HEXHAM BOOK FESTIVAL 24th April – 3rd May 2020 www.hexhambookfestival.co.ukwww.queenshall.co.uk 01 Welcome to Hexham Book Festival 2020 Life, O Henry said, is mainly laughter and sniffles. We’ve plenty of each at this year’s Hexham Book Festival alongside doses of insight and illumination, geography, biography, geology, ecology and cookery. Sir Oliver Letwin and Paul Mason share their concerns about the way tech is shaping our world. John Suchet and A.N Wilson reveal the darkness in the lives of two of the artistic giants of the nineteenth century. Shifting – slightly – from reality, the irrepressible Jenny Eclair talks about a novel that endorses O Henry’s maxim, there’s a chance to sample a trio of the biggest forthcoming books of 2020 at The Proof Party and Holly McNish delivers a storming poetry set. And then, inevitably, there’s Brexit. Ed Stourton and Gavin Esler are on hand to offer their views of the gift that keeps on giving. This year we are also delighted to welcome the Spiegeltent to the Festival. Situated in the Abbey Grounds, this quirky, cosy Belgian mirrored tent will be hosting The Gillian Dickinson Trust Children’s Festival with events for children, young people and their families. We’re excited to have Specsavers Hexham as principal sponsor of the 2020 Festival – helping us all to see and hear more clearly and supporting us with a fabulous offer – see P2. Remember, you can buy all your tickets online – and receive 15% discount when you buy tickets to 4 events. See page 44 for details.

Please note, there are planned roadworks on the A69 at the Hexham roundabout both east and west bound, please make allowances for your journey time.

Jung Chang Paul Mason Jenny Eclair George Alagiah

© Xiao-hong Zhang © Ray Burminston © Jeff Overs

Media partners for 2020: Principal Sponsor:

Hexham Book Festival is a Community Interest Company working in partnership with Queen’s Hall Arts. 02 www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 03 THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL THURSDAY 19 MARCH – Pre Festival Event The Gillian Dickinson Trust Children’s Festival will be in a 6.30pm-9.30pm Spiegeltent on the Abbey Grounds from 24th – 30th April, coinciding with the Spring Fair on 25th April. Horatio Clare – Icebreaker Talk followed by screening of Chasing Ice (2012), Look out for an exciting programme for all ages including as part of Tyne Valley Film Festival Roald Dahl & the Imagination Seekers, a brand new Circus Show Will Mackie and a host of children’s authors – see page 37 for full details. Forum Cinema £10 | Includes talk and film. Tickets from Forum Cinema forumhexham.com A joint event with Northumberland Libraries & Read Regional

After an invitation from the Finnish embassy to spend time on board government icebreaker Otso, travel writer Horatio Clare set out on a voyage around a fabulous and mysterious seascape, the frozen Gulf of Bothnia, just below the Arctic Circle. From the crew of the icebreaker, Clare heard epic stories of Finland, her seamen and the untamed, snowbound north. He came to appreciate the delicate beauty of ice, a near-miraculous substance which cools the planet, Special Offer gives the stars their sparkle and which may hold all our futures in its from Specsavers crystals. Visit www.tynevalleyfilmfestival.com for TVFF programme. Struggling to read this programme? This offer could be just for you!

We are delighted to welcome Specsavers Hexham as our principal sponsor for 2020. FRIDAY 24 APRIL As part of this exciting new partnership Specsavers Hexham are generously offering the first 1000 ticket holders a very special discount on a new pair of glasses*. 7.30pm-10pm

Find out more at hexhambookfestival.co.uk or ask in store for details. Hexham Book Festival Funny Words Comedy Gala *Terms and conditions apply. Spiegeltent £15 | Suitable for 16+

Launching an evening programme of events in the Spiegeltent with our partners Queen’s Hall. This fabulous new venue hosts © Steve Ullathorne a line-up of top comedians showcasing the best of UK comedy, NEW WRITING STAGETEXT all of whom are headliners in their own right. COMMISSIONS 2020 Featuring: This year we have been supported by Britain’s Got Talent winner Lost Voice Guy – he may not be able As part of our new Festival for young people, private donations to bring a whole day to talk but he definitely has something to say. Arts Council England have supported eight new of Stagetext to the Festival. On Saturday commissions over two years. This year we are BGT semi finalistJonny Awsum – author of three hit Edinburgh 2nd May all our events in Queen’s Hall Festival Fringe shows. delighted to present work from some wonderful Theatre will be transcribed by Stagetext Northumberland based writers, three of whom are Award winning Ada Campe – true variety at its very best. also known as speech-to-text transcription yet to be published. Come and hear the new work Top Geordie comic Gavin Webster – bold provocative from Sarah Davy, Gwennie Frazer, Hilary Elder (STT), helping those in the audience who and charming. are hard of hearing and making the events and Angela Readman in the Spiegeltent on Steve Shanyaski – “Like a mixture between Eddie Izzard Monday 27th April. more accessible to all. and Peter Kay…..with a guitar”. FREE but ticketed (includes glass of wine) Star of Channel 4’s ‘The Tez O’Clock Show’ Tez Ilyas. 04 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 05 SATURDAY 25 APRIL

12pm-1pm Chris Mullin The Remarkable Rise and Inevitable Fall of Jeremy Corbyn Theatre, Queen’s Hall £9/£7

Former government minister and author, Chris Mullin, on why Labour lost and what must be done if it is to stand any chance of © Pablo Strong © Anna Tochter regaining power. Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, he says, has been 1.45pm-2.45pm 3pm-4.30pm an interesting experiment, but one that was always destined to end badly. To stand any chance of winning again Labour must Lauren Bravo New Voices recapture the centre ground. How to Break Up with Proof Party Fast Fashion Liv Chapman 1.30pm-2.30pm Liv Chapman Theatre, Queen’s Hall £9 | Includes a copy of all 3 books Library, Queen’s Hall 3.15pm-4.15pm £8/£6 Jung Chang A genuine chance to get Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister Learn how to refresh your ahead of the crowd. This is a Jake Jones clothes rack the environmentally unique opportunity to hear the Dr Eleanor Spencer-Regan, Durham University Can You Hear Me? -friendly way with style journalist authors of a trio of the most Theatre, Queen’s Hall Lauren Bravo. Approximately eagerly anticipated UK novels Sheilagh Matheson £9/£7 300,000 tonnes of discarded of the summer talk about their Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 ‘One loved money, one loved power and one loved her country.’ clothing are dumped into Britain’s forthcoming books. Hazel Barkworth gives the lowdown © Xiao-hong Zhang International bestselling Chinese author, Jung Chang’s brilliant landfill sites every year, making For ten years Jake Jones has on her heady and compulsive new biography Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at ‘fast fashion’ a genuinely toxic worked in the UK Ambulance dark romance, Heatstroke, a the Heart of Twentieth-Century China tells the gripping story of the problem. Drawing on her own Service. Every day, he sees scorching story of obsession, extraordinary Soong sisters from Shanghai. These three remarkable experience as a planet-aware dozens of the sort of scenes power and betrayal. Janet women would, via their own and their husbands’ positions of power, fashion-devotee, Bravo outlines most of us hope never to come Skeslian Charles reveals the help shape events in twentieth-century China, leaving an indelible how we can find sustainable across in a lifetime. Can You amazing facts that lie behind mark on history. This is a compelling story of love, war, exile, intrigue, ways of shopping without Hear Me? is an account of the her gripping and poignant tale glamour and betrayal, told with Chang’s unique blend of the sacrificing personal style, chaos, intensity and occasional of courage and human decency intimate and the epic. discusses how to change your comedy of life on the frontlines in Nazi-occupied France, mind-set when shopping for of medicine. Featuring dozens Jung Chang is the acclaimed author of three previous non-fiction The Paris Library, while Holly clothes and reveals lots of of extraordinary encounters – books including Wild Swans, a group biography of Chang’s mother Miller previews her eagerly fresh ways to give those old the hoarder who won’t move and grandmother, and of herself, which has been translated into awaited debut, a moving and garments in your wardrobe his collection to let his ailing 37 languages and is one of the biggest selling non-fiction works unforgettable high-concept a new lease of life. father leave the house, the of all-time. It remains banned in her native China. love story about fear of the blood-soaked man who tries future and terror of the past, to escape from the ambulance The Sight of You. All three – Can You Hear Me? is a novels created a massive buzz painfully honest examination amongst British publishers and of the highs and lows of doing are destined to be the most a life or death job. talked about books of the year. Attendees will each receive special proof copies of the novels to take home. 06 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 07 SATURDAY 25 APRIL (cont.)

