October 3Rd-6Th 2019 CUCKFIELD

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October 3rd-6th 2019 CUCKFIELD

BOOKFESTQueen’s Hall, High Street, Cuckfield, RH17 5EL

Lauren Ace James Hanratty Andrew Lownie Vanessa Berridge Kate Harris Richard Moore Lionel Birnie Patricia Hegarty Jenni Murray Clare Clark Rachel Hore Greta Scacchi John Crace Robin Ince Al Senter Jill Dawson Tom Jackson Tim Tate Maggie Gee Alan Judd D J Taylor Peter Guttridge Jake Kerridge Adrian Tinniswood Ed Halliwell Knife and Packer Tim Waterstone Penelope Lively Simon Williams Julian Worricker

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk

2 Welcome

Welcome to Year Three of Cuckfield Book to enjoy coffee, lunch, tea, or supper when the Festival - Bookfest! This year we are beginning day has ended. And if you’ve time between on Thursday 3rd October with an event at sessions, there are other Cuckfield attractions Borde Hill where the truly magnificent gardens to savour: why not pay a visit to Grade 1 listed should be resplendent in autumn colours. A Holy Trinity Church in the middle of the village tour of the garden will combine with an author - it is a fine example of a 13th century building talk from a renowned garden writer. with an outstanding decorated ceiling and stained glass by Kempe, the Victorian designer. The Literary Quiz proved very popular last year Cuckfield Museum is not to be missed either; so apply for tickets early if you want to test your it traces the history of the town from its earliest literary knowledge. There will be supper again times to the present day. And did you know that at Ockenden Manor with a comedy twist this dinosaurs once lived in Sussex? Find out more year and the welcome appearance of Hermione at the museum. Cockburn who was brought up in Cuckfield. She will introduce Robin Ince who will entertain Sheila Mortimer guests with a comedian’s take on what makes Programme Organiser us human. 10.30am on Saturday 5th October sees the start of the author sessions in the Queen’s Hall. First we welcome Adrian Tinniswood who is returning with his wonderfully entertaining account of life behind the royal scenes - don’t miss the chapter on Queen Anne which tells a different story than that which you saw in The Favourite! The next two days are packed with an infinite variety of events ranging from Mindfulness to Mountbatten to Immigration. This year we are offering a discount of 10% if you buy ten tickets at £10 each over the two days. For 16-24 year

olds, we welcome you and invite you to pay at Harvey © Sophie the door for £5.00 a ticket, providing spaces are available. Check the website on the day. For anyone planning a day at the festival, there are pubs, cafés and restaurants in the village

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 3 THURSDAY 3RD OCTOBER 7.30pm for 8.00pm Literary Quiz, The Talbot, High Street, Cuckfield £5.00 per person to include a glass of wine Here is a chance to test your literary knowledge - of current fiction and of the classics. Once again, a Cuckfield book group has kindly taken on the task of producing a lively and intriguing selection of questions. Tables are for six people but there’s no need to come as a six as we can make up tables from fewer people. See page 17 for HOW TO BOOK tickets. 2.30pm - 5pm BORDE HILL GARDEN, RH16 1XP £20.00 per person to include a tour of the FRIDAY 4TH OCTOBER garden with the Head Gardener, a glass of prosecco and canapés, and a talk. 7.00pm for 7.30pm 2.30pm prompt Supper at Ockenden Tour of the garden Manor, Cuckfield 3.30pm Robin Ince Glass of prosecco in the house Introduced by Dr Hermione Cockburn 4.00pm This year we are Vanessa Berridge with Andrewjohn introducing something Stephenson Clarke (or someone) completely different for the supper - Great British Gardeners Robin Ince who is co-presenter with Brian Cox Discover the delights of this Edwardian Grade of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 show, The II* listed garden famous for its rare shrubs and Infinite Monkey Cage. He has won the Time trees in the company of the head gardener, Out Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, was Andy Stevens. Vanessa Berridge, renowned nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best garden writer and author of the recently Live show and has won three Chortle Awards. published Great British Gardeners will The Observer called his book I’m a Joke and So introduce her book which traces the history Are You ‘joyfully entertaining... full of warmth, of British gardening through the stories of 26 wisdom and affectionate delight in the wonder key figures including Christopher Lloyd, Vita and absurdity of being human.’ Sackville-West and William Robinson. Vanessa Robin will be introduced by Dr Hermione will be in conversation with Andrewjohn Cockburn Stephenson Clarke whose great grandfather created Borde Hill garden. Hermione was born and grew up in Cuckfield but moved to Edinburgh more than 25 years The garden is two miles from Cuckfield. ago where she is currently the Scientific Director There is a large car park and a café for those at Dynamic Earth. Her varied career has been who might want to arrive for lunch first. based on an enduring passion to engage diverse Please note the house will not open until audiences with science. Her BBC2 paleontology 3.30pm. For more information, please contact series included filming the story of Gideon [email protected] Mantell and the Cuckfield dinosaur Iguanodon.

