Kingston Readers' Festival - This Year's Line up

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• Kingston Readers' Festival - This Year's Line up

The River Thames

Thursday 28 April, 7.30pm
Free
Venue: Waterstone’s

Bestselling author Christopher Winn will talk about his new book, I Never Knew That About the River Thames. As he follows the river from source to sea, visiting its towns, villages and places of interest, Winn unearths a fascinating array of facts, folklore, landmarks and legends, including Mapledurham House, the inspiration for Toad Hall in Wind in the Willows, and Mongewell Park which Agatha Christie used as inspiration for the mansion in The Mousetrap.

‘Life's little ironies': Virginia Woolf's Debt to Thomas Hardy

Saturday 30 April, 11.30am
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

What do Thomas Hardy’s Michael Henchard and Virginia Woolf’s Clarissa Dalloway have in common? More than you’d think. In this talk, Dr Meg Jensen will explore the influence of Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. You are encouraged to read both novels before the session in preparation for a fascinating insight into a world of anxiety, subterfuge, denial and literary genius – Virginia Woolf’s imagination.

Exploring the rehearsal process

Saturday 30 April, 1.30pm
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

The playwright Winsome Pinnock goes behind the scenes to explore what theatre audiences never see – the work that happens in rehearsals, which is often as intriguing (if not more so) than the completed play. The rehearsal process opens up many questions about meaning and authorship.

The Boy who bit Picasso

Saturday 30 April, 1pm
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

Antony Penrose tells the true story of his childhood friendship with Picasso whom he met when he was only three. Vividly recalling their shared love of animals, enthusiasm for games as well as the many happy hours spent on his parents’ farm in Sussex, his book includes Picasso’s most appealing artworks plus evocative photography by Antony’s mother, Lee Miller. For age 4+ and parents.

Orchards in the Oasis

Wednesday 4 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: John Lewis

Josceline Dimbleby will talk about her latest book, Orchards in the Oasis, a cookery memoir. As an itinerant child with a diplomat stepfather she spent much of her time in different countries watching cooks transform food with spices and herbs and has found that her astonishing memory of taste together with her natural ability to combine flavours and textures have enabled her to create some very personal interpretations of dishes she has tasted from around the world.

She wolves: the woment who ruled England before Elizabeth

Tuesday 3 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

Helen Castor is a historian of medieval England, and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She will talk about her remarkable book which charts the fate and fortunes of four medieval queens: Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou. While each queen may not have ruled in their own right, their journeys may have paved the way for the rise of Elizabeth I and the ‘unnatural rule of a woman’. Join us for a fascinating insight into 400 years of queenship.

Them and Us: Changing Britain - why we need a fair society

Thursday 5 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Tiffin Boys’ School

Journalist Will Hutton will talk about how British society has fragmented into inequality, setting out a powerful call for a fair society. His heartfelt campaign is for no less than a radical transformation of the country, from its political system, its media, its over-reliance on big finance, to the very values we live by. In his book he musters convincing arguments for political change based on a firm moral framework.

Chocolate Wars

Friday 6 May, 1pm
Free
Venue: Waterstone’s

Deborah Cadbury, bestselling author and TV producer of such hits as Seven Wonders of the Industrial World will be talking about her latest book, Chocolate Wars. Delving into family archives she explores the origins of the Cadbury chocolate business and the values behind it and poses the questions: with the Kraft takeover, what has happened to Quaker idealism and has business morality changed for better or worse?

Dark Matter

Friday 6 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Tiffin Boys’ School

Michelle Paver, the best-selling and award-winning author of Wolf Boy and the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, will talk about Dark Matter, her first book for adults, which has been published to massive critical acclaim. A ghost story, set in 1937 as the clouds of war gather over a fogbound London, it deals with an expedition to the Arctic that goes badly wrong. Set on an uninhabited island a creeping unease permeates the mind of Jack, the wireless operator, after all his companions are forced to leave, as he realises he is not alone…

A Poetry Tasting

Saturday 7 May, 11.30am
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

If you have you been put off poetry because you weren’t sure how to approach it and have favourites but don’t know who to read next, Judith Watts, lecturer in Publishing at Kingston University, will introduce you to the face, place and space of contemporary poetry – from new collections and anthologies through the Poetry Library to the poetry jukebox. The session will be punctuated by readings, so please bring your own choice of poem if you wish.