5pm-6pm 6.15pm-7.15pm Gavin Esler Daisy Waugh Brexit without In the Crypt with the Bullsh*t a Candlestick Theatre, Queen’s Hall Sheilagh Matheson £10/£8 Library, Queen’s Hall 4.45pm-5.45pm £8/£6 Will Brexit create more jobs? Mike Cawthorne Or punch holes in the NHS? Best known for her engaging Walking Through And what about food and drug series of Tarot Card crime yarns, shortages? Mixing personal with the inherited wit of her Shadows anecdotes, reportage and expert grandfather Evelyn Waugh, Caroline Beck reports, the former-Newsnight novelist Daisy Waugh presents Library, Queen’s Hall presenter discusses the impact a new and original twist on the £8/£6 of Brexit on everything from ever popular country house Kent market stalls to hospital murder mystery. Combining In Walking Through Shadows operating theatres and reveals the traditions of two great but Mike Cawthorne describes a the damage that leaving the very different British writers, winter trek across ‘The Rough European Union has done, and Agatha Christie and P.G. Bounds’ in memory of his will do, to education, medical Wodehouse, her hilarious take friend, Clive Dennier, a popular care, businesses and other on this most English of genres Inverness journalist, who died important areas of British life. comes complete with a dazzling on the Knoydart Peninsula He will also talk frankly about cast of stiff upper lips, a cabinet in March 2013 but whose body untruths that some politicians of even stiffer drinks, enough wasn’t found until weeks later. have peddled and how they family skeletons to fill the As well as a travelogue about a have prospered by doing so. largest closet and the corpse rugged, freezing journey across Brexit Without the Bullsh*t is of the late and unlamented some of the wildest and most not about the Brexit you were Lady Tode in the mausoleum. remote places in Britain, this is promised. It’s about the one also a meditation on themes that we are all going to have of grief, chance, mental illness to live with. and the healing power of the mountains. It’s a tale of extreme adventure that grapples with issues of vital importance to us all. 08 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 09 SATURDAY 25 APRIL (cont.) SUNDAY 26 APRIL

7.30pm-8.45pm Jenny Eclair Inheritance Steve Drayton, BBC Newcastle Theatre, Queen’s Hall £12/£10 Sponsored by: Nicholson Portnell

© Ray Burminston Popular broadcaster, comedian, actor and best-selling author, © Lucinda Douglas-Menzies Jenny Eclair is one of only two female winners of the prestigious 10am-12pm 11am-12pm Perrier Award, and often features on BBC radio and television, best known for her roles in Grumpy Old Women and Loose Women. Her fifth novel Inheritance deals with a premature death and the Linda France Dan Jackson tremors it sends through generations of the Cornish Carmichael Writing Workshop: The Northumbrians family. Told with the author’s inimitable wit and observational and The Poetry of Where – Illustrated Talk –at times -dark humour, it’s a poignant examination of filial secrets, We Live unspoken tragedy and domestic turmoil with healthy dollops of Theatre, Queen’s Hall both chuckles and tears. Eclair describes it as, “A fruitcake of a book, White Room, Queen’s Hall 10.30am-11.30am £8/£6 £20 | Limited places a cosy reading experience where you just get stuck in and want In his new history of North East another chapter and then another chapter. I love a good Aga-saga”. Poet Linda France, Climate Esther Rutter England, Whitley-Bay born Dan Ambassador for New Writing This Golden Fleece Jackson explores the roots of Northumbrian culture – hard North and Newcastle University, Claire Malcolm, New Writing North work, heavy drinking, sociability, will lead a reflective workshop Library, Queen’s Hall sentimentality, militarism and on Place, exploring ecological £8/£6 themes. How might we masculinity— in centuries of authentically express our Esther Rutter learnt to spin, border warfare and demanding appreciation of where we weave and knit as a child work in industry, at sea and live, taking into account the growing up on a Suffolk sheep underground. The Northumbrians changes we are witnessing farm. For her latest book, she have often been overlooked in British and global history, but 7.30pm-Late in weather, landscapes and spent a year with needles in biodiversity? Can our writing hand, travelling the country have made astonishing help us – and others – to see to unravel Britain’s history and contributions to both. From the Confetti Cabaret in the Spiegeltent with new eyes and look ahead culture through what was once Venerable Bede and the Prince Spiegeltent with active hope? Is it possible the nation’s most valuable natural Bishops of Durham to Admiral £7/£5 | Suitable for 18+ to ‘write local but think resource: wool. It was a journey Collingwood, Viz and Geordie global’? Beginners and that took her from Border mills Shore, Jackson reveals a part The Confetti Cabaret presents “Lord Maverick’s Wonder Emporium” more experienced writers to Parliament’s Woolsack and of England whose future may a night filled with rib-tickling comedy, spectacular circus acts and are welcome. the empty landscapes of the be uncertain, but whose interactive performances! Combining the sophisticated and the Highland Clearances. This people remain as durable unexpected this is an invitation to step into a past indulgent era Golden Fleece is both a and remarkable as ever. of glamorous underground cabaret; where drinks are plentiful, the thoughtful examination of the entertainment is daring and the company is suave. Skilled circus © ????? craft and history of knitting, and performers and actors ask audiences to leave their reservations a wide-ranging exploration of at the door and expect a night of wild fun and game playing wool’s influence on our amongst high class circus entertainment. landscape, history and culture. 10 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 11 SUNDAY 26 APRIL (cont.)

© Russell Wastson © Nottingham Trent University © Charlie Hopkinson © Heather Rajaratnam 12pm-1pm 12.30pm-1.30pm 1.30pm-2.30pm 2pm-3pm 3.30pm-4.30pm Ingrid Persaud Angela Gallop Lennie Goodings Thomas Grant Tom Gauld Love After Love – When the Dogs A Bite of the Apple Court One: The Department of Book Group Event Don’t Bark Claire Malcolm, New Writing North The Old Bailey Mind-Blowing Theories Helen Taylor Judith O’Reilly Library, Queen’s Hall Judge Edward Bindloss William Pym Library, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 Theatre, Queen’s Hall 3pm-4pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall £5/£4 | Groups of 4 or more £8/£6 £10/£8 £8/£6 Lennie Goodings is Chair of Trinidadian-born writer Ingrid One of the world’s most the UK British publishing house Thomas Grant QC is a practising Helen Taylor Cartoonist and illustrator Persaud’s first novel If I Never respected forensic scientists, Virago Press. Her authors barrister and bestselling author Why Women Tom Gauld is the man behind Went Home was published in Angela Gallop has helped include, among others, Margaret of Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Read Fiction laugh-out-loud, hyper-minimalist 2013. Her short story The Sweet solve many high-profile cases Atwood, Maya Angelou, Sarah Histories. Both educational and comic strips and illustrations that Sop was the overall winner of including the killings of Stephen Dunant, Sarah Waters, Naomi astonishing, his latest book, Claire Malcolm, New Writing North appear weekly in The Guardian the 2017 Commonwealth Short Lawrence, Damilola Taylor, Wolf, Linda Grant, Natasha Court One: The Old Bailey & Library, Queen’s Hall and New Scientist and regularly £8/£6 Story Prize, and in 2018 won Rachel Nickell and Roberto Walter, Kate Figes, Joan The Criminal Trials That Made in the New Yorker. Department Bakewell, Shirley Williams, the BBC National Short Story Calvi. Her fascinating memoir Modern Britain, tells the inside What is it about reading fiction of Mind-Blowing Theories Rachel Seiffert, Sandi Toksvig Award. Her dazzling new novel When the Dogs Don’t Bark: A story of eleven of the most that women love? Where and features Facebookers mocking and Marilynne Robinson. Love After Love is the story Forensic Scientist’s Search for sensational human dramas ever when do women read? And Darwin, a dog philosopher Decades on from Virago’s of an unconventional modern the Truth is more riveting than to be played out in a criminal why is it that women make up questioning the concept of founding, the landscape of Trinidadian family and the any crime fiction. It tells the story court. As Grant shows, while the majority of book-club and being ‘a good boy’, angst-ridden publishing, bookselling and universal quest for affection. of her forty year career, from her Court One may be notorious for library members, audiences at particles and poodles pouring politics may have changed Told in original and electrifying first crime scene in a case that its murder trials, it also provides literary festivals and bookshop out of a wormhole. Topical, dramatically, but Goodings prose, it’s a tale of secrets, involved the Yorkshire Ripper, a record of the changing face events? Drawing on interviews smart, aware and very funny, continues to publish books that cultural complexity and the to her work today as one of the of modern British society, with more than 500 women, Gauld is guaranteed to make champion women’s writing and, consequences of desperate UK’s most sought after cold bearing witness to changing Taylor – the Emeritus Professor you smile whether you’re a as her new memoir, A Bite of choices that crackles with case investigators. attitudes to homosexuality, of English at Exeter University – science dunderhead, or the Apple: A Life With Books, linguistic invention and the death penalty, freedom reveals how reading fiction has someone who considers Writers and Virago clearly irrepressible Caribbean wit. of expression, insanity and become, for many women, an themselves a well-informed shows, remains as passionate the psychology of violence. important and integral part of student of the physical and Bring your Book Group along and committed as ever. Thomas will be in conversation natural world. to this celebration of Book life. Whether as a means of with Edward Bindloss who being alone, or a chance to be Groups and enjoy discount contributed to his book. on groups of 4 or more. part of a community, reading fiction is a life-enhancer and even, sometimes, a life-saver. 12 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 13 SUNDAY 26 APRIL (cont.)