4 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk Tickets for the supper are £62.50 each for 12 noon - 1.00pm a two-course meal. You will be welcomed with a glass of Ridgeview sparkling wine Robin Ince accompanied by a selection of canapés. Tickets will be on sale from mid-August when the I’m a Joke and So Are You programme is published and are not available Reflections on Humour via Ticketsource. Please email Shauna Bevan at and Humanity [email protected] £10.00 per person Numbers are limited to 72 people, so early What better way to booking is advised. PLEASE NOTE: there is a understand ourselves maximum of four tickets per person applying than through the eyes of and we trust that those attending the supper comedians - those who professionally examine will also buy tickets for at least one of the our quirks on stage daily? In this touching and Bookfest events. witty book, award-winning presenter and comic Robin Ince uses the life of the stand-up as a way of exploring some of the biggest questions we all SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER face. Where does anxiety come from? How do we overcome imposter syndrome? What is the key to creativity? How can we deal with grief? 10.30am - 11.30am Informed by personal insights from Robin as Adrian Tinniswood well as interviews with some of the world's top comedians, neuroscientists and psychologists, this Behind the Throne is a hilarious and often moving primer to the mind. A Domestic History Robin Ince is co-presenter of the award-winning of the Royal Household BBC Radio 4 show, The Infinite Monkey Cage. He has toured his stand up across the world, £10.00 per person both solo and with his radio double act partner, This is no ordinary history Professor Brian Cox. of family life. It uncovers the Sponsored by Adelphi Group of Companies reality of five centuries of life at the English court as it was lived by clerks, courtiers and clowns and crowned heads. UPSTAIRS@CUCKFEST Take an intimate and entertaining look at the 12 noon - 1.00pm private lives of monarchs from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II. 20th C royals are included and Tom Jackson Adrian’s unerring eye for the amusing, the Postcard from the Past poignant and the anecdotal provides an insight into what goes on in royal palaces. £10 per person Adrian is the author of 15 books on social and Are the days of sending picture postcards over? architectural history. He has worked with the For anyone with an interest in the details of National Trust, and currently holds academic how we used to live, or in eavesdropping on fellowships in history at the Universities of other people’s conversations, these postcard Buckingham and Bath Spa. He was awarded messages on faded views are funny, an OBE for services to heritage. illuminating and addictive. In a talk illustrated Sponsored by Marcus Grimes with suspiciously blue skies, enormous good luck cats and a squadron of one- eared donkeys, Tom Jackson will draw on his huge collection of everyday postcards to present the oddest, funniest, most touching messages. We’ll discover hidden messages, cries for help, threats and mysteries and consider whether or not it’s too late to revive the art of postcard writing.

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 5 She will be in conversation with Kate Harris, who has worked in publishing for over 30 years, UPSTAIRS@CUCKFEST most recently as Managing Director in Oxford 1.30pm - 2.30pm University Press. James Hanratty Sponsored by Hurstpierpoint College

The Making of an 129 × 198 SPINE: 24.536 FLAPS: 0 BLOOD BLOOD “THE LUDDS. ARTISTES OF AWFULNESS. I’M ONE OF THEM. I SHARE THE BAD ADULT CHILDREN TAKE REVENGE ON THEIR FATHER, Immigration Judge 3pmBLOOD. - AND4.00pm YET I HAVE MY SOFTER SIDE – AS YOU’LL SEE IF YOU STAY WITH ME. BUT THE VICTIM CRAWLS BACK … I AM MORE SINNED AGAINST THAN SINNING.”

Who attacked Dad? When corrupt, brutal dentist Albert Ludd is found battered and bloody after failing to attend a memorial party for his son, a soldier killed in Afghanistan, suspicion falls on his other children – especially 37-year-old buxom bruiser Monica, who was heard “uttering threats” against her absent £10.00 per person Maggiefather. How comeGee her car was found outside his house? Why did she buy a large axe? Yet Monica’s a senior teacher… BLOOD Blood is a Gothic black comedy seen through the eyes of six-foot Monica, who speaks her secret thoughts aloud and who has been banned from social media by the principal of her school: “Governors queried your use

James Hanratty is of ‘moron’ and ‘twat’.” MAGGIE GEE Blood Set in anarchic modern times where terrorism has become routine, Blood MAGGIE also asks serious questions about contemporary life: what can we do with the monstrous men who bully women and the weak? Can we wait for a world of one of the UK’s most order and justice? If we hit back, can the circle of violence ever be broken?

