Durham Book Festival

Festival Laureate: Simon Armitage

Monday 18 October - Thursday 28 October

We are delighted to welcome poet Simon Armitage to the book festival this year as our Festival Laureate. Supported by Durham University, the Laureateship brings a wonderful writer to Durham for the duration of the festival and supports the commissioning of new work. Simon Armitage is one of the UK’s most successful and popular poets and will be taking part in a number of events during the festival.

Festival Launch Night

Monday 18 October

Set the festival off in style. Hera a new commissioned poem from our Festival Laureate Simon Armitage and a new spoken word and music collaboration from Amy Mackelden and Dan Walsh.

Launch supported by The Sponsors Club for Arts and Business

Date: Monday 18 October
Time: 6.30pm-7.30pm (Doors open at 6.15pm)
Venue: Durham Cathedral
Tickets: £10 (includes refreshments)

Durham Cathedral
Durham
DH1 3EH
Tel: 0191 386 4266
www.durhamcathedral.co.uk

Them and Us: Will Hutton

Monday 18 October

One of the UK’s brightest and most provocative thinkers, Will Hutton, Observer contributor and author of the best-selling The State We’re In, opens the festival and introduces his new book, Them and Us: Politics, Greed and Inequality – Why We Need a Fair Society.

Date: Monday 18 October
Time: 7.45pm
Venue: Durham Cathedral
Tickets: £10/£8

Durham Cathedral
Durham
DH1 3EH
Tel: 0191 386 4266
www.durhamcathedral.co.uk

To War with Wellington: Peter Snow

Monday 18 October

Peter Snow is one of our best-loved TV presenters – both for his Election night Swingometer and for his military history programmes such as Battlefield Britain. In his compelling new book, To War with Wellington, he recounts the seven-year campaign that saved Europe from Napoleon and recalls how Wellington evolved from a sensitive schoolboy into an aloof but brilliant commander.

Date: Monday 18 October
Time: 7.45pm
Venue: Durham Cathedral
Tickets: £10/£8

Durham Cathedral
Durham
DH1 3EH
Tel: 0191 386 4266
www.durhamcathedral.co.uk

Sex, Love, Snow: Michèle Roberts and Patricia Duncker

Monday 18 October

Michèle Roberts demonstrates once again why she remains one of Britain’s most invigorating writers in her new collection of short stories, Mud: Stories of Sex and Love. She is joined by Patricia Duncker, who will introduce her new novel, The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge, a metaphysical mystery set in the snowy forests of the Jura.

Date: Monday 18 October
Time: 7.45pm
Venue: Durham Cathedral
Tickets: £8/£6

Durham Cathedral
Durham
DH1 3EH
Tel: 0191 386 4266
www.durhamcathedral.co.uk

Seeing Further: Bill Bryson and guests: An evening on the magic of science

Tuesday 19 October

Durham University is proud to host an evening with international best-selling author Bill Bryson in conversation with four distinguished contributors to Seeing Further, a lavishly illustrated book which has been created to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson with contributions from a host of scientists, historians and novelists, it tells the story of science from 1660 to the present day. This special event brings together Bill Bryson with award-winning biographer Richard Holmes; science writer and broadcaster Georgina Ferry; award-winning science writer Philip Ball; and the president of the Royal Society, Lord Martin Rees.

Date: Tuesday 19 October
Time: 6pm
Venue: Gala Theatre
Tickets: £12/£8 concessions/£3 students

Presented by Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study in partnership with the Royal Society

Gala Theatre and Cinema
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk

Eco-thrillers: Liz Jensen and Maggie Gee

Sunday 24 October

Can novelists tell us more about the future than scientists? In her best-selling novel, The Rapture, Liz Jensen has created a gripping eco-thriller that successfully marries high-octane action with a prescient overview of the dangers of climate change and religious extremism. She will be in conversation with Maggie Gee, whose novels The Ice People and The Flood explore how we might live through a variation of potential climate catastrophes.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 5.30pm-6.30pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

Predictions: Marek Kohn and Fred Pearce

Sunday 24 October

How will we live in the future? In his brilliant new book, Peoplequake, Fred Pearce takes on issues of mass migration, the ageing population and collapsing birth rates and confronts our demographic demons by predicting the coming of a new population crash. His previous work includes the groundbreaking The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth About Global Warming. In Turned Out Nice, Marek Kohn transports us to 2100 and along the way predicts collapsing ecosystems and mass extinctions but also new possibilities for how we will live in the future. Will Eastbourne be the new Costa Brava and if so who will still live in the North? Join two great thinkers to find out what’s in store for us all.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 7pm-8.30pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

The Restoration Man: George Clarke

Wednesday 20 October

In his new book The Home Bible, architect and TV presenter George Clarke shows how you can configure the spaces in your home to transform the way that you live. Tonight he will present an illustrated talk which demonstrates how he has worked on a number of projects including on his own semi-detached Edwardian house. George appears regularly on programmes such as Dream Home Abroad and three successful series of Build a New Life in the Country. For Channel 4 he is the presenter of The Home Show and the recent Restoration Man.