7pm-9pm Quiz of Thrones in the Spiegeltent Spiegeltent £7 | Includes a drink

A quiz completely dedicated to Game of Thrones. Join us in the Spiegeltent for a quiz night jam packed with games, prizes and pints. We include general questions as well as death match rounds, dress up rounds and impressions! Lead by Games Master

© Nathalie Weatherald Will Borrell this inventive quiz style is made for those who fancy something a bit different as well as love a good old fashioned pub 4.30pm-5.30pm 6.30pm-7.30pm quiz. The quiz event will run for 2 hours with an interval. Samir Puri Louise Doughty The Great Imperial Platform Seven MONDAY 27 APRIL Hangover Theatre, Queen’s Hall 6pm-7pm Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 £8/£6 5pm-6pm Two apparent suicides on the Exploring Rural Realities – New Commission same railway line just eighteen For the first time in millennia Spiegeltent FREE but ticketed | Includes glass of wine we live in a world without formal Prashant Kidambi months apart. Is there a empires. But that doesn’t mean Cricket Country connection between both Join us to hear new work from the writers specially commissioned as part of our Children’s Festival: their historic presence isn’t still – Illustrated Talk events and, if so, what can it Sarah Davy, Angela Readman, Gwennie Frazer and Hilary Elder. rumbling through contemporary be? Lisa Evans is desperate global politics. In The Great Theatre, Queen’s Hall to find out. Perhaps that’s Imperial Hangover, Samir Puri £8/£6 unsurprising. After all, she was examines how imperial legacies the first victim. Platform Seven With the story of the first All‘ still shape and define the is the ninth novel from Indian’ cricket team to play toughest issues we face today. bestselling author Louise on the fields of imperial Britain, From Russia’s incursions in the Doughty (Apple Tree Yard). Kidambi shows how the idea Ukraine to Brexit; from Trump’s A tense, twisting supernatural of Indian nationhood took ‘America-first’ wall building thriller about the consequences shape on the pitch long rhetoric to China’s forays into of mistaking possessiveness for before India gained political Africa; from Modi’s India to the love, Platform Seven transforms independence. The tour – lead bloodshed of the Middle East. the mundane setting of by the extravagant Maharaja Puri’s study provides a striking Peterborough Station into a of Patiala- took place in new framework for chilling locale worthy of MR Edwardian Britain during understanding our world’s James and keeps readers cricket’s ‘Golden Age’ against complex rivalries and politics. guessing till the final, nerve- the backdrop of anti-colonial jangling scene. protest and revolutionary terrorism. He explains how the tour epitomised the way sport, particularly cricket, helped to fashion the imaginary communities of nations across the British Empire. 14 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 15 TUESDAY 28 APRIL WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL

6pm-7pm Two Chubby Cubs The Cook Book, James & Paul Anderson Steve Drayton, BBC Newcastle Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6

Paul and James Anderson shot to fame in 2018 when they appeared on This Time Next Year and shed over eighteen stones between them. The secret of their miraculous weight loss: true, © Getty Images © Flynn Maxwell Warren honest home cooking that helped them drop the pounds without 6pm-7pm 7.30pm-9.30pm leaving them feeling hungry or hard done by. Following on from their hugely successful blog and Facebook page, The Chubby Cubs new cookery book features 100 never-before-seen recipes David Laws An evening with that demonstrate that whether you are a meat-eater or a vegan, Who Killed Kitchener? Valentine Warner eating well and losing weight never has to be a tasteless chore. Harry Pearson and Hepple Gin Theatre, Queen’s Hall Caroline Beck £8/£6 7.30pm-8.30pm Spiegeltent 6.15pm-7.15pm In June 1916, Field Marshal Lord £12/£10 | Includes tastings Kitchener – best remembered Henry Hemming Supported by: Victoria Hislop today as the face on the Our Man in New York Hepple Gin and Fentimans Those Who Are Loved recruiting poster – set sail from Harry Pearson Valentine Warner will talk about Orkney on a secret mission to Sheilagh Matheson Theatre, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 Theatre, Queen’s Hall his aptly named book The Russia. Just a mile off land his £8/£6 Consolation of Food followed Following on from the success of The Island, The Sunrise and Cartes ship, HMS Hampshire suffered by an opportunity to meet the Postales from Greece, Victoria Hislop’s latest novel, Those Who a huge explosion and sank. The author of bestselling M: Hepple Gin team, plus tastings. Are Loved, is set against the backdrop of the German occupation Crew and passengers Maxwell Knight, MI5’s Greatest © Bill Waters of Greece in World War II, the subsequent civil war and military numbered 749; only twelve Spy talks about his latest book Valentine originally trained as dictatorship. The novel sheds light on the complexity and trauma survived. Kitchener’s body Our Man in New York. It’s the a portrait painter and went on of Greece’s past and weaves an epic tale of an ordinary woman was never recovered. Public eye-opening story of how MI6 to become a chef in London compelled to live an extraordinary life. suspicion fell upon everybody spymaster William Stephenson kitchens before running his from the German secret service set up an undercover operation own catering company and to the IRA, but no definitive in the USA that used ‘fake news’, thence his own television answer was ever forthcoming opinion polls, and pressure series. Widely celebrated for from the government. Using groups to help sway American his deep understanding of newly released secret files, opinion in 1941 and bring a ingredients both wild and former-Cabinet minister, David previously reluctant USA into cultivated, Warner is the author Laws uncovers the truth behind World War Two. It’s a tale with of four cookery books and the the death that shook Great contemporary resonance and co-founder of the Hepple Britain and which has been one that’s close to Hemming’s Distillery in Morpeth. shrouded in mystery ever since. heart – Stephenson not only asked his grandmother to be The a spy, but also saved the life TRUE TASTE of the author’s father. of WILD JUNIPER

hepplespirits.com @hepple_spirits /hepplespirits 16 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 17 WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL (cont.) THURSDAY 30 APRIL

© Marzena Pogorzaly 7.30pm-9pm 7.45pm-8.45pm 8pm-10pm 2pm-3.30pm 6pm-7pm Kirsten Gilmour George Szirtes Hollie McNish Katy Beskow David Crystal Mountain Café The Photographer & Friends Cookery Let’s Talk. How English Cook Book at Sixteen Performance Poetry Demonstration Conversation Works Anna Hedworth, The Grazer Sheilagh Matheson Spiegeltent at Linnels Farm Theatre, Queen’s Hall (the-grazer.blogspot.com) Theatre, Queen’s Hall £10/£8 | Suitable for 16+ £8/£6 Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 Five Ingredient Vegan 6.15pm-7.15pm £15 | Includes tastings Hollie returns to Hexham and Linnels Farm, Linnels Bank A third of the seven billion George Szirtes was born in is joined by Dean Atta and £27 | Limited places people in the world speak Kate Kirkpatrick New Zealander, Kirsten Hungary and emigrated to Michael Pederson. English, with just 400 million of Becoming Beauvoir: Gilmour settled in Aviemore England with his parents – Whether you’re new to eating them using it as a first language. after falling in love with the survivors of concentration Hollie leads the evening with vegan, a veteran looking for Sixty to seventy new Englishes A Life area during a weekend ski-trip and labour camps – after the topics that range through guilt, some fresh ideas, or need tips have emerged in the last fifty Serena Field in the Cairngorms and shortly crushing of the 1956 Budapest sex, politics, parenthood, for when a visitor announces years alone, and the ‘lingua Library, Queen’s Hall afterwards took over the town’s uprising. His first book, ‘The friendship and school discos they are vegan at the last minute, franca’ in Europe is emerging £8/£6 rundown Mountain Café, Slant Door’ (1979), won the with a keen eye for absurdity you will love Katy’s delicious as another English too. For gradually transforming it into a Faber Memorial Prize. Bridge and a relish for rhyme. Humane, and undemanding dishes. sure. Can the world’s most Simone de Beauvoir famously gourmet destination. Gilmour’s Passages (1991) was shortlisted refreshingly candid, sometimes Katy will share recipes that acquisitive and adaptable wrote ‘one is not born a first book The Mountain Café for the Whitbread Poetry Prize. quite rude and often very funny. don’t require advanced cooking communications tool just keep woman, but becomes one’. Cookbook; A Kiwi in the Reel (2004) won the TS Eliot Dean Atta – named as “one of techniques and hours spent in growing? Crystal has written Kate Kirkpatrick is a lecturer in Cairngorms sold out within the Prize, and his New and poetry’s greatest modern the kitchen, using ingredients more than 100 books on the religion, philosophy and culture first month of publication and Collected Poems was voices” by Gay Times, his work that most of us have in our English language. In his latest at King’s College London. In her is now in its fifth printing. published by Bloodaxe in has appeared on BBC One, store cupboard! All from her work he examines the cultural ground-breaking new biography Passionate and straight-talking, 2008. His latest book The BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service wonderful collection of books misunderstandings and the she charts how the writer of Gilmour transmits the sheer joy Photographer at Sixteen is a and Channel 4, often dealing – there will be tastings too. huge gains internationally The Second Sex not only of growing and cooking your tender yet unsparing memoir with themes of gender, identity, that accrue when people from became a woman but also own food, while offering genuine of his mother that flows race and growing up. Michael different cultures communicate herself. Using never-before- insight into the challenges of backwards through time, and Pederson has added to his fluently in a global language. seen diaries and letters the life as a head chef. A buffet through a tumultuous period acclaimed debut collection author tackles the many of savoury and sweet delights of European history. Play with Me with the beautifully distortions that plagued de prepared by Kirsten from her illustrated Oyster. Pedersen Beauvoir during her lifetime book is included in the ticket also co-runs and co-founded and after her death, including price for this event. Neu! Reekie! – a prize winning those revolving around her Scottish arts collective. relationship with the intellectually domineering Jean Paul Sartre. 18 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 19 THURSDAY 30 APRIL (cont.)

