THE country’s favourite poet, Pam Ayres, comes to Dorchester Arts at the Thomas Hardye School theatre on Sunday 20th September at 5pm, Tiverton Community Arts Theatre at 7.30 on Friday 25th, Taunton Brewhouse on Sunday 27th at 3.30pm, and Weston super Mare Playhouse on Sunday 21st November, with her latest collection, Doggedly Onwards – a…
BATH Children’s Literature Festival returns from Friday 25th September until Sunday 4th October, with a packed programme that ranges from a free Party at the Holburne Museum to a chance to discover the latest How to Train your Dragon adventure. Among the leading children’s writers (and illustrators) taking part will be Katherine Rundell, Michael Rosen…
PERFORMANCE poet Luke Wright has taken his own story of adoption and turned it into a show that is part stand-up and part poetry. Later Life Letter, an evening of warm and honest thoughts, with poems, jokes and some music, returns to the south west on 10th September at Bridport Arts Centre, 11th at Weston-super-Mare…
IF you are old enough to remember the tragic death of Grace Archer in a fire in the stables at Brookfield (in 1955), you have been a fan of the world’s longest running soap for most of its existence. This year marks the 75th anniversary of The Archers, and there are two ways you can…
IF the name John Osborne says “angry young man” to you, don’t worry – the John Osborne who is coming to Dorset with Artsreach on 12th and 13th August wants to spread a little happiness! Already familiar to local audiences with his John Peel’s Shed solo show, the poet and storyteller returns with a new…
SHAFTESBURY independent bookshop The Kitchen Table, which specialises exclusively in food writing, has been named the official bookshop partner for the British Library’s Food Season, which runs to 2nd July and is one of the UK’s leading festivals dedicated to food, culture and storytelling, now in its eighth year. Approached directly by the British Library,…
FROME celebrates the 25th anniversary of its multi-arts festival this year – and the festival opens on 3rd July, just two days after the funeral of Martin Bax, the actor, former town and district councillor and mayor, who became one of Frome’s most loved and valued citizens. A former actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Martin…
CHALKE History Festival, the UK’s leading celebration of history, will return from 22nd to 28th June to bring the past vividly to life through a rich programme of top-class talks, wide-ranging discussions and dynamic living history experiences. The line-up includes classicist Mary Beard, radio presenter and journalist James Naughtie, commentator Anne Applebaum, former White House…
THOMAS Hardy was famously shy, even occasionally slipping out of the back door when people arrived at the front of Max Gate, his home in Dorchester. Now the National Trust has replanted part of a hedge in front of the house, which formerly shielded the writer from prying eyes. Ahead of Thomas Hardy’s birthday on…
THE Irish seem to have a closer relationship with the mystical, the spiritual … the “other side” than many nations. All the Celtic peoples have their mystical side but the Irish have held on to their mythology more, perhaps because the Romans never conquered them. Maggie O’Farrell was born in Coleraine, in Co Londonderry, and…