8 june 2014 programme. 6 - stoke newington literary festival · 2014-05-23 · hello and welcome to...
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Hello and welcome to the fifthStoke Newington Literary Festival!
It’s our fifth anniversary and we’re delighted to be bringing you another jam-packed programme inspired by Stoke Newington’s unique and eclectic community.
We set the festival up to raise money for literacy initiatives in Hackney and are already funding some great projects in schools, working with community groups and supporting our wonderful libraries.
This year we’re partnering with New Humanist on a project inspired by the area’s radical history. We will be producing a pamphlet and a website in which we examine what ‘community’ really means in places like Stoke Newington in 2014. Please join the debate.
We’re also supporting the wonderful Arts Emergency, a charity that supports young people from low-income households to do arts degrees. More information later in the programme.
A massive shout-out and huge thanks to our sponsors who help us keep ticket prices as reasonable as possible and who provide all sorts of help and advice throughout the year.
Boundless love, as well, to our lovely volunteers who give their time so generously and without whom the whole festival would grind to a halt. They don’t thank us for putting them in bright pink t-shirts, so if you see one, do offer up a hug. They’ve promised not to bite.
Our final thanks are to you for buying tickets and drinks from our festival bars!
We hope you have a fabulous weekend.
Liz Vater, Festival Director
Twitter: @stokeylitfest | Facebook: Stokeylitfest | stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com
Tickets now on sale via billetto.co.uk. Also available from Stoke Newington Bookshop and from our box office in Stoke Newington Library from 2nd June.
Stoke Newington Literary Festival is a non-profit venture that aims to raise money for literacy initiatives within the Borough of Hackney.
Will Hodgkinson
FROM 8PM FRI
WELL VERSED: THE MORNING STAR: FREE Mascara Bar, 8pm – 3am
IAN NAIRN – POET OF SUBTOPIA, WITH GILLIAN DARLEY AND KEN WORPOLE: £4 Old Church, 7pm
THE HOUSE IS FULL OF YOGIS: £4 Library Gallery, 8.30pm
KILLER GIRLS: FREE Library Gallery, 7pm
READS LIKE A SEVEN: £5 Loading Bar, 8pm
MARK KERMODE & ARTS EMERGENCY: £10 Town Hall, 8.30pm
LATE NIGHT LITERARY SALON: FREE White Hart, 8pm
A smorgasbord of poetry, spoken word and comedy curated by Tim Wells and the Morning Star. The first of two events has Simon Munnery (multi award-winning comedian) + Hannah Lowe (Chick, Bloodaxe, 2013) + Bobby Parker + Kayo Chingonyi (Some Bright Elegance, Salt Publishing 2012) + Sam Berkson AKA Angry Sam + Amy Acre (soul-enriching wordsmith) + Tim Wells + Jay Bernard + Steve Pottinger + Matt Abbott + Natacha Bryan + Nigel Burch & Flea-Pit (Cockney-Brechtian folk-punk) + Chris Coltrane (comedian, activist, writer...).
In the mid-1950s Ian Nairn burst into the pages of the architec-tural press, broadsheets and TV screens with his incandescent reports on the uglification of Britain. His book Nairn’s London (1966) taught a whole generation to see the capital and its architecture in a new light. Yet Nairn died at 52 and in obscurity. Now belatedly enjoying a revival, Gillian Darley, co-author of Ian Nairn: Words in Place, and Ken Worpole, author of The New English Landscape, discuss this inspiring writer and broadcaster’s life and work.
In this delightfully witty memoir of family life and a troubled 1980s adolescence, Times pop critic Will Hodgkinson tells the extraordinary story of his parents’ conversion from conventional, successful journalists into celibate New Age mystics. Join Will as he recalls how everything in their suburban home was turned upside down when the Hodgkinson’s abandoned drunken Mateus Rosé-fuelled dinner parties and Laura Ashley print curtains for mediation sessions and lurid pictures of smiling deities.
What drives otherwise perfectly normal women to write about murder, suspense and all things criminal? Hosted by MJ McGrath, this panel of female crime writers looks at why good women write ‘bad’. Poet Kate Rhodes introduces a psychologist as the main character in her debut novel, A Killing Of Angels. Lucy Atkins explores the lengths to a mother will go protect her child in The Missing One, and Charlotte Williams’ The House On The Cliff features a psychotherapist investigating a suspicious death.
After a sold-out event at last year’s festival, this showcase of the best in writing about video games returns. Curated and presented by games designer and former Edge editor Ste Curran, and featuring a host of writers delivering pieces that are funny, insightful, moving and surprising, including the demented furiosity of poet Craig the Rage and the extremely funny journalist and very disappointed human Jon Blyth, among others. A night of wonderful writing by great writers that just happens to be about games.
Gala Opening Evening featuring Mark Kermode and an Arts Emergency showcase, hosted by one of our favourite comedians, Josie Long. Mark will talk about his brilliant new book Hatchet Job: Hate Critics, Love Movies, then Arts Emergency take to the stage with performances by Joe Dunthorne (Submarine, Wild Abandon), Nikesh Shukla (Meatspace, Coconut Unlimited), Schmoovy & more. A veritable smorgasbord of comedy, spoken word, music & mayhem. This event has an interval.