© Ray Wells 7.30pm-9.30pm 7.45pm-8.45pm Victoria Melody Judith O’Reilly Spiegeltent Curse the Day £10/£7.50 (Student) Library, Queen’s Hall Award-winning artist, Victoria £8/£6 Melody, presents her new show 7.30pm-8.30pm The second of the Michael North Professional Stranger, about crime thrillers by the author of Mike Berners-Lee her attempts at becoming a Wife in the North, Judith O’Reilly, stand-up comedian. sees the ex-assassin turned There is No Planet B Wearing technology that shows spy-for-hire pairing up with Simon Pryde, BBC Newcastle in real time what happens to a teenage hacker and a Theatre, Queen’s Hall the brain when you tell jokes, prize-winning ethicist to £8/£6 Victoria reveals what happened investigate the brutal murder when she immersed herself of tech genius Tobias Hawke, Feeding the world, climate into the world of British amateur The only witness? Hawke’s change, biodiversity, plastics stand-up comedy. flagship project, a machine- – the list of concerns seems learning AI device named Syd endless. But which is most that it appeared was destined pressing, what are the to change the fate of humanity. knock-on effects of our actions, But Syd has gone into shut Gardening, cookery and what should we tackle down mode and North and his first? Do we all need to become chums must find some way to and floristry courses in vegetarian? Should we still fly discover what information on an idyllic country setting in a low-carbon world? Should the death of her creator those we frack? How can we take neural networks are hiding. Vegetable Growing control of technology? Does it all come down to population? Cupcakes for Easter Fortunately, Mike Berners-Lee Growing Cut Flowers has crunched the numbers and The Virgin Gardener plotted a course of action that is practical and even enjoyable. Prices start from £40. Accessible and entertaining, There is No Planet B maps For the full range of courses and out the solutions. details visit www.linnelsfarm.com or call Karen on: 07832 132483 20 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 21 FRIDAY 1 MAY

6.30pm-7.30pm Helen Berry Orphans of Empire Jacqui Hodgson Theatre, Queen’s Hall £8/£6

In Orphans of Empire, historian Helen Berry tells the story of the London Foundling Hospital and the 6000 children who passed 10am-11am 11.30am-12.30pm 2pm-3.30pm through it from the hospitals foundation in 1741 until the mid- Victorian era when a visit by Charles Dickens lead the great author to launch a stirring public campaign on behalf of orphans. Central Rose Elliot Katy Beskow Rose Elliot to the book’s extraordinary street-level view of eighteenth and The Complete Vegan Five Ingredient Vegan Cookery nineteenth century British life is the remarkable tale of courageous George King, a foundling boy who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar. Anna Hedworth, The Grazer Anna Hedworth, The Grazer Demonstration (the-grazer.blogspot.com) (the-grazer.blogspot.com) Like so many of the foundlings, King’s is a life that stands testimony Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall at Linnels Farm to the strength of the human spirit. £8/£6* £8/£6* Simply Delicious Vegan Feast Rose Elliot has been at the Always thought vegan recipes forefront of meat-free food were complex and time Linnels Farm, Linnels Bank 8pm-9pm writing for over 45 years, and consuming to prepare? In her £30 | Limited places was awarded an MBE for her new book award-winning cook, Includes tastings Sir Oliver Letwin services to vegetarian cooking writer and tutor Katy Beskow Many of us will have a treasured Apocalypse How? in 1999. Rose will share recipes, shows us how to strip it back, copy of one of Rose Elliot’s Edward Stourton cooking tips and her experiences keep it simple and think about many vegetarian cook books Theatre, Queen’s Hall of how vegetarian cookery has versatile ways to use your fresh on our shelf; this is a wonderful £10/£8 developed since her first book and store cupboard ingredients opportunity to meet the Simply Delicious was published to create something memorable doyenne of vegetarian cooking. In a political career spanning over three decades, Sir Oliver in 1967. every day of the week with just Rose will share the secrets of Letwin served as an MP and cabinet minister at the top of the UK 5 ingredients. preparing some sensational government. A member of the Conservative Party for twenty two summery dishes – two main years (until his attempt to block a no-deal Brexit resulted in him courses and a pudding all losing the whip), Letwin sat as an independent MP before standing from her new book and using down ahead of the 2019 general election. Now, in his new seasonally available ingredients, eye-opening book, Apocalypse How? Technology and the Threat including Tofish (and chips) of Disaster, Letwin draws on his vast experience in government to and Miracle Meringues. investigate the resilience of the UK’s infrastructure and reveal why we are more vulnerable than ever to the threat of technological * malfunctions, whether from cyber-attacks or freak solar storms. SPECIAL TICKET OFFER As we become increasingly reliant on technology, he encourages Enjoy both Rose and Katy’s events followed us to question our unshakeable faith in it. by a 2 course lunch and a glass of wine at Bouchon Bistrot for £32/£28 22 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 23 SATURDAY 2 MAY

10.30am-12.30pm Jess Kidd Writing Workshop Work in Progress White Room, Queen’s Hall £20 | Limited places

The perfect antidote to writer’s block! Jess’s workshop is for everyone, from beginner writers to the seasoned and just the thing © Cordula Treml to kick-start or revive your love of words. As a working writer she will dispel creative writing myths and offer tried and tested tools to help you find your voice and battle the blank page demons. Character development, setting, dialogue and structure will be explored but the focus will be on generating new ways into writing with fun writing prompts which will help unlock your creative potential.

12pm-1pm Edward Stourton Blind Man’s Brexit Richard Moss, BBC Political Editor for North East & Cumbria Theatre, Queen’s Hall £10/£8

With the endless political infighting in British politics over Brexit dominating our news cycle, it is easy to forget who we were actually negotiating with. In Blind Man’s Brexit, veteran political commentator Edward Stourton takes us directly into the corridors of power in Brussels, and shows how the EU comprehensively outmanoeuvred the UK government. Blind Man’s Brexit reveals the staggering and unprecedented failure of diplomacy on one side and contrasts the very clearly defined aims and goals of EU negotiators Guy Verhofstadt and Michel Barnier with the bluster and blundering of Theresa May’s government. Granted completely unfiltered and unprecedented access to events as they unfolded, Stourton pinpoints exactly how and where the Brexit negotiations went so spectacularly wrong for Britain, and why they resulted in our departure from the EU being delayed, leaving the UK in limbo with its political system in disarray. 24 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 25 SATURDAY 2 MAY (cont.)

1.45pm-2.45pm Cash Carraway Skint Estate Steve Drayton, BBC Newcastle Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6

Cash Carraway’s debut memoir is a brutal, hard-hitting, profound © Jonathan Ashworth © Mary Gibson © Jeff Overs and darkly funny first-hand account of living below the poverty 12pm-1pm 1.30pm-2.30pm 1.30pm-2.30pm line as a single mother. Carraway details the day to day realities of living in poverty in austerity Britain – staying in a women’s refuge whilst pregnant, having multiple jobs yet relying on food banks, Jon Day David Barrie George Alagiah shifting constantly around temporary accommodation, finding Homing Incredible Journeys The Burning Land lifelines in her love for her daughter and the bonds of friendships. Blunt, dignified, and startling, Skint Estate takes Cash’s personal Harry Pearson Harry Pearson Chris Mullin Prior’s Hall, Hexham Abbey Prior’s Hall, Hexham Abbey Theatre, Queen’s Hall story and skilfully weaves it into a manifesto for change. £8/£6* £8/£6* £10/£8

After moving to London, Jon There’s a stunning diversity George Alagiah is the longest- Day felt uprooted and unsettled. of animal navigators out there: serving presenter of the BBC’s 3pm-4.15pm So he returned to one of his dung beetles that steer by the News at Six, but his reputation childhood hobbies, built a Milky Way, baleen whales that was built on his foreign John Suchet backyard coop and joined a swim thousands of miles while reporting, especially from Beethoven: The Man Revealed pigeon racing club. Combining holding a rock-steady course Africa. So it’s no surprise that memoir, science and philosophy, and birds that can locate their his debut novel, The Burning Theatre, Queen’s Hall Homing introduces us to the nests on a tiny island after Land is set in modern South £12 arcane world of pigeon crisscrossing an entire ocean. Africa. Shaped by the author’s fancying, the mystery of avian Incredible Journeys takes us first hand experiences and The presenter of Classic FM’s flagship morning show, John Suchet navigation and the place of the on a tour of the cutting-edge real life events, this fast-paced has written bestselling and acclaimed biographies of Verdi, Mozart. pigeon in popular culture. While science of animal navigation, political thriller centres on a Tchaikovsky and the Strauss family. In his latest Beethoven: The Man training his beloved birds Day where modern breakthroughs hunt for a murderer and follows Revealed he brings us an intimate portrait of the man he believes considers wider themes: how are allowing naturalists to piece the fortunes of two former to be the greatest composer of them all. 2020 is the year that sees we connect with nature and together how animals from childhood friends as their Beethoven celebrated around the world, as we mark the 250th why we, as well as birds, so butterflies and birds to reptiles country turns into a powder anniversary of his birth. Suchet claims it is more true of Beethoven regularly head for home. – and even humans – find keg around them and they race than of any other composer, that if you know what is going on in their way from place to place. to prevent it from exploding. his life, you listen to his music with new ears.

*SPECIAL TICKET OFFER Buy tickets for both Jon and David’s events for £15/£11 – Includes refreshments 26 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 27 SATURDAY 2 MAY (cont.)

