Berwick Literary Festival Events
Bea Davenport: Writing about the Past – A Creative Writing Workshop
Zoom Webinar ZoomThere's been a recent resurgence in interest in writing and reading about the long or more recent past. Whether you want to write historical fiction, biography or even memoir, join this online session to try out a range of useful creative writing techniques with author Bea Davenport. The workshop will include a break for personal…
Ann Thwaite in conversation with the Rt Revd Dr Stephen Platten
Zoom Webinar ZoomAnn Thwaite has published five major biographies, a family history and numerous children's books. Her life of A.A. Milne won the Whitbread Biography Prize in 1990 and led to the 2017 film Goodbye Christopher Robin. Her biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett has recently been published in a new edition entitled Beyond the Secret Garden as…
Harry Baker: I am 10,000
Zoom Webinar ZoomWorld Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker turns 10,000 days old in style with a new show celebrating language, logic and life itself. This follows a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the first half of a UK tour, before live gigs stopped being a thing. "Harry Baker's intricate, quick-fire rhymes have always been…
Shaun Bythell: Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops
Zoom Webinar ZoomShaun Bythell is a second-hand bookseller in Wigtown, and is the author of two books about book-selling. His third will be published in November. It is guaranteed to offend almost everyone who has ever crossed the threshold of a book shop. Shaun will be interviewed by Michael Gallico, Chairman of the Festival Steering Group…
Tamsin Calidas: I am an Island
Zoom Webinar ZoomTamsin gave up a successful career in London to move to a derelict Hebridean croft. Her extraordinary and moving memoir I am an Island reveals once again the incredible ability of the natural world to provide solace in adversity. Tamsin’s discussion of her experiences illustrates how resilience and belonging comes to each of us differently. Tamsin…
Alex Larman: The Crown in Crisis – the untold story of the abdication and its participants
Zoom Webinar ZoomIn December 1936 Britain faced a constitutional crisis that was the gravest threat to the institution of the monarchy since the execution of Charles I. Alex is an author and journalist whose new book, The Crown in Crisis, is a revelatory account of the abdication using never before seen documents and letters. Alex will discuss…
Simon Boyd: Eyewitness – an English woman’s journey from Northumberland to the Russian Revolution
Zoom Webinar ZoomThe second daughter of Albert, 4th Earl Grey, Simon’s grandmother Lady Sybil Middleton (née Grey), was born into a world of privilege. She was nevertheless avid for new experiences and loved adventurous travel, which led her on an extraordinary journey from comfortable Edwardian society to Russia at war and then the maelstrom of the Russian…
Jessie Greengrass in conversation with Dr Nolan Dalrymple
Zoom Webinar ZoomJessie lives in Berwick. Nolan's interview of Jessie was a highlight of our 2019 festival. Her short story collection, An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One who Saw It, won the Edge Hill Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award. Her novel Sight was shortlisted for the Women's Prize and the…
Ursula Buchan: Did we really Dig for Victory?
Zoom Webinar ZoomUrsula Buchan is an award-winning author and journalist, writing mainly about gardening and social history. These two preoccupations come together in 'A Green and Pleasant Land: How England's Gardeners Fought the Second World War', published by Hutchinson in 2013. Drawing on the research for that book she will address the question: 'Did we really Dig…
Jen Gale: The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide – Everything you need to know to make small changes that make a big difference
Zoom Webinar ZoomJen is an ordinary, knackered mum of two who writes and podcasts about all things sustainable(ish). Join her as she shares easy eco-friendly tips and sustainable(ish) swaps YOU can make, and why we all need to embrace the ‘ish’ in sustainable(ish). Jen writes: I spent a year buying nothing new with my young family and for…
Steve Richards: The Prime Ministers – Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson
Zoom Webinar ZoomSteve Richards will reflect on the qualities and flaws of all modern Prime Ministers from Harold Wilson to Boris Johnson. He will argue that the most successful election winning Prime Ministers have one distinct quality: they are political teachers. He will also explain why Boris Johnson is unique as a Prime Minister. Learn the lessons…
Pauline Beaumont: Bread Therapy – The Mindful Art of Baking Bread
Zoom Webinar ZoomEarly in lockdown it seemed as if almost everybody was making bread. Pauline believes that making bread can be more than just producing nourishing loaves. It can provide us with insights into ourselves and show us life lessons that help us to keep well, both physically and mentally. In transforming flour, water and salt into…
Brian Ward: Before Martin Luther King – Frederick Douglass and Abolitionism in the North East
Zoom Webinar ZoomBrian is Professor in American Studies at Northumbria University and author of ten books, including Martin Luther King in Newcastle Upon Tyne. His talk on Martin Luther King's visit to Newcastle was a highlight of our 2019 festival. This year his talk will focus on Frederick Douglass, a slave whose freedom was purchased by…
Stuart Cosgrove: Cassius X – A Legend in the Making
Zoom Webinar ZoomStuart was Media Editor of NME, an executive at Channel 4, and he presents BBC Scotland's radio show 'Off the Ball'. Following his award-winning soul trilogy, his new research shines a light on how black music lit up the sixties against a backdrop of social and political turmoil and how Cassius Clay, a remarkable witness…