MAGGIE GEE has written 15 books to great acclaim, and her work has been GEE experienced immigration and Alantranslated into 14Judd languages. One of Granta’s original ‘Best of Young British Novelists’, she has been shortlisted for global prizes including the Orange (now Women’s) Prize, and the Dublin International IMPAC Prize. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, a Director of the Authors’ judges, having worked Licensing and Collecting Society and a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature. AccidentalPRAISE FOR MAGGIE GEE’S WRITING Agent in many prestigious institutions including “I LOVE THE WORK OF MAGGIE GEE: WICKEDLY SMART, FUNNY AND FEARLESS, GENUINELY SURPRISING. READ HER.” PATRICK NESS “GRIPPING, ORIGINAL, HIGHLY ENTERTAINING – {THE FLOOD SHOWS} MAGGIE GEE AT HER SUPERB BEST.” J. G. BALLARD the House of Lords and the Royal Courts of with “FAST-MOVING,Peter ENERGETIC {MY DRIVERGuttridge IS} CONSTANTLY SURPRISING.” HILARY MANTEL UK £9.99 / US $15.95 “UP THERE WITH ORWELL AND HUXLEY” Justice. He knows the country’s courtrooms JEREMY PAXMAN, BBC

Fiction Literary/Women/Crime/Humorous Cover design: Jeremy Hopes - and the realities of the immigration crisis £10 perShutterstock / Almay person ‘MAGGIE GEE IS GROUNDBREAKING www.fentumbooks.com @maggiegeewriter AND COMPULSIVELY READABLE’ GUARDIAN - inside out. The Making of an Immigration Blood is a Gothic black Judge cuts through the hysteria of the comedy seen through headlines to provide a definitive account the eyes of Monica, ‘the of the problems facing Europe today - and wrong sort of woman’ who how we might solve them. It offers an cannot help speaking her extraordinary insight into the problems of secret thoughts aloud. immigration. Set in Thanet, in an angry, Part memoir, part meditation, the book is anarchic, Brexit-ing Britain, written with humility and humour, drawing it asks serious questions on a lifetime spent in the justice business. about modern life and is also a satire on power, corruption, bullying and much more. ‘Written with 1.30pm - 2.30pm style and dash, without Jenni Murray piety, without fear’ says Hilary Mantel. The Sunday Times chose it as a best summer read. A History of the World Maggie Gee writes novels, short stories, memoir, in 21 Women poetry and journalism and she was awarded an with Kate Harris OBE for services to literature in 2012. In Accidental Agent, Brexit looms and Charles £10.00 per person Thoroughgood, Chief of MI6, is forbidden Jenni Murray celebrates for political reasons from spying on the EU. the lives, struggles But when an EU official volunteers the EU’s and achievements of negotiating bottom lines to one of his officers, extraordinary women from around the globe. Charles has to report it. Authoritative and They ruled empires, they led nations. They were packed with in-depth knowledge, Accidental pioneers in the arts and geniuses of science. Agent is a gripping new spy thriller from a They spoke truth to power and fought for master of the genre change. All have had a profound impact on the shaping of our world. Alan Judd is a multiple award-winning novelist whose biography of the founder of MI6 Among the women included in her book are was short-listed for the Westminster Prize. Joan of Arc, Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Clinton, He is currently The Spectator’s motoring Madonna, Coco Chanel and Margaret Attwood. correspondent. Jenni Murray is a journalist and broadcaster who Peter Guttridge returns as a Bookfest moderator has presented BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and is himself an award-winning crime novelist. since 1987. Sponsored by Assettrac Ltd

6 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk by him on the steps of the Royal Palace. And all of them were associated with the decade's most UPSTAIRS@CUCKFEST celebrated literary magazine, Horizon. They are 3.00pm - 4.00pm a genuine missing link between the first wave of newly liberated young women of the post-Great Ed Halliwell War era and the Dionysiac free-for-all of the Mindfulness 1960s. In conversation with Hectic, passionate and at times unexpectedly Elspeth Chasser poignant, this is their story. Intertwining across two decades, The Love Child £10.00 per person recounts two extraordinary stories with secrets Mindfulness is a long- buried which come to light in this account powerful antidote to the of one young mother’s ultimate sacrifice when stresses of modern life she becomes pregnant in 1917 and then a child’s and teaches us how to be still in the present desperate search to uncover the truth. This is moment, to pay attention to our surroundings a compelling story of love, loss and unending and ourselves and cultivate peaceful clarity hope by an author whose 2018 book was a and openness. Richard and Judy book club pick. David and Rachel have been married for 29 years and both of them are successful authors. The Guardian has called Ed Halliwell ‘one of Their work is completely different but what the UK’s leading mindfulness instructors’ and happens in practice? Do they consult each other he has written several books on the subject. on possible projects, on plotting, on progress? He leads public courses, workshops and Do they read each other’s work before retreats in Sussex (Cuckfield), London and submitting it to the publishers? How honest Surrey. are they as critics? They will be revealing all about their daily writing lives in discussion with Peter Guttridge. 4.30pm - 5.30pm Sponsored by Cuckfield Bathrooms D.J. Taylor