3pm-4pm Jess Kidd Things in Jars Prior’s Hall, Hexham Abbey £8/£6

Costa Short Story Award-winner and twice BBC Radio 2 Book Club author, Jess Kidd’s latest novel Things In Jars is a gripping Victorian detective novel featuring ace sleuth Bridie Divine. It’s 1863 and London’s finest female detective is hired to find a missing child. 4.45pm-5.45pm 5.15pm-6.15pm However, this is no ordinary infant but a medical curiosity, eagerly sought after by physicians and fairground proprietors alike. In an era when the public clamoured for the bizarre and the sensational, Nicholas Crane Katie Hickman Things in Jars examines what it means to be human in an Why Geography She-Merchants, inhumane world. Matters: A Brief Guide Buccaneers and to the World Gentlewomen Richard Moss, BBC Political Editor Library, Queen’s Hall 6.30pm-7.30pm for North East & Cumbria £8/£6 3.15pm-4.45pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall A.N Wilson £10/£8 While it is well-known that Paul Wignall & David Evans women went to India to find The Mystery of Travel writer and broadcaster, husbands, what is almost Charles Dickens Extinction and Glaciation Nicholas Crane explores the unknown is that they also Gerry Foley one word that binds us all: worked there as traders, cloth Library, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall geography. We are all £9/£7 merchants, bakers, dress- £10/£8 geographers, human beings makers, actresses, portrait Join two experts for 30 minute pocket sized explanations who care about the places we painters, maids, shop-keepers, Filled with twists, pathos and (there will be time for questions). think of as ‘home’ – our habitat. governesses, teachers, boarding the singular characters that And yet – Crane believes – Extinction: A Very Short Introduction house proprietors, midwives, sprang from this extraordinary we have lost touch with the Paul Wignall, Professor of Palaeoenvironments, University of Leeds nurses, missionaries, doctors, novelist’s sparkling imagination, connection between our actions geologists, plant-collectors A.N Wilson looks back at Most people are familiar with the dodo and the dinosaur, but and the state of the planet that and writers. India was the Dickens’ early death aged 58 extinction has occurred throughout history, with the result that we all share. On this finite globe, British ‘wild east’, and many to reveal the key events that nearly all the species that have ever existed are now extinct. with its endangered habitat, women succeeded in building shaped his life and work. Like Today, species are disappearing at an ever-increasing rate. Paul sustained in dark space by a thin, a new and often independent Oliver Twist, Dickens endured looks at the causes and nature of extinctions, past and present, life-giving atmosphere, we have life for themselves. Through a wretched childhood, then and the factors that can make a species vulnerable. reached a point in our collective diaries, letters and memoirs grew up to become not only a geographical journey where (many still in manuscript form), Glaciation: A Very Short Introduction respectable gentlemen but an knowledge is the best guarantor She-Merchants, Buccaneers David Evans, Durham University artist of prodigious popularity – of the future. With our & Gentlewomen reveals the a superb public performer and Glacial geomorphologist Professor David Evans provides an contemporary fears of climate life and times of hundreds of gifted orator, one of the most overview of the processes that shape glaciers, how they are change, geopolitics, dwindling intrepid women who made famous men of his time. Wilson established grow and flow. He discusses the massive impact – resources and increasing their way across the sea and goes beyond the standard through erosion and deposits – that glaciers had on the landscape pollution, Crane, makes the changed history. narrative biographical approach of Britain and the world and outlines the effects that climate case that never before has to brilliantly revisit the source change are having on these amazing natural phenomena. geography been so vitally of Dickens’ exuberant and vivid important. imagination and reveals why his novels captured the hearts of the Victorian public. 28 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 29 SATURDAY 2 MAY (cont.) SUNDAY 3 MAY

6.45pm-7.45pm Kevin Maxwell Forced Out Jacqui Hodgson Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6

Kevin Maxwell was a dream candidate for the police force – he had a desire to serve his community and an aptitude for the strategic and practical aspects of the job. And, as a gay black man from a working class family, he might have been a poster boy for the force’s commitment to equal opportunities. Joining after the 10.30am-12.30pm 11am-12pm 9/11 attacks, Maxwell entered policing determined to keep communities safe. Instead he came up against entrenched prejudice, open racism and homophobia. Forced Out combines Adele Parks Suzi Gage deeply affecting memoir, an insider perspective on day-to-day Master Class Say Why To Drugs life in the force and sharp analysis of what needs to change. What Came First, the Gerry Foley Character or the Plot? Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 White Room, Queen’s Hall 11.30am-12.30pm 8pm-9pm £28 | Includes a copy of Adele’s Drugs. We’ve all done them. new book Just My Luck Whether it’s a cup of coffee or Andrew Lownie Martin Sixsmith a glass of wine, a cigarette or The Mountbattens The Unquiet Heart This workshop offers practical a sleeping pill. But how well do advice on how to take steps we understand the effects of Theatre, Queen’s Hall Gerry Foley Theatre, Queen’s Hall £9/£7 to develop believable, vital and the drugs we take – legal or £9/£7 rounded characters that drive illegal? A psychologist and 1917, Russia on the verge of revolution: in a country and age when Louis was last Viceroy of India a plot right to the end of writing epidemiologist at the University poets were stars, Sergei Yesenin was a writer revered by millions and matchmaker to the Queen; a novel. Looking at whether of Liverpool, Dr Suzi Gage’s of his compatriots. His fame brought him meetings with the likes Edwina was Britain’s richest characters need to be likeable frank and informative new book, of the Tsarina Alexandra, Grigori Rasputin and Leon Trotsky. Writer, woman. Together they knew and the tiering of multiple Say Why to Drugs: Everything presenter and journalist, Martin Sixsmith – a former BBC Moscow everyone, from Salvador Dali characters Adele will you Need to Know About the correspondent – tells the story of Yesenin’s extraordinary life in his and Grace Kelly to Charlie demonstrate how plot and Drugs We Take and Why We vivid and evocative new novel, The Unquiet Heart. Bursting with Chaplin and the Duke of character are co-dependent Get High, looks at the science the real-life drama of love in turbulent times, it is a tale of passion Windsor. Prize-winning and complementary. behind recreational drugs and violence, triumph and tragedy. biographer Andrew Lownie – debunking common myths offers a nuanced portrait of two and misconceptions, as well remarkable people and their as reviewing the most recent complex marriage. Drawing on medical research on the subject. four years of research around the world, this is a fresh and Become a Friend revealing portrait of the of Hexham Book Festival glamorous and adventurous couple behind the modern Membership runs until 31st January 2021 and benefits Royal Family. It also includes include priority booking, £2 off most ticket prices much new information on throughout the Festival and an invitation to an exclusive many of the controversies of Friends event. Apply online at www.hexhambookfestival. Mountbatten’s career as well as his murder in 1979. co.uk/friends and for only £20 single and £30 double membership (two people at one address), you’ll be helping to support the Festival in the following year. 30 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 31 SUNDAY 3 MAY (cont.)

© Stephen Lea 12.30pm-1.30pm 2pm-3pm Deborah Moggach Paula Daly The Carer Clear My Name Jacqui Hodgson Anna Foster, BBC Newcastle Library, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 £8/£6 2.30pm-3.30pm 3.30pm-4.30pm 3.30pm-4.30pm In her witty and poignant new 1pm-2pm Paula Daly, Golden Dagger novel, The Carer, bestselling shortlisted author of six novels Tim Bouverie Kit Yates David Whitehouse Adele Parks author of The Best Marigold including Deep Water (made Appeasing Hitler The Maths of Life Just My Luck Hotel and Tulip Fever, Deborah Apollo 11 – into a TV series starring Anna and Death Moggach tells the tale of Illustrated Talk Friel), is back with a cunningly Gerry Foley White Room, Queen’s Hall James, his new carer Mandy, plotted, page-turning thriller Theatre, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 and his middle-aged children, Theatre, Queen’s Hall about injustice, tough choices £8/£6 £8/£6 Phoebe and Robert. Has the £8/£6 and buried pasts. Clear My It’s the stuff dreams are made Most of us are familiar with arrival of Mandy prompted Name is the complex story of Few of us really appreciate of – a lottery win so big, it In celebration of the 50th Neville Chamberlain and the a change in James, or did a murdered lover, a wrongfully the full impact of maths on our changes everything; but six anniversary of the Apollo 11 paper signed by Mr Hitler that Phoebe and Robert simply not imprisoned woman and a everyday lives – its presence numbers chosen by six people moon landing, David Whitehouse guaranteed “Peace for our know him that well in the first crusading lawyer who finds in the home, the office, the can only cause trouble. This is brings us the inside story of the time”, but how did Britain come place? Deborah considers that the dark secrets she’s courtroom and the hospital an addictive and compelling astronauts, NASA engineers to be so easily fooled by the family, aging, the stories we uncovered may help get an ward. In The Maths of Life novel from a talented fiction and political rivals that brought machinations of the Nazi construct to protect ourselves innocent woman released and Death, Kit Yates – a senior writer. Originally from Teesside, an end to the Space Race. 50 hierarchy? Using newly and the idea that life most from jail, while simultaneously lecturer in mathematical biology Parks is an ambassador for The years ago in July 1969, Apollo discovered sources and deep definitely does not stop for ripping that woman’s carefully – takes us on a mind-broadening National Literacy Trust and a 11 became the first manned archival research, Tim Bouverie the elderly – it just moves on assembled life and everything tour of the everyday situations judge for The Costa Prize. mission to land on the moon, gives a compelling new to a very different plane, full she cares about to shreds. and grand-scale applications of and Neil Armstrong the first narrative of the disastrous years of surprising twists and turns. mathematical concepts. Along man to step onto its surface. of indecision, failed diplomacy the way he reveals the true In the most authoritative book and parliamentary infighting stories of life-changing events ever written about Apollo 11, that enabled Hitler’s domination in which the application – Whitehouse reveals the true of Europe. It’s an unforgettable or misapplication – of maths drama behind the mission, portrait of the ministers, has played a critical role: telling the story in the words aristocrats – including members patients crippled by faulty of those who took part – based of the Royal Family – and genes and businessmen around exclusive interviews amateur diplomats who, through bankrupted by bad algorithms. with the key players. their actions and inaction, shaped Britain’s policy and determined the fate of Europe. 32 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 33 SUNDAY 3 MAY (cont.)