A night of story telling, drinking and music hosted by Influx Press, 3:AM and Galley Beggars, for everyone who wants to hear entertaining, witty, moving stories whilst drinking and making a nuisance. Hosted by three of the best up and coming indie publishers in the UK, and featuring Nikesh Shukla, Jonathan Gibbs, Gerry Feehily, Joanna Walsh, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Linda Mannheim, Sam Berkson, Chimene Suleyman, with music from superb folk artist Jack Cheshire.
FRI FROM 7PM
FROM 11AM SAT
FEMINISM 4.0: WHY ARE WE STILL FIGHTING SEXISM?: £6 Unitarian Chapel, 11am
WRITING FOR KIDS AND TEENS: £4 Old Church, 11pm
THE SCIENCE OF STAR WARS 9+: £4 Library Gallery, 1pm
BOOKS FOR EVERYONE – A DIVERSITY EVENT FOR FAMILIES: FREE Abney Hall, 10.30am
HOW LIFE REFLECTS NUMBERS AND NUMBERS REFLECT LIFE, WITH ALEX BELLOS: £5 St Paul’s Church, 12.30pm
AMBIT MAGAZINE PRESENTS - A WRITER’S WORKOUT: £10, £7 White Hart, 11am
Mary Wollstonecraft ‘invented’ feminism on Newington Green and we often wonder how appalled or upset she’d be by the need for projects like Everyday Sexism and Vagenda to even exist in the 21st Century. As they follow in her pioneering footsteps, journalist, author & broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor – himself the father of a young daughter – talks to Laura Bates (Everyday Sexism), Holly Baxter and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett (Vagenda) about the so-called ‘fourth wave’ of feminism and what it says about our lives, the media and society as a whole.
THE UNBELIEVABLE TOP SECRET FUN WORKSHOP OF EMER: £3 Library Gallery, 11.30am
Author of The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig, Emer Stamp, shows children how to draw the world of Pig’s top secret diary. With ducks, evil chickens and man animal of the moment, Pig, this is a great workshop for children who enjoy drawing, fun and jokes along the way.
Join local authors Tom Huddleston and Zanna Davidson in a discussion followed by a question and answer session on how they write for the children’s and teen market and how they went about getting published. Just because a book is for children, does that make it easier to write? How do you work out what age group you’re writing for? They’ll also be able to tell you about the things children’s authors do that you might not have thought about - school visits, twitter, festivals…
In a galaxy far, far away two scientists will probe the fantastic frontier between movie magic and cutting-edge science. Star Wars conjures up images of spaceships, super-weapons, and all sorts of visions of other worlds. Purely science fiction? Author Mark Brake and TV science presenter Jon Chase will explain how one of the most successful epics in entertainment history may actually anticipate real-life future science, right here on Earth.
Have you ever found it difficult to find someone like you in a book? Do you think there aren’t any stories about families like yours or people like you? Come along and change that by writing or drawing yourself into stories with the help of Sarwat Chadda and other authors. Or talk to the wonderful people at Letterbox Library, who celebrate equality and diversity in children’s books. Ask their advice on what books are around or just have a chat!
Mathematics doesn’t need to be daunting or difficult. In Alex Bellos’ new book on the subject you won’t even realise you’re learning about complex concepts. You’ll discover ancient civilisations’ obsession with the triangle, the most common numbers present in a typical daily newspaper and the law explaining the frequency of words in a James Joyce novel. Presented with the author’s signature wit, engaging stories and boundless enthusiasm. You may find it all just starts to add up…
Exercise your brain and stretch your writing skills with Helen Gordon and Briony Bax. Suitable for all writers, poets and anyone interested in improving their process. This is for a group of up to 20 adults who will be put through a series of fun but stimulating writing exercises to get your pen in gear and your creative juices flowing. We’ll start with a warm up, move on to stretches, core exercises, aerobics and then a cool down. 1½hrs long.
SAT FROM 10AM
TIM BRADFORD: FREE Meet at Clissold Park gate opposite Rose and Crown, 10am
Join Tim Bradford, author of A London Country Diary, as he takes a short journey around Clissold Park with a sketchpad, notebook and dodgy hand-drawn map. Once an obsessive urban walker/explorer, now he tries to simply enjoy short local strolls. Discover his favourite tree, how to ‘read’ discarded beer cans, good viewing points, ‘magical’ buildings, invisible boundaries, play hotspots, correct walking speeds for noticing things and Tim’s four-point plan for fully appreciating your local territory (or is it seven?)
FROM 2PM SAT
SEUMAS MILNE & OWEN JONES: £6 Abney Hall, 1pm
AMBIT MAGAZINE PRESENTS - HOW ON EARTH DO I GET PUBLISHED?: FREE TO PARTICIPANTS OF WRITER’S WORKOUT White Hart, 1pm
WRITING HISTORY: £5 The Old Church, 1pm
MOG: FREE Stoke Newington Library, Children’s Section, 1pm
We couldn’t let the 30th anniversary of the miner’s strike go by without commemorating it, and neither could Seumas Milne and Owen Jones. They’ll be discussing the legacy of Milne’s definitive book on the strike, The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners, which has been updated and re-released. Seumas Milne is a journalist, Guardian columnist and associate editor, while Owen Jones is one of the defining young voices of the left and author of Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class.
