping can be. Chaired

by Ben Timberlake.

7–8pm

L182

Fiction

Fiction At 7: Whispers And Shadows The Nook £10* Ticket includes a drink on arrival.

‘If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken…’ Alex North’s The Whisper Man is a dark, suspenseful thriller of a father and son embroiled in a serial killer’s reign of terror on a small town.

Hailed as ‘Britain’s female Stephen King’, C.J. Tudor’s spine-tingling gothic thrillers The Taking of Annie Thorne and The Chalk Man have gripped and terrified thousands of readers. Join Caroline Sanderson as she explores what drew these writers to the dark side of human nature.

WEDNESDAY 9 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

8.30–9.30pm

L186

Stage & Screen

Decca Records The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10*

7.30–8.30pm

The Decca record label celebrates its 90th birthday this year. With both rock/ pop and classical artists signed, they occupy a unique position in the world of music. To talk about the highs and lows and about how this iconic label has survived and thrived, we are joined

by President of Decca Records Rebecca Allen, Gareth Malone, one of their star artists known to millions in the UK from the TV show The Choir, and Daryl Easlea (Decca: The Supreme Record Company).

L183

Nature

Dark Skies: A Journey Into The Night Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* For thousands of years humans have linked ancient rituals and seasonal festivals with the light and dark halves of our year. Tiffany Francis (Dark Skies) and Nick Dunn (Dark Matters) join Julia Wheeler to delve into the darkness and ask how our experiences of night-time have influenced our history, folklore, science, geography, art and literature.

9–10pm

L184

Nature

Nightwalking Meeting point at The Bookstand £5* Join Nick Dunn for an adventure into the heart of Cheltenham at night – the time when the true nature of darkness reveals itself and familiar landscapes can be explored anew. Take a walk around the town and explore the rich potential of darkness for our senses.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

8.45–9.45pm

L187

Travel & Adventure

8–9pm

L185

Sport

Cricket Country The Hive £9* Prashant Kidambi joins Philip Collins to tell the story of the first All India cricket tour of Britain and Ireland, and the extraordinary tale of how the idea of India took shape on the cricket field.

Mindful Adventures For Modern Pilgrims The Garden Theatre £9* Whether you choose a long-distance trail, the ascent of an awe-inspiring mountain, a journey to a temple or simply a lunchtime stroll to somewhere special, a pilgrimage is the opportunity to step out of your day-to-day routine and follow a path that promises meaning, a little magic and the space to breathe. Richard Frazer (Travels With a Stick) and Beth Jusino (Walking to the End of the World) speak with adventurer Phoebe Smith about how to travel in a way that enhances your connection to the world and to yourself.

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The Times and The Sunday Times Forum The Garden Theatre

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Inkpot

The Hive

The Nook

10am

LF46

11am

L189

L192

12pm

L131

Mary Quant

L135

1pm

L197

L198

2pm

L200

L199

L201

3pm

L202

4pm

L207

Trevor Eve

L206

L209

Chelt.

Writes!

LF47

5pm

L208

Dressing For Your Shape

Ticket includes glass of wine and a light lunch 12-1pm.

L212

L210

L211

Martin Rees: On The Future

L213

L214

8pm

L218

L221

9pm

Rob Brydon

Emily Dean & David Baddiel

L220

Moggach & Eclair

L219

Mark Radcliffe

L222

Christopher Bliss

Robert Crampton’s Quiz Night

L217

Fiction At 7: Classics Recast

L215

Natalie Haynes: Troy Story

Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers

L216

7pm

10pm

Do you want to liven up your wardrobe but need some inspiration? Join Anna Murphy, Fashion Director at The Times and Prue White, Style Director at The Times Magazine, as they pick out their favourite trends from the season’s catwalks and show you how to make them work in the real world. Sharing top tips and styling tricks, they’ll suggest some easy ways to add a splash of brilliance to your autumn look.

Novels That Shaped the World

Simon Armitage

Louis Theroux

6pm

No.131 £50* The Lost Book Of Adventures

K. Wark & J. Ellis Lucian Freud

L204

The Future Of Crime

L205

The Making Of Poetry

Beauty Salon At No. 131

Doubleday Proof Party

L194

VSI: Dickens

L203

Ultimate Autumn Style With Anna Murphy Kate Williams: Rival Queens

Lifestyle Spain & The Art Of War

Modern Mythology

The Irish Century

Flavours Of Russia

Scene Of The Crime

Melvyn Bragg

L190

Ultimate Autumn Style

L191

Times Crossword

L193

L190 11am–1pm

L189 11am–12pm Fiction

Melvyn Bragg

9am

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Mr Panda

The broadcaster and author talks about his new novel, Love Without End: A Story of Heloise and Abelard. It deals with love, families and fractured relationships, told by a man writing a story about a man writing a story...

VSI: Dickens

11pm

12am

Family Event

The Daffodil

No. 131

Feast Café Bar

The Huddle

80

Box Office 01242 850270

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

DAY PLANNER

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

11am–12pm

L191

The Times Crossword Feast Café Bar FREE No ticket required Settle in 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–12pm 2.30–3pm

L193 L194

A Very Short Introduction To...

Charles Dickens The Huddle FREE No ticket required Jenny Hartley introduces Charles Dickens’ life and works, looking at the vitality of his characters, the energy which surges through his writing and institutions such as the workhouse that influenced his work.

12–2pm

L135

Lifestyle

Flavours Of Russia The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes two-course lunch and a glass of wine.

11.30am–12.30pm L192 Fiction

The Scene Of The Crime Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Jason Webster (Violencia) and Elly Griffiths (Now You See Them) both write crime that is firmly rooted in place: Webster in Valencia, Griffiths in Norfolk and Brighton, and writing under her real name Domenica de Rosa, Italy. It’s more than just a dark alley or a foggy riverbank, it’s a sense of heat and dust, crowded streets or the wide, lonely landscape. The place is an important theme, almost a character, and is as central to their novels as the crime itself. Chaired by Alex Clark. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Alissa Timoshkina (Salt & Time) invites us to sample flavours and recipes that are unfamiliar but delicious, from her native Russia. She is joined by awardwinning journalist Sara Wheeler (Mud and Stars), who travels not only in Russia but also in time, using writers from the golden age of Russian literature as her guide. They talk about their shared love of Russia to Julia Wheeler.

12.15–1.15pm

L131

Lifestyle

Mary Quant: Fashion, Freedom And Feminism The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £9* Mary Quant blazed a trail for women in the 1960s, her iconic miniskirts embracing the burgeoning feminist movement and capturing the spirit of the time. V&A curator Jenny Lister takes a look at her favourite pieces and the extraordinary impact Mary Quant’s designs had on working women, fashion and society.

81

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER 1–2pm

L197

1.30–2.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L198

History

Ancient Worlds

1919–2019: The Irish Century

Modern Mythology

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

Town Hall, Pillar Room £10*

From the outbreak of the Anglo-Irish war in 1919 to the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement and concerns over the so-called Irish backstop in the long-running Brexit negotiations, the recent history of Ireland is characterised by violence and religious strife. Allan Mallinson discusses a divided country living with a fragile peace with historians Roy Foster and Heather Jones, and the broadcaster Fergal Keane (Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love).

Why are we still so fascinated by myths of Earth’s ancient worlds? Lucy Hughes-Hallett (Fabulous), Daisy Johnson (Everything Under) and Natalie Haynes (A Thousand Ships) come together to explore the ways we relate to myths in the modern day and how literature keeps them alive in our everchanging society. Whether it’s rewriting them to suit new readers or changing the setting entirely, why have the stories of gods and monsters remained so popular?

2–3pm

L199

Art & Design

Violencia: Spain And The Art Of War The Garden Theatre £10* From the macabre etchings of Goya to Picasso’s moving and powerful Guernica, Spanish art is inescapably intertwined with the country’s turbulent history. Author Jason Webster (Violencia) and art historian Claudia Hopkins join James Long to consider how some of Spain’s greatest artists have been influenced by the political unrest that has shaped this nation’s identity, and to demonstrate how some of Spain’s most striking artworks can be better understood when viewed through the lens of violence and conflict.

82

2.15–3.15pm

L200

History

Kate Williams: Rival Queens The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £9* Mary and Elizabeth were queens and cousins. They allied, fought and plotted against one another – yet could never fully escape their bond. Author, historian and television presenter Kate Williams gives a fresh and compelling account of their intense rivalry which eventually led to betrayal and a terrible final act.

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2.30–3.30pm

L201

Fiction

Doubleday Proof Party The Nook £15*

3.30–4.30pm

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

Over the last thirty years, Doubleday has published fiction for every literary appetite and is immensely proud to have launched stellar careers for many now award-winning global bestselling writers. The team are delighted to present new novels from award-winner Donal Ryan and widely-acclaimed Sarah Leipciger alongside astonishing debuts from Rosanna Amaka and Francine Toon, showcased here in advance of publication. All attendees will take home a tote bag and exclusive bound proof from each author.

3–4pm

L202

Lifestyle

Beauty Salon At No.131 No.131 £35* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

Fashion Director at The Times Anna Murphy (How Not to Wear Black) returns to the Festival with her exclusive panel of beauty experts. In this audience-led event, three of the country’s top names in beauty – facialist Alexandra Soveral, make-up artist Hannah Martin and hair stylist Kiki Koh of John Frieda – will be on hand to answer your every question on how to look your best.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

L204

Fiction

The Future Of Crime Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

3.30–4.30pm

L203

Art & Design

Lucian Freud Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* His paintings instantly recognisable, Lucian Freud remains one of the most celebrated and significant portrait artists of our time. Biographer, artist and confidante William Feaver (The Lives of Lucian Freud), artist and Freud’s long-time studio assistant David Dawson (Lucian Freud: Naked Portraits) and Lucian’s daughter Esther Freud share an insightful discussion about a painter whose work changed the landscape of British art.

Masters of crime Mark Billingham, Christopher Brookmyre, Doug Johnstone, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste discuss the future of the crime-writing genre. Where has it come from? Where is it going? And what are the new trends picked up by crime fiction’s rising stars?

3.30–4.30pm

L205

Off The Page

The Making Of Poetry The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

Poetry can reconfigure the mind and change the world. Adam Nicolson tells us how two young men of genius, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, lived together in the Quantock Hills, producing subversive and astonishing works such as Kubla Khan, The Ancient Mariner, Lyrical Ballads and Tintern Abbey. In conversation with James Marriott of The Times with selected poetry readings from a special guest.

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THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER 4.15–5.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L207

Fiction

Trevor Eve The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Remembered by many as TV’s private detective Shoestring, Trevor Eve has taken the step to writing a novel, Lomita for Ever. He discusses the part noir thriller, part oddball romance – and of course his life and work.

4–5pm

L206

Fiction

Kirsty Wark & Janet Ellis The Garden Theatre £10* Much-admired broadcaster Kirsty Wark’s first novel The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle became a bestseller.

She returns with the 1950s Scotland-set The House by the Loch, inspired by her own childhood and her late father.

Former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis’ debut The Butcher’s Hook garnered critical acclaim and her new novel How It Was has been called ‘immersive, amazing, remarkable’ by Marian Keyes.

With Georgina Godwin they discuss moving from broadcasting to writing, and the themes of family secrets and inter-generational relationships that their novels share.

4.30–5pm

L209

Locally Sourced

Simon Armitage

The Huddle FREE No ticket required

The Garden Theatre £10*

To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Mandy Robotham reads from her book A Woman of War and talks about her experience as a writer.

L208

Our newly appointed Poet Laureate joins Julia Wheeler to discuss and read from Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic, which gathers an eclectic mix of work from residencies, commissions and collaborations across a wide-ranging career in poetry.

Lifestyle

Dressing For Your Shape No.131 £35*

6–7pm

Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

Science

It’s the most important route to finding your style: properly understanding your figure and what works for it, and what doesn’t.

Anna Murphy, Fashion Director at The Times, and Anna Berkeley, personal stylist and body-shape guru, join forces to help find your fashion happy place once and for all.

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L210

Off The Page

Cheltenham Writes!

5–6pm

6–7pm

L211

Martin Rees: On The Future The Inkpot £9* Rich with fascinating insights into cuttingedge science and technology, Martin Rees takes a provocative and inspiring look at the future of humanity and science, exploring robotics, artificial intelligence and the threat of climate change.

cheltenhamfestivals.com

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

6.15–7.15pm

L213

Classic Literature

The Novels That Shaped Our World Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

6.15–7.15pm

L212

Stage & Screen

Louis Theroux The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14*

To mark the 300th anniversary of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, a new BBC television series to be broadcast this autumn will explore how novels have always been a revolutionary agent of social change. Ahead of the series, BBC Radio 2’s Book Club will be asking guests and the Cheltenham audience to discuss the novels that have shaped their worlds. Mariella Frostrup chairs a conversation with her fellow judges, including Juno Dawson (Meat Market) and special guests.

7–8pm

L214

Off The Page

Louis Theroux is a documentary filmmaker best known for producing immersive documentaries that explore controversial and complex aspects of the human condition. Gotta Get Theroux This is a look back at his career, and he talks to Hannah MacInnes about his life and strange times in television.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Natalie Haynes: Troy Story The Hive £8* Natalie Haynes (A Thousand Ships) returns to the Festival with her unique blend of ancient history and stand-up comedy in this hilarious tour of the greatest conflict in ancient literature: The Trojan War.

85

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

7.15–8.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L216

Off The Page

7–8pm

L215

Fiction

Fiction At 7: Classics Recast The Nook £10* Ticket includes a drink on arrival.

Described by Margaret Atwood as ‘Wide Sargasso Sea meets Beloved meets Alias Grace’, Sara Collins’ The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a vibrant reinvention of the gothic novel and a fresh take on the Jane Eyre/Mr Rochester dynamic. Katie Hale’s My Name is Monster draws upon Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to explore the strength and the danger of a mother’s love in a post-apocalyptic world. They talk to Caroline Sanderson about their bold reimaginings of classic works.

Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Bar will be open throughout the event.

Hot off the stage from Glastonbury (yes really), Britain’s best (well, probably only) band of crime writers lets rip with a cracking selection of music. With the bar open throughout, this is a great opportunity to let your hair down and join the fun as Mark Billingham, Christopher Brookmyre, Doug Johnstone, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste give it their all.