4pm-5pm John Burnside The Music of Time Neil Astley, BloodAxe Books Theatre, Queen’s Hall £8/£6

Though we may not realise it, our collective memory of the twentieth century was defined by its poetry. In the first history of its kind, © Ollie Grove acclaimed poet, author and academic John Burnside brings 5pm-6pm 5.30pm-6.30pm together poets from times and places as diverse as Tsarist Russia, 1960s America and Ireland during the Troubles, to show how they shaped and were shaped by their age. John Burnside is a poet, Emily Thomas Denise Mina novelist and Professor of English at the University of St Andrews. The Meaning of Travel Conviction He has published 14 books of poetry, and has won the Geoffrey Darren Harper Theatre, Queen’s Hall Faber Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Prize. Library, Queen’s Hall £8/£6 £8/£6 Every body loves a murder Does travel really broaden the mystery- until they have a mind? Associate Professor in starring role. Philosophy at Durham University, Thomas’s new book is the first In her new novel, her 15th to on the philosophy of travel. date, Mina’s protagonist Ann Scouting the borders between MacDonald finds a real-life travelling and thinking, Thomas connection to her past while begins with the Age of Discovery, listening to a true crime delves into John Locke’s view podcast from her elegant of cannibals and David Thoreau’s house in Glasgow’s West End. ideas about the wilderness, A cross-continental murder ponders the popularity of mystery with serious themes mountains and confronts the of self-invention, and how ethics of the new trend of possible or desirable it is to ‘doom tourism’. Thomas looks tell the truth about oneself in at the philosophical value of the social media age. Mina, travel – is it really worthwhile to two time winner of Theakstons grasp at alien things and puzzle Old Peculier Crime Novel, is over them, or would we be better at the top of her game in this off sitting quietly at home? compelling and captivating new thriller. 34 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk 35 SUNDAY 3 MAY (cont.)

6.30pm-8pm Linda France, Sinéad Morrissey & Jacob Polley The Poetry of Where We Live Library, Queen’s Hall © Lucinda Douglas-Menzies £12/£10 | Includes a glass of wine

At a time of ecological crisis, Stagshaw poet Linda France presents a compelling evening of poetry on the theme of Place, Belonging and Interconnectedness, with fellow poets Sinéad Morrissey and Jacob Polley – both of whom have made the North East their home. Sinéad won the 2014 T.S. Eliot Prize for Parallax, ‘politically, historically and personally ambitious, expressed in beautifully turned language.’ In 2017 her collection On Balance won the Forward Prize for Best Collection. Jacob Polley won the 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize for his fourth book of poems, Jackself, ‘a firework of a book; inventive, exciting and outstanding in its imaginative range and depth of feeling.’ Come and hear how poetry is thriving in the North.

7pm-8pm Paul Mason Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being Richard Moss, BBC Political Editor for North East & Cumbria Theatre, Queen’s Hall £10/£8

Paul Mason – author of the bestselling Postcapitalism – issues a stark warning about our future. Mason argues passionately that the very notion of humanity is increasingly under threat and that to prevent disaster we must take steps: rekindle a shared moral philosophy, revive our collective belief in rationalism and universal rights and actively resist control of our lives by algorithms. From economics, Big Data and neuroscience to the culture wars, this is not simply the natural unravelling of the post-war global consensus, he believes, but an attack on values that have underpinned Western societies for hundreds of years. It is time to act, before it is too late. 36 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk THE BIG WRITE WITH KAY GREYSON THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST This year we’re running a massive competition across Northumberland middle schools aiming to engage as many young people as we can in a Celebration of Rap. Kay Greyson will be handing out prizes CHILDREN’S and sharing her own Rap with students on 27th April in the Spiegeltent. Kay is a twenty one year old Hip Hop artist from the North East of England. Since releasing her debut mixtape Morning After Music in 2016, she FESTIVAL has performed all across the UK including opening for Akala, KRS One, Pharoahe Monch, Lil Eazy E and DJ Yella. 24th – 30th April 2020

WE OFFER: An ever-expanding catalogue of professional audio-visual equipment for hire. Ingram AV, Audio Visual Full technical event production service – Equipment Hire including planning, support and operation. Bespoke lighting solutions for weddings supports Hexham Book Festival and events. T: 0191 265 5111 E: [email protected] www.ingramav.com

Audio Book Group Audio Book Group for those who have a visual impairment, meets in Hexham Library once a month. To join, email or call us E: [email protected] T: 01434 600 601 38 39 THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL 24th – 30th April 2020 24th – 30th April 2020

All events are in the EASTER HOLIDAY EVENT SATURDAY 25 APRIL SATURDAY 25 APRIL SATURDAY 25 APRIL Spiegeltent on the Abbey Grounds unless FRIDAY 17 APRIL stated otherwise. David Greaves: Children under 12 need The Homesick Fox, to be accompanied by read by Carol Malia an adult and concession 11am-12pm rates are for children Age 3+ Jenny McLachlan: Sophy Henn: Library, Queen’s Hall The Land of Roar Meet Bad Nana under 16 only. FREE event – donations welcome for Arty Adventures the Motor Neurone Disease Association 11am-11.45am 12.30pm-1.15pm Buy tickets to 4 events 10am-4pm Age 8+ Age 6+ and receive 15% off. Carol Malia, BBC Look North presenter, will launch and read from The All ages White Room, Queen’s Hall £5/£3 Homesick Fox, the late David Greaves’ illustrated story of an urban fox The Great Hall, Hexham Abbey £5/£3 Come and meet author and illustrator who longs for the countryside. Includes fox mask making for children plus FREE (on presentation of a ticket Spiegeltent Story Box to a Spiegeltent event) Believing is just the beginning… When Sophy Henn, the creator of Bad Nana, refreshments for adults. Arthur and Rose were little, they were a naughty Grandma with a twinkle in We are delighted that Hexham David suffered from Motor Neurone disease, he finished his collection of Join the team from ARTventurers for heroes in the Land of Roar, an imaginary her eye and a nose for trouble. Find Dental Clinic are kindly supporting the sensory and creative fun inspired by the world that they found by climbing through out what mischief Bad Nana and her Spiegeltent Story Box – weekday morning children’s books using computer software which allowed him to communicate by tracking and translating into readable text with the movement of his eyes. imaginary worlds in our festival… make the folding bed in their grandad’s attic. granddaughter Jeanie get up to together events for the under 5’s. Free entry for a mermaid sparkle, dig for dinosaurs, Roar was filled with things they loved – in this fun-filled event. There will be littlies… FREE coffee for grown-ups! fashion a flamingo and craft a clay dragon. dragons, mermaids, ninja wizards and laughs, live-drawing, lots of opportunity adventure – as well as things that scared to join in and you might even find out them (including a very creepy scarecrow…) what Bad Nana keeps in her handbag… CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL LAUNCH! FRIDAY 24 APRIL Roald Dahl and the Imagination Seekers 4.30pm-5.30pm Sophy Henn: Age 5+ Lifesize – Dinosaurs Golden Tickets Roll up, roll up… for the Helen Skelton 10am-10.45am £6/£4 Age 4+ Circus Skills Workshop & Anna McNuff Supported by: The Beaumont Hotel and Fentimans £5/£3 11.15am-12pm 1.45pm-2.30pm FREE but ticketed event Age 8+ © HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks Roald Dahl’s extraordinary stories are brought to life by Get Lost and Found Let’s go on a LIFESIZE prehistoric in a performance with games and creative play, including Charlie and the £6/£4 Colouring Competition adventure! Step into the book to see Ever wanted to run away to join the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and The Twits. how YOU measure up against some of circus? Now you can! Calling all adventurers! TV- presenter Specsavers have a fabulous new the world’s most incredible, ginormous, Join the professionals from CircMotif in and world-record breaker Helen Skelton collection of frames inspired by Get your Golden Tickets for this launch event of our Children’s Festival and deadly dinosaurs and prehistoric a hands on circus skills workshop with and epic endurance athlete and UK best-selling author David Walliams. To enjoy an interactive theatrical experience for the whole family – phizz- creatures. This interactive non-fiction lots of equipment where you can learn ambassador for Girlguiding Anna McNuff celebrate the partnership we are running whizzing treats and bubbly botanically brewed beverages included! adventure features LIFESIZE illustrations how to juggle, spin a plate or even walk talk about their amazing adventures a colouring-in competition, with the so you can try on a Utahraptor’s claw, the tightrope. across the globe from cycling the South chance to win the entire collection of compare your nostrils with a Diplodocus, Pole to running the distance of 100 David’s laugh-out-loud funny books. see how a Stegosaurus plate would look This workshop is fun for all young people marathons barefoot! Find out how you with no prior experience needed. Collect your colouring-in sheets from on your back, wear a Pteranodon’s beak, can have your very own epic adventures the Spiegeltent and return completed and much, much more. no matter where you live. entries to Specsavers Hexham. 40 41 THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL 24th – 30th April 2020 24th – 30th April 2020