A frank discussion panel featuring Briony Bax, Editor of Ambit Magazine, Gary Budden, Co-founder of Influx Press and Helen Gordon, author of Landfall (Penguin). Audience members will be encouraged to ask their most pressing questions for honest answers from two decision makers who make it their daily mission to seek out and discover new talent and a writer who has gone through the process of having her first novel published.
If you love historical fiction, you’ll be fascinated by the research that goes into recreating the characters and places of the past. Ellen Feldman (Scottsboro, The Unwitting, Next to Love) and Jessie Burton (The Miniaturist) talk about the painstaking, illuminating and sometimes shocking process of jumping back through centuries and the discovery that their writing entails.
Come along to the Library and meet Mog, the very forgetful cat who has been the centre of so many stories by the wonderful Judith Kerr. Pop along to any of our Mog story times to hear about Mog’s adventures and meet the cat herself!
SAT FROM 1PM
ABNEY PARK WALKING TOUR: £5 Meet outside Abney Park gates on Church St, 2pm
THE VIRTUES OF THE TABLE: HOW TO EAT AND THINK: £6 St Paul’s Church, 2pm
LIVING AND LOVING IN LONDON. OSCAR ZARATE AND ILYA: £6 Library Gallery, 2.30pm
Abney Park is London. The story of Abney’s dead is the story of London. Using some of the characters buried here, Hackney Tours will show you how our city changed dramatically in the 1800s. From menagerists to the military, police to protesters, this 50- minute walk around Abney is a whistlestop tour of London’s phenomenal growth and the turbulent times it has endured.
Philosopher Julian Baggini takes a mind-stretching but entertaining look at the food we eat and the effects our choices have, both on our own bodies and on wider culture and society. Do do ethical labels work? Why do we celebrate traditional recipes? Why do we take different pleasures from meals we’ve cooked ourselves? Explore what our natural appetites can teach us about our relationships with the natural world, each other and ourselves.
London features as a character in the graphic novels of both Oscar Zarate (The Park) and ILYA (Room for Love), bringing the city to life in new and exciting ways. Best known for collaborations with Alan Moore and Alexei Sayle, Zarate uses intricate watercolour to examine anger, repression and powerlessness. ILYA depicts an engrossing story of the friendship between a middle-class, middle-aged novelist and a teenage runaway surviving as a rent boy. These authors come together to discuss why London as a place, and London personified, make for such captivating creations.
Julian Baggini
Photo: Richard H. Smith
FROM 4PM SAT
IN SEARCH OF LONDON’S LOST NARRATIVES: £5 White Hart, 3pm
LUCY INGLIS: £5 Old Church, 3pm
THE ADVENTURES OF ANDY KERSHAW: £6 Abney Hall, 3pm
If you think you know London, think again. Join Gareth Rees (Marshland: Dreams and Nightmares on the edge of London) and John Rogers (This Other London: Adventures in the Overlooked City) as they talk about alternative London writing, myths and monsters. Marshland is a deep map of the east London marshes, blending local history, folklore and weird fiction, where nothing is quite as it seems. This Other London follows an inveterate traveller into the overlooked and underex-plored London hinterland.
Delve into the London of yesteryear with the author of Georgian London: Into the Streets. Discover the Georgians’ fascinating views on sex, love, ambition, art and intellect; visit the madhouses of Hackney, the mean streets of Cheapside and pop into St. Paul’s to check out how the new dome is progress-ing – all delivered in Lucy’s fun, interactive style which is both informative and accessible. Indulge your inner historian with this verbal exploration of the city you thought you knew.
How do you summarise Andy Kershaw? He was a Radio One DJ for fifteen years (despite never wanting to be one). For twelve of those years he shared an office with John Peel. He owns an LP and CD collection weighing seven tonnes. He has visited 97 of the world’s 194 countries as a freelance broadcaster, journalist and foreign correspondent. He was an eyewitness to the Rwandan genocide and reported it for the Today programme. Somehow, he’s captured all this and more in one book, aptly entitled ‘No Off Switch’.
SAT FROM 2.30PM
MOG: FREE Stoke Newington Library, Children’s Section, 2.30pm
Come along to the Library and meet Mog, the very forgetful cat who has been the centre of so many stories by the wonderful Judith Kerr. Pop along to any of our Mog story times, hear about Mog’s adventures and meet the cat herself!
CHORUS OF DISSENT: £5 Town Hall, 4pm
THE CRAFT CIDER REVOLUTION: £6 St Paul’s Church Hall, 4pm
Stokey’s very own community choir, Choir of Dissent joins their professional orchestra, the Elastic Band, to present a de-lightfully informal concert featuring fantastic music inspired by Shakespeare, from Kiss Me Kate to Vaughan Williams and Mendelssohn, all presented in inclusive Dissenting style, using eclectic and innovative programming, Chorus of Dissent’s mission is to break down the mystique and snobbery that exist around classical music, and to perform good music of all kinds to the very highest standard, without one note of dumbing down.
