bridport open book festival 2011

01308 424204 WWW.BRIDPORT-ARTS.COM [email protected]

Opening the Book The Reading Room

SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 10.30AM–12.30PM TICKETS FREE

WILD & HOMELESS BOOKS

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

We kick off the festival with a celebratory family event with something for everyone. There will be a literary character fancy dress competition, a chance to have a song written and performed just for you by our resident band, Declan Duffy and & the Bridport Super-Group, and there will be crafts, poetry readings, junior Big Read author Carol Hunt, book displays and lots more.

Sponsored by AP Chant

Upstairs at Wild & Homeless Books, on South Street, you can enjoy a cup of tea, relax and be read to! Nic Jeune will read a chapter from your favorite classic – Dickens, Austen, local boy Thomas Hardy, or whatever you choose. Or bring along your own favourite book. Space is limited to one person or a couple of close friends or family at a time.

101308 424204 www.bridport-arts.com

Welcome

The Arts Centre is the cultural heart of the town and is committed to making the arts more accessible for the whole community of Bridport and beyond.

rewarded excellence in writing prose and poetry

which brings established and rising stars of the literary world to Bridport, working alongside local writers, teachers, booksellers, librarians and others. Together, we hope to ‘open the book’ on reading and writing and make it a fun, exciting and challenging

Polly Gifford Director, Bridport Arts Centre


Whatever the future of the printed word, live poetry events are more

offers a fantastic double-bill. Dorset-based poet has been lead artist in ‘Off the Page’, a major Arts Council-funded project, supported by Bridport Arts Centre and Dorset County Council. Young people across the county have worked with some

develop their writing and performance skills. Poets Andrew McMillan, Chris Redmond, and will join Elvis and the young poets in

a series of short readings. The up and coming stars will be followed by a reading from a legend of poetry, a man who has been publishing and performing across six decades – the inimitable Roger McGough.

Sponsored by

Coleman Insurance

‘Off the Page’

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BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 7.15PM–9.30PM TICKETS £12/£10



BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE4.30PM–6PM TICKETS £6/£5

We want to be at the cutting edge

event looks at how new technologies are changing the way we receive words at a bewildering speed. From the growth of Amazon to Facebook, blogging and tweeting, to Kindle and the iPad, doom-mongers are predicting the death of theprinted book, the end of newspapers as we know them, and a world without bookshops. Chaired by writer and computer programmer Damian Furniss, our panel will include Bridport News Editor James Tourgout, writer Katherine Locke and Jonathan

Hudston, a writer and journalist who now works for Watershed PR. We are also delighted to welcome Henry Volans, Faber and Faber’s Head of Digital, who has been responsible for producing the new iPad app of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, generally acknowledged as the most important poem of the 20th century. Henry will talk about how the app was developed, and present extracts from it, as a basis for a discussion on the future of the word. There will be an opportunity for audience members to join in the debate.

The Future of the Word?

Sponsored by Watershed PR

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We continue with our musical theme with author, historian and TV producer, Colin Grant, whose new book from Jonathan Cape looks at both the musical and wider cultural and

political impact of the lead members of the legendary Wailers – the greatest reggae group of all. “...a remarkable

.

Colin Grant

Fire in BabylonFilm Screening

SUNDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE7PM–8.30PM TICKETS £6/£5 OR £10/£8 WITH FILM

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE9PM TICKETS £6/£5 OR £10/£8 WITH TALK

Written and directed by ,

the rise to total dominance of the West Indies cricket team under captain Clive Lloyd in the 1970s and 80s. It is a

of the great writer C.L.R James’ claim that cricket is a metaphor for much more, especially, and alongside reggae music, for the West Indians. Bunny Wailer features here too, as do Windies and Somerset cricket legends Viv Richards and Joel Garner. Don’t miss it!


– Dylan at 70The Captains Tower70 poets for Dylan at 70

SUNDAY 20 NOVEMBER

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE CAFE12PM–2PM TICKETS £5

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 3PM–4.30PM TICKETS £6/£5

we celebrate the great poet of modern music, legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, in the year of his 70th birthday. To kick us off, join local musicians and singers in an Open Mic lunch, with songs from Bob’s vast catalogue, and a delicious ploughman’s lunch.

