The Writeidea Festival 2016 East London’s FREE Reading Festival 11-13 November 2016 East The London’s FREE Writeidea Reading Festival Festival 2016 11-13 November 2016 www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/writeideahttp://writeideafestival.org INTRODUCTION Welcome to the eighth East End myths and history, edition of the Writeidea real and imagined detectives, Festival, Tower Hamlets travellers, revolutionaries, Council’s unique free music icons, and plenty of reading festival. fascinating stories to fill us all with wonder. Local history is Once again, this is truly a always a popular theme at people’s event, with many Writeidea, so look out for the authors suggested by local strand of talks on Saturday people, and others chosen 12 November, programmed from an ever wider range by our colleagues at Tower of fiction and non-fiction Hamlets Local History writers and performers. Library & Archives, on Our free-entry policy has Bancroft Road. proved very popular in the past, and we are confident By now regular festival this year we will again see goers will know that you can new people alongside those prepare for the Writeidea who regularly enjoy literary by reading all the authors’ events. books for free - you just need an Idea Store card We are very grateful to the (also free) to borrow them. Arts Council of England for If you really liked a book and their continued support, and want to have your own copy, to the Canary Wharf Group you can purchase one during for their contribution. the festival weekend at the We are particularly pleased stall provided by Brick Lane to kick off events on Friday Books, our independent, local bookshop. 11 November with the legendary Polari, London’s We hope you enjoy our award winning LGBT literary unique Writeidea Festival. salon, and from then on, it’s a rollercoaster ride through This symbol indicates that this event will be British Sign Language interpreted All the events are FREE, you can just come along on the day, but some events will be very popular, so to guarantee entry please book your free tickets at http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/writeidea Follow us on twitter @writeideafest #writeidea You can keep up to date with Idea Store events through our website www.ideastore.co.uk Details in this brochure are correct at the time of print, but the programme may be subject to last minute changes. For the latest information see the Writeidea Festival website http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/writeidea FESTIVAL LAUNCH URBAN PLAYGROUND Ground Floor Foyer 6:00pm Urban Playground is Morpeth Most recently they have School’s large woodwind returned from a tour of the and brass ensemble. The Hague partnering with the band, which is made up of International School of the students from Years 7 to 13, Hague. They have also had has performed all over the the privilege to work with world, including New York, amazing musicians such as Madrid and Iceland, as well Wynton Marsalis, Christian as at many great festivals in Scott, Arun Ghosh and the the UK, including the Cultural Soul Rebels Brass Bands. Olympiads and BT River of Music. FRIDAY 11 NOVEMBER POLARI 7:00pm Dance Studio Image: Justin David Writeidea is delighted to be Founded and hosted by hosting Polari - London’s the author Paul Burston, award-winning LGBT literary Polari provides a platform salon. for LGBT authors to Described by the New York present their work in a fun Times as ‘London’s most and supportive manner. theatrical salon’ and by The Supporters include Patrick Independent on Sunday as Gale, Ali Smith, and Sarah ‘London’s peerless gay literary Waters, who describes salon’, Polari now has its Polari as “a guaranteed home at the Southbank. good night out”. SATURDAY PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE Kimberley Chambers 1:00pm Dance Studio Emily Bullock 1:00pm Lab 2/3 Roger Mills 1:00pm Conference Room Melanie Whipman 1:00pm Lab 1a Ben Aaronovich 2:30pm Dance Studio Housing Panel 2:30pm Lab 2/3 Georgie Wemyss 2:30pm Conference Room Simon Savidge 2:30pm Lab 1a Ann Cleeves 4:00pm Dance Studio Ben Judah 4:00pm Lab 2/3 Laurence Ward 4:00pm Conference Room Roddy Slorach 4:00pm Lab 1a Vaseem Khan 5:30pm Dance Studio Suzanne Joinson 5:30pm Lab 2/3 Sarah Wise 5:30pm Conference Room Rowan Moore 5:30pm Lab 1a Jan Blake 5:30pm 4th Floor Dan Cruickshank 7:00pm Dance Studio - Local History events Rooms may be subject to change - please check on the day 1:00PM SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER KIMBERLEY CHAMBERS EMILY BULLOCK From Roman Road Trader The Longest Fight io to Bestselling Author 1:00pm Lab 2/3 1:00pm Dance Studio Set in 1950s London amid Join the inimitable Kimberley the gritty and violent world Chambers as she discusses of boxing, Emily Bullock’s her latest bestseller. beautiful and brutal debut