Cider – once the equivalent of champagne, more recently the choice of the park bench alfresco drinker – has enjoyed a recent boom. Pete Brown is co-author of World’s Best Cider – the first ever global overview of cider, recently declared Drinks Book of the Year at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. Here Pete discusses the world’s most misunderstood drink with the help of cider makers including London Glider, who make cider using apples foraged within London.
Steven Appleby’s Loomus cartoon is one of The Guardian’s most popular features. It’s a quirky, original and hilariously perceptive guide to the unexpected twists and turns of everyday life, which, as Stephen says, is full of magic, wonder, and infinite possibility. He’s joined by Martin Rowson – another iconic cartoonist – for what is billed as a conversation about their work for papers including The Guardian, Independent, Times and Telegraph. But with these two together, we have no real idea what to expect!
STEVEN APPLEBY IN CONVERSATION WITH MARTIN ROWSON: £6 Library Gallery, 4pm
Steven Appleby
Photo: Wil Wilkinson
FROM 6.30PM SAT
JOANNE HARRIS - THE GOSPEL OF LOKI: £6The Old Church, 5pm
RACHEL COOKE: £6Library Gallery, 6pm
LINTON KWESI JOHNSON: £8Stoke Newington Town Hall, 6.30pm
POLARI POP-UP: £5The Old Church, 7pm
DANIEL RACHEL: £5White Hart, 7pm
The author of Chocolat, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp and many other bestselling novels, has a brand new adult fantasy based on Norse mythology. Fairy tales and folklore have always played a part in Joanne’s writing, and this brilliant first person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods, is re-told from the point of view of the world’s greatest trickster, Loki.
Despite the fact that 33% of married women worked by 1957, the image of the 1950s housewife, known best for cooking, cleaning and smiling mutely, remains in place. Renowned for her probing interview technique, Rachel Cooke demolishes this stereotype by delivering the untold stories of ten extraordinary women’s careers as editors, archaeologists and car rally drivers – among other things. Cooke lends her wit and intelligence to this encyclopaedia of forgotten talent, proving that 1950s women were anything but domesticated.
Back in 2002, Jamaican-born Linton Kwesi Johnson became both the second living poet and the only black poet to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. A former Black Panther member, his provocative, politically oriented performance poetry fuses his own Jamaican Patois with dub-reggae, and was a strong precursor to rap music. Chronicling the experience of being African-Caribbean in Britain, Johnson has been dubbed “the alternative poet laureate”, inspiring a generation of writers.
Described by the New York Times as ‘London’s most theatrical salon’ and by The Independent on Sunday as ‘London’s peerless gay literary salon’, Polari now has its home at the Southbank. This festival pop-up is hosted by Polari’s grand master Paul Burston, author, journalist and previously LGBT editor at Time Out. Featuring local poet Peter Daniels, VG Lee, Sophia Blackwell, and many others, this is guaranteed to be ‘fun, thought provoking - a guaranteed good night out’ (Sarah Waters).
Why does Annie Lennox describe songwriting as ‘playing with sand?’ Which Romantic poet inspired Lily Allen to write LDN? Why was Sting influenced by church music? Daniel Rachel talks about how he gathered the memories of the UK’s greatest living songwriters from the past fifty years to create his book Isle of Noises, revealing the magic – and, at times, banality – behind the songwriting process. Other highlights include Ray Davies, Johnny Marr, Robin Gibb and Laura Marling. An absolute must for music aficionados.
SAT FROM 5PM
BEN WATT: £6 Abney Public Hall, 5pm
Best known as half of Everything But The Girl, Ben Watt is also a DJ, writer and presenter for BBC Radio 6. His album Hendra, released in April, is a collaboration with Suede’s Bernard Butler, and Ben’s latest literary release, Romany and Tom, plunges into his own past with a raw exploration of his parents’ lives. In the author’s own words, this is a book ‘about who we are, where we come from, and how we love and live with each other for a long time.’
A CAPITAL CONVERSATION: TRAVIS ELBOROUGH AND MARK MASON: £5 White Hart, 5pm
In Walk the Lines, Mark Mason described his odyssey over several hundred miles as he walked the entire length of the London Underground system – overground – passing every station along the way. Travis Elborough’s most recent books are London Bridge in America and A London Year, an anthology of diary entries from Tudor times to the 21st century. Together they consider some of the great chroniclers of the capital and the perils and delights of writing about London.
Linton Kwesi Johnson
ANDY MILLER IN CONVERSATION WITH STEWART LEE: £6Library Gallery, 8pm
Ever claimed to have read a book because you were embarrassed to admit you hadn’t? Writer and editor Andy Miller used to do this all the time so, to rectify the problem, he decided to ‘read himself fitter’, eventually choosing 50 books to improve his mind. He tells the story in The Year of Reading Dangerously, and here he discusses with his mate Stewart Lee, as a milder comedian wasn’t available.
SAT FROM 8PM
WELL VERSED: THE MORNING STAR: FREE Mascara Bar, 8pm till 3am
The second smorgasbord of poetry, spoken word and comedy features Phill Jupitus + Lisa Kelly + Sam Berkson + Chimene Sulyeman (Kid, I Wrote Back – spoken word night) + Niall O’Sullivan (hosts Poetry Unplugged, at Covent Garden’s Poetry Cafe) + Paul McGrane + Tim Wells + Captain of the Rant + Bob Constant + Chris Coltrane (...disco dancer and sweet romancer).
