£8
8 November 8pm-9.15pm.
Alan Johnson Memoirs, mysteries and Harold Wilson
In conversation with Ben Jancovich, Mayor of Todmorden
Home Secretary under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and best-selling author of This Boy and Please Mr Postman, Alan Johnson kicks off this year’s festival in a conversation with Todmorden Mayor Ben Jancovich. The wide-ranging discussion will cover Alan’s new book – an insightful assessment of the career and governments of Harold Wilson – but also his own life, work and achievements. Includes an opportunity for the audience to ask their own questions of a man who has been at the heart of some of the major political events of our times.
Friday
Hippodrome Theatre, Halifax Road, Todmorden, OL14 5BB
From There to Here: New Fiction
Lauren Elkin, Joelle Taylor and Andrew MacMillan
In this absorbing discussion three writers lauded for their work in other fields introduce their debut novels and talk to us about the challenges – as well as the freedoms – that working in this new form has given them. Lauren Elkin’s The Scaffolding, Andrew McMillan’s Pity and Joelle Taylor’s The Night Alphabet are very different books but share the attributes of close observation, linguistic verve and breathtaking imagination. These three writers will be in conversation with Calder Valley writer Janine Bullman.
Lauren Elkin’s books include Flaneuse: women walk the City which was a Radio 4 Book of the Year.
Andrew McMillan’s three ground-breaking poetry collections have established him as one of the foremost writers of his generation.
Sexed: A History of British Feminism
Susanna Rustin
Susanna Rustin’s Sexed is a bold retelling of the story of British feminism from the revolutionary 1790s to the present day. Along the way she introduces the rival camps of suffragists who embraced and rejected violence, considers the first female MPs and activists such as the Greenham Common peace protesters. Susanna will be in conversation with Calder Valley writer Frankie Mullen.
Susanna Rustin is a leader writer on social affairs at The Guardian, where she has worked for more than 20 years.
Joelle Taylor was the winner of the TS Eliot Prize for her collection C+nto and othered Poems in 2021
Photo: Sophie Davidson
Photo: Ludo Hunter-Tilney
Photo: Roman Manfredi
Into The Uncanny Danny Robins
A rare chance to hear the creator and host of the Uncanny podcast explore real-life ghost stories in conversation with Todmorden bookseller and UFO enthusiast Colin Lyall. Uncanny has had nearly 30 millions plays across all platforms, making it one of the most listened-to podcasts in the UK. The TV adaptation was one of the most watched factual shows on BBC 2 in 2023 while the accompanying book has been a number one bestseller. This is bound to be a highly popular event.
In addition to Uncanny Danny Robins is the creator of the modern classic 2:22 – A Ghost Story and the worldwide podcast sensation The Battersea Poltergeist
Sat 9 November 6pm-7.30pm. Todmorden Community College, 44
High strangeness in the Valley of Lights
Celebrate the 44th anniversary of P.C. Alan Godfreys infamous UFO encounter in Tod.
Colin Lyall will be talking about the creation and development of Tod UFO meet and Todmordens significance in British UFO history with Dr David Clark of Sheffield Hallam university and Folklore Historian Andy Roberts. Sat 9 November. All day event from 12.30. Community College, Burnley Road.
Burnley Rd, Todmorden
OL14 7BX
Photo: Al Overdrive
Elly Griffiths 21 st Century Queen of Crime
A chance to hear one of the UK’s most popular crime writers talk about her extraordinary body of work. The writer of over thirty hit novels, the creator of the forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway and DS Harbinder Kaur, Elly will discuss her life, her inspirations and her creative process in a lively conversation with writer and fan Mark Wright. Another event that is certain to sell out. Book early.
Elly Griffiths has won the CWA Dagger in the Library and the Edgar Award; has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, and shortlisted six times for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year.
Tickets
£10 Concessions
£8
Saturday 9 November 8pm-9pm. Hippodrome Theatre, Halifax Road, Todmorden, OL14
Photo: Sara Reeve
Sarah Rigby
This allotment: stories of Growing, Eating and Nurturing
A celebration of community, belonging, intimacy, healing, reclamation, connection, growth, grief, birth and joy. In This Allotment Sarah Rigby has curated a glorious salute to these unique spaces. Plots that mean so much more than the soil upon which they sit. Sarah will be in conversation with Todmorden-based community activist Pam Warhurst.
Sarah Rigby is an editor and publisher. Originally from Yorkshire, she lives in London with her family where she has an allotment and volunteers for Organic Lea, a workers’ cooperative and community food growing project on the edge of Epping Forest.