Lost Girls 6.00pm - 7.00pm Love, War and Literature 1939-51 Jill Dawson and Rachel Hore The Language of Birds The Love Child with Jake Kerridge with Peter Guttridge £10.00 per person Inspired by the infamous £10.00 per person Lord Lucan affair, Jill Who were the Lost Girls? Dawson explores a At least a dozen or so shocking murder and its young women at large in roots from the unusual perspective of the nanny Blitz-era London have a who was largely overlooked. Combining the claim to this title. Lost Girls pace of a thriller with moving poetic writing, concentrates on four. this hypnotic novel about class, violence and Chic, glamorous and friendship brings the Lucan nanny to life as a bohemian, they cut a fictional yet vivid character. The Daily Mail called swathe through English it ‘timely, devastating and superbly realised’. literary and artistic life in Jill Dawson was nominated for the Orange Prize the 1940s. Three of them and the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award. had affairs with Lucian Freud. One of them She is patron of the Maya Centre which offers married George Orwell. Another became the therapy to women experiencing violence and mistress of the King of Egypt and was flogged

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 7 she founded a mentoring scheme for new writers. SUNDAY 6TH OCTOBER Jill will be in conversation with Jake Kerridge, the Daily Telegraph crime fiction reviewer who 10.30am - 11.30am selected The Language of Birds as a crime summer must-read. Jake regularly writes the Andrew Lownie books column of the Sunday Telegraph and has interviewed many leading writers. The Mountbattens Their Lives and Loves Sponsored by P & S Gallagher £10.00 per person To mark the 40th 7.30pm -8.30pm anniversary of Lord Mountbatten’s Simon Williams assassination by the IRA, Hey diddle-dee-dee: An comes a nuanced portrayal of two remarkable people and their complex Actor’s Life for Me! marriage. Drawing on four years of research £10.00 per person around the world, Andrew Lownie provides a fresh and revealing portrait of the glamorous Those of you who’ve read couple behind the modern royal family. It also Simon’s columns in The reveals much new information on many of the Telegraph Magazine will controversies of Mountbatten’s career from the know he sees the world disastrous 1942 Dieppe Raid to the rapid transfer through a rose- tinted lens. After more than 50 of power in India in 1947 as well as his murder years working in the business they call ‘show’ in 1979. he is still as besotted with it as he was when he began. From weekly rep, through the heady Andrew Lownie has run his own literary agency days of Upstairs Downstairs, to today when he is since 1988. His book Stalin’s Englishman was a a resident of Britain’s favourite village, Ambridge, prize-winning biography of Guy Burgess. as Justin Elliott in The Archers. Sponsored by the Cockburn Trust From the roller coaster of his career, Simon will be talking about the successes and the flops. He has worked with an amazing range of actors including Peter Sellers, Celia Johnson, Victoria Wood, Nigel Havers, Marianne Faithfull, Judi Dench, and just now Aidan Turner (yes, a tiny part in Poldark). There will be laughs and nostalgia and some thoughts about the changing world around us.

Simon will be taking questions, no matter how FLAPS: 0 SPINE: 24.536 awkward, and dishing some modest dirt. Do 129 × 198 ADULT CHILDREN TAKE REVENGE ON THEIR FATHER, BLOOD come. BUT THE VICTIM CRAWLS BACK …

“THE LUDDS. ARTISTES OF AWFULNESS. I’M ONE OF THEM. I SHARE THE BAD BLOOD. AND YET I HAVEI AM MOREMY SOFTER SINNED SIDE AGAINST – AS YOU’LLTHAN SINNING.” SEE IF YOU STAY WITH ME. BLOOD

is a Gothic black comedy seen through the eyes of six-foot Monica, Blood who speaks her secret thoughtsof ‘moron’ aloud and and ‘twat’.” who has been banned from social media by the principal of her school: “Governors queried your use GEE Set in anarchic modern times where terrorism has become routine, Blood also asks serious questions about contemporary life: what can we do with the monstrous men who bully women and the weak? Can we wait for a world of order and justice? If we hit back, can the circle of violence ever be broken? has written 15 books to great acclaim, and her work has been Party time! MAGGIE GEE translated into 14 languages. One of Granta’s original ‘Best of Young British Novelists’, she has been shortlisted for global prizes including the Orange (now Women’s) Prize, and the Dublin International IMPAC Prize. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, a Director of the Authors’ After Simon Williams, there will be Licensing and Collecting Society and a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature.