THE COUNT OF MONTE QUIZTO PRESENTS: BRIDESHEAD REQUIZETED: FREE White Hart, 8.30pm
A wholly disrespectful and anarchic panel-show quiz, Brideshead ReQuizeted consists of lots of very silly questions about very serious books. Two teams of authors and bookish types are pitted against the audience and each other in a prize bonanza (nearly every audience member should leave with a free book). There are rounds on the world’s stupidest cookery titles, ridiculous translations, most ignorant Amazon reviews, and much more. After a day listening to authors talking seriously at the festival, what could be better? Have a drink – and a free book! It’ll be fun!
LITERARY DEATH MATCH: £8 Stoke Newington Town Hall, 9pm
Celebrate all that’s amazing about life and the universe with Literary Death Match, back for a night so wild with whimsy and talent your head might explode. Four authors read their own work for seven minutes or less, three all-star judges choose two finalists for an ab-surd literary game (think Pin the Moustache on Hemingway) to decide the ultimate champion. Starring TV critic Michael Hogan, Joanne Harris (Chocolat), J.B. Morrison (Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine), Jessie Burton, Matt Cain & more, this is as anarchic as literature gets. Europe’s second largest glitterball WILL be deployed.
CRAFTED IN SUFFOLK
aspall.co.uk@Aspall fb/AspallUK
EIGHT GENERATIONSOF CYDER MAKING
FROM 12.30PM SUN
CHARLOTTE MENDELSON: £5Old Church, 12:30pm
DAVID ADAM: THE MAN WHO COULDN’T STOP: £4White Hart, 12.30pm
THE HIP-HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: £5Library Gallery, 1pm. Family event
GASTROSALON: £5St Paul’s Church Hall, 1pm
HUMAN AND INTERSPECIES RELATIONSHIPS IN SCIENCE-FICTION AND FANTASY: £5Abney Hall, 1pm
Already armed with many a fiction prize, Charlotte Mendelson has wowed again with her latest novel, Almost English, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013 and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014. With wit and sensitivity, Mendelson brilliantly navigates a displaced family’s dynamics, a fraught mother-daugh-ter relationship and how we leave behind what we love. Dubbed ‘a little masterpiece’ by The Guardian and described by The Times as ‘late Shakespeare meets Modern Family, and it’s irresistible, one not to miss.
What drives an Ethiopian schoolgirl to eat an entire wall of her house? Or someone to lose ten hours a day to thoughts of hand washing? After developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) over twenty years ago, Adam now presents a masterly fusion of science, history and personal memoir; a vivid, unflinching account of a condition that has ‘ruled and sometimes ruined’ his life. Shattering preconceptions, Adam challenges us all to consider what is ‘normal’.
This lyric‐writing and performance workshops introduces young peopleto a new way of looking at Shakespeare by encouraging them to challenge and discuss their preconceptions about both the Bard and hip‐hop. Discover something new about both and learn how to express yourself with language, showcasing your creative ideas and wowing your fellow participants.
GastroSalon takes three talkers, professional eaters, writers and armchair philosophers and gets them to reveal all. In previous GastroSalons we’ve learned how to get the measure of a wo/man through the medium of lunch, how hamburgers were invented in the West of Ireland in the 1930s, and how to make a ham spliff. As well as discussing their lives in food, writer and broad-caster Rachel McCormack (Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet) will ask her guests - including Rachel Cooke & Lemn Sissay - to read their favourite piece of writing on food, drink and conviviality.
When it comes to science fiction and fantasy, many of us blur the lines between the two. In fact, most authors do the same – a crossover of genres often occurs throughout their careers, sometimes even within the same book! We talk to four of the leading writers in this area – Ben Aaronovitch, Stephen Hunt, Mitch Benn and Jon Wallace – about what it means to be a genre writer and how they manage to haggle with the boundaries.
SUN FROM 11AM
NEVER BE STUCK FOR AN IDEA AGAIN! CIARAN MURTAGH’S STORY WRITING WORKSHOP: £3 Library Gallery, 11am For ages seven and above
Come and join CBBC’s Ciaran Murtagh as he takes you through the process of choosing a book title, picking characters and looking at plot in a way that guarantees you will never be able to say you can’t think of anything to write again! It may also involve cruelty to books and other things we don’t approve of at literary festivals.
URBAN SKETCHING: FREE Meet in Town Hall foyer, 12 noon
Drawing in a sketchbook can change your view of the world. Join the ever-growing international urban sketching movement and see Stoke Newington in a new light, discovering overlooked corners of the neighbourhood with James Hobbs, the author of the newly published Sketch Your World. Drop in, draw and chat at this relaxed event, and, if you like, we will tweet your draw-ings (#litfestdrawings). Pencils and paper are available while stocks last, or bring your own. Adults and children welcome.
Charlotte Mendelson
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OLD CHURCHOpposite St Mary’s New Church, Stoke Newington Church Street N16 9ESAccess: The Old Church is wheelchair accessible and has an accessible toilet.
TOWN HALLStoke Newington Church Street N16 0JRAccess: The Town Hall is fitted with an induction loop hearing-aid system. The venue is fully accessible, with the exception of the gallery areas.
THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, TOWN HALLStoke Newington Church Street N16 0JRAccess: The Town Hall is fitted with an induction loop hearing-aid system. The venue is fully accessible, with the exception of the gallery areas.
UNITARIAN CHURCH39A Newington Green, London N16 9PRAccess: No step-free access.
THE LIBRARY GALLERY184 Stoke Newington Church Street N16 0JSAccess: The Library Gallery is wheelchair-accessible.
ABNEY PUBLIC HALL 73a Stoke Newington Church Street N16 0ASAccess: Abney Public Hall has step-free access and an accessible toilet.
MASCARA BAR 72 Stamford Hill N16 6XSAccess: Mascara Bar is wheelchair-accessible.
THE WHITE HART69 Stoke Newington High Street N16 8ELAccess: No step-free access.
ST. PAUL’S CHURCH HALL Stoke Newington Road N16 7UYAccess: No step-free access.
STOKE NEWINGTON LITERARY FESTIVAL VENUES 2014
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Map data © 2012 OpenStreetMap.org contributors
THE BUDVAR TENT: Forecourt, Stoke Newington Town Hall N16 0JRAccess: Tent has step-free access.
FROM 2PM SUN
ALEX CLARK’S RISING STARS: FREELibrary Gallery, 2.30pm
HOW WE USED TO LIVE: £5Council Chambers, 2:30pm
COMMUNITY: FANTASY OR REALITY? A NEW HUMANIST EVENT: FREESt Mary’s Old Church, 2pm
JONATHAN MEADES: £6Town Hall, 2pm
Each year at the festival, leading fiction reviewer (Guardian, Observer, BBC, Evening Standard) Alex Clark selects some of her ‘ones to watch’. It’s a great way of discovering some of the hot-test fiction of the year and hearing a mix of debut and estab-lished writers talk about the themes and ideas that drive them. This year, Harriet Lane (Alys, Always; Her), Anna Whitwham (Boxer Handsome), Tim Glencross (Barbarians) and Jessie Burton (The Miniaturist) are amongst the rising stars in this fascinating event.
Drawing on psychogeography and the people and culture of London, Paul Kelly’s documentary with music by St Etienne is a lyrical rumination on London life and a Britain of the past. Impressionistic and delightful, this is for anyone who wants to better understand their city. Using colour footage from the 1950s to the 1980s, the film covers the ‘New Elizabethan’ age from the optimism of the post-war era to the dawn of Thatcherism. Charmingly “retropolitan”.
What does ‘community’ mean in London in 2014? An estate agent’s marketing spiel or something tangible? Panel discussion hosted by Dan Trilling.
In his latest book, writer, gastronome, broadcaster, secularist and cultural commentator, Jonathan Meades, takes as his subject: himself. But An Encylopedia of Myself is not just an autobiography of his childhood years – it’s the story of a van-ished England, of Salisbury in the 1950s: dominated by the twin industries of God and the Cold War. Uncompromising, caustic and just a little bit judgemental, Meades is always informative and entertaining. This is no ‘misery memoir’. Jonathan will talk to Neil Denny of cult podcast Little Atoms.
SUN FROM 2PM
ABNEY PARK WALKING TOUR: £5 Meet outside Abney Park gates on Church St, 2pm
Abney Park is London. The story of Abney’s dead is the story of London. Using some of the characters buried here, Hackney Tours will show you how our city changed dramatically in the 1800s. From menagerists to the military, police to protesters, this 50- minute walk around Abney is a whistlestop tour of London’s phenomenal growth and the turbulent times it has endured.
JOHN BARKER – FUTURES: £4 White Hart, 2pm
John Barker was one of the ‘Stoke Newington Eight,’ pros-ecuted and jailed in 1972 for activities as part of the Angry Brigade, a left wing radical group. His novel, set in 1987, deals with the collision course between a small time cocaine dealer and single mother, a pair of cocaine-fixated financial analysts, and a criminal family at the top of the coke supply chain. A hurricane sweeping across London and a simultane-ous stock market crash brings them all together - and not all ends well...
John Barker
MOG: FREE Stoke Newington Library, Children’s Section, 2.30pm
Come along to the Library and meet Mog, the very forgetful cat who has been the centre of so many stories by the wonderful Judith Kerr. Pop along to any of our Mog story times, hear about Mog’s adventures and meet the cat herself!
FROM 4PM SUN
HOW ROCK STARS STOLE MY LIFE! MARK ELLEN WITH MARK BILLINGHAM: £6Library Gallery, 4pm
VIV ALBERTINE IN CONVERSATION WITH THURSTON MOORE: £6Old Church, 4pm
CLAUDIA RODEN: £8St Paul’s Church Hall, 3pm
TANYA BYRON & KATE FIGES: £5Abney Public Hall, 3pm
After sharing the stage with singer Tony Blair as part of the stu-dent band Ugly Rumours, Ellen went on to edit Smash Hits, Q, Select and Word, and was one of the presenters of the Old Grey Whistle Test and Live Aid in 1985. Now he talks to acclaimed crime writer and Litfest stalwart Mark Billingham about his new book Rock Stars Stole My Life! Promising to ‘tell stories and settle scores’, expect delicious behind-the-scenes gossip.