Vicky Foster It Happened Like
This: My testimony
Vicky Foster was was 25 when her abusive ex-partner – the father of her children – was murdered. She tried to draw a line under the past and move on with her life. This meant overcoming PTSD, trusting people again, building her career and ultimately, learning to return to herself. But, 16 years later, one of her ex-partner’s murderers hit the headlines as the ‘hero’ of the 2019 London Bridge terrorist attack. Lyrical and raw, her memoir It Happened Like This is a book about heroism and villainy, about class and the climate of neglect created by austerity. Vicky will be in conversation with Calder Valley writer Janine Bullman.
Vicky Foster is an award-winning writer, performer and poet from Hull. She won the Imison Prize at the 2020 BBC Audio Drama awards for her play Bathwater
Sun 10 November 4.30pm -5.30pm. Fielden
Rob Chapman
Unsung:Unsaid Nick Drake and Syd Barrett in Absentia
In the summer of 1974 Nick Drake and Syd Barrett made their final ill-fated ventures into a recording studio. There has never been any evidence that they ever met or that their paths crossed in any meaningful way. Until now. Todmorden writer Rob Chapman’s parallel fictional universe imagines that the two artists did indeed have a series of encounters that year, these meetings revealing much about their inner lives of each man Rob will be in conversation with Calder Valley writer Janine Bullman.
Rob Chapman’s first book, Selling The Sixties. The Pirates And Pop Music Radio was a ground breaking history of offshore radio in the 1960s. He wrote the definitive Syd Barrett biography A Very Irregular Head and Psychedelia And Other Colours. He was also the lead singer of the punk group Glaxo Babies.
Tuesday 12 November 8pm-9pm. Natural Endings, Rise Lane, Todmorden
Sunday 10 November 8pm – 9.15pm. Hippodrome Theatre, Halifax Road, Todmorden, OL14 5BB
Tickets
£10
Concessions
£8
Mr Bates V The Post Office
Gwyneth
Hughes
Go behind the scenes with the writer of the gripping ITV drama in this rare chance to hear more about surely ‘one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history. How did the art of storytelling succeed in finally forcing action where the legal system had failed?
Gwyneth Hughes’s first job in television was on the Yorkshire Television newsdesk. From there she became a Bafta-nominated documentary director specializing in history and true crime, moving into drama on episodes of The Bill and Silent Witness. Her original thriller miniseries Five Days, and her Tippi Hedren biopic The Girl, were both nominated for BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. Her classic dramatisations include The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Vanity Fair. Gwyneth will be in conversation with writer and TV executive Ruth Pitt.
The Bookshop Band
Produced by Pete Townsend
The Bookshop Band write and perform songs inspired by the works of authors as diverse as Philip Pullman, Margaret Atwood, and Charlotte Bronte. With 14 studio albums to their credit, including the recent EMERGE, RETURN produced by and featuring Pete Townshend, the Bookshop Band bring the books alive on the stage, creating a cinematic sound that draws the audience in to an intimate performance.
“The Bookshop Band is not just good but achingly good”. The New York Times.
“a great discovery and inspiration”. Pete Townsend.
Wednesday November 13 7pm – 8pm. St Mary’s Church, Burnley Road, Todmorden, OL14 7BD
Poetry Live
Ralph Dartford, Chris Emery, Kim Moore, Jackie Wills
In association with Todmorden’s own poetry publisher Arc Publications, TodBookFest24 offer you the chance to experience four of the UK’s finest poets at the very top of their game.
Ralph Dartford was founder of the influential collective, A Firm of Poets. In 2024 his third collection House Anthems was published. Ralph is the poetry editor at www.northerngravy.com
Chris Emery’s latest collection Modern Fog, published this year by Arc, is full of elegiac, tough-minded work.
Kim Moore’s first collection The Art of Falling won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Her second collection All The Men I Never Married won the 2022 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her first non-fiction book What The Trumpet Taught Me was published in May 2022. A hybrid book of lyric essays and poetry Are You Judging Me Yet? Poetry and Everyday Sexism in March 2023.
Jackie Wills has published six full collections of poetry, the most recent A Friable Earth (Arc Publications 2019).
£5
Friday November 15 7.30pm-9.00pm. St Mary’s Church, Burnley Road, Todmorden, OL14 7BD
Photo: Giya Makondo-Wills
Photo: Martin Tompkins
All day children and families event
at Community college Burnley Road
Story time for toddlers and parents.
Saturday 16 November 10am to 11am
Join the team from Todmorden Library for a joyous story time and make your very own book cover
Writing stories for young people with the irrepressible childrens’ author Harry Heape.
Saturday 16 November 11.30 to 12.30
Harry Heape is an artist, a visionary and a very successful none of your businessman. He is also the author of the fabulous Indiana Bones series.
Poetry and Music Peter Sansom and Music For The Many.
Saturday 16 November 2pm to 3pm
An all day event for children and families. Inspiring words and music from Todmorden’s next generation.