Date: Wednesday 20 October
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Gala Theatre
Tickets: £10/£8

Gala Theatre and Cinema
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk

Beer and Empire: Pete Brown

Wednesday 20 October

In Hops and Glory, Pete Brown recounts the history of the most glorious and cruel period of British history through the medium of beer. Tongue in cheek, deeply informative and very funny in parts, the book covers a great deal of ground and will appeal to anyone interested in history, travel or beer. Brown is the author of many other beer-related titles including Three Sheets to the Wind: One Man’s Quest for the Meaning of Beer. This event will include an element of free beer tasting.

 Date: Wednesday 20 October
Time: 7pm
Venue: Clayport Library
Tickets: £6/£4

Clayport Library
8 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 386 4003

BBC Radio 3's The Verb presents Free Thinking: Live from Durham

Friday 22 October

Ahead of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival, which takes place at The Sage Gateshead from 5-7 November, Radio 3’s The Verb comes to the Durham Book Festival bursting with new writing, poetry and performance, and hosted by poet Ian McMillan. This cabaret of the spoken word features novelist and poet Jackie Kay, who’ll present a brand new piece of writing; and Peter Blegvad with a brand new Eartoon – a cartoon for the ear – and many other guests. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the action!

Date: Friday 22 October
Time: 9pm
Venue: Gala Theatre
Tickets: Free but ticketed, so please book in advance

Gala Theatre and Cinema
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk

The Saturday Girls: Kate Fox and Lucy Mangan

Saturday 23 October

Two ladies who help define our Saturday mornings come together to discuss the pros and cons and their personal experiences of getting married. Columnist Lucy Mangan inhabits the back page of the Guardian’s Saturday magazine. This Saturday she will be presenting her new book, The Reluctant Bride. She will discuss how she was pulled kicking and screaming down the aisle with fellow newly-wed and Radio 4’s Saturday Live poet Kate Fox, who has her own weird and wonderful family experiences which are laid bare in Kate Fox News, her new collection of poetry. Expect hilarity, candid revelations, a free wedding-style cupcake and maybe even a poem or two.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 11am-12pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Mapping the Nation: Rachel Hewitt

Saturday 23 October

In Map of a Nation, Rachel Hewitt tells the story of the creation of a much-loved British institution, the Ordnance Survey map, the first map that made our country visible to the general population. From the men who dreamt and delivered it in 1791, to the MasterMap of the present day, Ordnance Survey’s history is one of political revolutions and rebellions which altered the shape and identity of the United Kingdom.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 3pm-4pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Practical Magic: Richard Heygate

Saturday 23 October

Of all the countries in the world, England has the richest history of magical lore and practice and is home to generations of eccentrics and scholars who have researched and explored every conceivable kind of occult art. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that more people now practise magic in England than at any other time in its history. The Book of English Magic explores this hidden story, from its first stirrings to our present-day fascination with all things magical. Find out how to create your own philosopher’s stone and how to cast your own love spell with one of the book’s authors, Richard Heygate.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 4pm-5pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

North East Writers' Salon

Saturday 23 October

Meet local authors and find out more about the North East’s regional writing scene with Read Regional 2010 authors Rebecca Jenkins, Kachi A Ozumba, Graham Pears, Linda France, Cynthia Fuller, Carolyn Jess-Cooke and Janette Jenkins, and members of the Durham Divan writers’ group. Read Regional is a region-wide campaign to promote writers from the North East – see www.readregional.com for more information.