Punk icon and Slits guitarist, Viv Albertine has been busy lately, releasing her first album in 25 years (The Vermilion Border), appearing in Joanna Hogg’s film: Exhibition – her first – and publishing a memoir. She chats to her mate Thurston Moore, singer and guitarist with legendary alt-rock band Sonic Youth, about the book: Clothes Clothes Clothes. Music MusicMusic. Boys BoysBoys. Viv dated Mick Jones, formed a band with Sid Vicious before The Sex Pistols and toured with The Clash. This is punk from a female perspective.
Have a look at your cookery books. Chances are you’ll have something by Claudia Roden. As one of the world’s leading food writers, Claudia has written books on Italian, Spanish, Jewish, Mediterranean and, especially, Middle Eastern cooking. She speaks to Valentine Warner about her latest book The Food of Italy and how, in keeping with our ‘community’ theme this year, how food brings people from all cultures together.
The Skeleton Cupboard is a fascinating glimpse into the world of clinical psychology by The House of Tiny Tearaways Tanya Byron. Black-humoured and disturbing at times, Byron lifts the lid on issues that are often swept under the carpet and reminds us that there are no easy answers when it comes to sanity. She talks to Kate Figes, author of five books about families & relationships, about dealing with mental health issues, from the everyday to the extreme.
SUN FROM 3PM
LEWIS DARTNELL: HOW TO REBUILD OUR WORLD FROM SCRATCH: £4 White Hart, 3.30pm
How would we cope if the world as we know it ended – either through a pandemic, an asteroid strike, or a nuclear war? How would we grow food, generate power, or prepare medicine? Lewis Dartnell is a UK Space Agency research fellow in the field of astrobiology and the search for signs of life on Mars. In his new book he looks to (the hopefully distant) future and gives us the skills we would need to rebuild our world.
LYNN BARBER IN CONVERSATION WITH SUZANNE MOORE: £8 Stoke Newington Town Hall, 4pm
LitFest stalwart and Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore gets the job of interviewing the World’s Greatest Interviewer as Lynn Barber submits meekly (or, then again, probably not!) to ques-tions about her curious career as Fleet Street’s Demon Barber. She has written for Penthouse, Sunday Express, Independent on Sunday, Vanity Fair, Telegraph, Observer and Sunday Times, famously interviewing Salvador Dali for four days and unwisely getting drunk with Shane McGowan.
Viv Albertine
MOG: FREE Stoke Newington Library, Children’s Section, 3.30pm
Come along to the Library and meet Mog, the very forgetful cat who has been the centre of so many stories by the wonderful Judith Kerr. Pop along to any of our Mog story times, hear about Mog’s adventures and meet the cat herself!
FROM 6PM SUN
BARRY MILES & THURSTON MOORE ON BURROUGHS: £6Abney Hall, 7pm
SIMON MASON - TOO HIGH, TOO FAST, TOO SOON: £4White Hart, 5pm
THE BOOKSELLER: THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK: FREEAbney Hall, 5pm
William Burroughs was a primary figure of the Beat Generation and helped shape the counter-culture of the 1960s. Novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter and spoken word performer, Burroughs was one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Biographer Barry Miles worked with Burroughs for 30 years and catalogued his archive. They were friends until Burroughs’ death in 1997. As The Times puts it, ‘The life of this disturbing and disturbed man has never been so perfectly told.’ Miles and Thurston discuss their shared admiration of the great man and his continuing legacy.
Simon Mason first smoked pot at 13. At 16, he headed to London, desperate to get into the music business. At the height of Britpop he was a fixture on the scene, supplying drugs to some of the biggest bands of the nineties. But a slide into heroin addiction left him isolated, eventually leaving him with nothing. After a suicide attempt, he looked to Narcotics Anonymous. Now clean for seven years, Simon shares his story.
There’s a lot of debate about the future of books and publishing. Digital, e-books, A***zon, ‘old school’ books: where do the opportunities lie and what’s likely to suffer? Philip Jones, Editor of The Bookseller, invites four leading commentators to help chart a course through the issues. Best-selling author novelist & tech blogger Nick Harkaway (The Blind Giant), Eric Huang (digital guru, founder of Made In Me, ex Moshi Monsters, Penguin, Disney), self-publishing success story Polly Courtney (Feral Youth, Golden Handcuffs) and Stephanie Seegmuller (Pushkin Press).
SUN FROM 5PM
A L KENNEDY: £6 The Old Church, 6pm
Twice named one of Granta’s Best Of Young British Novelists, A L Kennedy has also won a host of other awards, including the Costa Book Of The Year. All The Rage is her latest collection of short stories looking at love – or the lack of it. Told with great compassion and shot through with deep, dark humour, the Independent On Sunday compares Kennedy’s stories to love itself – ‘no matter how many times they break your heart, you still come back for more’.
PETE BROWN’S BEER & MUSIC MATCHING: £6 Library Gallery, 7pm
Your ‘five senses’ are not what you think they are. Your brain is not being straight with you. And you can hear the difference between bitter and sour beers. Award-winning local beer writer Pete Brown brings back an event he debuted at this festival two years ago, now with added multimedia, neuroscience and real-time experiments for a beer tasting unlike any you have witnessed before. Price includes beer samples.