Contact the Arts Centre if you wish to play a song.

Poetry and more music, as Festival Programmer is joined by fellow poets and joint editors Phil Bowen and Damian Furniss as they read from The Captain’s Tower: poems for Bob Dylan at 70, their anthology featuring poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Carol Rumens and Simon Armitage, published this May by Seren Books. The editors will be joined by poet Ann Gray, and the readings will be interspersed by bursts of Bob from Matt Bryden.

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TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER

MeetBarbara Spencer to Poetry Writing

Greta StoddartAcclaimed poet Greta has run the Poetry Society’s Poetry School at Bridport Arts Centre for the last two years. This workshop is for those who have recently begun writing, want to get into writing poems or wish to take their poetry to a new level.

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE4PMTICKETS £1 (UNDER 16S – PARENTS GO FREE!)

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

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BEACH & BARNICOTT

(LUNCH NOT INCLUDED)

Lyrical Lunchtime 2Features readings from Story Traders who were formed in 2010 and meet regularly to share their work.


In association with Waterstones we are delighted to welcome Barbara Spencer, Somerset-based author of Scruffy, A Dangerous Game of Football and

The Bird Children (Jack Burnside adventures) for younger readers, and teen thrillers Running and the newly-published Time Breaking. Barbara will be reading from and talking about her work, and signing copies of her books.

Lyrical Lunchtime 1Fisher Writing Group

Art of the ImpossiblePaul Hyland

MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE CAFE1PM–2PM TICKETS FREE (LUNCH NOT INCLUDED)

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 7.30PM–9.30PMTICKETS £6/£5

Come along for a lunch or just a coffee and enjoy prose and poetry from Bridport’s own writing talent as local groups provide free entertainment each lunch-hour through the week, alternating between Bridport Arts Centre and Beach & Barnicott.

Today members of Fisher Writing Group, based in Bradpole, present ‘A Word in Your Ear’, nine prose cameos from their new publication of the same name.

A night of award-winning poetry and traveller’s tales laced with incredible magic. This new show combines words and performance in a startling display of alchemy. Known in Dorset for writing about Purbeck, four of Paul’s exotic travel books have been ‘Books of the Year’ in UK and US broadsheets. He is a member of the Magic Circle and has made magic in the hands of Henry Kissinger, Ronnie Corbett and Seamus Heaney.

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TICKETS FREE

Lyrical Lunchtime 3

Featuring the Poetry Society Poetry School group reading their own poems.

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WEDNESDAY 23 NOVEMBER

Toddler TimeBridport Library

An interactive free session combining story telling and rhymes to introduce toddlers to the fun and enjoyment of stories and songs at Bridport Library. Enjoy some fantastic rhymes and songs, discover the best authors and illustrators, and meet up with other parents and carers.

Memoir Workshop with

BRIDPORT LIBRARY10.30AM–11AM TICKETS FREE

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE CAFE4PM–6PMTICKETS £20/£15


Following the success of Bridport Arts Centre’s recent workshop with Paul Dodgson, we now feature a festival day dedicated to memoir/autobiography writing.

Award-winning poet has recently published his memoir The Horseman’s Word to rave reviews. A vastly experienced workshop leader, he looks at what it takes to produce a successful memoir.

Joe Dunthorneand Greta Stoddart

SubmarineFilm Screening

TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE CAFE7.30PM TICKETS £6/£5 OR £10/£8 WITH FILM

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 9.15PM TICKETS £6/£5 OR £10/£8 WITH TALK

Dunthorne, directed by Richard Ayoade and starring Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige and Paddy Considine.

Sponsored by Bridport Film Society

In association withJoe Dunthorne’s debut novel Submarine

second novel Wild Abandon has recently been published and again has met with approval from the critics. He will read from the new novel and his poetry, and Greta will read from herpoetry. She has published two collections,

Award, the second was shortlisted for the Costa Award in 2008 Joe will then introduce a showing of Submarine,

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An afternoon with Charlie Fuge

THURSDAY 24 NOVEMBER


[PARENTS GO FREE!]