7.30–10pm

L217

Lifestyle

Robert Crampton’s Quiz Night The Daffodil £80* for a team of 4 Ticket includes a fish and chip supper.

Bar open until late.

A firm Festival favourite, The Times columnist Robert Crampton returns to preside over his legendary evening of frivolity and general knowledge. Come along to have a few drinks, test your memory and get competitive – laughs guaranteed.

86

8–9pm

L218

Fiction

Deborah Moggach And Jenny Eclair The Garden Theatre £10* Bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Deborah Moggach talks about her new novel The Carer, showing that life certainly doesn’t stop when your pension starts, and parents don’t always behave the way you expect them to. She is joined by comedian and author Jenny Eclair, whose new novel Inheritance talks about the consequences of actions rippling down through generations of a family. Both books are poignant, wry and utterly compelling, examining the baggage of inheritance and family ties.

Chaired by Tim Hubbard.

THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

8–9pm

L219

Stage & Screen

Mark Radcliffe The Inkpot £10* This event will be live captioned.

Standing at the Mississippi crossroads where Robert Johnson and the devil had their infamous meeting, broadcaster, musician and writer Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own personal crunch point: losing his dad and being diagnosed with cancer. He talks to Matthew Stadlen about the turning points in his own life, pivotal tracks that changed the course of music and how music itself can transform our lives.

8.30–9.30pm

L220

Lifestyle

Emily Dean & David Baddiel Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Emily Dean always wanted a dog, but life just didn’t work out that way. Then over the course of three devastating years Emily lost her beloved sister and both parents. In her funny, heart-warming memoir Everybody Died So I Got a Dog, Emily tells the tale of grief, recovery and how she finally got her dog, Raymond the Shih Tzu. She talks to comic, author and confirmed cat lover David Baddiel.

8.30–9.30pm

L221

Stage & Screen

Rob Brydon The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* Rob Brydon; actor, radio and TV presenter, singer and impressionist, Welshman. His list of TV and radio credits is long, varied and impressive, but he’s probably best known for his role as Bryn West in Gavin and Stacey, as Keith Barret in Marion and Geoff, with Steve Coogan in their various Trips, and as presenter of BBC1’s Would I Lie to You. He’s recently completed a sell out tour of Australia and New Zealand with his one man show I Am Standing Up, and we’re delighted to have him with us in Cheltenham.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

9–10pm

L222

Off The Page

Christopher Bliss The Hive £8* Christopher Bliss is a village-renowned novelist and son of two. He writes three novels a day and is fairly well known amongst his family and friends.

Completely deluded and wildly misinformed, Christopher gives us his unique take on the literary world.

‘One of the best character shows we’ve seen for a long time’ British Comedy Guide ‘A lovable throwback to the comics of 20 years ago. The alter ego could be on the cusp of a comeback’ The Guardian

87

The Garden Theatre

The Times & The Sunday Times Forum

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Inkpot

The Hive

The Nook

8am

L223

9am

Breakfast: The PM’s To-Do List

L223 10am

8.30–10am L225

How To Live Better For Longer

11am

Current Affairs

LF48

Not My Puppy

LS09

12pm

L230

1pm

2pm

L231

The Artist’s Garden

L232

Dementia: Love, Life & Care

L228

VSI: Poetry

3pm

L234

Queen Anne

L235

4pm

L238

5pm NATO At 70

L242

The Yorkshire Shepherdess

L243

Partners In Crime Ponies & Pirouettes

LF50

Around The World In 80Trains

L237

The Role Of The Poetry Critic

L236

L239

Chelt.

Writes!

L241

Celebrate With...

Herman Koch

The Mountbattens

Why Ruskin Matters

LF49

Not My Puppy

L240

With a new Prime Minister at the helm, will there be a return to stability and calm, or more chaos and division?

Emma Tucker, Deputy Editor of The Times, chats to columnists Daniel Finkelstein and Rachel Sylvester as they take the political temperature and discuss the priorities both for the new cabinet and the long-suffering voters.

L233

Ticket includes a continental breakfast.

The Best & Worst PM?

The Daffodil £20*

Simon Schama

L229

The Times Live

Young Writers’ Showcase

L227

Times Crossword

L226

The Odyssey: A Study Day

L224

Breakfast With The Times: The PM’s To-Do List VSI: Poetry

6pm

L245

L246

7pm

L248

Patricia Cornwell

Jess Phillips

L249

Melanie Reid

L247

L251

8pm

L253

L256

9pm

10pm

Bang Said The Gun

L258

Paul Merton: Funny Ha-Ha

Art & Activism

L257

Good Manners In A Digital Age

L254

Tessa Hadley

Ben Norris & Chris Tse

L252

Be The Change

L250

Koch & Candlish

Anthony Anaxagorou’s Debut Showcase

L244

The Art Of The Short Story

BOSH: How To Live Vegan

L259

Festival Club

11pm

12am

Family Event

The Daffodil

Hotel Du Vin

Feast Café Bar

The Huddle

88

Box Office 01242 850270

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER

DAY PLANNER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

10am–4pm

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER

L224

Ancient Worlds

The Odyssey: A Study Day Town Hall, Pillar Room £40* Ticket includes four events and afternoon refreshments.

11am–12pm

The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature. Join us for a thought-provoking and wide-ranging day celebrating Homer’s masterpiece with some of our brightest minds.

Happy Old Me: How To Live Better For Longer

Translating The Odyssey Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey – the first by a woman – met with widespread critical acclaim. But why translate The Odyssey yet again, when almost 70 translations already exist? She discusses her working process and her vision of this complex, magical, moving and absorbing text about identity, hospitality and the meanings of home.

The Odyssey Today Classicists and writers Natalie Haynes (A Thousand Ships), Adam Nicolson (Why Homer Matters) and Emily Wilson (The Odyssey) discuss why one of the earliest works of Western literature continues to be a source of inspiration to artists and authors.

One I, Many Eyes: Remixing Book Nine A live storytelling session with Max Porter bringing the most famous scene from Homer’s Odyssey alive by juxtaposing different translations and approaches towards the same 50 lines of text. The unforgettable drama of the blinding of Polyphemus told in verse, told in prose, from archaic translations and fresh revisionist tellings to brand new remixes, memoir and analysis written for this event. An oral-storytelling attack on one iconic literary encounter in order to liberate it again and again from the tyranny of any one version.

Modern Odysseys With its themes of yearning for home and displacement, The Odyssey has powerful resonance with today’s debates around refugees and enormous human displacement.

Daniel Trilling (Lights in the Distance: Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe) and Nick Jubber (Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe) join Sam Gugliani to discuss.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

L225

Lifestyle

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* How do we age gracefully? In this heartfelt, amusing and informative discussion about later life, Camilla Cavendish (Extra Time) speaks to Hunter Davies (Happy Old Me) about navigating later life and finding hope in the future.

11am–12pm

L226

The Times Crossword Feast Café Bar FREE No ticket required Settle in 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.

89

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER 12–1pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L229

Current Affairs

The Times Live The Garden Theatre £10*

11.30am–12.30pm LS09 Locally Sourced

Young Writers’ Showcase

Which hot topics will The Times highlight in its next edition? In this fascinating discussion, Deputy Editor Emma Tucker is joined by senior columnists and writers including Daniel Finkelstein, Philip Collins, David Aaronovitch and Leaf Arbuthnot to decide which subjects will feature in the famous Times leaders the following day.

1–2pm

The Hive £2*

The Artist’s Garden

Spoken word artist Sophia Thakur performs alongside students from Cheltenham Festivals’ year-round outreach programmes: Beyond Words (Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service), Write Now (Post-16 Creative Writing) and students writing for Amnesty’s Words that Burn. Come and be inspired by the word-power of our best young writers at this celebratory event.

11.30am–12pm 2.30–3pm

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* From Claude Monet to Celia Thaxter, gardens have been both a sanctuary and vibrant source of inspiration for some of history’s greatest painters. With stunning imagery, Jackie Bennett illuminates the intimate relationship between artist and garden with James Long.

L227 L228

A Very Short Introduction To...

Poetry The Huddle FREE No ticket required What is poetry? And what is it used for?

Bernard O’Donoghue provides a fascinating look at the many forms of writing that have been counted to this genre, taking you on a tour from ancient Greece to the present day.

12.15–1.15pm

L230

2–3pm

L232

Classic Literature

Science

Simon Schama

Dementia: Love, Life And Care

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Simon Schama cut his teeth writing about Dutch art and history on his way to becoming one of the UK’s great cultural critics. Essays on De Stijl and the Rijksmuseum are highlights of his latest wide-ranging book, Wordy, which he discusses at this event.

Part of New Dutch Writing, presented by the Dutch Foundation for Literature

90

L231

Art & Design

The Garden Theatre £8* Dementia touches millions of us every day, yet we still struggle to speak about it. Nicci Gerrard (What Dementia Teaches Us About Love) and Wendy Mitchell (Somebody That I Used To Know) explore the illness with Alex Clark and ask how we begin to value those who become old, invisible, forgotten. What do we owe them, and each other and what, in the end, really matters?

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2.15–3.15pm

L233

3–4pm

L235

3.45–4.45pm

L237

History

Art & Design

Off The Page

The Best And Worst British Prime Minister?

Why Ruskin Matters

The Role Of The Poetry Critic

The Inkpot £9*

The Nook £8*

Champion of artists including the Pre-Raphaelites, and influencer of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, John Ruskin was the greatest critic of the Victorian age: a critic not only of art and architecture, but of society and life. In the bicentenary year of his birth, biographer Andrew Hill (Ruskinland), art historian Suzanne Fagence Cooper (To See Clearly) and ceramic artist Emilie Taylor explore Ruskin’s life and work, and consider how his contemporary legacy continues to endure.

Just what does a poetry critic do? Get an insight into the industry, the efforts made to broaden the critical voices involved and take away some tips to get started with Sunday Times Poetry Critic Jeremy Noel-Tod (The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem), poet and critic Mary Jean Chan (Flèche) and Sandeep Parmar (Eidolon), poet and co-founder of the Ledbury Emerging Poetry Critics programme, founded in 2017 to encourage diversity in poetry-reviewing culture.

Chaired by Lyndsey Fineran.

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Who was the most disastrous Prime Minister in British history? And who was the best?

The Times Red Box Editor Matt Chorley joins columnist Daniel Finkelstein, historian Anthony Seldon (May at 10) and polling expert Deborah Mattinson for a lighthearted look at which denizens of No 10 deserved the bouquets and brickbats as they grappled with the most difficult job in Britain.

3.30–5pm

L236

History

The Mountbattens: Lives And Loves 3–4pm

L234

History

Queen Anne: Her Life And Times Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9* Short, shy, gout-ridden and often depicted as pitiable, in truth Queen Anne’s reign was marked by triumph, passion and intrigue. We join the leading biographers Anne Somerset (Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion) and Ophelia Field (The Favourite) to discuss this neglected monarch and her intimate friendship with the powerful Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, as glamorous as she was controversial.

Chaired by Rosie Goldsmith.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

The Daffodil £25* Ticket includes afternoon tea with a selection of finger sandwiches and cakes.

From British high society to the battlefields of Burma and the Viceroy’s House, the Mountbattens led truly fascinating lives. Andrew Lownie tells Steven Gale a story of two very unusual people and their complex marriage.

4–5pm

L238

Travel & Adventure

Around The World In 80 Trains The Garden Theatre £8* Broadcaster and travel writer Monisha Rajesh recounts her 45,000-mile adventure on the world’s most remarkable railways: from the cloud-skimming heights of Tibet’s Qinghai railway to silk-sheeted splendour on the Venice SimplonOrient Express. Chaired by Tim Hubbard.

91

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER

4–5.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L239

Fiction

Celebrate With…

Herman Koch Hotel du Vin £30*

5–6pm

Herman Koch’s deliciously dark tale of family life, The Dinner, sold over a million copies and was the talk of every book club. Join us for a rare chance to see him discuss the novel with Daniel Hahn in an intimate setting and raise a glass to its enduring success.

Part of New Dutch Writing, presented by the Dutch Foundation for Literature

4.30–5.30pm

L240

History

NATO At 70 The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* Founded in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has long been the foundation for the security of the liberal global order.

But with a sceptic in the White House, populism on the rise across Europe and Russian aggression on the Eastern border, will NATO endure in its current form? Allan Mallinson debates the future of this vital strategic alliance with Richard Shirreff, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, RUSI Director-General Karin von Hippel and the former Secretary General of NATO George Robertson.

92

L242

Memoir & Biography

Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

4.30–5pm

L241

Locally Sourced

Cheltenham Writes!

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £9*

The Huddle FREE No ticket required To celebrate the incredible writing talent of authors local to Cheltenham, Jon Lock talks about the process of creating his comic book series Afterlife Inc. and his experience as a writer.

5–6pm

Adventures Of The Yorkshire Shepherdess

L243

Amanda Owen has raised a family of nine children, a flock of Swaledale sheep and an assorted range of horses, cattle, pigs and dogs in one of the most remote areas of the country. She joins Julia Wheeler to share amusing anecdotes, colourful characters and inspiring stories, her tales from the farm will have you hankering after a new life in the country.

Fiction

Partners In Crime The Inkpot £8* Nicci Gerrard and Sean French are a husband-and-wife crime-writing duo, better known as Nicci French. Chris Brookmyre and his wife Marisa Haetzman write as Ambrose Parry. Exploring how their joint writing works, they answer the questions posed by Rosie Goldsmith, why this style of writing is so successful and whether they ever want to kill each other over their murderous plotlines?

6–7pm

L244

Fiction

The Art Of The Short Story The Nook £8* Profound, lyrical, shocking, wise: the short story is capable of almost anything. The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate talks to three stars of the form – Chris Power (Mothers), Nicole Flattery (Show Them a Good Time) and Sarah Hall (Sudden Traveller) – about how they craft their tales, and together they share recommendations of personal favourites from the last 70 years.

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

6–7.30pm

L245

Off The Page

Anthony Anaxagorou’s Debut Showcase Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* The UK poetry scene is on fire right now. Festival Guest Curator, poet and Out-Spoken founder Anthony Anaxagorou presents his top picks of poets who are releasing their debut collections this year. Jay Bernard (Surge), Rebecca Tamás (Witch), Ollie O’Neill (Ways of Coping) and Mary Jean Chan (Flèche) all take to the stage to share their boundary-pushing work.