WILLY VLAUTIN: £4 St Paul’s Church, West Hackney, 5pm
Talking about his fourth novel, The Free, Willy Vlautin comes with a hearty seal of approval from George Pelecanos, who names him as one of his favourite writers. Vlautin was the lead singer and songwriter of Richmond Fontaine, founded in 1994, with whom he has released 10 studio albums to date. 2014 finds him touring with his acclaimed new band, The Delines, whose debut album has just been released. Vlautin will be reading from the book, talking to the audience, and performing a short acoustic set.
Barry Miles
Photo: Rosemary Davies
JUKE BOX FURY WITH RICHARD BOON: £6 Stoke Newington Town Hall, 6pm
The World’s Coolest Librarian™ again hosts this Festival institu-tion. Martin Aston (biographer of Bjork, Pulp, 4AD Records); St Etienne’s Bob Stanley (historian of pop); Lloyd Bradley (historian of reggae in Jamaica and black music in London) and Mark Ellen (OGWT, Smash Hits, Q, Mojo, Word and autobiographer) play and discuss the songs that allegedly inspired them to start writing about music and shaped their careers. Tunes and musings, flippant and serious, about the place and future of music and its writing. ‘Hit’ or ‘Miss’?
AN EVENING WITH RAY DAVIES AND JULIEN TEMPLE: £10Stoke Newington Town Hall, 8pm
LITRO LIVE! EMERGING WRITERS SHOWCASE: £5Library Gallery, 9pm
The festival closes with the perfect pairing of legendary Kinks frontman and rock film-maker Julien Temple. Julien discusses his work, particularly his biopic Ray Davies: Imaginary Man. After an interval, Julien moves on to interview Ray about his life, music, and new book Americana: The Kinks, the Road and the Perfect Riff.
Litro publishes stories by the most exciting new writers, alongside work by established authors. This one-of-a-kind event brings together three of the most promising young writers from the magazine, as well as the first authors to be signed up to Litro’s new bespoke literary agency, Litro Represents. Includes Maia Jenkins (winner of the GQ/Norman Mailer Prize), Rebecca Swirsky (shortlisted for the Bridport Prize) and Reece Choules (finalist for the Aesthetica Short Fiction Award). Hosted by Litro editor Dan Coxon.
Photos: Steven Appleby - Wil Wilkinson, Tanya Byron - John Swannell, Rachel Cooke - Charlie Hopkinson, Oscar Zarate - Etienne Gilfillan, Julian Baggini - Richard H. Smith, Josie Long - Idil Sukan, Jessie Burton - Alexander James, ILYA - Etienne Gilfillan, Ben Watt - Ed Bishop, Barry Miles - Rosemary Davies, Anna Whitwham - Nick Tucker, Andy Miller - Tim Stubbings, Daniel Rachel - Lawrence Impey, Ellen Feldman - Laura Mozes, Lemn Sissay - James Ross
SUN FROM 8PM
Ray Davies
DO SOMETHING DANGEROUSLYWONDERFUL
TODAY!
FIND OUT MOREWWW.ARTS-EMERGENCY.ORG/SLF
JOIN HUNDREDS OF VOLUNTEERS FROM PUBLISHING, TV, FILM, MUSIC, ART, JOURNALISM, PR, THEATRE, ARCHITECTURE, FASHION, DESIGN & MORE
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Mascara Bar
Friday & Saturday 8pm-3am Well Versed – see main programme for line-up
Saturday3pm: Self-publishing workshop with author Dan Holloway
5-6pm: Sea-Witches Lucy Ayrton and Claire Trévien. Expect storytelling, silliness, and a couple of mermaids.
6-7pm: Tim Wells and Porky the Poet.
Sunday2pm Freedom Books present an anarchic selection of writing & spoken word
The Chocolate Factory N16www.chocolatefactoryn16.com for further information and booking
Saturday12:45pm & 5pm: Dalston Type Safari - £4
2pm: An Intro to Touching Paintings - free
4pm: Edward Lear’s Travels in Nonsense - free
Sunday14:30 & 17:00: The history of type told in ten album covers - £4
It’s back!
The Budvar Marquee, just outside the town hall, made its debut last year and instantly became the informal, off-kilter hub of the festival. Take a break, relax, and enjoy a drink and some free entertainment throughout the weekend.
Check the blackboard outside for exact times, but expect to see local poets, authors, DJs and musicians, as well as some very special guests. Everyone is welcome and we’re open all weekend serving soft and alcoholic drinks with brilliant street food nearby. You don’t need a festival ticket to come and enjoy the party!
On Saturday between 1pm and 3pm we have plenty for little ones, including face painting. Weather permitting, we might also get a visit from a much loved children’s book character. Following a brilliant set last year, Phill Jupitus and Tim Wells chatting, dad dancing and possibly spinning discs on Saturday from around 3pm onwards.
Sunday morning will be hangover friendly, with our Budvar Marquee team on hand to help ease you into the day!
Follow #BudvarTent on Twitter or the latest updates and news of special guests.
FRINGE BENEFITS IN-TENT-SIVE FUN!
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