SATURDAY 25 APRIL SUNDAY 26 APRIL SUNDAY 26 APRIL SUNDAY 26 APRIL MONDAY 27 APRIL MONDAY 27 APRIL The Ugly Bug Ball 10am-11am Age 3-7 £3 per child Come on let’s crawl to the Ugly Bug Ball! Join Chalk for a session of crafting, playing and dancing with your mini © Steven Aitchinson for Chalk Laura James: Fabio beasts! Visit the bug bar where you Sibéal Pounder: The Intergalactic Kay Greyson: the World’s Greatest can design and craft your own bug Bad Mermaids and Space Rave! Rap with Kay and Flamingo Detective accessories (think mini wings, extra legs Witch Wars a celebration of our and antenna!), sculpt miniature bugs 3.15pm-5.15pm 3pm-4pm 1pm-1.45pm Big Write Competition out of clay, then jump, slither or roll £6/£4 ..SPIEGELTENT STORY BOX.. Age 5+ onto the dance floor! Age 7+ 1.30pm £5/£3 £5/£3 Prepare for lift off asChalk take you Helen Stephens: Schools event – see our website on an intergalactic journey; craft mini Come along and meet author Laura Think you know all there is to know rockets, design and make your own How to Hide a Lion 4pm-5pm – Rap Workshop James as she introduces you to Fabio – about Mermaids and Witches? Come futuristic headwear and visit the Bowie 9.15am-10am Age 12+ the World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective! along and meet Sibéal Pounder, author of face paint bar. Then hit the dance floor Age Under 5’s £3 per person Learn what it takes to be a detective and the Witch Wars series and Bad Mermaids, where the whole family can have a go Event for pre-schoolers Join Hip Hop artist Kay Greyson for a Rap find out how to create your very own to find out the truth about your favourite at moonwalking and hula hooping set £3 per adult workshop exploring how to tell stories mystery that only Fabio could solve! fairy-tale characters. Learn how to create to a soundtrack of other-wordly tunes; through musical lyrics and learning cool characters and build amazingly from Bowie to the Beastie Boys, OMD How does a very small girl hide a very different clever ways to craft songs. Since weird worlds. Hats and shells strongly to the Beatles and a whole host of large lion? It’s not easy, but Iris has to releasing her debut mixtape ‘Morning encouraged. space-themed gems! High-fives given do her best, because mums and dads After Music’ in 2016, she has performed for the best space-themed outfit! can be funny about having a lion in the house. Luckily, there are lots of good all across the UK including opening for The Spiegeltent bar will be open places to hide a lion - behind the shower Akala, KRS One, Pharoahe Monch, Lil for business! curtain, in your bed, and even up a tree. Eazy E and DJ Yella. Where Dust Gathers A funny, heart-warming story about a 11.30am-12.30pm very special friendship. Chores Age – for all the family Helen Stephens is a prize winning £6/£4 author and illustrator, who lives on the 4.30pm-5.30pm Northumberland coast. Sold in nearly Age – for all the family A brand new circus show featuring twenty languages world wide, there £8/£6 acrobatics, juggling, contortion, live Vashti Hardy: music and more, with a message of Darkwhispers are now 4 books in the How to Hide A sell-out show at the Edinburgh Festival, humanity, heroes and adventure. a Lion series. Hoopla Clique brings an award-winning 2pm-2.45pm CIRC Motif presents a bespoke circus Expect live drawing, reading from her story of two typical young rascal boys Age 8-12 theatre show which delves into the true books, drawing games and dressing up! playing in their mess of a room. £5/£3 essence of storytelling. Set in a run down 10.45am-11.45am Inspired by slapstick legends Charlie bookshop on the verge of bankruptcy, Venture into the rainforest as you’ve Chaplin and Buster Keaton, two excitable a family of storytellers work around the never known it with Vashti and her new An event for First Schools brothers, are definitely, about to, almost, clock to keep up with the modern times. book Darkwhispers and the fantasy world – see our website Chloe Daykin: at some stage, are maybe, going to do Enter a world where anything can of the Brightstorm adventures. Vashti Fire Girl Forest Boy the chores their mother has asked them talks about the daring real-life explorers happen, and probably will! 1.30pm to do… with highlights of skilled circus who have influenced the series, and Commissioned by Hexham Book Festival Schools event for Years 3 & 4 stunts and uproarious, interactive gags, surprising facts and insights! We’ll think with support from Arts Council England. – ask your teacher you will find yourself on the edge of about invention and how to take what Theatre, Queen’s Hall your seats and giggling until the chores we know and give it a science or magical are done. twist to make it EXTRAORDINARY! 42 43 THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST THE GILLIAN DICKINSON TRUST CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL 24th – 30th April 2020 24th – 30th April 2020

TUESDAY 28 APRIL TUESDAY 28 APRIL WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL THURSDAY 30 APRIL THURSDAY 30 APRIL

..SPIEGELTENT STORY BOX.. The Very Hungry Caterpillar 9.15am-9.45am Age Under 5’s Event for pre-schoolers FREE but ticketed © Hayley Madden Hexham Library storytellers take you on a ..SPIEGELTENT STORY BOX.. David Almond Joseph Coelho: journey through the classic tale of a little Tim Hopgood: caterpillar with a very big appetite. A fun WOW! It’s a Little Rabbit’s 10.30am Performance Poet Schools event for Years 6 and 7 ..SPIEGELTENT STORY BOX.. story session with creative and sensory Wonderful World Best Birthday – ask your teacher 10.30am and 1.30pm activities bringing the caterpillar’s hungry 4pm-4.45pm 9.15am-10am Gemma Koomen: Schools event for Years 3+ adventures to life. The Tree Keepers: – ask your teacher Age 3-7 Age Under 5’s £5/£3 £3 per adult Flock Join award-winning illustrator Tim 9.15am-10am Join story spinner Chris Bostock for Hopgood, author of the best-selling books Age Under 5’s Little Rabbit’s Best Birthday. Rabbit has ‘WOW! Said the Owl’, ‘Tip Tap went the £3 per adult made a very special birthday cake, but Crab’ and ‘What a Wonderful World’, for an when it was time for her party she had a Sylvia prefers to be alone rather than play interactive fun story time. The session will problem. She couldn’t get into her house. noisy games with the other Tree Keepers. include live drawing and a craft activity. Who could have been inside? She’s But one day, she finds a baby bird in her going to need lots of help if she’s going favourite hiding place. As Sylvia and the Jim Smith: to get everything ready in time… bird become friends, can she learn that A Super Weird Mystery: sometimes, things are better when you have someone to share them with? Danger at Donut Diner The Rainbow Fish Come along and meet local author 10.30am and 1.30pm 1.30pm and illustrator Gemma Koomen as she Schools event for Years 3+ Andy Stanton: – ask your teacher Schools event for First Schools introduces you to the world of the Tree The Paninis of Pompeii – ask your teacher Keepers, reads from the book and shows Theatre, Queen’s Hall FAMILY EVENT you how to make your very own bird 10.30am and 1.30pm 4pm-4.45pm made out of natural materials. Schools event for Years 3+ TUESDAY 12 MAY Age 2-8 – ask your teacher £6/£4 (Gemma has lent us some of her The Secret Garden beautiful illustrations for this programme 4.15pm-5.15pm 6pm-7.15pm | Age 8+ The Rainbow Fish is a modern classic and more can been seen in an exhibition Age 7+ Theatre, Queen’s Hall storybook and a delightful tale by in the Queen’s Hall). £5/£3 Marcus Pfister. With its universal A co-production between Becci Ross Welford: message about making friends, and Join the ridiculously funny author of Sharrock and Queen’s Hall Arts The Kid who sharing, this tale is perfect for children Mr Gum for an hour of joyous nonsense Centre. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Came from Space aged 2-8. This captivating show from as he introduces his new series, set in timeless classic is relocated to Riverside Performing Arts (creators ancient Pompeii. Meet Caecilius the fart © Ed Miller modern day, rural Northumberland 10.30am and 1.30pm of the hit shows ‘Elmer’ and ‘The Owl merchant! Thrill to the adventures of and weaves brand new folk songs Schools event for Years 5 to 8 who was Afraid of the Dark’) promises Barkus Wooferinicum, the family mutt! Konnie Huq: Cookie into this enchanting story of one – ask your teacher to delight audiences with song, Tremble at the terrifying legend of the 10.30am and 1.30pm girl bringing a household and its Theatre, Queen’s Hall storytelling, percussion, interaction ma-wol-n-f! 85% historical inaccuracy Schools event for Years 3+ garden slowly back to life. and innovative set design utilising guaranteed! – ask your teacher Full details and booking on recycled plastic! Queen’s Hall website. 44 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk TICKET INFORMATION VENUES