Austerity and Flamboyance in poets of the forties

Saturday 7 May, 1.30pm
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

While the 1950s is usually seen as the watershed decade for post-modern British poetry, with the arrival of the Movement, and alternative poetries from the Black Mountain School, poets of the 1940s created their own alternative reply to late high modernism: one where flamboyant and eccentric style, not ‘democratic voice’, predominated. Todd Swift will look at such figures as Philip Larkin, FT Prince, Terence Tiller and Nicholas Moore, who were each mentored by major modernist figures, such as TS Eliot, and then virtually ignored after the Forties decade.

My Henry

Saturday 7 May, 11am
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Rose Theatre

Judith Kerr, creator of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and the Mog stories, will talk about her latest picture book, My Henry. Intended for both children and adults, it is a wonderful, uplifting flight of the imagination which shows that love and friendship can last for ever.

Laughing in the dark

Monday 9 May, 1pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

Crime-writer Simon Brett and novelist Wendy Perriam will discuss the dark underbelly of humour and the comic side of calamity. We use the phrase ‘cracking up’ for both laughter and mental breakdown, but are there actually links between the two? Chaired by Alison Baverstock of Kingston University.

The great explorers

Monday 9 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

Hailed by The Sunday Times as the greatest explorer of the past 20 years, Robin Hanbury-Tenison will talk about the amazing physical, historical and natural wealth of our planet, as seen through the eyes of 40 of the world’s greatest explorers.

Butlin's 75 years of fun!

Tuesday 10 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Tiffin Boys’ School

On 11 April 1936, after successfully developing a series of fun fairs, Billy Butlin opened holiday camps across the UK – the first being at Skegness – to provide families with a cheap and cheerful holiday. At their peak in 1966 they accommodated, fed and entertained more than one million people. Ex-Butlin’s employee and local historian Sylvia Endacott will talk about her new book, co-authored with Shirley Lewis, which traces the evolution of one man’s dream.

Food for thought

Wednesday 11 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: John Lewis

Antonio Carluccio began his culinary career more than 50 years ago while a student in Vienna. He is now on a mission to instill in his readers the simple pleasure of cooking good fresh food with his fantastic repertoire of dishes for all occasions. Reconnecting with his culinary heritage, Carluccio will talk about his love for his homeland and will take you on a journey that reveals the real soul of Italian gastronomy.

This party's got to stop

Wednesday 11 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Tiffin Boys’ School

In his first venture into non-fiction, the celebrated novelist Rupert Thomson has produced one of the most extraordinary and unforgettable memoirs of recent years. On a warm, sunny day in July 1964, Thomson returned home from school to discover that his mother had died suddenly. This Party’s Got to Stop works Thomson’s memories into a powerful mosaic that reveals the fragility of family life in graphic and often heartbreaking detail. It is both a love letter to a lost family and a chronicle of the murderousness and longing that can characterise blood relationships.

An optimist's tour of the future

Thursday 12 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

When unexpectedly confronted with his own mortality, Mark Stevenson – a science writer, journalist, deep-thinker and stand-up comedian – began to ponder what the future holds for our species. A meticulous researcher, he has travelled the globe delving into transhumanism, nano-technology and the human genome in his quest to uncover the next stage in our evolution. Join the insightful and often very funny Mark Stevenson as he discusses his completely enthralling view of the future – and why it doesn’t have to be scary.

The Ancient Guide to Modern Life

Monday 13 May, 1pm
Free
Venue: Waterstone’s

Human nature doesn’t change and looking at the ancient world helps the modern one make sense. So says classicist Natalie Haynes who will be talking about her new book, The Ancient Guide to Modern Life. An award-winning comedian, journalist, and broadcaster, she is a regular panellist on BBC2’s The Review Show, Radio 4’s Saturday Review, and the long-running arts show, Front Row.

The innocent writer?

Saturday 14 May, 11.30am
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

Dr Anne Rowe will explore issues of goodness, love, freedom, fate and nature in local author Mary Lawson’s Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge. The talk will be followed by a discussion between Anne Rowe and Mary Lawson on the relationship between literary criticism and creative writing.

Marlowe and me

Saturday 14 May, 1.30pm
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

Crime writer Adam Baron will talk about the influence on his work of the great American poet of the mean streets, Raymond Chandler.