6.30–7.30pm

L246

6.30–7.30pm

L247

Memoir & Biography

Fiction

Melanie Reid: The World I Fell Out Of

Trust No One: Herman Koch And Louise Candlish

The Garden Theatre £10* In 2010, a tragic horse-riding accident left Melanie Reid paralysed. She tells Robbie Millen, Literary Editor of The Times, the brutally honest backstory of her first year as a tetraplegic, rebuilding both her body and her life.

The Hive £8* Author of the internationally bestselling The Dinner, Herman Koch returns with The Ditch, a dark literary thriller about how quickly we can become entangled in our own fears and suspicions. Louise Candlish won the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year Award for Our House, her deliciously twisted tale of marital betrayal in the suburbs; a setting she revisits in Those People. With Sam Baker they discuss the appeal of writing toxic characters and how we never really know those we live amongst.

Part of New Dutch Writing, presented by the Dutch Foundation for Literature

7–8pm

L248

Fiction

Patricia Cornwell The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10* International bestselling-author Patricia Cornwell talks to Alex Clark about her new pulse-pounding thriller, Quantum, featuring a brilliant and unusual new heroine, cutting-edge cybertechnology and stakes that are astronomically high. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

93

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER 7.15–8.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L251

Current Affairs

Be The Change The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

7–8pm

L249

With no prior political experience or legal training, Gina Martin successfully campaigned to make upskirting a criminal offence. She talks about activism, empowering us all to challenge injustice and fight for change.

Current Affairs

Jess Phillips Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* Entertaining and empowering,Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on B.S. will help you find the courage you need to speak up and make a difference. Don’t miss the Westminster maverick in conversation with Hugo Rifkind.

8.30–9.30pm

L253

Current Affairs

Art And Activism The Garden Theatre £8*

8–9pm

L252

Off The Page

Ben Norris And Chris Tse 7–10pm

L250

Lifestyle

BOSH: How To Live Vegan The Daffodil £50* Ticket includes a three-course dinner with a drink on arrival. Bar open until late.

After a slower start in the professional kitchens, veganism is now part of the mainstream in the world of food and drink. Two leading lights Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, known as BOSH!, talk to Julia Leonard and treat you to a stunning three-course supper with recipes taken from their new book

94

The Nook £8* Two-time National Poetry Slam champion Ben Norris has appeared everywhere from Latitude Festival to the Proms. His new pamphlet Some Ending unflinchingly looks at heartbreak: in protracted attempts to untangle two lives, in the messy deaths of loved ones and in people unable to express themselves. Verb Festival Wellington’s nominated poet Chris Tse’s He’s So MASC is an acerbic reflection on what it means to perform and dissect identity, as a poet and a person. Don’t miss this spectacular hour of verse.

We all know the phrase ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. But just what is the role of the politically-engaged writer today? And just how much change can they hope to effect? Festival Guest Curator Anthony Anaxagorou is joined by editor of It’s Not About the Burqa, Mariam Khan and co-editor of The Good Immigrant USA, Chimene Suleyman to discuss how art and activism can be best combined to create positive social change.

FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

9–10pm

L257

Lifestyle

Good Manners In A Digital Age The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

8.45–9.45pm

L254

Fiction

The Sunday Times Must Reads: Tessa Hadley The Hive £8* Beloved by writers including Zadie Smith, Anne Enright, Hilary Mantel and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2019 Festival Guest Curator Tessa Hadley is renowned for her sharply observed accounts of human relationships.

She joins The Sunday Times Literary Editor Andrew Holgate to discuss her illustrious writing career which includes The Past and Bad Dream and Other Stories as well as her newest novel, Late in the Day, about two intertwined long marriages and a sudden death that sends shockwaves through them.

How do you reply to your colleague’s weird email? What might Debrett’s say about your Tinder profile? And just how do you know if you’re mansplaining? In this irreverent journey through the murky world of digital etiquette, WIRED’s Victoria Turk and Debrett’s Rupert Wesson provide an indispensable guide to minding our manners in a brave new online world.

Chaired by Sarah Raphael.

9.45–11.15pm

L258

Off The Page

9–10pm

L256

Stage & Screen

Paul Merton: Funny Ha-Ha The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* Whether it’s the surreal, slapstick or sly wit that makes you laugh, Paul Merton introduces stories from all sorts of writers to tickle every funny bone. He’s joined by Alex Clark to make sure you chuckle, giggle and laugh out loud.

Bang Said The Gun Town Hall, Pillar Room £12* The ‘fantastically raucous, irreverent and entertaining’ (Londonist) Bang Said the Gun were voted best UK poetry night by The Times. Expect a loud, boisterous, political, trivial and funny spectacle, described by Kate Tempest as ‘mud wrestling with words’, and by Andrew Motion as ‘a vortex of energy and enthusiasm’.

Guest poets to be announced on cheltenhamfestivals.com

10pm–1am

L259

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE No ticket required When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late-night literary revelry.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

95

CLC, Parabola Arts Centre

The Nook

The Hive

The Inkpot

Town Hall, Pillar Room

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage

The Garden Theatre

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum

The Daffodil £15*

CLC, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio The Daffodil

Hotel Du Vin

9am

L260

L262

L263

11am

L264 Jung Chang

LF54

Children’s Books

L266

12pm

1pm

L269

L271

2pm

3pm

LF15

D. O’Leary & N. East

The Times Debate

L272

L273

LF64

L274

Kanako Nishi

How a Book...

Life With Schizophrenia

The Cheltenham Booker: 1949

LF61

Malorie Blackman

LF56

LF62

LF63

Create-A-Story Animation

T. Hopgood’s Words & Pictures

V. Hungry Caterpillar

Returning To Books We Love

Sue Perkins

L267

LF59

Mysterious Places

Better, Faster, Stronger

L265

L268

L270

Anthony Anaxagorou

P. Brookes & D. Aaronovitch

LF60

Show & Tell

LF57

D. Wallace & J. Littler Fairytale Animation

LF55

Notes To Self

Connie Glynn: The Lost Princess

LF52

Tiny Tadpoles To Storm Whales

LF51

Konnie Huq

LF65

70 Years Of The Times

L261

Ian McEwan

10am

To mark our position as the world’s oldest literature festival and to celebrate the wonderful global network of book festivals, we’ve partnered with seven international festivals in our 70th year.

Come and meet their seven nominated writers over breakfast: Chris Tse from Verb Festival (Wellington), Wana Udobang from Ake Arts and Book Festival (Lagos), Kanako Nishi from Tokyo International Literature Festival, Esmé Weijun Wang from Litquake (San Francisco), Nicole Flattery from International Literature Festival Dublin, Sarah Henstra from Toronto International Festival of Authors and Hernán Ronsino from FILBA (Buenos Aires). Chaired by Daniel Hahn.

Rukmini Iyer: The Quick Roasting Tin

4pm

L275

L278

5pm

L281

Spin Class

Global Trade

L279

L280

Rob Auton: The Time Show

The 2019 Booker Prize Shortlist

LF67

L282

You Will Be Safe Here

Boy At The Back Of The Class

You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich

L276

Detective Movie Making

LF68

Charlie Mackesy

L277

L261 History

LF69

7pm

L287

Proud: Stories, Poetry & Art...

L284

A. Anaxagorou’s Poetry Dream Team

L293

9pm

Tongue Fu

L296

Life’s A Drag

Ali Smith & Max Porter

L295

David Mitchell

L292

Katy Brand

8pm

L298

Festival Club

Dirty Dancing

L297

10pm

11pm

What have been the biggest, most intriguing stories in the paper since 1949, when the Literature Festival started? In this fascinating discussion we take a whistle-stop tour through The Times archive with Editor John Witherow, historian and columnist Ben Macintyre and Deputy Editor Emma Tucker.

L294

Dominic Sandbrook

L291

C. Carty-Williams & B. Evaristo

L289

Seeing Red

The Moorish Supper Club

L288

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12*

L290

It’s Not OK To Feel Blue Colm Toíbín

L286

Wham! George And Me

L285

70 Years Of The Times Faith & Feminism

L283

6pm

10.15–11.15am

L260 9–10.30am Fiction

DAY PLANNER

Ticket includes a continental breakfast.

7 At 70: International Showcase

LF66

Celebrate With...

Jung Chang Bedtime Story

12am

Family Event

7 At 70: International Showcase John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent

96

Box Office 01242 850270

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

12–1pm

L265

Current Affairs

Peter Brookes And David Aaronovitch The Inkpot £9* 11am–12pm

L264

History

Jung Chang The Garden Theatre £10* 10.30–11.30am

L262

Fiction

Ian McEwan The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* The master storyteller behind Atonement, On Chesil Beach and The Children Act joins Erica Wagner to discuss Machines Like Me, his subversive new novel that poses fundamental questions about what makes us human and whether machines can ever understand the human heart.

In conversation with his colleague David Aaronovitch, the much-loved Times cartoonist Peter Brookes presents his brand new collection Critical Times and draws live on stage.

The bestselling author presents Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, her brilliantly researched and evocative account of the lives of the Soong sisters, who were at the very centre of Chinese history for a tumultuous century.

11am–12pm

LF54

Classic Literature

70 Years Of Children’s Books Town Hall, Pillar Room £8*

10.30–11.30am

L263

Memoir & Biography

Notes To Self The Nook £9* Clare Clark talks to the writers behind two of the year’s most acclaimed personal essay collections. Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self speaks powerfully on the emotional labour of caring for an alcoholic parent, the grief of infertility and the ways young women use their own bodies as a weapon against themselves.

Sinead Gleeson’s Constellations has all of life within its pages, from birth to first love, pregnancy to motherhood, old age and loss to death itself.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Children’s book experts Daniel Hahn (The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature), Alex O’Connell (The Times) and author and poet Clare Pollard (Fierce Bad Rabbits) take us on a tour through 70 years of children’s books. Talking to Mat Tobin (Oxford Brookes University), they highlight key titles from each decade and reflect on the position of children’s books socially and culturally.

Touching on the current conversations around representation, review coverage and digital influence, they make a stab at nominating their children’s classics of the future.

12.15–1.15pm

L266

Travel & Adventure

Emma Freud Meets…

Sue Perkins The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* When Sue Perkins was asked if she’d like to make a programme about the Mekong River, she had never been further east than Torremolinos. She tells Emma Freud about East of Croydon, sharing the journey in her telltale cheeky and downright funny style.

97

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 1–2pm

12.15–1.15pm

L267

Sport

Better, Faster, Stronger Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Mimi Anderson (Beyond Impossible) is a record-breaking ultra-running phenomenon, competing in the world’s most hostile environments. Emily Chappell (Where There’s a Will) became the first woman to complete the infamous Transcontinental Race, cycling 4,000km in just 13 days. Lara Prior-Palmer (Rough Magic) is the youngest-ever champion and the first woman to win the Mongol Derby, a formidable 1000km horse race across the vast Mongolian plains. These extraordinary women tell Beverly Turner why they push themselves to the limits of their endurance.

12.45–1.45pm

L268

Off The Page

Anthony Anaxagorou The Nook £8* Join one of our 2019 Guest Curators in conversation with Sandeep Parmar on his hotly anticipated poetry collection, After the Formalities, a powerful exploration of how race, class and masculinity is shaped in Britain today.

98

Box Office 01242 850270

L269

2.15–3.30pm

Classic Literature

Current Affairs

Returning To The Books We Love

The Times Debate: Is The Party Over?

The Garden Theatre £10*

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12*

What is it that we do when we re-read? We know what’s coming at the end of Jane Eyre, or Madame Bovary, or Huckleberry Finn, yet each time the story unfolds suspensefully, as if it were happening freshly all over again. At each stage of our lives we may read the same story differently, wanting different things. Festival Guest Curator Tessa Hadley is joined by novelists Colm Tóibín and Bernardine Evaristo to discuss the pleasures and motivations of returning to the books we love. Chaired by Alex Clark.

L271

In 2017, for the second general election in a row, four different political parties came first in the UK’s four nations. Recent polling has shown that voters identify more strongly as Remainers or Leavers than with the two main parties. Philip Collins of The Times joins Conservative MP and former leadership contender Rory Stewart, Labour MP and fearless campaigner Jess Phillips and polling expert Andrew Cooper as they ask: is it finally time for a third way or will the main political parties re-engage with their voters? Chaired by Today presenter Justin Webb.

2.15–3.30pm

L272

Classic Literature

The Cheltenham Booker: 1949 1–3pm

L270

Lifestyle

Rukmini Iyer: The Quick Roasting Tin The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes a two-course lunch and a glass of wine.

Rukmini Iyer specialises in one-pot oven cooking – just chop up a few ingredients, pop them into a roasting tin and kick back while the oven does the work. Maximum taste with the minimum of fuss (and washing up!).

Join her and Julia Leonard for a simply delicious two-course lunch, and learn about the art of cooking hassle-free, fresh and tasty food.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* To mark the 70th anniversary of the Festival, we revisit four titles published in our very first year: 1949. Join our all-star literary line-up of India Knight, Dorian Lynskey, Colin Asher and Sian Cain as they debate the merits of George Orwell’s 1984, Nancy Mitford’s Love in a Cold Climate, Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky and Nelson Algren’s The Man With the Golden Arm and fight it out to decide which novel would have triumphed if the Booker Prize had existed 70 years ago. Chaired by James Walton, with an introduction by John Coldstream.

Dedicated to the memory of Ion Trewin.

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

4–5pm

L276

Art & Design

Charlie Mackesy Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10

3–4pm

L273

Psychology

Life With Schizophrenia Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* What does it mean to be mad? Whether it’s the associations it conjures or the people it brings to mind, ‘schizophrenia’ is a word we all have a view on. In The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang shares the haunting personal story of her own diagnosis with unflinching honesty, while Nathan Filer’s The Heartland journeys into the psychiatric wards he once worked on, introducing some of the extraordinary people he encountered. They provide a unique insight into a condition long misdiagnosed and much misunderstood with Georgina Godwin.