In association with Waterstones, we’re

winning locally-based children’s writer and Bush

Vark’s First Day Out won the Macmillan Prize and The Mother Goose Award, and he has since published many more titles, as illustrator, and as both writer and illustrator, including the hugely popular Wombat books. A passionate defender of the natural world, Charlie will instruct and delight as he opens the book on his fabulously talented world of words and pictures.

BEACH & BARNICOTT

(LUNCH NOT INCLUDED)

Lyrical Lunchtime 4

The Bridport Scribblers will entertain with ‘Tall Stories’ – nine interpretations of one title.

Reliable Memoirs?

and Robin Bayley

Storytelling withMartin Shaw

WEDNESDAY 23 NOVEMBER

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE7PM–8.30PMTICKETS £6/£5

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE9PM TICKETS £6/£5

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Roger will read from The Horseman’s Word (Cape), his memoir of life in the 1950s and 60s, as a child in Norfolk, at Oxford, and as a young poet in London, hanging out with David Bowie and Redmond O’Hanlon. Roger is joined by Robin Bayley, whose The Mango Orchard is published by Arrow Books, and tells the extraordinary tale of his search for a family secret that takes him across the Americas where he encounters witches, drug dealers, ex-Nazis and Colombian guerrillas! The two writers will read from their work, discuss the art of the memoir,

Martin Shaw is an inspiring and imaginative storyteller and mythologist. Director of the West Country School of Myth, he is also a wilderness rites-of-passage guide and author of A Branch

and the grace in wildness (White Cloud Press). He teaches widely in the US, UK and Europe. Robert Bly describes him as “a true master.

TICKETS £20 (LIMITED PLACES) £35 (FOR BOTH FLASH FICTION WORKSHOPS)BOOKING ESSENTIAL

In the world of texts, tweets and blogs, there is a growing place for short, sharp literature, as Bridport Prize’s

which can be attended separately or

and past Bridport Prize winners will share their tips on keeping it short and sweet.

Tania Hershman is the author of The White Road and other Stories (Salt, 2008), a collection of short

been widely published and broadcast. Tania is currently writer-in-residence in the Science Faculty at Bristol University, working on a collection of biology-

Council England grant.

Vanessa Gebbie is author of two

of a textbook on the art of the short story. Her debut novel, The Coward’s Tale is published this November by Bloomsbury.

Flash Fiction Workshop Part 1Vanessa Gebbie and Tania Hershman

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER


The Art of Biography/The Biography of Art Rachel Campbell-Johnston

Benjamin’s BookColin Thompson

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE7.30PM TICKETS £6/£5

BRIDPORT LIBRARY

The Life and Work of Samuel Palmer

An event for those interested in biography, and for those interested in visual art, as Rachel

reads from and discusses her fabulous new book on one of Britain’s great visionary artists, the splendidly eccentric Samuel Palmer, devotee of William Blake, and described by Kenneth Clark as ‘an English Van Gogh’.

THURSDAY 24 NOVEMBER

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Two years ago Tim Laycock and Colin Thompson were inspired by a manuscript music book of country dance tunescompiled in 1820 by Benjamin Rose, a

who lived in Belchalwell, North Dorset. Set in Rose’s alehouse in 1895 with George, Ben’s grandson, as ‘mine host’, entertaining his customers with stories of local life and the exploits of his famous grandfather. Colin plays the part of the ghost of Benjamin Rose, performing many of the dance tunes in the book. This

music, words, stories and local history.

NEWSBridport

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 6PM–7.15PM TICKETS £6/£5

Sponsored by Bridport News

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER

Bridport Open Book Festival and The Bridport Prize present a reading by past Prize winners.

Judith Allnatt is an acclaimed short story writer and novelist. Her latest novel, The Poet’s Wife, was shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award. Judith’s

, was selected as Simon Mayo’s Book of the Month on Radio 5 Live and was shortlisted for the Portico Prize for Literature. Judith lectures on creative writing for various universities and freelance, and is currently working on her third novel.

Vanessa Gebbie is author of two

a textbook on the art of the short story. Her debut novel, The Coward’s Tale is published this November by Bloomsbury.

