[The former Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who spent much of his childhood in Bedminster. He was in conversation about his memoir with journalist Stephanie Wessell, pictured with him.]
My ‘insider’ tells me the Guildhall was filled with the sound of applause for the start of the Bath Literature Festival, giving visiting authors a warm welcome.
Highlights included:
A rare public appearance by Sarah Wynn-Williams, the Meta whistleblower and almost certainly the only bestselling author who’s gagged for talking about her own book.
Read Careless People, and you’ll find out why this event was such a big deal for the festival.
The festival hosted visiting authors who are passionate and hugely knowledgeable about their subjects. What a privilege to be in the room with the likes of historian Clement Knox (who spoke fluently without notes!), art historian Katy Hessel, joyfully inspiring and uplifting, royal biographer Robert Hardman, who has been *this* close to the late Queen Elizabeth and to Donald Trump, and feminist historians Hallie Rubenhold and Maddie Pelling, whose books complement each other.
Audiences were charmed by William Sieghart’s soul-soothing Poetry Pharmacy, author Katie Fforde on love and life in the country, ex-politician Sajid Javid’s candid account of his boyhood, and by comedian turned author Ben Miller with his tales of derring-do.
There was laughter and fun with our Jilly Cooper tribute panel, and a big thanks to The Ivy, Bath, for providing everyone in the room with a glass of fizz to toast the late, much-loved Rivals author. Festival-goers filled their buckets from the well of specialist knowledge, thanks to Russian author Jana Bakunina, Beatles aficionado Samira Ahmed and cricketing wizards Richard Heller and Peter Oborne.
Bestselling authors Jane Harper and Patrick Gale made us want to reach for their latest books, while emerging writers left our creative workshops fired up to work on their own projects.
We go again!
Join us from tomorrow, Friday 22 May, for THREE more days of brilliant bookish events.
Highlights include a visit by River Cottage star and food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, mystery writer Anthony Horowitz, Booker prize winner Howard Jacobson, and ANOTHER Booker winner, Douglas Stuart.
We have four big current affairs events, centred around Europe, Russia, the climate crisis and the small boats crisis. And specialists Jonathan Freedland, on Resistance in Nazi Germany, Tom Service and Elizabeth Alker on the music that shapes us, Tom Holland on the lives of the Caesars and historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on the ancient city of Babylon.
There will be more joy and laughter with The Sunday Papers, introduced by comedian Marcus Brigstocke and friends, and a celebration of Jane Austen with Rachel Parris, Cariad Lloyd and Jessica Bull.
All this and more, not forgetting some creative workshops and delightful guided walks around this fair city.
There’s still time to buy a ticket online at bathboxoffice.org.uk or drop into the foyer at the Guildhall, where our friends from Bath Box Office are on hand for all your ticketing needs.
Music in the air!
Don’t miss out on some of the musical delights in store at Bath International Music Festival, which opens on Saturday, 30 May.
The opening sees three big names coming to Bath.
Pianist Richard Goode is at St Mary’s Bathwick on Saturday, playing three of Beethoven’s finest works, and then on Sunday at the same venue, we welcome the Royal Northern Sinfonia to Bath with a wonderful programme of Bach and Handel. Composer and clarinettist Mark Simpson will be at St Swithin’s Church for a Sunday afternoon concert which will include some of his own compositions, alongside music by Bach.
Check out the full music festival programme at: https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/bath-music-festival-jg6y
Give your ears a treat, and don’t forget, when you book three or more tickets for literature and/or music festival events at the same time, you automatically get a discount.