PRAISE FOR MAGGIE GEE’S WRITING an opportunity to sample delicious “I LOVE THE WORK OF MAGGIE GEE: WICKEDLY SMART, FUNNY AND FEARLESS, GENUINELY SURPRISING. READ HER.” PATRICK NESS J. G. BALLARD “GRIPPING, ORIGINAL, HIGHLY ENTERTAINING – {THE FLOOD SHOWS} complimentary savoury treats provided MAGGIE GEE AT HER SUPERB BEST.” UK £9.99 / US $15.95 GUARDIAN ‘MAGGIE GEE IS GROUNDBREAKING “FAST-MOVING, ENERGETIC {MY DRIVER IS} CONSTANTLY SURPRISING.” HILARY MANTEL AND COMPULSIVELY READABLE’ by No 1 Broad Street. We invite you “UP THERE WITH ORWELL AND HUXLEY” JEREMY PAXMAN, BBC @maggiegeewriter Fiction Literary/Women/Crime/Humorous to linger in the Queen’s Hall from 8.30 Cover design: Jeremy Hopes Shutterstock / Almay onwards and enjoy them. www.fentumbooks.com

8 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 12.00 noon - 1pm She was made a Dame in 2012 for services to literature. Tim Waterstone Penelope Lively will be in conversation with The Face Pressed Al Senter who was for many years the host of against a Window the popular actor interview series at the National Theatre. A frequent guest at literary festivals, he is with Julian Worricker a practised author interviewer. £10.00 per person Sponsored by Maggie Kapff Tim Waterstone is one of Britain’s most successful businessmen, having built 2pm - 5pm the Waterstone’s empire that started with one small bookshop in 1982. Criminal The Face Pressed Against a Window not only outlines the business philosophy that allowed the company to become the largest booksellers Intent in Europe but it is a charming and evocative memoir recalling the childhood experiences a crime-writing workshop that led Tim Waterstone to become one of the with Peter Guttridge our most celebrated entrepreneurs. As the Independent said: ‘Mr Waterstone …. has made £30 per person book-buying a pleasurable experience, not an obstacle course. … He has made high culture PLEASE NOTE THIS WORKSHOP IS s t y l i s h ’. TAKING PLACE IN THE HAYLOFT Tim will be in conversation with Julian Worricker, OF THE TALBOT, HIGH STREET a well-known R4 journalist who has been a CUCKFIELD. familiar voice on radio for more than 30 years. It will be limited to a maximum of 15 Sponsored by David Foord-Brown Antiques people to allow for plenty of interaction and audience participation. Please bring pens and paper. 2.00pm - 3.00pm For those who are thinking of writing a Penelope Lively crime novel, are partway through writing one, have written the first draft - or even are Life in the Garden just fans of the genre - this crime -writing with Al Senter workshop will cover all the bases. Creating characters, plotting and delivering that plot £10.00 per person through the narrative, twists and turns and Penelope Lively takes up those satisfying endings will all be covered. her key themes of time and Whodunnits, whydunnits, howdunnits memory, and her lifelong and straight down the line thrillers will all passions for art, literature, be referenced in a seminar-style workshop and gardening in this philosophical and poetic where discussion will be key. memoir. From the courtyards of her childhood home in Cairo to a family cottage in Somerset, Award-winning crime novelist and former to her own gardens in Oxford and London, she Observer crime fiction critic Peter Guttridge conducts an expert tour, from Eden to Sissinghurst has a wealth of experience teaching crime and into her own backyard, traversing the lives of writing and general writing workshops in writers like Virginia Woolf and Philip Larkin while universities, libraries and writing retreats imparting her own spare wisdom. and at book festivals. Twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize, she won it in 1987 for her highly acclaimed novel Moon Tiger.

9 3.30pm - 4.30pm @ John Crace UPSTAIRS CUCKFEST 5.00pm - 6.00pm Decline and Fail Tim Tate with Julian Worricker Hitler’s British £10.00 per person Traitors John Crace is political sketch writer for The with Andrew Lownie Guardian and author of I, Maybot, the best -selling £10.00 per person account of Theresa May’s turbulent first year More than 70 fascists in office. Whatever will have happened on the were convicted of political scene by the time of Bookfest, John will provide insight into the current state of affairs. helping Nazi Germany to try and win the His political sketches are much admired and on war. Using previously unseen archive average reach 14 million people a year. His latest material, investigative journalist Tim Tate book is an unremittingly hilarious skewering of reveals the extraordinary methods adopted over three years of Brexit, an edited selection of by MI5 to uncover British traitors during his finest writings. World War II. He shows that there was indeed a small but dangerous sub-stratum John will be talking to Julian Worricker, a familiar voice on BBC radio, with more than 30 years’ which yearned for the day the swastika experience of live news and comment. would fly over Buckingham Palace. Sponsored by Hurstpierpoint College Tim Tate is a multi-award winning documentary film-maker and the author of many books on subjects as varied as the 5.00pm - 6.00pm assassination of Robert F.Kennedy to the secret history of women’s football. Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie Tim will be in conversation with Andrew Lownie, author and literary agent. The Cycling Year £10.00 per person Join Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie as they discuss A Journey Through the Cycling Year, covering all three of the incident-filled Grand Tours. Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie are the hosts of The Cycling Podcast. Richard is the author of nine books, including In Search of Robert Millar, which was a British Sports Book Award winner. He is also a former racing cyclist who competed for Great Britain and for Scotland. Lionel Birnie first covered the Tour de France in 1999 and has written for The Sunday Times, Cycling Weekly and Procycling. He co-founded and edited The Cycling Anthology series. Sponsored by Helme & Hallett Ltd