Hosted by Durham Divan

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 5.30pm-7.30pm
Venue: Clayport Library
Tickets: £6/£4

Clayport Library
8 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 386 4003

Out of the Past: Blake Morrison and Suzanne Bugler

Saturday 23 October

Two great new novels about how you can’t escape your past. Blake Morrison’s brilliant new novel The Last Weekend is a dark and haunting tale of friendship, sexual passion and jealousy. Set over a long, hot weekend in East Anglia, two couples attempt to face up to the secrets buried in their relationships. In Suzanne Bugler’s first novel, This Perfect World, she explores what happens when the crimes of childhood impact on adult life as a school bully is drawn back into contact with her victim years later.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 4pm-5pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

Keeping Up With the Joneses: Sadie Jones and Melissa Jones

Sunday 24 October

A special event that brings together two fantastic novelists who also happen to be sisters. In Small Wars, Sadie Jones follows up her best-selling novel The Outcast with a gripping and thoughtful book set during the battles for Enosis in Cyprus in the 1950s. As well as being a heart-wrenching love story, the novel also explores what happens when a soldier loses faith in the actions and methods of the army. In The Hidden Heart of Emily Hudson, Melissa Jones takes the real-life story of Henry James’s cousin Minny Temple and considers what might have been if such a young and creatively driven woman had had the financial means to match her artistic ambition.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 12pm-1pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

GB84 and No Redemption: David Peace, Keith Pattison and guests

Saturday 23 October

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the UK Miners’ Strike we are delighted to present a special book festival event with David Peace, author of the acclaimed Red Riding quartet and the Tokyo Year Zero trilogy. In his uncompromising novel GB84, Peace plunges us into the darkest days of the strike and delivers a gripping and tautly plotted dramatisation of real events and real people. On Election Day in 2010, Peace visited Easington with photographer Keith Pattison, who was the miners’ ‘unofficial photographer’ during the strike. Peace met with local people and wrote a verbatim introduction to Pattison’s new book of photographs of the strike, No Redemption. At this special event we will present readings from the book by actors, and both Peace and Pattison will discuss the era of the strike and the legacy of the event, both socially and politically.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 2pm-3pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Bittersweet: Jonathan Coe and Catherine O'Flynn

Sunday 24 October

Two exemplary novelists whose new books are both concerned with the big questions of how we live today. In Jonathan Coe’s widely anticipated ninth novel, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, he has created a distinctive British comedy narrated by a depressed and downtrodden man of our times. As his world falls apart, Sim begins a journey of self-knowledge, a road trip North that demonstrates how both Sim and modern Britain may have lost their way. Coe is the author of What a Carve Up and The Rotters’ Club. In her second novel, The News Where You Are, Catherine O’Flynn follows up the promise that she showed in her award-winning first novel, What Was Lost. In the opening scene of the book, a man dies while chasing an empty crisp packet down the road. What follows is the haunted and hilarious mid-life story of local TV news anchor Frank as he gets to grips with both the death of his predecessor and the destruction of his family’s past.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 3pm-4pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Facts and Fiction: Tim Waterstone

Sunday 24 October

Tim Waterstone is the maverick entrepreneur who created and then sold the Waterstone’s book chain that still bears his name. In his new novel, In for a Penny, in for a Pound, he has created a rollicking tale that pitches together a struggling newspaper dynasty, ruthless bankers, and an impoverished publisher. With some of the characters reported to be based on leading figures in the book world, Waterstone has created an absorbing family saga which won’t disappoint fans of Jeffrey Archer.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 1.30pm-2.30pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

The Dark Side: Val McDermid

Sunday 24 October

Val McDermid needs no introduction to lovers of crime fiction. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, is the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010, and is the writer behind the phenomenally successful Wire in the Blood series. Today she will introduce her new stand-alone novel, Trick of the Dark.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 4.30pm-5.30pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

New British Poetry Stars Reunited: Simon Armitage, Jackie Kay, Lavinia Greenlaw and Glyn Maxwell

Thursday 21 October

Twenty years ago, four poets toured the UK under the banner of the New British Poets promotion, heralding the arrival of an exciting new poetry scene. it’s now 20 years on and at the behest of our Festival Laureate they are to be reunited for this special event in Durham. Are they older and wiser? What difference have the years made to their writing? Simon Armitage is the author of many award-winning collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Seeing Stars. Jackie Kay is a poet and prose writer whose poetry collections include Life Mask and Darling. Lavinia Greenlaw is a poet and novelist whose recent work includes the collection Minsk and the novel, The Importance of Music to Girls. Glyn Maxwell is a poet and writer whose recent work includes the collection Hide Now and The Girl Who Was Going to Die.