3–4pm

L274

Fiction

Kanako Nishi The Nook £8* Kanako Nishi is already a star in Japan, having won the Oda Sakunosuke, Kawai Hayao and Naoki prizes, and with several of her books adapted for film. Don’t miss this rare chance to see her on UK soil in conversation with Polly Barton.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

4–5pm

L275

Lifestyle

The conversations between the four characters in The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse have been shared thousands of times online, reminding people to keep going when life is hard.

The revered British illustrator Charlie Mackesy shares his favourite pieces and discusses the power of art in uncertain times with Scarlett Curtis.

You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich The Inkpot £8* From friendships, to ambitions, to mental health, money plays a huge role in our lives, yet we’re often too polite or embarrassed to talk about it. Alex Holder (Open Up) and Emilie Bellet speak to Sarah Raphael about debunking the financial jargon and breaking the money taboo. Full of sympathetic, practical advice on everything from mindful spending and finding financial freedom, they will strip away the awkwardness to help you find the power and solidarity of talking about money.

4–5.15pm

L277

Classic Literature

Celebrate With…

Jung Chang Hotel du Vin £30* Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

Few books have had as much impact as Wild Swans. With over 13 million copies sold, Jung Chang’s tale of three generations of women in her family is both an emotional family memoir with intimate detail and an epic history of 20th century China, breathtaking in its scope. Don’t miss your chance to join this book-group-style event as she revisits the work with Clare Clark.

99

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 5–6pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L280

Off The Page

Rob Auton: The Time Show Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* 4.30–5.30pm

L278

Current Affairs

Global Trade: The End Of An Era? The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £10*

Following on from his critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe shows about the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair and talking, the award-winning writer and performer Rob Auton turns his attention to time.

He will be asking questions such as ‘What time is it?’ and ‘What, is it time?’

‘A genuine original. Poetical, philosophical, humane, and funny to boot’ The Guardian

Is the post-war trend for increased global trade going into reverse? And what are the drivers for this? Much has been made of renewed trade wars and nationalism, but is the real picture more to do with changes in technology, consumer preferences and environmental challenges? Broadcaster and economist Dharshini David (The Almighty Dollar) and David Lubin (Dance of the Trillions), banker and economist at the American bank CITI, discuss the evolving picture with the Director of Chatham House Robin Niblett.

5–6pm

5.15–6.15pm

L282

Fiction

You Will Be Safe Here The Nook £8* Georgina Godwin talks to Damian Barr, the award-winning writer of the memoir Maggie & Me. They discuss his acclaimed South Africa-set debut novel You Will Be Safe Here, which explores legacies of abuse, redemption and the strength of the human spirit.

L281

Current Affairs

4.30–5.45pm

L279

Fiction

The 2019 Booker Prize Shortlist Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Come and hear the 2019 Booker Prize shortlisted authors talk about their work and read from their lauded novels in a special panel discussion. The 2019 list features some powerful literary fiction and we’ll bring you up close to the authors just days before the winner is announced on 14 October. Chaired

by Gaby Wood, Literary Director of the Booker Prize.

100

Politics Tamed: Spin Class The Garden Theatre £10* Special advisers, or ‘spads’, are a vital part of the Westminster eco-system. But what do these highly paid political appointees actually do? Join The Times Red Box Editor Matt Chorley, Theresa May’s former Director of Comms Katie Perrior and the former Home Secretary Alan Johnson as they recall the ups and downs of life in the eye of the political storm, as policies are announced, scandals break and completely unexpected crises unfold.

6–7pm

L283

Faith & Philosophy

Faith And Feminism The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

How do you negotiate feminism within a faith that critics call fundamentally patriarchal? Journalist Sarah Shaffi talks to author Zeba Talkhani (My Past is a Foreign Country) and activist Mariam Khan (It’s Not About The Burqa) about the dichotomy between faith and feminism, and how they navigate this relationship as young Muslim women in an ever-changing Britain. How does modern Islam cater to a progressive feminist agenda?

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

6.15–7.30pm

L284

Off The Page

Anthony Anaxagorou’s Poetry Dream Team Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £10* Forget your fantasy dinner party guest list; tonight we give the stage to Festival Guest Curator Anthony Anaxagorou to realise his fantasy poetry line-up. For one night only, he’ll bring UK poetry scene royalty to Cheltenham: Kei Miller (In Nearby Bushes), Caroline Bird (In These Days of Prohibition), Wayne Holloway-Smith (Alarum), Jack Underwood (Happiness) and Mona Arshi (Dear Big Gods) share the stage for an unmissable night of verse.

6.30–7.30pm

L286

Fiction

The Sunday Times Award For Literary Excellence: Colm Tóibín

7–8pm

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

6.30–7.30pm

L285

Colm Tóibín, the acclaimed author of Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary and Nora Webster, accepts this year’s prestigious prize and joins an elite list of winners that includes Ted Hughes, Muriel Spark, Kazuo Ishiguro, Seamus Heaney, Margaret Atwood and John Le Carré. He is interviewed by The Sunday Times Chief Fiction Reviewer Peter Kemp.

Stage & Screen

Wham! George And Me The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £32* Ticket includes a signed copy of Wham! George and Me, RRP £20 Andrew Ridgeley – one half of one of the most famous bands in the world – tells us the inside story of Wham!, his life-long friendship with George Michael and the formation of a band that changed the shape of the music scene.

6.30–7.30pm

L287

Psychology

LF69

Current Affairs

Proud: Stories, Poetry And Art On The Theme Of Pride

It’s Not OK To Feel Blue (And Other Lies) The Garden Theatre £8* Despite recent progress, there is still a long way to go when it comes to dismantling the shame that surrounds mental illness. By collecting the experiences of a range of individuals, It’s Not OK To Feel Blue aims to give courage to young people to speak out and realise that they aren’t alone. The book’s curator, former Style columnist and Pink Protest founder Scarlett Curtis, is joined by an exciting line-up of inspirational contributors, as they discuss their individual pieces in the collection and consider what their mental health means to them.

Special guests to be announced at cheltenhamfestivals.com

The Hive £6* Teens and young adults See page 107 for details.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

101

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

8–9pm

L291

History

Dominic Sandbrook The Inkpot £8* In Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979-1982, the acclaimed historian and broadcaster discusses the most dramatic, colourful and controversial years in our recent history – the heyday of computers and credit cards, snooker, Sloane Rangers and Spandau Ballet.

Chaired by Dharshini David.

7–10pm

L288

Lifestyle

The Moorish Supper Club The Daffodil £50* Ticket includes a three-course dinner and a drink on arrival. Bar open until late.

Go on a delectable journey around the Mediterranean with British chef, writer and restaurateur Ben Tish. He talks to Julia Leonard about the bold spices and sun-soaked exotic tastes of North Africa and the Arabic world, and traces the culinary influences of the Moors on Sicily and Andalusia’s bold-flavoured and refreshingly delicious dishes.

7.30–8.30pm

L289

Fiction

Seeing Red The Nook £8* ‘The myths don’t have a clue what to do with women… We need to build our own f**king mythology’, writes Canadian author Sarah Henstra in her bold novel The Red Word, which tackles college fraternity rape culture.

Katie Lowe’s The Furies deals with the rage and revenge of a group of teenage schoolgirls in the aftermath of a murder.

Together with Sam Baker they discuss writing women’s anger and repurposing Greek mythology to explore the female experience: both its fates and its furies.

102

7.45–8.45pm

L290

8.15–9.15pm

L292

Fiction

Stage & Screen

Candice Carty-Williams And Bernardine Evaristo

Katy Brand: Dirty Dancing And Me

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Candice Carty-Williams’ darkly comic and unflinchingly raw debut Queenie shot to No 2 on The Sunday Times bestseller list, its story of a young woman trying to navigate her way in the world resonating with thousands of readers. Acclaimed author Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other follows twelve different characters and their families, friends and lovers in a dazzling polyphonic narrative about modern Britain.

They discuss writing about contemporary British life, black womanhood and carving your own path with Sarah Shaffi.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Katy Brand (I Carried a Watermelon) has had a life-long obsession with Dirty Dancing. Join her as she talks to Alex Clark about how it has influenced her own attitudes to love, sex, romance, rights, responsibilities and life.

9.45–11.45pm

L297

Stage & Screen

Dirty Dancing Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Following on from Katy Brand’s event, join us for a screening of one of the most celebrated films of all time, Dirty Dancing.

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

8.30–9.30pm

L294

Lifestyle

Life’s A Drag The Hive £10* Drag as an art form has exploded; gone are the days in which dressing in drag was a means of fulfilling female parts in plays. Today it is a cultural phenomenon influencing music, fashion and comedy, with queens gaining notoriety and fame akin to any other entertainer. Drag queen Crystal Rasmussen (Diary of a Drag Queen) and drag king Daisy Hale explore how this subculture has influenced society and how the art of pushing gender boundaries has taken hold of pop culture.

8.30–9.30pm

L293

Stage & Screen

David Mitchell

L296

Tongue Fu

In a sneak-preview launch event, the comedian, author, actor and presenter talks to Hannah MacInnes about his latest book, Dishonesty is the Second-Best Policy. He covers subjects as diverse as UKIP to Brexit, horse lasagne to fatbergs, and from Big Society to food banks. If you’re as bemused by life as we are, sit back, relax and enjoy the rather surreal conversation.

9–10pm

9–11pm Off The Page

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14*

L295

Fiction

Ali Smith And Max Porter

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £12* They’ve rocked Glastonbury and the Roundhouse, and after two sell-out performances at Cheltenham, Tongue Fu are back by popular demand!

Bringing together the sharpest poets, storytellers, comedians and rappers to perform with improvised soundtracks from the genre-hopping Tongue Fu Band, this is a riotous experiment in live literature, music and improvisation that’s sure to shake up your Saturday night.

Guest poet line-up to be announced on cheltenhamfestivals.com

10pm–1am

L298

Festival Club Hotel du Vin FREE No ticket required When the Festival Village winds down, the Festival Club fires up. Join us after-hours at Hotel du Vin for music, conversation and late-night literary revelry.

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

The Garden Theatre £10* A rare chance to see two of our most inventive literary minds in conversation, in an interview style you’ve never seen before. Festival Guest Curator Max Porter meets Ali Smith to discuss her incredible body of work. *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

103

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

11am–12pm

LF54

Children’s Books For Adults

70 Years Of Children’s Books 10–11am

LF51

LF52

From Tiny Tadpoles To Storm Whales

Connie Glynn: The Lost Princess

The Hive £6* Ages 4+

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 10+

Tad is the smallest tadpole in a big pond where she lives with her tad brothers and tad sisters. But who or what is ‘big blub’?! Find out in this interactive event with author-illustrator Benji Davies.

Sharing his classic Storm Whale series too, this is the perfect session for young readers who are busy growing up, just like Tad.

10–11am

LF65

Konnie Huq The Inkpot £6* Ages 7+

104

10–11am

YouTube sensation Connie Glynn welcomes you to a new term at Rosewood Hall, where an ordinary girl and a princess have switched places and find themselves wrapped up in an all-new mystery adventure. Talking with author Anna James (Pages & Co), Connie discusses the world of The Rosewood Chronicles, modern fairy tales as well as her experience as an author and answers all of your bookish questions.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* See page 97 for details.

11am–12.30pm

LF55

Workshop Fairytale Animation Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £15* Ages 8–10

This event will be live captioned.

Parents/guardians are asked to drop off and leave their children for this session.

Konnie Huq, author, broadcaster and beloved former Blue Peter presenter, brings her brand new, hilarious book series to Cheltenham. Funny, scienceobsessed and ready to take on the world, Cookie has an uncanny ability to get herself into constant scrapes.

Find out more in this non-stop comedy event packed with draw-alongs and games galore.

Stop motion animation is a magical process.

Take inspiration from your favourite fairy tales and make a film full of princesses, mermaids, unicorns and dragons. Working with experts, you will create characters and scenery using card and plasticine, and then use laptops and cameras to make them move on screen. The end result will be a short film to download after the workshop.

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

1–2pm

LF59

Mysterious Places Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Ages 9+ Four fiendish fiction writers, Polly Ho-Yen (Where Monsters Lie), Dave Shelton (Emily Lime), Dominique Valente (Starfell) and chair Katherine Woodfine (Taylor and Rose) discuss plots, twists, suspense, intrigue and their favourite mystery books – vote for yours!

This event has been curated by our Family and Schools Guest Director Robin Stevens.

12–1pm

12–1pm

LF60

Show And Tell The Hive £6* Ages 4+ Come and be schooled in magic and wonder by award-winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph. Packed to the brim with warm humour, life lessons and pitch-perfect rhyme, Show and Tell has never been more fun. Budding writers and artists can find out how Rob became an illustrator and everyone can join in to draw one of his new characters.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

LF57

Danny Wallace And Jamie Littler Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 9+ Meet the rumbustious author Danny Wallace and his budding side-kick illustrator Jamie Littler talking about the adventures of Hamish – a ten-yearold from a boring, ordinary town with a knack for saving the world! Become sworn into the PDF team, create illustrated characters and hear Danny read aloud from Hamish and the Monster Patrol.

105

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

1.45–2.30pm

LF56

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2–3pm

The Hive £6* Ages 4+ It’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s 50th birthday! Eric Carle’s world-famous story is the most read children’s book in Britain. Join us for a fun, interactive session with storytellers from Discover Children’s Story Centre followed by caterpillar craft.

2–3pm

LF61

Malorie Blackman: Noughts And Crosses The Inkpot £6* Ages 12+, teens and young adults This event will be live captioned.

Crossfire is the long-awaited new novel in legendary author Malorie Blackman’s ground-breaking Noughts & Crosses series. In conversation with author Candice Carty-Williams (Queenie), Malorie reflects on her journey to becoming a published author, her involvement in her novel being produced for TV and stage and writing for the new Doctor Who series.

‘The Noughts & Crosses series are still my favourite books of all time and showed me just how amazing story-telling could be.’

Stormzy

106

Box Office 01242 850270

LF62

2–3.30pm

LF63

Tim Hopgood’s Words And Pictures

Workshop Create-A-Story Animation

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 5+

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £15* Ages 5–7

Where do ideas come from? What comes first, the words or the pictures?