Music for the Many was founded in Todmorden in 2018 providing instrumental tuition and other musical opportunities on an equitable and inclusive basis, free of charge, to children and young people in our community. Most of the children, young people and families they work with would not otherwise have access to these opportunities.
Peter Sansom has taken poetry into hundreds of schools over thirty years and read to thousands of children -- and got them all writing and performing. He has published many books for grown ups and won the prestigious Cholmondeley Award in 2016. His poems for children are collected in the book The Ice Cream Carpet.
Ursula Holden Gill Storytelling
Monday 11 November
Walsden/Castle Hill Primary Schools
Described as a ‘warm-hearted tornado’ Ursula Holden Gill is a unique force in storytelling, someone who relishes using music, movement and real-life observation alongside her traditional folk heritage to connect people of all ages with their creativity.
Ian Douglas Storytelling
Monday 11 November
St Joseph’s /Shade Primary Schools
Tuesday 12 November
National/Cornholme
Ian Douglas is a Storyteller and Theatre Maker who works extensively across the British Isles. With over 20 years of experience delivering storytelling, performance and theatre activities for schools, arts organisations, communities and festivals across Britain, he has developed a practise approach which mixes sensitivity, comedic energy and wit.
Melvin Burgess free masterclass for students of Todmorden High School
Wednesday 13 November
Todmorden High School
The ‘Godfather of Young Adult Fiction’ will discuss where he gets his ideas from, his writing process, and give students the tools to develop their own voice.
Bookshop Band More songs inspired by books
Thursday 14 November
Todmorden High School
Photo: Martin Tompkins
WORKSHOPS
Stephen May Fiction masterclass
Saturday November 10am-12noon.
Todmorden Community College 44 Burnley Rd, Todmorden OL14 7BX
In this workshop you will gain tools and techniques to inspire you to make your voice sing on the page. You will leave the session with new ways to create work that makes for compelling reading.
Stephen May’s acclaimed books include Sell Us The Rope and Life! Death! Prizes! He has been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Prize and is a past winner of the Reader’s Choice Award at the Wales Book of the Year. His seventh novel Green Ink is published by Swift Press in February.
Andrew McMillan Poetry masterclass
Saturday 9 November 10am – 11.30am.
Todmorden Community College 44 Burnley Rd, Todmorden OL14 7BX
An interactive and stimulating workshop led by poet Andrew McMillan with exercises, questions and discussions that will liberate your poetic voice and help you to explore new ways of expressing your individual vision.
Andrew McMillan’s debut collection of poetry, Physical, won the Guardian First Book Award and in 2019 was voted one of the Top 25 Poetry Books of the Past 25 Years by the Booksellers Association. His second collection Playtime won the inaugural Polari Prize. In 2022 he co-edited 100 Queer Poems, which was shortlisted in the British Book Awards.
Catherine Taylor Memoir masterclass
Saturday 9 November 11.30 – 1pm.
Todmorden Community College, 44 Burnley Rd, Todmorden OL14 7BX
The award-winning writer Catherine Taylor will discuss the logistics of memoir-writing and how to turn an impulse into actual prose.
Catherine Taylor is a freelance writer, editor and critic, her memoir The Stirrings: Coming of Age in Northern Time (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) won the 2024 TLS Ackerley prize for memoir and life-writing.
Naomi Booth Short story masterclass
Sunday 10 November 11am-12.30pm. Fielden Centre, Ewood Lane, Todmorden, OL14 7DD
In this lively, stimulating and fun workshop, award-winning short fiction writer Naomi Booth will help you develop your craft. A masterclass designed to help you experiment with a sense of place to liberate your storytelling impulse.
Naomi Booth is the author of the short story collection Animals at Night as well as the novels Exit Management and Sealed. Animals at Night was shortlisted for the 2023 Edge Hill Prize.
Ian Douglas Storytelling
Tues 12 November 6pm – 7.30pm. Folklore Centre, Halifax Road
Ian Douglas is a Storyteller and Theatre Maker who works extensively across the British Isles with over 20 years of experience delivering storytelling, performance and theatre activities for schools, arts organisations and communities .
Where we are and how to book
Book online at www.todmordenbookfestival.co.uk (a booking fee of 7% plus VAT applies) or at Todmorden Information Centre, 15 Burnley Road, Todmorden, OL14 7BU, 01706 818181. Under 16s are free. Concessions are available for under 18s, students, pensioners, benefit recipients and people with disabilities.
How to find us by car: Todmorden can be reached from the M62, M1, M6 and M65. From the M62 eastbound, leave at junction 21 and junction 24 westbound. From the M65, leave at junctions 9, 10 or 11.
By train: There are regular train services from Manchester and Leeds. For train information, please visit www.northernrailway.co.uk.
By bus: There are regular bus services from Halifax, Burnley and Rochdale. For bus information, please visit www.wymetro.com.
www.todmordenbookfestival.co.uk
8 November16 November 2024