The fourth book in the hugely is the story of one man’s popular Butler family series, struggle to overcome the ‘Tainted Love’ will immerse mistakes and tragedies of you in a world of loveable his past. ‘The Longest Fight’ villains, forbidden affairs, was inspired by Emily’s doomed marriages and dark boxing grandfather and is secrets. an exploration of love and family loyalty. Emily is a Kimberley writes with real prize-winning short story authenticity and is a truly writer and teaches creative colourful character herself writing. She is currently with a legendary legion of working on a new novel loyal fans across the country. about a matriarchal family set With a background as a DJ, in London at the end of the a cabbie and a street trader 19th Century: ‘Love, Death, on Roman Road, she has and Penny Gaffs’. fascinating stories to share. 1:00PM SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER ROGER MILLS MELANIE WHIPMAN Everything Happens in Creative Writing Workshop a Cable Street 1:00pm Lab 1a 1:00pm Conference Room Join Melanie for a book reading, and a creative There are other stories of writing workshop. she’ll East London’s Cable Street discuss the importance of apart from the famous Battle characterisation in the short of 1936, when locals saw off story and unleash your the fascists. Then a Jewish creativity with some fun area, it later became a red- writing execises. All abilities light district and the book welcome; just bring a pen and film ‘To Sir, With Love’ and notebook. is set there. Author Roger Mills talks Melanie was the winner about the above and his of our 2014 short story own experiences with the competition and has her first Basement Writers, Wilton’s collection of short stories out Music Hall, the Community this year, which includes her Gardens, the edgy Artists’ winning story. Studios and the creation of the Cable Street Mural. 2:30PM SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER BEN AARONOVICH HOUSING PANEL Rivers of London The Crisis in Housing 2:30pm Dance Studio 2:30pm Lab 2/3 A screenwriter for Doctor Unaffordable rents, Who and Casualty, Ben deregulation, revenge Aaronovitch is author of evictions, and day-to-day the acclaimed ‘Rivers Of instability: these are the London’ series. The cult realities for the eleven million novels follow the adventures people currently renting of Peter Grant, detective privately in the UK. At the constable and apprentice same time, house prices wizard as he tries to maintain are skyrocketing and the law and order amongst the generational promise of more fantastical members home ownership is now of London’s population. an impossible dream for A unique blend of police many. A panel of housing procedural and supernatural experts including Gateway mayhem with threads Housing and Defending of hidden history woven Council Housing will debate through the plots, ‘The the state of housing today, Hanging Tree’, the sixth in with contributions from the the series, will be published audience. in November. 2:30PM SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER GEORGIE WEMYSS SIMON SAVIDGE Excavating the Global Social Media, Blogging Lives of Indian Seafarers and Vlogging 2:30pm Conference Room 2:30pm Lab 1a Georgie Wemyss is a Simon Savidge, who runs Senior Research Fellow at the popular Savidge Reads the Centre for research on and hosts The Readers Migration, Refugees and Podcast, will be talking about Belonging, based at the social media, blogging, University of East London. vlogging (a world he has recently joined and is loving) During this talk, she will and podcasting, as well as explore the largely hidden how to reach out to a wide stories of seafarers from community. South Asia who have been working on British-owned Simon has recently joined ships, crossing borders and the publishers Orion as an arriving in London and other editorial consultant and will ports across the globe since be advising them on a new the seventeenth century. series with a diverse voice. 4:00PM SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER ANN CLEEVES BEN JUDAH Shetland Noir & Other Crime This is London: Life and Death in the World City 4:00pm Dance Studio 4:00pm Lab 2/3 Photo: Micha Theiner Photo: Alexander James Ann Cleeves is the bestselling author behind ITV’s Vera and BBC’s Acclaimed foreign Shetland. She has written correspondent and author over twenty-five novels, and Ben Judah will be speaking created detectives Vera about, and reading from, his Stanhope and Jimmy Perez new book ‘This Is London: - characters loved both on Life and Death in the World screen and in print. City’. In 2006 Ann won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie ‘This Is London’ explodes Dagger, the richest crime- the fossilized myths of our writing prize in the world, for capital city and offers a fresh, her novel, ‘Raven Black’.