Find out with acclaimed author and illustrator Tim Hopgood (Cyril the Lonely Cloud, Wow! Said the Owl) as he celebrates the life and colour that water brings. With live illustrating, this is your chance to draw along and listen to stories inspired by the world around us.

Tim is this year’s family brochure illustrator.

All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Accompanying adults do not require a ticket.

Get creative and discover the fun of using stop motion animation to tell your own stories. Working with experts, make characters from plasticine and then work in small groups to tell a story on screen with your characters. The end result will be a short film to download after the workshop.

3–3.30pm

From Seed To Read! How A Book Is Made The Hive £3* Ages 7+ See page 45 for details.

LF64

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

4.30–6pm

LF68

Workshop Detective Movie-Making 3–4pm

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £15* Ages 10–12

LF15

Dermot O’Leary And Nick East The Garden Theatre £6* Ages 7+ Join one of the UK’s best-loved broadcasters, X Factor and BBC Radio 2 presenter Dermot O’Leary, to hear all about Toto the Ninja Cat and the Superstar Catastrophe, the third book in Dermot’s animal escapade series for animal-loving kids. Hear all about real-life cat Toto, who was rescued as a kitten along with her brother Silver by Dermot and his wife, and learn to draw her with Nick East.

4.30–5pm

LF66

Bedtime Story John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent FREE Ages 4–7 Ticket required. One ticket holding accompanying adult per child.

See page 47 for details.

4.30–5.30pm

LF67

The Boy At The Back Of The Class The Hive £6* Ages 8+ Onjali Q Rauf’s award-winning book The Boy at the Back of the Class portrays the refugee crisis through the eyes of a child.

Told with heart, humour and hope, it is a touching story about friendship and how naturally children celebrate – not fear – all our differences. Join the author as she speaks about the books that inspired her as a child, remembers working in the refugee camps in France and tells you how you can help refugees yourself! *Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

Parents/guardians are asked to drop off and leave their children for this session.

Have you ever dreamt of becoming a film director? With the help of our experts and the magic of stop motion animation, you will be part of the team to create a detective mystery on screen!

You will use card and plasticine to create characters and scenery, and then use laptops and cameras to make them move. The end result will be a short film to download after the workshop.

6.30–7.30pm

LF69

Proud: Stories, Poetry And Art On The Theme Of Pride The Hive £6* Teens and young adults Join Juno Dawson as she discusses her new anthology Proud with some of its contributors: poet Dean Atta, new author Karen Lawler and illustrator David Roberts. A rainbow-coloured, riotous celebration of talent, Proud is a funny and emotional read, featuring 24 LGBTQ+ YA authors, poets and artists.

107

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum The Garden Theatre Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage Town Hall, Pillar Room The Inkpot The Hive The Nook CLC, Parabola Arts Centre

9am

L299

10am

LF75 L302

11am

LF71

Bday Elmer!

Marcus Brigstocke

Tongue Fu For Kids

The Beatles & Me

L301

The Personal Is Political

LF73

Harry Potter: PictureThe Magic

LF70

Bday Elmer!

L300

Fire & Fury

LF72

LF74

Rainbow Fish Show How A Book...

Stage & Screen L303

L307

1pm

Working At No. 10

L306

Shakespeare For Every Day

L304

LF78

L305

LF79

Roald Dahl’s Rotsome Words

L308

Writing Mysteries

LF77

A Body Of Work

Giraffes Can’t Dance

The Times Live

Burrow Into The Five Realms

LF76

A History Of Our World

12pm

The Beatles And Me L309

3pm

L312

4pm Andrew Lloyd Webber

L317

5pm

L320

6pm Emily Eavis

L324

7pm

L327

8pm

L332

Debbie Harry: Face It

9pm

Decades: 1980 - 2019

L311

An Evening Of Cheese & Jazz

L334

Couples That Work

L333

Me Too In Fiction

The Moth

L329

Tracy Chevalier

L330

The Windrush Generation

L331

Decades: 1949 - 1979

L322

Confessions Of A Bookseller

The Art Of Satire

L323

Caroline Criado Perez

L316

A Celebration Of Diana Athill

L318

Politics Tamed: PM’s Questions

L310

Dick Clements & Ian La Frenais

L328

Max Hastings

L321

India Now

L313

Dior: Designer Of Dreams

LF83

Rebel Muses

L325

Body Positivity

LF88

Charlie Changes Into A Chicken

LF84

So Much Love!

Bedtime Story

L326

Things We Say In The Dark

Celebrate With...

A. McCall Smith

L315

Celebrate With...

Tracy Chevalier

LF85

L319

New Daughters Of Africa

LF87

LF80

Big Family Book Quiz

L336

Nell Gifford’s Circus OfDreams

L314

World’s Greatest Flamingo...

Zine Making

LF82

Abi Elphinstone

Girls On Fire

LF81

N.Hussain & T. France

2pm

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12*

Sunday Lunch With Alexander McCall Smith

Despite imagining they didn’t exist in his recent film, Yesterday, Richard Curtis is a massive Beatles fan. He’s joined by former MP and music lover Alan Johnson, music critic for The Guardian / Observer, Jude Rogers and chair Matthew Stadlen to discuss everything from which was the best (and worst) song, the best ever lyric and who was Top of the Pops of the Fab Four.

LF86

10pm

11pm

12am

Family Event

CLC, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio The Daffodil No. 131 Hotel Du Vin John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent

108

Box Office 01242 850270

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

DAY PLANNER

L299 10–11am

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

10–11am

L301

10.30–11.30am

L302

Fiction

Current Affairs

The Personal Is Political

Marcus Brigstocke Does The Sunday Papers

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* The contrast between grand state-of-thenation novels and those centred on the domestic sphere dealing with families, marriages and parenting is often a stark one.

In these turbulent times, can novelists afford to write ‘small’? Or doesn’t all politics start with the personal? Festival Guest Curator and novelist Tessa Hadley (Late in the Day) is joined by writers Meena Kandasamy (Exquisite Cadavers) and Alex Pheby (Lucia) to discuss. Chaired by Lara Feigel.

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* A favourite fixture of our final Festival weekend, comedian Marcus Brigstocke and special guests review the week’s big news stories as told by the Sunday papers. They bash the broadsheets and tear through the tabloids, picking out the topical, the weird and the wonderful.

12–1pm

L303

Current Affairs

Today: A History Of Our World The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12*

10–11am

L300

10–11am

LF73

Fiction

Classic Literature

Fire And Fury

Harry Potter: Picture The Magic With Jim Kay

The Nook £8* Set amongst the brooding tensions of a derelict Argentinian town, Glaxo is the chilling English language debut novel of betrayal, romance and murder by major Latin American writer Hernán Ronsino. The Firestarters by Jan Carson, winner of the EU Prize for Literature, is a blazing tale of tensions and violence in East Belfast. In conversation with Daniel Hahn they discuss their acclaimed novels and their powerful portrayals of personal and political tensions with explosive results.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

The Inkpot £6* Ages 11+ and fans of all ages.

This event will be live captioned.

In conversation with Harry Potter fan, Anna James (Pages & Co), illustrator Jim Kay talks about the artists who have influenced his work and reveals interesting facts behind the images from the new edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme has been broadcasting world-changing stories for sixty years. From war, rebellion and political transformation, to significant changes in culture, society and the scientific world, it is the sound of history being made, live on air.

In conversation with Hannah MacInnes, the current and former Today presenters Nick Robinson and Ed Stourton chart the extraordinary history of the programme and how it tries to make sense of the world for millions of listeners every morning.

12.15–1.15pm

L304

Current Affairs

The Times Live The Inkpot £10* This event will be live captioned.

Which hot topics will The Times highlight in its next edition? In this fascinating discussion, Editor John Witherow and Deputy Editor Emma Tucker are joined by senior Times columnists and writers including Daniel Finkelstein, Philip Collins and David Aaronovitch to decide which subjects will feature in the famous Times leaders the following day.

109

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 12.15–1.15pm

L305

12.30–3pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L307

Fiction

Fiction

A Body Of Work

Sunday Lunch With Alexander McCall Smith

The Nook £8* Norwegian writer Karen Havelin’s novel Please Read This Leaflet Carefully about a young woman’s experience with a chronic illness has been hailed as ‘a burning triumph’

by Booker Prize winner Paul Beatty.

Acclaimed American author Esmé Weijun Wang was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease the same year she sold her first book, The Border of Paradise, and now balances her life as a writer with life with a chronic illness. They join Carrie Plitt and Octavia Bright of Literary Friction for a frank and powerful discussion around writing, health and the body.

The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes a two-course lunch and a glass of wine.

The beloved author talks to Julia Wheeler about his remarkable writing career, the latest happenings at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and his new novel in the 44 Scotland Street series, The Peppermint Tea Chronicles over a delicious Sunday lunch.

12.30–1.30pm

L308

Current Affairs

Politics Tamed: Working At No. 10 The Garden Theatre £10* 12.30–1.30pm

L306

Classic Literature

Shakespeare For Every Day Of The Year Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £12* Take a journey through the year with Shakespeare, and join curator Allie Esiri and the acclaimed actors Christopher Eccleston and Sheila Hancock for this delightful and unique celebration of the greatest writer in the English language.

Featuring insightful introductions and discussions as well as readings from Shakespeare’s dazzling body of work, including best-loved classics and less well-known extracts.

110

The Times Red Box Editor Matt Chorley steps behind one of the world’s most iconic doors, to shed new light on unexplored corners of Prime Ministers’ lives, from late night crises to cabinet spats and unexpected resignations. He joins Margaret Thatcher’s former Private Secretary Caroline Slocock (People Like Us), Theo Barclay (Fighters And Quitters) and Downing Street’s official Researcher in Residence Jack Brown for this fascinating conversation.

2–3pm

L309

Lifestyle

Nadiya Hussain And Tan France The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* The Great British Bake Off meets Queer Eye as Nadiya Hussain and Tan France share tales of childhood made different by being Muslim. Prepare yourself for some shocking and some shockingly funny stories.

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2–3pm

LF81

2.30–3.30pm

L311

4–5pm

L313

Current Affairs

Current Affairs

Memoir & Biography

Girls On Fire

Politics Tamed: Prime Minister’s Questions

A Celebration Of Diana Athill

Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Suitable for teens and young adults Laura Bates (The Burning), Holly Bourne (The Places I’ve Cried in Public) and Jenny Downham (Furious Thing) talk with journalist Sarah Shaffi about the pressures of growing up and what it means to be a young woman today. Discussing subjects like trial by social media, misogyny, toxic relationships and slut shaming, they challenge sexism and empower young people to fight for equality.

2.30–3.30pm

L310

The Garden Theatre £10* The PMQs are the most famous piece of political theatre at Westminster, placing the Prime Minister in the spotlight as opponents vie to land a knockout verbal punch and supporters curry favour. The Times Red Box Editor Matt Chorley grills former advisers Ayesha Hazarika (Punch & Judy Politics) and Philip Collins about preparing a PM to do battle in this high-pressure arena and why PMQs matter more than you might think.

Town Hall, Pillar Room £8* Diana Athill was one of publishing’s most respected editors, working with authors such as Philip Roth, John Updike, Simone de Beauvoir, V.S. Naipaul and Jean Rhys. Yet it was her own writing in the latter part of her life, right up to her death aged 101, that many will remember her for. A panel of close friends and colleagues including Damian Barr, Xandra Bingley and Claire Armistead join Erica Wagner to pay tribute to a remarkable life in letters.

Lifestyle

Dior: Designer Of Dreams Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* The V&A’s landmark Dior exhibition looks set to be the most popular in the museum’s history. Curator Oriole Cullen joins us to share personal highlights from the breathtaking retrospective with The Times Fashion Director Anna Murphy.

4–5pm

L312

L314

Fiction

The Sunday Times Culture Interview: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Celebrate With…

Tracy Chevalier

The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £14* Andrew Lloyd Webber (Unmasked) is one of the most successful composers of musical theatre of all time. He talks to his long-term friend and collaborator Richard Curtis about his music, life and astonishing career.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

4–5.15pm

Stage & Screen

No.131 £30* Ticket includes two glasses of fizz and nibbles.

It’s been 20 years since the publication of Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. Join this intimate event and enjoy a glass of fizz as the author talks to Georgina Godwin about the book that has sold more than five million copies around the world.

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SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 4–5.15pm

L315

Fiction

Box Office 01242 850270

4.15–5.15pm

L316

Art and Design

Ticket includes fizz and nibbles.

A rare chance to be in an intimate, book-group session with the wonderful Alexander McCall Smith as he looks back on The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in its 20th anniversary year. Chaired by Steven Gale.

India Now Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10*

A beguiling creative force, women have long been art’s favoured objects of representation. Despite the frequent expectation to behave as passive model and muse, ambitious female artists aligned with movements from the Pre-Raphaelites to Surrealism have rebelled against the male ideal, to create powerful and revolutionary work on their own terms. Turner Prizenominated artist Tai Shani (Our Fatal Magic) and curators and art historians Catriona McAra and Carol Jacobi celebrate the rebel muses of the art world past and present.

4.30–5.30pm

L318

Current Affairs

Celebrate With… Rebel Muses Alexander McCall The Inkpot £9* Smith Hotel du Vin £30*

4.30–5.30pm

May 2019 saw a resounding victory for Narendra Modi’s BJP, consolidating his grip on power. How will Modi use his second term at the helm of the world’s largest democracy? The Chatham House Director Robin Niblett joins Champa Patel, Head of the Asia-Pacific Programme, the novelist and columnist Sathnam Sanghera and Kapil Komireddi (The Malevolent Republic) to discuss the challenges India faces, with unemployment, slow economic growth, changing geopolitical relationships and a deepening religious divide all high on the agenda.

L317

Current Affairs

Caroline Criado Perez: Invisible Women The Garden Theatre £8* From a lack of streetlights that help us feel safe to crash-test dummies based on the average male, women live in a society built around men. Caroline Criado-Perez exposes a shocking gender bias that profoundly affects women’s lives. Chaired by Sarah Ditum.

4.30–5.30pm

L319

Fiction

New Daughters Of Africa The Nook £8* Twenty-five years ago, Margaret Busby wrote a groundbreaking anthology of writing from the African diaspora hailed as ‘a vital document of lost history’ (The Sunday Times). Now New Daughters of Africa continues that mission for a new generation, bringing together a selection of vibrant voices from across the globe. She’s joined by our guest writer from Aké Arts and Book Festival and alumnus of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Creative Writing Workshop, poet and journalist Wana Udobang. Chaired by Rosie Goldsmith.