10 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 6.30pm - 7.30pm Sunday 6th October Clare Clark 4.00pm - 5.30pm In the Full Light of the

Sun Gilbert Bee The Big Book Group with Julian Worricker Afternoon THIS EVENT WILL tea at BE HELD UPSTAIRS IN THE HAYLOFT Ockenden AT THE TALBOT, HIGH STREET, CUCKFIELD Manor £10.00 per person The book follows the fortunes of three Berliners caught up in a devastating scandal of 1930s’ Enjoy afternoon tea in the elegant Germany. It tells the story of Emmeline, a surroundings of Ockenden Manor where wayward young art student; Julius, an anxious, a delicious selection of sandwiches, middle-aged art expert; and a mysterious art scones with clotted cream and jam, cakes dealer named Rachmann who are at the heart and various teas will be served. A glass of Weimar Berlin at its hedonistic, politically turbulent apogee and are whipped up into of Ridgeview sparkling wine will be the excitement over the surprising discovery of 32 perfect accompaniment. The irresistible previously unknown paintings by Vincent van additional attraction for this event will Gogh. be the poetry readings from actress Greta Based on a true story, unfolding through the Scacchi who has selected some well-loved subsequent rise of Hitler and the Nazis, this poems and some not so well-known. gripping tale is about beauty and justice. Tickets are £39.50 each William Boyd calls the book ‘a completely and are only available from fascinating novel about the early twentieth- [email protected] century art world … expertly researched, compellingly narrated and full of potential resonance today’. Clare Clark is the author of five highly acclaimed historical novels. She is on the Advisory Board of the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Clare will be discussing her book with Julian Worricker who will field questions from the audience. Those book groups that have read In the Full Light of the Sun are asked to send in questions by email to [email protected] Please give your name and ensure your questions are submitted before September 30th. We will make a selection but there will also be a chance to ask questions directly from the floor on the night. Please come along even if you haven’t read the book. Sponsored by The Talbot

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 11 importance to the natural world. Join author Patricia Hegarty for a reading and activity Family Events session based on Moon. Children will have the opportunity to get creative and make their Please note that children must own collage artwork based on one of Britta be accompanied by an adult. Teckentrup’s beautiful illustrations. There will be activity sheets and, of course, prizes! These will take place in the Pat Hegarty works as Editorial Director for Old School, Cuckfield, RH17 5JZ Caterpillar Books in London. She has lived in Cuckfield for 30 years and has been writing children’s books for much of that time. The wonderful Celia Imrie and Ewan McGregor have SATURDAY 5TH OCTOBER read her stories on CBeebies. This is an activity session and works best with groups of no more than 30. 10.30am - 11.15am Patricia Hegarty Moon 12 noon - 12.45pm Ages 3-7 Lauren Ace The Girls £5.00 per person It’s 50 years since Man Ages 4-7 cuckfieldlanded bookfest on the Mooncumnor.qxp and this 11/07/2019 delightful book3:13 pm Page 1 with its gentle rhyming text reflects on its £5.00 per person A simple but gorgeous picture book about four little girls who play in an apple tree and the “A magical women they grow into. Clear, direct and warm, environment it's a celebration of kindness and scraped knees, for our child illustrated with charm by Jenny Løvlie. to flourish” C U M NOR P A R E N T Join Lauren Ace, the author of The Girls, who will introduce the four friends who star in her story, explain the inspiration behind the book and show her audience how to make a friendship card for best friends. Lauren worked in publishing for over 10 years. An award-winning publicist, she looked after Julia Donaldson during her tenure as Children’s Laureate. The Girls is her first book and it won the Waterstones Children's Illustrated Book of the Year Prize 2019.

This is an activity session and works best Building Character with groups of no more than 30. Growing Imagination

To attend our next open day or to arrange a private visit, contact [email protected] Danehill | Haywards Heath | RH17 7HT N U R S E RY, P R E - P R EP 12 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk& P R E P S C H O OL www.cumnor.co.uk | 01825 792006 Knife and Packer Award-winning author- illustrator team Knife and Packer are the creators of over 40 books - including Lollies winner Badly Drawn Beth and the Fleabag Monkeyface books and TV show. They take ideas from the audience and when the character has been designed they start inventing a story - with the new character the star of its own adventure. Who knows - he, she or it might one day become the hero of its very own book series! Everyone will get involved!