Tickets for events can be booked directly through the We are working in partnership with Queen’s Hall Box Office on01434 652 477 or book online the following venues in 2020 and at www.queenshall.co.uk or www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk are grateful for their support: Buy more tickets and get a discount: When you buy tickets Queen’s Hall Arts* to 4 events you will receive 15% off – excluding workshops, Beaumont Street demos and existing offers. Hexham NE46 3LS Theatre, Library and White Room No late admissions to sold out events. www.queenshall.co.uk Ticket Office Concessions Spiegeltent Abbey Grounds Queen’s Hall Our concession tickets are Hexham Abbey NE46 3NB Beaumont Street available to Friends of the www.hexhamabbey.org.uk Hexham NE46 3LS Festival, those on benefits, Forum Cinema students and, in the case 8-9 Market Pl Opening Hours of children’s events, those Hexham NE46 1XF under 16yrs. Monday–Friday: 10am-5pm www.forumhexham.com Saturday: 10am-4pm Prior’s Hall Hexham Abbey Hexham NE46 3NB GET IN TOUCH www.hexhamabbey.org.uk Linnels Farm Subscribe Contact Us Hexham NE46 1TS To subscribe to our If you have any questions www.linnelsfarm.com e-Newsletter for updates or would like to make a Bouchon Bistrot from Hexham Book Festival suggestion about the festival, Gilesgate and information about please send an email to Hexham NE46 3NJ one-off events, visit [email protected] www.bouchonbistrot.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk Follow us * Everyone Welcome @hexhambookfest Queen’s Hall welcomes visitors with /hexhambookfestival disabilities and aims to ensure that @hexhambookfestival your visit is safe and enjoyable, providing disabled access to all public areas of the building with THANKS ramps, automatic doors, disabled toilet facilities and lifts. Hearing loop Arts Council England Hepple Gin facilities are available throughout Barbour Foundation Hexham Dental Clinic the auditorium and balcony. Please BBC Newcastle Nicholson Portnell contact the Box Office for more Bouchon Bistrot Parabola details, and to order your audio The Beaumont Hotel Adrian and Lizzie Portlock receiver in advance. If you require Chromazone Digital Imaging Queen’s Hall Arts help, please contact Queen’s Hall in Cogito Books Sir James Knott Trust advance. Companions of wheelchair Fentimans Specsavers users may attend events free of Gillian Dickinson Trust The Roundhouse charge. Guide dogs are welcome Hadrian Trust in all areas of the building. 44 Box OfficeT: 01434 652 477 | www.queenshall.co.uk www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk TICKET INFORMATION VENUES PROGRAMME LISTING

Tickets for events can be booked directly through the We are working in partnership with Thursday 19 March Sunday 26 April Monday 27 April Thursday 30 April (cont.) Saturday 2 May (cont.) Sunday 3 May (cont.) Queen’s Hall Box Office on01434 652 477 or book online the following venues in 2020 and at www.queenshall.co.uk or www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk are grateful for their support: 6.30pm-9.30pm 10am-12pm 6pm-7pm 6.15pm-7.15pm 1.30pm-2.30pm 11am-12pm Horatio Clare and screening Linda France – Poetry Workshop Exploring Rural Realities Kate Kirkpatrick David Barrie Suzi Gage Buy more tickets and get a discount: When you buy tickets Queen’s Hall Arts* of Chasing Ice White Room, Queen’s Hall Spiegeltent Library, Queen’s Hall Prior’s Hall, Hexham Abbey Library, Queen’s Hall to 4 events you will receive 15% off – excluding workshops, Beaumont Street Forum Cinema demos and existing offers. Hexham NE46 3LS 10.30am-11.30am Tuesday 28 April 7.30pm-8.30pm 1.30pm-2.30pm 11.30am-12.30pm Theatre, Library and White Room Friday 24 April Esther Rutter Mike Berners-Lee George Alagiah Andrew Lownie No late admissions to sold out events. Library, Queen’s Hall 6pm-7pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall www.queenshall.co.uk 7.30pm-10pm David Laws 11am-12pm 7.30pm-9.30pm 1.45pm-2.45pm 12.30pm-1.30pm Ticket Office Concessions Spiegeltent Funny Words Comedy Gala Theatre, Queen’s Hall Abbey Grounds Spiegeltent Dan Jackson Victoria Melody Cash Carraway Deborah Moggach 7.30pm-8.30pm Queen’s Hall Our concession tickets are Hexham Abbey NE46 3NB Theatre, Queen’s Hall Spiegeltent Library, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall Henry Hemming Beaumont Street available to Friends of the www.hexhamabbey.org.uk Saturday 25 April 12pm–1pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall 7.45pm-8.45pm 3pm-4.15pm 1pm-2pm Hexham NE46 3LS Festival, those on benefits, Forum Cinema 12pm-1pm Ingrid Persaud Judith O’Reilly John Suchet David Whitehouse students and, in the case 8-9 Market Pl Chris Mullin Library, Queen’s Hall 7.30pm-9.30pm Library, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall Opening Hours of children’s events, those Hexham NE46 1XF Theatre, Queen’s Hall Valentine Warner & Hepple Gin under 16yrs. 12.30pm-1.30pm 3pm-4pm 2pm-3pm 10am-5pm Spiegeltent Friday 1 May Monday–Friday: www.forumhexham.com 1.30pm-2.30pm Angela Gallop Jess Kidd Paula Daly Saturday: 10am-4pm Prior’s Hall Jung Chang Theatre, Queen’s Hall Wednesday 29 April 10am-11am Prior’s Hall, Hexham Abbey Library, Queen’s Hall Hexham Abbey Theatre, Queen’s Hall Rose Elliot 1.30pm-2.30pm 6pm-7pm 3.15pm-4.45pm 2.30pm-3.30pm Hexham NE46 3NB Theatre, Queen’s Hall 1.45pm-2.45pm Lennie Goodings Very Short Introductions Tim Bouverie GET IN TOUCH www.hexhamabbey.org.uk Two Chubby Cubs Lauren Bravo Library, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall 11.30am-12.30pm Library, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queens Hall Linnels Farm Library, Queen’s Hall Katy Beskow 2pm-3pm 4.45pm-5.45pm 3.30pm-4.30pm Subscribe Contact Us Hexham NE46 1TS 6.15pm-7.15pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall 3pm-4.30pm Thomas Grant Nicholas Crane Kit Yates www.linnelsfarm.com Victoria Hislop To subscribe to our If you have any questions Proof Party Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall 2pm-3.30pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall e-Newsletter for updates or would like to make a Bouchon Bistrot Theatre, Queen’s Hall Rose Elliot – Cookery Demo 3pm-4pm 5.15pm-6.15pm 3.30pm-4.30pm from Hexham Book Festival suggestion about the festival, Gilesgate 7.30pm-9pm Linnels Farm and information about please send an email to Hexham NE46 3NJ 3.15pm-4.15pm Helen Taylor Kirsten Gilmour Katie Hickman Adele Parks 6.30pm-7.30pm one-off events, visit [email protected] www.bouchonbistrot.co.uk Jake Jones Library, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall Library, Queen’s Hall White Room, Queen’s Hall www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk Library, Queen’s Hall Helen Berry Follow us 3.30pm-4.30pm 7.45pm-8.45pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall 6.30pm-7.30pm 4pm-5pm * Everyone Welcome 4.45pm-5.45pm Tom Gauld George Szirtes A.N Wilson John Burnside @hexhambookfest Mike Cawthorne Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall 8pm-9pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queen’s Hall Queen’s Hall welcomes visitors with /hexhambookfestival Library, Queen’s Hall Sir Oliver Letwin disabilities and aims to ensure that 4.30pm-5.30pm 8pm-10pm 6.45pm-7.45pm 5pm-6pm @hexhambookfestival Theatre, Queen’s Hall your visit is safe and enjoyable, 5pm-6pm Samir Puri Hollie McNish & Friends Kevin Maxwell Emily Thomas providing disabled access to all Gavin Esler Library, Queen’s Hall Spiegeltent Saturday 2 May Library, Queens Hall Library, Queen’s Hall public areas of the building with Theatre, Queen’s Hall 5pm-6pm 10.30am-12.30pm 8pm-9pm 5.30pm-6.30pm THANKS ramps, automatic doors, disabled Thursday 30 April 6.15pm-7.15pm toilet facilities and lifts. Hearing loop Prashant Kidambi Jess Kidd – Workshop Martin Sixsmith Denise Mina Theatre, Queen’s Hall 2pm-3.30pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall Theatre, Queens Hall facilities are available throughout Daisy Waugh White Room, Queen’s Hall Arts Council England Hepple Gin Katy Beskow – Demo the auditorium and balcony. Please Library, Queen’s Hall Barbour Foundation Hexham Dental Clinic 6.30pm-7.30pm Linnels Farm 12pm-1pm Sunday 3 May 6.30pm-8pm BBC Newcastle Nicholson Portnell contact the Box Office for more 7.30pm-8.45pm Louise Doughty Edward Stourton Linda France Bouchon Bistrot Parabola details, and to order your audio Jenny Eclair Theatre, Queen’s Hall 6pm-7pm Theatre, Queen’s Hall 10.30am-12.30pm Library, Queen’s Hall The Beaumont Hotel Adrian and Lizzie Portlock receiver in advance. If you require Theatre, Queen’s Hall David Crystal Adele Parks – Workshop 7pm-9pm 7pm-8pm Chromazone Digital Imaging Queen’s Hall Arts help, please contact Queen’s Hall in Theatre, Queen’s Hall 12pm-1pm White Room, Queen’s Hall Cogito Books Sir James Knott Trust advance. Companions of wheelchair 7.30pm till late Games of Thrones Quiz Night Jon Day Paul Mason Fentimans Specsavers users may attend events free of Confetti Cabaret Spiegeltent Prior’s Hall, Hexham Abbey Theatre, Queens Hall Gillian Dickinson Trust The Roundhouse charge. Guide dogs are welcome Spiegeltent Hadrian Trust in all areas of the building.

Spiegeltent Demo Special Ticket Offer Workshop