Adam Marek won the 2011 Arts Foundation Short Story Fellowship. He was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. His story collection, Instruction manual for swallowing, published by Comma Press in 2007, was nominated for the Frank O’Connor Prize. He has twice been a Bridport Prizewinner.

Reading by past


Story Time atBridport Library

Schools ReadingCarol Ann Duffy

Come and enjoy some fantastic stories at our free story time for children. Borrow storybooks to take home and make that bedtime story special.

Our Poet Laureate features widely on examination syllabuses, and her readings for younger audiences are legendary. Pupils from a number of Dorset schools are the lucky ones this time!

BRIDPORT LIBRARY10.30AM–11AM TICKETS FREE

BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE2PM–3PM

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER

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TICKETS FREE

Lyrical Lunchtime 5Today will once again feature poems from Bridport Arts Centre’s Poetry Society Poetry School group.


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QUAKER MEETING HOUSE

BOTH FLASH FICTION WORKSHOPS)

Flash Fiction Workshop Part 2 See page 13

Awards Ceremony


LUNCH] LIMITED TICKETS

Join this year’s winners and Prize judges, Carol Ann Duffy and AL Kennedy, at the awards ceremony for the best in new writing. Hear extracts of the winnings stories,

Stand Up ComedyAL Kennedy


Festival, AL Kennedy, will perform her highly rated comedy stand up show. AL is the award winning author of four

Shemade her Edinburgh Fringe debut with her solo show, in 2006. “Her stand-up is startlingly good. She works the audience and makes the most

The Guardian

Sponsored by Nantes Solicitors


Celebrating the publication of her new collection The Bees, we are delighted to welcome the Poet Laureate, and Bridport Prize judge for 2011, Carol Ann Duffy, who, together with musician and actor John Sampson, will give us a memorable evening of poetry and music.

Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow. She grew up in Stafford and then attended the University of Liverpool, where she studied Philosophy. She has written for both children and adults, and her poetry has received many

awards, including the Signal Prize for Children’s Verse, the Whitbread and Forward Prizes, as well as the Lannan Award and the E. M. Forster Prize in America. In 2009, Carol Ann Duffy became Poet Laureate.

Poetry and MusicCarol Ann Duffy with John Sampson

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER

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BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE 8PM TICKETS £14/£12

Sponsored by

The Junior Big Read

For younger readers, with a chance

OTHER EVENTS

Enchantment of the Black Dog (Roving Press) by Carol Hunt is a 17th century mystery of smuggling, witchcraft and piracy, set on and around Portland and Weymouth.

Bridport Arts Centre and Waterstones are offering prizes for the best book reviews and pictures inspired by the book. For full details from Bridport Arts Centre.

Waterstones and both writers will be

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Poems in Shops

Look out for the Bridport Open Book Festival logo in shops around the town and you’ll be able to enjoy a selection of poems written or selected especiallyfor that business. Created in partnership with Some Bridport Poets.

‘Poems in Shops’ is supported by Bridport Arts & Crafts Ltd, Bridport Old Books, Forest and Tree Care Bridport, Jaxsons Deli, Leakers Bakery,Lilliput, No.10 Café & Bar, Red Brick Café, Smith & Smith Ltd, Steptoes Ltd,The Flower Shop and Waitrose.


ExhibitionCountertext11 Storm Warning

Vanessa Gebbie

OTHER EVENTS

Countertext11 is a collection of installations, works and events that attempt to re-stage the way language slides away from meaning. An exciting, inspiring, professional, creative, challenging and emotional collection of artworks curated by David Rogers and Nigel Slight to complement the Bridport Open Book Festival. Set in businesses and shops throughout Bridport and in the Arts Centre foyer and cafe.

countertext11/

A former Bridport Prizewinner, Vanessa’s collection of short stories has been selected as Bridport’s Big Read this year. “Storm Warning (Salt) explores the echoes and aftershocks of

after-effects of atrocity and sometimes the seeds of atrocity itself.” Have your say on the book on the Open Book Festival blog: www.bridport-open-book.com and come along and meet the author and fellow Bridport Prize winners on 25 November.

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OTHER EVENTS

young Margie Barbour and Kate Wilson

Poetry from the BoudoirIsadore Vibes and the Peephole Poets

Margie Barbour and Kate Wilson from Bridport Arts Centre tell classic tales, one traditional, one by the legendary Ahlbergs – Burglar Bill and The Three Wishes, presented for our youngest story-lovers.