1.30 pm - 2.15pm Workshop 1 Under 8 years £5.00 per person Knife and Packer will be presenting an interactive workshop that will get everyone creating super- crazy characters. All are welcome - be prepared to draw a really SILLY mosquito (who may well have a moustache), a SLIMEY worm and even an ANGRY pancake that's come to life!

3.00 pm - 4pm Workshop 2 Ages 9-13

129 × 198 SPINE: 24.536 FLAPS: 0 £5.00 per person BLOOD “THE LUDDS. ARTISTES OF AWFULNESS. I’M ONE OF THEM. I SHARE THE BAD BLOOD. AND YET I HAVE MY SOFTER SIDE – AS YOU’LL SEE IF YOU STAY WITH ME. ADULT CHILDREN TAKE REVENGE ON THEIR FATHER, I AM MORE SINNED AGAINST THAN SINNING.” BUT THE VICTIM CRAWLS BACK … For older children, this Knife and Packer Who attacked Dad? When corrupt, brutal dentist Albert Ludd is found battered and bloody after failing to attend a memorial party for his son, a soldier killed in Afghanistan, suspicion falls on his other children – especially 37-year-old buxom bruiser Monica, who was heard “uttering threats” against her absent session will consist of a workshop that takes father. How come her car was found outside his house? Why did she buy a large axe? Yet Monica’s a senior teacher… Blood is a Gothic black comedy seen through the eyes of six-foot Monica, BLOOD who speaks her secret thoughts aloud and who has been banned from the audience through the process of creating social media by the principal of her school: “Governors queried your use of ‘moron’ and ‘twat’.”

Set in anarchic modern times where terrorism has become routine, Blood GEE MAGGIE also asks serious questions about contemporary life: what can we do with the a HERO, and an Arch-Nemesis, before finally monstrous men who bully women and the weak? Can we wait for a world of MAGGIE order and justice? If we hit back, can the circle of violence ever be broken?

MAGGIE GEE has written 15 books to great acclaim, and her work has been bringing the two together in the epic opening translated into 14 languages. One of Granta’s original ‘Best of Young British Novelists’, she has been shortlisted for global prizes including the Orange GEE (now Women’s) Prize, and the Dublin International IMPAC Prize. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, a Director of the Authors’ page of a graphic novel. Be prepared for Licensing and Collecting Society and a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature.

PRAISE FOR MAGGIE GEE’S WRITING RIDICULOUS SUPERHEROES, ZOMBIE “I LOVE THE WORK OF MAGGIE GEE: WICKEDLY SMART, FUNNY AND FEARLESS, GENUINELY SURPRISING. READ HER.” PATRICK NESS “GRIPPING, ORIGINAL, HIGHLY ENTERTAINING – {THE FLOOD SHOWS} MAGGIE GEE AT HER SUPERB BEST.” WITCHES and MUTANT TEACHERS. J. G. BALLARD “FAST-MOVING, ENERGETIC {MY DRIVER IS} CONSTANTLY SURPRISING.”

HILARY MANTEL

“UP THERE WITH ORWELL AND HUXLEY” UK £9.99 / US $15.95 JEREMY PAXMAN, BBC

Fiction Literary/Women/Crime/Humorous

Cover design: Jeremy Hopes Shutterstock / Almay www.fentumbooks.com @maggiegeewriter ‘MAGGIE GEE IS GROUNDBREAKING AND COMPULSIVELY READABLE’ GUARDIAN

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 13 Programme of Events

Thursday 3rd October 2.30pm Garden tour Borde Hill and talk Vanessa Berridge 7.30pm Literary Quiz The Talbot, Cuckfield

Friday 4th October 7pm for 7.30pm Supper at Ockenden Manor Robin Ince

Saturday 5th October 10.30am Behind the Throne Adrian Tinniswood 12 noon I’m a Joke and So Are You Robin Ince 12 noon (upstairs) Postcard from the Past Tom Jackson 1.30pm A History of the World Jenni Murray in 21 Women with Kate Harris 1.30pm (upstairs) The Making of an James Hanratty Immigration Judge 3pm Blood Maggie Gee and Accidental Agent Alan Judd with Peter Guttridge 3pm (upstairs) Mindfulness Ed Halliwell with Elspeth Chasser 4.30pm Lost Girls David Taylor and The Love Child Rachel Hore with Peter Guttridge 6.00pm The Language of Birds Jill Dawson with Jake Kerridge 7.30pm An Actor’s Life for Me Simon Williams

