BEST-SELLING novelist Joanne Harris, the author of Chocolat, is one of the headline names at this year’s tenth anniversary Marlborough Literature Festival, which runs from 26th to 29th September. She will be talking about The Strawberry Thief, the fourth in the series that began 20 years ago, introducing a spellbound readership to the seductive charms…
APRIL sees the 150th anniversary of the publication of one of the best-loved West Country novels (yes, even more than Poldark!) – RD Blackmore’s Lorna Doone. The anniversary is being celebrated across Exmoor, where the novel is set, with a series of events throughout the year, looking at the links between the book and the culture,…
LIBBY Page, the best-selling author of The Lido, who used to live in North Dorset and was head girl of Gillingham School, returns to Gillingham on Thursday 25th April, to talk about her first novel, a joyful and moving portrait of friendship, community and the importance of memory and the small things that hold us…
THE competitions for this year’s Wells Literature Festival have been launched, with classes for poetry, short stories, books for children and young poets, with a closing date of 30th June. The judges are award-winning poet Simon Armitage (open poetry, pictured)), Mark McCrum (short stories), Gill Lewis (books for children) and Miriam Nash (young poets). The…
DAME Jacqueline Wilson, best-selling and award-winning author books for children, including Hetty Feather and Wave Me Goodbye, is coming to the Merlin Theatre at Frome on Sunday 28th April at 2pm, for an event presented by the town’s Hunting Raven bookshop. Jacqueline, who is also famous for her fantastic collection of silver rings, will be…
WORDS Take Wings, at Dorchester Corn Exchange on Wednesday 24th April, is an original folk-drama which draws on Thomas Hardy’s notebooks. Hardy kept a private journal in which he recorded reports and anecdotes from local papers and magazines such as the Dorset County Chronicle that amused or interested him. They tell of 19th century lives and…
SIXTY years ago, the American novelist, John Steinbeck, who would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, came to Bruton to research and write a modern translation of the Morte d’Arthur, written by Thomas Malory in the 15th century. Steinbeck, who was already famous for his novels Of Mice and Men and The…
SIMON Williams, the actor, witty Telegraph columnist and regular Archers cast member, and his real life wife and Archers ex-wife, Lucy Fleming, are coming to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis on Friday 26th April. The couple, who play Justin Elliott and his frightful ex-wife Miranda, will be reading the wartime letters between Celia Johnson…
FOR most of the year, the Chalke Valley west of Salisbury is a quiet area of rolling chalk downs, silvery streams, sheep and walkers – but for one week in June it becomes the world’s largest festival devoted to history. This year’s Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival runs from Monday 24th to Sunday 30th…
POPULAR television history presenter Sam Willis, of BBC’s The Silk Road and Invasion!, and professor of history James Daybell bring their new Histories of the Unexpected show to the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis on Saturday 6th April. Histories of the Unexpected Live demonstrates how everything has a history, even the most unexpected of subjects,…