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SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

6–7pm

L320

Stage & Screen

Emily Eavis: Glastonbury Tales The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £12* Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis, now co-ordinates one of the biggest music festivals in the world. As it approaches its 50th birthday, Emily reveals the stories behind the headlines to Hugo Rifkind.

6–7.30pm

L336

Lifestyle

An Evening of Cheese and Jazz 6–7pm

L321

Art & Design

The Art Of Satire Town Hall, Pillar Room £10* Described as a modern-day Hogarth, Chris Spencer, or ‘Cold War Steve’ (The Festival of Brexit), has won himself legions of fans thanks to elaborate photo collages that include a cast of characters ranging from Donald Trump to Cilla Black. David Aaronovitch joins him and art historian Mark Hallett to explore how satirical art has acted as an irreverent vehicle of social and political critique throughout history and to consider why, in these uncertain times, we perhaps need it now more than ever.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

The Daffodil £30* Ticket includes a cheese plate and a glass of wine.

Morgan McGlynn (The Modern Cheesemaker) teams up with Ned Palmer (A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles) for some cheesy talk with Julia Wheeler, discussing developments in the industry, exciting new cheeses, and how to make your own. Paired with Ned’s talent as jazz musician, this is an unmissable evening of delicious treats and music.

6.15–7.15pm

L322

Memoir & Biography

Confessions Of A Bookseller The Inkpot £8* This event will be live captioned.

Everyone’s favourite misanthropic antiquarian bookseller is back! Shaun Bythell’s Diary of a Bookseller was hailed as a cross between Love, Nina and Black Books. He joins Alex Clark to share further tales from life among the stacks.

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SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER 6.30–7.30pm

Box Office 01242 850270

L323

History

Max Hastings Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Operation Chastise, the destruction of the Möhne and Eder dams in north-west Germany in 1943 was one of the most daring missions in British history. In his masterly account of the Dambusters raid, the author reveals for the first time the full extent of the human story behind the legend.

6.30–7.30pm

L324

Classic Literature

Leafing Through The Decades: 1949–1979 The Garden Theatre £10* Our 2019 Guest Curator Dominic Sandbrook has set himself the challenge of trying to identify the seven most influential British novels of the last 70 years, one per decade. In this entertaining and illuminating discussion, his band of helpers for the first three decades are biographer and academic Lara Fiegel, author and journalist Laura Freeman and literary critic John Carey. They will each nominate a book to discuss and Dominic will provide a typically witty and trenchant whistle-stop tour of each decade.

6.30–7.30pm

L325

Psychology

Body Positivity The Hive £8* Our worth goes far beyond our bodies, yet too often we get caught up in believing happiness is something that comes with having a certain shape, size or look.

YouTubers Hannah Witton (The Hormone Diaries), Riyadh Khalaf (Yay! You’re Gay! Now What?) and Instagram star Megan Jayne Crabbe (Body Positive Power) encourage us to open up about body image, embrace our imperfections and be confident in our own skin. Chaired by Scarlett Curtis.

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6.30–7.30pm

L326

Fiction

Things We Say In The Dark The Nook £8* Samanta Schweblin’s strange, unsettling novella Fever Dream earned her comparisons with Brothers Grimm, David Lynch and Edgar Allen Poe. The Argentinian literary star returns with Mouthful of Birds, a gothic story collection that blurs the line between the real and the strange. Author Kirsty Logan’s Angela Carter-esque Things We Say in the Dark is a powerful collection of dark feminist stories, ranging from vicious fairy tales to disturbing horror.

They discuss and read from their unsettling works with Sarah Henstra.

8–9pm

L327

Stage & Screen

Debbie Harry: Face It The Times and The Sunday Times Forum £16* Blondie’s Debbie Harry and co-founder Chris Stein created some of the most successful and beloved pop songs of all time. Here, they will be talking with artist and director Rob Roth about their incredible story and Debbie’s longawaited memoir, Face It.

8–9pm

L328

History

The Windrush Generation Town Hall, Pillar Room £9* Invited by the government of the time to help with post-war labour shortages, the Windrush generation arrived in Britain through the Fifties and Sixties from the West Indies. Now they have told their moving individual stories to Colin Grant (Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation). Amelia Gentleman’s The Windrush Betrayal is a searing account of how elderly Commonwealth citizens recently found themselves classified as illegal immigrants under the Home Office’s ‘hostile environment’. They tell stories of the struggle to belong.

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

8–10pm

L329

Off The Page

The Moth Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £12* 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 a flair for telling tales. Join us for one special night of true life stories with the special theme ‘Milestones’ in honour of the Festival’s 70th anniversary.

8.30–9.30pm

L331

8.30–9.30pm

Stage & Screen

Fiction

Dick Clements And Ian La Frenais

Me Too In Fiction

Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage £10* Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (More Than Likely) are the creators of some of British television’s most beloved comedies. Together they scripted The Likely Lads, which became one of BBC Two’s first hits. The duo went on to create the classic sitcoms Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. They reflect on their long and successful careers with Al Senter.

8.30–9.30pm

L333

The Nook £8* Liar, the new novel by the internationally acclaimed Waking Lions author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, and What Red Was by Rosie Price both deal powerfully with the complex area of sexual assault and its aftermath. They discuss confronting the darker side of life as a woman through fiction with Carrie Plitt and Octavia Bright of Literary Friction.

L332

Classic Literature

Leafing Through The Decades: 1980–2019 8.15–9.15pm

L330

Fiction

Tracy Chevalier The Inkpot £10* Novelist Tracy Chevalier joins Alex Clark to talk about her warm, vivid and beautifully orchestrated new book, A Single Thread, set between the two Great Wars.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

The Garden Theatre £10* Our 2019 Guest Curator Dominic Sandbrook has challenged himself to identify the seven most influential British novels of the last 70 years, one per decade. His band of helpers for the final four decades are the biographer and academic Hermione Lee, the author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera and James Marriott, Deputy Books Editor of The Times. They will each nominate a novel to discuss and Dominic will provide a typically witty and trenchant whistle-stop tour of each decade, as well as pitching in with a choice of his own.

8.45–9.45pm

L334

Psychology

Couples That Work The Hive £8* Every couple wants a happy relationship and a meaningful career, but how do we balance both at the same time?

Behavioural expert Jennifer Petriglieri talks to Rosie Goldsmith about how to combine love and work at every stage of our lives.

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SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

Box Office 01242 850270

10.30–11am

LF74

From Seed To Read! How A Book Is Made Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £3* Ages 7+ See page 45 for details.

10–10.30am 11–11.30am

LF70 LF71

Happy Birthday Elmer!

The Hive £6* Ages 4+ Deservedly a modern classic, everyone’s favourite patchwork elephant Elmer teaches us that it’s A-OK to be different. Join storyteller Vanessa Wolfe for an extra special birthday performance based on David McKee’s book, coming alive for little ones through story, songs and a very exciting appearance of Elmer himself.

There will be a character costume appearance in this event.

10–10.45am

LF72

The Rainbow Fish Show Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £7* Ages 4+ A modern classic storybook and family favourite, The Rainbow Fish is an enchanting tale about sharing and friendship. Following on from hit shows like Elmer and The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark, Riverside Performing Arts’ interactive show brings the rainbow fish and his friends to life with song, percussion and storytelling, surrounded by an innovative set built entirely with recycled plastic.

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10–11am

LF73

Harry Potter: Picture The Magic With Jim Kay The Inkpot £6* Ages 11+ This event will be live captioned.

With paint, pencil and pixels, illustrator Jim Kay conjures the wizarding world as we have never seen it before, bringing breathtaking scenes and unforgettable characters to life. In conversation with author and huge Harry Potter fan Anna James (Pages & Co), Jim talks about the artists and illustrators who have influenced his work and reveals interesting facts behind some of the images from the new edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

10.30–11.30am

LF75

Tongue Fu for Kids The Garden Theatre £8* Ages 7+ and the whole family They’ve rocked the Roundhouse and the Royal Albert Hall, now Tongue Fu for Kids are back in Cheltenham! This leading spoken word show created for children and their grown-ups is jam-packed with word play, improv, participation and musical wizardry from poet and musician Chris Redmond (CBBC) and the Tongue Fu band. We dare you to sit still!

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

12–1pm

LF76

Burrow Into The Five Realms Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Ages 9+ From the Ice Wastes beyond the Cinder Wall emerges an unlikely hero. Hop into a fantasy adventure with Blue Peter Book Award-winning author Kieran Larwood (The Legend of Podkin One Ear). Hear about the inspiration behind his fearsome warrior rabbits and the brand new adventure Uki and the Outcasts, featuring an unlikely hero, unique powers and a life or death mission.

12–1pm

LF77

12.30–1.30pm

LF79

Roald Dahl’s Rotsome Words

Writing Mysteries With Polly Ho-Yen Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £10* Ages 10+ Create a mystery with author Polly HoYen (Boy in the Tower, Where Monsters Lie, Fly Me Home) where you’ll be doodling ideas, creating characters and writing the beginning of your very own story.

Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 7+ Gobblefunk with Roald Dahl’s redunculously rude and rotsome words! Join word wizards Sara-Jane Arbury and Fiona Ross, and learn how to curse like a Giant and insult like a Trunchbull! Oodles of foulsome fun with wacky word games, mouth manglers, explosive expletives, shouting matches and whizzpopping poppyrot!

2–3pm

LF82

Workshop Zine Making Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre, Dance Studio £10* Ages 8–11 12.30–1.30pm

LF78

Giraffes Can’t Dance The Hive £6* Ages 4+ It’s time for the Jungle Dance – who’s coming? Trip into the jungle with author Giles Andreae and illustrator Guy Parker-Rees for a morning of drawing, creativity and, of course, DANCING! Everyone knows that giraffes can’t dance... or can they? Come along and find out.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Accompanying adults do not require a ticket.

Discover the exciting world of zines with zine-maker and comic artist Kristyna Baczynski. Zines are independently produced magazines or booklets with limitless content, from interviews and cartoons to fun facts. In this workshop, Kristyna guides you through drawing, doodling and collage, using tips from her book Read All About It! Then assemble your very own unique zine and take it away!

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SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

2.15–3.15pm

Box Office 01242 850270

LF83

Abi Elphinstone: The Unmapped Chronicles The Inkpot £6* Ages 9+ From living with the Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia to conjuring up secret kingdoms in her writing shed, bestselling author Abi Elphinstone will be talking about the real-life adventures and accidental day dreams behind her stories, including her latest book Rumblestar, a sky adventure complete with cloud giants, magical hot air balloons and wizards with unending pockets.

2–3pm

LF81

Girls On Fire Town Hall, Pillar Room £6* Teens and young adults Laura Bates (The Burning), Holly Bourne (The Places I’ve Cried in Public) and Jenny Downham (Furious Thing) talk with journalist Sarah Shaffi about the pressures of growing up and what it means to be a young woman today.

Discussing subjects like trial by social media, misogyny, toxic relationships and slut shaming, they challenge sexism and empower young people to fight for equality.

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2.30–3.30pm

LF80

Big Family Book Quiz The Nook £20 per table of four* Ages 8+ and the whole family Join Pages & Co author Anna James, actor Adam Collier and a surprise guest for the first ever Big Family Book Quiz!

Come and test your book knowledge, creativity and nonsense know-how and maybe win some prizes in this inclusive, interactive event for the whole family.

SUNDAY 13 OCTOBER

cheltenhamfestivals.com

2.30–3.30pm

LF84

So Much Love!

The Hive £6* Ages 4+ Writer and presenter Trish Cooke and illustrator Helen Oxenbury are reunited in this exclusive event, celebrating 25 years of their award-winning picture book So Much. Join the hustle and bustle of a big family with a joyful storytelling experience full of colour, rhythm and big characters, which perfectly captures the experience of being the baby in a large extended family.

4.30–5pm

LF86

Bedtime Story

2.30–3.30pm

LF87

Fabio, The World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 6+ Come along and meet author Laura James and illustrator Emily Fox as they introduce you to Fabio, The World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective. Draw along with Emily, learn what it takes to be a detective and find out how to create your very own mystery that only Fabio could solve.

4.30–5.30pm

LF88

Charlie Changes Into A Chicken The Hive £6* Ages 8+ Every kid wants a superhero power but Charlie isn’t keen on turning into a pigeon during the school play! In this hilarious series, a boy changes into animals whenever he is stressed or upset. Author Sam Copeland reveals the wild world of all sorts of downright disgusting animals, the ideas behind the series and how Charlie deals with his crazy new animal morphing power.

John Lewis & Partners Trail Tent FREE Ages 4–7 Ticket required. One ticket holding accompanying adult per child.

See page 47 for details.

4.30–5.30pm

LF85

Nell Gifford’s Circus Of Dreams Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre £6* Ages 4+ Roll up, roll up! Meet owner and producer of Gifford’s Circus Nell Gifford as she presents Nell and the Circus of Dreams. Joined by legend and star of the circus Tweedy the clown, Nell will share her inspirations, tell tales from behind the scenes and give away insider secrets on what it’s really like to run away with the circus. Come along for fun and laughter.

*Plus booking fee: charged at £2 per order.