 Date: Thursday 21 October
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Gala Theatre
Tickets: £12/£8

Gala Theatre and Cinema
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk

A Poetry Reading, Apparently: John Stammers And Matthew Caley

Saturday 23 October

Poet John Stammers has been described as having ‘a frame of reference ranging from the scabrous to the desolately chic’ by Clive James. Tonight he will be reading from his new collection, Interior Night. Every poem in Matthew Caley’s new collection, Apparently, begins – or occasionally ends – with the word ‘apparently’. This new collection is a tour-de-force of wit and imagination.

Presented in association with Colpitts Poetry

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 7.30pm-8.30pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

On Life, Death, and Mutability: Jo Shapcott, Pascale Petit and Anna Woodford

Sunday 24 October

In Of Mutability, Jo Shapcott looks squarely at mortality. The poems in this new collection celebrate each waking moment as though it might be the last and take pleasure in the wonder of even the smallest encounters. Reading alongside Jo will be Pascale Petit, whose new collection, What the Water Gave Me, features poems written in the voice of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. More than just a verse biography, the book evokes how art works on the pain spectrum. They will be joined by Anna Woodford, who will be reading from her widely anticipated first collection, Bird House.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 1.30pm-2.30pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Kate Fox News

Sunday 24 October

Direct from a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as part of a national tour, we are delighted to host comic poet and sometime journalist Kate Fox’s new show, Kate Fox News. While The Satanic Verses burned in Bradford, Kate Fox hit the local headlines when she eloped with a gunrunner. As the Twin Towers fell, she was crafting it into a sound bite for local radio news. She wished Tony Blair was her dad, and found out the Yorkshire Ripper drove lorries for her auntie. From the Thatcher years to MPs’ expenses and volcanic ash, Radio 4 Saturday Live regular Kate asks: where were you when the news broke?

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 6pm-7pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Oblique Strategies: John Kay

Wednesday 20 October

Whether overcoming geographical obstacles, winning decisive battles or meeting sales targets, history shows that if you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another. This is the new concept of Obliquity developed by John Kay and described in his exciting new book that has been hailed as a successor to Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. Kay is one of Britain’s leading economists and a Financial Times columnist.

In association with the North East Chamber of Commerce

Date: Wednesday 20 October
Time: 7pm
Venue: Radisson Blu
Tickets: £8/£6

Radisson Blu
Framwellgate Waterside
Durham
DH1 5TL
Tel: 0191 372 7200
www.radissonblu.co.uk/hotel-durham

Happy Talk

Saturday 23 October

Happiness: everyone is talking about it, but do we really know what it means? Join our panel of writers, poets, artists and thinkers to explore the provocative and varied issues around happiness. Bobby Baker is a renowned performance artist whose Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me demonstrates the interplay between art, mental health and society. Poet Gwyneth Lewis has used her own experiences of depression and illness to inspire work such as A Hospital Odyssey. Philosopher Havi Carel is the author of a thoughtful book about life and facing death, Illness.

In association with The Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham University

SEE ALSO: Kalagora: Siddhartha Bose
SEE ALSO: Them And Us: Will Hutton

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 3.30pm-5pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

Life writing masterclass: Jackie Kay

Friday 22 October

Award-winning poet, novelist and memoirist Jackie Kay will be teaching a life writing masterclass for the festival. Aimed at writers who are serious about embarking on writing about their lives, this is a unique opportunity to learn from a writer with a vast amount of experience of working in this form.

Date: Friday 22 October
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: Clayport Library
Tickets: £25/£20

Clayport Library
8 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 386 4003

Not So Secret Diaries: Chris Mullin

Saturday 23 October

Chris Mullin’s bestselling A View From the Foothills provided a riveting insider’s account of life as a junior minister, laying bare the personalities, pyrotechnics and political intrigues of the Blair years. Funny and self-deprecating, the new diaries, Decline and Fall: Diaries 2005-2010 follow on from his sacking by Blair as a minister after the 2005 elections to Election Day 2010 as he prepares to step down after 23 years as an MP.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 12.30pm-1.30pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

The Granta memoir panel - Close to Home: Jackie Kay, Rupert Thompson and Blake Morrison

Saturday 23 October

In a remarkable and soul-searching journey, award-winning poet and novelist Jackie Kay gives an account of her quest to discover and meet her birth father in her moving new memoir, Red Dust Road. The journey takes her from a childhood in Glasgow to the heat of Lagos. In novelist Rupert Thompson’s shocking new memoir This Party’s Got to Stop, he details how in an attempt to come to terms with the death of their father, he and his two brothers move back into their father’s house after his death. Blake Morrison is a master of the memoir form and has written both about his relationship with his father in And When Did You Last See Your Father? and with his mother in Things My Mother Never Told Me. The panel will discuss the intricacies, pleasures, and dangers of writing about your own family life in this special event.