Enter the literary labyrinth at Beach & Barnicott for a candlelit feast of poetry, music, performance and prose.Languish in the lounge with Matt Harvey and his Jurassic Journeys.Sneak a peep at Isadora in the boudoir.Burn with desire for He Who Is Red.

Featuring Matt Harvey Radio 4 Saturday Live, Sophia Blackwell, Anwar Brett Dorset in Film, Clever Dicky and the Ratzingers, Some Bridport Poets,and He Who is Red.

Barnicott (01308 455688)

MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER BRIDPORT CHILDREN’S CENTRE 10AM–12PM

WEDS 23 NOVEMBER


OTHER EVENTS

Have you ever wondered what other people get up to at work, at home and at school? How much do we really know and understand about the lives and thoughts of others? Would you like to have a glimpse? Diary of a Day will do just that and we want everyone to join in.

As part of the Bridport Open Book festival, Bridport Arts Centre is running a simple yet extraordinary writing project – Diary of a Day. Based on the Mass Observation projects begun inthe late 1930s, this is a way of recording everyday life, a snapshot of what is

happening in the world, the country, the town and in individual lives.

Bridport Arts Centre invited everyone in Bridport to keep an anonymous diary of the day on 4 October. The entries have all been collected and collated into books, which will be on display at the Arts Centre for anyone to read throughout the week of the Open Book Festival.

Making the Ordinary Extraordinary– Diary in a Day 2011

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Schools Workshops Phil Bowen

MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER

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MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER BRIDPORT ARTS CENTRE6.15PM

Poet and playwright Phil stays around after his Captain’s Tower performance to bring his experience in over 500 schools to the pupils of Bridport’s schools.

Phil will also be working with members of various English courses run by Dorset Adult Learning, using poetry to inspire interest in reading and writing.

Junior Big Read author Carol Hunt will also contribute to our schools programme.

What’s the Score? Writing Football with Peter Read

VENUE AND TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED

Schools’ Programme sponsored by Lions International

In partnership with Teamtheme and Bridport Youth Football Club, the festival will also include a workshop for young footballers, working with poet and playwright Peter Read (no not that one!) who has worked as Writer-in-Residence at both Cardiff and Wrexham Football Clubs. Peter will use football to inspire interest in reading and writing. Contact Bridport Arts Centre for more details.

BOOKING DETAILS THANK YOU

All tickets can be bought in advance from Bridport Arts Centre and online at www.bridport-arts.comunless otherwise stated in event details.

Bridport Arts Centre is funded by Arts Council England, Bridport Town Council and West Dorset District Council.

Bridport Arts & Crafts LtdBridport Old BooksForest and Tree Care BridportJaxsons DeliLeakers BakeryLilliputNo.10 Café & BarRed Brick CaféSmith & Smith LtdSteptoes LtdThe Flower ShopWaitrose

Lee Cuff, Declan Duffy, Frances Everitt, Mel Gale and Bridport Children’s Centre, John & Carol Hubbard, Katherine Hudson, Jan Jaggard, Sharon Kirkpatrick, Penny Monro, Jemima Morgan, David Powell, Mark Scadding, and all the staff at Bridport Arts Centre.

A particular thank you to all thevolunteer stewards.

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11–15 April 2012

Flash Film Competition

FUTURE EVENTS

Save the dates for another fantastic festival celebrating the adaptation of

Keep an eye on the website for up to date information.www.frompagetoscreen.org.uk

the Bridport Prize Flash Fiction winning stories.

The stories and full details of how to enter will be on the website following the Bridport Prize awards ceremony on 26 November.

Bridport Arts Centre in collaboration with The Electric Palace

Waterstone’s

Bridport Town Hall

Bridport Arts Centre

Wild & Homeless Books

East St. To Dorchester

Folly Mill Lane

To L

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Regi

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West St.

Sout

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.

To West Bay

Bridport Library

Tourist Information

01308 424204 WWW.BRIDPORT-ARTS.COM [email protected]

bridport open book festival 2011

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