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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

Dr Lynda Albertyn & Pat Gallasch Mark and Sue Blanchfield Peter and Anne Bond Dominic and Jannene Collier Michael and Felicia Crystal Colin and Suzanne Doak Sue Dudley The Eaton Family Fingerhuth Leung Family Charles Fisher Lucy Freeman 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 Family Rick and Lisa Jones Steven and Linda Jones Hugh and Sue Koch The Kwintner Family Robert and Moira Leechman Hazel and Jeremy Lewis 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 Luanne and Hodson Thornber The Walker Family Michael and Jacqueline Woof Michelle Thorley

Directors’ Circle

Russell and Marina Allen Heather Barrett Jack and Dora Black Ruth and Paul Brake Michael and Angela Cronk Nigel and Sally Dimmer Miles and Monica Dunkley Carol Farnell Paul and Caroline Feinson Jeremy and Alison Halliday Mark and Moira Hamlin Stephen Hodge Andrew and Caroline Hope Simon and Emma Keswick Clive Lewis OBE DL Andrew and Susanne Malim Lady Marychurch Hayden and Tracy McKinnes P. J. Moore Chris Morgan The Oldham Foundation Jan and Gill Rowe Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust Su-Mei & Marcus Thompson Michele Rodriguez Wise and Dustin Wise Andy and Ali Stalsberg Anthony and Rowenna Poeton Michael and Rosie Warner Stephen Wood

Gold Patrons

Nicholas and Alixandra Avery Geraldine and Jim Beaty Christopher Bence Stephen and Victoria Bond Alex Burgess and Darren Carty Charlie Chan Colin and Michele Cole Stuart and Gillian Corbyn Wallace and Morag Dobbin Peter and Sue Elliott Marc and Melanie Gillespie Maurice Gran and Carol James Mr and Mrs Riff Heber-Percy Mike and Judie Hill Lord and Lady Hoffmann Anthony Hoffman and Dr Christine Facer Hoffman Elizabeth Jacobs Sue Jones Jocelyn and Dave McNulty Sir Michael and Lady McWilliam Kim Moore Paul and Kathy Mottershead Dr Julia Pearson and Dr Keith England Adrian and Cassandra Phillips Martin and Susan Pickard Shelley and Paul Roberts Sharon and Toby Roberts Khal and Zoe Rudin Brenda Salters and Harold Longmate Esther and Peter Smedvig Meredithe Stuart-Smith Sarah and John Watkins We would also like to thank all our Silver Patrons who are listed on the website: cheltenhamfestivals.com/patronsacknowledgements

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.

To find our more please contact Fiona Magowan on 01242 537263, email fiona.magowan@cheltenhamfestivals.com or visit cheltenhamfestivals.com

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Serhii Plokhy, Winner of the 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

Chernobyl – History of a Tragedy.

Issue 38.

Our free and award-winning investment trust magazine brings you writing on the ideas that shape our world. Read thought-provoking articles from our investment managers, academics and global thinkers, alongside exclusive interviews with distinguished authors.

For more information, you can pick up a copy of Trust at the festival.

WIN

An opportunity to win a luxury break in Edinburgh, when you subscribe to Trust for free. Terms and conditions apply.

bailliegifford.com/win

Literature

Festival at Sea

Sail beyond your imagination.

Literature Festival at Sea on board Queen Mary 2 Discover more, visit cunard.com/cheltenham

The Art of Trees

Town Hall, Pillar Room, Wednesday 9 October, 5.30 – 6.30pm Trees have captured the imagination of some of our most important landscape painters, with artists including John Constable inspired by their diversity of form, character and symbolic significance. Join artist and author Angela Summerfield and art historian Christiana Payne to celebrate the majestic beauty of our woodland and the role of trees in art, with actor and Woodland Trust ambassador David Oakes.

Tickets: £9 plus booking fee Festival Box Office: cheltenhamfestivals.com/artoftrees The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Woodland Trust.

A natural partnership to feed the human spirit.

Working together to create a world which enriches people’s lives.

Find out more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk

The Woodland Trust logo is a registered trademark. The Woodland Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales number 294344 and in Scotland number SC038885. A non-profit making company limited by guarantee.

Registered in England number 1982873. Image: The Hay Wain, John Constable. Presented by Henry Vaughan, 1886.

12662 06/16

Save your place at the Sky Arts Studio

Come and visit us in the Sky Arts Studio at the festival.

Drop in to watch the filming and get creative.

Missed a bit? You can relive the festival whenever you want on demand with Sky Arts on Catch Up TV.

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 Susan Blanchfield (Vice Chair) Lewis Carnie Sarah Cooksley Edward Gillespie OBE Beth Griffin Beverley Grimster Peter Howarth Caroline Hutton (Chair of Literature Festival) Shamil Makhecha Vivienne Parry OBE Mark Philip-Sorensen (Vice Chair) Diane Savory OBE (Chair) Dr Deborah Thacker Company Secretary Matthew Clayton Registered Office 28 Imperial Square Cheltenham GL50 1RH

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

Head of Programming Nicola Tuxworth Programme and Commissions Manager Lyndsey Fineran Programme Managers Loraine Evans (Family and Schools), Sophie Hoult, Jo James, Ellie Petrie, Emma Whittle Education Manager Sarah Forbes Festival Co-ordinator Ffion Molyneux

Operations, Production and Finance Amy Bates, Helena Bibby, Louise Carles, James Clay, Adrian Farnell, Angie Hawkins, Adrian Hensley, Kate Merriman, Chloe Nicholls, Russ Poole, Pete Riley, Suzanne Ross, Tarren Productions, Joe Trigg Festival Advisory Group Sam Baker, Videl Bar-Kar, Damian Barr, Abigail Bergstrom, Clare Clark, Daniel Hahn, Clarissa Pabi, Caroline Hutton (Chair)

Senior Management Board Helena Bibby (Director of HR and Operations) Adrian Farnell (Director of Finance) Ian George (Director of Festivals) Ali Mawle (Director of Education) Bernadette Murphy (Director of Marketing and Development)

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.

CF Productions Box Office Martin Perks, Helene Rose, Bev Tanner, Nick Tobias

Artwork Credits Programme illustration © 2019 Origin Family illustration © 2019 Tim Hopgood

Education Farha Bakawala, Philippa Claridge, Sarah Forbes, Elspeth Kenny, Ali Mawle, Rose Wood Marketing and Development Holly Dunworth-Miller, Lisa Garrett, Hanna Goldschmidt, Becky Harte, Emily Johnson, Bairbre Lloyd, Fiona Magowan, Jenna Marks, Sarah Sharma, Sam Skillings, Ellie Topham, Matthew Walsh, Theo Wright, Stacey Yeates

Contact If you have specific comments about any aspect of the Festival, please email boxoffice@ cheltenhamfestivals.com

Photography Credits Visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/ photos for a full photo credit list.

Printed with vegetable ink by Orchard Press Cheltenham Ltd. This brochure is correct at time of going to press – find programme updates online at cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature

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

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INDEX Aaronovitch David 90 97 109 113 Abbott Matt 41 47 Adegoke Yomi 37 39 51 Ahmad Aeham 78 Aldrich Richard 68 Ali Nimko 53 Alagiah George 67 Allen Rachael 42 Allen Rebecca 79 Al-Rasheed Madawi 76 Alula Down 33 42 Akyüz Sav 57 Ama Rachel 37 Amaka Rosanna 83 Anappara Deepa 32 Anaxagorou Anthony 93 94 98 101 Anderson Bill 78 Anderson Mimi 98 Anderson Sophie 60 Andreae Giles 117 Andrews Jessica 33 Antony Steve 61 Arbury Sara-Jane 117 Arbuthnot Leaf 90 Armistead Claire 111 Armitage Simon 84 Armstrong Christine 73 Armstrong Karen 63 Arshi Mona 101 Asher Colin 98 Atinuke 35 45 Atkinson Juliette 32 Atta Dean 107 Auton Rob 100 Ayoade Richard 34 Ayres Pam 71 Backshall Steve 78 Baczynski Kristyna 117 Baddiel David 87 Bailey Smith Ben 57 Baker Sam 33 38 40 51 52 93 102 Balch Oliver 68 Bang Said The Gun 95 Barclay Nicola 64 Barclay Theo 110 Barnett Emma 53 Barr Damian 100 111 Barry Kevin 37 Barton Polly 99 Bates Laura 111 118 Baxter Sarah 50 Beard Mary 49 52 Bellet Emilie 99 Benjamin Marina 64 Bennett Jackie 90 Bergstrom Abigail 37 53 Berkeley Anna 84 Bernard Jay 93

126

Berridge Vanessa 64 Berthoud Ella 31 Biddulph Rob 105 Bilan Jasbinder 38 46 Billingham Mark 83 86 Bilston Brian 64 Bingley Xandra 111 Bird Caroline 101 Black Dustin Lance 36 Blackman Malorie 106 Blezard Paul 31 34 Bliss Christopher 87 Blossom Rowan 71 Boakye Jeffrey 50 Bonham Carter Helena 43 Boulton Adam 50 Bourne Holly 111 118 Boyle Mark 51 Bradby Tom 63 64 Bragg Melvyn 80 Braithwaite Oyinkan 40 Brand Katy 102 Bright Octavia 110 115 Brigstocke Marcus 109 Brinkhurst-Cuff Charlie 51 Brister Jen 73 Brookes Peter 97 Brookmyre Christopher 83 86 92 Brooks Michael 73 Brown Jack 110 Brown Martin 35 Bryan Kate 30 Bryant Sue 76 Brydon Rob 87 Burge Rachel 59 Burton Jessie 48 52 Busby Margaret 112 Butler Season 33 Butler Steven 59 Bythell Shaun 113 Cain Sian 98 Cameron David 40 Campbell Nina 75 Candlish Louise 93 Cannon Joanna 66 Canter Jon 55 Carey John 114 Carraway Cash 37 Carroll Emma 58 59 Carson Jan 109 Carty-Williams Candice 102 106 Case Molly 66 Cavendish Camilla 89 Cep Casey 55 Chambers Anne 64 Chan Mary Jean 91 93 Chang Jung 97 99 Chappell Emily 98

Charles Liam 65 Chavez Perez Inti 54 Chevalier Tracy 111 115 Chorley Matt 91 100 110 111 Clanchy Kate 42 Clark Alex 64 67 75 77 81 90 93 95 98 102 113 115 Clark Clare 33 40 52 73 97 99 Clements Dick 115 Coldstream John 98 Coleridge Nicholas 71 Collier Adam 118 Collins Bridget 63 Collins Philip 79 90 98 109 111 Collins Sara 86 Collinson Hazel 49 Conradi Peter J. 77 Conroy Paul 75 Constantine David 33 Cook Alastair 52 Cooke Trish 119 Cooper Andrew 98 Cooper Charlie 72 Copeland Sam 119 Copson Andrew 75 Copus Julia 69 Corbin Pam 77 Corderoy Tracey 61 Cornwell Patricia 93 Cowell Cressida 44 47 Coyne Matt 73 Crabbe Megan Jayne 114 Craig Duncan 76 Crampton Robert 86 Criado-Perez Caroline 112 Culling Oriole 111 Cumming Laura 66 Cunningham Barry 38 46 Curtis Richard 108 111 Curtis Scarlett 99 101 114 Dalrymple William 39 D’Angour Armand 71 Daniels Stephen 54 D’Arcy Susan 76 David Dharshini 100 102 Davies Benji 104 Davies Hunter 89 Dawkins Richard 33 Dawson David 83 Dawson Juno 85 107 Daynes Kerry 32 Dean Emily 87 Deeley Michael 49 Ditum Sarah 112 Donald Caroline 71 Doucet Lyse 78 Dougherty John 57 60 Doughty Louise 53

INDEX Downham Jenny 111 118 Drabble Emily 50 57 Dronfield Jeremy 31 Duddle Jonny 46 Dunn Daisy 72 Dunn Nick 79 Dunthorne Joe 69 Dutton Kevin 77 Easlea Daryl 79 East Nick 107 Eavis Emily 113 Eccleston Christopher 110 Eclair Jenny 86 Edwards Rick 73 Ellis Janet 84 Elphinstone Abi 118 Esiri Allie 110 Etherington Robin 57 59 Evans Dylan 63 Evans Loraine 61 Evans Mark Llewelyn 45 Evaristo Bernardine 98 102 Eve Trevor 84 Faber Toby 69 Fagence Cooper Suzanne 91 Faulkner Dominic 66 Faulks Sebastian 42 52 Feasey Steve 59 Feaver William 83 Feigel Lara 109 Fellowes Jessica 71 Fellowes Julian 39 Fiegel Lara 114 Field Jim 44 Field Matthew 49 Field Ophelia 91 Filer Nathan 99 Fineran Lyndsey 33 91 Finkelstein Daniel 88 90 91 109 Firth Henry 94 Flattery Nicole 92 96 Fogle Ben 50 51 Ford Clementine 54 Fost Liz 44 60 Foster Clare 71 Foster Roy 82 Fox Emily 119 France Tan 110 Francis Tiffany 79 Frazer Richard 79 Freegard Lucy 61 Freeman Laura 114 French Sean 92 Freud Emma 43 97 Freud Esther 83 Frost Bryony 55 Frostrup Mariella 85 Gale Steven 76 91 112

Galeotti Mark 70 Gallop Angela 34 Gatehouse Gabriel 70 Gentleman Amelia 114 Gerrard Nicci 90 92 Gifford Nell 119 Gillard Julia 41 Gleeson Sinead 97 Glynn Connie 104 Godwin Georgina 31 36 41 43 49 84 99 100 111 Golding Melanie 76 Goldsmith Rosie 76 77 91 92 112 115 Goodwin Matthew 37 Gourlay Candy 61 Govinden Niven 42 Gracie Carrie 41 48 Grant Colin 114 Gray Kes 44 Grayling A.C. 72 Gregory Philippa 76 Griffiths Elly 81 Gugliani Sam 89 Gundar-Goshen Ayelet 115 Hadley Tessa 95 98 109 Haetzman Marisa 92 Hahn Daniel 92 96 97 109 Hale Daisy 103 Hale Katie 86 Hall Sarah 92 Hallett Mark 113 Halls Ben 41 Halls Stacey 66 Hampton Janie 34 Hancock Sheila 110 Hanington Peter 63 Hankir Zahra 76 Hardinge Frances 59 Harriott Ainsley 42 Harris Robert 40 42 Harrison Paul 45 Harry Debbie 114 Hartley Jenny 81 Haslam Chris 76 Hastings Max 114 Havelin Karen 110 Haworth-Booth Emily 46 Haynes Natalie 82 85 89 Hazard Leah 66 Hazarika Ayesha 111 Heathfield Lisa 74 Hennessy Peter 41 49 Henry Lenny 55 Henstra Sarah 96 102 114 Hession Ronan 33 Hickman Katie 76 Hill Andrew 91 Hill-Murphy Jacki 32