SEE ALSO: Kate Fox News
SEE ALSO: To War With Wellington: Peter Snow
SEE ALSO: GB84 and No Redemption: David Peace and Keith Pattison

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 8pm-9.30pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £8/£6

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

The Woman Who Ruled England: Helen Castor and Linda Porter

Saturday 23 October

In She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, historian Helen Castor tells the compelling stories of the many royal women who have come tantalisingly close to taking the throne but never quite made it to the position of ultimate power. In Katherine the Queen, historian Linda Porter tells the remarkable story of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’S last queen. This is the first full-length biography of this fascinating woman and vividly shows that she was in reality one of the most influential, intriguing and tragic queen consorts in English history.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 2pm-3pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

Following in Graham Greene's Footsteps: Tim Butcher

Saturday 23 October

Tim Butcher is the author of the best-selling book, Blood River. In his new adventure, Chasing the Devil, he travels across Liberia and Sierra Leone on foot, retracing the route Graham Greene took while he researched his book, Journey without Maps. Both a joy for fans of Greene and a brilliant account of recent West African history and politics, this new book is full of adventure and revelation.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 12.30pm-1.30pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

How to Be a Knight: Michael Prestwich

Sunday 24 October

In his entertaining new book Knight: The Medieval Warrior’s (Unofficial) Manual, leading medieval historian Michael Prestwich tells you all you need to know about the ups and downs of knightly life in the Middle Ages, from how to look your best on the battlefield to the going rates for ransoming a duke, as well as the best places to go on crusade and how to deal with the amorous attentions of courtly ladies.

SEE ALSO: To War With Wellington: Peter Snow

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 11am-12pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

Kalagora: Siddhartha Bose

Saturday 23 October

Written and performed by Indian-born poet Siddhartha Bose and accompanied by a specially commissioned film and musical score, Kalagora is a new spoken word show set across three continents which tells the story of a young man’s progress through a globalised urban world. Bose’s performance captures and articulates the experience of a South Asian immigrant in contemporary Britain, blending influences as diverse as free jazz and Shakespeare. For more information on the show, see www.kalagora.com.

Date: Saturday 23 October
Time: 6pm-7pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

In association with Penned in the Margins

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

World Stories: Elif Shafak And Priya Basil

Sunday 24 October

In The Forty Rules of Love, Elif Shafak takes us to Turkey in the 13th Century and the present day to tell a story of love, passion and spiritual connection. Shafak is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed and outspoken novelists and the author of Orange prize long-listed novel The Bastard of Istanbul. Priya Basil’s new novel, The Obscure Logic of the Heart, takes us from the streets of Birmingham to the plains of Kenya and the refugee camps of Sudan to tell a story of two people trapped between the dictates of faith, family and love.

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 1.30pm-2.30pm
Venue: Music School
Tickets: £6/£4

Music School
(to the right of the Cathedral)
Palace Green
Durham
DH1 3RL

Tel: 0191 334 3140

Stories of Loss and Love: Xinran

Sunday 24 October

There are an estimated 120,000 adopted Chinese girls living outside of China. in her moving new book, Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love, Chinese writer and journalist Xinran tells the background stories of ten of these girls. She tells both the stories of their birth mothers and their adoptive mothers across the world. Ten chapters, ten women and many stories of heartbreak, including her own. Xinran is a leading Chinese journalist and author of many books including Good Women of China.

SEE ALSO: Beer and Empire: Pete Brown

Date: Sunday 24 October
Time: 7.30pm-9pm
Venue: Town Hall
Tickets: £6/£4

Durham Town Hall
Market Place
Durham
DH1 3NJ
Tel: 0191 301 8494

David Almond: special reading of Slog's Dad

Wednesday 20 October

Do you believe there’s life after death? Slog does. He reckons that the scruffy bloke sitting outside the shop is his dad come back to visit him one last time – just like he’d said he would, just before he died. A tender slice of life and death from David Almond, the acclaimed writer of books such as Skellig and The Savage. Please note that this event is only for schools.

