Sturminster Newton Literary Festival focuses on celebrating three writers associated with the town (Thomas Hardy, William Barnes, and Robert Young), current Dorset and Wessex writers, and aspiring writers of the future. The festival has a range of talks, workshops, guided walks, and collaborative events with local businesses to promote writing from the region.

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Events 2025

A Casterbridge Tale. Michael Langridge in Conversation with Tracy Hayes

A Casterbridge Tale. Michael Langridge in Conversation with Tracy Hayes

Friday 13th June 2025
16:00
The Exchange, Sturminster Newton

Michael Langridge, in conversation with Dr Tracy Hayes, talks about his latest novel, ‘A Casterbridge Tale’. Set in Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, it is a crime novel featuring Detective Inspector Hawkins, a principal character from his highly acclaimed first novel ‘A Second Mrs Clare’. In ‘A Casterbridge Tale’. Hawkins must negotiate his way between his duty and his conscience, jeopardising his career and his life as he tracks down the instigators of a brutal and outrageous crime.