Festival launch party: with Catherine Blyth, Victoria Moore and Andrew Motion
Friday 23 October
Join us to launch the festival in the company of two authors whose combined mission is to improve how we converse and how we drink, two activities that we know literary enthusiasts enjoy! Victoria Moore, author of the wonderful How to Drink, will be mixing up a special literary-themed cocktail while Catherine Blyth, author of the acclaimed The Art of Conversation, will be getting us talking. Ticket price includes a free drink. With special guest Andrew Motion, our Festival Laureate, who will be reading a new poem to launch the festival. Ticket price includes a free drink made by Victoria Moore.
With special thanks to Bramley and Gage for sponsoring the greengage, plum and quince liqeurs at the launch.
Friday 23 October
Gala Theatre, 5pm-7pm
Tickets: £12/£10 (Concessions)
Gala Theatre and Studio
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4040
www.galadurham.co.uk
Sponsors
Scottish poetry night
Friday 23 October
We are delighted to welcome the StAnza festival to Durham from its home in St Andrews. This event will feature an introduction to the festival from its artistic director, Eleanor Livingstone, and poetry readings from Robert Crawford, Judith Taylor and Don Paterson, who will be reading from his eagerly awaited new collection, Rain, his first since the award-winning Landing Light. Robert Crawford's poetry collections include Full Volume. Judith Taylor's first collection is Earthlight.
Friday 23 October
Town Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets: £8/£6 (Concessions)
Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494
Linda France's poems live in Clayport Library
Friday 23 October - Sunday 1 November
See poems for the whole of October at Clayport Library.
During the festival you can see poems from Linda France's collection, Book of Days, displayed on digital screens and displays in and around Clayport Library.
Stop by and view the poems during library opening hours or watch the digital display through the front window when traversing Millennium Square.
If you are inspired you can book to join a workshop led by Linda on Friday 30 October at the library and write your own poem of the day.
"Simplicity's deceptive. Here is a gathering of verses that carry, alone and together, a whole year's work - and not only that but many an earlier year of writing-work as well - so lightly. Here is the gathered grace and strength of the spider's web that took all night to spin." Gillian Allnutt
With special thanks to Julie Slater at Clayport Library.
Clayport Library
8 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 386 4003
The Wonders of the Orient
Friday 23 October - Sunday 1 November
Artwork from pupils from Spennymoor School, inspired by the museum’s collection.
17 October-17 January 2010
Durham University’s Oriental Museum
Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm; weekends, 12pm-5pm
Tickets: £1.50/75p (Concessions)
Durham University’s Oriental Museum
Elvet Hill
Durham
DH1 3TH
Tel: 0191 334 5694
www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum
The Age of the Dinosaur
Friday 23 October - Sunday 1 November
An interactive exhibition for children of all ages.
26 September-20 December
Old Fulling Mill, Durham, DH1 3EB
Opening times: Monday-Friday, 11am-4pm
Tickets: £1/50p (Concessions)
The Hidden Collection
Friday 23 October - Sunday 1 November
An exhibition to mark the centenary of the Poetry Society. Runs throughout the festival.
Palace Green Library
Opening times: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm; Saturday, 10am-2pm
Admission free
Palace Green Library
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RN
Tel: 0191 334 2932