Hilsum Lindsey 75 76 Hindley Kate 58 Hislop Victoria 34 Holder Alex 99 Holgate Andrew 40 42 52 66 92 95 Holland Tom 31 Holloway-Smith Wayne 101 Hood Morag 56 Hopgood Tim 106 Hopkins Claudia 82 Ho-Yen Polly 105 117 Hubbard Tim 54 65 77 86 91 Hudson John 66 Hudson Kerry 42 Hughes-Hallett Lucy 82 Humphreys Alastair 32 Humphrys John 49 Hunt Nima Cas 77 Hunter Alan 68 Hunter Clare 77 Huq Konnie 104 Hussain Nadiya 110 Hutton Caroline 50 73 Isa-Welly 37 Iyer Rukmini 98 Jack Belinda 70 Jackson Sharna 47 Jacobi Carol 112 Jacobson Howard 31 32 James Anna 104 109 116 118 James Laura 119 Jansson Sophia 52 Jassat Aisha 39 Jenkins Simon 76 Johnson Alan 100 108 Johnson Daisy 82 Johnson Hugo 54 Johnson Rachel 55 71 Johnson Sophie 56 Johnstone Doug 83 86 Joly Dom 67 Jones Alice 72 Jones Heather 82 Jones Nicolette 52 Joyce Victoria 45 Joyner Louisa 69 Jubber Nick 89 Jusino Beth 79 Kan Karoline 48 Kandasamy Meena 109 Kanfer Clarke Sandra 71 Kay Jackie 38 Kay Jim 109 116 Keane Fergal 82 Keen Teddy 61 Kelly Erin 40 Kemp Peter 101 Kerridge Tom 72

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INDEX Khalaf Riyadh 114 Khan Mariam 94 100 Khan Yasmin 38 Khatib Lina 40 Kidambi Prashant 79 Kime Giles 75 Kleinmann Kurt 31 Knight India 98 Koch Herman 92 93 Koh Kiki 83 Komireddi Kapil 112 Krestovnikoff Miranda 57 Laffalot Fleurble 58 La Frenais Ian 115 Lammy David 41 Larwood Kieran 117 Lawler Karen 107 Lee Hermione 115 Leipciger Sarah 83 Lensvelt Fiona 37 41 55 Lenton Steven 59 Leonard Julia 38 94 98 102 Lipman Maureen 34 Lipscombe Helen 61 Lister Jenny 81 Littler Jamie 105 Lloyd Webber Andrew 111 Lock Jon 92 Logan Kirsty 114 Lola Theresa 39 Long James 72 75 82 90 Lovegrove Sharmaine 50 Lowe Katie 102 Lownie Andrew 91 Loyd Anthony 31 Lubin David 100 Lyndene Carie 71 Lynskey Dorian 98 MacDonald C.C. 32 MacInnes Hannah 31 39 41 Mackie Bella 37 Mackie Susie 71 Mackintosh Clare 67 MacInnes Hannah 85 103 109 MacInnes Katherine 72 Macintyre Ben 96 Mackesy Charlie 99 Macneal Elizabeth 63 Madness 73 Maitlis Emily 38 Mallinson Allan 65 66 82 92 Malone Gareth 79 Markwell Lisa 72 Marriott James 52 83 115 Marsden Philip 65 Martin Gina 94 Martin Hannah 83 Mattinson Deborah 91

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May Daisy 72 McAra Catriona 112 McCall Smith Alexander 110 112 McEwan Ian 97 McGlynn Morgan 113 McKay Hilary 59 McKenzie Zakiya 31 McNuff Anna 56 Mead Rebecca 32 Mehri Momtaza 42 Melville Heather 51 Mendelson Charlotte 77 Mendez Paul 41 Merton Paul 95 Millen Robbie 40 42 93 Miller Arthur I. 73 Miller Danyah 56 Miller Kei 101 Milton Giles 64 Mina Denise 40 Mitchell David 103 Mitchell Emma 31 Mitchell Wendy 90 Mitter Rana 40 Moggach Deborah 86 Mohamed Hashi 33 36 Montefiore Santa 58 Moore Charles 76 Morgan Llewellyn 49 Mortimer Bob 53 Moyes Jojo 51 Mr Dilly 46 Muldoon Paul 34 Murphy Anna 80 83 84 111 Nashef Samer 77 Nasir Naved 75 Naughtie James 65 Neame Gareth 39 Neville Stuart 83 86 Ng Celeste 38 Niblett Robin 100 112 Nicholls David 40 Nicholson Virginia 70 Nicolson Adam 83 89 Nishi Kanako 96 99 Noel-Tod Jeremy 91 Norris Ben 94 North Alex 78 Nott David 37 Nwokoro Rachel 41 47 Oakes David 77 O’Brien James 39 O’Connell Alex 38 46 97 O’Connell Paddy 41 O’Connor Joseph 42 O’Donoghue Bernard 90 Ojeleye Yasmeen 67 Okojie Irenosen 41

O’Leary Beth 51 O’Leary Dermot 107 Omand David 68 O’Neill Ollie 93 O’Shaughnessy Kathy 32 Owen Amanda 92 Owusu Derek 50 Oxenbury Helen 119 Paasche Marit 77 Pachico Julianne 69 Palmer Ned 113 Parker David 30 Parker-Rees Guy 117 Parmar Sandeep 91 98 Pasternak Anna 54 Patel Champa 112 Patten Chris 49 Payne Christiana 77 Perkins Sue 97 Perrior Katie 100 Persaud Ingrid 69 Petriglieri Jennifer 115 Pheby Alex 109 Phillips Jess 94 98 Pine Emilie 97 Plitt Carrie 110 115 Plumley Gavin 70 75 Pollard Clare 97 Pomeranstev Peter 70 Pope Amy 37 Porter Max 33 42 89 103 Power Chris 92 Poynter Dougie 57 Prescott Lara 54 Price Rosie 115 Prior-Palmer Lara 98 Purnell Sonia 66 Purves Libby 33 40 70 72 76 Rachel Daniel 43 Radcliffe Mark 87 Rae Andrew 72 Rajesh Monisha 91 Ramirez Janina 59 Raphael Sarah 95 99 Rasmussen Crystal 103 Rauf Onjali Q 107 Raworth Sophie 40 42 67 Redmond Chris 116 Rees Martin 84 Reid Melanie 93 Rentzenbrink Cathy 32 34 37 40 54 66 71 73 Reynolds Amanda 54 Richards Dan 65 Riddell Chris 58 Ridgeley Andrew 101 Rifkind Hugo 34 94 113 Riopelle Chris 70

INDEX Risbridger Ella 37 Riverside Performing Arts 116 Roberts David 107 Robertson George 92 Robinson Jancis 54 Robinson Nick 109 Robotham Mandy 84 Rogan Richard 62 69 74 81 89 Rogers Jude 108 Ronsino Hernán 96 109 Roper Richard 51 Rosen Michael 50 57 Rosie Tells Tales 47 Ross Fiona 117 Rossi Francis 78 Roth Rob 114 Russell Williams Imogen 47 Ryan Donal 83 Sabatini Christopher 37 Salamone David 49 Sandbrook Dominic 102 114 115 Sanderson Caroline 32 34 51 53 63 67 78 86 Sanghera Sathnam 112 115 Saunders Susan 67 Savidge Simon 48 59 Scarfe Gerald 76 Schama Simon 90 Schweblin Samanta 114 Sebba Anne 66 Segnit Niki 70 Seigal Joshua 58 Seldon Anthony 91 Senter Al 115 Sergeant John 41 Setterfield Diane 66 Shafak Elif 31 33 Shaffi Sarah 100 102 111 118 Shanahan Murray 73 Shani Tai 112 Shelton Dave 105 Shirreff Richard 92 Shukla Nikesh 38 46 Siegle Lucy 57 Simon Francesca 44 Sissay Lemn 41 Skelton Helen 56 Slocock Caroline 110 Smith Ali 103 Smith Barry 70 Smith Hannah Lucinda 31 Smith Phoebe 78 79 Smy Pam 47 Smyth Sarah 31 Somerset Anne 91 Soveral Alexandra 83 Spence Charles 70 Spencer Chris 113

Stadlen Matthew 86 108 Stanford Peter 64 Stanimeros Madeleine 71 Stanton Philippa 32 Stein Chris 114 Stephens Jordan 54 Stevens Robin 45 47 Stewart Annie 65 Stewart Rory 98 Stibbe Nina 52 Stothard Peter 49 Stourton Ed 109 Strange Lucy 59 Strawbridge Howard Brigit 78 Streets Annabel 67 Suleyman Chimene 94 Sullivan Hannah 69 Summerfield Angela 77 Syed Matthew 36 Sylvester Rachel 88 Talkhani Zeba 100 Tamás Rebecca 93 Taylor Emilie 91 Taylor Tinea 39 Thakrar Shamil 75 Thakur Sophia 90 The Moth 115 Theasby Ian 94 Theroux Louis 85 Thomas Bev 76 Thomson Amy 37 Thomson Belinda 70 Thubten Gelong 69 Timberlake Ben 78 Timoshkina Alissa 81 Tish Ben 102 Tobin Mat 97 Todd-Stanton Joe 59 Todman Dan 66 Tóibín Colm 98 101 Tolstoy Nikolai 65 Tongue Fu 103 116 Toon Francine 83 Trilling Daniel 89 Tse Chris 94 96 Tubiana Jérôme 33 Tucker Emma 38 68 88 90 96 109 Tudor C.J. 78 Turk Victoria 95 Turner Alwyn W. 43 Turner Beverly 98 Turner Luke 31 Turner Marion 62 Tuxworth Nicola 31 Tweedy 119 Udobang Wana 96 112 Underwood Jack 101 Uviebinené Elizabeth 37 39 51

Valente Dominique 105 Van Es Bart 31 Van Rij Armida 76 Veste Luca 83 86 Vinjamuri Leslie 37 40 50 Von Hippel Karin 92 Wagner Erica 97 111 Wall Mick 78 Wallace Danny 105 Wallman James 72 Walsh Casper 54 Walton James 98 Wang Esmé Weijun 96 99 110 Warburton Sam 33 Ward Ossian 63 65 Wark Kirsty 84 Warner Valentine 67 Watson Christie 33 Watson Grant 75 Webb Justin 98 Webster Jason 81 82 Weinberg Kate 71 Wesson Rupert 95 Westaby Stephen 77 Weymouth Adam 52 Wheeler Julia 31 32 37 39 53 64 66 70 73 79 81 84 92 110 113 Wheeler Sara 81 White Prue 80 Whitehouse Paul 53 Whitelaw Ben 68 Wilder Robyn 73 Williams Kate 82 Williams Meryn 45 Wilson David 32 Wilson Emily 89 Winn Raynor 73 Witherow John 96 109 Witton Hannah 114 Wohlforth William 40 Wolfe Vanessa 116 Wood Gaby 100 Wood Levinson 32 Wood Naomi 73 75 Woodfine Katherine 105 Wyld Evie 32 Xinran 48 Zogby John 50

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VISIT & BOOKING INFORMATION

cheltenhamfestivals.com

Access Requirements

01242 850270 (Tue–Fri 10am-5pm)

Please book using our online form which will be available from 16 August at cheltenhamfestivals.com/ access-requirements.

efore the Festival: Pop-up Box Office B Opening Dates & Times: 10am – 5pm Members: Fri 30 – Sat 31 August & Tue 3 – Sat 7 Sept General Booking: Fri 6 – Sat 7 Sept Box Office opening times are subject to change.

Ground floor of John Lewis Cheltenham, 123 High Street, GL50 1DQ

During the Festival: Festival Site Box Office, Montpellier Gardens (GL50 1UW). Opening times: 9am–9pm.

For queries email boxoffice@cheltenhamfestivals.com For full details about Box Office opening hours, in person and telephone ticket sales, booking fees, terms & conditions and Membership, visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/booking Booking Dates & Times

Dining Event Bookings Our dining seating plans are pre-allocated by the venue and tables may be shared.

Please inform our Box Office about any dietary requirements, or add these to the special requirements field when booking online.

Family Events All children under 12 years must be accompanied by a ticket holding adult.

A ticket must be purchased for each person attending, including children under 2 years (unless otherwise indicated).

Gift Vouchers

Members Priority Booking

General Booking

Online booking (Wish Lists Only)

Wednesday 28 August From 10am*

Wednesday 4 September From 10am*

Phone & Online

Thursday 29 August From 10am*

Thursday 5 September From 10am*

In Person (John Lewis), Phone & Online

Friday 30 August From 10am

Friday 6 September From 10am

Phone lines will be open Sat 31 Aug & Sat 7 Sept 10am–5pm. *Please note the Box Office will be closed for in person bookings on this day.

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 (28 August / 4 September). Visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature to create yours before booking opens.

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Some events in The Inkpot will be live captioned. Check listings for details.

Getting To The Festival

Festival Venues

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). Other venues are within walking distance. For more information on public transport and car parks go to cheltenhamfestivals.com/your-visit

Festival Village in Montpellier Gardens (Incl. The Times and The Sunday Times Forum, The Garden Theatre, The Inkpot, The Den, The Hive, The Nook, The Huddle, Waterstones Bookshop & Children’s Bookshop, Feast Café Bar and Festival Box Office) GL50 1UW Cheltenham Town Hall (incl. Baillie Gifford Stage, Pillar Room, Waterstones Bookshop and Festival Box Office) GL50 1QA

Cheltenham Festivals Gift Vouchers may be purchased at our Box Office or online at cheltenhamfestivals.com/gift-vouchers and may be redeemed against ticket or Membership purchases.

Booking Fees Charged at £2 per order; including online, telephone, in person cash and card sales.

Members Discounts Ticket discounts are not available for events which include catering, books or any other goods in the ticket price.

Refunds Tickets cannot be refunded or exchanged, except in the case of a cancelled event.

See cheltenhamfestivals.com/booking for details.

The Daffodil GL50 2AE Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Parabola Arts Centre GL50 3AA Hotel du Vin GL50 3AH No. 131 GL50 1NW Queens Hotel GL50 1NN The Centaur GL50 4SH

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS Festival Partners

Official Festival Hotel

K EATSSHELLEY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

Media Partners

Marketing Partners

Trusts and Societies

In-Kind Partner

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4–13 October 2019 Box Office 01242 850270 cheltenhamfestivals.com #cheltlitfest