Date: Wednesday 20 October
Time: 1.45pm-2.45pm
Venue: Gala Theatre
Tickets: £4

Gala Theatre and Cinema
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk

Simon Armitage:Reading and Q&A

Thursday 21 October

A special event for young readers aged 15+ with our Festival Laureate, Simon Armitage. Simon is the UK’S most popular and acclaimed poet and the author of many award-winning collections of poetry, the latest of which is Seeing Stars. Please note that this event is only for schools.

Date: Thursday 21 October
Time: 1.45pm-2.45pm
Venue: Gala Theatre
Tickets: £4

Gala Theatre and Cinema
1 Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Tel: 0191 332 4041
www.galadurham.co.uk

Slithery Slimy Show

Tuesday 26 October

If you love creepy crawlies and beasties that go bump in the night, then come along and join us in the Botanic Garden for a unique event. Animal handlers Zoolab present a slithery, slimy chance for you to meet, greet and even hold some amazing creatures. Are you brave enough?

Date: Tuesday 26 October
Time: 11am-12pm
Venue: Durham University’s Botanic Garden
Tickets: Free but ticketed, so please book in advance
Suitable for: ages 5-12

Durham University's Botanic Garden
Hollingside Lane
South Road
Durham
DH1 3TN
Tel: 0191 334 5521
www.dur.ac.uk/botanic.garden

Favourite Animal Families: Steve Bloom

Tuesday 26 October

From African plains to the frozen Arctic, from mountain forests to tropical jungles, internationally renowned photographer Steve Bloom has captured beautiful images of baby animals. Join in this feast for the eyes and learn all about the many amazing animal families around the world, from bears to elephants, lions to zebras. You may even find out how adult polar bears keep warm and what giraffes really sound like!

Date: Tuesday 26 October
Time: 3pm-4pm
Venue: Birley Room, Hatfield College
Tickets: Free but ticketed, so please book in advance
Suitable for: ages 7+

Hatfield College
North Bailey
Durham
DH1 3RQ

Tel: 0191 334 2633
www.dur.ac.uk/hatfield.college

Nick Arnold's Horrible Science Show

Tuesday 26 October

Join best-selling author Nick Arnold for some hair-raising highlights from the phenomenal Horrible Science books. Get ready for a feast of foul facts about The Fight for Flight, Sharks and Really Rotten Experiments. With woeful water torture experiments, scary stories and queasy quizzes, this is foul family fun with extra squishy bits. Not to be missed!

Date: Tuesday 26 October
Time: 5pm-6pm
Venue: Birley Room, Hatfield College
Tickets: Free but ticketed, so please book in advance
Suitable for: ages 6+

Hatfield College
North Bailey
Durham
DH1 3RQ

Tel: 0191 334 2633
www.dur.ac.uk/hatfield.college

Sci-Fi Poetry Booth

Wednesday 27 October

Unleash your creative side by dropping into the Poetry Booth. Monkfish Productions invites you to think about all things science and get writing and recording your own amazing words. Drop in on the day to discover your poetic genius!

Date: Wednesday 27 October
Time: 10am-4pm
Venue: Palace Green Marquee
Tickets: Free drop-in session – just turn up on the day
Suitable for: ages 6+

Palace Green
Next to Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle

Meet Doctor Who author Paul Magrs

Wednesday 27 October

A fantastic opportunity for all Doctor Who fans! Join best-selling author Paul Magrs for tales of the most famous Doctor of them all. Paul will be talking about his Doctor Who adventure tales as well as his latest book, The Diary of a Dr Who Addict, which will be followed by a Doctor Who tea party. You’ll need to keep your eyes open. You never know who, or what, may be lurking in the shadows!

Date: Wednesday 27 October
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: Durham University’s Oriental Museum
Tickets: Free but ticketed, so please book in advance
Suitable for: ages 12+

Durham University's Oriental Museum
Elvet Hill
Durham
DH1 3TH
Tel: 0191 334 5694
www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum

Mad Science: Gill Arbuthnott

Thursday 28 October

Author Gill Arbuthnott will be your guide through the weird and wonderful world of science, based on her fascinating books, including Mad Scientists and Germ Wars. Find out about the man who ate everything and the Bee Duvet of Death! The truth truly is stranger than fiction.

Date: Thursday 28 October
Time: 3pm-4pm
Venue: Birley Room, Hatfield College
Tickets: Free but ticketed, so please book in advance
Suitable for: ages 9-12

Hatfield College
North Bailey
Durham
DH1 3RQ

Tel: 0191 334 2633
www.dur.ac.uk/hatfield.college