Withougt Wallender Henning Mankell's other fiction

Monday 16 May, 1pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

The Swedish novelist Henning Mankell is best known in this country for his Wallander crime novels. But he has also written fiction of a more general kind, in which he has much to say about male isolation and the deep problems of contemporary Western society. In this talk, Martin Corner will focus on his wider achievement, particularly his African novels, including the brilliant Chronicler of the Winds (2006).

To war with wellington

Tuesday 17 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Tiffin Boys’ School

Wellington’s march from Portugal to victory at Waterloo 200 years ago is one of the most spectacular military achievements in British history and the first to be recorded in detail by the men who were there. In his book, Peter Snow draws on first-hand accounts both on and off the battlefield to answer the question: what turned the backward, sensitive schoolboy violinist into the aloof, disdainful Iron Duke who was never defeated in battle?

Castaway books

Wednesday 18 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

Author Mary Lawson invites Dr Anne Rowe, Dr Meg Jensen, Dr Brian Brivati and Professor Avril Horner to talk about the four books they would choose to take to a desert island.

Inner landscapes, wilder shores

Friday 20 May, 1pm
Free
Venue: Waterstone’s

Lesley Blanch died aged 102 in 2007. Gifted, glamorous and unconventional, she led a life as adventurous as her heroines in The Wilder Shores of Love, her bestselling first book. A scholarly romantic, she created a genre uniquely her own in 12 books ranging over history, biography, travel and food. Her biographer Anne Boston followed a trail via Chiswick, Bulgaria, France, Lithuania and the US, drawing on publishers’ archives, journals and friends’ recollections, to piece together the portrait of an escapist for whom ‘character plus opportunity equals fortune’.

Werewolves and wild things writing for teens

Saturday 21 May, 11.30am
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

Teen writer N M Browne will talk about her experience of exploring the teenage condition through fantasy fiction.

Sunshine state: A reading and discussion

Saturday 21 May, 1.30pm
£5 (£3 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston University

James Miller will be reading excerpts from and discussing his second novel, Sunshine State, a dramatic and controversial re-working of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

The well read play

Monday 23 May, 1pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Rose Theatre

In his new book Stephen Unwin shows us how to read a play, providing clear and practical information to help us understand its workings, from spotting clues that the playwright has planted, to imagining how it can be staged and deciding whether it will stand the test of time. Absorbing and informative, whether it be for purposes of study, staging or simply leisure, The Well Read Play is an entertaining and accessible guide to understanding drama: essential reading for students, directors, teachers and all those who love the theatre.

Fences and Friendships: LIfe as a PoW in Britain

Tuesday 24 May, 1pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Kingston Museum

What was it like to be captured by the British in the Second World War? Sophie Jackson will talk about the journey from capture to camp, via interrogation, re-education and political grading to demonstrate the experiences of a PoW in Britain. In her book, Churchill’s Unexpected Guests, she explores relationships between the British public and their enemy prisoners, their social and work life and the never-ending battle the British camp staff endured to dismantle the Nazi war machine.

The Butterfly Isles

Tuesday 24 May, 7.30pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Tiffin Boys’ School

Butterflies animate our summers, but the 59 species found in the British Isles can be surprisingly elusive. Some bask unseen at the tops of trees in London parks; others lurk at the bottom of damp bogs in Scotland. Patrick Barkham spent one unforgettable summer trying to find every one of them – from the Adonis Blue to the Dingy Skipper. Discover your inner lepidopterist and find out how he did it.

So much for that much

Wednesday 25 May, 1pm
£8 (£5 under-18s)
Venue: Rose Theatre

Lionel Shriver had been – in her own words – ‘scribbling away in obscurity for years’ when she found fame with her Orange Prize-winning novel We Need to Talk About Kevin. Kevin centred on an unempathetic character and raised the issue of whether it is possible to dislike your own child. Her ninth novel, So Much for That, is a tense study of the US healthcare system and offers the same forensic analysis of situations and relationships that is characteristic of all her work. Lionel will talk to Alison Baverstock, Course Leader for Kingston University’s MA in Publishing, about her new book and what draws her to such difficult subjects.

Sacred Treason

Thursday 26 May, 1pm
Free
Venue: Waterstone’s

Dr Ian Mortimer is one of the most innovative historical writers working today in the UK. He is the author of The Sunday Times bestseller The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, which is written wholly in the present tense and addressed to the reader as if he or she really could visit 14th-century England. Writing as James Forrester, his first novel, Sacred Treason, combines the impeccable research of his non-fiction with the power and pace of the best thriller writing.