14 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk Sunday 6th October 10.30am The Mountbattens Andrew Lownie 12 noon The Face Pressed Tim Waterstone against a Window with Julian Worricker 2.00pm Life in the Garden Penelope Lively with Al Senter 2.00pm Criminal Intent Workshop with Peter Guttridge in The Talbot 3.30pm Decline and Fail John Crace with Julian Worricker 4.00pm Tea at Ockenden Manor Greta Scacchi 5.00pm The Cycling Year Richard Moore and Lionel Birnie 5.00pm (upstairs) Hitler’s British Traitors Tim Tate with Andrew Lownie 6.30pm In the Full Light of the Sun Clare Clark with Julian Worricker in The Talbot

Family Events (to be held in the Old School, Cuckfield, RH17 5JZ)

Saturday 5th October 10.30am Moon Pat Hegarty 12 noon The Girls Lauren Ace 1.30pm Workshop 1 (under 8 years) Knife and Packer 3.00pm Workshop 2 (8-13 years) Knife and Packer

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 15 Thanks

We are indebted once more to so many people for their support and enthusiasm, which has allowed us to organise another Cuckfield Book Festival in 2019 We especially thank Adelphi Holdings for their support, Hurstpierpoint College who generously sponsored several events in the adult programme and Cumnor House Sussex who supported children’s events.

Special thanks to: • Borde Hill Garden • Stephen and Judy Cockburn • Cuckfield Society • Cuckfield Museum • Cuckfield Music Festival • Independent State of Cuckfield • Mrs Maggie Kapff • No.1 Broad Street, Cuckfield • Ockenden Manor Hotel • Sacred Cellar, Cuckfield • Sophie Harvey who drew the Queen’s Hall on page 3 especially for us • The Talbot

And of course thanks to those who gave anonymously. Also to Cuckfield Dramatic Society, Louis Mackay, Parish Council staff and Waterstones. Once again, we want to thank our volunteers. Without their enthusiasm and commitment, the festival simply would not take place. Management team: Shauna Bevan, Paul Davey, Patricia Hegarty, Gavin Jamieson, Caroline Lillywhite, Sheila Mortimer, Sam Oliver, Annie Rees, Allie Young and Sarah Vavasour.

Cuckfield Bookfest has grown up!

We have become a Community Interest Company. Principally this means that the Cuckfield Bookfest is entirely focused on providing benefit to the community and local businesses of the village and surrounding areas and the authors we invite. As a CIC, we are registered with Companies House, have a board (Sheila Chasser, Sue Laing, Sheila Mortimer and Elspeth Chasser), a management team looking after the programming, finance, social media, the children’s programme, catering, marketing and, of course, our amazing volunteers. Contact us on [email protected] if you’d like to get involved!

16 www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk HOW TO BOOK 4th October - Friday evening supper at Ockenden Manor, Online Cuckfield You can buy tickets online with 6th October - Sunday afternoon NO BOOKING FEE OR EXTRA CHARGES (print your tickets at home to avoid mailing tea at Ockenden Manor, costs) at Cuckfield www.ticketsource.co.uk/cuckfieldbookfest Tickets for both these events are only or via the link on the website available by applying to Shauna Bevan: www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk [email protected] 10% discount if tickets at £10 each for 10 Payment by cheque made out to Cuckfield events over the two days are bought at the Book Festival. Please include a stamped same time. Do book early as some events addressed envelope when you receive are expected to sell out quickly. confirmation from Shauna that you have We welcome 16-24 year olds and invite tickets. you to pay at the door at half-price for all Tickets are non-refundable unless the £10 tickets, providing spaces are available. event in question has been cancelled. Check Ticketsource on the day (details Events are subject to change and Cuckfield above). Book Festival cannot be held responsible for programming changes. Seating is In person unreserved. Doors open approximately You can also buy tickets in person (cash or 15 minutes before each event. cheque) at Marcus Grimes, South Street, Cuckfield during normal office hours. Social Media Keep up to date with the latest news about On the door Cuckfield Bookfest: While we recommend advance booking Email [email protected] for all events, if seats or cancellations Facebook CuckfieldBookFest are available, you can buy these at the door on the day (cash or cheque), both at Instagram cuckbookfest/ the Queen’s Hall or at the Old School for Twitter @cuckfieldbf children’s events. Website www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk Refreshments There will be refreshments available each day - tea, coffee, wine, soft drinks, cakes and biscuits. On Saturday night, after Simon Williams, No. 1 Broad Street are offering complimentary savoury treats. Do stay and enjoy them. No 1 Broad Street, Cuckfield Book sales offers thoughtfully sourced, Once again Waterstones will be selling beautifully prepared food, books signed by the authors appearing at matched with an elegant Cuckfield Bookfest. wine list, served in a relaxed contemporary setting. www.1broadstreet.co.uk

www.cuckfieldbookfest.co.uk 17 CUCKFIELD VILLAGE MAP

THE TALBOT