Celia Brayfield will talk about her book Writing Black Beauty and how Anna Sewell influenced the development of the animal welfare movement in Victorian Britain.
Historian, broadcaster and best-selling author Taylor Downing discusses the remarkable deception campaigns which surrounded and made possible the D-Day invasion 80 years ago.
Jim Carter discusses his unique and engaging biography of the ships HMS Effingham, Hawkins and Nubian, their crews, commanding officers and the development of the Royal Navy between 1918 and 1941 with the life of one man, Able Seaman Herbert Leeder, at its core.
To celebrate 150 years of the publication of Far From The Madding Crowd, we’re showing the classic 2009 film made by Gryphon School students and an opportunity to meet the actors 15 years on.
Elizabeth will talk about how she came to write Becoming Liz Taylor, the inspiration behind the story, the research she undertook, and why she chose to set it in Weston-super-Mare. She will explore the theme of loss in the novel, and the connection between grief, memory and stories.
Enjoy a meandering walk in and at the southern edges of Marnhull, the village that is Marlott in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Marlott was where Tess grew up; the home that she left four times and to which she returned on three.
Inanna is the first novel in an epic trilogy set in the lost world of Ancient Sumer, the world’s first civilisation. It is a retelling of the very oldest pieces of literature in existence, including the Epic of Gilgamesh and The Descent of Inanna.
Emily H Wilson will be speaking about Inanna and the Epic of Gilgamesh in conversation with Jenny Devitt.
Set in the Somerset Levels, The House of Broken Bricks is Fiona William’s debut novel. Fiona will be discussing the inspiration for the book and her writing with Jenny Devitt.
Ambassador for the Cure Parkinson’s Trust, and Parkinson’s Africa, Guy Deacon was diagnosed with Parkinson’s while serving in the Royal Armoured Corps. He went on to drive the length of Africa improving knowledge of the condition and dispelling the myths that Parkinson’s is caused by witchcraft, is contagious, and that any meaningful life ends as soon as it is diagnosed.
Guilty or innocent? You decide. Best-selling author Mark Bridgeman will be taking the part of judge, prosecution and defence when he presents a real-life murder trial at this year’s Sturminster Newton Literary Festival – in which YOU the audience will become the jury!
David Fox leads a circular walk to Bagber and includes places and sights that would have been familiar to William Barnes, Thomas Hardy and Robert Young.